The Latest News for You!

Volume 13, Issue 12

December 2022

Central Rappahannock Heritage Center

Newsletter

A place that loses its history loses its soul.

Message From The Chairperson

As 2022 draws to a close, and I begin my term as Chair of this fine organization, I’d like to give thanks to all of those who have worked in a variety of ways to support the Heritage Center. Most visible are our Volunteers, led by the indomitable Diane Ballman and John Reifenberg, who not only kept the Center operating during the pandemic closure but have now resurrected a volunteer corps processing collections and developed a training manual for volunteer researchers, which will enable us to soon have more “walk-in” hours for visitors.

But behind those scenes, the Board has worked diligently to enable the Center to continue its mission to preserve historically valuable material of the region and make it available to the public for research. Thanks go to outgoing Board members Jack Apperson, Kevin Jones and Ed Overton for their many years of service and leadership. And of course, leaving the Board doesn’t mean losing their support! Kevin in particular, along with his wife Thena, put in regular volunteer hours in important support roles, now including the invaluable research training.

New additions to our Board include Ed Jones (elected in July to fill a vacancy), as well as Billy Withers (returning!), with John Henessey, Susan Scott Neal, and Brad Hatch who were elected in September to their first 3-year terms. We look forward to benefiting from the incredible talents these folks will bring to our organization.

Many of our Board members are working in our community in a variety of ways, keeping our name out there, raising funds through grant requests and solicitation, encouraging donations to our collections, and in other ways “keeping the wheels turning”. I’ll be encouraging an active and engaged Board throughout my term. Personally, I’m looking forward to working and researching in the Center myself!

We encourage YOUR participation too, in whatever ways you are interested and available. Please feel free to reach out with ideas, thoughts or questions. All are welcome!

Florence Barnick

Chairperson

From the Archives

Get to Know Us!

Because most of my Board service has been during the Pandemic, I feel that I don’t know our volunteers and members like I’d want to. So I’m going to use the newsletter to introduce myself, and hopefully have this as an added newsletter item until the entire Board has been highlighted.

I’m a Fredericksburg native, my family has been active in the City for almost 200 years, but has been in the region for much longer than that, as I am a proud member of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia. Research shows Pocahontas as my 10th Great Grandmother! I have lived in Stafford for over 30 years, so although there was a 200-year gap, I’m “home” near tribal land. Other roots of my family tree were in Spotsylvania (my middle name is Chancellor), Caroline and Fauquier, so I’m connected to and interested in the history of this entire region.

While many branches on that family tree migrated to further reaches, the branch I’m on stayed put. Both of my parents became the “keepers” of family records and ephemera, so the work of the Heritage Center comes naturally to me. In fact, my college major was American History and Literature, so in some ways this work is like coming home to an early love.

And speaking of coming home, I grew up in this neighborhood and spent 1st through 6th grades at Maury Elementary. For fun, (above) here’s a Heritage-Center-worthy clip from my Fourth Grade yearbook at Maury. This trio, in alphabetical order, are now together serving on this board: Roy McAfee, Marci (Rollins) Catlett, and me, Florence (Rowe) Barnick.

I have a great fondness for the Center’s location in the old Maury Gym, and am tremendously grateful to the City of Fredericksburg’s leaders for their generosity in providing us this space.

After a few years away, I returned to Fredericksburg and spent a 25-year career at The Free Lance-Star. A few of the folks I worked with there are also serving on this Board! I’m a huge fan of the “first draft of history”.

And since 2009, I’ve been on the Board of the Fredericksburg (City) Cemetery, helping to maintain that peaceful space while also experiencing the pain of lost records.

There are so many connecting circles that make me excited to work with and for the Heritage Center. I look forward to interacting with each of you in whatever ways possible.

Florence Barnick

Chairperson

A Time of Giving

As the year-end approaches, many people think of making tax-deductible contributions to their favorite non-profit organizations. We hope you will include the Heritage Center in your giving for 2022. Beyond simply sending money, here is a great way to expand your gift!

Increase the tax benefits of your contribution by donating appreciated securities directly to charity or by sending your Required Minimum Distributions from IRA accounts directly to charity.

When appreciated stocks or mutual funds held for more than a year are donated to the Heritage Center or another public charity, the donor enjoys an income tax charitable deduction for the asset's full fair market value and avoids tax on the capital gain.

Consider this example:

Original cost of your investment is $5,000 and today is worth $10,000.

If you donate the investment directly to a public charity you receive a tax deduction for $10,000 and report no capital gains on your tax return.

If you donate cash to a public charity and personally sell the investment for cash needs you still get the $10,000 deduction but must pay tax on the capital gain of $5,000 which would be around $1,000, dependent on your tax bracket.

If you are 70 ½ or older, you also could make a Qualified Charitable Contributions (QCD) from your IRA account.

A QCD permits a direct transfer to a qualified charity of tax deferred IRA savings. QCDs offer advantages over taking a taxable distribution and then contributing the proceeds because the IRA distribution does not get included in one's adjusted gross income. Taxability of Social Security benefits, as an example, are based on your adjusted gross income as well as medical expense deductions and Medicare insurance premium amounts. With a lower adjusted gross income you have an advantage in reducing income taxes with QCDs.

As well with the current high standard deduction one may not even be getting the benefit of the tax deduction for their charitable contributions and this strategy guarantees tax savings for the amount of the contribution.

And maybe most importantly, QCDs qualify as satisfying Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) obligations. For an IRA owner that doesn't need their RMD to live on for cash flow, they can be sent directly to a public charity and avoid being included in adjusted gross income.

To be eligible your IRA administrator must make the distribution payable directly to the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center or other public charity of your choice.

If you wish to utilize either of these tax advantaged gifting strategies please contact our Treasurer, Daniel J. Bender at dbender@pbmares.com , (540) 371-3566.

MANY THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS

2022 HERITAGE CENTER SPONSORS & CORPORATE MEMBERS

Deborah Baker

Barbara Barrett

Linda M. Billard

Jeanette and Nick Cadwallender

Barbara Hicks Cecil

Cooper Financial Group

Dovetail Cultural Resources Group

Jim and Betsy Greene

Lucy and Wayne Harman

Mary Jane O’Neill

Donations for Center Operations

Donald H. and Beverly Newlin

The Josiah P. Rowe III Family Legacy Fund

The Forbush Family Trust

The Hon. J. M. H.Willis

It's that time! Please become a 2023 sponsor! Corporate and private contributions are welcomed! Help us continue to save our history!

To become a Heritage Center Sponsor, please visit our website. If you have any questions, please contact The Heritage Center at (540) 373-3704.

Collections Update

As another year draws to a close, The Heritage Center would like to take this opportunity to thank all the individuals that contributed new collections to the archives. We acquired many meaningful and important new records for preservation, which has boosted the ability of the researcher to engage even more fully the history of our region.

Indeed, the number of new collections has almost doubled from the past year, and the amount of new records is certainly trending upward after the challenging past couple of years.

Please remember that family records, including photographs, correspondence, and scrapbooks are an important part of the fiber of the region and deserving of preservation.

As stated in past letters, any collection of records is worthy of preservation. Please feel free to contact The Heritage Center about any records that you may wish to donate. Remember, all of them are important, so please contact us!

In addition, included here as a clickable link is the "Wish List" of items The Heritage Center actively seeks. Books on the history of Spotsylvania, King George, Caroline, and Stafford Counties, along with any of their geneaologies would be greatly appreciated!

All donations are tax deductable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/12ZGNBJFE97FZ/ref=cm_sw_su_w

Please remember that we are always accepting collections. Contact me at jreifenberg@crhcarchives.org for more information. Your contributions are important!

Thank you for your interest in the Center's collections.

John Reifenberg

Collections Manager

The Heritage Center gladly provides research services. Please contact The Center for research requests and rates at contact@crhcarchives.org

Hours

Open by Appointment.

Location

900 Barton Street #111

Fredericksburg, VA

22401

(540) 373-3704