Hi Sonia, I saw your query on Guilford Co List. I recently joined the Guilford Co. Historical Society, and ordered a few of the back copies of their (EXCELLENT) publication. In the Summer 1997 issue, they published an Orange County Surveyor's Record c. 1798, (by Raymond Dufau Donnell) which states: During the final week of land records access at the Office of NC Secretary of State at Raleigh, the week ending September 25, 1993, the following Orange Co surveyor's report was found. It had been misfiled, badly torn, and was crushed between other papers. After pressing out some of the damage, it was possible to recover most of the information on it. We have reviewed these entries against the land grants and find that several were never completed and that grants were not issued for them. Since a number of the persons listed were known to have had Guilford Co associations, the report is provided here for researchers. "List of Returns made in the Secretarys office by Charles Christmas Surveyor for Orange County together with Each of Their Respective Numbers" among those names are: Acres Warrant Thomas Person 200 240 Thomas Person 300 1297 (I am not sure just what this means - I am guessing that this Thomas (or two Thomas's - the entries are separated by 4 other names) had warrants for the number on the right, but when surveyed, only had the number of acres reported? I know there was some sort of land fraud that went on in Guilford Co where several times more of the numbers of acres available in the county had been fraudently granted; perhaps the same in Orange Co?). So, it may be a thought to look in Orange County for 'your' Thomas. The Fall 1998 issue has a story about a James Parson, son of George and Ruth Green, who established a mill on Deep River at Groomtown Road. Let me know if you would be interested in any information from that story. Hope this helps! Diane