featured artist: peter bernhart, fraktur-maker · featured artist: peter bernhart, fraktur-maker by...

Volume 33, No. 2 Summer 2011

THE HERITAGE MUSEUM NEWSLETTER Home of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society

Published Quarterly by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society

Featured Artist: Peter Bernhart, Fraktur-maker

By Dale MacAllister

The current exhibit “Bernhart & Company, Shenandoah

Valley Folk Art Fraktur (1774-1850)” focuses primarily on

the work of Peter Bernhart. He was by far the most prolific

artist of the German birth and baptismal certificates in

Rockingham County. There are more than thirty-five of his

works displayed in the exhibit.

What do we know about this important fraktur artist?

Peter Bernhart must have been born in the mid-1700s.

We know from census records that he was born before

1766. His wife was Mary, but we do not know her last

name.

The couple’s first documented appearance in Valley

records is in 1788 when they purchased 30.5 acres of land

along the Great Wagon Road in Woodstock, Virginia. The

Bernharts are said to have run an inn in Woodstock. The

next year, the couple sold their Shenandoah County land

and moved to Rockingham County.

In June 1789, the Virginia Gazette and Winchester Ad-

vertiser newspaper noted that Bernhart was now an agent

for Winchester’s German-language newspaper Virginische

Zeitung in the “Kieseltown” area of Rockingham County.

In August 1789, Bernhart announced in the Gazette that

“the first of August he commenced the business of riding

as Post from Winchester to Staunton” every other week

carrying mail and the English and German newspapers

from Winchester.

Bernhart rode from his home near Keezletown to Win-

chester every other Wednesday to begin his route. He ar-

rived in Rockingham County by Friday and finished the

route in Staunton on Saturday. Bernhart functioned as post

rider over this course for nearly thirty years, from 1789 to

1817. He described the mail he carried as all that “any per-

son may wish to forward with care.” When regular mail

service began between the two Valley towns, Bernhart

gave up his route.

The Bernhart family lived in Mountain Valley north of

Keezletown near Armentrout’s Church in 1791. He taught

a German school in the log schoolhouse at the church that

year. The next year, Bernhart, spelled “Barnhart,” was

listed as a “tithable” in Capt. Richard Ragan’s “company”

for assessment of personal property tax in Rockingham

County. Bernhart did not own a horse at the time. This is

strange for one who used a horse to ride his post route.

Bernhart sold some of his Mountain Valley land in two

parcels in 1792 and 1793.

See page 6

Detail from a Peter Bernhart fraktur. Bern-hart (active 1790-1840) derived much of his artistic inspiration from the Pennsylva-nia German tradition of fraktur artistry, including similar symbology like flowers, vines, hearts and birds. A schoolteacher and a post rider, he lived in the Mountain Valley, Keezletown and Frieden’s Church areas of Rockingham County.

The Heritage Museum Calendar Of Events

Through Jan. 12, 2012: “Bernhart & Company: Shenandoah Valley Folk Art as Fraktur (1774-1850).” To learn more, see page 4.

July 23 and Aug. 27: Visit the Cromer-Trumbo

House and learn more from costumed docents. Silver

Lake Mill and Fort Harrison will also be open. 11 a.m.

-3 p.m. $5 admission includes Museum/Library visit.

July 23: Fraktur Drawing Workshop, with local

fraktur artist Joan Shaver. Learn the history, styles and

symbolism of these commemorative documents and

then create your own. All skill levels. Noon-2p.m.

$20 fee includes personal supplies for each student.

Light refreshments. Bring a brown bag lunch.

Aug. 25: “A Celebration of Life: Shenandoah Val-

ley Fraktur and Related Works on Paper,” with

Jeffrey Evans. An examination of newly discovered

artists, re-attributions and ongoing research, as well as

a comparative study of cultural symbolism employed

on Shenandoah Valley fraktur and the decorative arts

of the region. 7 p.m. Free.

Sept. 17: “Women on the Home Front,” with Nita

Gibson. A discussion about how Southern white and

black women used ingenuity to survive during the

Civil War. Noon. Free.

Sept. 24: “Extraordinary Papers for Ordinary

Americans: The History of Fraktur Birth and Bap-

tism Certificates,” with renowned fraktur experts

Corinne and Russell Earnest. Slide presentation shows

18th and 19th c. Pennsylvania German fraktur, includ-

ing examples from the Shenandoah Valley. Noon.

Free.

Oct. 7: Annual Banquet and Silent Auction. Pro-

gram by Robert Dalessandro, Executive Director and

Chief of Military History at the U.S. Army Center of

Military History. Spotswood Country Club, 6 p.m.

$40. Silent Auction. Annual Meeting.

Oct. 20: “Felix Gilbert’s Daybook,” lecture with

Clive Hallman. 7 p.m. Free.

Nov. 5: Fraktur Drawing Workshop, with local

fraktur artist Joan Shaver. All skill levels. Noon-

2p.m. $20 fee includes personal supplies for each stu-

dent. Light refreshments. Bring a brown bag lunch.

Volume 33, No. 2

The Heritage Museum Hours

Tuesday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m.—5 p.m.

Genealogy on Mondays by appointment

Office closed on Saturday and Sunday Telephone: (540) 879-2616

Email: [email protected] www.heritagecenter.com

Trustees

Chairman: John Paul

Vice-Chair: Nancy Hess

Secretary: Michael G. Hill

Treasurer: Bonnie Paul

HRHS Staff

Executive Director: Ann-marie Alford Latchum

Assistant Director: Penny Imeson

Archivist: Laura Adams

Newsletter Editor: Lauren Jefferson

Staff: Amy Kiracofe, Cameron Hupp, Juanita Wysong

2011 Newsletter Submission Deadlines Fall October 1

All articles are subject to editing. Ideas for

feature articles must be submitted in advance

of the article. We reserve the right not to use

unsolicited feature articles. Genealogical

queries welcome.

Submissions can be e-mailed to the editor

[email protected]

or placed on computer disk and mailed to

Lauren Jefferson, 5200 Singers Glen Rd.,

Harrisonburg, VA 22802.

THE HERITAGE MUSEUM HARRISONBURG-ROCKINGHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Linda Bowers Wes Graves

William Kyger, Jr. Dale MacAllister

Nathan Miller Greg Owen

Harry Rawley

Volume 33, No. 2

On the Website Materials continue to be added to the Heritage Muse-

um’s new website (www.heritagecenter.com), which

features new exhibits, databases, research and events.

One valuable link for researchers features the muse-

um’s archive collections. To visit from the HRHS home

page, use the blue menu bar to click on Archives> Doc-

uments>Finding Aids.

Several HRHS collections are stored at James Madi-

son University. To learn more about these collections,

click on Archives>Other Collections.

Back on the HRHS blue menu bar click on

Home>What’s New to find out about recent updates to

the online database.

Names are being entered from various important doc-

uments, including a list of Rockingham County property

owners in the late 1700s - early 1800’s.

Names are also being entered from Rockingham

County cemeteries. Originally documented in 1967, the

index of names has been checked for accuracy and up-

dated for new burials, thanks to countless hours of work

from HRHS volunteers.

The updated data has been provided to the Rocking-

ham County GenWeb site. At this point, the GenWeb

webmaster has retired and a new volunteer is being

sought. If interested, please contact our office staff. A

number of small family cemeteries are not yet on the

website as they have just been completed.

Seymour Paul

Technology Committee

A Warm Welcome to Our New Members

Bob Bersson & Delores Shoup, Bridgewater, VA Kathleen Borne, Fairview Park, OH Lee Bouchard, Fossil, OR Saundra Buck, Baltimore, MD Marilyn Burns, Rocky Mount, VA Lisa Chase, Tucson, AZ Cody Cornett, Harrisonburg, VA Karen Craun, Harrisonburg, VA Lisa & Todd Eppard, Harrisonburg, VA Robert Frye, Mount Jackson, VA Leslie Hall, Waynesboro, VA Kay Hall, Punta Gordo, FL Michael Helmantoler, Sandy, UT Jennifer Hill, Ruther Glen, VA Michele Houchens, Minooka, IL William Hudgins, Petersburg, WV John Huntingdon, Spotsylvania, VA Gordon & Margaret Jones, Manassas, VA Tracie Jones, Bowie, MD Manny Jose, Harrisonburg, VA

Warren Knicely, Harrisonburg, VA Rebecca & Hugh Lamb, Stuarts Draft, VA Wesley Loomis, McGaheysville, VA Barry Kline, Annandale, VA Betty May, Alexandria, VA John McLuckie, Jefferson, MD Edward Moore, Harrisonburg, VA Edward Morris, Penn Laird, VA Kevin Pirkey & Family, Rochester, NH Marcia Rinehart, Leawood, KS Dorothy & Robinson Risner, Bridgewater, VA Jessica Simmers, Baltimore, MD Ann Thomas, Front Royal, VA Eilene Toppin Ording, Kansas City, MO Pat Warner, Indianapolis, IN Charles Wertz, Lebanon, PA Juanita Wysong, Port Republic, VA We hope to see you soon in the galleries and library!


Interested in making a donation to our collections or archives?

For artifacts unique to Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, please schedule an appointment with our Collections

Review Committee. Artifacts must be reviewed before being accepted into the permanent collection. If you are in-

terested in donating papers or books, please hold them until the fall. We are completing a full inventory of our ar-

chives and will not be taking new paper items until we complete this important task. Thank you for keeping HRHS

in your thoughts and for allowing us to process your items with thoroughness and care.

Volume 33, No. 2

Team collects and

researches images

By Lauren Jefferson

In the 18th and 19th century, fraktur

were common ways to commemorate

important family occasions, like

housewarmings, births and weddings.

The most prolific local fraktur artist

among the German-Swiss community

was schoolmaster Peter Bernhart and a

new exhibit at the Harrisonburg-

Rockingham Historical Society in

Dayton celebrates his work as well as

that of eight others and a few—such as

“The Brock’s Gap Artist” and “The

Stony Creek Artist”— known only by

their work’s locale.

The exhibit, titled "Bernhart &

Company: Shenandoah Valley Folk

Art Fraktur (1774-1850)" and open

through Jan. 12, 2012, features more

than seventy fraktur—many donated

by local families.

The exhibit was inspired by—and

dedicated to— former member John

Stewart, an Austrian-born linguist and

educator who taught at Harrisonburg

High School and James Madison Uni-

versity. Stewart died in 2010, said ex-

hibit committee chairwoman Bonnie

Paul.

“John was a real advocate for Peter

Bernhart and thought his work de-

served to be showcased in an exhibit

like this,” Paul said. “We had many

conversations about fraktur and I’m

sorry that John can’t be here to enjoy

this.”

A founder of the Shenandoah Folk-

life Society and an enthusiastic record-

er of “Low German” culture, Stewart

promoted local fraktur as fine exam-

ples of folk art. While they might be

“admittedly crude and primitive, as

compared to the exquisitely executed

pen work of Pennsylvania folk artists,”

as Stewart said in one lecture, they

were also valuable expressions of their

rural origins.

Planning for the exhibit started

months ago, with a publicity campaign

to find local, privately-owned fraktur.

Potential donors were promised ano-

nymity, a digital image of their fraktur

and a copy of the translation, if neces-

sary.

The effort resulted in several fraktur

that had never been seen before outside

of the family, Paul said. "It was amaz-

ing to me that people held on to these

little gems. It is estimated that one-

tenth of those created are still in exist-

ence. By the latest count, there are

about sixty Bernhardt pieces and we

have thirty-four represented here.”

With the fraktur themselves came

stories of their origins: some had been

passed down, still bearing pocket-size

creases and fold marks. Others had

been secreted away and found by a

later generation.

"Often they were found up in rafters

in a house, and they say that might be

for protection, to be closer to God,"

Paul said. "There was one found in a

washstand in Timberville."

Another fraktur was found in 2002

under some biscuits inside a grandfa-

ther clock in the Kyger Pence Funeral

Home near McGaheysville.

Laying the Foundation

The exhibit was a joint effort of a

special committee, led by Paul. Lor-

raine Good and Mary Southerly man-

aged the donor contracts and "tracked

down pieces to fill in the gaps," Paul

said. See page 10


Many Hands Make Light Work at Fraktur Exhibit

Detail of a birth certifi-cate drawn by Peter Bernhart (active 1790-1840). From a private collection.

Special thanks to the HRHS

Fraktur Exhibits Committee:

Cathy Baugh

Lois Bowman

Elizabeth Eggleston

Lorraine Good

Margaret Hotchner

Allen Litten

Jean Litten

Dale MacAllister

Bonnie Paul

Harry Rawley

Pat Ritchie

Mary Southerly

Nancy Stewart

Volume 33, No. 2

Kaylor Collection Donated to HRHS

More than 500 of Harri-

sonburg photographer

Lewis Lupton Kaylor’s

images were donated to

HRHS by Polly Frye,

who with her husband

Charles, purchased Kay-

lor’s studio in 1951.


By Lawrence D. Bowers, Jr.

The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society’s pho-

tographic archive has received an important collection by

Lewis Lupton Kaylor (1889-1963), a Rockingham County

native, professional photographer, and early aerial military

photographer. The addition of approximately 500 photo-

graphs and negatives to our collection has been made possi-

ble through the generosity of Mrs. Polly Frye, herself a pro-

fessional photographer. Mrs. Frye and her husband, Charles

W. Frye, Jr., owned and operated Charles & Polly Photogra-

phers in Harrisonburg from 1951-1967.

The donated Kaylor images cover the period from 1937 to

1949 and depict people, civic clubs, businesses, high school

football and basketball teams, etc. that create a wonderful

sense of the Harrisonburg community during the important

World War II era.

A Local Life

Lewis Lupton Kaylor was born in the Pleasant Valley

community of Rockingham County, Virginia, where his fam-

ily owned and operated a mill.

He was operating a photographic studio in Waynesboro,

Pennsylvania, when the United States entered World War I.

Kaylor was forced to close his studio when he was drafted

into the Army in September 1917. The Army eventually put

his talents as a photographer to work taking and developing

aerial photographs, making him one of the early pioneers in

this new technology.

The record of Kaylor’s military service in the United

States and France is well-documented by his diary that has

been edited by his grandson Alan Kaylor Cline. The diary,

along with many photographs, is available online at

www.cs.utexas.edu/us. This highly recommended site is the

source of much of this information about Kaylor.

Return to the Valley

Kaylor was discharged from the Army in December 1918

and by 1926, he had returned to Rockingham County where

he worked with William Dean, an established photographer

who had worked in Harrisonburg since 1865. Their studio

was known as the Dean-Kaylor Studio. This studio continued

under this name even after the retirement of Mr. Dean for the

next 26 years.

In 1951, failing health led Kaylor to sell his business to

Charles and Polly Frye.

The Frye Connection

Mrs. Frye, or Polly as she is known to her many friends in

this area, was born and grew up in Keezletown, Virginia, and

married Charles W. Frye, a native of nearby Mount Craw-

ford, in 1949. She got her start in photography as a young

woman retouching negatives for a local studio that still oper-

ates in Harrisonburg.

After service in the United States Navy, Charles received

photographic training in Silver Spring, Maryland. With the

purchase of Mr. Kaylor’s business, Charles and Polly ac-

quired large format cameras, existing negatives and prints

and other equipment. For the next 16 years, Charles & Polly

Photographers operated as one of the leading studios in the

central Shenandoah Valley, producing thousands of images

of the people and events in the Valley

In 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis, Mr. Frye was

recalled to active duty in the Navy and for several years, Pol-

ly ran the Harrisonburg studio with the help of her faithful

employee, Virginia B. Long.

The Harrisonburg studio closed in 1967 and for the next

20 years, Polly operated the business as Polly Frye Photogra-

pher from her residence in Keezletown. Mr. Frye died in

1975. Polly now resides in the retirement community in Park

View and still maintains her interest in photography and Har-

risonburg history.

The Society is deeply appreciative of this gift by Mrs.

Frye and thanks her not only for the gift , but also for the wis-

dom of recognizing the value of these images. Preserving

them for future generations will provide a photographic win-

dow through which to see Harrisonburg as it was during

those years.

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/us

From Page 1

It is not known precisely how Bernhart managed to jug-

gle both school teaching and post riding at the same time.

One may assume he simply scheduled his classes for days

he was free to teach. One of Bernhart’s students testified in

an 1820 court case that Bernhart also “served as a scrivener

for illiterate neighbors.” A scrivener wrote documents for

those who could not perform the task themselves. Bernhart

is said to have later taught school in McGaheysville.

By 1797, Bernhart appears in Rockingham County tax

records as the owner of two parcels of land, of six acres

and seven acres, in the area near Armentrout’s Church.

The 1810 census for Rockingham County indicates that

the family was living in the Friedens Church neighborhood.

Rockingham County land tax records for 1815 do not list

Bernhart as the owner of any land.

Descendants

Peter Bernhart had at least five children: Henry, George,

Elizabeth, Magdalene, and Margaret.

Henry Bernhart married Mary “Polly” Wolfensbarger in

Greenbrier County. Polly was the daughter of Peter and

Susannah Wolfensbarger.

Both Henry Bernhart and the Wolfensbargers had lived

in Shenandoah County before moving to Greenbrier. Henry

and Polly Bernhart resettled in Dearborn County, Indiana.

Henry is said to have died at Vincennes, Indiana, during the

War of 1812. Their children preserved an oral history that

their grandfather, Peter Bernhart, was crippled during his

Revolutionary War service.

George Bernhart married Magdalene Zimmers

[Simmers], daughter of Michael Zimmers, in Rockingham

County. The couple had several children who were bap-

tized at Friedens Church in the county.

Elizabeth Bernhart was confirmed at Friedens Church.

Elizabeth married Jacob Peter Eckert [Eckerd] in Rocking-

ham County. Eckert was born near Mannheim, Germany.

He immigrated to America in 1804, embarking at Amster-

dam and landing at Norfolk, Virginia, after a 26-week voy-

age. The Eckert family emigrated from Rockingham Coun-

ty to Jefferson County, Kentucky. They then moved to near

Dayton, Ohio, and later to Miltonville, in Butler County,

Ohio. The Eckert family also preserved the family story

that Elizabeth’s father Peter Bernhart was in the Revolu-

tionary War.

Magdalene Bernhart married Phillip Hollweh [Hulvey],

son of Conrad Hollweh, in Rockingham County. Phillip

died young and Magdalene married a Schenck for her se-

cond husband.

Margaret Bernhart was also confirmed at Friedens

Church. She married John Sites, the son of Christian and

Elisabeth Reimel Seitz [Sites], in Rockingham County.

Margaret died in Preble County, Ohio,

Peter Bernhart is best known as the fraktur artist who, in

the best German tradition, painted the highly decorative

birth, baptismal, and marriage certificates. Although he was

not a great speller, Bernhart’s fraktur work is among the

more colorful and productive in the Valley. His fraktur dat-

ed from about 1796 through the 1820s. Historian Klaus

Wust called Bernhart’s designs, although crudely executed,

quite colorful and “replete with tulips, other floral shapes,

and a parrot-like bird.” They were made for families from

Frederick to Augusta County. Bernhart’s fraktur work also

included house blessings, religious puzzles, and poems and

songs that he had printed to sell to his customers.

Valley folk life expert John Stewart studied Peter Bern-

hart for years and felt Bernhart’s work should be shown in

a major exhibit. We have now made that wish a splendid

reality.

References

Friedens Church records.

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/

johnsgermnotes/germhs72.html .

Rockingham County land, marriage, and tax records.

Smith, Stewart, and Kyger, The Pennsylvania Germans of

the Shenandoah Valley, 1962.

U. S. census records.

Wust, Klaus, “The Postman’s Predecessor,” Richmond

Times-Dispatch, 1 July 1951.

———, Virginia Fraktur, Penmanship as Folk Art.

Peter Bernhart: post rider, scrivener, artist, teacher

Volume 33, No. 2


Check Out Our Website at www.heritagecenter.com.

Find us on Facebook at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham

Historical Society page.

If you change your e-mail address, please let us know by e-mailing

[email protected]

Volume 33, No. 2

By Rosemarie Palmer

One of Harrisonburg’s hidden treasures is a beautiful mural in

the federal building (formerly the post office) at 116 N. Main St.

Local historian, Robert “Bobby” Sullivan, remembers his

grade school class visiting the mural while it was being painted.

They sat on the floor, gazing up at the painter doing his work up

on a scaffold just below the ceiling.

The artist, William H. Calfee, depicted women working, chil-

dren playing, and many scenes of rural Valley life, including

workers and farmers interacting with livestock like those scenes

pictured at right.

The following two paragraphs are an excerpt from “Journey

Into the Past: Historic Harrisonburg,” written by Martha Caldwell

and Caroline Marshall in 1980 for the bicentennial commemora-

tion:

This imposing building, holding federal offices, was built in

1939. In the lobby is a long tempera painting in four panels done

in 1943 by William H. Calfee, for many years a faculty member of

American University in Washington, D.C. Calfee received the

commission as part of a Treasury Department project. This was

completely separate from the WPA and was intended to stimulate

grass roots participation in art. Thomas Colt, director of the Vir-

ginia Museum, was a chairman of a committee that selected

Calfee’s work from a regional competition.

‘Harrisonburg’s Town Square’ is the theme. Included are a

view of the Lutheran Church which is now the old Glen’s Fair

Price Store at 187 North Main Street and the Spring House on

Court Square. William H. Calfee (1909-1995) titled his Harrisonburg mural

“Country Fair Trading, Courthouse Square.” He also painted other

post office murals in Virginia in the 1940s. They are listed on the

website www.wpamurals.com/virginia.htm. These murals were

considered “New Deal Art.”

Calfee was chair of the American University art department

from 1945 to 1954, a central figure in the development of post-

war art in the Washington, D.C. area. He was instrumental in the

“Washington modernists” movement and was also known for his

sculptures.

The Harrisonburg mural was restored in the 1970s by Hiram

Hoeltzer.

Calfee died in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 1995.

TO VIEW THE MURAL The mural is open to the public during regular hours; however,

you do have to navigate past skeptical security agents. Leave your

cell phone in the car (they will make you take it back to your

car—no excuses). Be sure to have a look around the north corner,

as the mural extends in a wrap-around fashion all the way around

that corner. Cameras must be cleared prior to arriving with the

building superintendent.


Wartime Mural Still Graces Old Post Office Interior

http://www.wpamurals.com/virginia.htm

Volume 33, No. 2


Robert Dalessandro was appointed Executive Direc-

tor/Chief of Military History at the U.S. Army Center

of Military History in February 2011.

A retired colonel, he is considered one of the fore-

most experts on battlefield interpretation and is wide-

ly published on the culture of the American soldier.

After graduating in 1980 from Virginia Military In-

stitute with a degree in history, Dalessandro was

commissioned in the U.S. Army. He served in a

wide variety of leadership and staff assignments, in-

cluding commands at the company, depot, and battal-

ion levels and staff assignments at echelons of com-

mand from battalion through Department of the Ar-

my level. Dalessandro retired in 2009 after serving as

the Director of the U.S. Army Heritage and Educa-

tion Center in Carlisle, PA. Since then, he has served

as the Assistant Chief of Military History at the Cen-

ter of Military History, working a wide range of ad-

ministrative, technical, museum, and policy issues.

His graduate studies include work at the College of

William and Mary, where he studied historical arche-

ology; a master’s degree in Military Arts and Science

in history from the U.S. Army Command and Gen-

eral Staff College; a master’s degree in Strategic

Studies from the U.S. Army War College; and a

graduate certificate in museum collections manage-

ment and care from George Washington University.

He is editor of the Army Officer’s Guide, and co-

author of two books, Willing Patriots: Men of Color

in the First World War; and American Lions: The

332nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in World War I.

In addition, another book he co-authored, Organiza-

tion and Insignia of the American Expeditionary

Forces, 1917-1923 received the Army Historical

Foundation award for excellence in writing.

the

Hrhs

Annual

banquet

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Spotswood Country Club

presenting

Robert Dalessandro

including

Silent auction

Volume 33, No. 2

New In The HRHS Bookstore

Order by phone

540-879-2616,

from our website

www.heritagecenter.com

or come in to see all we have to offer!

GREAT NEWS!

Upon receipt of this newsletter the new HRHS online

bookstore should be up and running. We are certain

this will offer a much easier and customer-friendly

shopping experience. Please visit from the HRHS

website Bookstore link.


Now featuring the work of local member and

fraktur artist, Joan Shaver. Ms. Shaver spe-

cializes in the style of the Pennsylvania Ger-

mans (Deutsch). Her artwork reflects her

Shenandoah Valley heritage or, as the Lancas-

ter County cousins would say, Valley Deutsch.

Items for sale include original fraktur in

frames, on old coffeepots and a stool.

No surface is out of bounds!

NEW AND RETURNING Valuable Resources for the Researcher!

Carrie Eldridge, $15.00 each

An Atlas of Appalachian Trails to the Ohio River. America’s earliest migration trails leading west. The

atlas covers the settlement period from 1625 to 1775, with emphasis on our first frontier, mainly western VA/

NC. 11 x 17 with full maps.

An Atlas of German Migration and America. German immigration is traced both across the European conti-

nent and in America, from the Palatines before 1700 to various small groups who settled in many different US

states through the Civil War. 11 x 17 visual story.

Civil War Trivia

Norman Bolotin with Nicholle Carriere.

$14.95

How much do we know about the real lives of Americans on the battlefields and in

trenches and winter quarters when the soldiers had a respite from combat? Civil

War Trivia looks inside the conflict to examine the many fascinating and heartrend-

ing stories about this great war.

Shenandoah National Park and Its Neighbors Anne Frederick

$21.99

The author has compiled a fascinating visual history from her extensive postcard

collection that allows readers an opportunity to tour the SNP of yesteryear and some

of its outlying towns, both large and small. A wonderful vehicle for both young and

old to learn more about the area’s past and experience it environmental splendor.

ThinkING OF VOLUNTEERing . . .

Admissions and genealogy

slots available

Sign up for volunteer training

By calling 879-2616

there’s always something happening at the

Heritage Museum. Come join us!

Volume 33, No. 2


Whether you are just getting started

or a seasoned searcher . . .

Visit our extensive Genealogy Library

Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm

Seasonal Sundays 1 pm - 5 pm

and by appointment on

Mondays 10 am - 5 pm

We have one of the largest collections of

Rockingham County records.

Volunteers are available to assist you.

SCAVENGER HUNT - How well do you know

your Museum?

If this doesn’t look familiar then it’s time for a visit! We hope to see you soon!

Thank You To ...

Thank you to all the volunteers who par-

ticipated in the walking of the 470-plus

cemeteries in Rockingham County. Begin-

ning in 2001, volunteers recorded names

and photographed tombstones to recheck

the original records of 1967. A special

thanks to Martha Lee, Nettie Lee, Bennie

Getz, Walter Mason, Graham and Barbara

Hensley, Seymour Paul, Harriet Welch, Deb

Wake, Gene Holsinger, Connie Correa,

Hugh Hutchens, Robert Crawford, Judith

Boyers, Mary Nelson, Pat Ritchie, Sue Propst

and others that contributed to this project.

Many researchers have benefited from our

labors.

Bob and Lois Emswiler

See page 10

Allen Litten provided photography. Researchers in-

cluded Nancy Stewart, John's wife; Pat Ritchie; and

Cathy Baugh also assisted German language scholar Lois

Bowman, a librarian at the Menno Simons Historical Li-

brary at Eastern Mennonite University, who donated her

time to provide translations for many of the documents.

Translating fraktur presents some special challenges,

Bowman said, “It all comes down to the handwriting. If

they’re legible, they’re simple, even if they’re faded,

creased and folded, if it’s clear and legible, then we didn’t

really have a problem. But if you couldn’t read it, then we

had a problem.”

In rare occasions, Bowman and Baugh left gaps in the

translated English text if they could not decipher the writ-

ing. But more often, through extensive research, the duo

was able to confirm the family names.

Bowman’s experience with German family genealogy

came in handy, she said. “We work with genealogy a lot

here and we know the early names were spelled in a vari-

ety of ways…for example, Gochenour can be spelled with

a g, c or k, but if we can confirm the name some other

place, then we go with that.”

Bowman says she enjoyed working on the exhibit.

“These family records and family Bible records, they’re

one of a kind. There weren’t 2,000 copies printed. Mama

wrote it in the family Bible or papa did and that’s infor-

mation you might not find anywhere else. Or if you do,

you can corroborate it. The fact that these were local fam-

ilies made it very exciting for me.”

Scholar assists with translation

Editor’s Note:

The Diary of John B. Sheets, of Mt. Crawford, Co. I, 33rd Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., transcribed by Dale Harter, will continue in the Fall 2011 news-letter.

Volume 33, No. 2

Thanks To Our Business Sponsors For Their Proud Support Of HRHS

LDA Creations

2328 Silver Lake Road, Dayton, VA 22821

540-879-2800

If your business would like to become

a supporter of THE HERITAGE MUSEUM,

contact Ann-marie at 540-879-2616.

ON THE WEB: Two new databases provide resources


Track A Soldier To Battle

More than two million soldiers fought in the American Civil

War and more of them fought in Virginia than in any other state.

Millions of Americans today are descendants of Civil War sol-

diers who fought in Virginia. Now for the first time visitors can

track the movements of a soldier or regiment with the new Walk

In Their Footsteps program at www.VirginiaCivilWar.org/

footsteps.

The database of military regiments identifies the battles in

which those regiments fought. Having identified a particular regi-

ment of interest, a visitor can track the movements of that unit

from battlefield to battlefield. The website provides regimental

histories and descriptions of battles fought and casualties sus-

tained. An accompanying map pinpoints the location of each bat-

tlefield and offers links to available photos, illustrations, and his-

torical narratives.

The site also links to a wealth of history and genealogy re-

sources, like military records, census data, birth and death records,

and a state-by-state listing of sources.

Slave Names Database To Launch In September The Virginia Historical Society recently received a $100,000

grant from Dominion Resources and The Dominion Foundation to

fund the creation of Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia

Slave Names. This free, online database will contain personal in-

formation about enslaved Virginians gleaned from some of the

more than eight million processed manuscripts in VHS collec-

tions. VHS will launch the database in September with 1,000

names.

It is the first of its kind in the United States, said VHS presi-

dent and CEO Paul Levengood.

The road from emancipation and Reconstruction to the civil

rights movement and the election of Virginia's first black gover-

nor is well documented in Virginia history. But early African

American history (from the arrival of the first slaves through the

Civil War) is often represented only through the words of white

observers, freed persons who looked back on slavery many years

later, or the records generated by others about African Americans

who achieved recognition for their actions. For most enslaved

Americans, the only physical record of their existence may be a

name in a register kept by a slave owner.

Unknown No Longer will be searchable through the use of a

variety of keywords, such as name, gender, location, occupation,

and plantation. It will also include images of original source docu-

ments for easy reference.

"We have witnessed a growing audience frequenting the VHS

in search of information that our records might provide, such as

names of enslaved people, plantation sites, occupation and family

relations, values, and birth, death, or sale dates," said chief librari-

an Frances Pollard.

“Existing databases profile specific plantations and ship mani-

festos with African names of their human cargo or other forced

migratory information,” said curator of African American history

Dr. Lauranett Lee, who will oversee the Unknown No Longer re-

search. Unknown No Longer will be the first database of names

that relate back to plantations or places of work across all of

slaveholding Virginia."

BONNIE L. PAUL, P.C.

Attorney at Law

4159 QUARLES COURT TELEPHONE: 540.433.0990

HARRISONBURG, VA 22801 FACSIMILE: 540.433.2691

EMAIL: [email protected]

http://www.virginiacivilwar.org/footsteps

http://www.virginiacivilwar.org/footsteps

Harrisonburg - Rockingham Historical Society

P.O. Box 716

Dayton, Virginia 22821

Non-Profit

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 19

Harrisonburg/Rockingham

OR CURRENT ADDRESS

From the desk of the Executive Director:

At the eve of my first anniversary at The Heritage Museum

and Historical Society, I would like to say a special “thank

you” to all of you for helping to make this organization

such a wonderful place. In the last year, we have wel-

comed exhibits on Hotchkiss and Fraktur, expanded our

genealogy library due to many kind gifts, held fascinating

programs on the Civil War and local history, increased vis-

itation to our facilities, and gratefully received donations of

time, talent, and funds. We are very, very thankful for all

of these contributions.

I am regularly amazed by our volunteers and the dedication

they have to HRHS. Each volunteer contributes unique

talents that continually make our organization stronger. I

am also very grateful for the efforts by staff members Pen-

ny Imeson, Amy Kiracofe, Cameran Hupp, Juanita

Wysong, Laura Adams, and Lauren Jefferson to keep

HRHS running like a top. This is an exceptional place with

exceptional people.

If you haven’t been in for a while, please stop in for a visit.

Our newest exhibit on Shenandoah Valley Folk Art Fraktur

is breathtaking and instructive. Our bookstore has been

recently restocked and our gift shop is full of beautiful and

hand-made items for your home, including original Fraktur

prints by local artist Joan Shaver. Our library beckons with

family secrets waiting to be unlocked and there are many

exciting programs on our calendar.

Our membership renewal begins in earnest in September

and we hope you will remain part of our vibrant and active

family. We also hope you will consider a financial contri-

bution to boost our efforts to continue to grow and thrive in

sustainable ways. Thank you again for your support of The

Heritage Museum and The Harrisonburg-Rockingham His-

torical Society. We cannot meet our mission to collect and

preserve Central Shenandoah Valley culture for the re-

search by and the education of

future generations without your

support.

Warm regards,

Ann-marie


featured artist: peter bernhart, fraktur-maker · featured artist: peter bernhart, fraktur-maker by...

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