The brother of my great-grandfather was named Eli Banton Davidson (born 1847; son of Joseph Cornelius Davidson and his wife Vitula Monroe Sandridge), and Eli made a significant amount of money (for those days) growing and selling tobacco on his farm in Buckingham Co., VA. As I understand it, his tobacco would be taken by wagon the few miles north to the James River (to what is Colombia, VA, I believe) and put on barges there. The barges would then transport the tobacco down-river towards Richmond. Eli started with about 300 acres of land on his farm/plantation named "Cherry Hill," so I guess that was enough land to "do well" in the tobacco business at that time. The Davidsons learned that the land in that area was also good for growing apples and peaches, and they eventually opened the Davidson Orchard on Rt. 15 in Buckingham (which remained in business into the 1980s or so). At one time, the Davidson family owned over 5,000 acres in the area, so that original tobacco business must have been quite lucrative. Bill Davidson To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html