Cynthia asked: Subject: Re: headrights and dates of passage ....What's been stuck in my head about headrights is that the 50 acres per isn't granted until 7 years after the uhmm 'transportee' was transported. ...I'm hoping it's not rotten research for me to assume from the following patent that these guys -Edm. Marshall, John Fludd, Edm. Tedmund/Edmunds?, Samll. Cattan, William Russell, Willm. Savadge, Richard Browne, Edward Buderhill- - arrived here at least by 1641. What say ye? Cynthia, having a panic-attack in Wales Wisconsin Surrey County typ patent ref Virginia Patent Book 2 p146-147 dat 3 Jul 1648 decl -5 to Thomas Woodhouse re 400a Neare the head of the Northermost br. of Smiths Fort Cr. in James City County !bounded Vizt con Transp. of 8 persons !Assigned Unto him by Thomas Warren whose Names are !Edm. Marshall, John Fludd, Edm. Tedmund/Edmund, !Samll. Cattan, William Russell, Willm. Savadge, !Richard Browne, Edward Buderhill loc 41882 -65276 F127 L0 P255 ***** Hi, Cynthia. That "grant" tells me only that Thomas Warren, by actual transportation or by purchase or trade from yet someone else, assigned those headrights to Woodhouse before the date of that patent - 1641. Woodhouse, after survey (that dignifies what likely really happened), applied for a certificate and after "seating"/improving the property gained the patent. Notice that the rules were about the seating/improvement, and not about who turned out to be "good" servants. Moreover, the seating requirements, like all matters of government, then and now, depended upon who you knew. In fact, though the law was supposed to enforce a man's right to the service of an indentured servant, the quality and length of stay was of no real concern to the colony and no great efforts by the sheriffs and constables were exerted to that end; those who turned out "bad" servants were simply a risk the buyer assumed. Indeed, all questions of how long a servant stayed were matters for the buyer of those terms of service to deal with. Notice too, that Woodhouse could have gained that patent and at once sold it to someone else, divided then 400 acres into smaller tracts and sold whatever of those he chose, or could have traded it for another more desirable tract(s). He also could have gained the patent, then sold the headrights to whomever he chose since the servants would not have served their terms of service owed, and others could likewise claim lad from those rights. Finally, notice that one can not even be sure those servants all arrived here, since they were headrights even if they died at sea. Thus you can really only state with some measure of certainty that those named people booked servant passage in Britain before 1641. (Though I am NOT a Flood/Fludd reseasrcher, I would almost bet that John Fludd sold his own headright to Warren, Woodhouse or someone before either men since, as I recall, Fludd had some measure of affluence and would not have served as a servant of anyone. huh?) Paul To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html