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The best way to find anyone you are interested in… and “if” I have dug up any dirt on them, is to use my SEARCH button half way down on the right side of this page. Last count, I have over 400 “Posts”.
“When I works I works hard! When I sets I sets easy, but when I thinks, I falls asleep!” Dizzy Dean
Ned Griffin
There is a story here but I am not that kind of writer. (thanks to Traci the Librarian for pointing this out to me)
I see two people who crossed paths and simply find the details interesting. There is Ned Griffin, a half breed (mulatto if you prefer) who was purchased by William Kitchens and offered by his owner the opportunity to gain his freedom by serving in his stead in the Revolutionary War. Ned did just that. Then the weasel, coward and purported deserter William Kitchens reneged on the deal and tried to again sell Ned as a slave. Ned took it to Court. Thanks for Courts (as I think Ned would agree) he was declared a free man and manumitted.
Later William Kitchens found himself dead… murdered as it were. I have no idea what the beef was between his rather pissed off neighbors.
Ned led a quiet life next door to my ancestors in Edgecombe County, NC…. apparently dying a natural death. Not trying to be smartass or funny, he seemed to have had the effects of being “gobsmacked by life”. Ned died about 1802 or so. He never married apparently or had any (known) kids. There are some unanswered questions about that. There were some not fully white Andersons in the area.
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/griffin-edward-ned
Orren Kelly’s post:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2961887134100424/search/?q=William%20Joseph%20Kitchens
Dancing with the Devil.
I have two trusted friends and we email when confronted with dilemmas. Been doing it for years… This is not a problem to be fixed… or trifled with.
One of those friends has confronted me with an ultimatum: “Don’t bring that demon to the party”. When she talks… I listen. She does not stutter. She did not use the term “demon” but I think that is a justifiable analogy. The demon in this case, of course, is Artificial Intelligence. She has put up a fence to keep the demon out. I respect that. I truly do.
I on the other hand have let the damn thing loose in my yard and treat it like a dog. (I do love my analogies). I have this idea that you can train a dog. You can make a sheep dog look after sheep and not eat them. My odd intent of that statement belies the fact that, perhaps, sheep dogs evolved from wolves (who do eat sheep). Not stated on the surface is the older idea that sheep dogs did not evolve from wolves. That is all to state the obvious that there are two schools of thought, you know, Creation vs Evolution. In some circles, those are fighting words.
Conscientious Genealogists truly believe in telling the facts as truthfully as possible. They have formed a club and set down rules… The main rule is “don’t play with the truth”. My friend is a “Conscientious Genealogist” and she will brainwrestle you like an armwrestler in a drunken bar contest. She is like a female Superman explaining Truth, Justice and the American Way to Cub Scouts. I’m pretty sure she likes apple pie.
I have caught AI “playing with the truth”. But I think it can be trained. But like a dog that has bitten me before, I will always keep that fact in the back of my head. Hence I will not attempt to train a wolf to guard sheep. Perhaps I am just trying to train a dog to hunt and will keep it penned up. That is where I think I am. Time will tell.
But I have been warned and will keep it under advisement…
John Wright Indian Agent
my latest escapade…
He operated in South Carolina but was allegedly from Virginia…
We shall see…
FREE Graphics Program
Many of you have asked how I produce these maps. All of the snazzy graphics you see on this site (including the Maps) are created with a Program called Affinity. I paid good money for it years ago because it did eveything that Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop could do at a fraction of the cost. The crazed lunatics are now giving it away for FREE. I have no doubt it is because they want to take on Adobe and grab some of the market share away from them. I long ago got fed up with Adobe and the fact I was forced into paying a monthly rental fee. Furious is probably a better term for my disgust of being used and abused by that corporate beast. But Affinity is saying in no uncertain terms they will keep the product free but you can pay a premium if you want the new AI assisted add ons. The basic program is quite fine for what I do. Download it and take it for a spin. Why not…the price will not get any better than free.
I have not received a dime to endorse this… been using it for years…
Yes it has a learning curve and no it is not that easy…don’t whine. It is worth it.
There are a ton of How To videos on YouTube.
Tune in, Turn on and then buy my book on how to create Colonial Maps. You knew I had a motive.
Nansemond where art thou?
Nansemond has not been treated kindly since it was established… it has had the crap kicked out of it on several occassions…
Nansemond County, Virginia, was one of the original eight shires (counties) formed in the Virginia Colony. It started as Upper Norfolk County in 1637, carved from Elizabeth City County (now Hampton). In 1646, it was renamed Nansemond after the Nansemond River and the local Native American tribe (Algonquian people who lived there for centuries before English settlement in the early 1600s). The county covered a large area along the river in the Tidewater region, focused on tobacco farming, trade, and later shipbuilding. In 1974, it merged with the city of Suffolk, so it no longer exists as a separate county—records are now in Suffolk City.The big issue with Nansemond’s historical records is that most were destroyed by three major fires over the years. This makes genealogy and history research tough, but some bits survive in other places like state archives or copied documents.Key Fires and Record Losses
- 1734 Fire: The first big loss happened when the courthouse clerk’s house (where records were kept) burned down in April 1734. Most early deeds, wills, and court papers from 1637–1734 were lost.
- 1779 Fire (Revolutionary War): British troops raided and burned the courthouse during the war, destroying more records from 1734–1779.
- 1866 Fire (Post-Civil War): The last fire hit the courthouse on February 7, 1866 (possibly accidental or related to post-war chaos). This wiped out almost everything left from 1779–1866.
Because of these fires, Nansemond is called a “burned county” in genealogy circles—meaning very few original records survive from before 1866.What Records SurviveEven with the losses, some info can be found in backups, state copies, or other counties:
- Deeds & Wills: A few pre-1734 deeds were recopied or referenced in later documents. Post-1866 deeds start fresh in Suffolk records.
- Court Orders: Some 17th-century orders were copied into Virginia state archives.
- Land Patents/Grants: These are in Virginia Land Office records (from 1623 onward), not county-specific, so many Nansemond grants survive.
- Church Records: Parish registers from Nansemond’s Anglican churches (e.g., Suffolk Parish) have some births, marriages, deaths from 1700s–1800s.
- Census/Tax Lists: Federal censuses from 1790 onward (but 1790/1800 lost for all Virginia due to 1812 War fire in D.C.), and state tax lists from 1782+.
- Free Negro Records: Some certificates from 1827–1861 survived and are in the Library of Virginia.
- Other Sources: Family Bibles, newspapers (e.g., Norfolk papers), military records (Revolutionary/Civil War), and books like History of Nansemond County by Jos. B. Dunn (1907) summarize lost info from memories and fragments.
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Note above in the account of its history…”In 1974, it merged with the city of Suffolk“. That statement is not true… what actually happened is that a flock of Cucoos landed and “nested” in the County and refused to just fly over.
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Coming Soon
Comment if you have any suggestions… I’m writing it now…
Over the last 20+ years, I have picked up methods that I use every day now. Today, with the tools at our disposal, which were unheard of not that long ago, it is quite easy to do your own maps. (Easy if you have the desire and don’t mind a learning curve about equal to an Office program). This is aimed at folks who have skin in the game… working genealogists who need that little “push” to crack a brick wall or just add to your skills. Graduate researchers can toss the conventional pen and paper calculations with protractors and such and do in minutes what once took hours. Coordinate your platts with Google Maps and take a metal detector to your site. The surveys of the colonists 300 years ago were as accurate then as they are today. The missing element for them was accurate topographical maps that we have today (which they did not).
Take a look at my new site- I have the audacity to attempt to map SouthSide Virginia from the Appomattox to the North Carolina border… I will attempt to fill out the Burned Husk of Nansemond County. The historical patent surveys at the Library of Virginia are the only reliable records left.
If you can demonstrate the skill, I would love some help on the map… it is a huge project. How many thousands of Americans trace back to Virginia?