Hello, This genealogy game seems to me to be like a puzzle laid out on a table. Along the edges we have some sort of pattern developing, but in the middle is a big pile of pieces ! So.... I'll throw some more in the middle and see if anything connects. I find little pieces of info here & there and save them up, and post them. Doesn't that drive you crazy ? Presbyterian settlements in Virginia..... Staunton, Lexington, Abingdon That's where the Presbyterians went early on. Other settlements were Jonesboro TN and Morganton NC. Tire Spence. Unusual name. I have been working in my Pucketts ( and if you think Spence is hard, you should try Pucketts ! ) and found a Tyre Puckett. I have been contacted by a lady looking for the parents of a Dora Spence (1889-1969) whose parents were Mada Reynolds and ? Spence. She doesn't know the father's name, just that he was raised or living with a Hoffelfinger family. I wondered if that was another orphan brother to Norma's Jeremiah. This ? Spence would have been born abt. 1869. The only Reynolds-Spence marriage I know of was Narcissa Reynolds and Sedgewick Spence. Which reminds me to tell you that have Reynolds families from around Patrick & Floyd Counties, to be aware that the R.J. Reynolds family originated there. I worked on R.J.'s line for a friend many years ago, Pamela Reynolds. She is an honest to goodness descendant of R.J. himself and gets $ 30,000 a year with cost of living increases, just for being a Reynolds. She had to wait until 30 years of age to begin receiving it though. Quit work shortly after that ! Lucky !!!! R.J.'s brother moved to Bristol VA/TN and manufactured "Reynolds Wrap". Cox families are in the Reynolds line also. The book " The Guilded Leaf" by Patrick Reynolds has an excellent family history on the ancestors, if any one is interested. (Yes, I have Cox and checked to make sure I wasn't a long lost family member ! ) Thanks Jean for posting the passages from the book in regards to David & Mary McElyea Spence. Some on the list need to look at that . As soon as I get some info on Moses Spence who lived in GA ( Born VA 1764 ) I'll have the chart copies ready to mail out to those who want them. Currently this chart has been reduced to over 20 pages. From this you can see who we are talking about and who has no family listed as descendants. Anyone who wants one just mail me your address and a book of stamps ( $ 6.40 ) and I'll mail you one so you can follow along. Again I would like to thank Claire Spence of Middleton VA for coming up with the idea of the chart to use as a roadmap. With a chart I hope everyone will go back through their research notes and see if you maybe corresponded with anyone a few years ago and couldn't connect. That one person may have the keys we need to put this puzzle together !!! They may have only an oral tradition, but there are truth in those. I truly feel the chart is the best way to dig up ancestors and cousins rather than posting on the internet and getting a response after you have died and your family knows absolutely nothing about your hard earned research !!! This discussion group has grown from 5 ladies to almost 30 people !!! My dream is to have a person join up and say, " You know my great Aunt has this old Bible with wooden covers on it up in her attic with Spence's written on every blank page, and they were from Virginia. Do you think you could use this ? " Question for Mary Anne: Is the Allen Thomas, Minister,born 1821, who married Mary Ann Nester, Nancy Thomas Spence's son ? Or no ? Enough mindless dribble, Have a good weekend, Carolyn