A new year is upon us and I’m taking up Amy Johnson Crow’s #52Ancestors challenge. The first prompt for 2020 is ‘Fresh Start’.

I have lived in Albemarle County, Virginia since the summer of 2009 which pretty much coincides with my interest in genealogy. Since moving here I have discovered that my ancestors, some going back to the 17th century, lived in two counties adjacent to Albemarle County, Orange County and Louisa County. When it comes to researching ancestors, it seems logical to focus on those who made their homes close to my own. In less than an hour, I can drive to Orange or Louisa and visit the historical societies there and go to the respective courthouses to search for documents that these ancestors might have left behind.

This year I am going to make a fresh start by focusing on these localities and the ancestors who lived near here. Phillip Eastin and his wife, Sarah Anna Hite Smith, lived in Orange County in the area of Barboursville. (In 1734, Orange County stretched out to the west as far as the Mississippi River.) A few years ago I went to the Orange County Clerk’s office and found a number of documents which I have transcribed. It’s time to take another look at those documents and see what I might have missed.

Phillip Eastin’s mother, Elizabeth Douglas, was a Quaker who lived in Louisa County. Her parents, John Douglas and Judith Moorman, lived in Louisa County. I have never been to the historical society in Louisa, nor to the County Clerk’s Office.

I have begun to prepare for the trip to Louisa. The historical society has spreadsheets itemizing their holdings. I have a list of files I will request when I go there.

I hypothesize that these Virginia families moved inland from coastal Virginia. This year I will work to follow the paper trail as far back as I can, hopefully to their arrival in the new world. A visit to the Library of Virginia is on my agenda to learn more about these forebears. I know there is information out there just waiting for me to find it!