A Bit Bemused, but An Interested Onlooker, I have followed with interest the recent difference of opinion and the attempts of listmaster to maintain civility. I couldn't help but recall the statement in "Indiana Bench and Bar," a late Nineteenth Century history of pioneer law in the Indiana Territory and the early years of the State. Jesse Davenport, of the Virginia Pamunkey Davenports, but from North Carolina to North of the Ohio in 1801, was a frontier miller by trade, but got himself elected an Associate Judge of Wayne County, Indiana Territory, in 1814. Judge Davenport, legal historians opined in "Indiana Bench and Bar," was renown among Hoosier magistrates in never allowing a fact to get in the way of his opinion. The Judge was fated to come to a cruel end--a bunch of drunks dropped the center beam on him at a barn raising in 1826. Why would Uncle Jesse come to mind in reviewing the recent discussion here? Frankly, the Jefferson-Hennings problem pales compared to what the Pamunkey Davenports are facing--namely an increasing probability that the largest family of Davenports in America today with a Seventeenth Century Virginia origin, likely numbering well in excess of 10,000 descendants by now, had a bastard beginning in an Indian Reservation. We got those cousins who are rooting for Indian blood (they're evenly divided over whether Pamunkey or Chickahominy), and those who have deep-sixed all of their Davenport research and gone off to try to tie onto King Carter. We've already disqualified ourselves from Pocohontas descent--which would have kept a few of Coat of Arms folks hanging around. We told them about the Bar Sinister to no avail. John Scott Davenport, Ph.D. Holmdel, NJ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html