Author Archives: cvgaboard

Ethnic Diversity Sculptor Needs People Willing to Volunteer their Ethnic Percentages

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If you have had a DNA test done and are willing to share your ethnic percentages (no personal information needed), sculptor Patty Swygert will convert your data into a color-coded pie chart and mount it on translucent silk panels in a grid with other charts from the community. Using color-matching thread, she will link similar colors of your chart to similar colors of other charts.

The sculpture is designed to address our uniqueness and diversity (the pie charts) and our interconnectedness (the web of colored threads) and will be part of the international art event, Art in Odd Places/Charlottesville. It will be on display on April 5, 2018 (10 am-5 pm) in front of Booker Hall at UVA (across from the Corner) and on April 6, 2018 (10 am-5 pm) near the fountain on the downtown mall.

The sculpture consists of three panels: one including pie charts for the UVA community (students, faculty, staff, alumni), one for residents of the greater Charlottesville area, and one for residents of the rest of Virginia. Hopefully, the sculpture will grow as more people volunteer their percentages.

You can submit your percentages via email (pcs5g@virginia.edu) or by mail to: Patty Swygert, 5724 Lawson Lane, Earlysville, VA  22936. Please indicate whether you are affiliated with UVA, a resident of greater Charlottesville, or from anywhere else in Virginia, so she will know which panel to put your chart on.

Ms. Swygert also invites those of you interested in genealogy to stop by the sculpture to chat with onlookers about genealogy.

African American Civil War Soldiers Transcription Project

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If you enjoy transcribing historical documents, you might be interested in this announcement:


This transcription project is a collaboration between historians, social scientists, and the African American Civil War Museum. Their goals are to improve our knowledge of the African Americans who fought for freedom in the American Civil War, to provide descendants with access to information on their ancestors, and to present students of history with primary documents from a pivotal moment in African American history. To do this we are building a comprehensive database of the estimated 200,000 soldiers who formed the United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Help them out now at www.zooniverse.org/projects/usct/african-american-civil-war-soldiers.

Virginia Genealogical Society Spring Conference

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Exploring Your Family’s Past – One Page at a Time

The Virginia Genealogical Society Spring Conference is scheduled for April 27-28, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. Friday is a day of research at the Library of Virginia. The Saturday session, at the Four Points by Sheraton near the Richmond airport, features three interest tracks. Early registration ends April 1. Click here for additional information and the registration form.

Spring 2018 Central Virginia Heritage Available!

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Cover of Central Virginia Heritage, vol. 34, no.1

From this month’s issue:  “Two Alexander Moseleys” by Joanne L. Yeck:

“During the 18th and 19th centuries, naming practices among Virginia’s planter class were purposeful and surprisingly consistent. Maternal surnames were preserved as “first” names. Grandparents and, sometimes, rather pointedly, wealthy aunts and uncles were remembered in succeeding generations. These practices frequently give valuable clues to family connections. Often, they also result in multiple individuals with the same name, living concurrently in the same county. This can be maddening for researchers. As time passes, biographies become conflated, and genealogists can spend years untangling crisscrossing lives.…”

For the rest of this article, and several others, CVGA members should go to “Members Only” on the menu bar above, and choose “Central Virginia Heritage — Current Issue.” (Note: You have to be logged in to this website in order to see “Members Only.”)

For those who are not members, we offer the opportunity to purchase a printed copy of each issue. The Spring 2018 issue is available from https://www.amazon.com/dp/1986488012 for $6.50. Click on the Amazon.com link above or search for “Central Virginia Heritage” on Amazon.com.

If you have trouble logging in to the site to download your copy, or if you have trouble with the CreateSpace.com site, please contact me at the webmaster link at the bottom of this page.

Contents of the Spring 2018 issue:

  • Finding Those County Line Changes, by Judy G. Russell p. 1
  • Four Freedom Documents from Albemarle County, VA, transcribed by Jean L. Cooper p. 3
  • Connecting the Pieces of a Chancery Cause, by Jean L. Cooper p. 6
  • Sheriffs of Nelson County, VA, Through 1925 p. 10
  • Sheriffs of Augusta County, VA, Through 2016 p. 10
  • Sheriffs of Albemarle County, VA, Through 2016  p. 11
  • Getting Acquainted with the Revised Version of Find-A-Grave.com, by Ted Bainbridge p. 12
  • Will of Andrew McWilliams, Albemarle County, VA, 1772, transcribed by Jane J. Davis p. 15
  • The Key to Understanding Family Relationships p. 16
  • Diane Keeton Files Donated to CVGA, by Patricia Lukas p. 19
  • Index of Surnames in the Keeton Files p. 20
  • Passenger Lists to Virginia Before 1820, by Lorine McGinnis Schulze p. 23
  • Two Alexander Moseleys, by Joanne L. Yeck p. 24
  • President’s Column by Patricia Lukas, p. 26
  • Family Relationship Chart p. 28

If you have any articles you’d like to share with CVGA members, please send an email to the editor, eleanordew@gmail.com. — The Editor.

March 10, 2018: Genealogy Roundtable Discussion

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Which way do I go?

Bring your brick walls and your roadblocks to our next meeting on Saturday, March 10 for a roundtable discussion. We will put our heads together to help find a way to break through those pesky problems.

Don’t forget that we always like to hear about genealogy success stories, too, so if you have found a long sought-after marriage record or identified a mysterious person in an old photo or any such genealogy happiness, please bring it the meeting and tell us about it.

DISCUSSION: Change of Monthly Meeting Time

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Please tell us what you think of the following proposal:

At the CVGA board meeting in January, there was a disussion about changing the time of our monthly meeting. Currently the meetings are held on the second Saturday of the month from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. The proposed change is to have the meetings from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. The day of the meeting would stay the same, still on the second Saturday of the month.

One reason for the proposed change is this: the Family History Center in the church is open on Saturday mornings so there is a staff person in the building at that time to open the door for us. This change would eliminate the need for someone to return to the church in the afternoon.

February 10, 2018: Alison Bell – “Front Porches of the Dead”

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The speaker for our February 10 program will be Alison Bell.  She teaches Anthropology at Washington & Lee University.  She holds a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.  She is a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Residential Fellow and has been studying cemeteries in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.  

Ms. Bell is currently writing a book for the University of Tennessee Press, tentatively called The Vital Dead: Making Meaning, Identity, and Community through Cemeteries. The book will focus on some recent changes which she has observed in the cemeteries in the Valley of Virginia, commonly called the Shenandoah Valley.

In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and well beyond, profound changes are underway in cemeteries: grave markers are still etched with images of bibles and flowers, but motorcycles, monsters, cats, and footballs are also appearing. Inscriptions (“Gone Hunting for the Lord” or “Had a Good Ride”) and objects lefts on grave sites — bird feeders, whirligigs, letters to the deceased — echo this florescence.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Hope to see you there!

 

Free Genealogy Webinar

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2018 Genealogy Research Goals & Strategies for the Professionals!
Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy
 
Bring a pen and pencil or your iPad. It’s time to set your genealogy goals and strategies for 2018! Shelley will walk you through some steps for setting goals and strategies to help enhance your research.
Known affectionately as “familytreegirl”, Shelley was drawn to family history research by her mother, who provided more information than Shelley knew what to do with. More than twenty-five years later, Shelley has become a genealogy force to be reckoned with. She is a co-founder and faculty for the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI) and a founding member and current president of the AAHGS Chapter of Central Virginia. She is known for her fresh approach to getting started in genealogy research, for her keen methods and strategies for analyzing documents, and for her common-sense approach to time and file management.
Please join us in listening to our very own Shelley Murphy!!!  Here are log in details:
National Capital Area Chapter APG 
Sat, Jan 20, 2018 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ESTJoin the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/930875813 You can also dial in using your phone. 
United States: +1 (312) 757-3117 

Access Code: 930-875-813

First GoToMeeting? Let’s do a quick system check:https://link.gotomeeting.com/system-check

CALL FOR PAPERS: 39th NATIONAL AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORICAL & GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, INC (AAHGS)

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In the Call for Papers, you will find both the proceedings & submission instructions. 
To submit your Call for Papers – Click on the link above.
AAHGS is pleased to announce an invitation to submit lecture proposals for the 39th National AAHGS Conference to be held at The Valley Forge Casino and Resort, King of Prussia, Philadelphia, October 11-13, 2018, hosted by the Family Quest Chapter.
The conference welcomes theoretical and empirical papers from historian, genealogist, librarians, authors, and academics.
Submission of Proposals:
Proposals must be submitted electronically at Call for Papers (Click on Register HERE button and use your existing membership account or create new account to submit), in Microsoft Word format only. Proposals must contain complete information suitable for submission in the printed version of the conference syllabus.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
Call for Papers will be accepted no later than March 31, 2018
Notifications of accepted Papers will be provided no later than April 30, 2018

January 13, 2018: Ancestor Show and Tell

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Image result for antique quilts

IMAGE: https://timquilts.com

This month we are having an “Ancestor Show and Tell”. Bring something that has a special meaning to you as a family historian and if you like, tell us about it: who it belonged to, what it means to you and where it came from. It could be a handmade item, such as a quilt or a doily, a dish or a doll with a special significance, a family scrapbook or family bible, or even an exciting, unexpected document that you have found.

NOTE: We will treat your special items as museum pieces and ask that no one touches anything without your permission.

NOTE: this meeting was originally scheduled for December but was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Hope to see you there!