PAMUNKEY DAVENPORTS & OTHERS INTERESTED: As we review early abstracts and extracts of Pamunkey related last testaments in Post Revolution Virginia, we find ourselves correcting dates, names, and occasionally facts. Sometimes completely changing the tenor of the long accepted abstract. A case in point is the will of Sarah Cantrell of Bedford County made 4Dec1783 wherein, as a last item before naming her executors, Sarah has long been credited with favoring Glover Davenport by devising to him all the crop of corn "in the ground." The will actually says "on the ground" which totally changes the perceived nature of the bequest. It was a slam, not a benefice. It was December, corn had long been picked or was in the shock off the ground. The only corn on the ground was that considered useless and left for the hogs. Sarah was expressing her contempt for Glover, not rewarding him. Ann, Glover's wife, witnessed the document and was one of the two proofs for the will at Bedford Court on 22Mar1784. She obviously was on the good side of Sarah. On another tact: Why have previous abstracters omitted a key part of the 17Aug1792 LW&T of Richard Davenport, Sr., of Albemarle, son of Richard, Sr., of Caroline, and grandson of Davis Davenport? Richard made special provisions for a second Martin Davenport in his family, which no abstracter heretofore has apparently deigned to extract. Here's the critical verbatim excerpt: "...Slave Jenny to have freedom after wife's death. Slave Martin, age 3 next January, to be set at liberty at age 21. Slave Beck, an old female, to be set at liberty at my death." All this before any devisements or legacies to Richard's identified children. Slave Martin, per Richard, was born in Jan1790. Twenty-one years later, Martin Davenport (Free Negro), charged with one poll, appeared on the Albemarle Personal Property Tax List, on Edward Garland's List which also included Richard Gambill, William Gambill, Mourning Jouett, and Thomas Jefferson. Garland had the Lower District, did not have Charlottesville within his purview. It was the same district wherein Richard Davenport, Sr., had lived. By 1814, Martin (Free Negro) was also charged with a horse. He disappeared from Albemarle records after 1816. The peculiar aspect of the tax listing was that there was a required separate tax list for Free Negroes and Mulattos, but throughout his appearance on Albemarle lists, Martin Davenport (Free Negro), so identified, was listed with the Whites. Why? Richard, Sr.'s fourth son was Martin, subsequently the Martin Davenport of Adair County, Kentucky. Does Martin Davenport (Free Negro) have a place in the Pamunkey Family Tree? A few tidbits to titillate the risibilities or to foster a penchant to hide in the barn? John Scott Davenport Holmdel, NJ