Archives

The Place To Research Your Family History

Wise County Historical Society has more than 5000 items in its archives
consisting of books, manuscripts,  old marriage record ledgers from the court, pictures, and numerous other sources of help to the researcher.  We have researchers from all over the United States visiting  throughout the year.  You will find a friendly volunteer to help you get started in your family research.  Some of the of the items we have are listed in the categories below.

African American books  
Area History books and manuscripts Files of area towns and communities
Genealogy books and manuscripts Books on Presidents and Generals
Melungeon books Virginia Courthouses
Native American books Area Fiction
Books to aid you in your research Books by local authors
Birth Records-Wise and other Counties Folklore and Legends
Census Records-Wise,Scott, Russell and other counties Railroad Books
Marriage Records-Wise,Scott and other Books by Napoleon Hill
Death Records-Wise,Scott, and other Books by John Fox, Jr.
Quarterlies of Wise County Historical Society Books on Apple Orchards of Wise county
Quarterlies of other Historical Societies Vital Records Application Forms
Magazines of history and genealogy Family History Charts
American Revolution books
Civil War books
World War II books
Heritage Books of Wise and other counties
Cemetery books
Photo albums
CD’s & Records
Pamphlets (various)
Collection of Emery Hamilton papers
Family History files
General Files
Melungeon files

A Tribute to Wanda May Rose

Wanda Rose is a charter member of the Historical Society and was instrumental in the compiling of the Wise County Heritage Book and The City of Norton Volume 1, and was Vice Chairman of the Book committee. She helped compile the book WISE COUNTY, VIRGINIA’S WORLD WAR II VETERANS: A Tribute,  which consists of 928 pages,  6000 stories and 3000 pictures. She is now treasurer of the Historical Society, a job which she fills with great dedication.

It can truthfully be said, “Wanda is a gift to the Historical Society.”  She can do most anything, and if we need help in solving a problem, Wanda is the one to call upon.  You name it, she does it!  She serves as our Circulation Manager and maintains our photo archives which was amply used in Heritage volume II. Wanda proof’s our Appalachian Quarterly and oversees the quarterly mailing of the issues to our many subscribers.  She takes book orders and mails them out..  She is constantly on the phone, making trips to the post office or bank, and looks out for our financial status.

Wanda was a volunteer at the Wise Appalachian Hospital and was Gift Shop Manager and buyer for 20 years.  She, along with Dorothy Witt, installed Lifelines in Wise and Dickenson counties for disabled people. She served as Director of the Arts and Photographer exhibitions for the Virginia-Kentucky Fair for several years.  She currently belongs to the Wise Quilt Group which she helped organize.

Wanda is married to Stuart Rose, formerly of Banner, and they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  They are the parents of three sons: Benjamin of Charlottesville, VA; Joe Fred of Wise and Steven, deceased, of Wise.  They have four grandchildren, Penny, Autumn, Patricia “Trish” and Wesley and 1 step-granddaughter, Kate, and five great-grandchildren, Leah, Alexandria, Grayson, Damon, Shane and a step-granddaughter, Anatasia.  Wanda and Stuart live in Wise, Virginia.

Wanda is very dependable, has a wonderful personality, and is great company.

Petition of People for Voting Place

The Petition of the undersigned citizens of Russell County, respectfully represents that you petitioners labour under great disadvantages and inconvenience in relation to the exercise of the right of Suffrate; that they or most of them live a considerable distance from any place of holding an election; in fact many of them live between thirty and forty miles from any place where an election is held, and cannot exercise rights conferred on them by the Constitution of our State from the facts as above stated, and from others that might be given. The Prayer of your petitioners is that at the Home of William Robertson Esq. at a place called the Pound Fork of Sandy River in the County of Russell and as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray, etc.

TO THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA

Lebanon Russell County, Virginia October 1844

The Petition of the undersigned citizens of Russell County, respectfully represents that you petitioners labour under great disadvantages and inconvenience in relation to the exercise of the right of Suffrate; that they or most of them live a considerable distance from any place of holding an election; in fact many of them live between thirty and forty miles from any place where an election is held, and cannot exercise rights conferred on them by the Constitution of our State from the facts as above stated, and from others that might be given.  The Prayer of  your petitioners is that at the Home of William Robertson Esq. at a  place called the Pound Fork of Sandy River in the County of Russell and as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray, etc.

William Roberson Esq.

James Roberson

Anthony Street

Nimrod Street

David Mullins

Elias Green

William Green

John Roberson

Wm R. Fraley

Wm H. Roberson

Alexander Hall, Jr.

Isam Hall, Jr.

John H. Morgain

James Mullins Sherds son

Hardin Hall

Joseph Briant, Jr.

James Short

William Ingle

William Hollifield

William Short

Alexander Short

Thomas Burchfield

Issac Back

Joseph Church

Lewis Black

Solomon Black

Alexander Hale, Sr.

Nathan Engle

Isham Hall, Sr.

Jonathan Bolling

William Taylor

Abner Russell

Wilson McKinney

James Mullins-Pound

Mathew S. Roberson

John Hall

James Stacey

William Hall

Eli Mullins

William Sowards

Wesley Sowards

Solomon Mullins – Pound

James Mullins

Daniel Doston

Bartly Rose

Alexander Russell

Wm Short, Sr.

Wm Church

A Tribute to William C. “Bill” Gobble – President of WCHS

A Tribute to William C. Gobble

William C. “Bill” Gobble-President of Wise County Historical Society

William "Bill" Gobble

Bill is a native of Wise County,    Virginia although he has spent considerable time living outside Virginia. Bill was born in Appalachia and grew up in Norton.  He was in the U.S. Air Force when he married Lillian Hamilton.  They spent the first three years of their marriage in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After his discharge he spent the next 33 years in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Finally in 1987, he and Lillian moved back to Wise County, winding up in Crackers Neck, near Big Stone Gap. Bill and Lil have two children, Karen and Russ.

Bill was elected as the second President of the Wise County Historical Society and has served in that position from 1996 to the present.  He maintains our PDF file of Wise County families and can generally connect anyone who visits the office back several generations.  He has thousands of surnames on his database.  He connects many to his wife Lil’s family and jokingly remarks that  she is related to everybody.

Bill and Lil have conducted seminars on tracing your family and how to locate records.  He has served as Librarian for the Family Life Center in Kingsport and still occasionally volunteers time. He serves as Treasurer for the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia.

He and Lil have copied and archived in the Historical Society office many volumes of records from the Wise County Courthouse.  He has transcribed several census and marriage records into book form for sale at the Historical Society Office.  He volunteers twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays for work in the office.

Bill makes our meetings fun and interesting with his good-humored manner and anecdotes.

A Tribute to Dorothy Hall Witt

First President of Wise County Historical Society

Dorothy at Work

We, the members of the Wise County Historical Society, would like to take this opportunity to offer a tribute to our first president, Dorothy Hall Witt. Without her foresight and perseverance the Historical Society of Wise County would not exist today.

Dorothy Hall Witt our distinguished first president and charter member of the Wise County Historical Society was instrumental in the compiling and publishing of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, Volume 1 and 2, among other publications. She was also instrumental in the establishing of the Wise County Historical Society. She served as the President of the Historical Society the first years of its establishment.

While helping on the Lee County Book Committee in the creating of the Bicentennial History of Lee County Virginia published in 1991, Dorothy felt the need for the same in Wise County, and was instrumental in forming a group of Wise County historians who published their own Heritage of Wise County and the City of Norton Volume 1 in 1993. She was Chairman of the Book Committee and was elected President of the Wise County Historical Society when it was organized.

For the past 8 years Dorothy has served as recording secretary for the Wise County Historical Society and has worked a day or two a week at the office in the courthouse. She also is the editor of the Aging Gracefully segment of the Appalachian Quarterly published by Wise County Historical Society. She along with her friend and co-worker, Wanda Rose traveled over the county working on volume 1 of Wise County and the City of Norton, and installing lifelines for disabled and the elderly, she became interested in interviewing older people, which was the birth of Aging Gracefully in Appalachia.

Dorothy’s heritage is completely Appalachian as her father was a native of Lee County and her mother was a native of Russell County. Dorothy was born in Norton, grew up in Powell Valley, graduated from East Stone Gap High School, lived in Coeburn for twenty years and has lived in Wise for the past 33 years. She completed several courses at Clinch Valley College in English, Creative writing and Appalachian culture.

Dorothy worked for 14 years for the Department of Social Services, then worked as a medical transcriptionist and secretary at Wise Appalachian Regional Hospital for 19 years, retiring in 1989 to travel and pursue all the volunteer activities in which she was interested.

She has two sons, Hal Addington of Pinckney, Michigan, and Tim Addington of Atlanta, Georgia, and one grand-daughter, April Addington, a sophomore at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Dorothy is married to Harold Witt and they reside in Wise.

Dorothy is a dedicated member, wife, mother, and grandmother. She is good company and has a great sense of humor.

In Memory of Patricia Hopkins Baldwin

Patricia concentrated her Melungeon research on the medical maladies that are prevalent to this illusive group of people. She and S.J. Arthur were very thorough in their research with the Melungeon Ancestral Medical Task Force working with Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia, (now University of Virginia at Wise). Patricia was the proud owner of a Levant Waist Sash that had been in her family for 400 plus years- the origin of which is said to be-aTurkish Soldier in the mid to late 1400’s.

In Memory of Patricia Hopkins Baldwin

29 December 1057 – 16 November 2008

Patricia Hopkins Baldwin

Patricia Ann,  daughter of Paul W. and Ada Carpenter Hopkins was born in Floyd County, KY and reared in Magoffin County until age 10.  Patricia graduated from Barbeton High School, Barberton, Ohio with a Master’s degree in Clinical Psycology and Elementary Education with a minor in History from the University of Akron.

Patricia married Randy Baldwin.  She leaves behind, in addition to her husband, a daughter, Francesca, and a son, Brad; and one granddaughter, Abby.

Patricia wrote short stories and poetry, some of which won awards.  Patricia belonged to several area historical societies and has been very active in researching diseases.  Patricia began, early on, to research her Melungeon ancestors who had migrated from Scott County, VA to Magoffin County, KY. The migration of these ancestors traveled into Southern Ohio-calling themselves the “Carmel Indian.”

Patricia concentrated her Melungeon research on the medical maladies that are prevalent to this illusive group of people.  She and S.J. Arthur were very thorough in their research with the Melungeon Ancestral Medical Task Force working with Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia, (now University of Virginia at Wise). Patricia was the proud owner of a Levant Waist Sash that had been in her family for 400 plus years- the origin of which is said to be-aTurkish Soldier in the mid to late 1400’s.

Patricia served the Appalachian quarterly as Melungeon Editor since 1997 and later contributing editor from Kentucky.

We will miss you Patricia.

(Published in The Appalachian – Volume 14 No. 1 -April 2009)

A Tribute to Fannie Steele

Family Reunions, after the passing of her mother, inspired Fannie to delve further into researching her family history. Her first genealogy book, Country Roads and Lanes, was published in 1991 and five years later in 1996, The Crabtree-Stanley Collection: A Memorial, was in print. These two books cover both her Father and Mother’s families. She is currently working on and is nearing the completion of a book of old time recipes, stories, games, herbs, songs, etc., which will be called, Our Vanishing Heritage. (Can be purchased at Wise Historical Society office)

Fannie Lane Steele

Fannie grew up in the Hurricane section of Wise County  and attended school at the old Wise High school. She is married to Letcher Steele and has six living children and one deceased, several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

After raising her family, Fannie decided to better educate herself, so she bought a used typewriter and borrowed a typing book and she was off!  She hasn’t stopped since! She has gone through two typewriters, two  outdated computers and almost through one purchased new. (This part was written a few years ago and does not apply today)

The love of writing was instilled in Fannie while a child from writing letters for her mother to her older siblings who lived away from home.  One of her interests is writing poetry.  She has some of her work published in an anthology of Our World’s Best Loved Poems. She has received the Golden and Silver poet awards from World of Poetry and was invited to attend their poetry convention in Reno, Nevada.  She also has poetry in Blue Mountain Arts that can be found at their electronic greeting card site on the internet.

Family Reunions, after the passing of her mother, inspired Fannie to delve further into researching her family history.  Her first genealogy book, Country Roads and Lanes, was published in 1991 and five years later in 1996, The Crabtree-Stanley Collection: A Memorial, was in print.  These two books cover both her Father and Mother’s families.  She is currently working on and is nearing the completion of a book of old time recipes, stories, games, herbs, songs, etc., which will be called, Our Vanishing Heritage. (Can be purchased at Wise Historical Society office)

Fannie joined the book committee of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, helping with stories and proof-reading.  From the publishing of this book the Wise County Historical Society was formed and Fannie is a charter member.  She volunteers at the Society’s office  and is the archivist, keeping a database of all the books and documents that come into the office  and  filing them in their respective places.   Fannie has helped with and authored numerous articles for Heritage I and II, WWII Veteran’s Book and the Apple Blossoms of Yesteryear published by  the Historical Society.  When the Appalachian Quarterly was initiated, Fannie became the book review editor for On The Bookshelf. She also maintains the Historical Society’s web page.

Aside from the Historical Society some of Fannie’s interests are Church, family gatherings, photography, and making quilts.

A Tribute to Paul Kilgore

Paul is knowledgeable in researching deeds, which are his particular speciality and has helped hundreds of folks coming to Wise County to research their families. In addition to his work in the court records, he has also visited and documented 95% of all the cemeteries in Wise County. If you happen to be in a Wise County Cemetery and meet a tall, thin man, with pencil and paper, that’s Paul. Ask him anything you want and chances are you can’t stump him with a question on Wise County History or its people.

Paul Kilgore

Paul is a charter member of the Historical Society and provided all the information from his personal research on the City of Norton Chapter for Heritage II.

Paul is knowledgeable in researching deeds, which are his particular speciality and has helped hundreds of folks coming to Wise County to research their families. In addition  to his work in the court records, he has also visited and documented 95% of all the cemeteries in Wise County.  If you happen to be in a Wise County Cemetery and meet a tall, thin man, with pencil and paper, that’s Paul.  Ask him anything you want and chances are you can’t stump him with a question on Wise County History or its people.  Paul  keeps the Archives office open on Tuesday Afternoon.  Paul and his wife Pat have one son, Paul Jr. and two grandchildren and have lived in Norton for many years.  Paul retired from Sears after working for Cohens Department store in Norton for many years.

Paul is now researching and compiling a book on Norton, Virginia.

A Tribute To Rhonda Robertson

Rhonda has conducted many seminars on genealogy. Rhonda along with Wanda Rose worked exclusively on Wise County’s World war II Veterans. She assisted with the publication of Heritage of Wise County Volume I and was happily working on Wise County’s Civil War Veterans when her work was interrupted to help complete Heritage Volume II. Rhonda formerly was the Co-Editor and Co-Publisher of The Southwest Virginian, a magazine of history and genealogy.

Rhonda S. Robertson

Rhonda serves as the Editor for The Appalachian Quarterly, the Historical Society magazine which is mailed to 42 states, Australia, Canada and Great Britain.  She is the author of various genealogies including The Descendants of William Addington and William Robertson of England and his Descendants. She also has compiled various county records such as marriage, census and death records, to name a few.  She has assisted in the publication and preparation of numerous other volumes including Tales from South of the Mountain Volume 1 & 2, (by Elzie “Sock” Mullins) and Mountain Mists and Where The Eagle LIt (by Cossie Mullins, Jr.)

Rhonda has conducted many seminars on genealogy.  Rhonda along with Wanda Rose worked exclusively on Wise County’s World war II Veterans. She assisted  with the publication of Heritage of Wise County Volume I and was happily working on Wise County’s Civil War Veterans when her work was interrupted to help complete Heritage Volume II. Rhonda formerly was the  Co-Editor and Co-Publisher of The Southwest Virginian, a magazine of history and genealogy.

Rhonda has now returned to her work on the upcoming Civil War book, documenting, researching, and typing information on each veteran.  She is also working on the Early Settlers series, featuring histories and genealogies of the early settlers in Wise and surrounding counties.  Rhonda along with Wanda Rose, Lil Gobble and Fannie Steele are currently involved in photographing and documenting all the stones for people born before 1900 buried in Wise County.

Rhonda is a Wise native, growing up near Wise and then moving to Norton where she has lived for the past 34 years.   She is the office manager of Heritage Hall – Big Stone Gap, VA.

A Tribute to Billy R. Porter

Bill’s first publication was William Lawson, A Scottish Rebel, a history of the Lawson and other allied families. His second publication was, School Bells From The Past, bits and pieces of Wise County School history. He is currently working on Volume II of School Bells and a book on Politics in Wise County. He also compiled Our Community Heritage-Banner, Virginia, which is now in its second printing. Bill provided information and articles for Coeburn, Virginia, area history published by the Coeburn Kiwanis Club.

Billy R. Porter

In school, Bill’s favorite subject was history. About three decades ago he started doing local and regional historical research and this led him to become acquainted with the area historians whose tremendous knowledge was a great help.

His first publication was William Lawson, A Scottish Rebel, a history of the Lawson and other allied families.  His second publication was, School Bells From The Past, bits and pieces of Wise County School history. He is currently working on Volume II of School Bells and a book on Politics in Wise County.  He also compiled Our Community Heritage-Banner, Virginia, which is now in its second printing.  Bill provided information and articles for Coeburn, Virginia, area history published by the Coeburn Kiwanis Club.

Bill is a charter member of the Wise County Historical Society and volunteers several days a week to work in the office and bookstore.  Bill copies and binds all our books for sale and all donated material for our archives and performs other various chores.  He is indeed a valuable member of the Society.

Bill served four years in the Air Force, honorably discharged in 1965 and  is married to Diann Perry.  They have three children: Richard Porter, Kelly, married Paul Byrant; and Jane who married John Hall, Jr.  The Porter family reside in the Banner community near Coeburn, Virginia.