Sally Phillips wrote, The latest post urging us to use dates caught my attention because it mentioned Hanoverians moving to Louisa. I am seeking the father of John Phillips who probably or possibly was born near Pug Swamp in Hanover County and died in Louisa in 1795. His father was probably or possibly George Phillips who patented 400 acres at Pug Swamp in 1724. Given the state of Hanover's records, I don't know where to start looking. Does anyone have any suggestions? My response: I highly recommend that anyone searching for early people in Virginia begin their searches with the land patents. Not everyone got land, but as one Southern genealogist said, Cavaliers and Pioneers [now eight volumes] is a good people-finder [for Virginians and Virginians who went thataway!!!] Many of the early volumes can be found widely in public libraries. The last four volumes were published in the last decade or so by the Virginia Genealogical Society, Richmond, VA. (They have a web page.) Nowadays, one does not need all the volumes of Cavaliers and Pioneers, unless, like me, you are a collector of useful-to-me books. The Library of Virginia website under Land Records lists in inverse chronological order patents for persons of certain names. (Of course, all my surnames are mostly common ones). I never remember the URL for the Library of Virginia so I use google.com and then find the most likely URL which is listed to begin my search for certain males [a few females got land patents, but they are few and far between.] In the beginning, Hanover was a large county, but it kept dividing and thus you may find your people in a *progeny* county [look that up!]. I have found many colonial Hanover Co. people in the Louisa Co. records. Do not overlook deeds and court records in adjoining counties. Also tax lists are good. A favorite author of Hanover Co. records of ca 1730-1735 and of several Louisa Co. record books--deeds, guardianship, Fredericksville Parish, etc.--is Mrs. Rosalie Edith Davis who lives in Manchester, MO. Her books were compiled several decades ago, but she is still selling them, and they are quite inexpensive, I think. Her website: _http://www.angelfire.com/va3/redavis/_ (http://www.angelfire.com/va3/redavis/) Before you order her books, however, you probably should establish that your people really were in that area. Later, I believe Albemarle Co. was formed from Louisa Co. By messing about with google.com I managed to come up with a website which indexes some deeds of Louisa Co. _http://www.trevilians.com/deeds/deedix41.htm#top_ (http://www.trevilians.com/deeds/deedix41.htm#top) To find out more about Louisa Co. genealogical info, remove some of the words after *com*. I was advised LONG ago that if I were researching in Virginia, I should research ALL the counties. I thought the female lecturer--a genealogist/lecturer/PhD--was nuts, but since so many of my paternal lines had Virginia origins, I have found the lady was right!!! Search ALL of them. Folks wore out their land with tobacco. Also, by law the eldest son inherited the land. Where do you think the younger males went? I am amazed in studying early Granville Co., NC records, however, that many of the early settlers in that then-large county were of Hanover Co. We genealogists have to expand our horizons. E.W.Wallace