After the end of hostilities in 1945, the fishing industry was quick to establish some semblance of recovery and a surge of new builds and restoration of Admiralty motor fishing vessels soon followed. In Fraserburgh, on Scotland's east coast, several established yards satiated this desire amongst the fishing-boat owners for new craft. Thus it wasn't surprising that a new yard sprung up at the end of the 1940s when three local apprentices from one of the yards decided to set up their own boatbuilding yard on the breakwater, in what was a very exposed position. And so the yard of Thomas Summers & Co. was born, a yard that became synonymous with fine seaworthy fishing boats suited to various methods of fishing. In the space of just thirteen years they produced eighty-eight fishing vessels and their output was more prolific than most of the other Scottish boatyards. Many of these boats survive to this day, some still working as fishing vessels, and others converted to pleasure, a testament to their superb design and solid construction. Here, Mike Smylie recounts the story of Thomas Summers & Co. through historic records and personal memories of both fishermen and family members, with many striking photographs of the boats they built.

I was always told that we had forefathers that served in the American Revolutionary War. I decided that I wanted to find out for sure and that is when I first became addicted to researching. It's been fun, time consuming but if compiling all this information helps someone find which branch of the family tree they came from then it has been worth it.

Based on recorded wills and original wills at the North Carolina State Archives as well as "Loose Estate Papers" of intestates, these abstracts cover not only wills but powers of attorney, bonds, inventories, bills of sale, etc. Significantly, Surry County lay within the Granville Proprietary at its formation, and after Lord Granville's death in 1763 until 1778, the Proprietary land office did not reopen, making it very difficult--but for these will abstracts--for the present-day researcher to establish the residence of many individuals during that time period. What is more, as there are no extant marriage bonds for Surry County for the period 1771 to 1780, these will abstracts assume an importance out of all proportion to their customary value.