Hello, everyone. As the newest NN mailing list member, I would like to introduce myself. I am Scott Tracy and I have been researching the Tarpley family of eighteenth-century Richmond County on-and-off for nearly two years. First, I would like to recognize Craig Kilby who has helped me access copies of certain primary documents in Virginia related to my Tarpley-family research project. As you might imagine, long-distance research is not easy. LDS film and UVA interlibrary loans will get you only so far. Without someone on the ground, this project would have taken much longer. As Craig mentioned in an earlier post, Barbara Vines Little elected to publish several transcriptions of documents that were unearthed in the course of the research project in the current edition of the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. In all candor, these transcriptions are somewhat peripheral to my primary research objective but I believe Barbara recognized that they might generate interest in the main manuscript to follow for a number of reasons. First, the identity of the father of the two grandchildren of Elizabeth Ripping Tarpley of Williamsburg (second wife of King's Attorney for Richmond County, John Tarpley (1695-1736/37)) proved to be in contradiction to the published position of Kevin P. Kelly in his research paper "The White Loyalists of Williamsburg" currently posted on the Colonial Williamsburg website - http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemeRevolution/Loyalist.cfm. Second, the named father (according to the reading of the lost will of Elizabeth Ripping Tarpley originally presented in 1772 that was discovered in a legal suit brought by one of her grandsons in 1789) turned out to be James Tarpley, the highly regarded Williamsburg merchant who donated the church bell to Bruton parish. Finally, discovery of lost wills from colonial times always seems to be of interest. The fact that one grandson was a loyalist while the other took the American side adds another twist. My primary research objective has been to obtain clarity regarding the life of John Tarpley (1720-1786/87), second son of King's Attorney John Tarpley and first wife, widow Elizabeth Travers Harwar. Highly respected genealogists and historians have disagreed for many years on whether this John Tarpley born in 1720 survived past maturity. It is my impression that most scholars seem to have deferred to the position of Newman Arnold Hall and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, which was that this John Tarpley died young. Others prominent researchers have struggled with this issue including Zelma Wells Price in 1963 and John Frederick Dorman (as recently as 2007 in Vol. IV of Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, which states John Tarpley, b. 1720, was the son of the second wife, Elizabeth Ripping. On the other side of the divide were George H.S. King and Ruth Dillon (author of The Chinn Book), neither of whom provided proof for their assertions (at least publicly). As Mr. King phrased it, "when a man [John Tarpley (1720-1786/87] marries two ladies of the same Christian name [(1) widow Elizabeth (Travers) Harwar and (2) Elizabeth Ripping] and has a son by each union named after him and himself died intestate - these circumstances are quite sufficient to lead to misconceptions". In 1936, Ethel Armes wrote in Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees that using the same baptismal name for children when there were different fathers or mothers was not uncommon in colonial Virginia, and "frequent instances of this occur in the Northern Neck." So, at this point, I would like to simply say that the to-be published article in MVG will provide irrefutable proof that John Tarpley (b. 1720) did NOT die young; instead, he outlived his older full-blood brother Travers, his older half-sisters by his mother and first husband Thomas Harwar, and his younger half-siblings by his father and second wife Elizabeth Ripping - and that he had numerous descendants. Out of respect for Barbara Vines Little and her colleagues at MVG, I don't plan to share specific details of the proof until the article is published. I will add only that there have been a number of discoveries regarding this prominent family that contradict currently-held beliefs. Regarding the list-server question of obtaining copies of the current MVG transcriptions, Ms. Little is checking and will let me know and I will pass on that information. Best regards to all, Scott

Welcome Scott! As a descendant of Travers Tarpley through his daughter Fanny, I am excited to be able to read this article so I am one who is interested in obtaining it either via a copy or subscribing to the MVG. I am also obviously a Mayflower Descendant through John Tarpley and Elizabeth Travers Harwar's mother Frances Allerton. The Mayflower Society is always looking for corrections to their published work and this would be of great interest to them as it opens the door to many more Allerton descendants which at this time there are not as many as other lines of descent from the Mayflower so I look forward to seeing what all has been discovered. Janean -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Tracy Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 12:59 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [VA-NORTHERN-NECK] Tarpley Research Hello, everyone. As the newest NN mailing list member, I would like to introduce myself. I am Scott Tracy and I have been researching the Tarpley family of eighteenth-century Richmond County on-and-off for nearly two years. First, I would like to recognize Craig Kilby who has helped me access copies of certain primary documents in Virginia related to my Tarpley-family research project. As you might imagine, long-distance research is not easy. LDS film and UVA interlibrary loans will get you only so far. Without someone on the ground, this project would have taken much longer. As Craig mentioned in an earlier post, Barbara Vines Little elected to publish several transcriptions of documents that were unearthed in the course of the research project in the current edition of the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. In all candor, these transcriptions are somewhat peripheral to my primary research objective but I believe Barbara recognized that they might generate interest in the main manuscript to follow for a number of reasons. First, the identity of the father of the two grandchildren of Elizabeth Ripping Tarpley of Williamsburg (second wife of King's Attorney for Richmond County, John Tarpley (1695-1736/37)) proved to be in contradiction to the published position of Kevin P. Kelly in his research paper "The White Loyalists of Williamsburg" currently posted on the Colonial Williamsburg website - http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemeRevolut ion/Loyalist.cfm. Second, the named father (according to the reading of the lost ! will of Elizabeth Ripping Tarpley originally presented in 1772 that was discovered in a legal suit brought by one of her grandsons in 1789) turned out to be James Tarpley, the highly regarded Williamsburg merchant who donated the church bell to Bruton parish. Finally, discovery of lost wills from colonial times always seems to be of interest. The fact that one grandson was a loyalist while the other took the American side adds another twist. My primary research objective has been to obtain clarity regarding the life of John Tarpley (1720-1786/87), second son of King's Attorney John Tarpley and first wife, widow Elizabeth Travers Harwar. Highly respected genealogists and historians have disagreed for many years on whether this John Tarpley born in 1720 survived past maturity. It is my impression that most scholars seem to have deferred to the position of Newman Arnold Hall and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, which was that this John Tarpley died young. Others prominent researchers have struggled with this issue including Zelma Wells Price in 1963 and John Frederick Dorman (as recently as 2007 in Vol. IV of Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, which states John Tarpley, b. 1720, was the son of the second wife, Elizabeth Ripping. On the other side of the divide were George H.S. King and Ruth Dillon (author of The Chinn Book), neither of whom provided proof for their assertions (at least public! ly). As Mr. King phrased it, "when a man [John Tarpley (1720-1786/87] marries two ladies of the same Christian name [(1) widow Elizabeth (Travers) Harwar and (2) Elizabeth Ripping] and has a son by each union named after him and himself died intestate - these circumstances are quite sufficient to lead to misconceptions". In 1936, Ethel Armes wrote in Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees that using the same baptismal name for children when there were different fathers or mothers was not uncommon in colonial Virginia, and "frequent instances of this occur in the Northern Neck." So, at this point, I would like to simply say that the to-be published article in MVG will provide irrefutable proof that John Tarpley (b. 1720) did NOT die young; instead, he outlived his older full-blood brother Travers, his older half-sisters by his mother and first husband Thomas Harwar, and his younger half-siblings by his father and second wife Elizabeth Ripping - and that he had numerous descendants. Out of respect for Barbara Vines Little and her colleagues at MVG, I don't plan to share specific details of the proof until the article is published. I will add only that there have been a number of discoveries regarding this prominent family that contradict currently-held beliefs. Regarding the list-server question of obtaining copies of the current MVG transcriptions, Ms. Little is checking and will let me know and I will pass on that information. Best regards to all, Scott ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message