Dave Duncan has posted a longish but informative query, only part of which I will even attempt to answer. His query, because it reflects a good deal of good research, should be repeated at the bottom of this e-mail. Right off the bat - I see some of the folks he mentions MAY appear in the 1880 census and that information should be pursued. Why? Because each person enumerated was asked [and perhaps answered by the parents, in the event there were minors or other relatives in the home] these questions: 1) Where was your father born? 2) Where was your mother born? (Maybe Dave already knows the answers, but it doesn't hurt to review. Every time I pick up some old reserch notes or photocopies, I discover a new connection!!!) If you have not noted that part of the 1880 census, I urge each of you with relatives living in that time period to review that census and subsequent censuses which ask the same question--even the 1930 one. (That is how I discovered in the 1930 census a maternal uncle with a very common name--his mother was born in England. I picked out a likely location, not far from his birthplace, and looked for a Brown whose mother was born in England!!!) How I used this 1880 census information in one research task: My great-grandfather, living in Texas in 1880 but who was born in Kentucky, told the census-taker his father was born in North Carolina!!!! That made a great deal of difference in where I was to do research in KY for this very common surname!!! The mother was born in Kentucky, so I surmised a marriage took place in Kentucky--and I had some *suspicious characters*, in two likely Kentucky counties, based on some old letters, and some deeds and vital records I had researched. Oh, yes and court records and a rejected Revolutionary War pension--with a familiar given name!!! You may use that information in the 1880 census to good advantage in your own research. This should be FREE on Ancestry.com as they got it from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I believe the index to that census may still be on _www.familysearch.org_ (http://www.familysearch.org) [which is changing constantly]. . I know a good deal about the Harrises [but not all of them] of colonial and post-Revolutionary Albemarle Co., VA and I could easily find more about the Maupins in that same county--and in Louisa Co., the parent county of Albemarle Co. And with a LOT of luck, perhaps in Hanover Co., VA, the parent county of Louisa Co. And the deeds and the marriage records of Henderson Co., KY have also informed me. About the Duncans of Madison Co., I know little. Question to Dave: Does the name Martin Duncan, a resident of Albemarle Co. in 1748 strike a chord? Virginia Land Patent Book 27, p. 25 has this entry [abstracted] Thomas Grigg Yarbrough, 100 acs. Albemarle Co. on the north Fork or Br. of Cunningham, adj. MARTIN DUNCAN; 1 Dec 1748, p. 25 10 shill. (Source: Dennis Ray Hudgins, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. Five: 1741-1749 [Richmond, VA: Virginia Genealogical Society, 1994], p 276) There is another reference in Patent Bk No. 28 John Smith, 400 acs. Albemarle Co. on the Middle fork of Cunningham Cr., adj. MARTIN DUNCAN: 12 Jan 1747/48, p. 309 2 pds. (Ibid, p. 329) I highly recommend that Dave search the Land Patents for persons named Martin on the Library of Virginia website for land patents. The newest ones [as in 1990 and later] appear first. Therefore those patents awarded in colonial days appear toward the end of the list. If there are, say, 400 listings for a surname, certainly you want to use the JUMP button to get toward the end. _http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/land/index.htm_ (http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/land/index.htm) I would ignore, for the time being, those persons who got Northern Neck land grants--which were mainly leases from the estate of Lord Fairfax on which they had to pay quit rents. Look for counties which were some of the parent counties of Albemarle Co.--Louisa, Goochland, perhaps Hanover, and so on. I am wondering whether Duncan family who came to Madison Co., KY and earlier to Albemarle Co. and perhaps to Augusta Co., Va may have been of the Scotch-Irish [not my terminology but wait] people who migrated from Pennsylvania down the Shenandoah Valley to counties in that general area?. If so, a search of this URL may reveal some earlier records. (Dave mentions my ancestress, Agnes McCord, second wife of Christopher Harris the elder. This is the trail of migration which Agnes's family seems to have followed--Pennsylvania to Augusta Co. to Albemarle Co.--and on to Kentucky. and then lots of other places--Texas, Missouri, you name it!!! . I have not done Pennsylvania research of her family, but I did find her and her husband listed in some of the records of Augusta Co. as in this work. _www.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/_ (http://www.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/) There is on this website information [court orders for the most part] from this three-volume work by Lyman Chalkley.: Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia Each volume of this work has its own index. I only clicked on Vol. I index and noted a great many [for the time] males named Duncan. This is just a hunch, but there may be a whole world of research in colonial days to spot the ancestors of your Duncan. I will try to answer some of your Harris of Madison Co., Ky quwetions later, but it seems you have done a good deal of research. My little book by Geoge K. Schweitzer, Phd,ScD, Virginia Genealogical Research tells me Buckingham County, VA was formed in 1761 from Albemarle Co. and later Appomattox Co. So Martin Duncan MAY be one of your progenitors. A probable cousin, E.W.Wallace whose ancestor is Overton Harris (d. 1827 in Madison Co., KY) one of younger sons of Christopher Harris & Agnes McCord Dave's Query which others may want to answer--you may know more of the Harris family of Madison Co. KY (Otter Creek area) than I do!!! I have not had time to read ALL the Harris deeds on film which the Family History Library has!!! EWW //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Dave Duncan" <[email protected]> Subject: [HARRIS-HUNTERS] Harris/Duncan Connection > I'm sending this post to the Harris-Hunters-L list with a copy to the Duncan-L list in hopes that someone might have an interest in responding... I've been following, with interest, the many discussions (HARRIS-HUNTERS-L) on the family of Christopher Harris from Albemarle Co., Va./Madison Co., Ky. and his two wives, Mary Elizabeth Dabney and Agnes McCord. I don't know if there is any connection yet or not to my Buckingham Co. Harrises (ggg-grandfather David H. Harris, b. bet. 1814-1820 Buckingham Co., Va., m. Mary Jane Thomas, b. 1820 Buckingham Co., Va.) but I'm always looking for clues to a possible link. My main Harris/Duncan connection is through my great-grandparents, Mary Rebecca Harris (daughter of Alexander Benjamin Harris and grand-daughter of David H. Harris) and William Archer Duncan, who were married in Buckingham Co. in 1896. In researching the Duncan side of my family, however, I learned of another Harris/Duncan connection. My gggg-grandfather, Fleming Hall Duncan (1774-1826 Amherst Co., Va.), had a nephew (son of William Duncan and Sally Henley), Dr. William Henry Duncan (1803-1892), who married Susannah Woods Harris, daughter of John Harris and Margaret Maupin and grand-daughter of Christopher Harris and Agnes McCord of Albemarle Co., Va./Madison Co., Ky. I am very interested in this connection and any relationship between the Harris and Duncan families. My Fleming Hall Duncan's brother, William (1776-1846), was a Baptist minister from Amherst Co., Va. who left that area of the country in 1830 with his family and headed westward (through Kentucky) eventually! settling in Callaway Co., Mo. Now, here is what initially led me to this post (although I am very interested in any information regarding any of these families): Susannah Woods Harris (1808-1893) had an older brother, William (1805-1872), who married Malinda Duncan of Madison Co., Ky. and I believe Malinda is the daughter of John Duncan (b. 1790, Otter Creek, Madison Co., Ky.) and Lucy White. With two Harris siblings (Susannah and William) marrying two Duncans (Dr. William, son of William Duncan and Sally Henley, and Malinda, daughter of John Duncan and Lucy White), I am curious about the relationships between these families in Madison Co., Ky. and their connections back to Va. (Harrises from Albemarle Co., Va. and my Duncan family from Amherst Co., Va. which was formed from Albemarle Co. in 1761.) I am not very familiar yet with the family of John Duncan (b. 1790) who married Lucy White so, if anyone has information on this Duncan family and how they might relate to the family of Dr. William Henry Duncan (b. 1803, married Susannah Woods Harris) and his ancestors (William, John, John of Amherst Co., Va.), I would appreciate any help you can give. Also, it appears that William Harris and Malinda Duncan had a son, John Duncan Harris (b. 1829, Madison Co., Ky.), who married Nancy Jane White, daughter of Valentine White and Jane Harris Gentry (daughter of Richard Gentry and Jane Harris; grand-daughter of Christopher Harris and Agnes McCord.) Interesting! Can anyone shed some light on these Harris/Duncan connections? Any information you can share would be much appreciated. Thank you! Happy New Year to Harris-Hunters and Duncans everywhere! **************New year...new news. Be the first to know what is making headlines. (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000026)