Nel said:

> Thanks to all who have provided definitions of "in-law" in our earlier
> records. Since in my case, John Hardaway's sister allegedly married Henry
> Hatcher, it would seem that Henry should likely have been referred to as a
> "brother" (and I have seen this term used in place of brother-in-law).
> Since
> he was not, the possibility that Henry may have been a step-brother raises
> some most interesting questions that, if proveable, would mean we've got
> at least one major error in our Hatcher documentation.

Don't forget that it's quite possible that John's sister could have
married her stepbrother. There are many cases of stepsiblings marrying in
colonial Virginia, and also cases where widowed parents of a married
couple married each other (I have one where the widowed mother of 3
siblings married the half-brother of their spouses, who were also
siblings).

So John and Henry could have been doubly "in-laws". But if you don't have
independent evidence that John had a sister, or that she married Henry,
I'd suspect that some earlier researcher jumped to that conclusion from
the terminology in the document you cited.

Kathleen Much

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html