Tag: genealogy
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Freeman Family
The Freeman family played an important role in Blacksburg’s African American community during the early twentieth century. Bessie Briggs Freeman and her husband, Alonzo Freeman, Sr., built their lives and raised their daughters in the Jackson Street neighborhood during the era of segregation. Bessie’s name appeared on the 1919 deed for their home, and she…
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Free Ancestry Sources
Uncover your family’s past with the Library of Virginia’s extensive digital collections.
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Finding Enslaved Ancestors & Building an African American Family Tree: Why This Resource Matters—for You and for History
For too long, the stories of enslaved Africans and their descendants have been overlooked, forgotten, or lost in history’s gaps. These video offers a genuine lifeline—a structured, compassionate guide to begin rebuilding broken family trees, recovering names, lifeways, and legacies that were too often erased.
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Beatrice Freeman Walker & St Luke
On December 17, 2013, Ms. Beatrice Walker recorded an oral history for Virginia Tech’s University Special Collections at the St. Luke, Odd Fellows, and Household of Ruth Hall. As a key figure in preserving the building and a Trustee on the deed now held by the Town of Blacksburg, her testimony provides invaluable insights absent…
