Hi all -- I have been looking for my MURDOCK line for almost 20 years, and I have recently decided it was time to branch out into neighboring Counties. People were just a heck of a lot more mobile than I gave them credit for being!! I have a JAMES MURDOCK, born ?, who married Delila ERSKINE on April 12, 1841. I have often thought this was a second marriage for him. James died in 1845, in Greenbrier or Monroe County, while Delila was pregnant with their 3rd child, James Lewis. I have thought that James possibly came from NC originally, but have seen no proof of this. I would sure LOVE to know some of his siblings and CERTAINLY his parents!!! James just sort of appears and disappears, leaving hardly any trace at all!! ANY HELP appreciated -- THANK YOU!!! Tracy

--part1_35.297ef83.2601af39_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_35.297ef83.2601af39_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: CSADixieGrays@aol.com From: CSADixieGrays@aol.com Full-name: CSADixie Grays Message-ID: <e3.2510c76.26019f0e@aol.com> Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 21:21:02 EST Subject: Abbott Marriages To: VAPITTSY-L-request@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 66 Looking for the following marriages: Andrew Abbott b. 1842 Mary Jane b.1844 Thomas Alexander b.1846 Levesta b.1847 John W.S. b.1849 James Henry b.1854 Hezekiah b.1857 Lewis b. 1862 Thanks, Stacy Abbott Clark --part1_35.297ef83.2601af39_boundary--

Hello, List~ I'm searching for any info on Rachel b. 1800 VA who m. ? THOMPSON abt. 1825 VA. Rachael's husband died before 1840 Pittsylvania CO, VA. 1850 Pittsylvania CO, VA Census: #685 Rachael THOMPSON Age 50 Wm. Richard THOMPSON Age 22 m. Delila Jane CUSTARD June 11, 1860, Pittsylvania CO James THOMPSON Age 20 Andrew THOMPSON Age 19 I believe #686 Gabriel THOMPSON age 23 m. Mary Jane BROOKS September 11,1849 Pittsylvania CO is another son of Rachel. Does anyone have any information on this THOMPSON Family? Thank you! Donna Minke dminke1@airmail.net

Are there any descendants of my William Devin/Davin, Sr. of Pittsylvania Co., Virginia Colony who was a Revolutionary Patriot? He m. Sarah Smith about 1750 and their children were John, James, William, Jr., Mary, Robert, Joseph, Margaret, Sarah and Alexander, b. 22 Mar 1769. I descend from Alexander. He went to Gibson Co., IN. Nell Truitt - Texas1933@aol.com

Hi Duane, I would be interested in recieving the information on the indian sites. Thank You, Gwuen troy@mcsi.net ----- Original Message ----- From: duane mills <duane@online.no> To: <VAPITTSY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 11:49 AM Subject: [VAPITTSY-L] indian roots > I often see notes on this list saying that the person was told they have > indian ancestry, or some version of this. > > This is not surprising, as there must have been a lot of mixing. I am on > at several indian mailing lists, and am constantly amazed at the surnames > mentioned by Native Americans wanting help finding ancestors. A lot of the > names are straight from TN and VA and are mentioned often on this list. > This should not be surprising as most came from the East. > > In looking for indian roots for my own ancestors, I have accumulated a fair > amount of info, and a lot of bookmarks to informative sites regarding > indian research. > > I have no idea how many on this list would be interested, but would be glad > to share if contacted privately. There is no need to bother the other list > members. > > Duane Mills > Stavanger, Norway > > > > ==== VAPITTSY Mailing List ==== > Find tons of Pitsylvania County info at the Pittsylvania County VAGenWeb Project! http://www.rootsweb.com/~vapittsy/ > >

I often see notes on this list saying that the person was told they have indian ancestry, or some version of this. This is not surprising, as there must have been a lot of mixing. I am on at several indian mailing lists, and am constantly amazed at the surnames mentioned by Native Americans wanting help finding ancestors. A lot of the names are straight from TN and VA and are mentioned often on this list. This should not be surprising as most came from the East. In looking for indian roots for my own ancestors, I have accumulated a fair amount of info, and a lot of bookmarks to informative sites regarding indian research. I have no idea how many on this list would be interested, but would be glad to share if contacted privately. There is no need to bother the other list members. Duane Mills Stavanger, Norway

Hello, I will answer your question through the list incase there are some others that also wonder about the abbreviation... hn means household number fn means family number Hope that helps. Sandy ----- Original Message ----- From: <Archidon2@aol.com> To: <VAPITTSY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 6:56 AM Subject: Re: [VAPITTSY-L] 1850 census > This census is extremely helpful. Thanks to all who have worked so hard on > it. Could someone explain what the column headings mean? What is hn and fn? > > > ==== VAPITTSY Mailing List ==== > Pittsylvania County Files online! Visit the Pittsylvania County Archives at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/va/pittsylv.htm > >

Go straight up Rt. # 29 through Danville, town is quite small, you will have no difficulty finding the courthouse. Make sure you park in an area that does not have limited time. Enjoy, Margie Brown

This census is extremely helpful. Thanks to all who have worked so hard on it. Could someone explain what the column headings mean? What is hn and fn?

Glen, Keep your statistics handy so you can update them...we aren't done yet. There are still about 13 files to upload... The following are the files that are done and have been uploaded and as soon as we are FINISHED, the USGenWeb will provide a link to the county website so you can access the WHOLE thing! The files on line for Pittsylvania County VA 1850 include: Division Files Southern Division: pg0068a.txt,pg0075a.txt, pg0081a.txt, pg0093a.txt, pg0111a.txt, pg0117a.txt, pg0123a.txt, pg0135a.txt, pg0141a.txt, pg0152a.txt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Danville: pg0158a.txt, pg0165a.txt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Northern Division: pg0189b.txt, pg0195b.txt, pg0207b.txt, pg0225b.txt, pg0231b.txt, pg0237b.txt, pg0243b.txt My name is Sandy Onbey and I am the "team" coordinator. This wonderful bunch of people, who are all members of your mailing list, have been working very hard to get this done...please be patient with us just a little while longer until we finish. Also, please bear in mind when you look at these records that while you may KNOW a name is spelled a certain way or that the data shown is not correct as you KNOW it, it is our job to transcribe the census AS IT WAS WRITTEN in 1850...that means mistakes and all! Each file is proofread by someone other than the person that transcribed it so there are two opinions and confirmations as to what was actually written. We try to be as careful as we possibly can on these records. Thanks, Sandy > Thanks to all who transcribed the Pittsylvania census so it could be so > easily e-accessed by us all!

John Walton born about 1850 in OHIO married Pirmila Frances Dowdy born about 1853 in Bedford County, Va. They married and raised their children in Pittsylvania County, VA. Children: 1.Willie B. Walton b. about 1874 2. Luna "Lounie" Tabitha Walton b. June 1, 1885 she married Albert Morgan Dalton in Pittsylvania County, Va. (she may have married before him and after his death , he died 1927) 3. Nannie Kate Walton Any information on this family would be very much appreciated. I am happy to share what I have. Thank you, Donna

Could someone tell me if Sycamore and Jacobsville is in Pittsylvania County, Va. Thank you, Donna

anyone know anything about a henry w overby(45yo in 1850 pitt co census), married to margaret? henrys parents were smith overby and sarah. dwayne

Shirley, that is why it is so important that WE leave the information for our decendants. Pittsylvania County Courthouse has the most complete information in Virginia, and incidentally the best Court clerk in Mr. Haymore!!! regards Margie Brown

--part1_70.1980ab0.25feec8e_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_70.1980ab0.25feec8e_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: Mgbrown105@aol.com From: Mgbrown105@aol.com Full-name: Mgbrown105 Message-ID: <54.201e194.25feebc3@aol.com> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 20:11:31 EST Subject: Re: [VAPITTSY-L] 1850 census To: DGShel@aol.com CC: VAPITTSY-L@rootsweb MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows sub 54 You're welcome. I really wanted to say that we had some lax census takers in 1850, for I know that Nathaniel T. Green was a lawyer but no occupation was given. In the pages that I transcribed very few occupations were recorded and many values were left blank. Having received my 2000 census today, what a disappointment it will be for our decendants to find a complete lack of any personal information, no real estate values, no occupations, only race. Margie Brown --part1_70.1980ab0.25feec8e_boundary--

Thanks to all who transcribed the Pittsylvania census so it could be so easily e-accessed by us all! I went through the Northern District today and collected a few statistics that may be of interest. (Numbers may not be precise, but are real close.) The most common surname seems to be SHELTON (no surprise) with 99 entries. Second seems to be ADKINS, with 86. Only 18 named SMITH! There were 3566 individuals listed. Males = 1781 Females = 1784 not stated = 2 (Yes, I know, it doesn't add up, quite. Oops.) To me that is an incredibly close balance of males & females. These people were homebodies! Born in Virginia 3517 North Carolina 12 Maryland 9 Pennsylvania 6 Occupations: Laborer 370 Farmer 300 Overseer 50 Blacksmith 19 Wheelwright 13 Clerk 12 Miller 12 Carpenter 11 Merchant 8 Tobacconist 7 Teacher 7 Physician 6 Cabinet Maker 6 Wagoner 6 Lawyer 1 !!! Barkeeper 1 !!! Age distribution: Less than 1 121 1-5 568 6-10 523 11-15 438 16-20 382 21-30 579 31-40 351 41-50 265 51-60 153 61-70 124 71-80 40 81-90 17 100 1 The property value distribution is interesting - I graphed it, too bad I can't send you the curve. Only 324 people had real assets valued (out of the 3566), but since almost all assets were assigned to the head of household, it is better to make the comparison of ~324 households had real assets, out of ~899 total households. 2/3 (64.0%) of the free households had no property! Of the 324 households who did have property, 220 had less than $1000 24.5% 57 had $1000 - $2000 6.3% 44 had $2000 - $10,000 4.9% 4 had more than $10,000 0.4% Then, as now, the wealth tended to concentrate in very few hands. I bet all those 50 overseers worked for the top 20 or so wealthiest. Glen Shelton River Ridge LA

My gggrandfather Pleasant Parker b. 3-1824 possibly in western Va. reared in Hawkins Co. Tn. (? not certain pleasant listed in census is mine as age is a factor) moved to Wa. Co. AR. in 1851. Pleasant is my brick wall. I have been unable to locate any information on his parents names, siblings or his actual place of birth. I was given a typed lineage in which Pittsylvania Co. was listed as place of birth for Pleasant. If anyone else is researching this line or has any information I would appreciate hearing from you. Below is information on son Alexander and also a listing of the other children's names. Pleasant's wife was Sarah Jones Parker. A large portion of the family is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Washington Co. Ar. and I have pictures and listings of names and dates on them already. Thank You in advance, Ginger Parker Taylor BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALEXANDER PARKER (From History of Arkansas 1889 - Goodspeed Publishing Co.. Chicago, Ill. 1889 - now referred to as GOODSPEED HISTORY) Alexander Parker, whose birth occurred on Middle Fork, White River, Washington County, Arkansas, November 22, 1858, is the son of Pleasant and Sarah (Jones) Parker. The father was born in West Virginia (*should be west or western Virginia), but was reared in Tennessee. He moved to Arkansas in 1851, settling where he is now living, and has farmed all his life. The mother is also living. Alexander Parker was reared on the farm and spent his youth in assisting his father on the same, and attending the common country schools. In 1885 he chose for his companion in life, Mrs. Lucinda (Gilliland) Peirson, widow of John A. Peirson - and to them were born 4 (*should be 5) children, two pairs of twins, Clarence and Clara, Homer and Virgil (*should be Virgil and Victor, then Homer, a single child). Mrs. Peirson was the mother of 5 children by her former marriage - Paris, Powell, George, Robert and Laura. After his marriage, Mr. Parker taught school for a short time, and then settled to farming on his present property, where he has continued ever since. He has made a success of farming, and dealing in horses and other livestock. He owns the fine thoroughbred, Steel Dust, Bertram, running stallion named "Burton, Jr." dapple bay, three years old. Mr. Parker also owns an interest in the Peirson farm of 300 acres. Mr. Parker is a Republican in Politics, but has never aspired to any official position, and is a respected young man. Other information on Alexander's siblings. Born Died Spencer B. 9-24-1851 11-2-1869 Mary Elizabeth 8-31-1853 1879 Deborah 5-10-1855 12-1-1869 Sarah Ann 2-9-1857 1-5-1911 Alexander 11-22-1858 Presley Smith 5-5-1860 Perry Franklin 4-6-1862 (my ggrandfather) William H. 5-10-1865 8-12-1865 John Arvil 11-23-1866 Larkin Johnson 2-2-1869

If this is the George J. who had a son named Rawley, he's buried in the Shelton Cemetery on Route 685 near Sheva in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. jane -----Original Message----- From: DGShel@aol.com <DGShel@aol.com> To: VAPITTSY-L@rootsweb.com <VAPITTSY-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Friday, March 10, 2000 5:56 PM Subject: [VAPITTSY-L] Shelton Family Cemetery >Hi all, >This is my inagural question on the Pittsy list. >My gggf, George J(efferson?) Shelton is listed in Civil War records as 'died >January 6, 1916, and buried in the family cemetery in Pittsylvania.' He >enlisted at Callands. Does anyone know where the "Shelton Family Cemetery" >referred to might be found? His wife, Edney Elizabeth Yeatts, died May 7, >1911; one would presume she was also buried there? His brother, James Eaton >Shelton, died in 1861 during the early days of the Civil War, and was brought >home for burial. Perhaps also the same place? I would be very interested in >knowing if this cemetery, wherever it is, has been indexed. >Thank you. >Glen Shelton >River Ridge LA > > >==== VAPITTSY Mailing List ==== >Too much email? Don't unsub! Switch to Digest Version & get your Pittsylvania County posts combined into one neat email per day. >

Hi Jane, Sounds like you've got it. My George J. Shelton did have a son named Rawley Martin Shelton c. 1879, who married Lillie Ola Abbott. Also son Richard White Shelton (my GGF), who married Daisy Burda Barr. And daughter Gillie Frances Shelton, who married Daisy's brother William Claude Barr. And Mattie Elizabeth Shelton, who died in childhood. And daughter Rebecca Texana Shelton, who married Nathaniel East. And son James R. Shelton, who married Lettitia Abbott (related to Lillie, above?) And son George J., who married Lena Teiche. And daughter Mary T. Shelton, who married William Motley. And son Grover Cleveland Shelton, who married Nancy Crawley. Anybody look familiar to y'all? Glen Shelton River Ridge LA

Hello Everyone!!! I am looking for information on my gr-gr grandparents, James Edward Roark (b. 1838 - d. 1921) and Tabitha Shields Roark (b. 1836 - d. after 1910). They were married in either 1857 or 1858 and they lived between Hurt and Motley in a town which no longer exists called Jacobsville. His mother's name was Locke y Roark (b. abt. 1805 - d. after 1880) who was listed as head of the household in the 1850 Pitt. census. I have been told that she may have been an unwed mother. I don't know if James had any brothers or sisters. Two relatives have told me that James Edward Roark and Lockey Roark originally came from Halifax County although his death certificate states that both were born in Pittsylvania County. James and Tabitha Roark had ten children - Virginia "Jenny" F. Roark Short (b. 1858 - d. 1937) Ella S. Roark Jacobs (b. 1861 - d. 1899) Dolly A. Roark Walker (b. 1863 - d. 1931) Nancy E. Roark (b. abt. 1865 - 66 - d. before 1900) John Anderson Roark (b. 1868 - d. 1951) James Braxton Roark (b. 1872 - d. 1962) My gr grandfather Sallie H. Roark Adams (b. 1875 - d. 1937) William Roark (b. ? - d. before 1900) Lottie D. Roark (b. ? - d. before 1900) Robert Sherman Roark (b. 1883 - d. 1961) James Edward Roark and Tabitha Shields Roark owned and operated Roark Mill on Sycamore Creek in a town called Jacobsville (which no longer exists and was located between Hurt and Motley) from around 1879 - 1921. As told in Diane Popek's book, Tracks Along the Staunton, the Roark Family "began a community of their own where a mill, tavern, general store, post office, blacksmith's shop, a still, an orchard, and tobacco plantation were operated by their large family." I was told the mill was still standing in the 1940's, but all that remains is the foundation. Across from where the mill stood are remains of where some buildings stood plus there is a barn and a corn crib still standing. (I am hoping someone may have a picture of this mill - I would gladly pay you for a copy of the picture). If anyone has any information on this family and/or the mill, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Cindy Taylor