Dennis Partridge
Blair Joshua Fishburn was a Roanoke business executive, civic leader, and politician born in Big Lick in 1876. The son of tobacco manufacturer Reuben Harvey Fishburn, he attended Randolph-Macon Academy, led several banking and commercial firms, served on Roanoke’s city council and in the Virginia House of Delegates, and gave land for Fishburn Park.
The Alexander family traced its origins to Scotland and later Ulster before several members emigrated to America in the eighteenth century. Archibald Alexander, born in Ireland in 1708, came first to Pennsylvania and then settled on the South River in Virginia about 1747. His descendants became closely associated with Timber Ridge, Rockbridge County government, Washington College, the Presbyterian Church, and several prominent educational institutions.
The Preston family was among the early Scotch-Irish families associated with the settlement of the central Shenandoah Valley. John Preston, a shipmaster from Dublin, Ireland, came to Virginia with Colonel James Patton and lived for a time at Spring Hill before establishing a home near Staunton. Through his children and grandchildren, the family became connected with the Breckenridge, Brown, McDowell, Smith, and Howard families and produced descendants prominent in religion, law, politics, and western migration.
The McDowell family was among the early settlers of the Timber Ridge area of Rockbridge County, Virginia. Ephraim McDowell arrived with his family in 1737, accompanied by his sons James and John and his daughter Mary, wife of James Greenlee. Through the next several generations, the family became associated with frontier settlement, land surveying, military service, county government, and several prominent Virginia families.
Members of the Vance family appear among the early settlers and public figures of several Virginia frontier communities during the eighteenth century. James Vance was established at Opequon by the 1730s and married into the Glass family, while David Vance participated in the organization of Frederick County government. Later, John and Joseph Vance appear among the Presbyterian settlers of the Holston River valley. The surviving account does not establish the precise relationship among these different Vance families.
The Glass family was among the early Scotch-Irish families who settled along Opequon Creek in Frederick County, Virginia. Samuel Glass and his wife, Mary Gamble, came from County Down, Ireland, and established their home near the head spring of the Opequon in 1736. Their descendants remained closely associated with the creek valley, establishing homes at places known as Cherry Mead and Long Meadows, while other branches spread westward beyond the Allegheny Mountains.
The Hoge family was among the early Presbyterian families associated with the Opequon settlement in the northern Shenandoah Valley. William Hoge, a native of Paisley, Scotland, came to America as a young man and eventually settled with his family in Virginia about 1735. From this early household descended several families prominent in the religious and civic history of Frederick County and elsewhere in Virginia. The following account brings together the Hoge family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship.
Frank Armstrong, Jr., born in Clarksburg in 1900, built a distinguished career with National Fruit Product Company, becoming treasurer in 1945 and president in 1950. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, he also served in banking, business, and civic leadership roles in Winchester. He and Margaret Tweltridge married in 1927 and raised four children.
The Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Collection has digitized numerous yearbooks of Floyd County High School in Floyd, Virginia. These yearbook images they have placed online for everyone at Internet Archive. To facilitate your access, we have provided links to the individual yearbooks below, by year published, oldest to newest. All 14 of these yearbooks, can be read, and/or downloaded from the following links for free!
Richard Baker II was born on July 25, 1797 in Washington Co., TN and died August 25, 1871 in Wise Co., VA. He was the son of Richard Baker I and Mary “Polly” Mullins. Richard Baker II married Abigail Beverly. Abigail was born about 1805 in Wythe Co., VA and died 1862 in Wise Co., VA. Abigail was the daughter of Elijah Beverly, Sr. and Mary “Polly” Freeman. Richard and Abigail settled in Russell Co. (now Wise, Co.), VA on Guest’s River between Tacoma and Ramsey near Norton, VA. They later moved to the Bold Camp section of Wise Co., VA near Pound, VA. Richard and Abigail are buried in the Jim Baker Cemetery, Wise Co., VA. They had 12 children of which 11 lived to adulthood.