“Christmas in 17th-century England and Virginia”

Guest Author:  Nancy Egloff, Jamestown Settlement Historian Christmas in 17th-Century England and Virginia Exploring English customs and the Lord of Misrule Along with their friends and relatives in England, the Englishmen who came to Jamestown in 1607 considered Christmas to be one of the most special times of the year. In England, the season lasted …

The First Thanksgiving Took Place in Virginia, not Massachusetts

Remembering some of my earliest history lessons--Our teachers got it all wrong!  All those days at school coloring, cutting out and pasting turkeys, pilgrim shoes, hats, and hearing about the first Thanksgiving shared by pilgrims and "Indians"? Here's the real scoop on the first Thanksgiving celebration . AUTHOR: MATT BLITZ  PUBLISHED ON NOVEMBER 18, 2015 IN THE WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE …

They Migrated From Maryland to Virginia – Just 300 Years Apart

Our eldest son moved his family from Maryland to Lynchburg in Virginia's Southern Piedmont Valley about 12 years ago to allow his sons to attend Christian colleges there.  He knew little of the area's history but found a home and a job just outside Bedford County and the City of Lynchburg.  As it turns out, …

“Wingapo” – Welcome, My Beloved Friend

"Welcome, my beloved friend" European colonists arriving in Virginia may have been greeted with, "Wingapo,"  (pronounced win-gà-po), which translated means "Welcome, my beloved Friend."  So we know that the State of Virginia's history did not begin in 1607. We are learning that Indians have lived in Virginia for thousands of years.  In fact, if you …

Back From the Future – Part 2

 A Quote from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, June 2014: Christopher Columbus never reached the shores of the North American Continent, but European explorers learned three things from him: there was someplace to go, there was a way to get there, and most importantly, there was a way to get back. Thus began the European exploration of …

The Killing Spree . . . Our Ancestral Legacy

Attributing our traits to our ancestors Some days when I look at myself in the mirror, I can see glimpses of my ancestors. My once beautifully brilliant blue eyes; I remember seeing these same eyes in my maternal grandfather, Roy (a Ford from Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina).  Unfortunately, I also get my thick midriff from either or both--my …

May 13, 2017: Jamestown Colony’s 410th Anniversary

Four hundred and ten years ago today (May 13, 1607), one hundred colonists (dispatched from England by the London Company) arrived along the west bank of the James River.  The next day they founded the first permanent English settlement in what is now the Virginia, known as the"James Fort." As I have written in other …

Revisiting–Johannes Eustacius “John” Rolfe…My 11th Great Grandfather

Preserved--The 435-Year-Old John Rolfe Family Bible Christine Dean, 30 year resident of Heacham, England, and I have been corresponding for the past several months, following her interesting comments that added greatly to my two-year-old blog post titled "Johannes Eustacius “John” Rolfe…My 11th Great Grandfather."  It seems that Christine has been gathering information about John Rolfe, Chief …

The Chesapeake Bay and Our Native American Heritage

This post focuses on our Native American heritage who resided along the borders of the Chesapeake Bay.  Digressing just a little into my lineage, my paternal Bolling ancestors were among the first in Jamestown and my maternal Lathrop ancestors the first in New England.  My ninth great-grandfather, Colonel Robert Bolling married Pocahontas' granddaughter, Jane Poythress …

Help Save Portrait of Bolling Family Founder

Portrait of Robert Bolling (1646-1709), Oil on Canvas Photo Courtesy of Muscarelle Museum of Art - Williamsburg, VA This portrait depicts Colonel Robert Bolling, founder of the Bolling family, one of the "First Families of Virginia", where he became a wealthy landowner and an active participant in the political affairs of the colony. He arrived …

Archeologists Unearth 40 Confederate Corpses in Virginia Cemetery 154 Years Later

Like you probably, I often come across stories quite by accident that just scream out at me; "share me with other genealogical researchers!" This is another one of those finds.  Interestingly enough, this FOX NEWS story appeared on the United Kingdom's Mail OnLine News.  I'm very sorry that I found it two weeks after our Memorial Day Observances, but …

The Thornton Family’s Fredericksburg Mansion – Part I (12th-21st Centuries)

  My Thornton Family History There are several branches of my family tree that include Thornton ancestors, which span 24 generations. The Thornton Family is one of Virginia's distinguished Colonial families. My Thornton family members date back to 1314 in Bolling Hall, Bradford, Yorkshire, England when Robert DeBolling (my 16th paternal great-grandfather–Generation 2) married Elizabeth …

Bi-racial Relationships of the 60’s–the 1860’s!

The Year 1868 Last week my genealogical research took me back to my second paternal great-grandfather, Lawrence T. "Larl" Boling.  I already knew that Larl married Sarah Elizabeth "Bettie" Tapp in Fredericksburg, Virginia, but when I looked more closely I found that their wedding took place just one week before Christmas 1868--that was the Christmas day when our …

150th Anniversary–Battle of the Wilderness

My second great-grandfather, Lawrence T. "Larl" Boling married Sarah Tapp, daughter of the now famous Catharine Dempsey "Widow Tapp," (making her my 3rd great grandmother) because she had the misfortune of living on the land that became known as the "Wilderness Battlefield," in Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the Civil War. On Friday, May 2, through Sunday, May …

More Perspectives Into Our Southern Ancestry

Since its founding in 1845, the New England Historic Genealogical Society has been helping its members to research, record, and tell their own unique family stories. The following story was published in the American Ancestor Magazine in April 1986 and lends yet another perspective into my southern ancestry.  I have added some sketches, pictures, maps, …

…Back to Ole’ Virginny

Although we are officially two weeks into the 2013 Fall Season today (October 3), it is yet another day in a string of unseasonably warm ones with brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine, blossoming flowers, mostly green trees, and temperatures rising again into the mid-80's.  What an opportunity to  'Saisir le jour,' as the French would …

Railroaded in Colonial Virginia…

THANKFUL THURSDAY...PART 2 King George County, Port Royal, Virginia We are picking up from Part 1 of this post, dated January 30, 2013, in King George County, Virginia, meandering toward our final destination the Centre Hill Mansion Museum to do the annual January 24th Ghost Walk through the house originally built by Colonel Robert Bolling …

My Other Uncle John–Blair, that is…

John Blair, Sr., 4-term Acting Governor of Virginia: He sat on Virginia's Governor's Council for over 25 years and was a favorite nephew of James Blair (1655-1743), an Anglican Minister and Founding President of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Among John Blair's many personal and professional accomplishments that follow, he also was father …

The Taylor’s of Culpeper, Virginia (1877-1945)

William Frazier TAYLOR, Jr. William Frazier Taylor, Jr., was my great grand uncle and brother to my paternal great-grandmother, Lottie L. Taylor Chambers. (It's uncanny, my brother John's son, Matthew Burton Boling, four generations later, is the spitting image of William as he appeared in the image on the left.) When William was born on …

My Family of Secrets

Helen Louise Chambers Boling (1 Jul 1911 - 16 Mar 1944) My Paternal Great Grandmother: Obituary On Thursday, March 16, 1944, at Baltimore, MD., Helen L. Boling, the wife of Jessie Boling, mother of Frank, Dolores and Barbara Boling and daughter of Frank and Lottie Chambers. Services at the Chambers funeral home, 517 11th st. …