The following is a copy of a letter I sent to Richard C. Owens on Dec. 29, 1989, concerning problems I had noted at that time concerning the Dodson-Smoot-Durham connection. I still cannot place who Dorothy Durham's parents were. She is NOT the daughter of William Smoot, Jr. & wife Jane. She could be the daughter of Williams Smoot, Sr. who was the immigrant. But if so, then who is Mary Gilbert??? Ii have checked in Harry Wright Newman's THE FLOWERING OF THE MARYLAND PALATINATE and other sources, but I cannot find any other references to a Mary Gilbert to try to tie her in to one of these families. --gg ____________ December 29, 1989 From the book, WILLS OF RICHMOND COUNTY, VIRGINIA 1699-1800 by Robert K. Headley, Jr., 1983, p. 29, 32 & 33, there are several references to the Dodson-Smoot-Durham connections. Now Vol. 2 of the Dodson book has come out. I did notice a few errors in the info. I sent for my line. I am listed at the bottom of p. 351 of Vol. I. Also I have great doubts about any Smoot connection in our family. I believe that someone has gotten confused in interpreting the records. I find no proof anywhere that Dorothy, wife of Thomas Durham, was a Smoot before marriage. I note in the Dodson book, p. 4 of Vol. I, that it says that she is Dorothy SMOOT Durham, daughter of William and Jane Smoot. No source is given to prove that she was a Smoot. There is mention of two sisters, Alice Chinn Stretchley and Thomazin Marshall. The fact that Dorothy had these two sisters IS proven, BUT there is nowhere that says their maiden name was Smoot. Now notice on page 1411 of Vol. II, at the top it gives a copy of Alice Stretchley's will. It mentions her sisters, Dorothy Durham and Thomazin Marshall. Still, it does not say what their maiden name was. No brothers are listed (and I assume they had no brothers, or surely one of them would be listed. Also no Smoots are listed in the document, not even as witnesses.) I have another typed copy of Alice Stretchley's will, but it says about the same as what is in the book. In Headley's book, on p. 29, it says that Dorothy Durham was PROBABLY related to William Smoot, Sr. No reasoning or proof behind this statement is given. Now the place where some people get confused is in the Durham-Smoot connection shown on p. 32 of Headley's book. William Smoot and wife Jane had a daughter named MARY Smoot who married Thomas Durham, ca. 1710. THIS Thomas Durham was a son of the Thomas Durham who married Dorothy, and his wife was MARY SMOOT, not Dorothy. Now I have some records on the Smoot family from a book that was printed many years ago. I only copied pages concerning the early generations of Smoots in this country. There could be more that I should have copied. It is THE SMOOTS OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA by Harry Wright Newman, 1936. From the Smoot book, only 3 children are listed for William and Jane Smoot. Their births are listed in records of Durham Parish, Richmond Co., VA: Mary Smoot b. April 7, 1693 (md. Thomas Durham, son of Thomas & Dorothy Durham) Elizabeth Smoot b. March 16, 1696 (twins) Anne Smoot b. March 16, 1698 It is possible that there were other children of William and Jane Smoot, but that is immaterial at this time. Notice that MARY SMOOT b. 1693 above was the wife of Thomas Durham, a son of Thomas and Dorothy Durham. If Dorothy Durham also was a daughter of William and Jane Smoot, then that means that her son, Thomas Durham, was married to her sister! Impossible!!!! Now there could still be a Smoot connection somewhere, but I haven't been able to pinpoint it. William Smoot above was a son of William Smoot, Sr. who was married probably twice. This William Smoot was the immigrant ancestor from England. Either he could be the father of the 3 sisters in the will, Mary Durham, Thomazin Marshall, and Alice Chinn Stretchley, or else one of his older sons. Now there is an Alice Smoot listed as daughter of the William Smoot, Sr. No dates or marriage are listed. She could possibly be the Alice Chinn Stretchley. But her sisters are not listed (of course they were women, so there might not be many records on them before their marriage). But it seems odd that Dorothy and Thomazin are not listed in any Smoot records. It also seems odd that no Smoots or Smoot relatives are listed in Alice Stretchley's will. Now I have noticed in Rev. S. E. Lucas's book, SUPPLEMENT TO THE HISTORY OF THE DODSON-DOTSON FAMILY OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, 1966, there is another possible connection for the parentage of Dorothy Durham. On p. 106 and 107 is an indenture to Thomas Durham and wife Dorothy from a Mary M. GILBERT, a widow. It seems like this could very probably be Dorothy's mother. The indenture is made in 1707. (The will of Alice Stretchley was made in 1701, so this still could cause a problem.) On p. 108 of the supplement is the will of Thomas Durham in Richmond County, 1715. In it he gives property to his children that was conveyed to him by MARY GILBERT. It seems she must have been a close relative, a mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, or aunt. Also some pages from BERMUDA SETTLERS OF THE 17TH CENTURY by Julia E. Mercer, 1982, gives further info. on the Durham-Hunt lineage we share. Our Thomas Durham who married Dorothy, was born in 1661, son of Henry Durham and Judith Hunt. Judith is daughter of Governor Richard Hunt of Bermuda and probably his first wife Sarah (maiden name unknown.) _______________________ That is the end of my letter to Richard C. Owens. See the earlier posts I made on this list regarding the Dodsons, Durhams, and Smoots for copies of the deeds and wills and other items mentioned above. --Glenn Gohr ggohr01@mail.orion.org