Can Van Meter be the same as Van Matre or similar spelling? All the messages on the Mercer Co. KY list seem to revolve around arguments about such a family--as if this were the only family in Mercer Co.!!!! Those who are looking for Pennsylvania roots--Scotch Irish [not my term--that of authors] or otherwise--might do well to review the three volumes of Lyman Chalkley's volumes on some of the early records [not all of them, I am told] of old Augusta Co., Virginia--which encompassed all of what is now West Virginia and a good many other counties in and around the Shenandoah Valley. There is a Jacob Van Matre listed in Vol. 1. I did not look beyond that. There are three volumes of Chalkley's works called The Scotch-Irish Settlements in Virginia [or similar title] online at this URL _www.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/_ (http://www.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/) There are three volumes, so search the indexes of ALL three volumes. Each volume on rootsweb is indexed. The link to the index found at the bottom of the screen for each volume. You will note, of course, many Scotch-Irish names but there are a few Germanic names also--and perhaps some plain Englishmen!! These are taken from some early Augusta Co., VA court records. One of the ladies listed in Chalkely is my ancestress, Agnes McCord, the second wife of a migrant to Madison Co., KY--Christopher Harris, formerly of Albemarle Co., VA, and perhaps before that, of Louisa Co., VA. (Scottish ladies tend to keep their maiden names, even after marriage, as reading some tombstones in Scotland educated me.) A good many of these Pennsylvania folks ended up in western North Carolina, particularly early Rowan Co., where the land was relatively cheap, and the religion was whatever persons wanted to practice. The early records of Rowan Co., NC, for example, will reflect some of these same surnames found in Augusta Co. Our people were on the move, but even more so after the American Revolution--in spite of our Native American brothers. Some of the travails of these pioneers make your hair curl!! Is there interest in other surnames in Mercer Co., KY? E.W.Wallace **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489