Winnie writes: Subject: [GERMANNA] Books on early marriages To: <germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <6EC3EC6C38A8480A8E353E1D018AC2AE@your4dacd0ea75> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" What book would list early 1650's marriages be? I do not have a date for Frances Ann Jones, d of Cadwallader Jones and Katherine ? to Robert Slaughter. All I have for their son Robert Jr. is married to Mary Smith and her birth date 30 Jul 1713. My not well-infomed response: 1. First, I believe you have to know the likely PLACE where the marriage took place. And Jones is a common name, alas!!. Slaughter will be easier. In the 1650s, it is estimated that the population of Virginia was less than 19,000. [The Hornbook of Virginia History] 2. All marriages, in order to be legal in colonial Virginia, had to take place in the Anglican church, even if you were Quaker or later Preesbyterian, as I understand it. The Anglican church was the Established church before the Revolution. The marriage records were not kept at the county level until rather late in Virginia's history, mostly after the Revolution. Therefore, you have to determine not only the county in which the marriage took place but you have to discover a vestry book for the appropriate parish. And the two are not contiguous [more or less the right word]. In my experience, there are not a great many surviving parish vestry books for Virginia. You might find more information about vestry books on the Library of Virginia website--or post a question to one of the librrarians--on the net. [The Hornbook of Virginia History, at least the 4th edition, has a list of all the parishes in Virginia. Most counties had at least two parishes, and some seem to have had five!!! I quit reading!] 3. Since most of our ancestors in Virginia sooner or later got land--unless they died while working off their indentures, which sometimes seem interminable--your best bet is to determine who the landowners are--and where. See below. According to lectures I have attended, in Virginia, most of the time.when a married man sold his land to another party, his wife had to sign a relinquishment of dower [try Wikipedia for that explanation!], and that is how one tells when a man is married--and the name of his wife [but not her maiden name, unless it is an unusual deed. [One of the lecturers I most admire is from North Carolina, and she said in a long-ago lecture that in Norrth Carolina, a wife was not required to sign such a relinquishment. But if she does, she probably has Virginia roots!!!] Have you found your Jones ancestor in the Land Grants of Virginia? I personally depend a LOT on the eight volumes of Cavaliers and Pioneers and Gertrude E. Gray's abstracts of Northern Neck land grants. But, an easier way for you to search for your Jones fellow is to use the Library of Virginia website and search the land grant abstracts by surname. Most of the time [there are always exceptions], the abstract will give the county in which the land was located AT THAT TIME. All Virginia counties seemed to keep dividing as the population grew, and so one has to keep searching!!!! (lots of fun!!!) _http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/land/index.htm_ (http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/land/index.htm) This online index begins with the latest land grant [maybe, even the 21st or 20th century] and goes down to the earliest ones. You will have a whale of time searching for Joneses!!! Again, because most books in libraries which I have attended are shelved by PLACE, you do need to know where your folks lived--one or many counties, perhaps. Golly, we have to be wonderful detectives to do genealogy, and it takes years of study, and never do you learn it all!!! E.W.Wallace who has made many mistakes but never gives up!!! Here is a very useful URL for information about the formation of Virginia counties. You use dates to determine which set of maps you want to view. _http://www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va_maps/va_cf.htm_ (http://www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va_maps/va_cf.htm) Remove any punctuation fore and aft which AOL may add to the URL. . **************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot 5 Travel Deals! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)