The Tragic Shooting of Robert Joseph Lunceford (November 1921)

Here is an historical gem contributed by Cousin Kevin Pearson; a newspaper clipping he found in his grandmother's papers. This clipping is from the front page (right column) of the Fauquier Democrat of 19 November 1921. It describes the tragic shooting of Robert Joseph Lunceford. Robert is in Baldwin Lunsford's Judith Creel line. You can click on his name to get his family tree entry.

Let's start with a transcription of the clipping.

Many Rumors As To Fatal Shooting

How Robert Lunceford of Dudie, VA Met Death Is Mystery at Winchester – No Official Probe Begun

Winchester, VA., Nov., 13 – After lying in a morgue here 32 hours unclaimed, the body of Robert Lunceford, 27 years old, of Dudie, Fauquier county, alleged to have been shot by the Sheriff or one of his deputies in a pistol battle near Washington, Rappahannock county, late last Thursday night, was last evening taken in a motor truck to his home.

L. H. Royston, funeral director, of Marshall, VA. who came for the body, said it was the intention to hold the funeral some time today. He did not know whether an inquest would be held. He said he had not heard of any steps being taken to conduct an official investigation of the exact manner in which Lunceford came to his death.

Brother In Ignorance

Ernest Lunceford, a brother of the dead man, said he knew nothing whatever about the shooting, as he was in Fauquier county at the time, and all he knew was that word came to the home place that his brother had been shot and fatally wounded. The funeral director said he had been told the body would be interred in the family graveyard near Marshall.

When the body of Lunceford was removed from Memorial Hospital on Friday morning to a morgue the undertaker was directed not to prepare it for burial and to leave the corpse just as it was until an officer came from Rappahannock county, in which the shooting occurred, to make an inspection of the wound. The orders were complied with, but no officer put in an appearance. Instead the undertaker and a brother of the dead man came last evening and took the body home.

Many Rumors Afloat

Word came from Rappahannock county that many conflicting rumors were afloat as to the how Lunceford met death. Officers of that county reiterated their original version to the effect that Sheriff Hubert F. Keyser, armed with a warrant, and his deputies had gone from Washington, the county seat, into the country several miles to intercept a car alleged to contain contraband liquor, and that when commanded to halt the driver of the car stepped on the gas. As the car sped away a shot is said to have been fired at the Sheriff’s party. The later is understood to have returned the fire, and in a short time a pitched battle was in progress along the lonely mountain road.

Another report said the shooting was not done from automobiles, but that the men were on the ground at the time. The wound that resulted in Lunceford’s death shows that the bullet entered low in the back, shattering his liver.

Doctors and hospital nurses who attended the wounded man here positively refused to make any statement concerning the case, and would neither confirm or deny inquiries as to whether he made a statement before dying. Rappahannock county officers were anxious to learn whether any such statement had been made.

Resentment Reported

Information reached here today from Rappahannock and Fauquier counties indicating a feeling of resentment, at least among friends of the dead man, although there was nothing to indicate a disposition to take violent measures. It was stated however, by one that the shooting was “a brutal affair”.

Asked what the people thought of it, the man said he did not think they had yet fully realized the gravity of the situation. He added that Lunceford’s people stood very well among their friends and neighbors, and that much sympathy had been expressed by acquaintances who had heard of the tragedy.

Lunceford was married. He was exempted from military service during the World War because of dependents. His wife was formerly Miss Annie Creel. They have three children. His father, Frank Lunceford, his mother and five brothers, Walter, Charles, Ernest, Wilbur and Clarence, and three sisters, Mrs. Margaret Mc Cormick and Misses Lucy and Ella Lunceford, survive.

Rappahannock county officers are endeavoring to locate three men named Smith, one colored, alleged to have been with Robert Lunceford, of Dudie, VA., charged with bootlegging, when the later was mortally wounded last week in a gun battle with Sheriff Hubert Keyser and deputies near Washington, Rappahannock county.

What a fascinating but tragic story of a young father finding himself on the wrong side of the law running some Fauquier shine so it seems.

A few questions remain; where did the actual gun battle take place, and why did he wind up in the Winchester hospital? Did the pursuit go all the way over the Shenandoah ridge line? The article claims that the burial was handled by Royston's but the undertaker on the death certificate is listed as George Kurtz of Winchester. I also have not been able to find an entry for his grave on Find-A-Grave. Definitely not in the main Marshall cemetery unless it is unmarked. Is there another Lunceford cemetery in the Marshall area?

Robert's death certificate (click for larger image)

At the time of his WWI draft registration he was living in Warrenton. This also shows his place of birth as Orlean, VA.

WWI draft registration (click for larger image)

The Long Branch Baptist Church in Halfway Virginia (UPDATED)

 

From: https://lbbaptistchurchtheplains.com/

On Saturday I had the chance to tour the inside of Long Branch Baptist Church in Halfway and hear more about it's history; courtesy of Rev Billy Tatum of Antioch Baptist Church and member Sally Griffith. After years of driving by this historical gem, it truly was an honor to finally get inside the sanctuary and see where many of our ancestors worshipped. It appeared that both the lower and upper pews are original and not refinished from the day they were installed.

According to a 1937 Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical inventory by researcher Francis B. Foster, Long Branch began life in 1786 "some three quarters of a mile from the present structure"(1). It was situated at the fork of The Plains and Hopewell roads on Long Branch, a tributary of the Little River. Apparently this earlier church was of wood construction. And there is mention of a "burying ground" long since obliterated. The current church does not have a cemetery. An auxiliary wing was added in 1959.

For a more detailed history, we can turn to John Gott's book (2). Here we learn that following the disconnect of Virginia government from the colonial era Church of England, a religious revival of sorts began around 1785 that lead to the establishment of many new churches and meeting houses of Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denomination. During this era "It was under the pastoral care of Elder Monroe that Long Branch Church was constituted, in the year 1786, with a membership of twenty-five persons, and united to the Ketocton Association".

In 1817, it was resolved that a new church be built. The "hauling of stone commenced in March [1818] and first meeting was held in the new house in July 1820. The deed for the house was given by James S. Pickett and wife".

In addition to a detailed history for the years leading up to 1967, Gott includes excerpts from the Record Books as well as a member list for the years 1807-1868. Here we see the names of many of our ancestors and local residents of the Halfway area. Of particular note for descendants of Baldwin Lunsford we find listings for Wormeley Lunceford (baptized 1857), Mary Lunceford (1830). Marian Luntzford (1841; actually Marion P. Lunceford m. Ephraim Hawes), Judith Luntzford (1841; actually Judith "Judy" Lunceford m. Craven Walker), Margaret Luntzford (1841; married W. Garrison), Mrs. Wormeley Lunceford (1857) and Mrs. E. Chilton Lunceford (1857). 

(1) Long Branch Baptist Church. Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical Inventory. Francis B. Foster. February 15, 1937. WPA, US Government.

(2) History of Long Branch Baptist Church, Fauquier County, Virginia (1786-1967). Edited and self published by John K. Gott. The Williams Printing Co., Richmond, VA,1967.

UPDATE: Last Sunday (September 17, 2023) we attended the Long Branch  homecoming service and luncheon. It was a real treat sitting in the pews and wondering where our Lunceford/Lunsford ancestors sat when they were there. 237 years and still going strong.

Y-chromosome Update

 

Due to a first cousin in our paternal line getting his Y-chromosome analyzed recently, we now have our very own branch on the greater phylogenetic tree. Our Fauquier clan now is designated I1-FT112485*. In addition to converting all of our private SNPs to a public designation, this additional data not only strengthens our project but serves as a critical quality control check overall. 

This new data also separated us from an old French family (Mafille) that still has FT116446 designated as their terminal SNP. In that case, there are 13 SNPs separating our two clans suggesting that we shared a common paternal ancestor well before the advent of surnames in Europe.

Guest Post: The Allens of Parkgate Farm

Mary Alice (Manuel) & William T Allen

My great aunt Vera Jones retired in the early 1970s after a decades long career as a nurse and occupational therapist.  After she retired she devoted herself to caring for her mother, my great grandmother, Millie Mae Allen Jones, and to extensive genealogy research.  She was particularly focused on her mother’s Allen family. That work resulted in major contributions to the book "Allens: Quakers of  Shenandoah", which was privately published in 1984 by Rudelle Mills Davis and Peggy Davidson.  

Vera Jones

Millie married Clinton Porter Jones in 1913 and they lived on their farm on Ox Road in Fairfax, Virginia for the rest of their lives.  Vera, my grandfather and my mother as well as others were born on that farm.  In 1980 my parents built a home on the back part of what remains of the Jones farm and have lived there to this day.  Vera had moved back to the farm to care for her mother and remained there until her final days, my mom in turn caring for Vera in her last years.

Me with Millie Mae (Allen) Jones

 

Millie Mae (Allen) Jones, Clinton Porter Jones, Allen Jones and Vera Jones at their home ca. 1927

I visited with Vera fairly often.  She loved to talk about genealogy and various aspects of the family history. Initially as a teenager I didn’t really understand much of what she was talking about.  To be honest, some of it caused me to glaze over.  

I knew she drove all over the place to visit courthouses, cemeteries, libraries and any other places that might have information useful to a genealogist. She subscribed to multiple newspapers so she could check the obituaries, birth and marriage announcements.  She often spoke of “working the census” which I did not understand at the time.  Now I realize that meant going to the National Archives or other places and going line by line through huge books of the national census.  I can’t imagine how many hours that took.  Vera also subscribed to multiple genealogy periodicals and would post ads seeking information on her brick walls.  Correspondence with other researchers was done almost entirely via US Mail. She mailed family group sheet forms to anyone and everyone in hopes they would fill them out and send them back.  Genealogy was a much different business back in those days. It is amazing she was able to accomplish as much as she did.  But she spent countless hours for more than two decades compiling a tremendous amount of information that now resides in dozens of binders and notebooks in my parents’ basement.  Her interest in the family history extended back to when she was a little girl constantly asking questions of various family members.  I truly appreciate that she could relay firsthand knowledge to me about my great-great grandparents. She would talk to me about her grandparents and their siblings as if they had only been gone a few years. It took me a bit to get used to when she would say Grandpa did such and such, she was talking about someone who was born over 150 years ago and had been gone over 70 years.  

 I became actively interested in genealogy in the late 1990s.  Fortunately, Vera was still alive and could offer me quite a bit of useful guidance.  Or course much had changed by that point.  She kept handing me blank family group forms, telling me to fill them out and organize them.  I would tell her I was entering the information into a computer database, but that was pretty well lost on her.  She was still invaluable for understanding the basic concepts.  I began with entering in the info she had accumulated after all those years.  It took many months to get the core information done.  I live in Austin, Texas, so I could only do data entry from her binders when I was visiting.  Sometimes I would photocopy her documents so I could enter stuff later.  Vera had such a tremendous amount of information on paper, I am still finding new and useful tidbits. Once I got the basic information entered, I started searching via the various online services, which were mostly fairly new at the time.  I was able to fill in some gaps and even break through a few of Vera’s brick walls.  Our most frustrating brick wall in the Jones line still remains, but that is another story.

As I said, Vera spent much of her time working on her mother’s Allen family.  Dwayne and I are Allen descendants and he has asked me to write about the Allen family, Vera’s work and other related items, including the history of Park Gate farm.  

The Allens were among the earliest settlers in the Colonies.  According to a passenger list, the immigrant ancestor, George Allen, arrived in New England in 1635 or 1636 with his wife, Katherine and sons George, William and Matthew.  Ralph Allen is thought to be George’s eldest son and from a previous wife.  It is not known when he joined his family in New England.  Ralph’s son Joseph ventured out of New England, living in New Jersey, Maryland and possibly elsewhere.  Two of Joseph’s sons, Benjamin and Reuben, were the first of the family to settle in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia around the 1730s.  They are likely the first to settle in the area now known as Mt. Jackson.   It is not known if Benjamin married or had children.  The bulk of the book, Allens: Quakers of Shenandoah is made up of 14,000+ descendants of Reuben and his wife Mary [1].

Reuben and Mary’s 4th child was Joseph Allen.  The 4th child of Joseph and his wife Ruth was William Allen, who was born in 1762 and lived no later than 1826. William married Rachel Keeran in 1802. Vera was responsible for the research on the descendants of William and Rachel Allen.  The 6th child of William and Rachel was Isaiah Allen who is the third great grandfather to both Dwayne and me [1].

Isaiah Allen

Starting around the 1820s to 1830s, many in Virginia began heading west, particularly to Ohio, but also Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky.  This included the rapidly growing Allen and related families in the Shenandoah Valley.  Primarily, they needed more land to farm.  To make matters worse, decades of extensive tobacco farming had fatally depleted much of the land in Virginia. Our Isaiah headed to La Porte County, Indiana at some point after marrying Mary Jane Henkle in April of 1846.  However, he shortly returned to the Valley.  We are not sure why.  As a farmer, he likely would have faced the same problems that caused him to leave in the first place.  Maybe he simply missed his family that still remained there?

Isaiah’s first child was Reuben Ellwood Allen, born 11 March 1847 while Isaiah was still living in La Porte County, Indiana.  Reuben is Dwayne’s great-great grandfather.  His second child, William Thomas Allen was born 29 November 1848 in Shenandoah County. This is my great-great grandfather [1].

In January 1877 William T Allen married his first wife Henrietta “Nettie” Maphis in Shenandoah County.  In October of that year, their first child, Guy Gilbert Allen was born.  For the next few years after that, William and his growing family lived in different parts of Virginia.  Elzora Allen was born 1880 in Page County.  In 1881 William T Allen and his father, Isaiah, moved to a farm they purchased in Linville, Virginia [3]. William’s daughter Bessie Allen was born 1882 in Linville [1]. They sold the farm in Linville in 1883 [2].  

In 1884, or possibly late 1883, William T Allen and his family moved to Park Gate Farm in Nokesville, Prince William County, Virginia.  In October 1884 Isaiah and his wife Mary Jane joined William T Allen in Nokesville.  It is not certain if Isaiah and Mary Jane lived at Park Gate for any part of that time, but evidence points to them having a home across the road from Park Gate. Reuben E Allen’s children came to Nokesville with Isaiah and Mary Jane. Among those children was Dwayne’s great grandfather, Luther.  Reuben’s wife, Louisa, had died the year before, presumably in Shenandoah County.  Reuben eventually found his way to Prince William County where he married his second wife, Emma Elizabeth Holmes in November 1891. He eventually found his way to Catlett, Virginia, and I will let Dwayne speak more on that at some point [1,2].

Detail from the 1901 map of Prince William County
(click for larger image)

Also in October 1884, the Allendale school opened, serving the children of the area farmers.  It was built by William T Allen adjacent to Park Gate. William also served a number of years as clerk for the Brentsville District School Board [4, 5].

William T Allen had two more children with his first wife, Henrietta “Nettie”, at Park Gate. After she died he married Mary Alice Manuel in May 1894.  With her they had three more children, including my great grandmother, Millie Mae Allen, along with William Jennings Bryan Allen and Nettie Louise Allen [1,2].

Allen family at Park Gate circa 1898. Mary Alice (Manuel) Allen is sitting with Millie Mae Allen and William Jennings Bryan Allen. Standing are older sisters Bess, Zora and Lucy Allen
(click for larger image)

It is uncertain why this part of the Allen family found their way to Prince William, Fauquier and other places in that general area when most of the rest of the family either headed west or stayed put in the Shenandoah Valley.  It is also not certain if the Allens knew of the historical significance of Park Gate farm when they bought it. Further, it is not known why the Allens left Park Gate in 1904 [2]. They went from owning a large and beautiful farm to renting something much more humble. Whatever happened, William T Allen remained an active and prominent member of the Nokesville community.  In 1910 he founded the Bank of Nokesville and served as its president, while his brother in law, Joseph B Manuel served as vice president. He continued to serve on the school board and at some point was also Justice of the Peace [4, 5, 6].

Various Obituaries for W. T. Allen in the local newspapers of the time
(click for larger image)

Park Gate Farm

The Park Gate house is on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the local and DAR registries. Despite its historic nature, information about Park Gate and its inhabitants is relatively scarce and sometimes contradictory. The information that follows is accurate as far as I know, but some of it relies on assumptions and taking the word of others without documentation or other evidence. The  information I have found in books and newspaper articles I am fairly certain is incorrect.

Park Gate is one of the few remaining colonial era structures in Prince William County, Virginia.  In 1686 George Brent and three other men received a land grant of 30,000 acres from King James. A testament to his prestige in the area, the land was called the Brenton Tract. It is thought George Brent built a cabin or some structure on the land in 1691. That structure and/or the one that replaced it became the summer kitchen for Park Gate and may have also served as slave quarters.  The chimney still standing is believed to be from the original 1691 structure.  After George Brent’s death in or after 1694, the rights to the tract passed to his grandson, also named George. Up until this point, little progress was made on plans to settle the tract [7, 8, 9].

This is believed to be the chimney from the original 1691 structure

In 1737, six years after the formation of Prince William County, the original 30,000 acre tract was divided into four parcels for the families of each of the four original proprietors [7, 8]. At some point after that, George Brent (the grandson) built the Park Gate house on the Brent parcel.  The current owner of Park Gate, Tom Russell, believes the house was built in 1738 [9].  Others think it was later, but not likely later than 1750 [12, et al]. Any official documents were likely lost during the Civil War. The house is an example of Tidewater style architecture, which originated out of Maryland.  The Brent family had deep roots in Maryland.   

The original purpose of the house is uncertain. It seems most likely it was used by the caretaker of the Brent parcel, which was being leased in smaller chunks for tobacco farming [9]. There doesn’t appear to be any indication that any of the Brent family were living there at the time. Further testament to the uncertainty of purpose, Park Gate has been referred to variously as a “tenant house,” “plantation home” and “mansion.” It is far larger and nicer than any typical tenant house of the time.  Plantation house or mansion don’t quite sit right either.  Tobacco farming continued on the land until the soil was nearly depleted right before the American Revolution. Many farmers started looking to other crops and farming techniques.  The war and some other political factors further caused a move away from tobacco farming.  George died around 1778 or 1779 and the land passed to his grandson, still yet another George. In, or just prior to 1782, the land transfers to George’s distant cousin, Daniel Carroll Brent [10], who descends from Giles Brent, the uncle of the original George Brent. At that time, he owned 5700 acres of the Brenton Tract. In 1785 he offered that land for sale in 1, 2 and 3 hundred acre lots [11].  Daniel Carroll Brent is of some historical interest, having dealings with Thomas Jefferson and being involved with the development of the city of Washington, DC, as well as being influential in Stafford and Prince William counties [7, 8].

In (or around) 1790, Daniel Carroll Brent sold the parcel with the Park Gate house to Thomas Jesse Lee [9, 12, et al], who had been married to Daniel’s sister Elizabeth “Eliza” Ashton Brent.  About five years earlier Eliza died in childbirth, but their daughter Eleanor survived [8, 13,14]. Thomas Lee was the eldest son of Richard Henry Lee, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His second wife, Mildred, was George Washington’s niece. During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Lee was a courier and aide-de-camp to George Washington.  Washington made many trips to Culpepper, Virginia and it is believed he would stop off at Park Gate on the way [9, 12, et al].

Many have listed Eliza as Thomas’ second wife after Mildred. I believe this might be the result of confusing her with her daughter Eleanor. This mistake is found in the application for the National Register for Historic Places, which also lists Eliza as Daniel C Brent’s daughter, rather than his sister.  Some have even listed Thomas’ wife as Eleanor. 

Mildred and her child died in childbirth at Park Gate in 1796 [9] or as late as 1798. I have found no solid source for a specific date. Thomas Lee died there in 1805 according to the Brent book and other sources [8, et al]. His obituary in the Alexandria Daily Advertiser indicates he died at the home of his brother, Ludwell, in Loudoun County [25].  Thomas and Eliza’s daughter, Eleanor, married Gerard Alexander.  She died within weeks of giving birth to her son, Thomas Ludwell Alexander, in October 1807, likely at Park Gate [8]. Thomas, Eleanor, Mildred and her baby, as well as others are thought to be buried at Park Gate, but no grave markers exist.  It should also be noted the third George Brent died in 1804 at Woodstock and Daniel C Brent died 1814 at his home in Richland [8].

It appears that Gerard and his son stayed on at Park Gate. It also is likely Gerard remarried and started having more children at Park Gate.  His father, Richard Barnes Alexander died at Park Gate in December 1821, although he had been living in Kentucky [18].  They may have been joined by others of the large extended and confusing Alexander family.  The name is spelled either Gerard or Gerrard and sometimes Girard.  There were multiple men with that name in the area at the time.  Two Gerard Alexanders appear on the 1810 census for Prince William County and one appears on the 1820 census.  Genealogists know that census workers can easily misspell a name.  And unfortunately the early census provided very little details.  They do show a few dozen slaves for each listing. My hunch is there were two adult Gerrard Alexanders, father and son that were different from our Gerard at Park Gate with a single rather than double G in the middle of his name.  Gerard may have had a young son named Gerard around this time. The Alexander family is also connected to another historic home in the area, Effingham Plantation, built by William Alexander around 1765. They are also the namesake for the city of Alexandria, Virginia. 

(click for larger image)

In 1823 Park Gate was listed for sale by authority of Thomas Lee’s only surviving brother, Ludwell, and in accordance with Thomas’ will. Was there some sort of arrangement that Thomas’ son-in-law and grandson could stay there for a certain period of time after his death? Or were they waiting out settlement of the estates involved?  The sale listing indicates that Gerard Alexander is living at Park Gate [19].

It appears Park Gate did not sell after the 1823 listing. In 1824 it was listed for sale as the result of a lawsuit between the estate of Daniel Carroll Brent and the estate of Thomas Lee [20].  The assumption is that money was still owed to the Daniel C Brent estate for the mortgage.  There were many suits involving the Brent estate [7], which might explain why they dragged  on for so long.

Thomas Ludwell Alexander and his father Gerard Alexander, along with their new family headed off to Kentucky at some point prior to about 1829.  They may have lived elsewhere in Prince William for a year or so. It is believed Park Gate received some much needed restoration work around this time [9]. It is uncertain if this work was in preparation for the sale or if done by the new owners.  

Daniel C. Brent’s widow, Euphan Wallace Washington Brent, moved into Park Gate at some point, along with relatives from her first marriage to Bailey Washington.  Her obituary indicates that she died at Park Gate in 1845 and that she had been living there for some time [21]. Did she get Park Gate somehow as a beneficiary of Daniel C Brent’s estate? That seems logical, but there is no evidence and it is not known when she moved there.  Or maybe she or one of her children purchased it? Or were they leasing it?

The following evidence is known about the Washington family at Park Gate:

Euphan’s son, James Wallace Washington died there in 1869 [22]. Euphan’s grandchildren (1st cousins) William T Washington and his wife Frances (Fanny) have listings at Park Gate for these children:

1. An unnamed daughter, most likely Euphan, born 5 Sept 1857 [16]
2. Elizabeth W Washington born 15 Oct 1864 [16]
3. Infant daughter, Camelia, died in August 1873 [23]

William’s mother, Euphan Macrae Washington died at Park Gate 17 June 1875 at age 75 [24]. Her husband (and 1st cousin) Col. John Macrae Washington, a career military man, died at sea in 1853. William T Washington had a grandmother, mother, aunt and daughter all named Euphon, which can make things rather confusing. Washington and Macrae cousins marrying also makes for further confusion.

The 1870 census shows William Washington age 38 and his wife Frances with daughters Elizabeth, Euphan and Mary along with son John. It also shows his mother,  Euphan Washington, age 70.   Also there is a black female listed as domestic servant, three black children, one black female teenager and a black farm laborer. 

The 1860 census lists William T Washington and Frances and their daughter Euphan.  William’s brother, Dr. Henry William Macrae Washington is also listed along with their mother Euphan. The town for both 1860 and 1870 is Brentsville and it seems likely this was at Park Gate.  Unfortunately, these censuses lack details.  

By the 1880 census, the Washington family was living in Washington, DC.  So, they probably left Park Gate somewhere between 1875 and 1880.

The current owner, Tom Russell has said that Park Gate changed hands many times during the Civil War [9]. The Washington family lived there before and after the war, but it is uncertain if they were there during the war.  It is possible they could have come and gone.  Crazy things can happen in war time.  The house managed to avoid any damage from the war despite general devastation in the rest of Prince William County. It is believed Park Gate was used as a field hospital [9]. A February 1865 Virginia State Journal article mentions “a body of Yankee Calvary near Park Gate.”

As noted above, the Allens lived at Park Gate from 1884 until 1904.  In 1910 the new owners installed the first bathroom in the house [9].  Probably in the early 1920s, Isaac Liskey purchased Park Gate. He and his wife, Osceola, remained there for the rest of their lives.  He died in 1956 and she died in 1964. The eldest son, Glenn, marries and then later moves out.  The only other son, Reuel, remained in the house until 1976. He was there by himself for the last 12 years.  He lived at Park Gate for around 50 years, far longer than anyone else. He died in 2006.  The house unfortunately fell into serious disrepair.  Dean and Gail Niedernhofer purchased the farm in 1976 from Reuel and his sister-in-law, who owned half of the 140 acres of  land.  It is recommended to the Niedernhofers that the house be demolished.  However, they spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money to restore the home, which eventually leads to it getting listed on historic registries.  

The Niedernhofers listed Park Gate for sale in 1998. I visited Park Gate in 2009, when it was owned by a fireman raising alpacas.  The current owner is Tom Russell, who is maintaining a horse stable on the land.  

Park Gate in 2009

The Park Gate Porch; 120 Years Ago and Today

William and Millie Allen circa 1902; Dwayne Lunsford 2022

References

1. Davis, Rudelle Mills; Dick, Peggy Davidson. Allen’s: Quakers of Shenandoah. Self published. El Paso, TX. 1984.

2. Jones, Vera C. Personal papers, including Zirkle family documents.

3. Staunton Spectator 29 March 1881

4. Scheel, Eugene M. Crossroads and Corners, A Guided Tour of the Villages, Towns and Post Offices of Prince William County, Virginia Past and Present. Historic Prince William Inc. 1996

5. Breeden, Morgan E. (transcriber). Brentsville District School Board 1908-1922 School Board Minutes. 2014

6. William T Allen obituaries in various papers. 

7. Sackett, Pamela Myer. “From Outpost to Courthouse: Plotting Brentsville” Prince William Reliquary, Manassas, VA, Vol. 2, No. 2. April 2003.

8. Brent, Chester Horton. Descendants of Coll Giles Brent, Captain George Brent and Robert Brent, Gentlemen, Immigrants to Maryland and Virginia. Rutland, VT, Tuttle Pub. Co., 1946.

9. Russell, Tom, Interview from YouTube video: History and Haunts of Park Gate Plantation https://youtu.be/K33QqI0R4Ow (Tom Russell is the current [2022] owner of Park Gate Farm.)

10. Prince William County Land Tax Records 1782-1861, Reel 2, Microfilm,    1782B

11. Virginia Journal & Alexandria Advertiser 13 Jan 1785

12. National Register of Historic Places, Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior.  June 1986

13. Geiger, Sister M. Virgina. Daniel Carroll II, One Man and His Descendants,1730-1798. College of Notre Dame of Maryland. 1979.

14. French, David M. "The Brent Family" LDS Film #1598283, item #16. References cited therein.

15. United States Federal Census 1810-1950

16. Binning, Margaret B. (compiler). Birth Records of Prince William County Virginia, Prior to 1912.  Bull Run Regional Library, Manassas, Virginia. 2021

17. Ratcliffe. This Was Prince William County. Potomac Press. 1978

18. Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser 28 November 1821

19. Public Sale ad in Genius of Liberty 3 June 1823

20. Alexandria Gazette 18 November 1824, et al

21. Richmond Enquirer 11 April 1845

22. Alexandria Gazette 2 February 1869

23. Alexandria Gazette 11 August 1873

24. Staunton Vindicator 2 July 1875

25. Alexandria Daily Advertiser 10 September 1805

26. Prince William County Virginia Map 1901 https://tinyurl.com/mww4dyhb

General information from newspaper articles:

 Potomac News, Woodbridge, VA

“Park Gate Mansion, One of the Oldies.” September 19, 1973

“Seven County Landmarks Added to County List.” December 1, 1976

“The Way it Was, Park Gate.” June 6, 1980

Untitled short blurb. October 25, 1990

“Link to Revolutionary War earns Nokesville House Recognition.” October 7, 1993

Journal Messenger, Manassas, VA

“Park Gate Ceremony.” October 13, 1993

Michael Kevin Bell
Austin Texas

Undocumented Genealogy is Mythology (and who was Amos and George Lunsford?)

 Over on the Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches Facebook page, I saw a meme that all careful genealogists should live by: 

"Undocumented Genealogy is Mythology"

How true that is, especially so when dealing with brick wall ancestors. While we continue to search for the true genealogical origin of Baldwin Lunsford, a certain degree of mythology continues to be perpetuated through online family trees.

Once a year or so I dare to venture into the leading repository of undocumented and questionable family trees, Ancestry.com, looking for any new leads on Baldwin. This is usually a lost cause but there are some interesting connections between Baldwin and various William Lunsfords from colonial Virginia. These almost always link back to the elusive Sir Thomas Lunsford. Never mind that there is absolutely no evidence that Sir Thomas left any sons in either Virginia or England from which said Williams could have descended. None of the trees provide source citations. and the owners rarely reply to my inquiries. When they do respond they tell me they just "got that off Ancestry.com". 

Sigh................

We know from Jim Ball's careful research that Baldwin likely had an older brother, Rodham Lunsford, who served in the Virginia Line during the Revolution and removed to Lincoln County Kentucky shortly after the war. From Jim we learn:

"Upon his return from the military, Rodham became the administrator for the estate of Amos Lunsford in 1784 and ordered to perform an inventory. This he undertook and it is known that a deed was granted Baldwin Lunsford by Rodham to clear the estate of Amos. Most interesting is that the Administration Bond was signed by "George (X) Lunsford" and that this George was unquestionably Rodham as noted in the court records (March 1784 Court; Minute Book 6, page 255). More to this is that there was a George Lunsford who left an estate in Fauquier in 1781. His estate was administered by George Carter who, along with George Cordell, posted a bond of £40,000. There is evidence this George Lunsford was a resident of the county of Fauquier as he was a jurist in 1780.

Rodham Lunsford married Clement Ball in 1786. In 1792 Baldwin Lunsford married Ann Ball, Clement's sister. This alone leads one to believe Rodham and Baldwin are brothers, but their relationship to Amos (d. 1784) or George (d. 1781) is not clear."

So who were Amos and George Lunsford? Was one the family patriarch? Another a brother to Rodham and Baldwin? Maybe an uncle? And why would Rodham use the "George" alias at one point? As you might expect, none of the online trees for Baldwin ever mention an Amos or George Lunsford. Complicating matters there appears to have been other unrelated Rodham Lunsfords in the Virginia Northern Neck at this time.

Who knows if we will ever be able to get Baldwin's paternity figured out using standard paper-based genealogy records. This is why I'm trying my best to break through the brick wall with DNA testing. So far I've tested three males outside of our Fauquier clan who claim ancestry to Virginia. But they don't match our Y-chromosome profile. Neither do males in another Lunsford DNA testing project. Likewise we have no DNA matches to anyone in genealogically relevant time frames suggesting a non-paternity event since the founding of Virginia. Its almost like we just dropped in from space and found a happy home in the scenic countryside of Fauquier County.  

 

 

A Working Family Heirloom - The Kodak Brownie 2A

 

The Kodak Brownie Model 2A

Several years ago my dad gave me an old Kodak Brownie camera that was found in the personal effects of his uncle, Crilly Marshall Lunsford shortly after his death. Until recently this antique curiosity sat on my bookshelf collecting dust. 

From the Brownie Camera Page, we find the following specifications:

Introduced: April 1907

Discontinued: 1936

Film size: 116

Negative size: 2 1/2 X 4 1/4"

Lens type: meniscus

Shutter type: rotary

Units made: over 2,100,000 before 1921

Original price: $3.00

After doing a bit of research, I soon found that these old gems may still work. While the original #116 film no longer is available, I found a source for adaptors that allow the use of modern #120 roll film. So after a bit of cleaning, I decided to give it a try. 

Each roll allows for six pictures. And unlike a few decades ago where every drug store offered film processing, this film can only be handled by a few specialty labs across the country and its a bit pricy (around $20 per roll). So far I've had good success with this lab although it can take several weeks to get digital scans back.

Here's an outdoor shot on a snowy overcast day using Kodak B&W T-Max 400 film. This used the middle stop opening and the internal shutter speed.

 Whereas this is a two second exposure of an indoor scene. It was taken by placing the camera on a table in a room with a western exposure on a sunny day. There is a small tab that can be pulled out on the camera to allow for manual shutter speed control.

Overall, this is a fine little box camera that produces a respectable picture. And the picture clarity is not bad for what is essentially a card board box with a single lens and very basic shutter mechanism. And after years of digital photography, it was nice to once again experiment with film.

Guest post: Lunceford/Lunsford Ancestors in the American Civil War

 

Benjamin Richard Lunceford
Company C, 8th Virginia Infantry

When my aunt, Dorothy Lunceford Ayres passed at 99 in 2014, we discovered among her things the entire muster records of her grandfather (my great-grandfather) Benjamin Richard Lunceford (1837-1900). Benjamin Richard was married to Amanda Creel and they had 8 children, my grandfather, Benjamin Harrison (1881-1931) was one of them.  Sparked by this find, I started to investigate Benjamin Richard and have come to discover quite a bit about him, his brothers and cousins and their service in the American Civil War.

 As a child we visited the Warrenton Cemetery at holidays and saw the cast Confederate Veteran iron cross at the base of Benjamin Richard’s headstone (located directly behind my grandparents) but was unaware of his Civil War service. Growing up I never really heard many ancestral service stories other than my uncle Carlton Lunceford (KIA Anzio WWII). I think it was because my grandfather died in 1931 in a farm accident and my grandmother Addie Pearl Griffith Lunceford died in 1960 when I was 4. So the stories had faded.

On another note, my father John Turner was from Newport, Kentucky (across from Cincinnati). His grandfather, Thomas Z. Turner, was in the Union Army with the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He appeared to have enlisted in 1862 and served until June of 1863 just prior to the Gettysburg campaign.

When reviewing old historical documents, I need to qualify some of my findings. Getting fully sourced information is difficult and sometimes you must read between the lines or make assumptions based on deduction. There are also some contradictions and assertions in conflict from one account to another.  If you are reading this, you may have family lore that I am not aware of and could add to the discovery. Any information you would like to share can be added to the comments at the end of this post.

 Ancestor Lineage and Civil War Muster Records

I have tried to include all Lunceford/Lunsford brothers and cousins as I could confirm. But there are cousins that I have yet to investigate. They would be Creels and Balls, etc., and they are offspring of the daughters of Baldwin and or Benjamin. Number to the right of birth/death in [..] is age in 1861. Click on the name to go to their family sheets in the database.

Baldwin Lunceford/Anna Ball > Benjamin >

    1)    Benjamin Richard - (1837-1900 [24]) - 8th VA INF

    2)    Evan Owen - (1833-1901 [28]) - 8th VA INF 

    3)    Elijah Chilton - (1829-1921 [32]) – 43rd VA CAV (Mosby’s Men)

Baldwin Lunceford/Anna Ball > Benjamin > James W. >

    4)    John Henry - (1846-1934 [15]) – 43rd VA CAV (Mosby’s Men) 

    5)    James William Jr. - (1848-1935 [13]) – 43rd VA CAV (Mosby’s Men)

Baldwin Lunceford/Judith Creel > Wormley >

    6)    Joseph Blackwell - (1841-1861 [20]) - 8th VA INF

    7)    William A. - (1843-1864 [18]) - 6th VA CAV

Baldwin Lunceford/Judith Creel > Harrison >

    8)    James D. - (1834-1864 [27]) - 8th VA INF

    9)    Samuel - (1844-???? [17]) - 16th VA INF

1) Benjamin Richard Lunceford (my great grandfather, sometimes called “Benedict” Lunsford and “Lansford”), Company C, 8th Virginia Infantry. He mustered into service on July 13th, 1861 in Leesburg by Capt. Edmund Berkeley. He seemed to be somewhat of a rascal as I have found references to him as being a sharpshooter and possibly credited with shooting Col. Edward Baker (a sitting United States Senator from Oregon) at The Battle of Ball’s Bluff in October 1861 (Note 1). He also is known for his shooting skills at The Angle during the battle of Gettysburg, July 1863 where he and two other Luncefords (his brother Evan and cousin James) fought. He and his cousin James were captured, as reflected in their muster records. He is listed as a private, corporal, sergeant and even a Colonel in different excerpts and as having been admitted to the famous Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond for something called ‘Catarrh Fever’ from June 12 - 23 1862. He was imprisoned at Ft. Delaware Prison and later paroled at Point Lookout, MD February 18th, 1865. Buried in the Warrenton cemetery.

2) Evan Owen Lunceford (my great grandfather’s brother) Company C, 8th Virginia Infantry, listed as wounded at Gaines Mill (also Chickahominy) June 27, 1862. Listed as captured July 3rd, 1863 (in some excerpts) at the Angle, Gettysburg along with Benjamin and their cousin James D. However, his muster records are contradictory as to capture where Benjamin's and James D.  records clearly state that they were captured July 3, whereas Evan’s record does not. Buried in the Oak Grove Baptist cemetery, Greenwich, VA.

3) Elijah Chilton Lunceford (my great grandfather’s brother). He rode with Mosby’s Raiders, Company E. His service is described in a previous post (Note 2). Buried at the Marshall Cemetery.

4) John Henry Lunceford (my great grandfather’s nephew) - Signed on with Mosby at the very young age of 16 or 17 as a scout(?). Listed as captured by the Federals with some controversy that can be researched elsewhere. Buried in the Westminster cemetery, Delaplane, VA (Note 3).

5) James William Lunsford (my great grandfather’s nephew) - Also rode with Mosby (Company E) as a scout(?) albeit briefly in 1864-5 as he too was barely 15 or 16 years old.

6) Joseph Blackwell Lunceford (my great grandfather's 1st cousin) 8th Virginia Infantry. Killed approaching the old Stone House at First Manassas, July 21, 1861. Wound listed as through the heart. Believed buried in a mass grave at the Groveton Cemetery on the battlefield (Note 4).

7) William A. Lunceford (my great grandfather's 1st cousin) 6th Virginia Cavalry. Died in hospital, Winchester, VA, 12 Nov 1864 from wounds sustained two months earlier at Newtown (Stevens City). His burial is at the Stonewall Confederate cemetery in Winchester, VA (section VA-95) (Note 4).

8) James D. Lunceford (1st cousin to Benjamin and Evan). Company F, 8th Virginia Infantry. Reported as wounded at Gettysburg and listed as “having killed more Federals than any in other” that day. His muster records are interesting and contain some controversial statements. For instance, he is listed as present March & April 1863, absent September & October 1863 and November & December 1863 - “Taken prisoner at Gettysburg July 3, confined in Ft Delaware”.  For the period January & February 1864, the remarks say “Made prisoner at Gettysburg July 3, 1863. Afterwards joined the enemy. Deserter”. Reported as died in captivity at the notorious Ft. Delaware Federal Prison, March 12, 1864 due to inflamed lungs. He was also wounded at Darbytown June 30, 1862 and sick in 1861 (Note 5).

9) Samuel Lunceford, 16th Virginia infantry. Many listings for being sick (Impetigo, lower left thigh infection, scurvy or wounded) also at Chimbarzo and the Episcopal Church Hospital, Williamsburg.

Notes:

1)  Regarding the battle of Ball's Bluff, from: “The 8th Virginia Infantry Regiment, "The Bloody Eighth" by JDWoody. 

“Hunton ordered his skirmishers out into the adjacent tree line to open fire on the commander and his men. Sergeant Benedict R. Lunceford led his squad into the trees to open fire on the Yankees. Loading his Model 1861 musket, Sergeant Lunceford took aim at Colonel Baker. Readying his shot, he squeezed the trigger and fired, sending a roundball through the neck of Colonel Baker. The Union colonel fell to the ground grasping his bloodied neck, choking to death on his blood. Sergeant Lunceford had just killed the first and only U.S. Senator to die in combat.”

In Benjamin Richard’s service record, there is no listing as being a sergeant, nor is there any other evidence for his role in the Baker shooting. This point requires more research.

From: “Pickett’s Charge: A New Look at Gettysburg’s Final Attack”. By Phillip Thomas Tucker, PhD. Skyhorse Publishing, NY 2016.

“Tragedies among Brothers…..Meanwhile, two sets of 8th Virginia brothers, advanced side by side: Privates John L. Bailey and Edwin S. Bailey of Company D (Champe Rifles),………and Corporal Benjamin R. Lunceford and Private Evan[s] O. Lunceford, both of whom enlisted in the summer of 1861 at Leesburg, Virginia of Company C (Evergreen Guards)………”

“Savage Hand-to-Hand Combat at the Copse of Trees…… The men who had gained the stone wall and the clump of trees continued to inflict damage on the resurgent Yankees, especially the 69th Pennsylvania. One Rebel excelled in the grisly art of killing his fellow man. He was an expert marksman who never missed a shot. Firing through a narrow gap in the stone wall where piled-up stones had either knocked down or deliberately removed, Private James D. Lunceford, of Company F (Blue Mountain Boys), 8th Virginia, on the far right of Garnett’s brigade, blasted away through this ideal firing position that provided protection. Meanwhile, comrades, including a brother, hurriedly hand-loaded and passed muskets to Lunceford in an assembly line of death. Because of the density of the encroaching blue ranks, some of Lunceford’s well-aimed bullets dropped two men with a single shot, with the bullet whizzing completely through the foremost Federal to find another victim immediately behind him. From this vantage point, this especially young Blue Mountain Boy “killed more men than any other during the assault.” However, Lunceford fell wounded and was captured. He was fated to die a captivity prisoner in a filthy northern prison, earning a shallow grave in New Jersey soil in 1864. James paid the ultimate price for “getting two [Yankees] at a crack”.”

From: “Pickett’s Charge – The Last Attack at Gettysburg” by Earl J. Hess. The University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

 “The same process took place among many other groups along the outside of the stone fence. First there was fierce defiance, then there was doubt about the prospects of help arriving, then there was the grim realization that a decision between flight and capture had to be made. Lt. Charles Berkeley of the 8th Virginia gave his handkerchief to Cpl. Benjamin R. Lunceford and told him to put it on a ramrod and wave it as a token of surrender. But Lunceford was so intent on firing, having been supplied with a steady source of off-loaded and capped muskets by his brother, that he exclaimed, "Hold on awhile Lieut. I am getting two at a crack." His comrades later argued that no one in the division killed more Yankees during these few minutes than Lunceford.”

2) See previous post, “Family Mementoes and Warrior Ancestors”.

3) See previous post, “A Close Encounter with COL Mosby's Pistol”.

4) See previous post, “A Priceless Family Heirloom; Wormley and Mahala's Bible”. 

5) See previous post, “Guest Post: Which John?”

Carl Turner

Recent Adventures with Autosomal DNA

Plot of an autosomal cluster analysis

 So far the DNA analysis of Baldwin's line has concentrated primarily on the Y-chromosome of male descendants in order to confirm both paternal genetic descent and the public paper record. That's because the Y-chromosome is passed down from father-to-son along with the surname, and it is a powerful tool for following the paternal line back to a common, distant male ancestor. These studies also can be used to connect male lines back to ancient times; well before the advent of surnames.

But we have other chromosomes in our cells besides Y; a second sex chromosome (X to go with the Y for males and two X [XX] for females), and 22 chromosomes that are known as the "autosomes". Autosomal DNA is inherited equally from both parents, and for any one person it is a random mix coming from four different directions (from both sets of grandparents). Autosomal DNA analysis lets you examine both your maternal and paternal lines at the same time. But because the DNA is diluted at each generation by the addition of a new parental line, the results are only really accurate back to the fourth or fifth cousin level.

Back when I began my Y-chromosome analysis I also submitted an autosomal test. The price was right and I figured it might be useful for finding additional male cousins for Y-chromosome testing. While the Family Tree DNA database only allowed me to confirm some of my side lineages through autosomal DNA (for example my biological connection to the Wine, Griffith and Hager families on my paternal side and Johnson, Allen and Ridgley families on my maternal side), I had very limited luck matching to any Lunceford/Lunsford families. At least any that posted a family tree or responded to my email inquiries. That was until I transferred my results to MyHeritage.com. Almost immediately I was able to find several interesting Lunceford/Lunsford connections. For privacy reasons I will not disclose their actual match names here, but I will discuss their ancestral lines. 

The first significant match was to a Carter family who descends from Samuel Shelton Lunceford. He was the brother of my great-great grandfather and was one of three sibling brothers who left Fauquier County Virginia in the mid to late 1800s to settle in Missouri. We already had a very strong paper record genealogy for these folks, but biological (genetic) confirmation always is a welcome addition to any family project. 

But a genetic breakthrough was in store..............

Going back to our Y-chromosome analysis, we previously were able to confirm paternal genetic descent from Baldwin's first son, Benjamin Lunsford (abt 1793-1869) through his Anna Ball line. Absolute confirmation of Baldwin's Y-chromosome haplotype requires the testing of a living male who descends from his second wife's line (Judith Creel). Finding a willing test subject for this analysis so far has not been successful. But there is a glimmer of hope using autosomal DNA. Two significant matches were found in the MyHeritage database to Baldwin's Judith Creel line. One was to a Lunsford male who descends from Maphis Franklin Lunsford (1910-1992). Maphis descends from Wormley Lunceford (1814-1893). Until this match, I had no idea Maphis had any sons. The second connection to the Creel line is through Baldwin's daughter Judith Lunceford (abt 1817-1890). This connection comes to us through the McCausland family. 

It was exciting to have discovered two seperate connections to Baldwin's Judith Creel family. But for final confirmation I still need to find a living Lunceford/Lunsford male from that line to agree to do a Y-chromosome test. So far my emails and Facebook Messenger requests to potential descendants have been ignored. But the search continues.

One final match is worth noting. It is a very distant cousin match where the DNA confidence is low. But in this family there is a Lunsford clan from Arkansas and Tennessee. While there always is the possibility that having Lunsfords in their tree is coincidence and my DNA match is actually coming from another lineage, this would be the first time I've seen anything matching us to a Lunsford clan in the deep south. Could this somehow be related to Rodham, Baldwin's suspected brother who left Fauquier County after the Revolution to live in Kentucky? Or are they descended from Northern Neck Lunsfords who went south instead of migrating to what was to become Fauquier County? Only time will tell.

While Family Tree DNA is more Y-chromosome centric, I have to admit I prefer the dashboard and analytical tools at MyHeritage for examining autosomal matches. The figure at the top is an example of a cluster analysis. For privacy reasons I've removed the match names. This is a readout of my matches arranged in clusters (each match is a square) where they match to me but also to each other. Colored squares are matches and greys are non-matches. This process helps group related matches to individual family lines. The red cluster in the upper left corner are the Lunceford/Lunsford matches. While the tan and yellow clusters are for lines from my maternal side. I'm still analyzing the smaller clusters trailing off to the lower right corner. Aside from the DNA itself, each match requires looking at their submitted family trees. Some are extensive and it is easy to find a familiar surname connection. While many either don't have a tree or they just don't bother to respond to emails.

These new autosomal matches prove that even though it is easy to become single minded when pursuing Y-chromosome studies for the paternal line, it is important not to discount the autosomal data as well. One never knows what interesting connections might arise.

Re-animate Your Ancestors

 

The face animation tool on MyHeritage.com has been getting a lot of attention on the genealogy blogs today. To use it you need to sign up for a free trial and then pay a subscription to continue. I managed to run through a couple of my best ancestor photos before it locked me out.

Here is a short clip of my great grandfather, Edgar Marshall Lunsford (1870-1953) taken around 1928-1930. It's a bit freaky to be able to re-animate someone from an old photo like this.

A Priceless Family Heirloom; Wormley and Mahala's Bible

 

When conducting genealogical research, one can never tell when the next priceless gem will come along; maybe a long-lost cousin connection, an unexpected DNA match, a critical court house document or a family heirloom. 

To run down new leads on Baldwin's origins, I recently joined several Facebook groups specifically dealing with genealogy and the history of areas where our ancestors lived out their lives. Through one of these groups, it only took about a week before I had the pleasure of connecting with Lee Pearson of Manassas, VA. Lee descends from Baldwin's second family (Judith Creel line). The sequence is Baldwin > Wormley > Henry Franklin through his mother, Ella Catherine Lunceford. He recently contributed a guest post on his boyhood home in Haymarket, VA. 

Although I am not connected directly to Wormley's line, I've always been fascinated by that given name. In my experience, Wormley was not used elsewhere in Baldwin's lines. But I have come across this name in other Northern Neck families with the spelling "Wormeley". Not to mention that it also was a surname (see Elizabeth Wormeley). Multiple connections of the Ball family with our early Virginia lines continues to keep up my hopes of one day connecting Baldwin's origins to the Northern Neck counties.

Here we have scans of the front pages of Wormley and Mahala's family bible that Lee was able to recover from the household of his grandmother, Mary Margaret (Ball) Lunceford (click for larger views):

Marriages

Births

Births (cont.)

Deaths

As a kid growing up just south of Manassas, we were taught early and often of the significance to the Civil War of the Battle of First Manassas. Field trips to that park were a common childhood treat. So when I read the death entry for Joseph Blackwell Lunceford (aged 20), passing that day in July of 1861, it became very real indeed. I didn't know of any of our clan being killed at that first decisive battle of the war (also known as The Great Skedaddle). Joseph was a private in Company-C, 8th VA Infantry, and before the conflict worked for the Berkeley brothers in Haymarket who later became company commanders in the 8th under Colonel Eppa Hunton.

We already know of my Great-great grandfather Elijah Chilton's time with the 43rd Virginia Cavalry (Mosby's Men), and of his cousins service in the 8th (topic of a future post). But this was the first time I had heard of Joseph Blackwell. Lee tells me that he was shot through the heart while approaching the Henry House. He is believed buried in a mass grave at Groveton about a mile from the old Stone House.

Also listed is the death of Joseph's brother William A. Lunceford (aged 21). He died later in the war fighting in the Valley Campaign with the 6th VA Cavalry at Newtown (today's Stevens City). Although the exact day cannot be determined from the bible entry due to page damage, he passed some weeks later in a Winchester hospital either in October or November of 1864. An entry on Find-a-Grave cites 12 Oct 1864 but the US Death Index gives his death as 12 Nov 1864. His burial is at the Stonewall Confederate cemetery in Winchester, VA (section VA-95).

This discovery of a priceless family heirloom so close to Baldwin's time makes me wonder how many other important items may be out there in private hands just waiting to be found or worse yet, lost to time. If you have any documents, photos or artifacts relating to our family that may be unknown to others, please scan/photograph them and make arrangements to pass them down to your descendants. And if that information can further our family's genealogical story, please send me a copy for the archives and perhaps consider writing a post about them on Bull Run Mountain Memories.