y reference, and for the information of my family.

The tradition in my father's family was, that their ancestor came to
this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowden, the
highest in Great Britain. I noted once a case from Wales, in the law
reports, where a person of our name was either plaintiff or defendant;
and one of the same name was secretary to the Virginia Company. These
are the only instances in which I have met with the name in that
country. I have found it in our early records; but the first particular
information I have of any ancestor was of my grandfather, who lived
at the place in Chesterfield called Ozborne's, and owned the lands
afterwards the glebe of the parish. He had three sons; Thomas who died
young, Field who settled on the waters of Roanoke and left numerous
descendants, and Peter, my father, who settled on the lands I still own,
called Shadwell, adjoining my present residence. He was born February
29, 1707-8, and intermarried 1739, with Jane Randolph, of the age of
19, daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and
family settled at Dungeoness in Goochland. They trace their pedigree far
back in England and Scotland, to which let every one ascribe the faith
and merit he chooses.

My father's education had been quite neglected; but being of a strong
mind, sound judgment, and eager after information, he read much
and improved himself, insomuch that he was chosen, with Joshua Fry,
professor of Mathematics in William and Mary college, to continue the
boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, which had been begun
by Colonel Byrd; and was afterwards employed with the same Mr. Fry, to
make the first map of Virginia which had ever been made, that of Captain
Smith being merely a conjectural sketch. They possessed excellent
materials for so much of the country as is below the Blue Ridge; little
being then known beyond that Ridge. He was the third or fourth settler,
about the year 1737, of the part of the country in which I live. He died
August 17th, 1757, leaving my mother a widow, who lived till 1776, with
six daughters and two sons, myself the elder. To my younger brother
he left his estate on James river, called Snowden, after the supposed
birth-place of the family: to myself, the lands on which I was born and
live. He placed me at the English school at five years of age; and at
the Latin at nine, where I continued until his death. My teacher, Mr.
Douglas,