The Wilson & Mason Descentants of Sarah Suddoth Major

Rappahannock County, Virginia was formed from Culpeper County in 1833. Rolling hill country prevented the county from having the wealth of the large cotton or tobacco plantations of the coastal plane. The growth of flax, various grains, cattle, sheep and swine, while not generating the wealth of the other money crops did sustained the county inhabitants. The part of Culpeper County that later created Rappahannock County was always a back-water type of place--a part of the American frontier lost in time. Slow to evolve schools and churches, the society, however, did evolve families that worked hard, played when possible and prayed regularly for a better life for their children. This is the story of a man and a woman caught in the social conventions of their time who were the parents of two young girls who existed without the benefit of their parent's marriage. The girls later produced two families the descendant of one we proudly proclaim as ours. This is the story of how the father of these two girls left land and potential wealth not to his daughters but to his daughters descendants. Some of the land willed to the daughters in 1855 still resides with several of this couple's descendants today. The sad part in all this were the stories that could not be told because of the unusual nature of the original couple's relationship. The effort of this book and all the research that went into it was to tell the story of that relationship unabridged, for better or worse, the story of our ancestors. Families are the breath of life. For those who are of this family, please take the time to carefully read a part of your history.