The Gateway of the Scotch-Irish to the Appalachian Mountains

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While attempting to determine whether William Davis had a son Moses, only one page was found of an intestate record which listed no heirs. Everyone did not leave a last will and testament, and an inventory of the estate, sale and subsequent annual returns were usually placed of record by the administrator. The lack of a will and extensive estate records leave the genealogist one choice, that is, to search the deed records for "gift deeds" to the children. Such deeds are viable proofs of relationships. Although there is one will book which survive in Tazewell County, fortunately some early deeds survived. The first settlement in the area occurred during the spring of 1771 when Thomas and John Witten settled at Crab Orchard. Thereafter, this southwestern area of Virginia area was slowly populated as farm land by Scotch-Irish immigrants. The region did not become the county of Tazewell until 1799 when land was taken from portions of Wythe and Russell Counties. Some call the region "the Gateway to the Appalachian Mountains."  . . . more . . .

New Additions to Virginia Pioneers.net

Images of Wills and Estates Fairfax Co. - Bk 1, 1653-71, Bk 2, 1691-1699; Bk 4, 1707-1709; Bk 5, 1712-1716; 1755-1804