Since Conrad Dearing was identified in the Cabell estate settlement and was also known to reside in Greenbrier County, we started with Conrad.  On 25 August 1791 Conrad Dearing married Mary Black in Fauquier County, Virginia.  Consent was given by Mary's father, Abraham Black and surety was John Black.  Click here to see marriage bond.  Conrad was noted as Conrad Dearing in the body of the bond, and the bond is signed by Conrad as Conrad Döhring or Dähring in German script.  In rechecking the Greenbrier Personal Property Tax (PPT) records, Conrad Daring is found as appearing in the James Rodgers district and enumerated on 1 June 1794, just one year after an Abraham Black appeared in Greenbrier.  This is the earliest entry found for Conrad in Greenbrier, and William Reed states Conrad gave a deposition some years later where he noted he was in Greenbrier by 1794, working as a distiller for Francis Luddington.  Conrad is in Greenbrier through 1838, the last year for which we have Greenbrier PPT records, variously enumerated as Daring, Dering, Deering and Dearing.

We then turned to the Fauquier PPT records for information.  They proved to be richer than the Greenbrier PPT records in one regard, they documented the names of males between the ages of 16 and 21 found within each household.  This removes most doubt regarding father and son relationships.  The Fauquier PPT records start with the inception of the Virginia personal property tax in 1782.  Abraham Black appears in every year starting with 1782 through the year 1792, then disappears from the Fauquier PPT entries.  The entries were checked through the year 1809 and Abraham does not appear in Fauquier after 1792.  Did Abraham die?  We suggest not, since then it was the custom to enumerate the widow along with any males over the age of 16 in the household.

A closer look at the Fauquier PPT entries is helpful.  From 1782 through 1787 Abraham enumerated as the only male above the age of sixteen in the household.  After that the entries get more interesting:

The year 1792 marks the end of Abraham's appearance in Fauquier PPT lists and 1804 marks the end of John's appearance in Fauquier PPT lists.  John's disappearance will be explained on the children's web page for John.  It should be noted that in 1790, 1791 and 1792 Abraham had a son Peter coming of age in his household.  One item not mentioned on page one was when Abraham Black appeared in the Greenbrier PPT list of 1793 for the first time, there was a Peter Black that made his first appearance in Greenbrier and was in the same district and enumerated on the same day.  Peter appears consistently in the Greenbrier PPTs, and in the same enumeration district as Abraham, through the year 1804.  In this last year he is shown on Sinking Creek along with Abrim Black, Adam Black and Jacob Black.  After 1804 Peter disappears from the Greenbrier scene.

The disappearance of Abraham and Peter from Fauquier in 1792 and the appearance of Abraham and Peter in Greenbrier in 1793, the appearance of Conrad Dearing in Greenbrier shortly after, and the appearance of Conrad Dearing in the Cabell Abraham estate settlement all lead us to believe the two Abraham's are one and the same.  While it is not the smoking gun, there are sufficient coincidences to lead us to what we believe is this logical conclusion.  The Fauquier County GenWeb site identifies Greenbrier County as one of the top destinations for Fauquier emigrations.  Other statements on the GenWeb site include the following provided by Jim Burgess, "Between 1780 and 1800, following the American Revolution, the greatest migration yet, started west.  Eastern land was worn out, taxes and land prices were rising, currency was scarce and worth nothing, and new immigrants wanted land.  Added to those reasons was the state of the American treasury.  Congress had received the western land claimed by the colonies and was land poor. Unable to pay the Continental Army, most soldiers received land certificates, as payment for war service instead of money.  Various states also reserved land to pay their own soldiers, and the land everyone sought was over the mountains or across the Ohio River...Other pioneers were far to the South where a hundred miles of Virginia mountains separated eastern Virginia and the Ohio River.  South of the Pittsburgh trails, those mountains had only three major trails by 1790 including: the trail into the Greenbrier valley..."  Thus it seems reasonable to think Abraham would have made that move.

In Fauquier County, John leaves Abraham's household and establishes his own household at least by 24 April 1792, and perhaps before 2 May 1791 since John is not enumerated in Abraham's household at that time.  This would place John's birth date circa 1770.  In fact, Dr. Virginia Easley DeMarce in her Boone County, Missouri research of the John Black family has placed his birth as 7 December 1769.  This is the oldest identified son of Abraham, and if this were to be the oldest child, it likely places Abraham's latest birth date as 1750, and most probably earlier.  Likewise, the latest possible birth date for Elizabeth would likely be 1755, and most probably earlier than that.

There is a 1787 Fauquier County Court suit, brought against Abraham by John Axline as assignee of Michael Carne.  After three postponements, the case is tried and settled in the May 1788 court session.  The reason for the suit is not mentioned in the Minute and Order Books entry (click here to see entry), however there are several interesting conclusions to be drawn from this entry.  First note that the defendent is listed as Abraham Swarts alias Abraham Black.  This would seem to indicate that Abraham was known as Swarts or Swartz/Schwartz, and has subsequently changed his name to Black.  Since Schwartz means Black in German, there is a strong possibility Abraham is of German extraction.  There was an Abrm Swath listed as a tithable in 1781 in the NW part of Fauquier near the county line with Loudoun County, Virginia.  John Axline and Michael Carne are found as tithables in Loudoun County, Virginia.  For example,

The court case notes gave no indication what the case was about, just that Abraham lost the court case and was liable for interest back to 1778.  Does this indicate perhaps some Abraham connection to Loudoun County?  In checking the Loudoun County lists of tithables, Abraham appears as follows,

With Michael, John and Abraham all living in the Josias Clapham district in the same timeframe it would be reasonable to expect they knew each other.  It appears that Michael Carne and Abraham Schwartz/Black transacted some business in 1778 and that Michael, and the jury, felt that Abraham still owed him money, plus interest back to 1778.  Is it possible that Abraham may have been in Loudoun until 1778 and then migrated to Fauquier?  Perhaps Abraham borrowed money from Michael to get established in a new location?  We may never know for sure what the circumstances were, but it appears Abraham was in Loudoun County prior to migration to Fauquier County.

And what of the Jacob who entered into the Fauquier lease and was mentioned at the top of this page?  More information on Abraham can be found on the next page.