Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Website: PWCo Virginia by Ronald Ray Turner

Anyone who's done research in Prince William County over the past 10+ years will easily recognize the name Ron Turner. It almost seems as if half of the books on the PWCo shelf in RELIC were authored by him.  Ron was transcribing, annotating, and sharing census and vital records with the public long before the Internet genealogy boom.

Ron now makes most of his publications available on his website at PWCVirginia, but there's so much more to explore!  You'll find links to his work documenting and transcribing the county cemeteries as well as businesses, structures, and miscellaneous papers and news articles. 

If you're researching a PWCo family or surname, Ron Turner's website is a great place to start.

9 comments:

  1. I would love to get in touch with Ron Turner - he has done a magnificent job to surveying PWC cemeteries. I am trying to find one in the county that has not been photographed and put on Find a Grave but it seems they ALL have - great work. Just thought he might know of one that needs to be surveyed or photographed. I was going to make that my next project, but others have beat me to it. Maybe I will have to go down to Spotslyvania County. Most of the Alexandria cemeteries seem to be represented well on Find a Grave as well. Frustrating to want to help and not be able to.

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  2. Most of the cemeteries in PWCo have been photographed for Findagrave by members of the DAR (there are chapters in both eastern and western parts of the county) as well as other volunteers through the years. But if there's one that hasn't been documented, Ron would be the one to know where it is. His familiarity with the county, its places and its people is pretty comprehensive.

    You can contact Ron directly through his website (link in the original post above or on my blog sidebar).

    If you're looking to add cemeteries in the region, you might also try looking in Fauquier or Stafford.

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  3. I hold my fondest childhood memories growing up on our "Ginger Snap Farm on Mulberry Hill" aka "Pattie House" close to my heart!

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  4. I hold my fondest memories growing up on our old farmhouse, Ginger Snap farm on Mulberry Hill aka "Pattie House" close to my heart!

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  5. Broke my heart to see "Our Old Farmhouse" torn down. If only they'd of known the priceless history hidden on those 200 aces & the countless letters we'd love to read were endless! My nana would send us outside & we never knew what that day would bring. I wish I could give that kinda childhood to my boys, were maybe 5 min. away from Catharpin. My youngest is 10, same age as I when we moved into our little peace of heaven. I've yet to see or hear of a cherry tree so high & "mulberry bush" I have not yet understood. I only know of the tallest drooping trees due to the 2 inch berries that left us & the ground underneath the deepest purple! LOL Whenever it

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  6. This is a wonderful website and I have used it in my research since its beginning. I spent summers with family in Dumfries, Triangle, Cherry Hill, and Woodbridge. Now researching my family in those areas has been quite enlightening. The family surnames are--Cole, Bates, Thomas, Henderson, Simms, Kendall, Porter and more. There are family members still living in those areas and have been since 1765, some having been transplanted from Fairfax in early times.

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  7. This is no rumor. The senior Howard Luck of Manassas who was a member of the business organizations, etc. had a secret, hidden liking. He took to young boys and, if they did not consent to his advances, he would physically make them participate. How do I know? I can pinpoint the house it happened in at 1500 West St. right there in the town. He had they keys to it.

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  8. The Story that has been told that Mary (Finnick) Thornton - Kincheloe - Waite, was married to John Luther Kincheloe. They had two Children (John Robert Waite (Kincheloe) and Elizabeth). Does someone have any documents or letters that show John Luther Kincheloe is in fact John Robert Waite (Kincheloe)'s Father? I cannot find his birth certificate or Social Security Application. His death certificate says unknown.

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  9. A little bit more information. It is said that Hulbert Waite brought up the children as his own. Location: Dumfries, Prince William County, VA.

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