PAMUNKEY DAVENPORTS & OTHERS INTERESTED: In the process of cleaning up loose ends in Part 2, "South of the James River," of the Chronicles, we are revisiting all of the LW&Ts (Last Will & Testatments) of the senior members of the family. It's well that we are doing so, for we are finding a great many errors between what the records say and what allegedly has been abstracted and passed around and around. Most are minor in nature, requiring only touching up and clarification. But some are momentous. The most glaring factual error encountered todate was this week when we reviewed the LW&T of David Davenport, of Cumberland, son of Martin, Sr., of Hanover, and a grandson of Davis Davenport. David, a planter-carpenter, was remarkable for his constant litigation from the mid-1740s until a month before his death in 1802. He is also notable for having married as his second wife, Molly Slaughter Davenport, widow of his cousin Stephen Davenport, sixth son of Thomas Davenport, Sr., and another grandson of Davis Davenport. David holds the family record for the number of times cast into Debtor's Prison-- at least three, Spotsylvania (twice) Cumberland (once), and maybe in Orange--the record is unclear. The abstract of David's will first encountered eight years ago, and found repeated divers places elsewhere since, includes the statement "my deceased daughter Elizabeth McNermar and my grandson William Bernard McNermar." A lot of hats have been hung on that datum. What the will actually says, per Cumberland County Court record, is "a feather bed and furniture to my daughter Elizabeth McNemar and on her death to my son William Bernard McNemar." An entirely different kettle of fish, we suggest. We know that David left Jane and Joel, children by his first wife, out of the will. Were Elizabeth and William Bernard McNemar illegitimate children of David? Elizabeth follows David's three daughters by Molly Slaughter in the will and was treated identically as to legacy with those siblings. Looks like we're going to have to review Elizabeth McNemar's and William Bernard McNemar's place on the Pamunkey genealogical chart, and check whether McNemar DNA compares with the Davenports. We suspect that the erroneous version circulated was sanitized to avoid confronting the bastardy question. Keeping in character by his legacies to his mentioned sons, namely Jesse, Martin Slaughter, Glover, and Jack Smith, David grandly devised land to all of them that was subsequently found to be either mortgaged or tied up in deeds of trust. If the daughters each got a feather bed, furniture, and a share of the sale price of the two slaves, they came out way ahead of the sons, who basically got nothing but incipient lawsuits. John Scott Davenport Holmdel, NJ