On Mar 7, 2007, at 10:06 PM, Tom Magnuson wrote:

> Thanks to all of you for the very interesting parsing of "granting  
> time".
> I'm particularly grateful for the Spotswood quote and reminded of my
> favorite Byrd quote (from _History of the Dividing Line_) to the  
> effect that
> the people he met in the frontier woods had '...lived there for  
> generations
> without benefit of law or clergy.'  He was good enough to bring  
> clergy on
> his return trip.
>
> We don't have nearly enough information on who was out in the  
> backcountry
> when or where, and we really should encourage an archaeological  
> emphasis to
> tell that story as it is almost entirely undocumented.  We know  
> there were
> many living beyond the reach of law from earliest times and in  
> increasing
> numbers as indentures matured.  We don't know how many or where.
>
> Can list members familiar with VA priorities and resources suggest  
> if there
> is a chance that this sort of subject will get serious  
> consideration in the
> near future?  And if it is a possibility, what would need to be  
> done to get
> such a large scale, long term project started?   I know they ain't  
> pretty
> but they sure are interesting folk.
The problem with these folks is that they are invisible. Replatting  
the original land grants is an on-going process. Dennis Hudgins, Tom  
Bannister and others have done entire counties but more needs to be  
done. I have found that the original patentees to land seem to have  
been there in some cases for 20 years prior to patenting.

Byrd mentioned copper mines on his dividing line survey. These must  
have left some trace but not one has yet been recorded. It is  
literally a needle in a haystack, but where you don't even know where  
the haystack is located, much less where the needle in it might be.  
One archaeological study of a log cabin site yielded virtually no  
artifacts as the inhabitants were so incredibly poor that they had no  
resources to acquire iron which which was then a valuable commodity.

I agree that there needs to be a systematic basis for investigation.  
Replatting of the counties bordering NC would be a start, but without  
an infusion of funds or at least local interest in avocational  
survey, finding one settlement in a hundred acre tract and excavating  
it would be nearly impossible.

In the interim, the best we can do is hope that a development project  
has one of these early sites on it so that it can receive proper  
study. Yes, they are definitely fascinating sites.

Lyle Browning, RPA
>
> tom
>
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