These people are going to haunt me all my days. I'm going to rewrite my will and take out any reference to "with love and affection"! Let's look at some birthdates and "known" facts. William Smoot (the original) came to VA in 1633 on a job. He was already a member of the boatswright guild, therefore he probably was not a teenager. 1642 he was given headrights of 400 acres for the transportation of 8 people, obviously he was not a teenager. (Facts are from Harry Wright Newman's The Smoots of VA and MD). Newman believes some of these people were family members. He also believed Smoot had married and fathered children in England prior to coming to VA. [For those of you with US Navy interests, that property the boatwright obtained is near the current location of the Navy's Newport News Naval Shipyard]. Children (6) believed to be Richard married Elizabeth Thomas married Jane Batten Elizabeth married Humphrey Atwickes (name also involved with Grace Smoot) Ann, born 1640 married 1 William Hungerford and 2 Mr. Barton Alice ??? William married Jane "Our" guy William Smoot the original, moved to Charles County, MD in 1646--a simple jump across the Potomoc from Richmond County, VA where our Durhams and Dodsons eventually lived. The first five children listed above were MD people from then on. William Smoot is believed to have married a Grace at some point in his new world travels. As his children later refer to her as "sister" she may have been his sister, may have been their age, anything could go. He did get headrights for transporting her into MD. William Smoot the original is thought to have died without a will in 1670. I don't think he lived to 1715. But then we have William II. William Smoot II has been given birthdates between 1636-1654. That's a pretty wide span! Because he signed his will William Smoot Sr. in 1715, there is some conjecture that there either was another William Smoot running around Richmond County,VA at the time, or he had a son. There is no evidence of either that I have seen. The LDS Ancestral Charts (AC) and International Genealogical Index (IGI) are where I got the above birthdates. In various places they list him as having three daughters: Mary born in 1693 and twins Elizabeth and Ann in 1698. William Smoot would have been anywhere from 57-39 at the birth of Mary Smoot. Wife Jane Smoot died in 1726. Other Ancestral charts also say Jane and William were parents to Dorothy Durham. Dorothy Durham was born in 1663--we know that from the deposition she gave about James Gilbert in 1704 when she was 41 years old. Her sister Alice -----Chinn Stretchley was born about 1665 (she names Dorothy as her sister in her 1701 will). Third sister Thomzin---Marshall Goodridge is believed to have been born about 1667 (Ancestral charts) and she lived past 1713 (when she was named in William Goodridge's, her second husband's, will.) Look at those sisters' names: Alice and Thomazin. William Smoot the original had a daughter named Alice and a son named Thomas. Back at the birthdates. If William Smoot II was born in 1636, he would have been 27 years old when Dorothy Durham-to-be was born. A likely age to have a child! Dorothy's 1664 birthdate would make it unlikely, however, for Jane to be her mother--not impossible--but unlikely. Assuming Jane was born in 1650 she probably could have had a child at 14 and then twins at 48 but I would call that unlikely. If William II, however first married another woman, perhaps another Jane, he could have fathered those three sisters Dorothy, Alice and Thomazin, seen their mother die and then married Jane when he was older and she was any old trophy-wife age. Dorothy and Thomas Durham's first child, Mary, was born in 1686 when she was 25 years old. William Smoot II was anywhere from 60-22 years of age. He could have been the age of Dorothy or of her father--whomever he was! Since Dorothy and Thomas' son Thomas Durham Jr. married William and Jane Smoot's daughter Mary Smoot, they eventually ended up in-laws, but that was after William gave Dorothy the property. I would like to throw in another red herring. Mary Smoot was willed a landed estate in 1693, right after her birth, by an Elizabeth Grady of Richmond County, VA. According to Newman, the Grady will was was not approved until November 4, 1702. Among the officials approving her will were Thomas Durham (Dorothy's husband). Any idea who this woman was? Meanwhile, the widow Mary Gilbert gave 50 acres of land to Thomas and Dorothy Durham in 1707, though I haven't seen any evidence she gave land to Thomazin Marshall Goodridge alive at the same time. Mrs. James Gilbert was staying with the Durhams in 1704 when James Gilbert went looking for her. My guess would be Mrs. James Gilbert was Mary Gilbert since James died in 1704 and Mary was described as a widow in 1707. So where does this leave us? I don't know! Maybe Dorothy was the daughter of William Smoot by a wife prior to Jane. But how does that explain her sisters? Maybe they didn't get along with William Smoot? They didn't live next door to William Smoot like Dorothy did as Alice died in Lancaster Co, though Thomazin may have still been in the county. On the other hand, William Smoot appears to have only had one child live to maturity--Mary Smoot Durham. She was named in his will along with her children and her mother Jane--the only people named. Dorothy and Thomazin were still alive, but perhaps had already received their inheritance. I think I'm out of ideas now! I've got three different variations of papers written on this family. If you want prose, let me know and I can send them along--but none of them alone makes complete sense! Any other ideas? Michelle Robertule@aol.com Ukiah, CA