Working as a reference archivist, we sometimes get that one phone call that really piques our interest. And once you get on the case, you…
Courtney ThompsonOctober 18, 2023
Peter Francisco was a revered Revolutionary War soldier with mysterious origins. It is believed that his American story began in 1765, after being discovered abandoned…
Dawn TinnellJune 6, 2022
On her deathbed in 1848, Susan Mills called her brother Henry and her sister Nancy to her bedside. She told them that she wanted her…
Lydia NeurothFebruary 23, 2022
Last summer, the Westmoreland County Circuit Court Clerk Gwynne Chatham contacted the Library of Virginia concerning old marriage records that staff discovered in her office.…
Greg CrawfordJanuary 4, 2017
Some things in life never change. Seasons, hunger, sleep, and calamity are constants which prove that the world repeats itself. Relationships are no different. For…
Sherri BagleyMarch 16, 2016
It’s often repeated that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”1 I’m starting to think I misunderstood that quote. It seems to…
Vince BrooksOctober 28, 2015
While working on a project involving the Middlesex County Chancery Causes, I noticed a case that was filled with scandal and intrigue. Middlesex Chancery Cause,…
Mary Dean CarterSeptember 30, 2015
Cohabitation registers are among the most important genealogical resources for African-Americans attempting to connect their family lines back through the murky past to their enslaved…
Sarah NerneyJuly 29, 2015
Portsmouth, Virginia, occupied by the Union army, was the scene of a wedding in November 1863. The happy couple was Charles “Charley” Butler, a private…
Bill BynumJune 3, 2015
The conservation of the original pages of the Henry County Cohabitation Register has recently been completed. Previously, only a poorly and confusingly microfilmed version of this…
Sarah NerneyFebruary 25, 2015
The Library of Virginia has completed the digitization and transcription of the last of the cohabitation registers in its possession, the Henry County Cohabitation Register, 1866.…
Sonya ColemanFebruary 26, 2014
At first glance the story of George Kiner and Diana Bumgardner is one of love triumphing over the tragedies of slavery and war. But documents…
Bari HelmsDecember 5, 2012
On the night of 4 August 1882, James M. Duesbury heard pistol shots coming from the nearby home of Christopher Goode and ran to see…
Mary Dean CarterAugust 1, 2012
The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of Surry County to the cohabitation register digitization project. This project, via the Virginia Memory website, aims to…
Sarah NerneyJuly 18, 2012
