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The Virginia Genealogist, April-June 1983

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Preface for Book 4

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS Toms Brook and Vicinity Shenandoah County, Virginia

This compilation is being published for posterity, and as another tool for family researchers, genealogists, hist-orians, and others, who have a sincere interest in their an-cestors, and a deep respect for the deceased, and their fin-al resting places, as it is all too common for individuals to forget their ancestors, and the memory dulls with each succeeding gneration. It it hoped that errors of perception, transcription, and collation are minimal, as they are not intentional, however they do represent the frailties of man. If one cannot locate the names of their ancestors and collateral kindred in this volume, it is possible that the names may appear in three (3) previous volumes of tombstone inscriptions by this compiler, which were transcribed in Sh-enandoah County, Virginia, as follows: 1, "Tombstone Inscriptions, Toms Brook, and vicinity, Shenandoah County, Virginia", 1982, 308 pages, soft cover, seventeen (17) cemeter-ies, 3,500 plus name index. 2. "Tombstone Inscriptions, Strasburg, and vicinity, Shenandoah County, Virginia", 1982, 370 pages, soft cover, ten (10) cemeteries, 5,600 name index. 3. "Tombstone Inscriptions, Woodstock, and Fort Valley vicinities, Shenandoah County, Virginia", 460 pages, soft cover, two hundred and forty eight (248) cemeteries (mostly family or private), 9,000 plus name index, 1983. Many family historians and researchers have a compelling urge to view, and walk upon the ancestral lands of their forebears. This compiler also had this urge, and has been successful in locating several tracts of land, by studying the names in cemeteries, especially private or family cemeteries, and then checking the names against land conveyance records at the courthouse, and also the probate (wills and administrations) records. Very early land grants, and survey records, in the lower valley of Virginia were very sketchy concerning the actual location of the land being granted. In many early land grants, trees and rock formations, were named as landmarks, as were the names of adjacent land owners, when more dependable landmarks, such as streams were not present on the land. Land records are complete, and extant, in the courthouse at Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia. Land grant records, and survey records, are very complete, and are in the holdings of the Virginia State Library, at Richmond, Virginia. The 1885 "Lake Atlas", of Shenandoah County, Virginia has proven to be a boon to family researchers, genealogists, historians, and others, as the entire County of Shenandoah, was actually surveyed, and the names of the residents, and the location of their homes are imprinted on the map. A recent "Tax reassessment" article published by the Shenandoah Herald, Woodstock, Virginia, volume 166, No. 8, page 13, column 1, dated Thursday, 14 April 1983, indicates that there are approximately 27,500 parcels and tracts of land being taxed in Shenandoah County, Virginia. Those using the name index of this volume are cautioned to search for variants of any surname that they may be interested in, as a large percentage of the listed surnames are of Germanic origin, and very early scribes recorded the names in many different ways, thus perpetrating the incorrect usage of many surnames. In other words, the early recorders wrote down names as "they sounded to their own ears". The surname FADELEY is recorded in this volume as FADELY, FADLEY, and FATELY, and they are all in common use today in Shenandoah County, Virginia, except for the latter. This volume contains tombstone inscriptions transcribed from twenty four (24) Church, and Community cemeteries located in the Northern half of Shenandoah County, Virginia, and generally within a fifteen or twenty mile radius of Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia. Included are the very large Massanutten Cemetery at Woodstock, and the large Cedarwood Cemetery at Edinburg, Virginia. The name index of this volume contains 12,114 names, more or less, and quite a number of the burials occurred in the l700's, a very large number in the 18OO's, also a quite large number in the 1900's. The supplemental index contains surnames that failed the collation process, and are not included in the main index. During August-October 1983, this compiler will be in the Southern half of Shenandoah County, Virginia, transcribing tombstone inscriptions, in Church, Community, and family burial grounds. All tombstone inscriptions transcribed by this compiler will be placed in the holdings of The Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia; The Library of Congress; The Alderman Library, University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, Virginia; The National Genealogical Society, Washington, D. C.; The Virginia State Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia; The Virginia Genealogist, Washington, D. C.; The Virginia Genealogical Society, Richmond, Virginia; Rockingham Public Library, Harrisonburg, Virginia; The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D.G.; The Handley Library, Winchester, Virginia; The Woodstock City Library, Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, and in many other archives and records repositories. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote generations."

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