Newsletter: Brentsville Neighbors

If you're researching Brentsville ancestors, I highly recommend Morgan Breeden's newsletter, Brentsville Neighbors: Preserving Brentsville's History.  Each issue is chock full of information that can include, among other things, family histories, photos, flashbacks, local color, and upcoming events in Brentsville, the Prince William county seat from 1820 to January 1, 1894.

Brentsville Neighbors - April 2011
Brentsville Neighbors - May 2011

To subscribe, please email Morgan at the address on the newsletter and ask to be added to the mailing list.

Alexandria Gazette

When looking for newspaper articles about your ancestors, don't forget to check publications in neighboring cities.  The Alexandria Gazette, for instance, often published news and society snippits from Prince William county.  Searchable copies of the Alexandria Gazette from 1834-1974 can be found online at Chronicling America.

For example:

Alexandria Gazette - January 6, 1900 - PARALYZED.  Mrs. Thomas N. Conrad, wife of Professor Conrad, was paralyzed yesterday at her home at Neabsco Mills, Prince William County.  She was formally Miss Emma Ball, of King George county, and has a large circle of friends and relatives throughout the State.  The attack was severe, and the lady’s life is despaired of.

Alexandria Gazette – April 16, 1900 - FIRE IN PRINCE WILLIAM – The dwelling of Col. Thomas H. Leachman, of Folly Hall, Prince William county, was destroyed by fire early yesterday morning and very little of the contents of the dwelling were saved.  The houlse was an old Virginia mansion, well known in that section.  Miss Leachman, the daughter of Col. Leachman, is in Alexandria, a guest of Mrs. James E. Alexander, having come from home to attend the conference in Washington.  Col. Leachman is the father of the sheriff of Prince William county.  Mr. S. H. Lunt, of this city, has tendered Col. Leachman’s family a dwelling on his farm near Wellington, in Prince William county.

Publication: Prince William Reliquary

The Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center (RELIC) located at the Bull Run Regional Library in Manassas, publishes Prince William Reliquary, an online newsletter of county history and genealogy. It's a goldmine of information and well worth investigating.

All of the issues can be found on RELIC's Prince William Reliquary page in .pdf format. The site also includes indexes of the surnames in Volumes 1 through 7. The index to Volume 8 is being compiled and should be available in the near future.

Can I file for divorce if I don't know where my spouse is?

Can I file for divorce if I don't know where my spouse is?
Yes. You can file for divorce if you do not know where your spouse is.
You must show the court that you have exhausted all reasonable means to find your spouse. Your spouse must have been gone for over a year as well. Usually, a process server is involved. They will perform a skip trace to see if they can locate the spouse. If that comes up empty, the petitioner will have to send the notice of filing to the last known address and to the last known place of work. If that fails, then the court will have the notice published in the paper. If there is no response in the required amount of time (per local/state law) then the court will allow one party to obtain a default divorce without the other spouse.