Dear Researchers, While waiting for my slow cable company to come awake and let me get on the internet, I discovered in one of my books, there was an *illiterate* William Harris, with wife Elizabeth, in Louisa Co., VA ca 1774-1790. This discovery [why we have to keep reading our notes and whatever books we have accumulated] may help someone distinguish between a William Harris (with wife Elizabeth) of Albemarle Co. about the same time, and one who is of Louisa Co., VA in this time period. I wrote an e-mail the other day about a deed in Albemarle Co. linking a William Harris, deceased, with his widow Elizabeth and his brother and sister-in-law, Christopher Harris and his wife Agnes [nee McCord]. Suggestion: A DAR genealogist taught me this when I was trying to distinguish [for an applicant] two men of the same rather unusual name [both names] in adjoining counties in North Carolina during Revolutionary times. Which of these was the ancestor of the applicant? The DAR genie said: You have to learn who the associates were and the watercourse on which the land was held/located. It took me two days to sort them out, but I learned a lot. (Thank goodness for free room and board in nearby Maryland at that time.) Using these two suggestions by the DAR genie, I suggest that whoever is searching for William Harris [whom she said was illiterate] and his wife Elizabeth of Louisa Co. [part of which Albemarle was formed, other part of Albemarle from Goochland Co.] note the neighbors and the watercourse if these items are mentioned. There are several deeds involving William and Elizabeth Harris of Louisa Co., and I highly recommend that the searcher purchase from Mrs. Rosalie Edith Davis one or two books on Louisa Co. [more info below] as I am not going to do her research!!! By the way, there are other colonial Harris males in these deeds whom I cannot identify. If they are associated with these families, then I suspect they are related to Major Robert Harris, surveyor, sometime vestryman, sometime House of Burgesses. The families: Dabney, Pettus, Overton, Glen This contemporary William Harris of Louisa Co. has neighbors named Thomson, Parson Douglas [probably William Douglas the compiler of Douglas' Register, used by Goochland Co. researchers.] Anyway, back to the subject of this e-mail. Note that this transfer occurred during the American Revolution: Louisa Co. Deed Bk E-238-239 9 Mar. 1778 William Harris & Elizabeth his wife of Louisa Co to David Bigger of sd. Co.; 200 pds; 100 A. on the south side the North Anna River...Parson Douglass corner on the river...Wm. Harris' line...Thomas Graves line...Thomas Harris line. Wit: None William (+) Harris Elizabeth (X) Harris 9 Mar. 1778 ack. by William Harris & Elizabeth his wife. (From Rosalie Edith Davis, Louisa County, Virginia Deed Books E & F, 1774-1790 [Manchester, MO: Privately printed, 1983], p. 27) Mrs. Davis's webpage: [Remove punctuation from beginning and end before copying and pasting] _http://www.angelfire.com/va3/redavis/_ (http://www.angelfire.com/va3/redavis/) Her books are reasonably priced. The deeds mention many residents of other counties--Hanover, Goochland, even *Province of North Carolina*. By the way, just glancing at some of the other names [not studying, just glancing] I see the names Charles (C) Phares, Mary (X) Phares. Someone was studying a Phares or Farris or Faris family, but seemed to have insufficient leads. I hope this William Harris lead helps someone. Harris is such a common name!!! OK, paging to another page, I see that in 1786, there was a William Harris with wife Hennaretta, but the deed is signed by William and Elizabeth, seemingly NOT illiterate. Oh, me!!! And the witnesses are Samuel Harris, James (X) Harris, Overton Harris!!!! It seems early Louisa Co. VA was a hotbed of Harris families!!!! Sorting them out seems to be a full time job! One I am not prepared to do! Even though some county histories have been compiled for Albemarle Co., there are seldom any dates for the families mentioned, and the *stuff in print* should be checked against the records--even though the records are abstracts. [Some abstracts leave out just the words you need to establish a linkage, however.] E.W.Wallace ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour