I have had an interest in family history for a long time. My paternal grandmother was born into a large Mormon family and when I was a teenager we received a book in the mail from someone we didn’t know. It was the register of every descendant of my Swedish great-great-grandfather who came to America and walked to Utah from New York to be one of the earliest settlers of the Utah territory. We had cousins that lived only a few miles away that we had never met. I was hooked.
My maternal ancestors were a mystery to me for a long time, but I eventually found them in Scott County, Virginia. Through the internet.
I live in a small town outside of the city of San Diego, California. I have never been to Scott County, but feel a deep connections to the families that lived there and still do.
In the late 1990’s I bought a CDrom (remember those?) of the scanned images of the 1850 Scott County Federal census. There were no images of the census pages online way back then and there was a project underway to transcribe the census records and put them online. I drove in, and along with the help of a few special people, seven months later I had finished the transcription. At that time my last name was Drake.
During the process of transcribing the records I began to feel like I knew these people. I could see who their neighbors were and how they were all connected to each other. It was one of the most gratifying things I had ever done.
I don’t even remember how I got stared posting the photographs. I originally started this site at rootsweb around 2001 but the process of hand coding each page was time consuming and I burned out. Several years later I discovered WordPress, the platform this site is built on, and moved all the photos here from rootsweb. It gave me the ability to allow comments and add new items more easily.
I love this site and the connections that have happened because of it. It’s truly wonderful to see a comment or get an email from someone who has found a photo of ancestor. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Patty ~once a Drake, once a Simmons, always a Jones
Hello.. My name is Kimberly Cox and my mom and her whole side of the family are Carter’s from Virginia… Scott county I think.. Anyways.. My great grandfather William Henry Carter owned a house there.. A 2 story house and was told some Coxs own it now and rent it.. Was just wondering do you know any of them or can find anything out about it??? My Great grandmother name was Ellen Carter.. They had 5 boys and 1 girl.. Billy Carter.. Emmitt Carter.. Paul Carter.. Mack Carter.. Milford Carter.. And Opal Carter.. I would love to know A lot more about any of them .. Thank you for your time.. Kim
Hey Patty,
I am happy to see the email notifications from the site coming. I hadn’t visited Faces and Places in a while — I like what you’ve done, here! Thanks so much for your passionate work. My Scott County, Virginia roots were not always known to me nor my family, but now that we’ve become aware sites like this are indeed priceless.
You’re most welcome! Glad you found us.
Hi Patty,
I am researching Watson Whitaker family of Boozy Creek, Scott County Virginia. Watson had a daughter, Amanda (b.1856) who married Joseph Patton Jones (b.1861). I am curious if there is any relation to your “Jones” and if so do you have any information on Watson and his wife Mary Ann.
Hi Wanda,
My Jones family is not related. They settled in Chicago, immigrants from Wales.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I love the work you have done on this page.
Thank you Wanda!