Patrick County – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Chancery Causes for Lynchburg and More!

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of the city of Lynchburg Chancery Causes, 1805-1827, to the Chancery Records Index. The collection…

Greg CrawfordOctober 9, 2019

Archives

A Modern Day Soap Opera in the 19th Century

Some things in life never change. Seasons, hunger, sleep, and calamity are constants which prove that the world repeats itself. Relationships are no different. For…

Sherri BagleyMarch 16, 2016

Archives

A Disregard of Freedom: Burwell versus Pilson’s Administrators

What does it mean to be free? Some might define freedom as having no obligations to a particular thing or person. A free person cannot…

Sherri BagleyDecember 2, 2015

Archives

If The Dead Could Talk: A Patrick County Estate Dispute

In 1999, the horror film The Sixth Sense introduced the iconic phrase, “I see dead people,” into pop culture. The film followed the progression from a young…

Sherri BagleyOctober 14, 2015

Archives Digital Projects

Education Is A Virtue: Patrick County Chancery Causes

A lack of education and a trusting heart caused many minorities to lose their property in the early 20th century. A perfect example is the case…

Sherri BagleyJuly 15, 2015

Archives

African American Land Ownership and Loss

Prior to the abolishment of slavery, the idea of landownership was an impossible dream for most African Americans, but in the years following the Civil…

Sherri BagleyApril 9, 2014

Archives

Georgia on my Mind

One day in 1898, A.M. Scales definitely did not have Georgia on his mind. While processing the Patrick County chancery records, I discovered a divorce case, Georgia L.…

Sherri BagleySeptember 25, 2013

Newspapers

Journey to the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Mountain Laurel

I would like to introduce you to the Mountain Laurel, a unique paper from Meadows of Dan, Virginia. The Mountain Laurel warned readers that it would “not…

Natalie DraperMarch 29, 2013