Woodfork Genealogy

Empowering ordinary people to preserve family and community history

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Union High Project

Union High - History

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Welcome!

I originally created this website to share my family history and resources that would be helpful to people researching their family history in Caroline County, Virginia.

While researching my family history in Caroline County, Virginia, I noticed a dearth of information about people's experiences in the communities where my ancestors lived. I decided to take an active role in preserving local history. The focus of my website shifted from my family history to local history.

In 2010, I initiated the Union High History Project to preserve the history of Union High School, Caroline County, Virginia's only high school for blacks during the era of segregation.The output from the project was a self-published book titled Memories of Union High: An Oasis in Caroline County, Virginia, 1903-1969.

Tuskegee Institute Commerce Class 1929
Tuskegee Institute Commerce Class 1929
I received recognition and several awards for my efforts to preserve local history. But the most moving responses were the heartfelt thanks I received from the people in Caroline County, Virginia. They were very appreciative I had preserved the history of an important institution in their community. 

After that experience, I was on a mission to encourage ordinary people to take an active role in preserving the history of the communities where they had an affiliation. I spoke at genealogy workshops and conferences to share my experience with the Union High History Project and the importance of preserving local history. I also created a blog, Discovering Yesterday, to provide research tips and tools and local history.

I hope this website educates and inspires you to take an active role in preserving local history.

Marion Woodfork Simmons




Joyce Garrett Memoir Project

Woodfork Genealogy LLC provides personal historian services to assist ordinary people preserve community history by telling their stories.

Joyce Garrett, a retired District of Columbia Public School music teacher and choir director, is collaborating with Woodfork Genealogy LLC to write her memoir.


Memories of Union High
An Oasis in Caroline County, Virginia
 1903-1969
 
Finalist in the African American Non-Fiction category 
of the
 2012 National Indie Excellence Book Awards
and
 2012 USA Best Book Awards

Joyce Garrett
Joyce Garrett - Photography by Lois Kebe
 



District of Columbia Fire Department

I am currently researching the experiences of black firemen in the District of Columbia Fire Department during the 1950s and 1960s.  Please contact me if you have information you would like to share.

Engine Company No. 13 - Feb 1954
Engine Company No. 13 - Feb 1954

Last Updated: April 5, 2022

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Woodfork Genealogy LLC    P.O. Box 505    Burtonsville, MD 20866        marion@woodforkgenealogy.com