By: Lawrence Bopp On the 6th of November 1860, Lewis and Ella Washington were wed at her family residence of Clover Lea in Mechanicsburg, Virginia. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Beallair in Jefferson County to establish their home together. We know Lewis and Ella were distant cousins; Lewis was George Washington’s great-grandnephew and Ella a… Read more »
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The first of the ledgers from the Strider general store in Uvilla has completed its conservation! Thank you to Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding for doing such a stellar job and to Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation for giving a Two Rivers Giving Circle Grant to support this effort! We look forward to being able to share updates on the other two ledgers and making these resources available to researchers.
The Jefferson County Museum will be CLOSED Thursday, June 19, in honor of Juneteenth. ![]()
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Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, falls on the anniversary of enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865. ![]()
Did you know that Jefferson County's African American population had its own emancipation celebrations later in the year? On September 4, 1869, the Shepherdstown Register reported on one such event held the previous Thursday, which included a procession to the Courthouse (McMurran Hall, which served as the County Courthouse from 1865-1871), and then on to a celebration at Lemon's Grove that culminated in a parade through Shepherdstown and a events at a local schoolhouse. The newspaper recorded speeches by Peter Hodge, who served as Chief Marshal of the event, a Professor Butler of Baltimore, W.U. Saunders of the Post Office Department in Maryland, and a Rev. Jones. ![]()
Moxley's Band, which played throughout the day, was based in the Hagerstown area and known to play at emancipation celebrations in Maryland, Jefferson, and Loudoun counties. There were many other local civic and fraternal groups in attendance. ![]()
Coverage of this event gives us a glimpse into the long history of celebrating emancipation in Jefferson County and the United States.