Isle of Wight County Historical Society Juneteenth Program

The Isaac Holleman descendants research team presented their research for the Isle of Wight County Historical Society‘s Juneteenth program. My fourth great-grandfather Isaac Holleman was born enslaved in 1818. He was granted his freedom at the age of 18 and reenslaved at the age of 30. During the Civil War, Isaac self-emancipated, fleeing to Fortress Monroe with his 3 children (by free woman Malinda Pretlow) … Continue reading Isle of Wight County Historical Society Juneteenth Program

Civil War Map of Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties

Here’s a Civil War map of Isle of Wight County and part of Nansemond County. In the image, I have labeled where Jones Grove Baptist Church is as well as where Tony and Moses Allmond’s lands were 30-40 years later. Many of the roads are the same and a lot of the parcels have the same boundaries. Civil War maps are available at the Library … Continue reading Civil War Map of Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties

5th great-grandmother Angelina Urquhart

I have recently found the maiden names of two of my female ancestors both on my maternal grandmother’s maternal lines. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this because oftentimes, women’s entire identities were wiped away when they got married. The second one is my 5th great-grandmother Angelina Gwaltney nee Urquhart. Here she is on my MyHeritage tree. I found a death certificate … Continue reading 5th great-grandmother Angelina Urquhart

4th great-grandmother Martha Blizzard

I have recently found the maiden names of two of my female ancestors both on my maternal grandmother’s maternal lines. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this because oftentimes, women’s entire identities were wiped away when they got married. The first one is my 4th great-grandmother Martha Cypress nee Blizzard. Here she is on my My Heritage tree, which I have not … Continue reading 4th great-grandmother Martha Blizzard

Historical Black Newspapers

I wasn’t finding obituaries or any mention of my relatives prior to maybe the 1950s in the local newspapers that are available via Newspapers.com, VirginiaChronicle.com and NewsBank. Something I specifically didn’t find was an obituary for each of my Allmond great-grandparents. The only mention I found was a notice for a pressure canner clinic for Farm Security Housewives at my great-grandmother’s house in 1946. My … Continue reading Historical Black Newspapers

Virginia Free Negro Registers

Last weekend, I participated in a transcribe-a-thon to index Free Negro Registers that have recently been digitized by the Library of Virginia. In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law requiring that all free Black people “be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the town clerk, which shall specify age, name, color, status and by whom, and in what court … Continue reading Virginia Free Negro Registers

Another Lighthouse Related Find

Here’s another situation where I was working on genealogy stuff and happened upon something lighthouse related. My relatives are at the top of this page from the Portsmouth City Directory from 1933 but I immediately saw the USLS (United States Lighthouse Service). More can be found about Holder Almy at the United States Lighthouse Society’s J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Library: https://archives.uslhs.org/type-person/engineers Continue reading Another Lighthouse Related Find