When Clans Collide


Book Description

When Clans Collide: The Germination of Adams Family Tree through Surname, Life Experience, and DNA tells the story of author Wayne Rudolph Davidsons surname and its ancestral connection to individuals and events that have shaped the world in which we live. When Davidson set out to discover the ancestral history of his surname, he had no idea what he would encounter. On his journey, he discovered that people with the surname of Davidson have contributed to government and politics, business and economics, social sciences, religion, education, science and technology, music and entertainment, sports and recreation, and military history. The research included here illustrates events ranging from the evolution of the English Crown and the building of North America to the American Revolution and the American Civil War. He also discovered quite a few events linked to African American history, including the period of Reconstruction, Buffalo Soldiers and the Great Plains, and the Great Migration. Davidsons have also contributed to the popularity of sports and entertainment, the growth of the office of the president of the United States, both World Wars, and the sacrifice of heroes. Interesting and informative, When Clans Collide explores the history of one surname and provides a foundation and plan for making the connection to your own ancestral heritage through your surname.




Documentary History of Jamestown Island


Book Description

This is the 2nd volume of the ten-volume Jamestown Archaeological Assessment (JAA) representing the culmination of six decades of archaeology conducted by the National Park Service on one of the most significant sites in North America.




Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia


Book Description

In 1619, a group of thirty-two African men, women and children arrived on the shores of Virginia. They had been kidnapped in the royal city of Kabasa, Angola, and forced aboard the Spanish slave ship San Juan Bautista. The ship was attacked by privateers, and the captives were taken by the English to their New World colony. This group has been shrouded in controversy ever since. Historian Ric Murphy documents a fascinating story of colonialism, treason, piracy, kidnapping, enslavement and British law.







Tobacco, Pipes, and Race in Colonial Virginia


Book Description

Tobacco, Pipes, and Race in Colonial Virginia investigates the economic and social power that surrounded the production and use of tobacco pipes in colonial Virginia and the difficulty of correlating objects with cultural identities. A common artifact in colonial period sites, previous publications on this subject have focused on the decorations on the pipes or which ethnic group produced and used the pipes, “European,” “African,” or “Indian.” This book weaves together new interpretations, analytical techniques, classification schemes, historical background, and archaeological methods and theory. Special attention is paid to the subfield of African diaspora research to display the complexities of understanding this class of material culture. This fascinating study is accessible to the undergraduate reader, as well as to graduate students and scholars.




Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635


Book Description

"From the earliest records relating to Virginia, we learn the basics about many of these original colonists: their origins, the names of the ships they sailed on, the names of the "hundreds" and "plantations" they inhabited, the names of their spouses and children, their occupations and their position in the colony, their relationships with fellow colonists and Indian neighbors, their living conditions as far as can be ascertained from documentary sources, their ownership of land, the dates and circumstances of their death, and a host of fascinating, sometimes incidental details about their personal lives, all gathered together in the handy format of a biographical dictionary" -- publisher website (January 2008).




Written in Bone


Book Description

Bright white teeth. Straight leg bones. Awkwardly contorted arm bones. On a hot summer day in 2005, Dr. Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution peered into an excavated grave, carefully examining the fragile skeleton that had been buried there for four hundred years. "He was about fifteen years old when he died. And he was European," Owsley concluded. But how did he know? Just as forensic scientists use their knowledge of human remains to help solve crimes, they use similar skills to solve the mysteries of the long-ago past. Join author Sally M. Walker as she works alongside the scientists investigating colonial-era graves near Jamestown, Virginia, as well as other sites in Maryland. As you follow their investigations, she'll introduce you to what scientists believe are the lives of a teenage boy, a ship's captain, an indentured servant, a colonial official and his family, and an enslaved African girl. All are reaching beyond the grave to tell us their stories, which are written in bone.