Little Walkers Creek: A History of the Land and Its People is the most complete history of this area in Southwestern Virginia ever written. This work encompasses all events in the area from the late 1700's into the early 1900's, with an emphasis on family genealogies.
The author has researched in depth the First Land Grants located at the Library of Virginia and traced them forward at the local county courthouses in Montgomery, Wythe, Pulaski and Bland counties. With this newly rediscovered information at hand, the reader may now be able to trace how his ancestor acquired his land and, possibly, if it was later donated to a church, county school or even for use as a cemetery.
Ms. Sowers has also studied the census records from that period to obtain even more detailed information. Is it possible that your ancestor had children that you did not know about? Yes! Many children disappeared from one census to another indicating that the child had perhaps died from an epidemic or illness such as diphtheria or yellow fever. This history may help you uncover the long lost relative - which you didn't even know was lost!
Was your ancestor a Confederate soldier or the widow of a Confederate soldier? The author has laboriously transcribed the available military records such as the Confederate Pensions, which provide precise information such as age and place of birth, occupation, service during the war and injuries or sickness. The Confederate Widows Pensions will provide information such as marriage place and date, place of birth and date, and cause, place and date of death of husband.
Structured and detailed genealogies will also assist the reader in discovering the relationships between individuals, and in some cases, photographs depict the people who made up the fascinating human landscape of the region.
This history is a "must have" if you have ancestors from the Little Walkers Creek area, or have an interest in the history of the region, and it will surely prove to be an invaluable asset as you conduct your research.
Rebecca Jane "Becky" Cox Sowers was born in 1953 in Pulaski, Virginia to Jimmy Lee Cox and Elsie Irene Davis. She grew up in her grandfather, Emmett Davis' homeplace on Little Walkers Creek. Becky attended the Spur Branch School (a one room schoolhouse) during her first two years of school, and in 1963 was transferred to Pulaski, attending Northwood Elementary. Becky graduated from Pulaski High School in 1972. She attended New River Community College in Dublin, Virginia from 1993-1996, receiving two associate degrees in Industrial Instrumentation and Electrical Technology. Becky's interest in historical and genealogical research began in 2000 beginning with her research on the Davis and Parsell families. In researching her families, she realized there was no significant historical information on the community of Little Walkers Creek. She began her Little Walkers Creek research in earnest in 2001 by visiting local courthouses in Wythe, Pulaski and Bland Counties, Virginia. While there, she trained herself in the art of historical and genealogical research, sometimes taking hours to glean the much needed information from old court records in which the writing was almost indecipherable. Late nights were filled with searching census records, making notes and, again, deciphering the old handwriting. Each deed, each record, and each census record was meticulously transcribed from copies of originals. Even though Becky is not a certified genealogist, she could easily become one, and with three years of continuous information gathering, she could surely become a professional researcher.
