This past week was a continuation of the study of the probate for William McCall’s estate. There is so much to go through – it is tedious and seemingly endless. Why didn’t they put dates on all the papers when they put them in the files? Despite it being a difficult work week (doing something I love), along the way I figured out that ChatGPT could do more for me than I previously knew, and I discovered a potential vacation destination.

Last week I wrote about AI helping me with my genealogy. This week, on a whim, I uploaded an image to ChatGPT and asked if it could do a transcription. Voila! It could and it did a good job. Now I know. The only issue is that without a paid subscription, I can only have it transcribe a couple images a day. Even so, it is a good tool to have in the toolbox to use on occasion (or a couple times a day). — Yes, I could subscribe, but I really try to keep my expenses to a minimum!

A Place I’d Like to Visit

In the midst of working on my chapter on William and Mildred (Holland) McCall, I was looking at maps of Franklin County, Virginia, to try to get a better understanding of where they lived. Back in the early 1800s they were not using plat maps in the way they do now listing sections within townships. The property descriptions then depended more on things like trees or the neighbor’s name.

For example, here is a description of property that William bought from his dad, Robert McCall, in 1802.

This Indenture made this eight day of January in the year of our one thousand eight hundred and two, between Robert McCall of the county of Burk and State of North Carolina of the one part, and William McCall of the County of Franklin and State of Virginia of the other part, Witnesseth, the said Robert McCall hath and doth for and in consideration of a certain Sum of money to him in hand paid by the said William McCall, the Receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, & hath given, granted, bargained & sold, and doth by these presents grant, bargain, sell, and confirm unto the said William McCall, one certain tract of land, containing two hundred acres more or less situate, lying and being in the county of Franklin, on the south side of the Timber Ridge, and bounded, as followeth, to wit, Begining on Chrisley Peters corner on the Timber Ridge, runing on the Top of said Ridge to Jonathan Williamson’s corner on said Ridge on a white oak, then with a conditional Line of I Williamson’s to James Mitchell’s corner on a Maple near a branch, thence with Mitchell’s line to Richard Rowland’s corner thence with Rowland’s line to a black oak comer on John Smith’s line, thence with said Line a south course to said Smith’s corner on a white oak, thence along Mr. Burwell’s old order line to Chrisley Peter’s Corner, thence along his Line to a corner white oak, thence along said Peter’s Line to the Beginning together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining To have and To hold unto the said William McCall his Heirs & from the just claim or demands of any person, or persons whatsoever, and the said Rob. McCall doth for himself, his Heirs c a further covenant and agree to and with the said William McCall his Heirs &c to warrant and for ever defend the said Land and Premises in fee simple to the said William McCall In Witness whereof the said Rob. McCall hath hereunto set his hand affixed his Seal, this day and year above writen

I’m guessing that the white oak, maple, black oak, and the other white oak no longer exist 222 years later. Thus it is difficult to know more than approximately where the land lies.

We know the McCalls lived in the vicinity of Rocky Mount.

When I was looking at modern-day maps of the area, I came across an event venue called the Burwell-Holland Home Place. Holland? Mildred “Milly” McCall’s maiden name was Holland…

So, I let myself get a little distracted.

I learned that the house was built by the Burwell family in 1798. William Burwell was a Secretary to Thomas Jefferson. In 1850, the estate was sold to Thomas J. Holland and has been in the Holland family every since.

None of my direct ancestors lived in this place. But it is in the neighborhood of my McCalls. In that 1802 property description it said, “thence along Mr. Burwell’s old order line.” Maybe the same Burwell?

The original Holland owner was Thomas Johnson Holland, the son of one of Milly McCall’s brothers. So, he was a nephew to Milly. While I can’t say for sure, it is possible that Milly may have visited her nephew or that one of her children went to visit their cousin. Even if the families were not close, it is likely that our McCalls at least drove by the place at some point. They lived in the same general area.

The Burwell-Holland house is designated as a Virginia Century Farm and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The file at the National Registry has a plethora of information about the home. It even had a family tree of sorts for me – a listing of all the owners.

I do not have any events requiring an event venue in Virginia. However, they have cabin rentals. A night or two in a rustic log cabin “on a beautiful Virginia farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains” will be on my itinerary should we ever get to take a road trip through Virginia.

Where is he in the tree?

The following shows how we are related to Thomas Johnson Holland, the first Holland owner of the Burwell-Holland home.