Archives for PLACES - Page 3
Hanning Freyhofer Story
One cannot tell the story of the Hannings without the Freyhofers. With scenes that could be straight out of a movie or an episode of Little House on the Prairie, our ancestors came looking for the American Dream and they found it in Indiana and Kansas, along with a few nightmares. Their stories are filled with indians, locusts, droughts, and buffalo hunts. The Freyhofers immigrated from Switzerland through New Orleans in 1834 and the Hannings…
Historical Sketch of Snowville, Virginia by WR Hundley
I discovered this original typed manuscript in the Radford, VA library. It is a delightful memoir of a lost time and place by a former resident of Snowville in the Appalachian mountains of southwest Virginia written in 1931. My ancestors lived there during this time. Cousin Mark Francis gave me a nice tour of the Snowville area a few weeks ago (2016), and even though the town is only a few buildings now, the area…
Mr. Goad sent his photo to Bessie Sutphin
Around 1910, a young man dressed up in his best suit and bowler hat and had his photo taken. He sent it to Miss Bessie Sutphin in East Radford, ; The back had a message scrawled and signed by a D. Goad: “Please don't leave home when you see my photo haha. I have tried every day to get these and just got them yesterday. Will ans soon from your D. Goad” 110 years later…
1943 Wagner Family Recordings
Ben Wagner recently found some 78-RPM 8-inch records in his late father Arnold’s collection. On them are the voices of our ancestors - my great grandparents William C. Wagner and wife Lilly Giegerich, along with their son William F and Lilly's aunt Tillie Eckert Henry. The recordings were made on Saturday, June 5, 1943, during a trip home by William and Arnold to visit their parents in Canton, Missouri. Other recordings are of the brothers…
The Climb from Salt Lick by Nancy L. Abrams
The Climb from Salt Lick: A Memoir of Appalachia In the mid-1970s, Nancy L. Abrams, a young photojournalist from the Midwest, plunges into life as a small-town journalist in West Virginia. She befriends the hippies on the commune one mountaintop over, rents a cabin in beautiful Salt Lick Valley, and falls in love with a local boy, wrestling to balance the demands of a job and a personal life. She learns how to survive in…
Earthquake in SW Virginia
Earthquakes are actually common in Virginia. Here's one that would affected my Thornton ancestors in Pulaski County: May 3, 1897. Centered at Radford, where a few chimneys were wrecked and plaster fell from walls, and chimneys were damaged at nearby Pulaski and Roanoke. Felt in most of southwest Virginia and as far south as Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Estimated magnitude This was a prelude to The Big One. ((Division of Geology and Mineral Resources -…
Are we related to John Philip Sousa?
Yes! We ARE related to the famous American conductor and composer John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). Sousa is best known for composing the marches "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the USA) and "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps). John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, , the third of ten children of João António de Sousa (John Anthony Sousa) who was born in Spain, though of Portuguese ancestry, and…
Forest Grove Cemetery, Canton, Missouri
Forest Grove Cemetery is where my grandparents, Homer Henry Wagner and Louise Adelaide Weiler, and other family, are buried. It is in Canton, Missouri, our Wagner hometown, high on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Numerous generations and extended family were born, lived, and died there. Above: Paul Wagner at his parents' (Homer and Louise Wagner) grave. The location site is circled: Articles about some of our ancestors and relatives buried here: I found…
Snowville by Rev. James T. Taylor
by Rev. James T. Taylor (ca 1912) About a hundred years ago , a village called Snowville on Little River, Pulaski County, Va. miles south of Radford, was started. This village was called "The Foundry" at first, with the post office named Humility. In those days there were no postage stamps nor envelopes; the letters were folded up, a small quantity of sealing wax held them together; the money, ten cents, was paid to the…
Grimm’s Landing, Pittsburgh
When I was born in 1964, my parents, Charles and Lois Thornton, were living on a 1-room houseboat docked just above "Grimm's Landing" (previously "Zubik's Landing") on the Allegheny River on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Back then the river was lined with "squatters". The land that ran along the river was owned by the railroad, but people docked their boats and houseboats and barges, setting up businesses and marinas. My parents actually had…