WIPs in your google docs got you down? Craving the validation of sharing your unfinished fic without the guilt of not finishing it? Wishing you could read what happens next in your fic without having to actually write it yourself?
Say hello to the Abandoned TUA Fic Orphanage! Simply post your WIP to AO3 and add it to this collection. And if you're a fic author looking for inspiration? Why not take a gander and see if any of the fics strike your fancy and you want to finish or even just add to them.
This collection was created on a whim without a whole lot of thought about how it will actually work, but I guess we can figure that out as we go if people think it's useful? I just know that I like many other fic authors have some unfinished fics that are just collecting dust and I wish there were something useful that could be done with them.
Here's another situation where I was working on genealogy stuff and happened upon something lighthouse related.
My relatives are at the top of this page from the Portsmouth City Directory from 1933 but I immediately saw the USLS (United States Lighthouse Service).
More can be found about Holder Almy at the United States Lighthouse Society's J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Library: https://archives.uslhs.org/type-person/engineers
A year ago I found the will of William Allmond on an index of wills in Isle of Wight County, Virginia on Ancestry. It's taken me a year to circle back to look for the will on FamilySearch and I found it!
It's so hard to read but I do see "one Negro woman Charlotte", "one Negro boy Sam", "one Negro girl Hester" and "one Negro girl Salina".
Seeing my 3rd great-grandmother Charlotte and her children listed on here among the kitchen utensils and feather beds is just ... wow.
In the section with Charlotte, I was looking for Anthony, my second great-granduncle who was about a year old when this will was drafted in 1854 but I don't see him. My 2nd great-grandfather Moses was not yet born when this will was drafted.
I recognize Sam and Hester because I see them on the 1870 Census but I don't recognize Salina. The other daughter that I see on the 1870 Census is Liney so that is most likely Salina.
Now I really wonder because there's also Malinda who I see on the 1880 Census. Charlotte and Hester are living with her and her husband. Her age is consistent with Salina.
Sources:
Mixed Probate Records, 1643-1866 ; Indexes to Wills, 1850-1985; Author: Virginia. County Court (Isle of Wight County); Probate Place: Isle of Wight, Virginia (Ancestry.com)
Virginia. Circuit Court (Isle of Wight County); Virginia. Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery (Isle of Wight County), FamilySearch.org, Mixed probate records, 1643-1866 ; indexes to wills, 1850-1985, Mixed records, Vols. 25-26 1851-1859, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TC-FHM8?i=214&cat=416816
Year: 1870; Census Place: Newport, Isle of Wight, Virginia; Roll: M593_1657; Page: 260A
Year: 1880; Census Place: Newport, Isle of Wight, Virginia; Roll: 1373; Page: 299A; Enumeration District: 032
I found this article from 1897 last year and put it aside. Looking at it again today the ages match up to my great-grandfather John Allmond and his brother, Moses (Lam).
I initially didn't think it was because generally when the newspapers were talking about black folks, they made sure they specified it. But now I'm wondering.
Meanwhile, I'm looking for a WWI draft card to see if Moses had a scar above his left eye.
Source: The Norfolk Virginian, Norfolk, Virginia, 01 Jan 1897, Fri • Page 6
Marvin C. Allmond Honored at Hometown Church in Isle of Wight County, Virginia
My uncle did a lot of good in this world while he was here and he hardly ever talked about it.
Last Sunday, the family church honored him.
I didn’t post about him when he passed away 2 years ago because his immediate family didn’t want it on social media. But I would not be where I am today if not for him. He helped A LOT of people, his former students at the University of the District of Columbia, students at his alma mater Virginia State University, family members, employees and many MANY others.
He is my example of how to be a great human being. He worked hard to get where he was. He often talked about the fact that people helped him so he helped others. He didn’t just give money. He gave time. He remembered where he came from and paid it forward.
When I'm searching a genealogy database, normally the first thing I do is search for Allmond. Last year I found this pension card for Africa Ives also known as Africa Allman. I found it on FamilySearch but this one from Ancestry looks better. I think what stood out most was that his name was Africa.
I was going through my genealogy OneNote notebook and found a link to the pension card and decided to do some research.
Africa was born May 19, 1844, in Nansemond County, Virginia, to Daniel and Lovie Allmond. He enlisted as a Private in the Company E, 36th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (also Company E, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Colored Infantry) October 28, 1863 in Portsmouth, Virginia. His service paperwork describes him at 5 foot 7 1/2 inches tall. He served at Camp Point Lookout, Maryland in 1864 where he guarded prisoners. He was a Corporal when he mustered out at Brazos Santiago, Texas, on August 13, 1866. He was disabled in the Civil War with something related to his eyes.
Africa is listed on the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, DC, as Africa Ives.
He married Jane Harris in Norfolk, Virginia, on May 11, 1867. He applied for his Civil War pension on December 21, 1912 and was approved. He lived in Norfolk on Monticello Avenue when he passed away on January 23, 1917 of Bright’s disease, acute or chronic nephritis.
I don't know if Africa is related to me but I do find it interesting because I've seen his parents Daniel and Lovie Allmond on incorrect family trees as the parents of my 2nd great-grandfather Moses. They had a son Moses as well.
In the 1870 Census, Daniel and Lovie lived in Norfolk with their younger sons, Daniel, George and Moses. They also had a daughter Sarah who married Jack Brickhouse on July 4, 1867.
I have to make a note to figure out the relationship between the Isle of Wight, Nansemond County and Norfolk Allmonds. The familial relationship is likely between the slaveowners though.
The following are additional pension cards and his service record.
Sources:
The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Title: U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934; NAI Number: T288; Record Group Title: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773-2007; Record Group Number: 15; Series Title: U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934; Series Number: T288; Roll: 7
The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: Infantry Organizations, 36th through 40th; Microfilm Serial: M1993; Microfilm Roll: 25
"United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, 1890," database with images, FamilySearch, Virginia > Norfolk > All > image 69 of 95; citing NARA microfilm publication M123 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
National Park Service. U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
