On Sat, 3 Apr 1999, Shirley L Wilcox wrote: > Paddy, > > I found the Mary Burns land petition very interesting. How can you be > sure who her "only son" is? > > Shirley Of course you are correct, I cannot know for sure who her only son was but since John NEVILL paid for her passage across the lake and since a John NEVELL age 7 was living with her on the 1776 Census of MD then he would certainly be a very likely candidate. Perhaps when I have a chance to look at the land abstracts and instruments for her property in Humberstone Twp. next week I can say for sure that he was her son. It may not be possible to prove 100% as our records for the early 1800's are not good. The only other Burns I have found in the early records of the area is a Scottish minister and he was not in Humberstone Twp. Here are the pertinent land grants: Mary BURNS Lot 22 Conc. 2, Humberstone Twp., Welland Co. Moses NEVILL Lot 23 Conc. 2, Humberstone John NEVILL Lot 24 Conc. 2, Humberstone Hannah MITCHELL Lot 24 Conc. 1, Humberstone (land went to Thomas NEVILL s/o Moses after her death) It certainly appears to be a little family settlement. Unfortunately the land petitions for Moses and John are missing as luck would have it. I will see if the petitions for Thomas Welsh have anything to say on the Nevills. I will let you know of further developments and thanks for pulling me up on stating something as fact when I should have said probable; I know better. As always, I appreciate your input. Paddy