>>My research led up to Samuel Dickinson, a signer of the Constitution.
Absolutely know that name. What a wonderful topic of research, and you must have been thrilled when you made the correction. Have you gone back into the research since the DNA tests for family surnames have been prevalent in family societies?
The DNA kick is a whole ‘nother rabbit’s hole. I think FTDNA is the more solid and more quality, extensive one with the biggest database. They also partner with Y-Full for interpretation or some such. It is the one that the National Geographic partnered with for their Genographic 1.0 and 2.0.
Well, I was glad stoning was no longer legal. :^D In that case, the path was along the lines you mentioned - wills and inventories registered on the eastern shore of Maryland. You are right: that was really exciting detective work.
***Have you gone back into the research since the DNA tests for family surnames have been prevalent in family societies***
Mairdie, I have been a compulsive researcher all my life. I spent about three years on that Dickinson project... have moved on to other things I guess. I lost my fascination for genealogy; for one thing, my mother - the active genealogist but unable to travel much - took my mountains of research and published much of it in the Virginia Genealogist Magazine -- without even mentioning my name! I understand: she had worked feverishly on that line for a long time and was well known in American Colonial research circles; she just got excited and published to get it all out in print. Still, it deflated my sails considerably.