Old Virginia Houses Along the James

Dear Family Trails readers,

This week let's look at the book, "Old Virginia Houses Along the James" by Emmie Ferguson Farrar. Published in 1957, this book documents "...the narrow strip of land bordering the James River, from Richmond to the Capes and Yorktown…" and is filled with beautiful black and white photography by Harry Bagby. The book jacket continues to read: " …both historically and architecturally, this is one of the most significant areas of the Old Dominion. In this setting are the lovely old houses represented in this second volume* of Mrs. Farrar's series. Her charmingly descriptive text and the 160 superb photographic studies record the very essence of these houses as well as the histories and legends of the families who built them."

In the book Mrs. Farrar describes the home of Thomas Rolfe, the only son of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Two other homes included were the birthplaces of two of our American presidents, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. She wrote about George Washington meeting his future bride, Martha Dandridge Custis, at a beautiful James River home. 

And…for us, page 156 in this book holds key facts about our family ancestor, Richard Pace. His land grant of 600 acres in the Virginia colony from King James I was named "Pace"s Paines" and later became "Mount Pleasant." Emmie Ferguson Farrar's book helped our family begin the search for our roots when she published the story of Isabella and Richard Pace. For more about the Paces, see the previous posts, "We're Coming to America" and "HOW DID WE EVER GET HERE?"

If you are interested in finding this book, there are several copies available on Amazon
through third party sellers at reasonable prices.  

*The first volume in this series is called, "Old Virginia Houses: The Mobjack Bay Country," also available on Amazon.

Do you have an interesting book that has helped you did deeper into your family lore? If so, I would love to hear about it. "Weaver Wednesdays" may lead us into "Thumb Through a Book Thursdays."
Happy reading!
Love,
Mariellan