Claude,

	I checked the 1787 Census of Virginia for Fairfax County & found the  
following:

List A
James     visited on 4/7/1787
William   visited on 4/7/1787
Caleb   visited on 3/20/1787

I don't know if  any of these are your Richards family.  As to your  
question, "Where did they come from?", is the same question I have  
about my Turner family.  They appear in Loudoun County, VA Personal  
Property Tax lists in 1790 as Michael Turner.  In the Lutheran Church  
records for Lovettsvile, the name appears as Michael Draher (in German  
dreher means a turner of wood or ivory).   They do NOT appear in the  
1787 Census of Virginia, so I am assuming they must have come from  
Pennsylvania for now.  There were only 10 counties in Penna in 1775.   
Since there was no census in Penna, I have to resort to using Personal  
Property Tax Lists for each county.  If I can find them in a county,  
then I can check church records.

Good Luck.

Lucy Turner Cronin


On Aug 27, 2012, at 12:48 PM, CLAUDE RICHARDS wrote:

> Thanks to all who responded to my question about navigability of the  
> Potomac.  I have already ordered a copy of "George Washington's  
> America..." and will surely give special emphasis to the maps listed  
> in the Smithsonian article.  Be assured that I will check out all  
> the suggestions that you all gave me.
>
> I have no family tradition about a boat trip up the Potomac.  My  
> Richards family shows up in (probably) Fairfax Co. in 1740.  The  
> other great question plaguing us is "Where did they come from?"
>
> Several children are reputed to have been born in VA.  One actually  
> stated during life that he was born in Fairfax Co. The last child  
> born to this family was in 1784.  In 1792 the mother and sons appear  
> on the tax lists in Mason Co., KY.
>
> I had corresponded with Paul Drake about the likely route west.  He  
> responded that the Gt. Valley Road, Cumberland Gap and then north to  
> Maysville (Limestone) would be most likely.  This last spring I  
> drove that route, learning that Cumberland Gap during that period  
> was a trail for pack mules -- wagons didn't pass through there until  
> after my people would have.  That started me wondering about  
> Braddock's Road and river passage on the Potomac, Monongahela and  
> Ohio Rivers.
>
> Obviously this is a question that may never be resolved.  Mine was a  
> family of little consequence and virtually no records.  I had hoped  
> that knowing the most likely route might put me in touch with people  
> or counties whose records might give me a clue.  Still hoping.
>
> Passing through Ft. Boonesborough gave me a whole new picture of my  
> family.  I had never imagined them in buckskins before.  This brings  
> me to another question:  Does anyone have suggestions where I can  
> get information about the transition from "city" living in VA to  
> life on the frontier.  Where did they learn how to prepare; what  
> supplies to take; how to make the journey?
>
> Thank you all again.  This is an awesome list where a great deal of  
> knowledge and experience are collected.  You are all wonderful.
>
> Claude Richards
>
> "Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. Government is force;  
> like fire it is a dangerous servant -- and a fearful master.”
>
> —George Washington
>
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