Henry & others: One of the GREAT resources for those of us who write about/study Virginia is the Petersburg newspaper index, which still sits in the Petersburg public library in its old, card-catalogue format. Virtually anything of consequence was indexed by someone/some people with -- thank the Lord -- FAR too much time on their hands. It is digitized on the LVA website -- check under "Newspapers" in "What We Have." It took a small bit of inventiveness to find the source (I used "balloon" and "words anywhere") in question, but here is the link. http://ajax.lva.lib.va.us/F/8Y48HC6IXTXV2MHDYTSSGPSTVD416P6BPEL9H59TQB5I Q1QYX5-01759?func=full-set-set&set_number=001415&set_entry=000001&format =999 Cheers, all. Jim Watkinson James D. Watkinson, Ph.D. Archives Library of Virginia [log in to unmask] 804.692.3804 -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 10:40 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Balloon ascents in Virginia, 1820s-1840s Does anyone know of sources about the history of balloon ascents in Virginia? I'm at work on a book about Jefferson and his slaves, and I'm trying to track down information about a balloon ascent in Petersburg mentioned in a memoir by Isaac Jefferson, former slave of TJ. Isaac stated in 1847: "Sally [Hemings] had a son named Madison, who learned to be a great fiddler. He has been in Petersburg twice: was here when the balloon went up--the balloon that Beverly sent off." Isaac Jefferson was in the Richmond/Petersburg area beginning in the mid 1820s. In her book on TJ and Hemings, Annette Gordon-Reed writes that a balloon ascent took place in Petersburg July 4, 1834, citing "The Eagle Aloft : Two Centuries of the Balloon in America" by Tom Crouch (1983). I'm wondering if there are other sources. Many thanks, Henry Wiencek Charlottesville To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html