Hoping you can help me decipher a family story about my ancestor Washington Henry Purkins....he supposedly was tired of being mistaken for all the other Perkins' that he changed the "e " to a "u" and it stuck...He was the son of Gabriel Perkins...do not have a birth or death for him ...he married Ann Howerton in Essex County VA. 1813...His son William Ransom b. 12-21-1815 d. 9-21-1858 m.Mary Ann DuVal 12-3-1839.....any help would be appreciated...thanks barb in St. Louis.....