Blanton Family Historians
Genealogical Trek to Virginia

In July 2002, Jenelle Blanton-Wilcox of California and Margaret Gray of Florida made a trip to Richmond, Virginia to do research at the Library of Virginia and the Essex County Courthouse.  They also took a side trip to Washington, D.C. in order to go to the DAR Library.  Waverly Land, another Blanton researcher from Virginia, met them in Richmond and assisted them in researching and finding their way around the city.  While there they met another "cousin", Tom Blanton, who lives in Richmond.  Below are some pictures of their trip.

While researching in the Essex County Courthouse, they had a stroke of good luck.  They met a local genealogist in the Clerk's Office and she backtracked to the property of Thomas and Jane.  Because of her knowledge of the local families and where they reside, she knew what old properties were sold down through time to whom.  She directed them to the property and showed them on a 911 map exactly where they could see the general area of the Blanton property of 1682.  It is located near the intersection of Tidewater Road (which is also Highway 17) and Old Courthouse Road.  Also, she told them of the name change of Jilson's (or Gilson's) Creek, which is mentioned in Thomas' deeds, to Mount Landing Creek.  Her knowledge and sharing was most appreciated.

This same genealogist also told them that the only reason the records at the Essex County Courthouse were spared during the War of 1812 was because the old Clerk (she was unsure of his name) loaded the records into his wagon and took them from the courthouse to his house and hid them.  We thought that was an interesting bit of information on the local history of Essex County.

 Photos courtesy of Margaret Gray.