Category Archives: Research

Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project Completed!

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On December 6th, Alison Barnes, the Corresponding Secretary of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), sent the following email to members of that organization who have been transcribing the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) for the past 18 months.

Thank you for all your hard work on the Freedmen’s Bureau Project.  Together, AAHGS members were part of making history and contributed to the 100% completion of indexing the Freedmen’s Bureau Project.

The database is now a permanent part of the Genealogy Exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.

Tomorrow, December 6th, 2016, marks the culmination of the project. At 9AM EST the indexed Freedmen’s Bureau Records was formally presented to NMAAHC. Go to http://www.discoverfreedmen.org to watch the recorded celebration.

The members of CVGA congratulate the members of the AAHGS on the successful completion of this project. It is a noteworthy achievement and will make these records available to genealogists and historians alike.

Reading rooms of the Library of Virginia will be closed …

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A letter from the Library of Virginia

The reading rooms of the Library of Virginia will be closed on Saturdays and Mondays starting November 14, 2016. The move is a result of the drop in recent revenue projections, which led to Governor McAuliffe reducing the operating budgets for executive agencies by 5 percent for the current fiscal year. The Library had no option but to turn to staff cuts to absorb the 5 percent operating budget reduction. With the loss of 18 employees, the Library is unable to keep the reading rooms open six days a week. Effective November 14, 2016, the reading rooms will be open Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

“The decision to close the reading rooms was made reluctantly but providing effective service on Saturdays and Mondays for patrons without adequate human resources was no longer possible. Since the Governor’s announcement of the staff reductions at the Library of Virginia I and other members of the Library Board have been contacted by members of the general public who are very upset about these staff reductions,” said R. Chambliss Light, Jr., chairman of the Library Board.

Librarian of Virginia Sandra G. Treadway said, “Closing on Saturdays and Mondays is necessary because of the loss of 12 full time and 6 part time employees. Suspending our Saturday hours and closing our reading rooms on Mondays is heartbreaking for us, but is necessary. It will make it difficult for citizens who do research in the Library’s unique holdings; however, we will continue to offer our constituents alternative avenues to information. When the Library is not open, citizens can still access numerous reference and research resources through the Library’s main website (www.lva.virginia.gov) and also via Virginia Memory (www.lva.virginiamemory.com)<http://www.lva.virginiamemory.com)>.”

Other service areas will also be affected. It will take longer, for example, to fill orders for digital images of material in the collections. Training for state and local records officers will be offered less frequently, and response times for records management-related questions may be extended. Moreover, it will take longer to provide access to new collections, and the Library’s ability to offer programming will be diminished.

The agency will remain open from Monday through Friday. Full-time public service staff will continue to respond to mail, email, and telephone requests and will pull materials to fulfill research, photocopying, and digitization requests. This work will primarily be done on Mondays, since there is not sufficient staff coverage to complete this work when the reading rooms are open to the public.

If you would like more information about the Library, please visit our website, www.lva.virginia.gov.

 

Central Virginia Heritage (online edition), Fall 2016 Available Now

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Cover of Central Virginia Heritage, Fall 2016 issue.

Here is a snippet from Patricia Lukas’ article “Hill & Wood Funeral Service Records:
A Brief Overview”:

The business now known as Hill & Wood Funeral Service was founded in 1907 as the Irving, Way, Hill Company. Mr. Willard Irving handled the livery business, Mr. C.T. Way was a carriage maker, and J. Hercules Hill was the undertaker. It was located at Water and Main Streets. After one relocation, the business was moved to its present location at 201 N. First Street, Charlottesville, VA in 1936.

The company was incorporated as Hill and Irving in 1929. Mr. Paul H. Wood assumed the presidency in 1975 when a new corporation named Hill and Irving Funeral Home, Inc. was formed. Hill and Wood Funeral Service, Inc. became the name of the firm on January 1, 1978.

The earliest records held by the company date from August 1914. The first book consists of preprinted pages with the record of services provided …

For the rest of this article, and several others, 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 Fall 2016 issue is available from CreateSpace.com/6549428 for $6.50. Click on the CreateSpace.com link above or search for “Central Virginia Heritage” on the Createspace.com Store site.

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.

Table of Contents for Fall 2016 issue:

  • Excerpts from A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services … page 1
  • Burial Records of Jewish Cemeteries in Central Virginia … page 5
  • Thomas M. Appling (1 Jan 1832-ca. 22 Aug. 1862) … page 6
  • Hill & Wood Funeral Service Records: A Brief Overview … page 7
  • Genetic Genealogy in Practice: Book Announcement … page 8
  • Pension Testimony from Veterans of the American Revolution in Albemarle County … page 9
  • The Pension Act of 1818 … page 13
  • An 18th-Century Pre-Nuptial Agreement from Fluvanna County … page 14
  • Three Lists of Negro Slaves Owned by Lewis Holladay of Bellefonte, Spotsylvania County, Va., 1800-1817 … page 19
  • Spotsylvania County, Va. Tax Assessments, 1779-1780 … page 20
  • Central Virginia Historical Organizations … page 24
  • President’s Column, by Patricia Lukas … page 27

Contributions of research articles needed for next Central Virginia Heritage

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Dear Members of CVGA — Get out your pens!

In order to publish a newsletter for Fall 2016, we need several research articles to include in it. I know that you will be doing research all summer, and would like to share your efforts with other family history researchers, so please do send them in. The articles may be edited for length and content, and we cannot guarantee that all articles submitted will be included in the Fall 2016 issue.

Order a print copy of Central Virginia Heritage, Spring/Summer 2016

Please note that we can now use illustrations (black-and-white or color) with your articles on the web or in print. If you intend to include illustrations, please contact me for details on format and resolution needed.

We are looking for articles on topics such as:

  • Resources to be found in a specific archive or courthouse in Virginia,
  • How you solved a specific problem in your research,
  • Genealogy of a particular Central Virginia family,
  • Transcription of a Central Virginia document or record that you think will be useful to other researchers,
  • Instructions on how to use a specific resource, or
  • Any other sort of article that you believe will be useful to your fellow researchers.

Send your original articles to any of the Board members — Patricia Lukas, Susan Emert, Susan DuBar, Pam Vandenhoff, Diane Inman, or Jean Cooper. Our email addresses can be found here: http://cvga.avenue.org/?page_id=5

 

Central Virginia Heritage (online edition), Spring/Summer 2016 is here!

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Order a print copy of Central Virginia Heritage, Spring/Summer 2016

From the President’s Column, by Patricia Lukas:
“Welcome to the first digital edition of the Central Virginia Heritage. Our last paper issue was mailed out in December 2014, ending a tradition that started in January 1983—over 30 years of publication. With this electronic issue, we are beginning a new tradition while building on the history of providing our members with articles of genealogical interest which will inform, educate, and inspire.”

Genealogical Research at the Albemarle County Court House, By John C. E. Christensen, Updated by Sam Towler, Jean L. Cooper, and Patricia Lukas

Introduction

We are fortunate that a potential gold mine of genealogical information has been preserved in the Albemarle County Court House. While working in the court house record room, I have had the pleasure of meeting fellow genealogists who have come from the far corners of the United States. In talking with them about the mechanics of their quests, I have discovered that many of them are overlooking court records that are full of information. I have compiled, in order to help others understand, this source-by-source guide to research in the Albemarle County Court House. It will also be useful in other Virginia counties; although the exact records maintained by each county vary, the basic types are usually the same. Familiarity with the records should come in handy for genealogical research in any jurisdiction.

All of the records listed in this discussion are to be found in the circuit court record room and historical record vault on the second floor of the Albemarle County Court House on Court House Square in Charlottesville. The only records not found in the court house are the suit papers, which are stored in the Library of Virginia, in Richmond.

For the rest of this article, and several others, click here to access your members-only copy of the Central Virginia Heritage, Spring/Summer 2016, v.32, no.1-2.

For those who are not members, we offer a printed copy of each issue beginning with this Spring/Summer 2016 issue, available from CreateSpace.com/6258210 for $6.50. Click on the CreateSpace.com link above or search for “Central Virginia Heritage” on the Createspace.com Store site.

In the near future we will be offering for sale a CD-ROM copy of the Central Virginia Heritage Archive, 1983-2014 — watch this space for future announcements!

(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.)

Table of Contents for Spring/Summer 2016 issue:

  • Genealogical Research at the Albemarle County Court House, by Sam Towler, et al. … p.1
  • Plans of the Albemarle County Court House Clerk’s Office & Records Room … p.13
  • The Charlie Summer, by Susan DuBar … p.15
  • Announcing a New Adventure in Genealogy Education: Genealogy Professor, by Dick Eastman … p.16
  • Virginia Newspaper Websites for the Researcher, by Jean L. Cooper … p.17
  • How do I access the Central Virginia Heritage Archive? … p.18
  • Waller Holladay Lists of Slaves, 1854-1860 … p.19
  • Earlysville Community Neighbors, by Charles Conway Crenshaw … p.22
  • Genealogy Conference Announcements … p.25
  • President’s Column, by Patricia Lukas … p.26