Archives for West Virginia

DNA

George Wade Thornton

George Wade Thornton was my great grandfather Nonie’s brother. Wade (as he was called for most of life) was a little more nebulous than some of the other ;His father’s obituary in 1941 mentioned Wade living in Marion, West Virginia and I didn’t think anything of it - until I examined the 1940 census. I was startled to see he was listed as an inmate at Southwestern Mental Hospital. I was able to obtain Wade’s…
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Newsletter

The Climb from Salt Lick by Nancy L. Abrams

The Climb from Salt Lick: A Memoir of Appalachia In the mid-1970s, Nancy L. Abrams, a young photojournalist from the Midwest, plunges into life as a small-town journalist in West Virginia. She befriends the hippies on the commune one mountaintop over, rents a cabin in beautiful Salt Lick Valley, and falls in love with a local boy, wrestling to balance the demands of a job and a personal life. She learns how to survive in…
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Interesting Tidbits

Earthquake in SW Virginia

Earthquakes are actually common in Virginia. Here's one that would affected my Thornton ancestors in Pulaski County: May 3, 1897. Centered at Radford, where a few chimneys were wrecked and plaster fell from walls, and chimneys were damaged at nearby Pulaski and Roanoke.  Felt in most of southwest Virginia and as far south as Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Estimated magnitude   This was a prelude to The Big One. ((Division of Geology and Mineral Resources -…
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