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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Lewis Yankey genealogical research files, 1941-1991, SC 0404, James Madison University Special Collections, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Donated by Donnita K. Williams, granddaughter of Lewis Yankey.
The materials descended through Shirley Kuykendall, daughter of Lewis Yankey.
The bound notebooks were heavily annotated with post-it notes. The post-its were used to flag names, families, and stories that are present in the notebooks, but did not provide additional context or content. As a result, the post-it notes were all removed and discarded.
The bulk of the notebooks are undated. An approximate date of 1990 was applied to all of the undated notebooks and is based on the publication dates of Yankey's compiled genealogies which date to the late 1980s and early 1990s. The notebooks that are dated have a date written on the front cover or elsewhere in the notebook. The dates written on the front covers likely document when the notebooks were typed in preparation for publication. The same dating strategy was employed for the research files. Therefore, the date ranges in this collection reflect when the research was compiled and are not representative of the dates of the subject matter documented within the collection.
Many groupings of papers in the research files were received stapled together. Those groupings were retained.
Lewis Harvey Yankey (1903-2000) was born in Criders, Virginia to William Harvey Yankey and Victoria Halterman Yankey. In 1924, he married Mary Ann Thomas (1909-1976), who predeceased him. They had thirteen children. He married Ressie Viola Sutherly (1904-1991) in 1984. Lewis Yankey was active in the local Brocks Gap community. He was a member of Valley View Mennonite Church and Bergton Ruritan Club. He helped to establish the local 4-H clubs, the Bergton Fair, and Friendship Park, a picnicking area and campground located on the Yankey property in Criders. Yankey was an avid genealogist and historian of the local area and its families. He worked with other contributors including Pat Turner Ritchie to publish more than 20 genealogies and family histories. In addition to his contributions to the Brocks Gap community, Yankey was a farmer by trade and also worked for the U.S. Forest Service.
Yankey dedicated years of his life researching and documenting the families of the Brocks Gap area of western Rockingham County. Geographically, Brocks Gap encompasses the larger communities of Fulks Run, Bergton (formerly Dovesville), and Criders as well as the smaller communities familiar to local residents of Dry River, Runions Creek, Genoa, Palos, Hopkins Gap, Riverside, Yankeetown, Bennetts Run, Crab Run, Germany River, and Overly Hollow.
The collection, compiled by Lewis Yankey, comprises genealogical research files on families in Rockingham County, specifically Brocks Gap, dating from the mid-18th century to the late 20th century.
The genealogical research, captured over the course of several decades, documents family lines and kinship; birth, marriage, and death information; cemetery records; narrative accounts; and traditions for families in the Brocks Gap area of western Rockingham County. Names include Dove, Crider/Kreider, Nesselrodt/Nazelrod, Whetzel, Mongold, Yankey, Hottinger, Riggleman, Sirk/Zirk, Moyer, Halterman, Caplinger/Keplinger, Wittig, Fulk, Ritchie, Siever, etc. These materials were used in the research and publication of Lewis Yankey's genealogies on local families.
While notebooks and research files may primarily document a specific family, researchers should be aware that many of the Brocks Gap families covered in Yankey's research are interrelated through marriage and are documented in other family genealogies. Researchers are encouraged to cross-reference files.
The collection is arranged in two series:
U.S. Forest Service oral histories, 1972-1994, SdArch 19, Special Collections, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
The series comprises bound, ledger-type volumes and spiral notebooks of handwritten family genealogies. The bulk of the notebooks are labeled with specific family names but other related families are typically included as well. In addition to typical genealogical information, the notebooks include transcriptions and summaries of deeds, wills, surveys, census records, and other official documents as well as copied correspondence between Lonzo Dove and Lorenzo "Doc" Smith, who were also local historians and genealogists.
Many of the notebooks include notes (e.g. "Done", "Copied") and checkmarks throughout that indicate the contents was typed and/or indexed, presumably by Pat Turner Ritchie who assisted Yankey with his research, in preparation for publication.
May, Dove, Siever, Freed, Reedy, miscellaneous.
Stultz, Fink, Wittig, census, miscellaneous
Whetzel (Weissell)
May, Ritchie, Dove, Sonifrank
Dove, Riggleman, Ritchie, May, witch story
Whetzel, Caplinger, May, Shaver, Ritchie
Shaver, Lantz, May
Hottinger, Shaver, May, copied Lonzo Dove letters
Miscellaneous (Dove, Delawder, Hupp, Secrist, Smith, Whetzel, Shaver, Sonifrank, Stultz, etc.; Fort Seybert massacre, Pendleton County; copied Lonza Dove-Doc Smith letters)
Pendleton County marriages, Whetzel, Mongold, Hottinger, Freed, etc.
Dove, Mongold
Dove (Doup, Daub, Doup)
Caplinger, Caplinger Cemetery
Yankey
Latnz, Will, Whetzel, Heavener
Siever
Crider; Capliner, Crider, Freed family marriages
Nesselrodt, Jacob C. Yankey (shot and killed on top of Shenandoah Mountain by unknown assailant)
Baker, Mongold, Siever
Smith, Caplinger, Siever, Yankey, Sirk, Delawder, miscellaneous
Caplinger, Yankey, Stultz, Aubrey, Dove, Whetzel, Overly, Ritchie, Harriet Dove (rumored to be a witch), marriages, births, deaths
Crider, Dove, Sutherly, Smith, Moyer, Halterman
Dove
Brocks Gap essay, copied Lonzo Dove-Doc Smith letters
Dove, Heavener, Whetzel, Caplinger, Lantz, May
Whetzel, Sutherly, Heavener, copied Lonzo Dove letters
Sirk, Bible, Thomas, Fawley, Fulk, Roadcap, West, Custer, Souder, marriages, deeds
Dove, Smith, copied Lonzo Dove-Doc Smith letters
Souders, Dove Cemetery (Martin Luther Lutheran Church Cemetery), marriages, wills, deeds, miscellaneous
Whetzel, Wetsel, Weissell
Dove (English), Doup (German), Ritchie, Crider, Whetzel, voters at Wittig's, election results
The series contains typed and handwritten genealogical research files organized primarily according to family. Documents include typed transcripts of research documented in the notebooks. As a result, the content across series may overlap or be duplicative. Correspondence to Yankey from family members, genealogists, and research contributors requests and/or provides details on specific families. The 1988 Bergton-Criders Community Calendar features a photograph of the K-5 students at Bergton Elementary School with a twelve-month calendar documenting birthdays and anniversaries of local community members. An envelope of photographic negatives is filed with Assorted Notes.