----- Original Message ----- From: Malcolm Speirs To: Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 12:52 PM Subject: 18th Century tobacco merchants I hope some kind soul can help me with my research.... My ancestor, Alexander Speirs (born 1714 in Edinburgh, died 1782 in Glasgow) was a prominent tobacco merchant who went out to Virginia as a young man and set up a tobacco plantation there, before returning to Glasgow in the late 1740s to run his import business. Whilst out in Virginia, he met and married Sarah Carey in Jamestown on 15th Nov 1746 (she died in 1752 in Glasgow and he then married Mary Buchanan). When Alexander left Virginia, his younger brother James was left in charge of the plantation. I believe that James married Judith Bell, but am not positive on that point. I have carried out quite a lot of research on Alexander Speirs at Glasgow City Archives, which holds the old family papers from the time he re-settled in Glasgow, but have virtually no information on his time out in Virginia. Can anyone please point me to where I can get information on the location of the plantation(s), whereabouts they lived, and any business Alexander Speirs may have set up whilst in Virginia. I would be most grateful for any help. Thanks, Malcolm Speirs from Isleham, near Cambridge, England.