I have enjoyed the discussion of documents and sources. In working with land descriptions to locate topographic features with changing names, I have pondered the question of what is an original source. Images of the hand-written pages of the land patent and grant books are available at the Library of Virginia web site. They are helpful in locating old land boundaries, but they are not the original sources of these boundary descriptions. The descriptions were copied into the books by a clerk from the hand-written land patents. The descriptions in the land patents came from the surveyors who surveyed the land. I have found that quite a few of the boundary descriptions in the land patent and grant books contain errors. This same problem can also be seen in the associated deeds. This can be determined by developing title chains for subject tracts and their adjoiners over an extended time period and comparing their component documents. My grandmother's death certificate was riddled with errors. Her birth date did not agree with her parish church birth record by two years, and her Lithuanian maiden name and country of birth were also incorrect. There were similar errors in her recorded marriage record. I have found, shall we say, suspicious ages in other recorded marriage records and in the censuses. Would our revered ancestors lie? Or was the recording clerk hard of hearing? We cannot base a research project's outcome on one or two documents. We much find out everything we can about the subject of interest, and doing that can take years. Even then, we may be left with only educated guesses and perhaps some presumptions. Eve S. Gregory, Web Mistress Surry County, Virginia, Historical Society and Museums, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/~vaschsm/ Surry County VaGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~vasurry/ Sussex County VaGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~vasussex/ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html