I've sent this to the Northumberland wire along with the sequence of what few records we have (on the disk): Searching for any additional documentation on Capt. Francis Poythress, an early Burgess of Northumberland, in particular any record related to his death in about 1655. Many thanks, It's a shot in the dark since the Northumberland wire is not active in the first place and the records prior to 1650 or so don't exist, primarily because Northumberland County didn't exist. I ordered the only two 1650's reels in Salt Lake City..they only contained what is on the CD we use for a data base...and they were barely legible. I think Mike had a pretty good fix on this when he observed that Francis was pretty well set in Northumberland County without a lot of incentive to go "home" (Charles City County at the time). On the other hand, he had a lot of incentive to stay in Northumberland: he was a Burgess and a tax collector and land grant official. Economically he couldn't have done much better. My guess is by then he was either estranged from wife Mary or it had never been true love in the first place. I'd make book that he died in Northumberland County after the last record we have which is the 10 Sep 1651 settlement of the estate of Mr. Sedgraves in which Francis was paid in tobacco for "an item." Maynard