Obituaries for Homer W. Duckett and Dora Roberta Mussleman Duckett of Richmond

Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, January 7, 1955, p. 7, col. 2

"MRS. HOMER DUCKETT - Mrs. Dora Roberta Duckett, of 3013 Libby Terrace, wife of Homer Duckett, died Thursday at a local hospital.  Besides her husband, she is survived by her father, Jackson Musselman, of Stafford; two sisters, Mrs. Belle English, of Stafford, and Mrs. Dorothy Blake of Chicago, and two brothers, R. M. Musselman, of Stafford, and John Musselman, of Washington.  A funeral service will be held at 2 P. M. Saturday at Woody's Funeral Home, with burial in Forest Lawn Cemetery."

Dora worked as a stenographer for the Pohlig Bros Box Factory in Richmond.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, June 17, 1972, p. B-2, col. 2

"DUCKETT - Homer W. Duckett of 2400 Farrand Street, died Friday, June 16, 1972.  He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Helen Senell Duckett; a sister, Mrs. Laura D. Dennis of Asheville, N.C.; a brother, George W. Duckett of Santa Barbara, Calif.; two nieces, Mrs. Dorothea Golden of Melbourne, Fla., and Mrs. Estelle Lee Adkins of Santa Ana, Calif..  Remains rest at the Laburnum Chapel, Woody Funeral Home, 2110 E. Laburnum Avenue, where services will be conducted Monday, at 11:30 A.M.  Interment Forest Lawn."

Homer grew up in Spring Creek, North Carolina.  He stood five feet, seven inches tall, weighed 197 pounds, had brown hair and a light complexion.  Homer worked much of his adult life as a bookkeeper for the Pohlig Bros Box Factory in Richmond.

Fredericksburg Research Resources by the University of Mary Washington

I just rediscovered a resource that I have know about for awhile but it had slipped my mind.  The University of Mary Washington has a web page dedicated to Fredericksburg, Virginia historical resources.  The site is a bit clunky but it is filled with useful information.  Of major interest are the newspaper indexes which involve more than just Fredericksburg.  They include info from all over Virginia, especially surrounding counties such as Stafford and Spotsylvania.

Here is the link to the main page:

http://departments.umw.edu/hipr/www/fredburg.htm

Newspapers included are:

• Virginia Gazette 1736-1780
• Virginia Herald 1787-1876 
• Impartial Observer and the Rights of Man, 1811
• Democratic Recorder 1842-1861
• Weekly Recorder 1844-1847
• Fredericksburg News 1847-1884
• Weekly Advertiser 1853-1860
• Fredericksburg New Era, 1865-1866
• Christian Banner, 1850 and 1862
• Fredericksburg Ledger, 1865-1874
• The Free Lance 1885-1900
• The Free Lance Star 1926-1928
• Political Arena 1827-1841
• Virginia Star, Fredericksburg Star, and Daily Star, 1877-1926

The site also has city directories, census stuff, tax lists, etc. - and all for free.

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

W. W. Foster Glass Plate Negative Collection at the Virginia Historical Society

I have been racking my brain, trying to figure out some great nugget of genealogical wisdom that I could pass along and make your life easier. That is a pretty difficult thing to do sometimes. Everyone out there says the same thing over and over again, with just a little bit different spin on it. What could I possibly tell you that would make a difference in the way you perform genealogical research? What could I write that would help you solve some age-old mystery and simply make your day? The answer...I don't know. I have so much going on inside of my head and just cannot get it out some times. I did however think of one great resource that could make a huge impact on someone out there...the Foster Collection.

Walter Washington Foster was a photographer in Richmond, Virginia between 1876 and around 1935. His major significance is that he maintained all/most of his glass plate negatives and they were donated to the Virginia Historical Society around 1972. There were roughly 65,000 prints and 100,000 glass negatives in the collection (one sources says there are only 30,000). A lot of these prints and negatives were labeled and can be searched on the VHS website. Some of the items may have scanned images but most have to be viewed at the society.

I discovered the collection several years ago and searched all of my family surnames. Surprisingly I did not find anyone from the Richmond area but I did find my wife's great-great grandparents from Stafford County. Their daughter lived in Richmond and the photos were probably taken during a visit. These were the only known photos of these particular people, at least in our line of the family, so it was a great find.

After finding them in the index, I contacted the VHS and made an appointment to view the negatives. I think they are in deep storage and have to be dug out so it might take a few days. When I arrived, I was taken to a storage room and shown the two glass plates. The images are basically etched on he glass and there is a milky film on the surface of that glass. I was told that the photographer would wipe some type of cream on the glass to cover up wrinkles and blemishes on the faces of the subjects. Who would have thought that the old photos we find were in fact "touched-up"! Great-grandma had more wrinkles than you ever thought.

Just looking at the glass, I could see an absolute family resemblance so I knew I had the right people. The index only had their last name and first initial but their names were so strange, there was no question. My wife and her brother look exactly like the man, Stonewall Jackson Musselman.

From that point I paid to have prints made. Back then I think it was around $20.00 each but now I think it is $32.00 each. It took a few days and I had to pick them up in person. The copies turned out wonderfully and are now truly family heirlooms. I know they are just copies but they are copies off the original negative. They are probably better copies than the "original" copies printed back in the day!

The Virginia Historical Society is pretty tight about allowing reproductions of reproductions. I am not allowed to make copies or publish the photos without paying additional fees. I can understand their need for funding and to control what their holdings are used for in the public media. If you want additional copies, I would order them all at the same time.

Okay, before I give you a link to the index, a few words of advice:

1. From the main search page, click on the "Search Museum and Photograph Collections"
2. Click "Combination Search"
3. In the "Artist/Maker" field type just the word "Foster" (no quotes)
4. In the "Keywords" box type the last name of a person you would be trying to find. Do not put a first name as most names are only given as a first initial or "Mrs." for women.
5. Check all of your surnames for anyone in Virginia between say 1880 and 1930. They could have visited Richmond and taken a photo.
6. If you find someone of interest, contact the VHS and for further information.
7. If you remove the word "Foster" from the "Artist/Maker" field, you can search all of the photos that the VHS has in its collection (but there are lots)!
   
8. If you do find something of major importance, let us know!

The link that you need is here: Virginia Historical Society Museum and Photograph Collections

I think you will have hours of enjoyment and excitement going through the index. Even if you do not find anyone, it is fun exploring a new resource. The Virginia Historical Society has other collections that you can search but this is my focus for today. And best of all...the economic downturn should have little or no influence on your search! Forget Wall Street for a little while and lose yourself in genealogy!