Joe Lake wrote: >>> Several years ago I was in Fauquier Co & (new) Rappahannock Co Va on a research trip. I stopped along the road and spoke with an orchardist (apples) and we got around to land. We were on the close eastern edge of the Blue Ridge and he gestured to the small mountains behind us and said "those hills used to be farmed intensively to the very top, and now look at them" (they were covered with timber, obviously having been allowed to revert to their natural, original state).<<< _________________ Joe, I'm not sure which mountains you were looking at in Rappahannock County, but the area along the Blue Ridge that became Shenandoah National Park had been heavily deforested and used prior to, and up to, establishment of the park in 1935. With the park's creation, the fairly rapid removal and resettlement of families allowed the area to revert to "wilderness" more quickly than otherwise would have been the case, but general economic changes ... hastened by economic depression (and the occurrence of natural tragedies such as the chestnut blight) had much the same kind of effect in many other rural areas during that period of time. It's evidence that, historically, land uses/mixes have been fairly dynamic for a variety of reasons. I imagine that's been so on the Eastern Shore as well. (See www.nps.gov/archive/shen/3b2.htm for an historical overview of Shenandoah National Park's creation.) Incidentally, apple production in more recent times has fallen dramatically in the Shenandoah Valley and along the Blue Ridge in northern Virginia. In Frederick County, Virginia, for example, apple production fell 31% between 1987 and 2002. preserverurallife.net/PRL_Documents/RAS%20AHC%20FNL%20Print.pdf. The decline might reflect a number of pressures on the industry including global apple competition and increasing demand for land for suburban development. Broadly speaking, at least, these types of economic forces don't seem so different from some of the econmic factors that presumably were in play in colonial Delmarva as well. Dave K

Here is some more Vaughan Data from the Nabb Research Center. There is an Index of Indentures & related cases and from Somerset County Judicial Records, 1698-1701, pgs 188-189 are three apprenticeships for William Vaughan's Children. 1698 Vaughan, William age 12 [b. 1686] Apprenticed to William Piper to learn to read by father William Vaughan. Until the age of 21. {Terms of Indenture}- A cow, a calf & a suit of clothes. Pg. 188 Vaughan, Elizabeth age 9 [b. 1689] Apprenticed to Wm Jefferson by her Father William Vaughan. Pg. 188 Vaughan, Leonard age 7 [b. 1691] Apprenticed to learn to be a Cooper Pg. 189 This indicates, Margret Vaughan survived to at least 1691 and that William Vaughan was still living in Somerset Co. Maryland in 1698. The original indentures should reveal a little more [hopefully] than these abstracts. Mike Hilton _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail® goes where you go. On a PC, on the Web, on your phone. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/learnmore/versatility.aspx#mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_WL_HM_versatility_121208