Good evening fellow genealogists!! Its great to be back home after a month of travel in Switzerland (daughter lives in Baden) and other interesting places. When I left on June 19th I thought I had sent out ALL the orders for Hagy's thesis, Castle's Woods-Frontier Virginia Settlement 1766-1799. If I failed to respond to an e-mail or misplaced an order please contact me so I can resolve any outstanding situations. I hope those of you who received a copy enjoyed it and any feedback would be appreciated. This document is important for many of us with southwest Virgina ancestry and I am happy to provide it to interested researchers. Probably the best book for Augusta County/Rockbridge County research is Tinkling Spring, Headwaters of Freedom by Howard McKnight Wilson first published in 1954 with a single reprint in the mid 1970's. I would love to be able to provide this resource to you but unfortunately it is copywrited. Here is the good news!! Yesterday I received an e-mail from Pastor Fred at the church and he told me that the Session met to discuss my request for permission to reproduce the book for fellow genealogists (that request was denied) BUT they have decided to reprint the book. I will keep everyone advised on this project and highly recommend the purchase of this book as soon as it becomes available. There is an early landowners map in the back of the book which shows where everyone on the Beverly patent lived and it is amazing how many of those families ended up next to each other in southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. I think you can get a copy of the map through the Rockbridge county Historical Society for under $10.00. As you can see, we are working our way back in time from Castle's Woods to Augusta/Rockbridge County (1740's-1750's) and it is my desire to provide a link to Ulster which might provide the necessary clues to make the family connections between the Ulster/Virginia families that many of us originate from. The best resource I have found is a pair of obscure books written in the early 1900's by the Reverend Alexander Lecky titled, "In the Early Days of the Laggan Presbytery" and its companion book, "The Laggan and Its Presbyterianism." Lecky has compiled much quality information on the Presbyterian families that lived in the fertile, low-lying area around Derry/Donegal that was referred to as the Laggan in early times. This data is organized by Parish and includes hundreds and hundreds of family names that are a mirror of the names found in Augusta/Rockbridge County just a generation later. Since the names are by Parish and townlands it makes sense to study the allied families so for example if you see the following: Taboyn now Monreagh Matthew Lindsay, John Aikine, Alexander Houston, Robert Cowan, Archibald Alexander, Robert Scott, Wm, Mackie, Wm. Bell, John Kilgour, James Moore, John Graham, John Gay, Richard Armstrong, and others Parish of Raphoe Robert Anderson, Patrick Bell, Alexander Stuart, William Ramsay, Robert Walker, Robert Gray, John McClure, and others This information is extensive and gives us an interesting picture of the arrangement of families kind of like the early land owners map of Augusta/Rockbridge county. These books are a must if you are searching for a connection between Ulster and early Virgina. They are not copywrited and I can make copies for interested researchers. There are 211 pages of serious material. Contact me privately if you want me to make you a copy. Regards, Robert Cowan