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Virginia Capitol C onnections, Spring 2015
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It’s All Relative...
A Different Kind of
Capitol Connection
By Sarah Alderson
As I made the trek back to the Capitol
for the 2015 General Assembly session,
one of the first things I saw was the new
slogan for the Library of Virginia posted
prominently on the front of their building,
“Find Your History.” When I drove around
the building, I also noticed another display
that asked “Who’s your great, great, great
granddaddy?” Then I had to laugh, because I
know who a few of mine are and at least one
had made similar trips to Richmond nearly
two hundred years ago.
It was then I felt like the library was challenging me, reminding
me of genealogical research I hadn’t done and of an article I‘d wanted
to write for this magazine about another type of Capitol connection.
Those who work here know that Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol is filled
with history, but how much of that history do we connect with on a
personal level? How many of us know that our own roots go deeper
than what we’re doing here today?
A few years ago, the retailer Abercrombie and Fitch made
headlines with a controversial t-shirt emblazoned with the words, “It’s
all relative in West Virginia.” Some West Virginians were upset about
it, and initially I was, too. Later I decided to embrace the saying.
Since I was born and raised in the Mountain State, I‘m more than
a little familiar with the often inappropriate jokes. However, having a
great many relatives scattered across the Old Dominion as well, I’ve
never understood how they can tell those jokes as if it has nothing to
do with them. After all, most people with ancestral ties to this area
have a lot of distant relatives throughout both states. It could certainly
be said “it’s all relative” in Virginia, too.
That leads me to family connections at the Capitol itself. I never
thought about this possibility before I came to work at the Capitol
Studio ten years ago for the 2005 session. Many people who go into
politics in some way do so at least in part because of a family link of
some kind. I never had an interest in the political process before or
thought about any relationship I might have to it. I’m embarrassed to
admit that I was also one of those members of the voting public who
didn‘t pay much attention to state politics.
One day that first session, as we were preparing for a show at the
studio, a co-worker was trying to pronounce a guest’s name. When I
heard the various attempts, I asked to see the spelling. The guest was
Creigh Deeds, and even though I had never heard of him I instantly
knew how his name was pronounced.
When we finished taping the show, I asked the senator if Creigh
was a family name. He replied that it was, and as he started to explain
further, I just smiled and told him that my paternal grandmother’s
maiden name was Creigh. After some discussion, we discovered we
had similar links to the Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia, including
to the Civil War martyr, David Creigh. In fact, David’s father
Thomas, who came to America from Ireland in 1791, is our 4th great-
grandfather.
Senator Deeds was also impressed with my Alderson family tree.
Through his knowledge of history of the two Virginias, he knew a
little about that side of my family including my 5th great-grandfather,
Elder John Alderson, a pioneer minister who founded my hometown
of Alderson,WV in 1777 with a land grant from then Governor Patrick
Henry. Elder John‘s father, also a minister, had immigrated to what is
now Rockingham County from England in the early to mid-1700s.
When I told my father about meeting the senator, he said that I
was also related to other notables in Virginia government including
John Floyd, the 25th Governor of Virginia and John Buchanan Floyd,
the 31st Governor, as well as Marshall Coleman, the Attorney General
in 1977 who ran for governor in 1981 and even another John Alderson
from Fincastle who has been active in Virginia politics.
Then a couple of years ago, when I heard that the Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission was looking for descendants
of the first African-American legislators in Virginia, my interest in
finding more of my own history was renewed.
With a little more research, I found that my 4th great-grandfather,
Joseph Alderson, (son of the pioneer minister) was a member of the
General Assembly. The “History of Greenbrier County” tells that
Joseph “represented Greenbrier County in the Legislature of Virginia
for several terms, riding horseback from his home to Richmond to
attend the sessions.” In “The Rise and Fall of Alderson,WestVirginia“,
it says “Mr. Alderson did not normally wear suspenders and when he
left for Richmond in 1832 to take his seat in the Legislature all his
friends contributed and bought him a pair of suspenders AND a belt,
saying they did not want him to be caught with his pants down while
he was representing them.”
Joseph’s son, Colonel GeorgeAlderson (my 3rd great-grandfather)
followed in his father’s footsteps by representing Fayette County
in the Legislature as well. And now as I walk through the halls of
the Capitol, I think about these great-grandfathers who walked here
before me.
It was during these discoveries that I stumbled on another
connection to Deeds. I found that not only was Elder John Alderson
also his 5th great-grandfather, but Joseph was his 4th great-grandfather,
too. And since our 4th great-grandfather Creigh also had a son
who traveled from Greenbrier County to Richmond to serve in the
legislature, there are a lot of Capitol connections in these family trees.
The deeper you dig into your genealogy, the more there is to find.
As I’ve done research for this article, I found that Deeds and I are
also related through the Feamster family, who are pioneers of Bath
County. And we are likely related to Senator Steve Newman as well.
Joseph Alderson married Mary “Polly” Newman, the daughter of
Jonathan Newman of Botetourt. Joseph and Polly also conducted a lot
of business in Lynchburg. Tradition has it that the first Newman came
to America with Sir Walter Raleigh to the first settlement in Virginia.
So connections can run deep.
This all brings me back to the question, “How many of us working
around Capitol Square are actually related in some way?” Just this past
session, Chap Petersen mentioned in comments on the Senate floor
that he’s related to Toddy Puller, and that he recently learned he’s
also related to their fellow senator, Donald McEachin. The list could
probably go on and on.
The fact is, if any part of your family has been in Virginia long
enough, as so much of mine has been since at least the 1700s, it‘s
likely that you’re connected to a lot of other folks in the twoVirginias.
The Library of Virginia urges everyone to “Find Your History,”
and they offer many ways to learn how. As their Public Relations and
Policy Coordinator Jan Hathcock told me, “We have the histories of
people like Thomas Jefferson here, but we have those of people just
like you and me, too.” Their talented staff has been instrumental in
finding many of the first African-American Legislators’ descendants,
and they can help you, too.
Writer Madeleine L’Engle once said, “If you don’t recount your
family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them
too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds
families and makes each of us who we are.”
Remember, when it comes to history, it’s all relative. And who knows,
you might just find your own Capitol connections along the way.
Sarah Alderson is an award-winning freelance writer who also
works in the Senate broadcast control room during sessions and
the Capitol Studio throughout the year. She can be reached at
V