I would appreciate comments on the following:
1. Could a person as young as age 16-17 have been on the tax list in Essex
Co., VA in 1802? There was a John Brown, Senior and a John Brown, Junior on
tax lists in 1802 and 1803 in Essex, and I have reason to believe that this
John Brown, Senior COULD have been the man who married Mary Kidd in Essex
Co., VA in 1785.
2. There is some type of deed in 1880 in Gloucester Co., VA between my
maternal gg-grandfather, Smith W. Brown, and Newington Baptist Church.
The letters "TR" are used after his name, and the letters "TRE" are used after
the name of the church. Can anyone confirm what these letters mean
(was "TR" actually "trustee," perhaps)?
3. Based on DNA testing on a living male Brown descendant, my above-
mentioned maternal gg-grandfather, Smith W. Brown, appears to have been
a "blood Smith" (versus a "blood Brown") who was APPARENTLY adopted by a
John Brown and his wife Mary Bennett in Middlesex Co., VA (this John Brown
MAY have been the John Brown, Junior who had been on the 1802 and 1803
Essex Co., VA tax lists mentioned above). Per a few clues, it seems quite
likely that Mary Bennett's mother, Mrs. Winnie Bennett, had the maiden name
of "Smith," so Smith W. Brown's biological father was probably out of that
same overall Smith family. How were adoptions "handled" in VA around 1815-
1818? So far, I have found no record of this adoption in Middlesex (or Essex)
Co., VA, but further research is certainly needed. The Smith DNA donor that
my male Brown relative matches has accurately traced his family back to the
Alexander Smith who lived in the Lancaster/Middlesex Co., VA area by at least
1658.
Note: I have some reason to believe that this Alexander Smith in Middlesex
Co., VA and the Nicholas Smith/Colonel Francis Smith family over in Essex Co.,
VA MAY have been related, so the "Smith DNA" in my Brown family COULD
have come from that "Essex branch" of this overall Smith family.....but all of
this is pure conjecture at this point).
Thanks!
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