Bill Massey of TN wrote: >> If we take William W.'s book to be gospel, he traces our Richard1 back to Edward III who can in turn be traced back to W the C, right? Just wondered if there was something I was missing here.<< Bill has a good point! I thought about this consideration after I pushed "send" on my post. I just haven't gotten into the habit of publically presenting our Massey descent from Edward iii/William the Conqueror/Charlemagne descent. Well known medieval genealogist Paul Reed made a reasonable and convincing case for (i) placing Richard Massey [Richard(1)] of Charles City Co, VA as a son of Edward Massey and Alice Brathwayt of Puddington, co. Chester, England. Their ancestries have been traced to Hamon de Masci and Edward iii. >From Edward, the line is easily extended to King John i, William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, etc.) In his MASSEY GENEALOGY 2000 book, MASSEY-L contributor, William W. Massey included details on what was mentioned in the previous paragraph. He also presented convincing evidence that (ii) brothers Hezekiah(2) [Bill's ancestor], Joseph(3), and Richard(2) [my ancestor] are sons of Richard (1). All Masseys descended from Hezekiah, Joseph, and Richard and other interested researchers should familiarize themselves with these accounts. Although Mssrs. Massey and Reed made a reasonable and convincing case for points (i) and (ii) above, these points have not yet been rigorously documented. In contrast, there is no convincing case for the the frequently seen alternate descent given for brothers Hezekiah, Joseph, and Richard - that they are grandsons of 1636 immigrant bondservant John Massey [actually spelled Mace and Marsey in the original documents.] MASSEY GENEALOGY 2000 summarizes the case against the validity of this descent. Regards to all, Theron Smith.