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Strasburg Museum opens exhibit on Indian civilization

2006-09-09T21:45:00-06:00

By Robert King (Daily Staff Writer)

STRASBURG - Remnants of an ancient civilization are on display in a new exhibit at the Strasburg Museum.

The museum put together a display charting the tools used by American Indians who lived in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. The display contains about 1,000 artifacts that were donated posthumously by Jack Crawford.

The museum contains artifacts and displays from the Colonial period up to other eras. The museum contains authentic exhibits focusing on these periods. There are exhibits on antique clothing and fashion, a blacksmith forgery bellows and other relics.

The new display, which focuses on the tools and the evolution of Indians in the valley, is arranged to create a timeline of those civilizations.

"What I wanted to do was to arrange it in a way that it told something of the history of the valley before white settlers came and to include it in the museum so that the museum started with the first residents of the valley and go through the history it already shows," said Monty Loving, who put together the display.

The display is arranged by three main time periods: paleo, archaic and woodland.

Large cases show projectiles and stone tools that were used by Indians during these time periods.

"What I tried to do is, as people come to the display they would start on one side and would see the improvements in technology and stone use through about 10,000 years of history," said Monty Loving.

The display focuses first on the paleo era (9500-8000 B.C.), in which Indians used the valley as a gathering place for mining and tool-making, said Loving's mother, Glenna Loving, who helped with the display and is a member of the museum's board.

Although archaeologists never found where paleo-era Indians actually lived in the valley, Mrs. Loving said, they did discover tools they carried with them as they left the area.

During the second period, archaic (8000-1200 B.C.), Indians used rock shelters and small caves throughout the valley for homes. They also used many stones as spear points.

Indians used a tool called an atlatl that could double the force and distance of the spear throw. A replica atlatl is a part of the exhibit.

The woodland period (1200 B.C.-1600 A.D.) is the last part of the display in which tools became more advanced. Indians started using bows and arrows and many of the stones were shaped into small points.

Clay bowls and cooking pots also were developed during this period.

A major part of the exhibit is the display of projectiles such as arrowheads and spear points.

Since the bow was not invented until the woodland period, many of the stones from the paleo and archaic periods were larger so they could be fastened onto an atlatl.

Indians in the paleo era modified stones through a method called fluting, which allowed them to mount stones onto spears and other tools. Flakes from the stone were removed to create serrated edges.

The best part about the exhibit , organizers say, is that all the tools were found in the valley.

Crawford participated in a series of archaeological digs in the Strasburg area in the 1960s, Loving said. His collection grew throughout the years, and when he died it was donated to the museum.

Mrs. Loving's other son, Mark, also helped set up the display. He said that the artifacts were very special to Crawford.

"Each piece told a story and I think that's what he liked about it, a way to use your imagination," he said. "It is a little bit like treasure hunting. You never know what you are going to find out there."

The Strasburg Museum's exhibit "gave the museum the opportunity to take his collection and turn it into something that was educational," Monty Loving said.

The exhibit was crafted to be as authentic as possible in order to accurately depict Indian civilizations.

A replica of a fireplace that was used during that period was constructed as a part of the exhibit. The fireplace, which is not to scale, includes charred wood remains and animal bones.

The Indians in the valley constructed large fireplaces as part of their camps. They were a resourceful people, surviving on the plentiful resources of the valley.

"These people were simple and trying to survive and raise families," said Monty Loving.

Plants were used as food, medicine, containers and fuel for fires.

Indians also hunted animals, not just as a food source but for tools. Deer antlers were converted into implements and turtle shells were made into sturdy bowls.

Many Indian civilizations did not appear to stay in the valley during the woodland period, Glenna Loving said. Although there were some Indians when white settlers arrived, most already had migrated West.

Monty Loving said one theory for the departure was an outbreak of tribal warfare. The Shawnee tribe was forced from the valley by the Susquehannocks, who were subsequently forced out by the Iroquois.

Monty and Glenna Loving hope the exhibit will give visitors a glimpse of the history of the valley's first inhabitants.

"What I wanted to do was make it as authentic as I could," Monty Loving said.

The Strasburg Museum at 440 E. King St. in Strasburg is open Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., May through October. Admission is $3 for adults and 50 cents for children.

* Contact Robert King at rking@nvdaily.com
http://www.nvdaily.com/News/286995161432232.bsp

http://www.geocities.com/pifox1/index.html
D.L.M.F

Clues to 'Black Paul Bunyan' Found

2006-08-01T22:04:48-06:00

Aug 1, 11:25 PM EDT

Clues to 'Black Paul Bunyan' Found

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/BOB CHILD

Science Video

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Archaeologists excavating the 200-year-old graves of a slave family said Tuesday that they recovered several artifacts that could shed light on the life of a man dubbed "the black Paul Bunyan."

However, the scientists uncovered no genetic material from Venture Smith, who is depicted in tales as a 6-foot-1 lumberjack slave whose fabulous feats of strength helped win his freedom. They had hoped to find DNA that would trace Smith's life back to Africa, filling in the gaps of one of the earliest and most important slave biographies.

"We didn't get much," Nicholas F. Bellantoni, Connecticut's state archaeologist, said about Smith's grave. "Everything had been decomposed."

But teams found several items from the nearby graves of Smith's family that should help answer many questions, said Chandler Saint, president of the Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal Rights in Torrington, who is managing the excavation.

Remains were found in the other graves, though three to six months of testing will he needed to determine whether any DNA has been recovered, Saint said. Many artifacts were also found, he said.

"It's going to be possible to determine a time of death, causes of death, from bacterial deposits in the soil," Saint said.

He also said scientists will be able to determine the sizes of the family members from coffin dimensions and patterns.

"I'm really happy with what the various teams found," Saint said.

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Weighing more than 300 pounds according to local lore, Smith is said to have split seven cords of wood each day. His biography describes him carrying a barrel of molasses on his shoulders for two miles and hauling hundreds of pounds of salt.

The biography, published in 1798, says his owner allowed him to work side jobs until he saved enough money to buy his freedom.

But slave biographies - particularly those told to writers, as Smith's story was - were sometimes embellished and family members hoped the excavation would reveal evidence that the man was as tall, healthy and strong as believed.

Bellantoni said the tales just might be true, based on a look at Smith's coffin.

"It's almost seven feet long, very wide and very deep," he said. "It's also not a poor man's coffin. It's a very nice coffin for the period."

The coffin was not removed but scientists will study nail fragments and wood attached to them.

Though the dig had the support of more than a dozen descendants, environmental activist Nancy Burton challenged it in court, saying it was disrespectful to a state hero. In a compromise Tuesday, a judge ordered digging to stop at Smith's grave but allowed it to continue at the nearby graves of his wife, son and granddaughter, Bellantoni said.

He said work on Smith's grave was already complete. He expected excavation of the other graves to wrap up Wednesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SLAVES_LIFE?SITE=VASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
D.L.M.F
http://www.geocities.com/pifox1/index.html

DIANA of Greene Co./ captured Af. Am. slave in Tn.

2006-07-16T13:40:01-06:00

1 March 1839
Memphis Enquirer nespaper:

"....A negro woman who says her name is Diana committed to the jail of Tipton Co., Tenn. in Jan. 1839. She says she is free
about 27 years old, middle size, not very black, large nose. She says
she was raised in Green County, Va., says she was a cook on board Capt. Ewen's boat for some time. The owner is requested to come, bring proof, prove property,
pay charges and take her away, or she will be dealt with as the law directs."

---------------------------------
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STOVALL/CHAPPELL/YOUNGER ---- Halifax Co. Va 1860>1869

2006-06-19T20:40:33-06:00

Greetings,
J.B. Stovall held 64 slaves in Halifax County VA in 1860.

I have a copy of the 1869 Marriage License of a Sue Stovall
and Daniel Younger.
The parents of both Sue and Daniel were slaves to Joel Younger.

In 1870 the parents of Daniel were using the Surname Chappell, and the parents of Sue were using the Younger surname.

Sue and Daniel were married at the home of the above J. B. Stovall.
Since Sue was calling herself Sue Stovall when she married in 1869, I am assuming that somehow before she was freed in 1865, Sue went from being a slave of Joel Younger, to being a slave of J.B. Stovall.

Any help out there?
Larry

====================================
In HALIFAX COUNTY, Va.
seeking Afro-American

Brown
Byrd
Chandler
Chappell
Lacy
Younger.

Rascoe/Roscoe DNA Study

2006-06-19T01:17:48-06:00

Sorry bad link posted - This one should work. If not you can go directly to the Family Tree DNA website, once there click on PROJECTS (on top of page), from there just follow the surname links to the 'R' and then scroll down to the Roscoe/Rasco link, click on it to take you to the project.

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Rasco-Roscoe/index.aspx

Mark Rasco
MR564@comcast.net

I am looking to include African American Rasco/Roscoe families in a DNA study of early Rasco/Roscoe's in Virginia and North Carolina. Wishing to confirm family connections to both Caucasian and African American lines.

Project recently started on the Family Tree website, which can be viewed at:

I am looking to include African American Rasco/Roscoe families in a DNA study of early Rasco/Roscoe's in Virginia and North Carolina. Wishing to confirm family connections to both Caucasian and African American lines.

Project recently started on the Family Tree website, which can be viewed at:

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=Q78880&special=True&projecttype=S>

Mark Rasco
MR564@comcast.net>

Rasco/Roscoe DAN Study

2006-06-19T00:51:38-06:00

I am looking to include African American Rasco/Roscoe families in a DNA study of early Rasco/Roscoe's in Virginia and North Carolina. Wishing to confirm family connections to both Caucasian and African American lines.

Project recently started on the Family Tree website, which can be viewed at:

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=Q78880&special=True&projecttype=S

Mark Rasco
MR564@comcast.net

Officially Historic After 143 Years

2006-06-17T20:49:47-06:00

Officially Historic After 143 Years
Historic marker, dedicated Sunday, represents Cartersville's official designation.
By Mike DiCicco
June 14, 2006

A parcel of land near the corner of Hunter Mill Road and Sunrise Valley Drive, now occupied by a small, cinderblock church, has served as a place of worship for the vicinity's black families for some 143 years. At the church's anniversary celebration Sunday afternoon, congregants, neighbors and a delegation of local officials also celebrated the site's designation by the Fairfax County History Commission as an official historic site.
Cartersville Baptist Church "has provided a venue by which African Americans have been able to maintain a sense of culture and dignity in spite of otherwise being treated like second-class citizens," Thomas Wooden Sr., whose ancestors were founding members of the church, told the crowd.
Speakers alluded to the long history of the church, including the donation of the land on which it sits by Rose Carter in 1903 - long after residents had been meeting on the premises - and the fact that it has served as a place of refuge for the same families, generation after generation.
Officials also tried to put the church's long history into perspective. State Sen. Janet Howell (D-32) pointed out that the Civil War was just beginning to turn in 1863 and noted that the church "has been a religious, cultural and social fixture in this community" since that time.
Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Gerry Connolly noted that the church was founded in the same year that the Battle of Gettysburg was fought and the Emancipation Proclamation signed.
Of all the historic sites on Hunter Mill Road, "Cartersville Baptist Church, in my mind, is the most important," said state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-34), explaining that many of the 52 sites along the corridor were important in their day, while Cartersville continues to be a center of activity in the community.
Connolly and Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) presented the church with a resolution from the Board of Supervisors declaring June 11, 2006 to be Cartersville Baptist Church Day in Fairfax County, and Del. Kenneth Plum (D-36) presented a certificate of commendation from the Virginia General Assembly.
Devolites Davis also thanked the Hunter Mill Defense League for nominating the site for historic designation and for doing the research to back the nomination.

ONE OF THE DEFENSE League members responsible for a major portion of the research is Jody Bennett. What they were able to verify, said Bennett, was that in 1863, several black families in the area began meeting for worship at homes in the area of the present-day church, on land that had been purchased in 1846 by a free black woman named Bethia Fairfax. By the time that Rose Carter, one of Fairfax's children, donated a small parcel of land to be used by the congregation, a one-room building already sat on it and was being used as a church. The earliest documentation of the building also being used as a schoolhouse dates from 1927, although church elders say it was a place of learning prior to that
FOR THE REST GO TO
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=67114&paper=73&cat=104

Re: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur

2006-06-09T10:13:41-06:00

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lockett-Smith, Tonya"
To:
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur

> Hi Larry. I don't have any information on Sutton. However, do you have
> in Chappell relatives in Texas?
>
> Tonya
> --------------------------
> Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry Chandler
> To: VA-AfricanAmer-L@rootsweb.com
> Sent: Thu Jun 08 17:54:33 2006
> Subject: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur
>
> Greetings,
> seeking info on ARTHUR SUTTON - b. ?, -- married Laura Henry Chandler b.
> 1902 in Halifax County Virginia.
>
> Arthur may have been been a West Indian.
> Arthur married Afro-American Laura Henry Chandler in 1941, in New York,
> and they had one daughter, who was born in 1943.
>
> Arthur is thought to have died about 1951. I can find no record of
> Arthur in the US Census.
> Thanks in advance,
> Larry
>
> My email address is: lchand3835@cox.net.
>
> ====================================
> In HALIFAX COUNTY, Va.
> seeking Afro-American
>
> Brown
> Byrd
> Chandler
> Chappell
> Lacy
> Younger.
>
>
> ==============================
> Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the
> last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more:
> http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx
>
>
>
>
> ==============================
> Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for
> ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more:
> http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.8.3/359 - Release Date: 6/8/2006
>

Re: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur

2006-06-08T20:44:55-06:00

Hi Tonya, at this time I am not aware of any of my Chappell relatives
living in Texas, sorry,
Larry
====================================================
> Hi Larry. I don't have any information on Sutton. However, do you have
> in Chappell relatives in Texas?
>
> Tonya

Re: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur

2006-06-08T19:07:31-06:00

Hi Larry. I don't have any information on Sutton. However, do you have in Chappell relatives in Texas?

Tonya
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Chandler
To: VA-AfricanAmer-L@rootsweb.com
Sent: Thu Jun 08 17:54:33 2006
Subject: [VA-AfricanAmer] SUTTON, Arthur

Greetings,
seeking info on ARTHUR SUTTON - b. ?, -- married Laura Henry Chandler b. 1902 in Halifax County Virginia.

Arthur may have been been a West Indian.
Arthur married Afro-American Laura Henry Chandler in 1941, in New York, and they had one daughter, who was born in 1943.

Arthur is thought to have died about 1951. I can find no record of Arthur in the US Census.
Thanks in advance,
Larry

My email address is: lchand3835@cox.net.

====================================
In HALIFAX COUNTY, Va.
seeking Afro-American

Brown
Byrd
Chandler
Chappell
Lacy
Younger.

==============================
Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the
last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx