Court Clerk and Genealogist to speak to Bristol Historical Association

Court Clerk and Genealogist to speak to Bristol Historical Association

Bristol Virginia – The May 13th meeting of the Bristol Historical Association will feature a presentation on family tree research by two experienced researchers.  Dan Kegley, the current Deputy Clerk with the Smyth County Circuit Court, will begin with the presentation, entitled, “Finding Grandpa in the Vault”.  The second half of the program will be led by Diane Hayes on “Restoring the Past: Uncovering Black Gold.”  The meeting begins at 6:30pm at the meeting room at the Bristol Public Library.

For 23 years Dan Kegley worked at Smyth County News & Messenger and Washington County News in positions including reporter, editor, photographer/darkroom technician, and general manager. In 2012 he became a deputy clerk in Smyth County Circuit Court. He has been the records vault supervisor there since August 2015.  He is the past president of the Archeological Society of Virginia and its Wolf Hills Chapter, and has written about the 19^th Century flatboat enterprises on the North Fork of the Holston River.

Diane Hayes is from Southwest Virginia and attended Carnegie High School in Marion, an all-black school for grades 1- 4. After schools integrated she attended the traditional Marion public schools.  She was accepted and graduated from Ferrum College and took her first job with Franklin County Recreation Department’s Young Adults Conservation Corps, and in 1979 she began working at the Franklin County Public Library. During her 33 years at the library Diane compiled more than 50 family histories, 90 percent were African American. When a local historian and genealogist passed away she compiled her collection titled “The Gertrude Mann Collection.”

This informative program is free to the public and is in partnership with the Bristol Public Library’s mission of “Expanding Minds and Building Community”.

Contact Tim Buchanan, program chairman, for details of this or other upcoming programs, buchanan03@bvu.net. Get more details on Facebook at BRISTOL HISTORY.