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PROBLEM:  Three supposed brothers, William Embry, Jr., Thomas Embry and Joseph Embry lived in the Johnston/Wake Co., North Carolina area by 1761/2.  Family records show that the Embry family originated from Southwestern Virginia before North Carolina.  Thomas and Joseph married and had their oldest children in Goochland Co., Virginia during the late 1750s 

What I Know!

What I Think I Know!

How Do I Know It?

What Do I Want to Know?

How Can I Find It Out?

William Embry was the father of William,  Thomas & Joseph Embry

William Embry, Jr., was born about 1728/29 in Virginia; Thomas Embry was born about the 1730s in Virginia; Joseph Embry was born about the 1730s in Virginia and they appear to be  brothers living in North Carolina by 1761/2. 

One land record in North Carolina called William Embry, a junior. William , Jr. associated with Joseph and Thomas Embry.  They appear in land records together in North Carolina .

There are two older William Embrys appearing on the tax records of Southwestern Virginia in Sunlight on the Southside by Bell.  It is  believed that one of these will be the father of William Jr., Thomas and Joseph Embry.  Are William, Jr., Thomas and Joseph really brothers and which William Embry is their father ?

Map-out the locations where the different older William Embrys lived.  Determine how many are really different people and how many are the same man with land in different locations.  Also, check to see if tax records exist in Goochland Co., Virginia, the birth place of some of Joseph and Thomas Embry's children before they moved to North Carolina.  This county is NOT covered in Sunlight on the Southside by Bell.

There are two different older William Embrys living in what is now Lunenburg and Mecklenburg Cos., Virginia at the time William, Jr., Thomas and Joseph Embry would have been born.

The William Embry of Mecklenburg Co., Virginia lives the closest to where Thomas and Joseph Embry married (Goochland Co., Virginia) and where their oldest children were born.  HE IS A GOOD POSSIBILITY TO BE THE FATHER!  These marriages and births are recorded in The Douglas Register, a record of births, marriages, etc. by Rev. Douglas during the 1750s-70s.

Process of elimination.  There are only two William Embrys in the area that can be found in records available that far back at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT.

Make sure that there are NO William Embrys living in Goochland Co., Virginia, the county where Thomas and Joseph Embry married and had their first children before they moved to North Carolina.

The Card Catalog of the Family History Library needs to be search to see if there are early records covering the time period needed for Goochland Co., Virginia.  Also, The Library of Virginia needs to be contacted to see if tax records exist for Goochland Co., Virginia during the time period that Thomas and Joseph Embry married and prior to that time period to see if there is another William Embry living there that can't be found in the records available at The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT.

The card catelog of the FHL doesn't have tax records for the 1730s,40s,50s etc. for Goochland Co., Virginia.  The Library of Virginia  does have tax records for the 1750s for Goochland Co., Virginia.

Records in the FHL show nothing for an additional William Embry living in Goochland Co., Virginia during the 1750s.  Tax records ordered from The Virginia State Library show a THIRD William Embry lived there during the 1750s.  They also show when Thomas and Joseph Embry turned 21 years old while still living at home with their father, William Embry, Sr.

Tax records from The Library of Virginia for Goochland Co., Virginia.

THE PUZZLE

HAS BEEN SOLVED!