William Buchanan Conway of Madison County, Virginia, and Julia Ellen Thomas, of Blacksburg, Virginia, were total strangers in the fall of 1869, when their correspondence began. Some mutual friends of theirs may have discerned a potential compatibility between the two and subsequently prompted the initiation of William and Julia's communication. Julia had lived all of her life in the then-remote mountain and college town of Blacksburg. William, who had grown up on plantation in Madison County in relative comfort and security before the war, had returned from the war in 1864 to discover much of his family's estate lost or sold. He and his brother Catlett ran their family's farm until 1866, when William left to study medicine in Culpeper Court House, Virginia. He continued his medical studies in Washington University in Baltimore, earning his M.D. degree in February 1869. Soon after this, William left home to pursue his medical career in Rockingham County, in the heart of the Shenandoah River Valley, and it was here that he first wrote to Julia.

This volume traces five generations of descendants of Joseph Yates (1805-1863), providing short biographical sketches of many of his progeny. The ten pages of full-name index list numerous surnames-Edmondson, Holloway, Holwell, Milton, Shelley, Stanaland, and Swain, to name only a few. Born in Montgomery County, Georgia, Joseph lived his life there, dying in Brooks County; however, his descendants can be found throughout the U.S. He was married twice, first to Malina Swain and five years later to Cyntha Bowie, having children from both marriages.

This volume is a compilation of some of the descendants of Giles Thomas and his wife Nancy Ann (Wheeler) Thomas, with short biographical sketches. A brief summary of the ancestry of Giles and Nancy is given in an addendum. Giles Thomas, the son of David and Hannah (Greene) Thomas, was born 30 November 1763 in that part of Baltimore County, MD, that later became Harford Co. (Harford Co was cut off from Baltimore Co some years after Giles Thomas's birth.) Giles Thomas died 21 Mar 1842. He married 4 June 1786 Nancy Ann Wheeler (born 10 May 1762, died 12 Jun 1834), daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Neale) Wheeler. Giles entered the army when he was only 16 years of age and served as a private in the Maryland troops until the close of the Revolutionary War. He served under Gen Nathaniel Greene in his campaign in the Carolinas. As compensation for service in the War, he received a land warrant, No. 1747, lying west of Fort Cumberland in Washington Co, MD. His name also appears in the pay record in the Maryland Land office. He resided at Port Tobacco, MD, during his active years but moved, sometime between 1796 and 1801, to Montgomery Co, VA, where he bought a farm and settled on Catawba Creek. He and his wife are buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg, VA.

Some of the descendants of Edwin and Martha Conway were compiled by W. Conway Price, PhD (1906-1991), one of their descendants. Edwin Conway came to Virginia about 1640. According to Hayden (Virginia Genealogies, by Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, M.A., 1891), he appears in Northumberland County records June 1642 as "Mr Edwyne Conaway, Clarke of this Com., in the County of Northampton." He married in England Martha ELTONHEAD, daughter of Richard ELTONHEAD of Lancashire, England, and his wife, Ann SUTTON of Huston Spencer. Martha ELTONHEAD was a descendant of a distinguished family. Hayden gives a chart showing her Eltonhead ancestry for eleven generations. Edwin Conway was the third Clerk of Northampton County. He appears frequently as Clerk in the record volumes from 1642 to 1645. He probably moved to Lancaster County in 1652 when his wife is thought to have arrived in Virginia. He was recipient of grants of 500 acres of land in Northampton County in 1644 and 1250 acres in Lancaster in 1652. A total of 1000 acres of the second grant resulted from two patents. The five pages of surname index reflect a diversity of names found in these lines, including Ball, Blackwell, Carter, Fitzhugh, Gordon, Lee, McCarty, Moncure, Robinson, Taliaferro, Wallace, and many more.

Catlett Conway wrote the letters in this volume between 1892 and 1920 to his half-brother, William Buchanan Conway. The brothers enjoyed their childhood on a plantation, Ellerslie, built by their father, Battaile Fitzhugh Taliaferro Conway, in Madison County, Virginia. By 1892 Catlett was living in Richmond, Virginia, and he later moved to Philadelphia, where he lived with his daughter and her family. Dr. W. B. Conway began his married life in Blacksburg, Virginia, and moved eventually to Athens, Georgia. The letters paint a picture of the brothers' lives and reveal many of Catlett's memories and opinions of the Civil War. He recalls a number of specific battles. Both Catlett and William Buchanan were CSA veterans, and Catlett's military record is included in this volume.

Five children of David and Agnes (Hoffmann) Preisch of Offenbach (Landau), in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, sailed from Rotterdam in the Winter Gallery, arriving in Philadelphia on 5 September 1737. Anna Margaretha, Johan Michael, J. Henry, Augustine, and Daniel Preisch were settled in southwestern Virginia by mid-1700s. Some of them stayed in Virginia, while others moved on to other locations. This volume is a compilation of descendants of these five siblings, whose surname changed to Preisch to Price and who became the progenitors of a great number of Prices throughout the United States.