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Secrets of Cross Keys: The Early Churches and Families of Southeastern Rockingham County

by Marjorie Lamb McLean

248 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-3050; ISBN 1-4120-8052-5; US$25.95, C$25.95, EUR17.73, £13.40

Woven between historical facts and dates of history, secrets of the past are revealed in an engaging story of pioneer families who lived through the Civil War battle.

About the Book

The book Secrets of Cross Keys is focused on a small area in the Shenandoah Valley in Rockingham County in Virginia, yet it is a stroy that has far-reaching interest. While it's foundation relies on facts and dates, the human element of the early pioneers reads like a novel. The recruiting of Europeans, the rush to settle the areas along The Great Wagon Road, and the burgeoning governments, both before and after the Revolutionary War, embody the basis of our Constitution. The area's first religions, specifically Presbyterian, Lutheran, and "German Reformed" churches developed along with the growing pioneer settlements. The church unions, and their histories, as well as the footpaths and roads and how they came about, is each interesting in their own right. Early settlers struggled against the raw elements of the fertile land to begin new lives in freedom from England. German immigrants' hard toil with back-breaking work helped make our great nation. The peace was shattered, when in June of 1862, the Civil War came to Cross Keys. Battles fought and lives lost and the destruction of Sheridan's Burning, all paved the way back to the peaceful United States that we know today. Several families' stories and their experiences are told. Some of the names include: Pence, Kiblinger, Haugh, Pirkey, Flory, Kemper, Lamb, Carpenter, and Zimmerman. Other family names who are mentioned include: Hite, Harry, McConnell, Strickler, Muller, Stover, Craig, Lewis, Kisling, Hindman, Harrison, Beard, Armentrout, Webb, and Keezle. Some of the families' lineages are explored as well, and will be of interest to those researching their genealogical history. History holds many secrets, some of which, to the diligent researcher, can be uncovered and brought to light, while some, no matter how hard one looks, remain…secrets of the past.

About the Author

With career experiences in government work in Washington DC and abroad, as well as teaching Language Arts, Marjorie Lamb McLean has traveled far from her rural upbringing in South Dakota. Twenty-five years of genealogical and historical research (done with old-fashioned footwork) lead her to compile an in-depth, two volume family history, with data stretching back to Germany in the late 1500s. Out of research of her linage, the fascinating story of the families of Cross Keys in the Shenandoah Valley and the area's development of its first churches, rose to the surface. Marjorie divides her time between her homes in Florida and Virginia, where she continues to finalize the voluminous family history.