Henry lived with the rest of his family in the Pigg River area of Halifax County, Virginia. This area became part of Pittsylvania County in 1767 (today it is in Franklin County).
There are many records of Henry especially in Pittsylvania. These records (mostly land transactions) of Henry and Rachel clearly prove his relationship to his brother, Parker, and to their father, William Sr. One of the records that clearly proves his relationship is -- 15 Mar. 1773 Henry sold fifty acres to Samuel Calland (Pittsylvania deed book 4 pages 343-344). In this record, it is stated "...it being the land the said Henry now lives on which he bought of his brother, Parker, ... and boundaries will more fully appear by his deed he had from his father William Adkins, Sr." As Rachel and Henry were selling their land in the Pigg River area of Pittsylvania in 1773 it is believed they were preparing to move to Fincastle (Montgomery 1777, Giles 1806) County to join his brothers. It is known that Henry was in Montgomery in 1791 as he and Parker were granted exemptions from county taxes because of "age and infirmities."
There are many records of Henry in Pittsylvania, especially land transactions, which prove his relationship to Parker & William Sr. He is listed on tax lists of Pittsylvania County in 1767. In 1782, Henry ATKINS is exempted from paying county or parish levies.
Henry was in Montgomery in 1791 as he and Parker were granted exemptions from county taxes because of "age and infirmities" (Ronnie Adkins, pp 4, 736). Three children are mentioned in the Court orders of Pittsylvania County, VA in 1787: Milly, Winston, and Winright, declared to be orphans of Henry and Elizabeth Adkins. Most secondary sources mistakenly place Milly, Winston, and Winwright as children of Henry and Rachel.
In September 1755 the sheriff of Goochland County, Virginia attached a horse belonging to Henry Adkins for a 7 pound, 10 shilling debt he owed to his neighbor William GOWEN (GOINS). William held land on Licking Hole Creek in Goochland, and was of the "Melungeon" Goins family. The Melungeons and other so-called tri-racial isolate groups such as the Lumbee Indians were descendants of freed "Atlantic Creole" slaves from Central Africa, of mixed Portuguese and African cultural and racial background, who through intermarriage eventually passed into the white community (see Heinegg (web site); Heywood & Thornton, 2007). A Daniel COLLINS (another "Melungeon" family) was living with Henry in 1773. It's unclear exactly what the connections were between the Adkins, Collins, and Goins families, but it may have some bearing on the later legends of the supposedly "Cherokee" wives of Henry's brother Parker and nephew Nathaniel.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gen%5Fauthor&id=I1968
