Mary: The name Claiborne likely came from Colonel William Claiborne, who arrived in the James River Colony in 1625 as a young surveyor who soon became Secretary of the Governor's Council, then spent the next fifty years as one of the most active, high profile Virginians, serving as Colonial Secretary for many years, tried to wrest Kent Island from Lord Baltimore, commanded Colonial forces against the Indians on several occasions, and who, along with Colonel John West, of the famed De Law War family, obtained the first land patents in Pamunkey Neck (1652). Claiborne had 6,200 acres in patents on the Pamunkey River side of the Neck (but his surveys included 11,000 acres) just below the Pamunkey Indian town Romancoke. West had the tip of Pamunkey Neck (West Point) then up Pamunkey Neck on the Mattaponi side. The Claibornes and the Wests for at least five generations were the social creme de la creme of Pamunkey Neck society from the 1650s through the 1750s. We know there was at least one Claiborne Davenport among the Pamunkeys. Whether the West Davenport on the New Kent Quit Rents of 1704 was a Pamunkey too is unknown, but Captain Nathaniel West, who married a Claiborne, had considerable land in New Kent. The Claibornes had land in later King & Queen and Essex counties as well as King William. To my knowledge, there was only one family of them originally. This is conjecture on my part. I have no proofs. In social status, the Davenports were far below the Claibornes and Wests. As I recall Claiborne Davenport's mother was a Noell from Essex County. John Scott Davenport Holmdel, NJ