Enjoyed all the Flowerdew Hundred info! Neat to have the Historical Inventory info & associated map detail & historic photos, and the current satellite map & photo of the modern windmill reproduction. Thanks, all. BPN

Al, That is one fabulous picture! Thanks so much for finding it. Diana

Debbie, you rascal, you see what happens when we get off list.....we inevitably deny ourselves the advantage of having multiple folks working on a question and instead only have one person working on the question. Go....and let's both sin no more, plueese.<g> Barb ET AL here's the thread: I had reversed a couple of dates on her people in that Screven County Cemeteries document and Debbie had asked if I was just "testing" her. I said no 'mam, I just mixed 'em up and it's now corrected. She then asked about some resources for getting to North Newinton Baptist Church where William E. Poythress and wife Martha are buried. I gave her phone # etc. Then she commented to the effect that it sure did look sensible to her to at least ask about linking this William E. to the William (18 yrs. old) who was oldest "child" living with Hester Poythress in the 1850 census. That jolted me because I had just never studied it hard enough and the more I looked the better "it" looked. I then said >Fret no more about this lady.  I must have a ton of paper on her which you >have motivated me to sit down and put into a sensible form.  Give me a few >days would you?    And if you are descended from her you are also descended >from her husband Meredith Poythress, Sr. which is where I'm guessing you >got the Poythress name if that is your line. I then said Oh, I'm sure we are related and I but I only THINK I know how.  I speculate that John White Poythress, second son of Meredith Poythress, Sr. and Hester Wilder Mock led his whole bunch down to the Southern half of Screven.  Only a guess but I can account for him down there and I can't account for anybody else down there prior to him getting there.  A slender reed to be leaning on but a reed never-the-less.   Then: Subj: Hester Date: 9/7/01 To: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> Debbie.......Hot Ziggedy!  Now I see where you are going and it never occurred to me.  I guess I wasn't paying attention.  Sorry. If you are right Deb, and I think you are but it's just now dawning on me, you are putting together highly likely linkage for Bud Poythress, yourself, Christine Poythress, and even that crowd of South Carolinians of Bud's friend Doris Poythress and the Evans' Screven connection is confirmed once again but that one was never  much in doubt anyway. You are placing William Poythress as the son of Hester Poythress in the 1850 Screven census at age 18 to be the same William E. Poythress m. (7 Dec 1857) Martha J.  ______ .  We have a complete CSA service and pension record on William E. and subsequent widow Martha that is helpful in this. We don't exactly have a picture of William E. and Martha and Hester (in beige, mother of the groom) all standing at the N. Newington Baptist Church altar but we have just about everything else.  I have only one tiny troubling fact which is that William E. is shown in one place (undocumented) as "b. VA."  However, he is ALSO documented showing "b. S.C." (census) and "b. Ga." (pension application).  I think S. C. may likely be correct but that one doesn't much matter so let's proceed admitting the small worry of the "VA" matter. A point is that by the time William E. Poythress is doing any "testifying" on his own behalf he gives 3 different birth dates (all within 1 to 2 years of the 1850 census- derived ages which would have been fine even if he wasn't 75 years old when he was testifying. But who was keeping score in those days anyway?).  I think it is significant that he never varies from the birth "date" of July 11 in any of half dozen records and that is the date on his grave in N. Newington Baptist Church where he is buried with wife Martha J. As for pensions, remember, CSA pensions were STATE pensions.  Even if William E. was born in S. C. (which he could easily have been) or even VA, he is likely "motivated" to "claim" born "Ga." for a "Ga." pension although technically it wouldn't have denied him pension eligibilty since he served in a Georgia unit. With a lack of substantiated records, states were taking a critical view as the claims mounted. In a couple of other places (on the applications) the answers to the birthplace question for William E. are (slyly?) left blank on the pension papers. I'm a bit shaky here but I believe one of the several children of William E. and Martha J. Poythress was J. Warren Poythress m. Louisianna Hortense Lucas on 11 Jan 1892 (Lucas b. 27 Apr 1870, d. 19 Sep 1969).  We have a J. Warren Poythress working at S. Guckenheimer and Sons as a "clk." at 202 State St. in Savannah in 1891.  That might ring a bell for Christine Poythress in Nashville. So, if all of these people on the listserver (and maybe others) are descended from Hester Poythress they are also descended from husband Meredith Poythress and Thomas Poythress of Brunswick/Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia. Hester has been worrisome to us all along, the principle questions being: 1) was "Hester" one lady or two as appear in the records, census and otherwise? 2) if she is one in the same lady, did she marry second Meredith Poythress, Sr. or    Meredith Poythress, Jr.?  This is an issue Bud and I have tussled with from time    to time.  It's not a matter of huge importance but it does put Hester's    descendants in one generation or the other which I suppose is only a matter of    plugging the right name(s) into one's chart. 3. If Hester is one lady, then who were William and the other minor children in the       Screven1850 Census with Hester as head of household ?  William (18) b. at    Hester's age 37 (?) is a possible as a son but Mary A. (14), Lucy M. (9) and Jane    (5) would seem to be getting out there a ways. I'll be working on a time line for the "one or two" Hesters which seems the best way to get a bead on her/them.  If she is indeed one lady, she lead a hugely complicated life and a personal time line would seem to get at it best. For the process, any contributions appreciated. Maynard Now.....up to speed.....maybe I'm making to much of this. What do the two Williams have in common: same name, same birth date (roughly), same descendency from Hester and Meredith, and both have SC "connections". I guess that's a start. We've started with a lot less. For working on a time line for Hester I'll take all the help I can get but it might be better to just wait and critique my time line since I believe I have accumulated just about everything about Hester that went on by way of conversations on the list server over the past few years. Sorry to have left you all out of the loop on this one. Maynard

Folks, Seems like this is Flowerdew Hundred week :-). In addition to Diana Diamond's terrific new post alerting us to the image archive and surveys at the LVA, I've just posted a new image file showing the modern location of the Flowerdew Hundred Windmill. As many of you know, this is a replica (enlarged, I believe) of the first windmill in America built on this property. I was told that the original windmill was closer to the river than the replica now in operation. The image is an aerial photo of the Flowerdew plantation from the USGS, a zoomed in aerial of the windmill (I found it in the image because of the shadow cast by the arms of the windmill) and a recent photo of the actual windmill. The photo shows the James River and the existing structures and roadways. If you want to bypass the web homepage and just take a quick look at the image simply link directly to http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~poythress/airmap.jpg Best, Al Tims

----- Original Message ----- From: Don Raiskup To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 11:29 PM HI, I AM JUST STARTING TO RESEARCH OUR FAMILY ROOTS, POYTRESS. I CAME ACROSS THIS WEB SITE WITH A DIFFERENT SPELLING AND READ SOME OF THE E MAILS FROM OTHER PEOPLE THAT HAVE RESEARCHED THE POYTRESS NAME. MY GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS JOHN A POYTRESS FROM BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND HIS WIFE WAS MARY POYTRESS. THEY HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED NELLIE WHICH WAS MY GRANDMOTHER. MARY DIED AND JOHN WENT BACK TO ENGLAND AND REMARRIED AN ELLEN ANNIE HOPKINS FROM GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND. THEY ALL CAME OVER TO THE US IN THE 1900'S . THEY SETTLED IN FRESNO, CA. THE HOME PLACE WAS THE TOWN OF EASTON WHICH IT IS NOW CALLED, WHICH IS AROUND 7 MILES OUT OF FRESNO. JOHN AND ELLEN ENDED UP HAVING CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN, ANNIE JANE, ETHEL, KATHLEEN, RODRICK, JOHN, WILSON, DOROTHY, AND PHYLLIS. ELLEN DIED AND JOHN REMARRIED AGAIN. IF YOU HAVE COME ACROSS ANY FAMILY BY THIS SPELLING PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I DID READ AN EMAIL ABOUT A HOPKINS. DON'T KNOW IF THEY WOULD BE RELATED! . ! THERE ARE THE FAMILIES IN FRESNO THAT A! RE RELATED, POYTRESS, HOPKINS, RANSOMS. AS FAR AS I KNOW OUR FAMILIES CAME OVER TO ELLIS ISLAND AND THEN CAME TO FRESNO, CA. IF ANYONE HAS ANY INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FAMILY ROOTS IN ENGLAND PLEASE E MAIL ME. I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. THANKS. MARTY RAISKUP [email protected] --- Don Raiskup --- [email protected] --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.

Maynard, Could you please share with us whatever it was that Debbie sent you, that prompted you put these thoughts together? Thanks, Barbara (BPN) = = = = From: [email protected] Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:57:04 EDT Subject: Hester To: [email protected] Debbie.......Hot Ziggedy! Now I see where you are going and it never occurred to me. I guess I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. If you are right Deb, and I think you are but it's just now dawning on me, you are putting together highly likely linkage for Bud Poythress, yourself, Christine Poythress, and even that crowd of South Carolinians of Bud's friend Doris Poythress and the Evans' Screven connection is confirmed once again but that one was never much in doubt anyway. You are placing William Poythress as the son of Hester Poythress in the 1850 Screven census at age 18 to be the same William E. Poythress m. (7 Dec 1857) Martha J. ______ . We have a complete CSA service and pension record on William E. and subsequent widow Martha that is helpful in this. We don't exactly have a picture of William E. and Martha and Hester (in beige, mother of the groom) all standing at the N. Newington Baptist Church altar but we have just about everything else. I have only one tiny troubling fact which is that William E. is shown in one place (undocumented) as "b. VA." However, he is ALSO documented showing "b. S.C." (census) and "b. Ga." (pension application). I think S. C. may likely be correct but that one doesn't much matter so let's proceed admitting the small worry of the "VA" matter. A point is that by the time William E. Poythress is doing any "testifying" on his own behalf he gives 3 different birth dates (all within 1 to 2 years of the 1850 census- derived ages which would have been fine even if he wasn't 75 years old when he was testifying. But who was keeping score in those days anyway?). I think it is significant that he never varies from the birth "date" of July 11 in any of half dozen records and that is the date on his grave in N. Newington Baptist Church where he is buried with wife Martha J. As for pensions, remember, CSA pensions were STATE pensions. Even if William E. was born in S. C. (which he could easily have been) or even VA, he is likely "motivated" to "claim" born "Ga." for a "Ga." pension although technically it wouldn't have denied him pension eligibilty since he served in a Georgia unit. With a lack of substantiated records, states were taking a critical view as the claims mounted. In a couple of other places (on the applications) the answers to the birthplace question for William E. are (slyly?) left blank on the pension papers. I'm a bit shaky here but I believe one of the several children of William E. and Martha J. Poythress was J. Warren Poythress m. Louisianna Hortense Lucas on 11 Jan 1892 (Lucas b. 27 Apr 1870, d. 19 Sep 1969). We have a J. Warren Poythress working at S. Guckenheimer and Sons as a "clk." at 202 State St. in Savannah in 1891. That might ring a bell for Christine Poythress in Nashville. So, if all of these people on the listserver (and maybe others) are descended from Hester Poythress they are also descended from husband Meredith Poythress and Thomas Poythress of Brunswick/Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia. Hester has been worrisome to us all along, the principle questions being: 1) was "Hester" one lady or two as appear in the records, census and otherwise? 2) if she is one in the same lady, did she marry second Meredith Poythress, Sr. or Meredith Poythress, Jr.? This is an issue Bud and I have tussled with from time to time. It's not a matter of huge importance but it does put Hester's descendants in one generation or the other which I suppose is only a matter of plugging the right name(s) into one's chart. 3. If Hester is one lady, then who were William and the other minor children in the Screven1850 Census with Hester as head of household ? William (18) b. at Hester's age 37 is a possible as a son but Mary A. (14), Lucy M. (9) and Jane (5) would seem to be getting out there a ways. I'll be working on a time line for the "one or two" Hesters which seems the best way to get a bead on her/them. If she is indeed one lady, she lead a hugely complicated life and a personal time line would seem to get at it best. For the process, any contributions appreciated. Maynard

Debbie.......Hot Ziggedy! Now I see where you are going and it never occurred to me. I guess I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. If you are right Deb, and I think you are but it's just now dawning on me, you are putting together highly likely linkage for Bud Poythress, yourself, Christine Poythress, and even that crowd of South Carolinians of Bud's friend Doris Poythress and the Evans' Screven connection is confirmed once again but that one was never much in doubt anyway. You are placing William Poythress as the son of Hester Poythress in the 1850 Screven census at age 18 to be the same William E. Poythress m. (7 Dec 1857) Martha J. ______ . We have a complete CSA service and pension record on William E. and subsequent widow Martha that is helpful in this. We don't exactly have a picture of William E. and Martha and Hester (in beige, mother of the groom) all standing at the N. Newington Baptist Church altar but we have just about everything else. I have only one tiny troubling fact which is that William E. is shown in one place (undocumented) as "b. VA." However, he is ALSO documented showing "b. S.C." (census) and "b. Ga." (pension application). I think S. C. may likely be correct but that one doesn't much matter so let's proceed admitting the small worry of the "VA" matter. A point is that by the time William E. Poythress is doing any "testifying" on his own behalf he gives 3 different birth dates (all within 1 to 2 years of the 1850 census- derived ages which would have been fine even if he wasn't 75 years old when he was testifying. But who was keeping score in those days anyway?). I think it is significant that he never varies from the birth "date" of July 11 in any of half dozen records and that is the date on his grave in N. Newington Baptist Church where he is buried with wife Martha J. As for pensions, remember, CSA pensions were STATE pensions. Even if William E. was born in S. C. (which he could easily have been) or even VA, he is likely "motivated" to "claim" born "Ga." for a "Ga." pension although technically it wouldn't have denied him pension eligibilty since he served in a Georgia unit. With a lack of substantiated records, states were taking a critical view as the claims mounted. In a couple of other places (on the applications) the answers to the birthplace question for William E. are (slyly?) left blank on the pension papers. I'm a bit shaky here but I believe one of the several children of William E. and Martha J. Poythress was J. Warren Poythress m. Louisianna Hortense Lucas on 11 Jan 1892 (Lucas b. 27 Apr 1870, d. 19 Sep 1969). We have a J. Warren Poythress working at S. Guckenheimer and Sons as a "clk." at 202 State St. in Savannah in 1891. That might ring a bell for Christine Poythress in Nashville. So, if all of these people on the listserver (and maybe others) are descended from Hester Poythress they are also descended from husband Meredith Poythress and Thomas Poythress of Brunswick/Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia. Hester has been worrisome to us all along, the principle questions being: 1) was "Hester" one lady or two as appear in the records, census and otherwise? 2) if she is one in the same lady, did she marry second Meredith Poythress, Sr. or Meredith Poythress, Jr.? This is an issue Bud and I have tussled with from time to time. It's not a matter of huge importance but it does put Hester's descendants in one generation or the other which I suppose is only a matter of plugging the right name(s) into one's chart. 3. If Hester is one lady, then who were William and the other minor children in the Screven1850 Census with Hester as head of household ? William (18) b. at Hester's age 37 is a possible as a son but Mary A. (14), Lucy M. (9) and Jane (5) would seem to be getting out there a ways. I'll be working on a time line for the "one or two" Hesters which seems the best way to get a bead on her/them. If she is indeed one lady, she lead a hugely complicated life and a personal time line would seem to get at it best. For the process, any contributions appreciated. Maynard

The material below is attached to some pages I mentioned earlier (On line primer on Deeds and Land Records), but I don't think this material was actually noted before. I have been pursuing a lead I picked up in the R. Bolling Batte cards that Hannah Unknown was the wife not only of Francis Poythress VA [(P-1) DCB], but also Bernard Claiborne, and she was also called in some places Georgianna. If I have made a correct connection/correction, Hannah Unknown would be Hannah Ravenscroft. If this makes sense to any one based on evidence already in hand, let me know. Batte presents this woman several different ways, but made the correction from Georgianna to Hannah only once, on the Claiborne cards. http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/cgi-bin/drawerIII/disk8/CC/BA/010/C0115?5 In the material below, Lou and Steve, see a Henry Wall. http://www.ultranet.com/~deeds/Dinwiddi.txt Item Dat Ref To Re 94 2 Nov 1726 VPB 13 p12-14 Thomas Ravenscraft of 2418a on the Lower Side of Nummisseen Cre 93 18 Apr 1722 VPB 11 p83-84 Thomas Ravenscroft, W 2593a on the lower side of Nummisseen Cre 22 p420/42 Charles Poythress 300a on the lower side of the Oldfield Br 274 22 Sep 1739 VPB 18 p366 Francis Poythress 400a PGCo 117 22 Sep 1739 VPB 18 p420-42 Francis Poythress, Ge 3887a PGCo. on the North side of Butterwo 256 20 Sep 1745 VPB 22 p496-49 John Poythress junior 844a PGC on the N side of Tomahitton Swam 246 27 February 173 VPB 15 p437-43 Joshua Poythress of P 382a in the County aforesaid on the South 542 29 May 1780, 4t CGB A p328-329 Peter Poythress Nearly 13 Acres by Survey Bearing Date th 215 1 Jun 1741 VPB 19 p950-95 William Poythress, Ge 1572a PGCo upon the upper side of Tommahe 247 24 March 1734/3 VPB 15 p461-46 William Poythress Gen 400a being near Sappone Chappel adjoyning 152 3 Aug 1752 VPB 31 p171 William Poythress 531a DNCo. on the S side of Butterwood Sw 151 1 June 1741 VPB 19 p983 Majr. William Poythre 200a Prince George County 145 9 July 1724 VPB 12 p68 Capt. Francis Poythri 387a on the Upper or Wet Side of Butterwo 216 20 Jun 1733 VPB 15 p59 Thomas Poythris of PG 400a sd Co. on the Lower or N side of Tom 214 20 June 1733, 7 William Poythris of P VPB 15 p39 144 9 July 1724 VPB 12 p68 William Poythris of P 206a on both Sides of the Ready Br. of Bu 217 20 June 1733, 7 VPB 15 p61-62 William Poythris of P 381a PGCO on the S side of Butterwood Swa 25 21 Apr 1690 VPB 8 p76 Henry Wall [to Eaton] 275a in Bristoll parish in Charles Citty 12 p68-69 John Woodleif Senr. o 212a on the Upper Side Butterwood Swamp i 478 12 Jan 1746/47 VPB 25 p333-33 Peter Woodlief/Woodle 450a Prince George Co. on the N side of B 501 1 Dec 1740 VPB 19 p870 John Worsham, John Bo 400a PGCO 525 12 Jan 1746/47 VPB 25 p331-33 Joseph Worsham 233a PGCO N side of Stoney Cr. 468 25 November 174 VPB 23 p635-63 Francis Wyatt 377a PGCO on the Upper side of Butterwood 325 20 Aug 1745 VPB 22 p433-44 Joshua Wynn 154a Prince George Co. on the N side of S 170 31 Oct 1726 VPB 13 p42-43 Robert Wynne of Surry 400a both Sides the Miery Meadow of Beavo 160 17 August 1725 VPB 12 p273 Slowman Wynne 176a PGCo 327 20 Aug 1745 VPB 22 p460-46 Henry Wythe 1000a PGCo. on both sides of Chamberlains

>   DO NOT OPEN "NEW PICTURES OF FAMILY" > >   This looks like a bad one that's coming. Forward this to others. >   Please read and forward to everyone you know...... > >  DO NOT OPEN "NEW PICTURES OF FAMILY" It is a virus that will erase >  your whole "C" drive. It will come to you in the form of an E-Mail >  from a familiar person. I repeat a friend sent it to me, but called & > warned >  me before I opened it. He was not so lucky and now he can't even start >  his computer! > >  Forward this to everyone in your address book. I would rather >  receive this 25 times than not at all. > >   Also: Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus was >  discovered recently. If you receive an email called "FAMILY >  PICTURES," do not open it. Delete it right away! This virus removes all > dynamic >  link libraries (.dll files) from your computer. Your computer will not be >  able to boot up. >  

The URL below takes you to a web page at the Library of Virginia with pictures of a former dwelling on Flowerdew and a map. The map is very large, and some patience is required if you want see details. You have first to download pages of the report in TIFF format before you can read them. But the WPA report is interesting. The pictures are of a house that is no longer standing. http://image.vtls.com/VHI/html/22/0412.html A summary of the material, at http://eagle.vsla.edu/cgi-bin/vhi.gateway?bib=7000686260 Diana

Cindy, received the addresses of an e-mail from you but the message block was blank. Would you resend pls? Thanks, Maynard

For those keeping a database on this guy (who is a data base all by himself): Burke County, GA Tax Digests year 1798 General Tax List by Assessors GDAH Microfilm 186/6 Poythress, George, Waynesboro, GA Property: Houses - 1 Outhouses - 1 (means out buildings, not privies) Acres - 1 Valuation as determined by the principle assessor: : $ 1500 21 Feb 1800, Signed: Thomas Yarborough, Assessor, Burke County Poythress, George, Waynesboro, GA Property Slaves Total slaves: 4 Excused by state because of disability: 1 Ages 12-50 elibible: 3 [no dollar value stated, leaving us to assume there was a probably a uniform head tax applicable to all] 12 Feb 1800, Signed: Thomas Yarborough, Assessor, Burke County. Maynard

Please send all e-mail to this address until future notice. [email protected] Thanks, Judy

From the July/Aug 2001 LVA newsletter: "DATABASE ALLOWS SEARCHES OF LAND OFFICE PATENTS AND GRANTS The Library of Virginia's Digital Library Program has completed the creation of a fully searchable database to the Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants Collection. The database consists of 161,467 records and links to the digital images of the original documents. To use the database go to the Library's Web site (www.lva.lib.va.us) and click on Digital Library Program then on Land Records. The database consists of entries from two major collections found at the Library of Virginia plus a small collection of field notes and plats of tracts surveyed by Guy Broadwater in 1749. The Colonial Land Office Patents, 1623-1774, contain the title of the sovereign or protector under whom it was issued, the consideration for which it was issued, the name of the patentee, the size of the tract, the county of location, a description of the land, any reservations for the crown and the date the patent was signed. This collection includes the patents recorded by the office of the Secretary of the Colony. The records of the Virginia Land Office, 1779-1993, contain recorded copies of grants issued from the establishment of the Land Office in 1779. Grants issued after 1993 are not part of the on-line collection but are available on microfilm. These records include the name of the grantee, a description of the land granted and the date on which the grant was signed. After 1779 the surveys also were also recorded in the Land Office. These documents have been microfilmed but are not part of this on-line collection. In 1948, the records of the Land Office, which were then in the custody of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, were transferred to the State Library and, by act of Assembly, March 5, 1952, the duties of the Register of the Land Office were transferred from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the State Librarian. Following the reorganization of the Land Office, the localities were charged with the issuing of titles to vacant lands, primarily for non-payment of taxes. The online collection consists of digitalized images of recorded Land Office patents and grants, recorded Northern Neck grants and recorded Northern Neck surveys (1786-1874). There are no pre-1779 Land Office surveys. Only original documents exist for the Northern Neck plats and certificates at present." Maynard

Maynard, you may recall that last December you posted a notice to the list about Flowerdew Hundred, the large spread of land that once belonged to Joshua Poythress. You visited there in November when the site was largely closed to visitors. For visiting times see http://www.flowerdew.org/ Yesterday, I made a day trip to the James River area of the ancestors, passing Turkey Island (not really an island), Shirley Plantation of the Lees, Berkeley Plantation, home of the Harrisons, Westover, home of the Byrds (on land once owned by Theoderick Bland) and then in a 15 minute drive over the James River to Flowerdew Hundred. I expected to be there a half an hour, but was quite amazed after several hours. On approaching the small museum on the property a young lady popped out and immediately said the house on the property was new but we could visit the museum and take a bus tour of the archeological sights. The museum was interesting, but the bus tour, which included two knowledgeable experts from the foundation, my husband and me, took us on the five or six miles on rough roads along the river past planted fields, a swamp, and included many water birds, and four wild turkeys! The turkeys--which flew up into the trees--were apparently a treat for our guides, too. It was definitely a case of serendipity. Being there somewhat late in the day, heavy humidity, the staff was apparently enjoyed having some interested visitors at the end of a quiet day. Without a house to see, the site suffers in comparison to the lovely plantations minutes away. The Flowerdew Hundred visitors often include school children interested in the wildlife and the reproduction of a windmill (2 times the original size), birders, or serious history buffs. My husband spilled the beans immediately that I was interested in the Poythress family, and they asked me some questions, too. Apparently they also have many visitors from families who have ancestors once living there including Gov. Yeardly (whose wife was Temperance Flowerdew, source of the name), but not too many of the Poythress branch. The museum has a very lovely small picture of Susanna Peachy Poythress 1785-1815 [(P-1) BAA AA][Daughter of Joshua III) and her husband's portrait in oil. He is John V. Willcox. The place apparently passed to a descendant named Brown. It is not owned by any of this family now. They didn't seem to know anything about Peter Poythress of Flower de Hundred, which is the same place as far as I can tell. Perhaps Peter rented land, for at one time there were many people living along the river. If any one can clarify this issue, please. A map in the museum had the name of the area also called Fleur de Hondred, apparently a French version. The museum has many artifacts from the 400 years since settlement. (And a whale tooth from prehistoric times, Indian artifacts). The 100 acres are still run as a working farm, growing mostly soybeans, but they have apparently started a small patch of an early variety of tobacco, which must have already been harvested. It is hard to convey in a nutshell four hundred years of history. But the staff showed us the same cypress that General Lee saw during the Civil War, and which appears in photographs of the time. This is at the spot of the Pontoon crossing (in Maynard's note). What interested me most was this drive along the James River, which was apparently a widely traveled road in Colonial times. There were found at one dig site remains of a tavern road house there, not that any structure remains. In the 1700s there was a Ferry crossing the James, which is at least a mile wide there, perhaps more. Many of the old trails are still in existence, and the property still probably looks much as it did throughout its history. It seems that most of the plantations built on Flowerdew (including the Selden) were built away from the River. On the north side of the river, most of the plantations have river views. The staff says that so much archeological material has been collected at the sight by various university groups that they had to halt further digging until the material in hand could be analyzed. Apparently if you join the foundation, you are invited to use their research library on the site. See Maynard's email in the archives for more information. http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/P/POYTHRESS +2000+90185116+F One further note of interest to any Bland descendants, there is a new residential development on Jordan's point (a few miles away) and apparently they dug up Richard Bland and moved him! This is the Richard Bland that married Anne Poythress. I think she must have been moved too. But this is something I have not really investigated. Diana

Poythress List, We've updated the webpage design for the image file section of the Poythress research web. The new format shows a thumbnail of the image before it is opened. We only have eight images in the directory at present, but we certainly can, and should, add historically important and representative items. Best, Al

Poythress List, All of the wills and estate records posted on the Poythress website now are active (no broken links). We have approximately 20 documents ranging between 1712 and 1862. I would be pleased to post additional transcriptions of wills and estate records. We can't post copyrighted materials without a copyright release. Original transcriptions from primary records shouldn't present a problem. It is helpful to include the archive information and appropriate transcription notes. We have wonderful examples in the transcriptions already posted. I can work with a text file or MS Word file most easily. Transcriptions can be sent directly to me at [email protected] Best, Al Tims

I've been doing this a while, and I didn't know heretofore that "Ye" was, in reality, "the" (because of a limitation of modern keyboards). I learn something every day. Thanks, Craig. But I have a different opinion/take on the subject... I know why Poythress if often written "Poythreff," and I now know to translate "Ye" as literally "the". But when I'm reading a transcription done by someone else, I'd much rather that they write it down exactly as they see it (since, by definition, I can't see it); I can correct the foregoing kinds of errors from there. The thought of encouraging everyone, many or most of whom might not know all these nuances, to freely substitute what they think is right makes me shudder at the possible "abuses" and errors that would occur. I'd much prefer the identifiable errors over the unidentifiable substitutions. Just looking at the question from another angle. Lou

Al, I think the new home page is excellently done. It's looking better and better. Nice job! Hope you don't mind, but when people in other surname groups start the discussion of setting-up a group web page and ask people for their ideas of how it should be done, I invariably refer them to the Poythress page as a best example of how to do it with simple, effective elegance. And that was when I was sending them to the old page! The only thing I don't like are the commercial banners, but I know that's the price of rootsweb support. Lou -----Original Message----- From: Albert Tims [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 9:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Browse and Search Mailing List Archives Poythress List, We've added a new direct link to the Poythress mailing list archives. Its possible to browse the messages and message threads month by month or search the records year by year. This isn't new for Rootsweb list -- just easier to find and use in relation to the other information resources at the Poythress website. The link can be found in the Document Index frame on a link names Message Archives at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~poythress/ Best, Al Tims ==== POYTHRESS Mailing List ==== Poythress Geneaology Research Web http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~poythress/