The Muse: December 2008-January 2009

The Museum’s gift shop is now stocked with new items, among them is Hogtown: Memories of Madison Heights, Virginia, a collection of stories and pictures about old Madison Heights. Written by native Rev. Charles Stinson, this volume tells a number of stories about that part of Amherst County most influenced by its proximity to the city of Lynchburg.

Also in the gift shop are copies of Lynch’s Ferry, Fall/Winter 2008, popular locally because of its inclusion of several articles about Clifford (formerly called New Glasgow). Articles include “New Glasgow: The Rise and Fall of an Antebellum Virginia Village,” by Joe Stinnett; “Life at Tusculum,” by Christian Carr; “Clifford: A Historical Driving Tour of the Old Village,” by Sandi Esposito, and “Books about New Glasgow and Amherst County,” by Joe Stinnett. This issue is packed with information about one of Amherst County’s oldest communities.

These items, along with many others, can be purchased at the Museum’s gift shop, or by mail using the order form found at: www.amherstcountymuseum.org/giftshop.html.

Volunteers are vital to the Museum’s success year-round. We’d like all of our volunteers to know how much their help is appreciated, whether at special events such as the House Tour, taking on data entry projects or helping out when the Director goes to a conference.

Leona Wilkins, Board President

Thanks to everyone who helped to make our Harvest Hoedown an incredible success!

Above: The James River Cut Ups provided great bluegrass music to liven up the evening.

Event supporters included Coleman-Mays Construction, Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Rebec Vineyards, and more. Master of Ceremonies Bob Langstaff of radio station WAMV was kept busy introducing special guests—family members of the late board president Charles Hamble (see above) and Delegate Ben Cline. Music was provided by the James River Cut Ups, the Blue Ridge Stars square dancing club kept everyone’s feet lively, and Tiny’s Barbecue provided one and all with lots of energy!

Below Daughters Toni Lee and Gerri with their mother, Barbara Hamble, pose together as Charles Hamble is memorialized at the event

Many thanks to the William Cage Foundation for their grant support of the Museum’s library resources!

• Lynchburg and Its Neighbors, by Rosa Faulkner Yancy, J. W. Ferguson & Sons, Richmond, VA, 1935 Second printing, Warwick House, Lynchburg, VA, 1997.
• Behind the Old Brick Wall: A Cemetery Story, by Lucy Harrison Miller Baber and Evelyn L. Moore, published by the Lynchburg Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1968. Second edition, Warwick House, Lynchburg, VA, 1998.
• Northeastern Nelson County Families and Houses Along “Irish Road,” “Howardsville Turnpike,” “Stage Road” Villages of Lovingston and Shipman, edited and photographed by Catherine Coleman Seaman, 2002.
• A History of Southern Rockfish Families and Old Houses, by Catherine Coleman Seaman, 1999.
• Early Bedford Land Patents and Grants, Volume II, by James Robert Tinsley, Bedford City/County Museum, 2005.
• Bedford Villages Lost and Found, Volume I, compiled by the Peaks of Otter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Bedford, VA, 2000.
• Wright Family Records in Amherst County, Virginia (3 volumes: Land Tax Records, 1782-1850; Personal Property Tax Lists, 1782-1850; and Birth Records, 1853-1896, Marriage Records, 1761-1900 and Census Records, 1810-1900), compiled by Robert N. Grant, 2007. Heritage Books, Westminster, MD.

Saturday, January 10, 2009, marked the beginning of a new year as we plan to do more children’s programs! At 2 p.m. on Second Saturdays we will do a History Time with activities and/or crafts and snack. The theme for January was winter pastimes, and on February 14 at 2 p.m. we will focus on Valentines. We hope to make enough Valentines for all the residents at Fairmont Crossing, so bring the children and help us out with this big project!

Thank you to Emily Ann Louise Craig, junior curator, for assistance with arranging the Christmas card display is the Singleton-Zinsser Gallery in December!

Thank you, WalMart, for supporting our Children’s Programs!

The Amherst County Birth index is an alphabetical listing of births recorded in Amherst from 1854 to 1896. It was compiled from images that were photographed at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The index includes the first and last name of the child, year born and parents’ names. More information may be found on the image of the records. The record images and index are both available for research at the Amherst County Museum and Historical Society.

Typing up the index for the Amherst birth records of the years 1854 to 1896 was like taking a little peek into Amherst’s past. The index contains 16,655 names and when one takes into consideration the number of births that are not included in the index due to missing years or pages, illegible records and slave children with no given names or parents listed, then the number would probably be closer to 20,000. That’s quite a good number of births for a small rural area like Amherst for that time period.

Over the course of the decades, naming patterns became apparent. There were names that came into style and just a quickly went out. Names like, Amanda, Louisa, Lelia, Frank or Harry were common one decade but not the next. The popularity of certain presidents was also apparent as children were named after them. Arthur became more common during the time Chester Arthur was president and during Grover Cleveland’s presidency, both Grover and Cleveland were common as first names. There was even a Grover Cleveland Evans born in Amherst. The name Washington stayed quite well-liked over several decades, proclaiming how proud Amherst was of one of their nation’s founding fathers. States, towns and even our country’s name were also used as first names. There were children named America, Indiana, Delaware, Georgia, Houston and of course, Virginia.

There were many children named names that we would find strange today, but at the time they were common and widely used names. Some of these included, Nicy, Parthenia, Grandville, Ora, Mansfield, Quintella and Signora. The name Willie was usually a female and Leslie was usually a male; both opposite of how we are familiar with them today. A quite unusual name that cropped up was Office. At first it seemed to be a simple spelling mistake, but it turned up several times as the name of a child or parent, although it could be someone’s misunderstanding of the name Orpheus. And, of course, biblical names were well represented also, Abraham, Enoch, Isaiah, to name a few.

Here, broken down by decades, are some of the statistics for births and most popular (in order of first to fourth), names in Amherst:

• 1854 - 1859: 1,767 indexed births with six sets of twins. Top four boys’ names: John, James, William and Charles Top four girls’ names: Mary, Sarah, Nancy and Ann (all spelling variations)
• 1860 - 1869: 2,573 indexed births with three sets of twins and two of triplets. Top four boys’ names: William, John, Charles, James Top four girls’ names: Mary, Lucy, Sarah and Ann (all spelling variations)
• 1870 - 1879: 4,371 indexed births with fifty-seven sets of twins and one of triplets. Top four boys’ names: William, John, James, George Top four girls’ names: Mary, Ann (all spelling variations), Lucy and Sallie
• 1880 - 1889: 4,687 indexed births with sixty-one sets of twins. Top four boys’ names: William, John, George and John Top four girls’ names: Sallie, Mary, Ann (all spelling variations), Maggie (or Mag)
• 1890 - 1896: 3,257 indexed births with thirty-five sets of twins. Top four boys’ names: William, George, James and John Top four girls’ names: Sallie, Mary, Fannie and Ann (all spelling variations)

As one can see, the top names for boys really didn’t have too many changes over the forty plus years. As for the girls, names like Mary and Ann stayed fairly constant while ones like Nancy, Lucy and Fannie came and went. Overall the there were more children named William (700) and Mary (647) than any other names during that time period.

On Saturday, October 28, one of our ever popular van tours set out in a drenching rain. The tour was organized by board member Holcomb Nixon and his wife Florence, both known for their considerable knowledge of Amherst County, and for planning the “Get to Know Your County” tours.

Ted Hughes, owner and master craftsman at Chalklevel Buggy Works, displayed buggies, sleighs and farm implements in various stages of restoration. He spoke about some of the tools and methods he uses in the conservation process.

Eglon M. Proffitt, grandfather of Mr. Hughes’ wife, Jane, started a milling operation about 1910 at the same location. The milling trade was handed down from his father, Gideon. The original building was for a gristmill to grind corn or wheat. At the side of the building was a shed used for horse shoeing. Around 1930 the shed became a grocery store. As time went on, the mill was relocated to a metal building and the full structure was a grocery store. The original building was rolled back about twenty feet from the gravel road. Cinder block was added, big windows at the front as well as a front portico. American gas was available and later Sinclair. The building has also been used as emergency shelter when fire destroyed Chester and Lois Proffitt’s house, later serving as a family residence. At the rear of the metal building a cider mill was installed and was in operation for about ten years in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In April, 2007, Ted Hughes removed the vines and growth from the building and started removing the cinder block to get back to the original board and batten structure. Trash and rotted wood were removed and the structure rebuilt to the original design and look of Proffitt’s Mills.

The tour continued to the old site of Woodson where Debbie Thurman gave a most interesting talk about the lumber industry and thriving town there in the early 1900s (see lecture March 21).

The last stop was Camp Little Crossroads, a large facility operated by the Baptist Church.

The rain didn’t stop us at all!

Above, Mary Bailey of the Amherst Womans Club, shows off some of the Angel Tree gifts for seniors. Every year the Museum provides a decorated 9 foot Christmas tree to be the collection point for the Womans Club Angel Tree gifts/

Some of you may remember hearing Amaranta Viera, one of a trio of Renaissance musicians perform at the Museum in the fall of 2006. Amaranta Viera (at far right) is picturted with Charles Weaver and Elizabeth Baber. Amaranta was featured on the front of the Washington Post’s Arts section in December.

Muse Archives