I have enjoyed the discussion of documents and sources. In working with land
descriptions to locate topographic features with changing names, I have
pondered the question of what is an original source. Images of the
hand-written pages of the land patent and grant books are available at the
Library of Virginia web site. They are helpful in locating old land
boundaries, but they are not the original sources of these boundary
descriptions. The descriptions were copied into the books by a clerk from
the hand-written land patents. The descriptions in the land patents came
from the surveyors who surveyed the land. I have found that quite a few of
the boundary descriptions in the land patent and grant books contain errors.
This same problem can also be seen in the associated deeds. This can be
determined by developing title chains for subject tracts and their adjoiners
over an extended time period and  comparing their component documents.

My grandmother's death certificate was riddled with errors. Her birth date
did not agree with her parish church birth record by two years, and her
Lithuanian maiden name and country of birth were also incorrect. There were
similar errors in her recorded marriage record. I have found, shall we say,
suspicious ages in other recorded marriage records and in the censuses.
Would our revered ancestors lie? Or was the recording clerk hard of hearing?

We cannot base a research project's outcome on one or two documents. We much
find out everything we can about the subject of interest, and doing that can
take years. Even then, we may be left with only educated guesses and perhaps
some presumptions.

Eve S. Gregory, Web Mistress
Surry County, Virginia, Historical Society and Museums, Inc.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaschsm/
Surry County VaGenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vasurry/
Sussex County VaGenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vasussex/

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