In 1889 tradition-minded women, including many from Virginia's most prominent families, formed the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA), the first state preservation organization in the United States. And where better? After all, who else could so readily claim both colonial and Confederate heritage, both Jamestown and the White House of the Confederacy? In Preserving the Old Dominion cultural historian James Lindgren shows how the preservation movement strove to rebuild a revered past upon the foundations of its historic structures. While vividly capturing entertaining incidents - white-gloved pilgrimages, a Richmond costume ball, even a search for a Jamestown Rock to set back those arriviste New Englanders - and introducing battling (often with each other) preservationists, Lindgren also explores the serious consequences of these sometimes amusing efforts. He shows how the reinvention of the past shaped contemporary Virginia and the South. In a very real sense the battle between North and South was replayed at the end of the nineteenth century in a contest to control the nation's past. The AVPA's significance lies not only in the fact that it played a major role in the resurgence of conservatism in the late nineteenth-century South, but that it fits into a larger American picture where tradition-minded Americans tapped their history - whether imagined or real - to shape their identity. Preserving the Old Dominion incorporates history, anthropology, architecture, archaeology, religion, and politics; it will be of interest to historians in all fields as well as women's studies scholars.

Places the antebellum debate over slavery and states' rights in the context of early discussions of the two-party system and economic development by founding fathers Jefferson and Madison, arguing that the similarities between North and South were more numerous than the differences, and analyzes the state's regional cultures, demonstrating that party politics as a system expanded democracy Virginia. Includes bandw maps and photos. For scholars of history. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This is the fifth volume of Dr. Justin Glenn’s comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons. Volume One began with the immigrant John Washington, who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and became the great-grandfather of President George Washington. It continued the record of their descendants for a total of seven generations. Volume Two highlighted notable family members in the next eight generations of John and Anne Washington’s descendants, including such luminaries as General George S. Patton, the author Shelby Foote, and the actor Lee Marvin. Volume Three traced the ancestry of the early Virginia members of this “Presidential Branch” back in time to the aristocracy and nobility of England and continental Europe. Volume Four resumed the family history where Volume One ended, and it contained Generation Eight of the immigrant John Washington’s descendants. Volume Five now presents Generation Nine, including more than 10,000 descendants. Future volumes will trace generations ten through fifteen, making a total of over 63,000 descendants. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These in turn strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. ADVANCE PRAISE “I am convinced that your work will be of wide interest to historians and academics as well as members of the Washington family itself. Although the surname Washington is perhaps the best known in American history and much has been written about the Washington family for well over a century, it is surprising that no comprehensive family history has been published. Justin M. Glenn’s The Washingtons: A Family History finally fills this void for the branch to which General and President George Washington belonged, identifying some 63,000 descendants. This is truly a family history, not a mere tabulation of names and dates, providing biographical accounts of many of the descendants of John Washington who settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1657. . . . Each individual section is followed by extensive listings of published and manuscript sources supporting the information presented and errors of identification in previous publications are commented upon as appropriate.” John Frederick Dorman, editor of The Virginia Genealogist (1957-2006) and author of Adventurers of Purse and Person “Decades of reviewing Civil War books have left me surprised and delighted when someone applies exhaustive diligence to a topic not readily accessible. Dr. Glenn surely meets that standard with the meticulous research that unveils the Washington family in gratifying detail—many of them Confederates of interest and importance.” Robert K. Krick, author of The Smoothbore Volley that Doomed the Confederacy and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain

Modified format genealogy tracing more than 10 generations of the descendants of George Bigbie, who lived in Tidewater Virginia in the early 1700s. Traces at nearly a dozen distinct family lines in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, and includes families with surname spelling variants Bigbee, Bigby, Bigbey, and others. Introduction includes a short essay on the probable origins of the Bigbie name. 172 + v pages, 1200-name personal name index, full footnotes, plus maps, photographs and black and white illustrations. This is a revised and enlarged edition of Volume 1 of the same title published in 1994 and 2010.