Discover the amazing story of Harrisonburg, Virginia's beloved teacher, Lucy Frances Simms. Born into slavery just a few years before the Civil War, in freedom Ms. Simms chose a path of public service, traveling across the state to earn her teaching credentials at Hampton Institute, and then returning to the Shenandoah Valley where she spent nearly six decades guiding generations of African-American children in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area. Although the better part of a century has passed since her death, the accolades continue for this pioneering education whose strength of character and leadership provide a powerful story that continues to resonate today.

First settled in 1737 by members of the Thomas Harrison family, the town of Harrisonburg was recognized by the Virginia House of Delegates in 1780 as the seat of the newly-formed Rockingham County. Always looking forward, the town fathers proclaimed a grand industrial future for the town by the 1890s, and Harrisonburg was incorporated as an independent city in 1916. By the mid-20th century, planned growth, urban renewal, and nearby Interstate 81 had transformed the small town into a metropolis. The remarkable photographs reproduced in Harrisonburg offer glimpses of Harrisonburg's growth from a crossroads trade center to the host of an interstate clover leaf.

This volume is largely a source book of genealogical and historical materials, compiled from the public records of Rockingham, Augusta, Greenbrier, Wythe, Montgomery and other counties of Virginia, with valuable contributions from various other parts of the United States.

"While this book is a stand-alone project, it also serves as the accompanying catalogue for the large-scale exhibition on view at JMU's Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art during the fall of 2017." -- from page 12

A contribution to old Augusta County and Rockingham County and their descendants of the family of Harrison and allied lines. Rev. Thomas Harrison (1619-1682), an intimate of the Cromwell family, served as chaplain of the Virginia colony during Gov. Berkeley's first term. He immigrated to Jamestown, Virginia from England in 1640 and, changing from anti-Puritan to Puritan, moved to Massachusetts and marrying Dorothy Symonds about 1648/1649. He then returned to England. Benjamin Harrison, his brother, then immigrated to become the founder of the Harrison family of the James River in Virginia. Other colonial Harrisons who immigrated are detailed, along with many of their descendants and relatives, particularly those who settled in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Descendants and relatives also lived in West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, California and elsewhere. Includes many ancestors and genealogical data in England, Ireland and elsewhere.