As my first "input" message to the McDowell County Group, allow me to throw in a few tidbits which, hopefully, may be of help. First, most of you are probably already aware of all of this, but when I need to look up a placename, I resort to the following U.S. Geological Survey Internet site: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html I must confess that when I checked for Hiawassee, I got 13 hits, but none in West Virginia. That being the case, I've still found it to be quite good, even with historical placenames that are no longer in use. For example, present Skygusty, which is up Gary Holler toward Anawalt used to be Dearing. Secondly, and in response to Brenda's query regarding the Collins Family, I have nothing on them, but in your research it might help to know that present-day Wilcoe (between Welch and Gary) at one time was named "Tug River." Until I discovered this, I had a heck of a time trying to figure out where "on the actual Tug River" my forebears were from. Finally, check out the following site (result of a search on the USGS site above) for information on Tiptop: http://mapping.usgs.gov:8888/gnis/owa/gnisquery?f_name=Tiptop&variant=Y&f_state= VA&f_cnty=Tazewell&f_type=&pop1=&pop2=&elev1=&elev2=&cell=&tab=y In simpler terms, Tiptop is off the beaten path in northern/northwestern Tazewell County generally south of Abbs Valley and north of Tazewell. It is definitely a wide spot in the road, reached by crossing a range of small mountains/hills on a narrow and curvy road. Even so, it's not that difficult to reach, and the area is pretty. Okay, so much for my "answers." Now that I've contributed, I feel free to ask some questions. But I'll do that separately. Regards! Patrick ("Pat") Murphy