This initiative has been established to extend the genealogical work of those with pre-1850 roots in the early Chesapeake region of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. An interest in exploring the DNA roots of early Chesapeake settlers began with the Group Administrator's research in Mathews County, Virginia, located on Virginia's Middle Peninsula. Most of her ancestors emigrated from England, Scotland and Wales to Mathews or emigrated from these countries to resettle in Mathews from neighboring Chesapeake counties (especially Middlesex and the Virginia Eastern Shore) between the mid-1600s and mid-1800s. Those with surnames listed below and others with family histories linking them to the area are invited to join. About Mathews, Virginia: Mathews was formed in 1790 from Gloucester County, Virginia. Hugh Gwynn of Wales was an early settler whose land patents extended along the Piankatank River. Gwynn's Island bears his name and Milford Haven, the body of water that separates the Island from the Mathews mainland, is a clue to his Welsh roots. Other 1600s land records for the area that became Mathews include the names Armestead (Armistead), Bohannon, Billups, Curtis, Davis, Degges (Diggs), Dudley, Elliot, Forrest, Lillie (Lilly), Ludlow, Marchant, Mechen (Mecham), Morgan, Putnam, and others. The boundaries of Gloucester County's colonial period Kingston Parish include most of modern day Mathews. The parish vestry’s register of marriages and births from 1749 to 1827 remains a key tool for genealogists. The modern county is still populated by many descendants of its earliest settlers.