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L Verge · (This post was last modified: 12-17-2014 10:20 AM by L Verge.)

(12-17-2014 12:02 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:
(12-16-2014 04:28 PM)L Verge Wrote: An excellent point as to how names and facts get confused or printed in error, and the error keeps on going! Notley was a very popular name during the 19th century, and I know of plantations that were named such. For some reason, I think it has history dating back to England. Another reason to know social and cultural history... Sorry, I'll keep on preaching that, however.

The David Barry that you mention happened to be a good friend of John H. Surratt, Sr. I believe he has ties to both Oxon Hill Hundred and Surrattsville. Both men worked on the construction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. There is also a slight mention somewhere that Barry's son, Arthur, was Annie Surratt's beau before he went to war. I can't remember if he survived the war.

Dr. Arthur Barry's obit is on 466-67 of this issue of The Confederate Veteran. After the war, Dr. Barry ended up in Texas and died there in 1903.

https://archive.org/stream/confederateve...arch/Barry

Thank you so much for this information, Susan. Another tiny little piece of the Surratt history fits into place.

(12-17-2014 07:57 AM)BettyO Wrote:
Quote:In having to deal more closely with those issues, it generated a certain appreciation for unique groups and language migration/utilization. It is interesting to note that Appalachia, because of its isolation, probably is the closest to Old English in pronunciation of sounds. However, I prefer a certain tidewater variation that is just heaven on my ears.

Facinating, Jim!

I've been told that most Richmonders speak with a "Tidewater" Virginia accent. I was born and raised in Richmond and my dad was from Sevierville, Tennessee - so I speak with a conglomeration of both Tidewater and Appalachian . Someone once told me several years ago that the Tidewater accent was close to Old English. We still say things like "house" with the long emphasis on the "ho" or ho-se; (not "how-se") and use words which sound like "lie-berry" for Library; "chimley" for chimney...etc.

My mother was Southern Maryland through and through and always said "lie-berry" and "chimley." So does a good friend of Betty's and mine who is from North Carolina - and now trying to make herself understood in West Virginia.

(12-17-2014 07:36 AM)Jim Woodall Wrote:
(12-16-2014 04:28 PM)L Verge Wrote: An excellent point as to how names and facts get confused or printed in error, and the error keeps on going! Notley was a very popular name during the 19th century, and I know of plantations that were named such. For some reason, I think it has history dating back to England. Another reason to know social and cultural history... Sorry, I'll keep on preaching that, however.

The David Barry that you mention happened to be a good friend of John H. Surratt, Sr. I believe he has ties to both Oxon Hill Hundred and Surrattsville. Both men worked on the construction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. There is also a slight mention somewhere that Barry's son, Arthur, was Annie Surratt's beau before he went to war. I can't remember if he survived the war.

Laurie - I appreciate the extra information on Notley. Yes, Notley was used as a given name by many including Notley Young in the area. Also, Notley was a surname which gave us Notley Hall (from the 8th proprietary governor of Maryland, Thomas Notley) which I believe is still around although much changed from the original.

Of interest, in the 1860 census, it appears that John Nothey may be listed as John H Notley and family, 4 doors down from David Barry and family in the Surrattsville part of Prince George's County. Again, as mentioned in another thread, Thomas H Harbin was the census taker.

I was once again trolling through the Libers and came across John H Surratt Jr.'s deed to his mother in January 1865. In it, it indicated that the land on which the blacksmith shop in Surrattsville was built upon was acquired from David Barry by his father, John H Surratt, Sr.

John also acquired more of Fox Hall from William and Henrietta A Kirby. Is this the link through which Mary would later indicate a relation with William Wallace Kirby?

Interestingly, in the earlier libers where John H Surratt is mentioned, it appears that they spelled his name with an 'e' instead of the 'u'. However, he only uses his mark so one cannot see how he would have spelled it in a signature.

It is rather much fun, although a headache at times, to see names evolve and/or be misrepresented through time including in modern transcriptions from the older documents.

On an aside, I was a software engineer who spent most of my career with integration of voice recognition into the company's products. As with transcriptions from old documents, the interpretation of regional dialects were rather confounding. We would have to capture the problem pronunciations, isolate them, and forward to the company that generated the voice models for their updates. As with variations of Murphy's law, the individual in a company using our products that would have the most problems being understood would be the individual who would have to sign off on the product.

In having to deal more closely with those issues, it generated a certain appreciation for unique groups and language migration/utilization. It is interesting to note that Appalachia, because of its isolation, probably is the closest to Old English in pronunciation of sounds. However, I prefer a certain tidewater variation that is just heaven on my ears.

I have also seen John Nothey listed as John Notley in some papers. I was able to verify the Nothey through a descendant who was still in the area - and wanted nothing to do with any conversation about that side of the family (I don't think it had anything to do with John's involvement in the Surratt story, however).

Jim, I have also seen reference to another Notley Hall here in Prince George's County. I believe the one that you are referring to is in St. Mary's County on the banks of the Wicomico River. It has been preserved as an archaeological site to protect it from development because of Native American and colonial findings in the area. A part of it was once in my family.

However, somewhere I saw reference to someone describing a Notley Hall that would be close to the Oxon Hill area, but probably in Charles County. It made it sound like it was in the vicinity of the old Marshall Hall Amusement Park - which would put it near the original Marshall Hall Plantation on which the park was constructed in the late-1800s and ran into the 1970s. Via backroads, it would not be that far from the Good Hope area of D.C.

One more tidbit. The Surratt/Jenkins tie to the Kirby family is via one of John Zadoc Jenkins's daughters (Olivia, perhaps) marrying into the Kirbys. Mrs. Surratt's lady's desk, which now resides in our parlor, came to us via a Kirby descendant, whose family inherited it from Annie Surratt's daughter, Clara, who never married and gave it to a favorite Kirby cousin.