All Pamunkeys and Others Interested: Billy Bob and I took advantage of my having to be in Western North Carolina on business with my wife and daughter-in-law, and on the ladies and my drive back, stopping off at my youngest daughter's in Lexington, Virginia, he met me there on September 19, having driven from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He omitted that we both paid for our own motel rooms that evening, then got an early start Monday for Louisa Courthouse via I-64. We were at Louisa and into the records by 10:00 am. He also omitted that we spent Monday evening as well as Tuesday evening and two hours Wednesday at the Louisa Library (working principally on Hanover County material). Frankly, there is more work to be done at Louisa, roughly 1776-on, but we wanted to do work on the Thomas Davenport, Sr., line as well as the Martin, Sr., line, so after three days of work in Louisa, we went to Goochland Court House early Thursday morning where we had only a nine year period to research (1740-1749) with excellent records. Billy Bob did deeds, I did Court Orders. We finished up by Noon, drove on to Powhatan Court House where we had only Absalom Davenport (son of Richard, Sr., of Caroline) to do, and finished him up by 3:00 pm. We then drove cross country on some rather narrow roads to Amelia Court House where we had several items to collect relative to Dr. Thomas Davenport, Jr., (we found proof of his medical practice and title). We accomplished our task quickly because the courthouse closed at 4:30 pm. We then drove back the 75 miles back to Louisa. On Friday, we touched up a few unfinished records at Louisa Courthouse with a 10:00 am cutoff, then drove to Cumberland Court House, a distance of 75 miles, where we intended to do no more than make a comprehensive survey of the records available. We were there until the courthouse closed at 4:30 pm, completing not only our survey but also Deed Book 2 (Billy Bob) and Court Orders 1 & 2. Cumberland County is so rich in Davenport material that we will need to go back. We need at least another day at Louisa (Deeds through 1800 are done, but Court Order books are only done through 1776). After the courthouse closed, we did the sightseeing Billy Bob described and found Davenport Road, 4.3 miles in length, cutting directly across the more than 2,000 acres once owned by Thomas Davenport, Sr., and his six sons. After returning to Louisa Friday evening, we were, to say the least pooped by the rather exhaustive week, and by then I had the beginnings of a head cold and was sneezing and coughing something fierce. On Saturday, we drove east from Louisa and using back roads drove south into the Old Martin Davenport Country where the counties of Louisa, Spotsylvania and Hanover come together. We crossed into Spotsylvania from Louisa on the Mill Bridge above Davenport Bridge, then circled back via narrow roads to Davenport Bridge where we crossed from Spotsylvania to Hanover County. (The Mill Bridge and Davenport Bridge are no more than three miles apart.) I'm sorry to report that the two-lane concrete bridge that was Davenport Bridge has been replaced by a single-lane, structural steel, plank bridge of recent construction. The last time I was at the old bridge, no more than twenty years ago, the dam across the North Anna upriver was being built, so I doubt that the old bridge was washed out. Billy Bob and I surmised that the bridge had been taken down and rebuilt in the manner that it now exists to prevent logging trucks from using the bridge for their commerce--the bridge is too narrow for any but pickup tracks. Anyway, the Old Davenport Bridge is gone, and there is no name on the new one, except on the Spotsylvania County highway map. As Billy Bob recounted, we then cut through Hanover to the North Anna, again crossed, this time into Caroline County and passed through the land that Thomas Terry, Sr., and Thomas Davenport, Sr., had in Caroline before Thomas and his family moved south of the James (later Cumberland County) in 1740, then down Pamunkey Neck into King William County and to King William Court House, where we turned north to go to the old Davis Davenport Landing (now Horse Landing) and the old Waller Landing (now White Oak Landing). Surprisingly, both areas are nicely developed by modest homes with Mattaponi River frontage. Billy Bob has described the Pamunkey Indian Reservations adequately. We were going to look around West Point at the tip of Pamunkey Neck, but they were having a Crab Festival and everyone in that part of Virginia and his dog were headed there--traffic backed up a mile or so. So Billy Bob and I made a hard right turn at the stoplight before the town, crossed the Pamunkey River, and drove on to Williamsburg. Thus ended our Davenport field trip. Billy Bob did all the driving, was a co-producer in data abstraction and extraction, and took care of all of the logistics. I believe that it was a most successful collaboration. We shared the expense of a Richmond motel room for Saturday night--and napped from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. Then Billy Bob took me to the train station. With no more than a few minor adventures, and a transfer from Amtrak to New Jersey Transit at Newark, I arrived home around noon on Sunday. Billy Bob rested the day in Richmond, headed west Monday morning, stopped off at Albemarle Court House enroute, and then did the long drive back to Western Kentucky. I will be filing a number of reports concerning our many findings on the DAVENPORT-L Rootsweb in the days to come. John Scott Davenport (aka Jersey Doc)