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Center for Local History

Uncovering Your Roots

Picture a Family Reunion…

Family members engage with distant relatives seen only once a year, sharing stories of childhood memories.

Now, imagine one of those stories leads to an astonishing and life-changing discovery: you’re descended from celebrated abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

Members of the Ross family sitting around a table examining artifacts from the archive

The Ross family, from left to right: Denise Winfield; Dorothy Jackson; Tina Jackson-Moore; Stephanie Ross Curry; Maryann Ross-Settles; Lula Juanita Ross-Levesque; Audrey Dillard.

In 2011, the Ross family was bewildered when they uncovered just this at their family reunion.

Audrey Dillard (Ross), descended from Harriet Tubman, was in utter disbelief when she found her heritage paired with Tubman’s.

“I remember being at the family reunion and seeing all these binders with information about Harriet Tubman. So, I ask my cousin, “Why on earth is all that information here?” And she said, “You really don’t know do you.” And when I found out, I was in shock!”

 

Black and White plate imag eof Granderson "Grady" Ross

Granderson “Grady” Ross

Tubman was born in Maryland circa 1822, so to find that a large majority of her relatives still called this area home was an exciting discovery for the Ross family. Through genealogical research and family recollections and conversations, it was uncovered that Dillard’s grandfather, Granderson “Grady” Ross, was in fact Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross’s nephew. That meant that the Ross family of Northern Virginia and Maryland were in fact direct descendants of Harriet Tubman.

When the realization sank in, Dillard, and her extended family, including her mother, Juanita Ross-Levesque (Granderson Ross’ daughter), who is Tubman’s “second blood cousin on the paternal side,” and likely the closest living relative to Harriet Tubman today, decided that they wanted to follow in Harriet’s footsteps. Therefore, in June of 2011, Harriet’s modern-day relatives took the same journey along the underground railroad, that she so courageously traversed over 165 years ago.

Tubman was a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad for approximately nine years, and during that time she guided countless slaves to freedom. Tubman is revered as one of America’s most historically significant persons. She fought for human rights and freedoms for the duration of her life. Despite the risks and bounty for her capture, she continuously returned to the south via the Underground Railroad to assist with the freeing and relocation of slaves, and continued with her mission to serve and help others until her final days.

During their journey along the Underground Railroad, the Ross family physically and emotionally connected with Tubman and her plight. They fully comprehended the sheer will, strength, fearlessness, and determination that Tubman, and other travelers along the route, possessed. “It was truly a life changing journey,” stated Dillard.

As they continue to delve into their family history and uncover a deeper connection to Tubman, the Ross family hopes to find new relatives and “family members just like us,” who will continue to celebrate, share, and keep the legacy of Harriet Tubman alive and thriving.

 

To do your own genealogical research or to learn more about Arlington and Northern Virginia’s history, please visit the Center for Local History at Central Library. You can also contact us by email or by calling 703-228-5966.

 

Arlington Beach, 1927: An Interview with Ruth Jones

Ruth Jones, born in March of 1913, began to visit Arlington Beach around 1927. The amusement park and beach were popular among area residents in the 1920s.

Arlington Beach occupied space around what was then known as the Long Bridge, and later became the Fourteenth St Bridge complex, from 1923 to 1929. The Washington Airport Corporation eventually bought the land for additional landing space, which then gave away to Pentagon construction.

In this audio clip, Mrs. Jones recalls her teenage years spent at the beach with her friends and future husband.

Narrator: Ruth Jones
Interviewer: Ingrid Kauffman
Interview Date: March 23, 1999

Transcript:

IK: And so can you tell us about Arlington Beach?
RJ: Well, I was just a young girl, 14 or 15 years old and I met my husband, well, he eventually was my husband.
IK: What was his name?
RJ: Raymond Jones. And he lived in Washington. And we started going to Glen Echo and to Arlington Beach and just having a good time for kids, you know. And so they had a roller coaster, a carousel –
IK: How much did that roller coaster cost?
RJ: Ten cents. A ride at your own risk. That’s the truth, too. It was rickety. After I came to Washington, it was only there for 2 years, 2 or 3 years, then they tore it down.
IK: They tore down the roller coaster?
RJ: Everything. And shut the beach down and all, to put the airport there.
IK: Oh, I see, yes. But tell us about everything you can remember there. You say there was a carousel?
RJ: Yes. And like I said, the roller coaster. And all the places you could go play games –
IK: Like what?
RJ: — along the beach. Like throwing darts to win a bunny or whatever they had, you know. Those kinds of things. And eating places, hot dog stands and things like that. And the dance pavilion was wonderful. It was a big, round pavilion, good music, you know, big band music in those days, big band.
IK: Do you remember any of the bands?
RJ: No, I can’t remember the bands.
IK: But it was live bands, huh?
RJ: Yes. We had a good time dancing. And the beach was great in those days.
IK: So, and then, tell us, you say they tore it down. What do you remember about that?
RJ: All I remember is they tore it down. They said they were closing it to put the airport in. And then they put the airport there. And then it wasn’t very long, even, before they tore that down. And my husband and them used to go to – my husband and daughter’s father-in-law – used to go to where the Pentagon is now. It was all woods, weeds and all. And they used to go there and pick elderberries and wild grapes and made the best wine you ever tasted. It was during Prohibition! But it was good wine.
IK: And you don’t remember any shacks or anything that –
RJ: No, but they built shacks down there. Yes they did. And we had neighbors that lived in Annandale after I moved to Annandale, they lived across the street from me, and they had lived down on the water like that. They were shacks.
IK: Oh, they lived on the water. RJ: They did. And they lived there free. It was federal government, see, they didn’t – but they finally told them to get out, they were putting the Pentagon in. So I’m telling the story lovely, aren’t I?

You can find Ruth Jones’ interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History – VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.71. For information about Arlington Beach, read the Center for Local History’s post, “A Day at the Beach.”

Photo: Arlington Beach Advertisement 1920; Source: Photographs of the Arlington Historical Society, PG 230-3447

 

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

From June 2017 – May 2018, we will post one oral history clip and transcript each month, focusing on Arlington’s history, culture and identity.

What is the oral history collection?

Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Pride Month: An Interview with Lilli Vincenz

Arlington Voices: Lilli Vincenz

Dr. Lilli Vincenz came to the Washington, DC area in 1963 as a WAC (otherwise known as the Women’s Army Corps). After being outed as a lesbian and receiving a general discharge, Dr. Vincenz found a community and a calling in LGB activism.

She quickly became involved in the Mattachine Society of Washington, an important organization in the fight for local and national rights for gay and lesbian Americans. A dedicated community activist, Dr. Vincenz hosted a weekly open house for lesbian women from 1971 to 1979 and founded the Community for Creative Self Development, an empowerment program for the LGB community from 1992 to 2004.

In this audio clip, Dr. Vincenz shares her memories of protesting discrimination against gay and lesbian sexuality with the Mattachine Society.

Narrator: Lilli Vincenz
Interviewer: Diane Kresh
Interview Date: November 14, 2013

Transcript:

DK: Can you talk a little bit about the Mattachine Society?

LV: Oh, I loved it. Yeah. I went there immediate—and I felt so good. It was wonderful. I just loved it.

DK: Well, what did you love about it?

LV: I was free. And then the picketing started and I have that noted also in there. And it was so exciting that that was the most important thing for me. I’ve got to do this, because there’s all the lies that have been made for people who think that gay people are bad people socially. And well, nobody had really told people that it’s all right to be gay. But now, of course, we’re getting this quickly now that this—everywhere now we’re—

DK: Huge change.

LV: Another marriage, another marriage, they’re doing all that!

DK: Did you think that that would happen in your lifetime, those kinds of changes?

LV: Well, early on I didn’t think right away, but I only knew I had to be there. I had to do it, because so few people could do it. And I felt that I could do it.

For more information about Lilli Vincenz, see the Lilli Vincenz collection at the Library of Congress.

 

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

From June 2017 – May 2018, we will post one oral history clip and transcript each month, focusing on Arlington’s history, culture and identity.

What is the oral history collection?

Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

 

Letters Home: Remembering World War I

When World War I began in mid-August of 1914, it divided the global superpowers into Central and Allied Powers.

But it was not until after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 – and incessant pleas from the Allied Powers – that the United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Then soldiers from all over the United Sates, including Arlington, signed up to “do their part for the War effort.”

Because of new innovations in weaponry and chemical warfare, this was unlike any previous war; more than nine million soldiers perished, and approximately twenty-one million were wounded between 1914-1918.

Many Americans never returned home, but one who did make it back to Arlington was Edward G. Fenwick.

Fenwick served as an ambulance driver during World War I, and his journey through wartime Europe can be relived through his numerous personal correspondences.

Remy Belgium Fenwicks Car

Fenwick’s World War I Ambulance

Fenwick's letter home, page 1

Fenwick’s letter home, page 1

With letters addressed to his loved ones, including his beloved “Momsie,” the contents reveal an intimate look at life behind-the-scenes during war, and a soldier’s internal struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy and familiarity amidst a chaotic war-torn backdrop.

These wartime correspondences, as well as other family records can be found in the Eastman-Fenwick Family Personal Paper Collection at the Center for Local History.  The Eastman-Fenwick Collection details the history of this well-known Arlington family over four generations.  The collection is comprised of wartime letters, (both Civil War and World War I) economic records of the family, 19th century sermons, genealogical materials, and various postcards and correspondences.

When Kristin Young, an Arlington County employee, discovered that the Center for Local History was going to showcase letters and photographs from World War I, she graciously loaned us a photograph of her grandfather, William Leo Diedrich for our exhibition.

William Leo Diedrich

William Leo Diedrich

Kristin’s grandfather served in France in 1917 and his personal diary quoted that he was “shot and gassed in October 1918.”  He survived the war but Kristin says, “My grandfather didn’t talk much about his service.  Nor did my uncles who served in WWII.  I can say that I am proud of my family’s tradition of service.”  In fact, Kristin is retired from the Navy Reserves.  She stated, “I’d like to think that I continued that tradition and hopefully made him proud.”

View the Center for Local History’s complete online World War I exhibit.

We also invite you to visit the Center for Local History’s Research Room at Central Library to see our World War I mini-exhibition, and to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse into this bygone wartime era.

 

The Center for Local history is happy to accept archival donations—please contact us through our webpage to speak to a staff member about your collection. 

The Center for Local History is a community driven archive which collects documents, photographs, and other archival records detailing Arlington’s diversified neighborhoods, groups and clubs, and residents.

 

Exploring the Story of Desegregation in Arlington Public Schools

“Project DAPS”

The richly documented story of public school desegregation in Virginia will be made accessible online by the County that led the way.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, in conjunction with the 2017 Feel the Heritage Festival, Arlington Public Library launches Projectdaps.org, a unique online exhibition and searchable database – built from thousands of photos, documents and recordings – surrounding the legal and moral battles that culminated with four courageous African American students taking their seats on Feb. 2, 1959 at Arlington’s Stratford Junior High School.

Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson walked into Stratford Junior High School on February 2, 1959. Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library

Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson walked into Stratford Junior High School on February 2, 1959.
Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library

 

“Project DAPS” (Desegregation of Arlington Public Schools) is culled from the holdings of the Library’s Community Archives in the Center for Local History (CLH) at Central Library.

The project explores the historic narrative starting with early integration efforts amid Arlington’s rapid growth of the 1940s. Many items were recently digitized for the first time.

In 2016, the Stratford school property was declared a local historic district. Library Director Diane Kresh says the timing was perfect for creating a “complementary and comprehensive digital collection to tell the story of this signal milestone in our rich community history.”

Because there are always more layers of history to find and examine, the CLH continually seeks community donations and oral histories, particularly as they relate to desegregation following the historic day at Stratford. To contribute, contact the CLH at 703-228-5966 or localhistory@arlingtonva.us.

This digital access project was completed using new FY2017 funding in the Department of Libraries budget dedicated to increasing public access to government records and archival materials.

The Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library is committed to collecting, preserving, and sharing the history of Arlington County. 

 

Voter Organization Focused on Local Issues for 93 Years

Organized Women Voters header

The Organized Women Voters of Arlington was founded in 1923, just three years after the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended the right to vote to women.

A decidedly non-partisan organization, the OWV was unique in its distinct attention to matters facing the County. In an interview with the Northern Virginia Sun in 1958, then-president Ms. Woolley stated she believed “that the Organized Women Voters of Arlington is the only women voters’ group in the United States that is concerned solely with matters of local interest.”

While the OWV’s objective was to “collect and disseminate political and civic information,” it also served an important role as a space for the improvement of women’s social position within the county. Many prominent female leaders from Arlington, including county board members and former state senator Mary Margaret Whipple, have been a part of this significant organization.

In an oral history recorded in 1983, former OWV President Mrs. Sue Renfro remembered a time early on in the organization’s history when the two functions of education and political support intersected:

“At the first meeting there was a Sheriff Fields that came to speak to the ladies since they were having the vote. And he promised them that he would do something for them, so they asked him would he be willing to make an appointment [appoint a woman, and he replied] “Well, yes, under the circumstances.”

So then they had the election. Sheriff Fields won, and he just seemed to forget about appointing a lady. And the ladies decided that they should go and inspect the jail.

So they made several trips to inspect the jail, and finally it was reported that the sheriff looked up one day and saw the committee coming again to inspect the jail and decided that he might just appoint one of them, and he appointed Mrs. Pauline Duncan.

… She was the first deputy woman sheriff in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

In the photo above, attendees gather at the OWV’s 31st birthday luncheon in 1954.

These were high-profile events for the organization, and every year the group named a “Woman of the Year” from Arlington County. In 1938, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was an honored guest. Today, the Organized Women Voters still meets on the 4th Tuesday of every month from September through May at Essy’s Carriage House, to hear from candidates and county representatives.

Thank you to current president Nancy Renfro for the information regarding the organization’s current activities.

 

Learn More from the Center for Local History at the Central Library.

You can request to view materials in person from Record Group 17 – Records of The Organized Women Voters of Arlington County – or read the full interview excerpted above with Sue Renfro and Lillian Simms, cataloged as VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.215.

 

Community Exhibit: We Are All Arlington!

Understanding and Celebrating Our 40-Year Legacy of Immigrants

On display in the Central Library lobby, October, 2016. 

We Are All Arlington

For the past 40 years, Arlington, Virginia, has been a gateway community for thousands of immigrants and refugees.

People from some 120 countries have settled here, creating a multicultural legacy that has changed what it means to be an Arlingtonian. We Are All Arlington! seeks to understand and appreciate the diverse narratives that connect our past to the present and to our common future, and to spark a conversation that explores what immigration has meant for Arlington.

Arlington’s reputation as a welcoming environment is owed to years of immigration policy and outreach, but the cultural fabric of Arlington is complex, and in its making are immigration stories of freedom, pain, and opportunity. This exhibit places a special focus on the diverse immigrant experiences and milestones of the past 40 years.

 

The exhibit follows a evening of panels, conversations and performances at Wakefield High School on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. The event and exhibit are made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. It is sponsored by Dream Project, Inc. and Arlington Public Schools in partnership with: Arlington Libraries, Arlington Historical Society, StudioPAUSE, REEP, ECDC, and Comité ProBolivia.

 

Curating Courage

Arlington Public Library Remembers September 11

“It was a beautiful day. It was a gorgeous, blue sky, crisp day and broken when the aircraft hit the building and the smoke that came off the Pentagon for hours and hours and then seeing the Pentagon glowing at night and having been military seeing the Pentagon, the fortress, the citadel of our military power burning, that is one of the images that’s burned, that will always be there. To turn that corner and look at the smoke and after we put people out, to go out at two o’clock or three o’clock in the morning that first night and seeing it glow, like I said, that will always be one of my memories.”

-James M. Daly, Police Officer

 

A Hill staffer; a firefighter; a former high school principal; a young mother – these are a few of the narrators whose stories are collected in “September 11: Oral History Interviews to Commemorate the 5th Anniversary.” 

Initiated, curated and made available by the Library’s Center for Local History, the collection is at once, raw, emotional, objective, and thought-provoking.  The stories are no less compelling today than they were 10 years ago.  In its totality, the collection is a factual document that thoughtfully and eloquently interprets the events of September 11, 2001.

Yet, it is more than that.

Stories define a community anchoring its past to its present to form a bedrock for its future.  Stories say: we celebrate, we care, and we honor.  As keepers of the public record, librarians have a unique obligation to collect and preserve the stories of our times. In its disarming candor and simplicity – just a group of narrators and interviewers –   the “September 11 Oral History Collection” illuminates and preserves for all time the experiences of fellow Arlingtonians as they went about their lives on an unimaginable day that changed the course of history.

We invite you to read, listen and remember.   

 

Celebrate Black History: Share the Story of Nauck/Green Valley

Explore Arlington’s Nauck in person. And if you can, help share the rich heritage digitally.

The community—bordered by Army-Navy County Club, Four Mile Run, South Walter Reed Drive and South 16th Road—features African American roots that predate the Civil War. Records from the 184os show that free blacks like Levi and Sarah Ann Jones bought land, built homes and sometimes found neighbors by selling excess portions of their lots.

A surge of growth came with the start of the 20th century, when an influx of former slaves arrived as the federal government shuttered its nearby Freedman’s Village.

Faced with encroaching segregation, Nauck/Green Valley residents became self-sustaining as entrepreneurs, educators, religious leaders, health workers and other professionals established an array of resilient neighborhood institutions.

Several survive to this day.

Nauck Green Vallery Heritage Project Banner

Through generous loans and donations by residents, descendants and their institutions, the official Nauck/Green Valley Heritage Project continues to grow as an online archive dedicated to capturing the community’s rich history and cultural legacy.

The archive is a partnership of Arlington Public Library’s Center for Local History, the Nauck Civic Association, Arlington County’s Neighborhood Services and Drew Model Elementary School.

The goal is to find and make available digitally those seemingly lost chapters—and images—that can add to one of Arlington’s most inspiring stories.

Spread the word about Nauck/Green Valley.

Preservationists are standing by: online donation form / email / 703-228-5966.

What Were These Men Doing?

Mystery Photo Answered

Thank you to everyone who participated in the interactive portion of the Local History Center’s “Treasures from the Vault” exhibit at the Central Library last month.

In the exhibit we asked visitors to guess what these two Arlington County employees were getting ready to do.

Here are some of our favorite responses:

  1. Studying amphibians at Ballston Pond
  2. Feeding the local Loch Ness Monster
  3. Fixing bridge supports
  4. Search and Rescue
  5. Space travel
  6. Diving to the bottom of the Key Bridge to look for lost car keys
  7. Searching for Atlantis
  8. Repairing leaky pipes
  9. River cleanup
  10. Working on Metro’s Orange line tunnel under the Potomac
  11. Exploring underwater for new life or fossils
  12. Modelling jumpsuits
  13. Selling makeup (If you look closely you’ll notice an Avon label on their gear)

The correct answer:

These are two Arlington County Public Works employees gearing up to repair a water main break under the Key Chain Bridge.

 

Help Our Collection Grow

If you have any interesting photos that help tell Arlington’s story please consider donating them to the Local History Center or allowing us to scan them.

For more information, stop by our Research Room on the first floor of the Central Library. You can also call us at 703-228-5966 or email us. 

 

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