Lost Records Localities: Counties and Cities with Missing Records

A distant cousin of mine, Gail Vass, pointed out a resource that I had never seen before. It is called the Lost Records Localities Database and it is housed at the Libray of Virginia. Per their description...

"This database consists of entries for a wide variety of court records found as part of chancery and other locality records-processing projects. The entries are for surviving records from localities, most of whose records are no longer extant. The original record is photocopied. The copies are filed together in an artificial collection—the Lost Records Localities Collection—and are readily accessed through the manuscript room at the Library of Virginia. Please check periodically as this is an ongoing project."

In short, any record that they find from a "burned" county gets added to this collection. For example, say someone bought land in Hanover County and later sold it to someone in Mecklenburg County. The purchaser in Mecklenburg may have been involved in a court case where the Hanover deed was presented and copied. That copy still exists and is therefore added to the Lost Records database. It is search-able online but the actual records have to be viewed at the Library.

In case your were wondering, the burned counties in question are:

• Albemarle
  
• Appomattox
• Buckingham
• Caroline
• Charles City
• Culpeper
  
• Dinwiddie
• Elizabeth City
• Gloucester
• Hanover
• Henrico
• Henrico / City of Richmond
• James City County / Williamsburg
• King and Queen
• King George
  
• King William
• Mathews
• Nansemond
• New Kent
• Nottoway
• Prince George
• Prince William
• Richmond City
  
• Richmond County
• Rockingham
  
• Stafford
• Warwick
  

For example, I checked for Brock documents in Hanover County and found the following:

Locality	Names	Record Type	Dates
Hanover County	King, Mary, etc. to John P. Brock	Deed	1799
Hanover County	Priddy, Robert and wife Nancy to John C. Brock	Deed	1823

I am very interested in the King-Brock deed as John P. Brock is my ancestor and his wife was rumored to be a King. This might be the proof that I need to make that connection. I plan on making a trip to the archives tomorrow so I will look up the actual document and let you know what I learn about the collection.

You can check out the online database here: Lost Records Localities Database

New Genealogical and Historical Society Link Section

I have added a new section to the right-hand site of the site, toward the bottom. There is now a list of all the genealogical and historical societies that I know of for Virginia. There is one big catch...their website has to be current and maintained. There are other societies out there that have websites but they have not been updated since like 2001. I am only including sites that are well-maintained by the society or group. What good is a calendar of events from 2005 anyway? If they do not take the time to update, I am not going to take the time to include them here.

Below is the list as it stands today. If you would like to suggest another site for inclusion, please do as I would love to add them. I am sure there are other, great sites out there that I missed but this is a good start.

• Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
• Carroll County Genealogy Club
• Central Virginia Genealogical Association
• Chesterfield Historical Society
• Clarke County Historical Association
• Culpeper Genealogical Society
• Fairfax Genealogical Society
• Farmville - Prince Edward Historical Society
• Franklin County Historical Society
• Great Falls Historical Society
• Hanover County Historical Society
• Harrisonburg - Rockingham Historical Society
• Highland Historical Society
• Historic Buckingham, Inc.
• Historic Dumfries Virginia, Inc.
• Historic Prince William
• Historical Society of Washington, County, Virginia
• History Museum of Western Virginia
• Jamestowne Society
• Lower Delmarva Genealogical Society
• Norfolf County (Chesapeake) Historical Society
• Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society
• South Central Virginia Genealogical Society, Inc.
• Southside Virginia Genealogical Society
• Surry County, Virginia Historical Society
• Tidewater Genealogical Society
• Virginia Beach Genealogical Society
• Virginia Genealogical Society
• Virginia Historical Society
• Winchester - Frederick County Historical Society

Narcissus Estelle Walker Atkinson, October 07, 1903 - January 24, 1999, of Cedar Croft, Virginia

Narcissus Estelle Walker Atkinson, October 07, 1903 - January 24, 1999, of Cedar Croft, Virginia.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 27, 1999:"ATKINSON - Mrs. Estelle Walker Atkinson, age 95, of Cedar Croft, Cumberland County, died January 24, 1999, in Farmville. Survived by one daughter, June A. Plummer of Calif.; one son, Clinton Jones Atkinson Jr. of New York City; four grandchildren and four great-grandsons. Family will receive friends after 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home, Farmville, where services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Interment 1:30 p.m. Richmond National Cemetery. Remembrances to Buckingham Public Library, Dillwyn Branch, P.O. Box 530, Dillwyn, Va. Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home in charge."

Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 28, 1999:"FUNERAL TODAY FOR RETIRED TEACHER - N. Estelle Walker Atkinson's interest in the world around her was boundless. A retired schoolteacher and bibliophile, she was a former newspaper columnist and a fierce believer in the Baptist faith. The Buckingham County resident died Sunday at the age of 95. A funeral for Mrs. Atkinson will be held Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home in Farmville. Burial will be Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Richmond National Cemetery, 1701 Williamsburg Road, in Richmond. Born in Bracey, Mrs. Atkinson grew up in Richmond. She graduated from what was then Averett Junior College in Danville before marrying in 1926. She spent the first of her married life in the Panama Canal Zone, where her husband, the late Clinton Jones Atkinson Sr., worked for the federal government's Panama Railroad Co. Mrs. Atkinson took a job with the federal government as an accountant for the U.S. Office of the Foreign Liquidation Commission. In Panama, she spent Sunday afternoons traveling to remote villages as a missionary. "My mother was born again before there were born-agains," said her son, Clinton Atkinson Jr. "She would stop every peasant she could find walking down the road...and ask them if they knew about Jesus." When the couple returned to the States, they bought an old stone home, Cedar Croft, near Dillwyn in Buckingham County, and spent much of heir time restoring the structure. She returned to school in her late 40s and earned a bachelor's degree from Longwood College. She later earned two master's degrees from the school. She taught in Cumberland public schools briefly and later taught science at Prince Edward Academy, now the Fuqua School. While in Panama, she developed a penchant for collecting orchids and butterflies, and after returning to Virginia, she began collecting and preserving other creatures and insects as well, her son said. "Her grandchildren loved to take their friends down into the basement and show them all the wild and curious things she kept down there." Her folksy social column, "Gold Hill Nuggets," appeared in the Farmville Herald in the early 1980s. She also worked to establish the Buckingham County Library. In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter, June Atkinson Plummer of Walnut Creek, California. Memorial contributions may be made to the Dillwyn Branch of the Buckingham County Library, P.O. Box 530, Dillwyn, VA 23936."

Estelle is buried in plot 3B 0 6089 of Richmond National Cemetery.

Obituary for Wesley Abbott Walker, Sr., March 04, 1905 - June 14, 1974, of Tappahannock, Virginia

Obituary for Wesley Abbott Walker, Sr., March 04, 1905 - June 14, 1974, of Tappahannock, Virginia.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 15, 1974:"WALKER - Wesley A. Walker, Sr., 69, died at his residence, Tappahannock, June 14, 1974. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Florence V. Walker, of Tappahannock; one daughter, Mrs. Thomas Monahan, of Lottsburg, Va.; one son, Wesley A. Walker, Jr., of Mechanicsville; two sisters, Mrs Estelle Atkinson, and Miss Lottie A. Walker, both of Buckingham County, Va.; two grandsons, Wesley A. Walker, III and Raymond P. Walker, both Mechanicsville. Remains rest at the T. D. Marks Funeral Home, Tappahannock, where services will be held Sunday at 4:00 P. M. Interment Essex Cemetery."