The Origins Of The Society

During the late Twentieth Century, various Price descendants and other interested individuals researched Price family history and genealogy, but there was no unified effort nor any systematic direction achieved. In February of 2006, it became apparent to four Price descendants: Jim­mie L. Price, Edith Price Sloop, her brother James Price, and Suzanne Price Jones, that there was a need for an historical society. There had always been a strong tradition of Oral Histories within the German Community around the village of Price’s Fork[s] in Montgomery County, Virginia. Those verbal accounts within the tradition contained yet-surviving stories of Colonial times, the Revolutionary War Period, and The War Between the States, with other significant events relating to The German Community at Virginia’s New River. 

John Floyd Price, a 99-year-old Civil War veteran born in 1833, carried those accounts forward until his death in 1932. Floyd Price and his wife, Mary, handed those sagas down to their grand­children, who were born between 1905 and 1915. Siblings John Paul, Kathleen, Roy, Elizabeth, and Henry E. Price grew up at Sunnyside, the third settlement of immigrant Michael Price. Those fortunate youngsters enjoyed having Floyd Price living in their home as teenagers. And fortunate­ly for us, those Price descendants passed forward some of that “History on the way to the print-shop.” Many other local families have preserved their equally valuable history for the future.

Price immigrants Augustine and Daniel Price, brothers, made their homes in Virginia’s Shenan­doah Valley beginning in 1755. The Price de­scendants within The New River Valley are the descendants of oldest brother Michael Price and youngest brother John Henry Price; both of Price’s Fork[s]. (The earlier renditions of the village name were in the plural. Aerial maps of today show the multi-fork concept of that settlement.) The descendants of Immigrant John Henry Price at “The Forks” have likewise been standard bearers of Price oral history. Those Prices born between 1930 and 1950 are now the guardians of Price History. Wisely, that “Bridge Generation” between The Ancients and The Moderns resolved to dedicate themselves to pre­serve for all time the essential Price History. They invite all Price descendants and related families to join in researching and submitting family data for the benefit of this and future generations.