This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/QBC.2ACI/588.656.662.665.667.1.1.1.1.2.1.1 Message Board Post: Hello, I was glad to find the questions concerning the Richards family on the message board. My wife is a direct descendant of William Bird (also Byrd) Richards of King and Queen County, and I have been working some on the Colonial Richards family. My wife descends from a half-brother of John Richards of Falmouth and his brother, Captain William Richards, who, I believe, was the father of William Richards of Culpeper. Thus, as Jerrilynn Eby has stated, I am sure William of Culpeper and William of Falmouth and Fredericksburg (son of John of Falmouth) were first cousins. William of Culpeper did live in the piece of land delineated by the Rappahannock River on the north and the Rapidan River on the south. His home was near Richardsville, which today is a tiny village, with a small store and a few homes. The road from Falmouth crossed the Rappahannock at Richards Ferry, and almost certainly made its way to Richardsville and on west to Culpeper. Humphrey Richards was a tobacco merchant and attorney who lived near Petersburg. He was a brother of John Richards of Falmouth and Captain William Richards of King and Queen, whom I believe was the father of William of Culpeper. My wife's g-g-g grandfather was Gabriel Richards, who was a pioneer in Pittsylvania County, VA and later, about 1790 or so, moved to Roane County and McMinn Counties, TN. His mother was Elizabeth (Wilson) Clark Richards, the second wife of Wm. Bird Richards. She was the widow of Jonathan Clark, grandfather of the famous Clark brothers, Generals Jonathan Clark and George Rogers Clark, and their younger brother, Captain (later General) William Clark, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Humphrey Richards and Frances Baylor made their home near Petersburg. I do not know their children. It should be noted that the Richards and Baylors were neighbors in King and Queen, long before the American Revolution. Other families with whom they were associated were the Clarks, Colemans, Birds, Pendletons, etc. I will check my records to see if I can pull out more information on both William of Culpeper and Humphrey Richards. A last note on Humphrey Richards, who had a significant business in Pittsylvania County and northern counties of North Carolina, loaned significant amounts of money to tobacco farmers in south central Virginia and northern North Carolina. He was quite wealthy. I have transcribed many court and public records on his business activities in Pittsylvania County.