"Get on Board the Great Valley Road"
William Dollarhide has written an article regarding early migration for the Genealogy Pointers weekly e-newsletter for 08-15-06. The e-newsletter is subscription based and I have attached a link at the end of this article to subscribe. When a new e-newsletter is published the old e-newletters are archived on the site.
The articles' topics include:
The Pioneer's Road
Who Were the Scotch-Irish?
Roads to Tennessee and North Carolina
Follow the Markers
In addition, he mentions the location of several regional record repositories. I have provided those repositories and their online links, as well as a description of what is contained in those repositories.
Repositories:
McClung Collection at the Knox Public Library in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a gold mine of information about people coming down the Great Valley Road into eastern Tennessee.
Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
Materials in the Collection
Books and Newspapers, Genealogical Materials, Microfilm Records, Maps Photographs, Manuscripts and Directories
The McClung Historical Collection currently has over 65,000 books, many of which are rare, and thousands of newspapers, most of which were published in East Tennessee and predate 1920.
Tennessee and East Tennessee material is given the greatest emphasis, although there is a large collection of printed material for each of the 11 states of the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), as well as the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia.
Although the Collection has a strong regional focus, it also contains genealogy research guides and census indexes in various formats for many of the 50 states in the United States.
There are books on a number of special topics, such as origins of surnames, immigration records, colonial and later wars of the United States, and church and religious history.
These are specialized institutions housing collections in which evidence of migrations along the Great Valley Road can be found.
Great Virginia repositories include:
Bristol Public Library, Bristol; Roanoke County Library in Roanoke
The Bristol Public Library has many genealogical resources. Special collections include Family Files, Local Cemeteries and a Local History File. There are numerous regional history books along with county courthouse records. The collection includes several family history books, civil war records, census and census index guides.
Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg
Jones Memorial Library specializes in genealogy and local history. Although its primary focus is on the central Virginia area, the collection includes a wide variety of materials covering the State of Virginia as well as the surrounding states, including county histories and court records, family histories and genealogies, general works on the Civil War, county land tax and personal property tax records, and census records.
Materials of local interest include microfilmed copies of the Lynchburg newspapers, microfilmed copies of funeral home burial files, architectural archives, city directories, indexes of marriage and death notices, and microfilmed church records.
The Library also houses over 300 manuscript collections, including personal family papers and correspondence, records of clubs and organizations, and business records.
An extensive photograph and photonegative collection is currently being processed for future use by researchers.
Handley Regional Library in Winchester
Extensive collection of materials on the people, places and events of the Lower Shenandoah Valley from 1732 to the present. The focus of the collection is Winchester and Frederick County.
Over 4000 published books: abstracts of county court records, county histories, genealogies, regimental histories, and studies of battles from the French and Indian War to the Civil War.
Newspapers from 1787 to the present, (incomplete). Some titles have been microfilmed; however none are indexed.
Census collection with all available United States Census records for the Lower Shenandoah Valley from 1790 to 1930.
Over 600 linear feet of manuscripts and ephemera, maps, photographs, and oral history tapes.
Manuscript collections and published books appear in the library’s online catalog.
Other outstanding collections can be found at the:
Library of Virginia
Look through the research guide, Published Materials for Genealogists (pdf), to review the types of materials of interest to family researchers at the Library of Virginia.
Virginia Historical Society in Richmond
Research Guides
Library and manuscripts
Includes books and bound serials, Confederate imprints, sheet music, broadsides, newspapers, family and personal papers, records of businesses and organizations, diaries, account books, scrapbooks, albums, Bible records, maps, and genealogical materials
Photograph Museum and photographs
Includes paintings, sculpture, prints, furniture, metalwork, ceramics, costumes and other textiles, militaria, political memorabilia, glass plate negatives, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and original photographic prints
Maryland Hall of Records in Annapolis
Archives of Maryland Online
The ongoing Maryland State Archives publication series, Archives of Maryland Online, currently provides access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government. Online access enables users to research such topics as Maryland's constitutions and constitutional conventions' proceedings, session laws, proceedings of the General Assembly, governors' papers, and military records. This project allows the Archives to place into electronic form and preserve for future generations records that are scattered among a number of repositories and that often exist only on rapidly disintegrating paper.
So, get on board the Great Valley Road--where you can turn up clues to the markers your ancestors left behind for you to find.
Genealogy Pointers weekly e-newsletter subscription page.
Links In This Article:
Genealogy Pointers weekly e-newsletter
Genealogical.com - Source for Genealogy Books & CDs
McClung Collection
Knox Public Library
Bristol Public Library
Jones Memorial Library
Handley Regional Library
Library of Virginia
Published Materials for Genealogists
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society Research Guides
Maryland Hall of Records
Archives of Maryland Online
The articles' topics include:
The Pioneer's Road
Who Were the Scotch-Irish?
Roads to Tennessee and North Carolina
Follow the Markers
In addition, he mentions the location of several regional record repositories. I have provided those repositories and their online links, as well as a description of what is contained in those repositories.
Repositories:
McClung Collection at the Knox Public Library in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a gold mine of information about people coming down the Great Valley Road into eastern Tennessee.
Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
Materials in the Collection
Books and Newspapers, Genealogical Materials, Microfilm Records, Maps Photographs, Manuscripts and Directories
The McClung Historical Collection currently has over 65,000 books, many of which are rare, and thousands of newspapers, most of which were published in East Tennessee and predate 1920.
Tennessee and East Tennessee material is given the greatest emphasis, although there is a large collection of printed material for each of the 11 states of the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), as well as the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia.
Although the Collection has a strong regional focus, it also contains genealogy research guides and census indexes in various formats for many of the 50 states in the United States.
There are books on a number of special topics, such as origins of surnames, immigration records, colonial and later wars of the United States, and church and religious history.
These are specialized institutions housing collections in which evidence of migrations along the Great Valley Road can be found.
Great Virginia repositories include:
Bristol Public Library, Bristol; Roanoke County Library in Roanoke
The Bristol Public Library has many genealogical resources. Special collections include Family Files, Local Cemeteries and a Local History File. There are numerous regional history books along with county courthouse records. The collection includes several family history books, civil war records, census and census index guides.
Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg
Jones Memorial Library specializes in genealogy and local history. Although its primary focus is on the central Virginia area, the collection includes a wide variety of materials covering the State of Virginia as well as the surrounding states, including county histories and court records, family histories and genealogies, general works on the Civil War, county land tax and personal property tax records, and census records.
Materials of local interest include microfilmed copies of the Lynchburg newspapers, microfilmed copies of funeral home burial files, architectural archives, city directories, indexes of marriage and death notices, and microfilmed church records.
The Library also houses over 300 manuscript collections, including personal family papers and correspondence, records of clubs and organizations, and business records.
An extensive photograph and photonegative collection is currently being processed for future use by researchers.
Handley Regional Library in Winchester
Extensive collection of materials on the people, places and events of the Lower Shenandoah Valley from 1732 to the present. The focus of the collection is Winchester and Frederick County.
Over 4000 published books: abstracts of county court records, county histories, genealogies, regimental histories, and studies of battles from the French and Indian War to the Civil War.
Newspapers from 1787 to the present, (incomplete). Some titles have been microfilmed; however none are indexed.
Census collection with all available United States Census records for the Lower Shenandoah Valley from 1790 to 1930.
Over 600 linear feet of manuscripts and ephemera, maps, photographs, and oral history tapes.
Manuscript collections and published books appear in the library’s online catalog.
Other outstanding collections can be found at the:
Library of Virginia
Look through the research guide, Published Materials for Genealogists (pdf), to review the types of materials of interest to family researchers at the Library of Virginia.
Virginia Historical Society in Richmond
Research Guides
Library and manuscripts
Includes books and bound serials, Confederate imprints, sheet music, broadsides, newspapers, family and personal papers, records of businesses and organizations, diaries, account books, scrapbooks, albums, Bible records, maps, and genealogical materials
Photograph Museum and photographs
Includes paintings, sculpture, prints, furniture, metalwork, ceramics, costumes and other textiles, militaria, political memorabilia, glass plate negatives, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and original photographic prints
Maryland Hall of Records in Annapolis
Archives of Maryland Online
The ongoing Maryland State Archives publication series, Archives of Maryland Online, currently provides access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government. Online access enables users to research such topics as Maryland's constitutions and constitutional conventions' proceedings, session laws, proceedings of the General Assembly, governors' papers, and military records. This project allows the Archives to place into electronic form and preserve for future generations records that are scattered among a number of repositories and that often exist only on rapidly disintegrating paper.
So, get on board the Great Valley Road--where you can turn up clues to the markers your ancestors left behind for you to find.
Genealogy Pointers weekly e-newsletter subscription page.
Links In This Article:
Genealogy Pointers weekly e-newsletter
Genealogical.com - Source for Genealogy Books & CDs
McClung Collection
Knox Public Library
Bristol Public Library
Jones Memorial Library
Handley Regional Library
Library of Virginia
Published Materials for Genealogists
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society Research Guides
Maryland Hall of Records
Archives of Maryland Online
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