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Central Rappahannock
Heritage Center Newsletter
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A place that loses its history loses it soul
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Volume 6, Issue 8
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August 2016
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Quick Links
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The Heritage Center gladly provides research services. Please contact the center for rates.
Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m., the first Saturday of each month, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or by appointment
Location:
900 Barton Street #111 Fredericksburg, VA 22401
(540) 373-3704
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Click here to join the CRHC mailing list and stay up to date with what is happening at the Center!
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Message From The Chairman
Save The Date...Venue Change!!
Due to circumstances beyond the Heritage Center's control, the sixth annual "Rappahannock Repast" will NOT be held at Chatham Manor this year. Instead, on Sunday, October 2, 2016, from 4:00-7:00 PM, this most important fund raising event will be held on the beautiful grounds of historic Braehead Manor, located within the bounds of the Fredericksburg Battlefield National Park in the city of Fredericksburg, VA. Braehead Manor was built in 1859 by the Howison family and has been painstakingly restored to the period and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tickets to this event will go on sale beginning mid-August. If you have attended in the past, you know how much fun this event can be and Braehead is truly a wonderful venue! Ticket prices are $80 per person, or $130 per couple. For more information, please contact Meredith Beckett at
[email protected], or call 540-371-9232. Ticket sales are limited to 150 people.
Another important date to remember is Tuesday, September 20, 2016. The CRHC will hold its annual membership meeting at 5:15 PM in the community room of Shiloh (Old Site) Baptist Church, immediately followed by guest lecturer and folklorist Jane Beck, who will give a presentation about her book "Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga". Ms Beck used the Center's archives to do much of the research for the book. This event will be open to the public and I encourage you to attend. The book is a fascinating story of four generations of Turner's family, from her West African grandfather's arrival in America, to life as a slave on a Caroline County plantation, through the Civil War and the early 1900's and ending in 1988 with the death of Daisy at age 104.
Meredith Beckett
CRHC Chairman
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Welcome New Members
Mr. & Mrs. James Pates
CRHC memberships support the important work done by the Center. The Center fills a unique role in the region, the preservation of our people's history, which we make available for research. We are a 100% all volunteer, non-profit organization.
Please join us as part of the Heritage Center's preservation team! As a CRHC member, you will be helping to preserve our priceless local history. Click here to become a member today!
Thank you for your support,
The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center
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Spanish American War Military Register
Preparing for a display recently, we selected one of the Center's most colorful items, the Spanish American War Military Register. Designed by Theo Leonhardt and Son, Philadelphia. It was distributed by the government to militia where the names of the local individuals who served were inserted.
This Register came to the Center from Ray Hoskins in 1999. The image on the left shows the document as it looked when it arrived, severely damaged. After restoration by conservator in Richmond, costing nearly $3500, it is once again a handsome document.
click on images to enlarge
The Register is significant because it lists the names of the local men who served in the Third Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry, Company K.
Captain M.B. Rowe of Brompton was the commanding officer, F.H. Revere was 1st lieutenant and R.S. Knox was 2nd lieutenant. Many of the names, including Rowe, are still familiar in this community. It is important for another reason. When the United States declared war on Spain in 1898, the men in Company K were sons and grandsons of men who had fought in the Civil War, on both sides. For the first time in over 40 years people put aside their past loyalties and united to fight a common enemy, Spain. Second Lieutenant R.S. Knox and 1st Corporal William U. Knox were sons of Captain Robert T. Knox, CSA, who is buried in the Confederate Cemetery. Lieutenant Knox became a colonel in the US Army and the commanding officer of Fort Huachuca, AZ. He is buried in Arlington.
Fitzhugh Lee, the face in the lower left corner was the nephew of Robert E. Lee. Fitz Lee was a major general, 1st Virginia Cavalry, CSA. After the Civil War he was a successful farmer in Stafford County, 40th governor of Virginia, Counsel General to Cuba and finally a major general in the US Army, a full circle.
Come visit the Center, see the Register, learn more about Company K.
Beth Daly
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Newly Acquired Collections
An unusual collection came to us this past month. It is a book entitled
Zenaida, and in it is a handwritten inscription, penned by J. S. Whillden, Asst.Surgeon, 145th Penn. Infantry. It reads, "This book was taken from the library of Lieut. Maury during the occupancy of Fredericksburg by our troops, at the time of the ever memorable slaughter of Saturday Dec. 12th /62."
Two very knowledgeable sources provided many examples and indicate that the referenced Lt. Maury was Matthew Fontaine Maury, of local and international fame.
Another source thought it might be Richard L. Maury. For a more in-depth investigation, please visit us at the Center.
Other acquired collections for the month include:
- A binder containing votes cast for Stafford County officials, 1664-1991
- The book Men of Mark in Stafford County, VA, 1664-1991
- A copy of a photograph of the Washington Guards, Co. K, 3rd Reg. VA Infantry
- Past issues of the Front Porch; July 1997 to December 2011
- Three Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts posters; one from 1995, one from 2005, one date unknown
- The book No Matter What Befalls Me by Patrick Sullivan
- A copy of a photograph of John G. Durrette, WW I veteran
- Two scrapbooks from the Women's Club of Fredericksburg, 2002-2004 and 2010-2012
- The Stafford County Tri-centennial Souvenir Program, August, 1964
We would be pleased to accept any donations of documentation that highlights the heritage of the Central Rappahannock region.
John Reifenberg
CRHC Collections Manager
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Can you help identify these photos?
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Update! American Viscose Corp. Oct 23, 1959.
First Softball Banquet
L to R:
Charlie Lewis
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Al Osterheld
, Herndon Bullock, Tom Lamont and Leroy Freeman. From the Sue Bullock Eley Collection. Thank you Tommy Fines!
(click on photo to enlarge)
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 Update! Thank you Teresa Patton D'Orazio and the Facebook Group Page, "You're Probably from Fredericksburg If". We appreciate Ranny Heflin tagging the photo! 1964 Lions Club Stafford Tricentennial Celebration.
Those identified are: Stewart Purks, Claude Byrum, Howard Woodard, Gene LeCouteur, Eddie Sitek, Tom Berry, Mac Moncure, Ralph Metz, Jack Dahlgren, Jake Thomas, Fitz Heflin, Turner Blackburn, and Harry Chichester.
(click on photo to enlarge)
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1970 Unidentified Fredericksburg Police Department. From the Barry Fitzgerald Collection.
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The Circle Unbroken: Civil War Letters of the Knox Family of Fredericksburg
On sale now at the Heritage Center
$29.70 for members
$33.00 for non-members
You can also purchase the book online from the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation
(click on image to order online)
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