Wesley Pippinger has abstracted and indexed the Marriage and Death Notices from Alexandria Virginia Newspapers, 1784-1852 in two very large volumes (2005). These are available from the author, 2909-A South Woodstock St., Arlington VA 22206. (703) 998-8920.
The hard work is already done–he includes biographical sketches of all the ministers mentioned in the notices in Volume 1. In Volume 2, he lists the ministers in alphabetical order with dates and church affiliations.
This is one of the most valuable parts of the work.
- Saves a ton of time determining which church the officiating minister served. I have done that research before, and it sometimes it can take as long as searching for your ancestors.
- Ministers are frequently namesakes for the children of their flocks.
- Your ancestors may have followed the minister from church to church, from place to place, from country to country.
- Most denominations maintain directories of ministers, with information about their origins as well as their educational background.
- Researching the minister who performs the marriage ceremony of your ancestors can lead to the origins of your own family.
So many thanks to Wesley Pippinger for the thoroughness of his research and his diligence in tracing these ministers.
And of course, the notices are especially valuable too–the events reported occur all over Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Washington DC, New York, Pennsylvania, and other places far from Virginia. And that is just two consecutive pages of entries.
If we had access to the urban papers for major metropolitan areas, we could piece together many pedigrees, that seem stopped for want of marriage and death dates. Your favorite Virginia genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com
PS Modified instructions have been posted to register to comment on each blog post. And to subscribe so that you don’t miss any episodes. Check Pages on the right-hand menu. If you want to comment, and I hope you will if you have something to add or a question to pose, you have to register. This protects all of us from some of the most gosh-awful spam. I review the comment–I don’t edit them–and allow relevant messages from genealogists through.
PPS Be sure to check out my NEW Tennessee blog. I am very excited about it. Proving a lineage through Tennessee back to origins can be really difficult. And I hope to help you do just that.