Re:Joseph Abraham Meredith of VA and KY Posted by: <A HREF="http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/email.cgi?839850627">Bill Vincent</A> Date: February 24, 2002 at 17:43:31 http://genforum.genealogy.com/m/meredith/messages/1727.html In Reply to: <A HREF="http://genforum.genealogy.com/m/meredith/messages/1718.html">I need some enlightenment.</A> by Doyle Sanders of 1891 http://genforum.genealogy.com/m/meredith/messages/1727.html Doyle, Here is my take in this subject. I don't believe that much of this information is really from oral history or long-standing tradition. Most of it is recent misinformation. I will briefly summarize what we actually know, as well as I can. A very diligent and thorough researcher, Gene Smith, did a lot of work during the 1990s, trying to find the parents of Old Joe in Virginia. Gene spent a lot of time in Virginia looking for clues. As data were found, Gene was liberal with the results of his research, passing on copies of documents and preliminary conclusions to several researchers, including Betty Peger, Mikel Meredith, myself, and others. We shared his information with others as well, always with Gene's name attached. Gene's research was all based upon Joe's father being William. At different points in time, he found information that seemed to point to Elizabeth Henry as Joe's father and subsequently to other potential parents. Every time he found a seemingly good lead, he was eventually able to disprove that possibility. He examined every William Meredith he could identify and came up empty. Perhaps there is a reason for that result. Proving a negative is difficult, but when all possibilities are eliminated, perhaps we should examine completely different alternatives. Later I was dismayed to find information that Gene disseminated, including his own prose, embedded in the published works of other people without any credit to Gene. Worse yet, people seemed to pick and choose items from his information to support their notions of the family lineage. We all want to be related to Patrick Henry, after all. There is no indication that Joe was born in Virginia, as far as I know, only that he lived there. Joe is always found close to the SKAGGS family as well. He sold land in Russell Co., VA about the time he moved to KY (ca. 1809). Joe is found living near a William Meredith in VA, and hence the idea that his father was named William. I think we should probably question that premise as well. Perhaps William was Joe's brother instead. Gene Smith has all but given up on finding the parents of Old Joe. He hasn't worked on the MEREDITH family For some time now. I think he will reluctant to pursue this trail again because he spent so many hours and found nothing but dead ends. Gene is one of the best researchers I know, and he will probably never receive the respect that he deserves because all data that he found gave negative results. I, too, welcome help from any researcher having documented evidence that might lead to finding Old Joe's parent(s). I am open to any suggestions, notwithstanding the reputed oral history. Bill Vincent