VAFLOYD-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [VAFLOYD] Questions
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 21:09:19 EDT

In a message dated 8/6/2001 5:10:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:

> Is anyone familiar with the marriage of an Elisha Thompson and Mary
>


What do you mean, Kasia? My "familiarity" is that myself and many others
believe Elisha was a son of Elswick Thompson and Martha "Patty" Akers, while
at least one person I know of disputes that.




>
>





Here is something I received in 1997:




> Dr. Edgar McDonald wrote a short article concerning legal age in
> the MAGAZINE OF VIRGINIA
> GENEALOGY pub. by the Va. Genealogical Society.
> "...While 21 was agreed on as being "of age" in the usual sense,
> under English Common Law a father's
> will, having the force of law, frequently determined when a child
> became of age. Virginia court records abound
> in instances where fathers named their children "of age" as early
> as 15 and 16. Indeed, a father could give a child
> freedom" verbally. More important, however, is the fact that
> under English Common Law a witness did not
> have to be 21 to qualify as such. An "infant," the legal term for
> anyone under 21, could testify at any age when
> understanding was presumed, and under common law the age of 14
> was accepted without question as the age of
> discretion.
> In the second instance, a minor could perfectly well buy land if
> he had the means or credit. At 14 a male
> could marry, sign contracts, choose his guardian, bequeath
> personal property, apprentice himself. He could even
> sell land as a minor but was usually required to confirm the sale
> upon arriving at the age of 21; however, where
> unchallenged, few of these confirmations found their way into the
> records. The general assumption by many
> genealogist that 21 was the universal age for civic activities is
> simply erroneous. While a male had to be that age
> to vote, he was taxed at 16, and frequently he was mustered into
> the militia at
> 16. For most of his activities concerning his personal affairs,
> the colonial male in Virginia, and elsewhere, was
> imminently qualified to affix his name to public documents at the
> responsible age of 14."
> Although this explanation doesn't make it easy to assume a
> person's age, it does keep you from making a
> false assumption. Sometimes in genealogy proving what isn't true
> is almost as good as proving what is true."
>
>
> In deeds what does the abbreviation ap mean? As in "Obediah Dickerson ap of
> Griffith Dickerson ap of Wm. Logan who was ap of Samuel McCraw."
>


I would think that has something to do with a land grant of some type which
originally belonged to Samuel McCraw and was sold or bartered to the others
in sequence.

Best wishes,

Earl



Earl B. Akers, Sr.
Puyallup WA
<A HREF="/www.geocities.com/ebasr">The Banyan Tree</A>

This thread:

• [VAFLOYD] Questions by

  • Re: [VAFLOYD] Questions by

  • Re: [VAFLOYD] Questions by
  • Re: [VAFLOYD] Questions by