Are you conjecturing that prior to marrying Thomas Durham, Dorothy ? was married to William Smoot III? That won't work because Mr. and Mrs. Durham were alive and married in 1700 when those powers of attorney were drawn up. Nice try Steve! But are you also suggesting that William Smoot Jr. may have owed money to the Durhams and the land William Smoot Sr. passed on to Dorothy Durham was the payment? That brings us back to the question of why was it only to Dorothy? You could tell better than I if Smoot is a common name, but I wouldn't think so. Someone wrote that Jr and Sr applied whether the individuals with the same name were related or not--it was just used to tell them apart. Because William Smoot Sr. is designated as such, I would assume he was the father; especially since that designation occurred in William Smoot Sr.'s will. Is it possible Jr moved on to other spots? This is the first time I've seen anything on him. If I ever get back to a library, I'll check records. But what about the 1704 VA tithes? If I can find them again on the Internet, I'll look. In your experience are children who moved away mentioned in wills? It seems to me from wills I've read, if the kid isn't in the neighborhood, he doesn't inherit. That's why I wonder if William Smoot Jr. may have headed west and therefore been overlooked in the will. Of course he was a lawyer, . . . ! FYI, a bunch of us Dodsons are also Hanks relations: In 1711 Hester Mills married William Hanks Jr. Mary Smoot Durham's daughter Sarah married his nephew William Hanks (son of Luke) much later. It's all so interconnected! Michelle Robertule@aol.com Ukiah, CA