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There is a new database for researchers interested in Bedford County, Virginia. Filed as Accession 45528, the Donald E. Hill Collection: A genealogy database of over 80,000 families of Bedford County, is now available to researchers at The Library of Virginia. The database in RootsMagic4 is housed in the Manuscript Room and may be accessed by library patrons during regular hours of operation.

The long-time project of Mr. Hill, the database contains over 200,000 entries and includes birth, marriage, and death records when available, as well as a variety of relationships. The software allows searches by name and creates displays by pedigree, descendant lists, and/or immediate family group sheets. The user can shift between display formats and can pursue the ancestry by following red arrows indicating additional information.

It is also possible to create reports in numerous formats – Ahnentafel, Box Chart, Descendant list, Family Group Sheet, Individual summary, Narrative, Pedigree chart, Source list, and Wall Chart. These may be printed for a fee and some include an index.

We are excited to have this resource for Bedford County researchers. The compiler, Don Hill, is continuing to extract information from records and will periodically send updates to The Library of Virginia. They will be entered upon receipt and available to researchers.

We invite you to come by the library and try out this new database.

-Lyn Hart, Description Services Director

Lyn Hart

Former Description Services Director

7 Comments

  • Damaris Fish says:

    Guidelines for other counties to host a project like this!?

    • Dale says:

      Thanks for the question. The short answer is that there are no guidelines for a similar project. Let me explain a little more of the background behind how this resource came to the LVA. The database represents Mr. Hill’s long-time research in Bedford County genealogy. He approached us with the idea of making his work public using RootsMagic4 software. Mr. Hill did not want to put the database on the Internet for fear that it might be appropriated by a commercial genealogy concern. He felt strongly that his work should be shared not sold. Mr. Hill bought a RootsMagic4 license for the LVA to house the database and make it public on one of our regular in-house computers in the Manuscript Room. The LVA is deeply indebted to Mr. Hill for his generosity and we are excited that Bedford County researchers will have access to so much research in an easy-to-use electronic format. Let us know if you have any more questions. Thanks for reading!

  • Laura Morrisom says:

    Dale, Does an index for the Donald E Hill Collection exist in Bedford? I live closer to Bedford than Richmond. Laura

    • Bari says:

      Thanks for the question, Laura. Unfortunately the Bedford County database is only available here at the Library of Virginia. The compiler, Donald Hill, approached us with the idea of making his genealogy research public, but Mr. Hill was worried about having his work appropriated by a commercial genealogy concern. So the database is available to the public only on an in-house computer here in the library. Thanks for your interest.

  • Carole Beringer says:

    I have ancestors that lived in the Bedford Co, VA during and after the colonial period. I live in another state, is there anyway to access the files remotely? Say, my local library?Or, is there a list of researchers for hire you can supply?

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