Philpotts of Virginia

Shortly after I moved to Richmond, Va. in 1993, I met a man there who asked me if I were related to "Jaybird" Philpott. I told him I wasn't and asked him who Jaybird was. He said, "The nicest thing that could be said about Jaybird is that he was a bootlegger.

Homer "Jaybird" Philpott ran hooch, and I think he was pretty good at it. Do a Google search for "Jaybird Philpott" and you'll find some interesting reading.

One story I'll bet you won't find was told to me by Dr. Harry Lee King, Jr. of Henry, Va. Dr. King was born in Henry County and was a retired professor of French and Spanish Literature at Wake Forest University. He told me that one year the culvert at the end of his driveway at the road had collapsed. When he came home in the afternoon, Jaybird and his boys had been there and had repaired it. And they never sent him a bill. So maybe this is the nicest thing ever said about Jaybird.

Philpott Dam & Lake in southern Virginia and Henry County have a lot of Philpott history.

Margaret Rea introduced me to a lot of the Philpotts in 1993-95, and I went to a couple of Philpott-Stone family reunions at Fairy Stone State Park, near Philpott Lake.