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Written by Sarah Dye | September 2, 2026 Mary Jane Grant was born on November 21, 1805, in Kingston, Jamaica. At the time, Jamaica was a British Colony. Mary’s mother was a free black Jamaican and many referred to her as Creole. Her father was a Scottish officer in the British army. Her father was away fighting a good amount of the time. Her mother operated a boarding house for travelers, soldiers, and those who were ill. Mrs. Grant practiced medicine and nursing techniques w

Author: Sarah Dye | July 2026 It was a cold November day in 1935 in the rural farm community of Todd’s Tavern in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The scenery boasted of beautiful farm fields with rows of recently harvested corn. A lone two-story Virginia farmhouse is seen off in the distance with the smoke rising from the chimney. A covered front porch expanding the length of the house holds two rocking chairs watching the sunset on the fields. White-washed weatherboard siding shields

Author: Sarah Dye | July 2026 During the Civil War women played many different roles to support the war and their state’s cause. Many utilized their at-home nursing skills when their homes were overtaken to become make-shift hospitals or volunteered to join the nurses corp. There’s a group of women that are not talked about often, and those are the wives of soldiers who followed and lived with them on the front lines. They lived in tents, cooked, washed clothes, and nursed th

Author: Sarah Dye | June 2026 It was January 4th, 1926, in King George County, Virgina. The country was in the middle of the Prohibition and Virginia was no exception. The Prohibition was signed into law under the 18th Amendment prohibiting the manufacturing, transporting, and selling of any alcohol. It would last from 1919-1933. The 21st Amendment repealed the Prohibition formally. There was great rejoicing! Martha Peyton was born in 1843 and had been an enslaved “mammy” un

Diving into your family history or uncovering the story behind a piece of property can be thrilling. But sometimes, the trail gets cold, and that's when a professional genealogist steps in. If you've ever wondered about the financial side of this journey, you're not alone. Understanding the costs involved in hiring a genealogist can help you plan better and set realistic expectations. So, let's explore the ins and outs of genealogist pricing explained, and what you can expect

Preserving Fredericksburg's Heritage Author: Sarah Dye | March 2026 It was 1883 when Emily Fleming (maiden name White) and her husband, Vivian Minor Fleming, moved to Fredericksburg. This small town had been deeply scarred by the Civil War, which had ended just 18 years prior. The remnants of burned homes and buildings, still bearing the marks of bullets, shells, and cannonballs, were a stark reminder of the past. The emotional scars of the residents ran just as deep. Upon he

Author: Sarah Dye | March 2026 Exactly 100 years ago, on January 4th, 1926, C.H. Graube’s wife came out to their front porch in the morning to see why their collie was barking and to her surprise she found a cardboard box with a black-haired baby girl abandoned. The baby had only a woolen cap and a diaper on, but was well wrapped in a man’s woolen shirt, piece of cheese cloth, and a very worn cotton blanket. She was lying on a small pillow on the bottom of the box. Even thoug

Author: Sarah Dye | March 2026 Located at 623 Caroline Street a gorgeous Georgian architecture stands confident as it watches over the city. With its stone foundation, weatherboard siding, six over six and nine over nine window panes, kitchen that was initially a separate structure until around 1908, and its unusually large chimneys that gave the structure its name. The front of the house faces Caroline Street today, but the front was originally on the other side facing the R

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 Jesse Kightlinger (b.1837) and his wife Margaret Allen Kightlinger (b.1841) were married in 1858 and lived in Warren County, PA when the Civil War began in 1861. Jesse was a laborer, Margaret kept house, and they had two young children, Leonard Lorenzo (b.1860) and Eva (b.1862). Jesse signed up to serve his country for the Union by joining the 145th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania at the age of 21 on Aug. 28, 1862. He remained a Private during

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 In 1877, the Fredericksburg Library and Lyceum Association was established to create the city’s library and offer public programs. A lyceum (according to Merriam-Webster) is a group or venue that offers public lectures and entertainment. The Association’s Board of Trustees consisted of seven men: Rev. James P. Smith, ex-Lieut. Governor John L. Marye, J.N. Barney, Elliott M. Braxton, P.V.D Conway, Rev. T. L. Dunnaway, and Robert Hall. The Lyce

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 In 1894, The New York Mercury paper published an article titled, How Do Women Sleep? It went on to highlight a German physician's take on women's sleep habits and recommendations for getting better night's rest. It's curious to why this was the topic of ponder, but in 1894, women's biological make-up, their intellectual abilities, and purpose were still being heavily debated. According to the unknown German physician, women require more sleep

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 February 5, 1845, Mary Shuck was born in a two-story log cabin to John and Nancy Shuck. The Shuck’s owned a farm in Iowa somewhere near Davenport. Mary recalled that, “this of course, was virgin territory at that time”. This would account for the lack of exact location where the farm was in Iowa. Around 1862, when she was 17 years old, her father moved the family west and eventually settled in Nebraska. They traveled in a covered wagon as par

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 Cordelia Post was born in St. Lawrence, New York in 1827. At some point, her family moved to Ohio where she met Charles W. Hickox. At the age of 16, she and Charles married on September 25, 1843, at Bainbridge, Ohio. They had three children over the course of their 55-year marriage; a son and two daughters: James, Kittie, and Grace. The Civil War began in 1861 and by 1862, it was clear on both sides that the war would not end with a swift nor

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 The Roanoke Times in 1893 reported that Boston had approximately 185 men teaching in the Boston school system and 1,372 women. Ever wonder how the salaries really differed based on gender? Well, you can see here that men were paid an average of $246.06 per month and women $70.69. So men were paid 348% higher than women just because...they were men?! Imagine you are a woman in the large city of Boston in 1893. If you were not married (or livin

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 It was 1853 and Spring was in full bloom when a 20-year-old woman and some friends decided to join a wagon train and move West. Most wagon trains migrating in the mid-late 19th century consisted of families and not single women, so she was uncommon and brave indeed. The identify of this woman is unknown and her story was written as an autobiography titled, “A Grandmother’s Story of Early Days in Washington” and included in the book Souvenir o

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 According to Barkham Burroughs, a person's natural nail color tells more than their personal hygiene. It's a sign of their personality and character. Who knew?! Perhaps the timeless saying, “I’m an excellent judge of character” was because those in at least 1889 knew the secret and made them experts, indeed. Perhaps we, educated women of the 21st century have been looking at things all wrong and have something to learn from our 19th century s

Author: Sarah Dye | February 2026 So, Imagine wooden cart wheels. You have a long wooden beam and at the end of the beam is a wooden seat. It’s kind of like a seesaw, except there’s only a seat on one end, and the other end is used to raise the beam up and down. The wheels were used to car it around to and from the body of water that you would be taking said overly opinionated woman to be ducked. Basically, a woman would be strapped into this wooden chair at the end of the se