Email From Dwight TrlHkr@aol.com to Hanelms@aol.com; go79@webtv.net
Copy to aacamp@worldnet.att.net
Email Dated 10/11/1998  2:58 PM

You may have gotten this message, but If not, I think you will find it of
interest.  Dwight


Attachment to Email from Carole Johnson fojo@Mindspring.com to CAMP-L@rootsweb.com
Email Dated 10/7/1998 


Dear Cousins,

I think that it is VERY healthy for us to question information that
we've found.  I personally find it nauseating to read all of the
old Camp Bulletin's (the ones from the 1920s) and the flowery
language that states little, if any, fact.  That said I am going
to throw another cog in the wheel.  Maybe those with better minds
than mine can figure this out:

According to the Registers of North Farnham Parish 1663-1814,
is listed the following Tarpley births:

John, son of James and Mary Tarpley, 21 February 1690.
Mary, dau. of James and Mary tarpley, 1 February 1691.
James, son of James and Mary Tarpley, 8 May 1692.
William, son of James and Mary Tarpley, 16 March 1695.
John, son of John and Elizabeth Tarpley, 16 July 1695.
Thomas, son of James and Mary tarpley, 28 February 1697.
Elizabeth, dau. of James and Mary Tarpley, 2 February 1701.
John and Betty, son and dau. of John and Elizabeth May 1720.
Mary, dau. of William and Mary Tarpley 7 December 1723.
Edward Ripping, son of John and Elizabeth Tarpley, 19 April 1727.
Elizabeth, dau. of John and Elizabeth Tarpley, 4 March 1728/9
John, son of William and Mary Tarpley, 29 September 1729.
James, son of William and Mary Tarpley, 8 December 1731.
Thomas, son of James and Mary tarpley, 28 October 1734
Hannah, dau. of William and Mary Tarpley, 6 January 1735.
Lucy, dau. of James and Mary Tarpley, 17 August 1736.
Betty, dau. of Traverse and Betty Tarpley, 28 July 1738
Sarah, dau. of James and Mary Tarpley, 13 September 1738.
Elizabeth, dau. of John and Ann Tarpley, 5 April 1740.
Mary, dau. of James and Mary Tarpley, 30 October 1740.
Winifred, dau. of Traverse and Betty Tarpley, 1 November 1740.
Alice, dau. of John and Ann Tarpley, 24 November 1742.
Fanny, dau. of Traverse and Betty Tarpley, 2 July 1734.
James, son of James and Mary Tarpley, 21 July 1743.
Winny, dau. of John and Ann Tarpley, 16 September 1744.
Lucy, dau. of Traverse and Betty Tarpley, 7 January 1745.
Betty, dau. of James and Mary Tarpley, 6 August 1746.
Traverse, son of John and Ann Tarpley, 12 August 1746
Thomas, son of John and Ann Tarpley, 3 June 1748.
Caty, dau of John and Ann Tarpley, 13 April 1750.
Milly, dau of Traverse and Betty Tarpley, 28 September 1756.

These were all the Tarpley births recorded at this church.

Assuming that the birth of the first child recorded to a James & Mary Tarpley
was in 1690, it is pretty safe to say that the last child attributed to
this couple must be Elizabeth in 1701.  There is a gap until the birth
of Thomas to a James and Mary Tarpley in 1734.  Unless ole' Mary was
super human, it is doubtful that a woman of that time could have had
children from 1690 until 1734 with a 33 year gap.  It is therefore, safe
to conclude that the parents of Thomas were a new James and Mary Tarpley,
most likely the son of the above James.  This second couple gave birth
to our Mary Tarpley (later married to John Camp) in 1740.  The last
child recorded to a James and Mary Tarpley was the birth of Betty in 1746.

Now, meanwhile in Williamsburg the James Tarpley supposedly the father
of our Mary Tarpley donated the bell at the Bruton Parish Church in 1761.
If what I suspect in the above is true and that Mary's father was
the James born in North Farnham is true, then James would have been
69 years old at the time of the donation.

According to records I found in 1990 in Williamsburg:  "John Tarpley
and Elizabeth Ripping Tarpley had these children:  Edward Ripping,
James, John, T. Quintus.  Edward Ripping died unmarried in York County
in 1763 leaving a will: T. Quintus died unmarried in 1739: John died
in 1763 in Williamsburg, and James died unmarried in Williamsburg in 1764.
James Tarpley's will was dated November 29, 1763, proved and recorded
in General Court...."

In another paper "Elizabeth Tarpley, daughter of Edward Ripping, ordinary
keeper of Williamsburg (1713-1734) maried Captain John Tarpley of
Richmond County, Virginia ca. 1726.  At the death of John Tarpley
(1739) the widow was appointed administrator and also guardian to her
minor children:  Edward Rippon (sic), James, Tertius Quintus and
John.  (Richmond countr orders, 1740, p. 150, Dec. 1, 1740 Court)."

In another illustration in the papers I found states that Edward
Ripping (Elizabeth's father) was an ordninary in Williamsburg from
1713 until his death..."Ripping died in 1734 leaving a will, made on
May 12th in which he bequeathed all his Lotts and houses in Williamsburg
to his wife during her life and then to his daughter (and only child)
Elizab eth the wife of John Tarpley.  He mentions his grandsons,
Edward, James and Quintus and desires James Tarpley when of
age to have my pint Silver cann. Rippings wife, Mary, died in 1744
leaving a will..."

I think that John and Elizabeth left the North Farnham area after
the births of Edward Ripping Tarpley and Elizabeth.  If this is
correct, then Elizabeth must have died in infancy.  T. Quintus, John
and James must have been born somewhere else. They were still in
North Farnham when Elizabeth was born in 1728/29.  John Tarpley
died in 1739 leaving minor children.  If James was born in 1733
he would be 28 at the 1761 dedication of the bell in Bruton Parish
Church.  The papers I found state that Elizabeth Tarpley had slaves
baptised at Bruton from 1748-1766 and that her son, Edward, had
slaves baptized therefrom 1749-50. Therefore, the family had a
definite history with that church. The papers state that Quintus was
dead in 1739(same year as their father, doesn't explain court
papers in 1740), Edward Ripping in 1763, John in 1763 and James
in 1764.  All never married.  Elizabeth died in 1772 in Williamsburg.

In summary, my feeling is that our James Tarpley remained in North
Farnham and that he did NOT have anything to do with the donation
of the Bruton Parish Church Bell in 1761.  Another source has stated
that he died in 1765 and was buried in Charlotte Co., VA along with
Mary Camp Tarpley (who died in 1758).

I tried two years ago to discuss this with the manager of Tarpley's
store in Williamsburg.  She kept telling me that she "KNOWS" that
the donator of the bell was James and Mary Camp Tarpley because some
woman sent her a computer printout!   She finally brushed me off by
stating that James Tarpley wasn't important enought anyway to worry
about it.  If you read the guest book in the store it is comical.
You would think that our Camp and Tarpley cousins were trying to
claim the childless George Washington as an ancestor!

I want to know factual history.  Our ancestors were a product of their
times, just as we are now.  They were living, breathing PEOPLE.  I
want to know them, just as I'd like to know any other member of my
family.  We respond to our environment and lot in life.  For example,
my mother who grew up during the Great Depression has a compulsion to hoard
food.  The fact that James probably didn't donate the bell doesn't mean
anything to me.  He was too busy living his life somewhere else.

I have heard the story that some of Thomas Camp's sons were Patriots
and others Tories and that during the Revolution  the Patriots
locked their Tory brothers in outhouses to keep from having to fight
their own brothers during battle.  I have also heard that Thomas's
second wife was not baptised until late in life and that she had
to be hauled down to the river in a rocking chair because she was
too big for the preacher to handle in the water!  These are the
type stories that fascinate me, not whether or not someone was famous.

Hurray that we've stirred things up.  With all of us offering opinions
and possibilities we may help each other uncover other information.
We are always free to believe as we wish.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Your cuz,

Carole Camp Johnson