ESVA Connections

This website was formerly known as “The Langs of Accomack County.” The name has been changed because the database has expanded well beyond the LANG surname. The original intent was to document the genealogy of the descendants of Alexander Lang Sr. of Accomack County but other ESVA surnames were added to show connections to the compiler and his spouse. The compiler’s paternal and maternal family lines are from Ulster County in the Hudson Valley of New York even though he was born in Northampton County and was raised in Accomack County of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The compiler’s spouse has deep roots in Accomack County that can be traced to the original settlers of Jamestown.

The compiler has also expanded his research to the families of spouses and the project has taken on a new meaning. While the majority of the people named in this database resided either in Accomack and Northampton counties on Virginia's Eastern Shore or Ulster and Orange counties in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York, the expanded content has led to places well beyond the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson Valley. Thus, the new name for the website, ESVA Connections, is much more descriptive of the database as it stands today.

The spellings of certain surnames change over time and from region to region. The compiler has tried to consistently use the most common spelling to make it easier for family researches to find their ancestors. For example the “Lang” surname has a number of spellings. "LANG" is a descriptive surname given to an unusually tall individual, from the Old English "lang" or "long," meaning long or tall. LANGE is a common German variant, while LANG is more prevalent in Scotland and northern England. LONG is another common English variant. Alternate spellings of the “LANG” surname are LANGE, LONG, LUNG, LING and LAING. The most common spelling in Accomack County, VA records are either LANG or LING. This site uses the LANG spelling exclusively unless it is an actual quote from the record.

Here are a few other examples of surnames with multiple spellings. The surname “DePuy” has become “Depew” in more recent records. This site uses the “DePuy” spelling exclusively. “Scarborough” has become “Scarburgh” in Accomack County records. This database uses “Scarburgh” in an attempt to be consistent with other popular ESVA databases. Send your questions regarding surnames to the compiler at the address near the bottom of this page.

The focus of this project is to document the genealogy of the ancestors of the compiler and families with connections to the Easter Shore of Virginia. The intent is to help living descendants with their family research and in some cases with their eligibility for membership in organizations such as the Jamestown Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, etc.

This is a work in progress and the data is updated frequently. The database contains living descendants but they are not shown on this website. If you have a connection and want to see the complete lines for your family, you may contact the compiler. Any family information, documents, pictures or related data that you wish to share and have included in the database is always encouraged and is greatly appreciated. As stated earlier, this is a work in progress and there are quite likely mistakes in the database. Corrections are welcome and are encouraged. Contributors will be noted on this website. If you have documents or pictures that are not in an electronic format you can send them to the compiler and they will be scanned and immediately returned.

For further information, contributions, corrections, etc. contact the compiler at:

Jim Matthews
23372 Saxis Rd.
Sanford, VA 23426

email: jmm@esvaconnections.com
phone:757-824-4080

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The Bones of My Bones

The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before. "It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those who we had never known before."by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943.

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