John Polk writes: Keep in mind that Skordas only covers the period 1634-1681 when the eadright system was in effect, which doesn't overlap your period of nterest very much. <snip> oe Lake writes: I also pulled down a copy of Gust Skordas' "Early Settlers of Maryland". In the front intro, he states: "this is an accurate alphabetical index list of ALL the names of those who came & demanded land under the conditions of plantation. __________________________ Well, I’d simply encourage you to read the introductory material to Carson Gibb’s "new and improved" Early Settlers, to get in the right frame of mind. Skordas’ bold claim of accuracy and completeness was a good bit impetuous. I can add that Carson’s good work remains less complete than we’d hope, and that Carson would be the first to agree, were he still with us. For several years, as he was plowing through the Patents and Warrants to upgrade Skordas, I was simultaneously unraveling the warrant claims made for Somerset patents and (often) trying to connect them with the rights expressed in the headrights. Carson and I often padded across the MSA Search Room to seek one another out on interpretations of script and correlations that might provide evidence supporting improvements to our respective lists. This was often helpful, but the lesson we both came away with was that we were looking through glass darkly. As his Early Settler introduction makes clear, the headright system cam e to an end, partly because the Lord Baltimore found the documentation of his clerks incomplete and disorganized. Much remains missing (or undiscovered). I find hundreds of people claimed on Somerset headright grants who are not in Carson’s lists, and (I think, but this requires analysis that I have no time for) a vast number of headrights awarded that were never used, or ended up used in counties other than Somerset (which one would have "expected" to have been used in Somerset by virtue of the holders of the rights). Most of my own ancestors who entered before 1681 are among the missing, never appearing on either headright lists or warrant claims applied to patents in Somerset. Their earliest rights to surveys were acquired by purchase from others, though they themselves would have, by their own economic and social status, have been normally expected to have paid for their own passage. I have long since abandoned trying to imagine why, just admitting that the surviving documentation from 350 years ago is imperfect. Some answers may have been on moldy loose sheets that turned long ago into papier mache in a forgotten corner of the Land Office. I find no Archibald Hopkins among applied headrights for any Somerset survey. The glass is half full. But imagining that Skordas found "everyone", or that everyone can be found, is unrealistic. Time to diminish your expectations, being grateful for what still miraculously exists. John _________________________________________________________________ _______ Email message sent from CompuServe - visit us today at http://www.cs.com

John Lyone wrote (in part): > The glass is half full. But imagining that Skordas found "everyone", or that > everyone can be found, is unrealistic. Time to diminish your expectations, being > grateful for what still miraculously exists. > > > John ==================================================================== You'll need to send Gust an e-mail on the imagining part (but I don't have an address for him) <grin> The different comments on this topic were interesting to read, and there were several good pointers. I would like to add that I talked, on two occasions at the MD Archives, with Carson Gibb and he very generously sent me a copy of his supplement to Skordas' "Early Settlers". And if the Wright "Eastern Shore" series is correct, Archibald never lived in Somerset but that's not written in stone. I checked, as many as I could identify, the "usual" sources during a Nov. '08 session at the Dover DE Archives, but didn't see the Walczyk materials (mentioned by John Polk). I'll proceed, one-stepping it, and somewhere the glass may be full. Further than than that, I deponeth not. Joe Lake

>> And if the Wright "Eastern Shore" series is correct, rchibald never lived in Somerset but that's not written in stone. >> I checked, as many as I could identify, the "usual" sources during a Nov. '08 ession at the Dover DE Archives, but didn't see the Walczyk materials (mentioned by ohn Polk). ____________________________ Again, we should reinforce that, when using secondary compilations such as the various Wright volumes, absence of evidence is hardly evidence of absence. Those books are simply a collection of entries drawn from various material and hardly pretend "completeness". Most of the original records found in the State Archives (DE and MD) are not represented here. Non-appearance of a person in Wright means "does not appear in Wright", not "never lived in Somerset". Gail Walczyk has been a member of this list, though I haven’t seen postings from her in a while. For Frank Walczyk’s Somerset Judicial volumes, one source on the Web seems to be: http://www.esva.net/ghotes/biblio/peters.htm The full series of Frank’s work on these runs from 1707-1717. John ************************************** UESTIONS about POSTING GUIDELINES, SUBSCRIBING or UNSUBSCRIBING? isit The Lower DelMarVa Roots Mailing List FAQ: ttp://www.tyaskin.com/handley/ldrfaq.htm ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message _____________ ___________________________________________________________ Email message sent from CompuServe - visit us today at http://www.cs.com

Forgive me if my question has already been answered, but I just began reading this thread and am finding it fascinating. My ancestor William Pewsey (sic) is listed on the MD Archive website from these books as arriving in MD in 1680. We know that he traveled from VA with Matthew Scarborough. Pusey researchers, as far as I know, have never been able to find out whether Wm. was settled in VA prior to coming to MD or came there from England specifically to take advantage of the headrights system with Scarborough as his sponsor. Does anyone know if this sort of information is available in these books? Many thanks, Mary Anne Pusey