George M. Smith Collection

991 THL

Scope and Content: This collection contains materials from various churches in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia, USA, articles on Shenandoah Valley history, survey books, diaries, correspondence, and other materials concerning early German and Lutheran settlers in the Valley.
(9 boxes) Last updated 11/10.

Biographical/Historical: George Morris Smith was born in 1923 in Buffalo, NY, and died in 2000 in Melbourne, FL. Although Smith started out as a degreed, ordained minister, he spent nearly 20 years as an historian. After graduating from Susquehanna University in 1944 and Philadelphia Lutheran Seminary in 1947, he held assistant pastorates in Flushing, NY and Philadelphia. From 1949 to 1967, he served as the pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Strasburg (Shenandoah County), VA. He left the ministry to pursue a master’s degree in history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, which he completed in 1970. He began his new career with the National Trust for Historical Preservation. Later, he became the Administrator of Properties for Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown (Frederick County), VA; Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria (Fairfax County), VA; and James Madison’s home in Montpelier (Orange County), VA. George Smith retired in 1989 to Indialantic, FL, where he lived until his death in 2000. He was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester (Frederick County), VA.

Bibliography: Winchester (VA) Star, 12 February 2000, sec. A, p. 2.

Cite As: George M. Smith Collection, 991 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.

Organization:                                                                     

Note: Boxes 1-4 are in large part translations from the German. Because gaps are in both the handwritten and typed translations, the researcher may want to consult both.

Box 1

Augusta County, VA -- Emmanuel's Church, 1802-1856 (typescript), Mt. Solon, VA (also known as St. Paul's Lutheran Church), the Parish Register, Volume 1, pages 2-95 (incomplete), 80 leaves

Augusta County, VA -- Emmanuel's Church, 1801-1856 (translation), Mt. Solon, VA (also known as St. Paul's Lutheran Church) pages 5-95 (incomplete), 79 leaves, manuscript; 1 leaf, typescript; German, 10 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Augusta County, VA -- Jennings Branch Church, 1776-1844 (typescript) (also known as St. Peter's Church, Trinity Church), the Parish Register, Volume 1, pages 1-302 (incomplete), 111 leaves

Augusta County, VA -- Jenning's Branch Church, 1791-1844 (translation) (also known as St. Peter's Church, Trinity Church), 73 leaves, manuscript

Augusta County, VA -- Keinadt's Church, 1771-1845 (typescript), Waynesboro, VA (also known as Bethany-Trinity Lutheran Church), the German Register, pages v-125 (incomplete), 30 leaves, photocopy

Augusta County, VA -- Keinadt's Church, 1771-1845 (translation), Waynesboro, VA (also known as Bethany-Trinity Lutheran Church), pages v-125 (incomplete), 48 leaves, manuscript

Augusta County, VA -- Salem Lutheran Church, 1803-1866 (typescript), Mt. Sidney, VA, pages 1-173 (incomplete), 158 leaves, photocopy

Culpeper County, VA -- German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, 1754-1848 (translation only), 144 leaves, manuscript

Floyd County, VA -- Zion Lutheran and Reformed Church, 1793-1855 (translation only), the German Register, pages i-90 (incomplete), 53 leaves, manuscript

Box 2

Loudoun County, VA -- New Jerusalem Lutheran Church, 1784-1814, vol. 1; 1815-1836, vol. 2, The German Register, 267 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Loudoun County, VA -- New Jerusalem Lutheran Church, 1784-1814, vol. 1, 122 leaves; 1815-1836, vol. 2, 144 leaves, The German Register (translation), manuscript (photocopy)

Loudoun County, VA -- Reformed Church, 1764-1851 (translation), The German Register, 117 pages, manuscript

Madison County, VA -- Hebron Lutheran Church, 1750-1848 (typescript), 52 leaves, manuscript; postcard, 1 item, manuscript

Montgomery County, VA -- St. Michael's Church, 1793-1840 (typescript), (also known as Price's), pages 1-50 (incomplete), 38 leaves, typescript

Montgomery County, VA -- St. Michael's Church, 1793-1840 (translation), pages 1-50 (incomplete), 32 leaves, manuscript

Page County, VA -- Peter's Church, 1776-1826 (translation), pages 1-30 (incomplete), 35 leaves, manuscript

Rockingham County, VA -- Ermentraut's Church, 1798-1850 (translation), The Parish Register, Volume I, 52 leaves, 1 page, manuscript; 13 leaves, typescript

Rockingham County, VA -- Ermentraut's Church, 1798-1850 (typescript), The Parish Register, Volume 1, pages 1-163 (incomplete), 76 leaves, typescript

Shenandoah County, VA -- Beckford Parish, a variety of materials pertaining to the Parish during 18th and 19th centuries, 147 leaves, typescript, manuscript, printed

Box 3 Shenandoah County, VA

Dutch Chapel, 1770-1858 (typescript), Strasburg, VA, pages 1-234 (incomplete), 87 leaves, typescript (carbon copy)

Dutch Chapel, 1862-1903 (typescript), Strasburg, VA, Civil War claims suit, 5 leaves, typescript (photocopy); 21 leaves, typescript

Friedens Church, 1821-1866 (typescript), pages 38-89 (incomplete), 48 leaves, typescript

Pine Church, 1757-1856 (typescript) (also known as St. Mary's of Mt. Jackson), The German Register, Volume I, pages 1-251 (incomplete), 146 leaves, typescript

Pine Church, 1757-1861 (translation) (also known as St. Mary's of Mt. Jackson), The Parish Register, Volume I, pages 1-241 (incomplete), 92 leaves, manuscript

Solomon's Church, 1736-1848 (photocopy), The German Register, pages 1-246 (incomplete), 83 leaves, manuscript

Solomon's Church, 1736-1848 (translation), pages 1-264 (incomplete), 83 pages, manuscript

Zion's Church, 1786-1827 (typescript), The Parish Register, Volume I, 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy); 131 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

Zion's Pine Church, 1785-1827 (translation), 2 leaves, typescript; 129 leaves, manuscript

Zion's Pine Church, 1776-1791 (German), 16 leaves, manuscript

Box 4

Berkeley County, WV -- Smithfield Church, 1792-1850 (translation), 48 leaves, manuscript

Berkeley County, WV -- Smithfield Church, 1792-1826 (typescript), The Parish Register, Volume I, 37 leaves, typescript

Hampshire County, WV:

Hampshire County, WV – United German Church, 1786-1851 (typescript), Cape Capon Intermont, WV, (also known as Hebron Evangelical Lutheran Church), 31 leaves, typexcript

Hampshire County – United German Church, 1786-1851 (translation), Intermont, WV (also known as Hebron Evangelical Lutheran), The Parish Register, Volume I, 35 leaves, manuscript

Jefferson County , WV -- Smithfield Church, 1792-1850 (typescript), 43 leaves, typescript

Pendleton County, WV -- Probst's Church, 1813-1855 (typescript), Brandywine, WV, The Parish Register, Volume I, pages 1-258 (incomplete), 46 leaves, typescript

Pendleton County, WV -- St. Michael's Church, 1807-1881 (typescript) (also known as Wildfang's), The Parish Register, Volume I, pages 1-92 (incomplete), 46 leaves, typescript

Pendleton County, WV -- St. Michael's Church, 1807-1855 (translation) (also known as Wildfang's), 46 leaves, manuscript

Pendleton County, WV -- Upper Tract Church, 1813-1851 (typescript) (also known as Mallo's Church and Kline Church), pages ii-228 (incomplete), 26 leaves, typescript; 10 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Pendleton County, WV -- Upper Tract Church, 1813-1851 (translation) (also known as Mallo's Church and Kline Church), 30 leaves, manuscript

Box 5

American Farmer, 1857, Volume 13, No. 4, 1 item, printed

American Fraktur, 1745-1855, catalog for exhibition of graphic folk art, 1 item, 16 pages, printed

Berkeley Springs Hotel, 1885, brochure, 2 items, 28 pages, printed

“…Bilingual Printers in Maryland and Virginia," by Klaus Wust, 1966, reprinted from Thirty-Second Report, The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 1 item, 37 pages, printed

Dunmore County - Committee of Safety, 1775, 1 leaf, typescript (photocopy); 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

“Family and Commercial Farms of Virginia’s Lower Valley in 1786, a Preliminary Analysis of Commission Survey Books, Hite et al. vs. Fairfax et al.,” by George Smith, 1969, 48 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

"Farmers in the Lower Shenandoah Valley, 1850," by John T. Schlebecker, reprinted from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, October 1971, Volume 79, No. 4, pages 461-476, printed

Frederick County - Trinity Lutheran Congregation, Stephens City, history booklet by Reverend Snyder Alleman, no date, 1 item, printed

". . . German Immigrant Ancestors," by Klaus Wust, June 1957, reprinted from The National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 1 item, 8 pages, printed

"German Printing in Winchester, 1789-1834," by Klaus Wust, no date, no source, pages 54-66, 1 item, printed

Jefferson County - St. Peter's Church, 1765, article on founding, 1 item, 8 leaves, typescript; printed cover

Lutheran Church - various discourses
Sermon by Reverend J. F. Campbell, Winchester Times Office, 1874, 1 item, 16 pages, printed
Historical discourse by Reverend D. M. Gilbert, Henkel & Company, New Market, 1877, 1 item, 33 pages, printed

Lutheran Synod minutes, 6 items, printed

1838	1860
1846	1882
1850	1884

The Lutherans" - speech, 1891, by E. J. Wolf, reprinted from The National Tribune, Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1894,1 item, 28 pages, printed

New Market battle monument - unveiling address, 1898, supplement to Shenandoah Valley, Henkel & Company, New Market VA, 1 item, 16 pages, printed

Pennsylvania German Society Quarterly, Der Reggeboge, 5 items, printed
Volume 7, No. 1, April 1973
Volume 7, No. 2, July 1973
Volume 7, No. 4, December 1973
Volume 8, No. 1, March 1974
Volume 8, No. 3-4, September-December 1974

Pennsylvania - Lutheran charter, constitution, and by-laws, 1854, 1 item, 56 pages, printed

Pennsylvania - Trinity Lutheran Church, Germantown (1836-1926), booklet for 90th anniversary, 1 item, 16 pages, printed

The Report, Society for the History of Germans in Maryland, 1970, Volume 34, galley proofs, 25 leaves, printed

Revolutionary War - Committees of Safety, Caroline and Southhampton Counties, VA (1774-1776), Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Volume 17, No. 3, November 1929,1 item, 164 pages, printed

Rockingham County - Rader Lutheran Church history (1765-1965)
Bicentennial history, 14 pages, printed
Program, 4 pages, printed/typescript

Shenandoah County - Dutch Lutheran Congregation, Strasburg, indenture, 1768, 6 leaves, typescript

Shenandoah County - Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, parish house dedication booklet, 1957, 1 item, 12 pages, printed

George M. Smith Shenandoah County - Lebanon Lutheran Church (1848-1948), booklet for 100th anniversary, 1 item, printed

Shenandoah County - St. John's Reformed Church, booklet for 125th anniversary, 1946, 1 item, printed

Shenandoah County - St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church (1748-1948), Woodstock VA,
Anniversary booklet, 1 item, 29 leaves, printed
Confirmation of Caleb Chandler, 1846, 1 leaf, manuscript on printed form

Shenandoah County - St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Strasburg VA,
Homecoming booklet, 1976, 1 item, printed
Article, Strasburg News, 1897, 2 leaves, typescript (carbon)
Ad, sale of barn, Strasburg News, 1911, 1 leaf, typescript
Correspondence, 3 leaves, typescript

Shenandoah County - Strasburg Lutheran Church lottery
Court depositions, Stover et al. vs. Crockwell, 11 leaves, typescript
Broadside, 1797, 1 leaf, printed (photocopy)
Lottery ticket, 1 item, 1 leaf, printed/manuscript
Article on lotteries, by Elmer Smith, Northern Virginia Daily, April 11, 1968, 1 leaf, printed (photocopy)
Act to authorize a lottery - Hennings Statute, 1796,1 leaf, typescript

Shenandoah County - Woodstock Lutheran Church lottery, act to authorize a lottery, 1803, 1 leaf, typescript

Virginia authors, 1819-1969, exhibit catalog, University of Virginia Library, 1969, 1 item, 26 leaves, printed

Virginia map, 1944, Department of Highways, 1 page, printed

"Wartburg: Dream and Reality of the New Germany in Tennessee," by Klaus Wust, 1963, The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, Baltimore, 1 item, 25 pages, printed

Winchester - Lutheran Church, speech on burning, 1854, by Reverend Charles P. Krauth, booklet, The Republican Office, Winchester, 1855, 1 item, 24 pages, printed

Box 6

Frederick County - Order Books 18-20, extracts, 57 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

German papers and list of German Registers, miscellaneous, unnumbered leaves, manuscript, printed

German photocopies and translations, 8 leaves, typescript; 5 leaves, manuscript; 9 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Harr, Simon - notes regarding, 1 page, printed; 10 leaves, typescript; 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Medical remedies - instructions for use by patients from Dr. Solomon Henkel, Samuel G. Henkel and Brother, no date, 20 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

"The Pennsylvania Germans of the Shenandoah Valley -A Preliminary Annotated List of Photographic Reproductions," by John Stewart, 1966, Madison College Archives, Harrisonburg VA, 19 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

Sangmeister, Ezechiel - diary, 12 leaves, printed (photocopy)

"Virginische Blatter," Washington Journal, January 1-September 2, 1966 (incomplete), 20 items, printed

Wood, James - deed from Lord Fairfax, 1753, 3 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

Box 7

Duplicates of church records in Boxes 1-4

Box 8

Berkeley County - petitions, 1776-1798, 6 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Clark, Jonathan - diary, June 1, 1770-November 1811, 229 leaves (out of sequence), typescript (photocopy)

Clark, Jonathan - survey and papers (Filson Club), 19 leaves, manuscript (photocopy) (The notebook of Jonathan Clark's survey of the Northern Neck is in Abstracts of Virginia's Northern Neck Warrants and Surveys, 1697-1784, Volume IV, call number 929.351 JOY.)

Clark, Jonathan - survey books (Filson Club), 67 leaves, manuscript (photocopy); 1 leaf, printed (photocopy); 1 leaf, typescript (copy)

Culpeper County - petitions, 1776, 5 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Dohla, Johann Conrad - Hessian diary, 1781-1782, German, 9 leaves, typescript, translation, 3 leaves, typescript, translation in William and Mary Quarterly, pages 265-274, 6 leaves, printed (photocopy)

Frederick County – lawsuits, 12 leaves, manuscript (photocopy); 2 leaves, manuscript on printed form (photocopy)
Fisher vs. Sexton, 1778
Hughes vs. Eddy, 1772
Saunders vs. Turner, 1742 map

"The German Allies in the American Revolution" - excerpts, translated by J. G. Rosegarten, 1893, 8 leaves, printed (photocopy)

German manuscripts - Library of Congress, 40 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

German ministers, 1783-1814
Correspondence and notes, 4 leaves, typescript
Johann Georg Bottler - diary, 7 leaves, typescript

The Henckel Family Records, August 1939, No. 14, The Henkel Press, New Market VA, pages 582-690, 1 item, printed

The Henkel Family of New Market, 1760-1830" - thesis, by Jessica Gienow, 1989, 57 leaves, typescript

Hite-Bowman - correspondence on, 1940, 1968, 9 leaves, typescript; 2 leaves, typescript on printed form; 1 leaf, manuscript

Jolliffe and Westfall - bond, 1776, 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Lutheran confirmants, 1772 (Strasburg and Woodstock), 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Michaux, Andre - journal, 1789-1790, excerpt from naturalist's notebook No. 5, travels in Shenandoah Valley, in French, no source, 12 leaves, typescript; 4 leaves, printed (photocopy)

Mueller, Adam - letter, 1826, German, in Virginische Blatter, January 28, 1966, 4 leaves, printed (photocopy), translation, 3 leaves, typescript, photocopy

Muhlenberg, Peter - correspondence and book of accounts, 10 leaves, manuscript (photocopy); 8 leaves, manuscript

Muhlenberg, Peter - sesquicentennial program, 1926, 1 item, printed

Muhlenberg statue - unveiling address, 1910, by William H. Staake, 1 item, 18 pages, printed

"Muhlenberg's Ministry in Virginia," address by D. M. Gilbert, 1884, reprinted from The Lutheran Quarterly, J. E. Wible, Gettysburg, 1 item, 24 pages, printed

Prisoner of war correspondence - Revolutionary War, 1781, from Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1952, volume 5, 2 leaves, printed (photocopy)

Quakers in Winchester - Revolutionary War, excerpts from Exiles in Virginia, by Thomas Gilpin, 1848, C. Sherman, Printer, Philadelphia, 22 leaves, printed (photocopy)

Sheasler, George - will, 1749, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy)

Snapp Family, 12 leaves, typescript

Box 9

Drinker, Elizabeth - correspondence, 1777-1778, 50 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

German lists, 1776, 6 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Hite vs. Fairfax - plats, 1771, 16 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Militia lists - Revolutionary War, 7 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

The Muhlenberg Register, 1772-1782, Shenandoah County VA, 28 leaves, manuscript (photocopy), clothbound

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church - register, 1769-1860, 142 pages, manuscript (photocopy), looseleaf binder

Shenandoah County - petitions, 25 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Shenandoah/Frederick County map, 1793, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy)

Strasburg, VA - plat, 1783, 4 items, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy)