Research Trip Serendipity

I took a trip to the Virginia Piedmont area and East Tennessee in August. My Wray and McPike ancestors were from the Piedmont area of Virginia. I started my journey in Lynchburg where I visited the Jones Memorial Library which is a genealogy library.

Traveling around Lynchburg was easy. The city has a bus system, it’s pretty limited but cheaper than renting a car or using Uber or Lyft.

 

From Lynchburg I moved onto Franklin County, Virginia. I took a Greyhound bus from Lynchburg to Roanoke (I found out train service was also available and I probably should have taken the train). Roanoke being a city it was easy to get a Lyft to my hotel in Franklin County. 

I arrived in Rocky Mount on a Saturday. I was told by the front desk person at my hotel that there was no public transportation, Uber or Lyft. The one car rental agency was closed until Monday. I wanted to travel about 12 miles to Boones Mill where some of my ancestors lived. I decided to try to schedule a Lyft for Sunday morning.

A Lyft driver did pickup the ride. I believe they picked it up because the wrong pickup location was given to them. I received a message that the driver had arrived, but didn’t see him? I called to ask where his car was. We then discovered he was about 20 minutes away from me. He agreed to pick me up anyway. If he knew I was farther away he probably wouldn’t have picked me up.

Talking to him on the way to Boones Mill we discovered we had a mutual interest in visiting cemeteries. He agreed to take me to cemeteries, and other places of interest, if I paid cash for his gas.

I had worried about getting back from Boones Mills. He agreed to come back and pick me up later. If he hadn’t picked me up I would have called a taxi in Roanoke, and it would have cost a fortune and there would be no guarantee they would pick me up.

Since the driver knew the area I saw more of the area than I would have on my own. He has family living in Boones Mills. I didn’t lose any precious time waiting to rent a car and didn’t get stranded somewhere without the ability to get back. When I was in Lynchburg I visited Poplar Forest, but couldn’t visit the town of Bedford without a car. I wanted to do some research there. The Lyft driver took me to Bedford where I was able to see and hold an ancestor's 1767 will.

I also met a friend of the Lyft driver who is distantly related to me. She knew quite a bit about our shared Wray family. 

When I went on to Knoxville, Tennessee I was able to get around easily using buses, and walking. I decided to visit the rural area where my Forgey family came from one day. Like Roanoke it was easy to get a Lyft to the Corryton area. I worried a little about getting back. I again figured I could call a taxi if worse came to worse.

It seemed the easiest to set my ride destination as the Nicholas Gibbs log house. I had been wanting to take a closer look at that house after reading about an archaeological dig there. Also my ancestor Hugh Forgey was acquainted with Nicholas Gibbs because Gibbs posted a bond for Hugh. The Lyft driver had difficulty finding the log house. We did finally find it. The house is operated by the local historical society. I was just going to look in the windows, and then walk around the area where I believe my family’s land was.

There were phone numbers on one of the windows. I decided to call and ask if it would be possible to go inside the house? By chance one of the volunteers was in the area and came right over and showed me around.

As I did everywhere I went I asked if the volunteer knew anything about the Forgey family? He said absolutely. He found a trunk full of papers in an old house in the area and there were a few documents with the surname Forgey. He told me most of the papers were now at the Calvin M. McClung Genealogy Library in Knoxville. I had been there several times and didn't know about that special collection. I planned on returning to that library later in the day.

The volunteer, Mr. Longmire, was very nice. He offered to take me around in his truck and show me the area where my ancestors lived. Again I lucked out. It was very hot and humid and would have been difficult for me to walk very far. Actually the area where my family's land was turned out to be farther from the Gibbs house than I thought. It was about 3 miles away. He also took me to the Sawyers house where the many of the papers found in the trunk were originally stored. They were actually moved to the McBee house, which he also showed. A Sawyer's daughter married a McBee. These families were related to the Forgey family by marriage.

 

Mr. Longmire also showed me his collection of genealogy material at his house. I also met his wife, and dog. He left me off at a Target where I was able to get a Lyft back to Knoxville, that was ideal. I couldn't believe my luck meeting up with him!

I spent 2 days going through the McBee/Sawyers papers at the Calvin M. McClung collection. There were documents naming Forgeys, and Civil War letters that were fascinating.

In hindsight, not renting a car for this journey turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The challenges I faced led to unexpected encounters, deeper insights, and a richer understanding of my ancestral roots. My trip reinforced the notion that on a research trip, the more people you engage with, the more you are likely to learn.

I also attended the all day History Hootenanny during my trip, which included historic home tours