Lunenburg County – The UncommonWealth

New to Virginia Chronicle

The Library of Virginia has added several titles to the growing list of digitized historical newspapers accessible on Virginia Chronicle. Recent additions include: Alexandria Herald…

Kelley EwingMarch 24, 2020

Archives

A Colonial Cover-up: Lunenburg County Records Reveal New Information

Has researcher and author Cynthia Mattson uncovered a sordid, centuries-old murder conspiracy and cover-up? There’s good reason to believe she has. Reverend William Kay was…

Mike BinghamAugust 1, 2018

Archives

"A Nest of Bad Men": Locating the Lunenburg County Courthouse

Processing county deeds is usually not the springboard to finding something that is, well, blog-worthy. Deeds are already recorded in county deed books that have…

Dale DulaneyAugust 3, 2016

Archives Education & Programming

Remaking Virginia: A New Labor System

This is the third in a series of four blog posts concerning post-Civil War Virginia and the lives of freedpeople after Emancipation. The posts precede…

Greg CrawfordJune 24, 2015

Archives

To Be Sold: Hester Jane Carr’s Story

T his is the last in a series of four blogs related to the “To Be Sold” exhibit which opens on October 27 at the…

Greg CrawfordOctober 22, 2014

Archives

To Be Sold: Beasley, Jones, and Wood- Virginia Slave Traders

This is the third in a series of four blogs related to the “To Be Sold” exhibit which opens on October 27 at the Library…

Greg CrawfordOctober 15, 2014

Archives

Jackass: The Blog Post

When the first Saturday in May rolls around and the attention of the horse world gets fixated on Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, I…

Bari HelmsApril 30, 2014

Archives

The Petition of Araminta Frances

In court documents from Lunenburg County Chancery Cause 1856-042, the petition of Araminta Frances reveals an interesting and life-changing request. On 10 March 1856 Araminta…

Joanne PorterJune 19, 2013

Archives

“My Dearest Miss Lura:” Lunenburg Letters Illuminate a Long and Unlikely Love Affair

Lura Royall was a Lunenburg County girl. Her relatives remember her as a pretty woman who never married—a retired school teacher full of life well…

Dale DulaneyFebruary 13, 2013

Archives

All I Want For Christmas Is…

On 16 December 1895, 12-year-old Mamie M. Yates wrote a letter to Santa Claus. It read: Dear Santa Claus, I will write to you to…

Greg CrawfordDecember 19, 2012

Archives Conservation

Friday Night Lights ca. 1900.

After a new courthouse was built in Lunenburg County in 2006, Circuit Court Clerk Gordon Erby asked the Library of Virginia’s Local Records staff to…

Dale DulaneyAugust 25, 2010