Nock Family Heritage

Accomack County’s history revolves around two elements: the land and the sea. The land is fertile, capable of producing great bounty, and Accomack is surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. So Accomack has enjoyed two advantages: an ability to produce food and the means of getting it to market. Public wharves were once located on many creeks where farmers would bring crops for market. Then, in 1884, the railroad came through. The railroad created new towns–Parksley, Onley, Keller, Tasley, and Painter–and it meant the demise of the numerous public wharves. Today most of these old gathering places exist only as names on a map and perhaps a collection of twisted pilings at the water’s edge, the last tangible evidence of a time in our history long past.

We are very excited to announce we have added more than 220 million historical New England records to our existing database creating the most comprehensive collection of New England records available online!

Included in the new collections are birth, marriage and death records for hundreds of millions of residents in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, as well as images, diaries and articles from Colonial times to the 1980s.

Over the past few months, we have spent more than 10,000 hours digitizing and indexing historical records from the region in order to make them easily accessible online.  The new records reveal countless facts of people from the region, from population to job growth, while also bringing insights into the life of notable New Englanders.

While the new records will help people discover their family’s New England history, they also shed light on what life was like for the typical New Englander in various periods of the region’s history.

— in Craddockville, VA.

Well, Memorial Day has now ended. I want to take a few minutes to reflect on what this day really means to me. When we re-do the same holidays every year, I think that at certain point we take them for granted. This holiday in particular is one that we definitely do not want to take for granted.

Like most Americans, I’ve had quite a few family members serve in the United States Military. Patriotism has always been strong in my family. Many Americans see the Armed Forces as a way to better themselves, and a way to show their love for this country. You may have been an immigrant trying to prove your allegiance to America, or an African-American trying to show ”White Society” that you are worthy of the uniform. Whatever your reasons may have been, once you put on that uniform, defending this great nation became foremost in your mind.

Over the nearly 250 year history of the experiment called America, many of her citizens have made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation. They lost their lives fighting for principles set down by our Founding Fathers so long ago. They lost their lives fighting to maintain a level of freedom that no people in history have ever experienced. It is for this reason that we as a nation stop our daily routines, and honor our fallen heroes. For all of those who’ve donned the uniform of the United States Armed Forces, we, as a nation, ”Thank You For Your Service”!