Back in time from January 1, 2025

1925

The cholera outbreak at Piedmont Kennel continued to wreak havoc. Forty-two of P.S. Ford’s more than 50 hogs had died already. As soon as the malady had been discovered, the hogs were inoculated, but that treatment was not effective. Several of the hogs were very valuable registered stock, and the loss ran in the thousands. In addition to raising fine hogs, Mr. Ford also raised fine dogs. Just after dealing with the outbreak, Mr. Ford went to New York to attend the automobile show there. It was his first visit to that grand city. He was the head of the O.D. Ford Motor Company in Martinsville.

1950

The first baby born of 1950 was Douglas Edward Woods Jr. of Figsboro Road. He was entitled to a number of gifts offered by local merchants for the first baby of the year.

The United States was 1 year into a national method of recording births. The first baby so recorded was Leonard Blake Gunnells born in Prattville, Ala., on Jan. 1, 1949. His number was 101-49-000001. The first three digits stood for the state, the next three for the year and the final digits were a serial number for the baby. (We looked up this method to see when it was discontinued or even if it were still in use but did not find any information with a simple search. Social security numbers have been issued since 1936, and they seem to fulfill the need in terms of identification.)

1975

It was crazy weather in the Ridgeway area. A fellow who lived off Morgan Ford Road said the wind was blowing so hard that he had to hold onto the storm door to get it to close on his way out. Then, as he was driving near Va. 87, the air was so still that he had to slow down his car to a crawl to get through fog so thick he couldn’t see.

2000

Richard Morris, who had been the chaplain for Good News Jail and Prison Ministry of MHC for 20 years, had just begun his retirement.

Fieldale began the new year without its own police department. The Fieldale Police Department had one officer, David Deisher, who made $30,000 a year. Henry County paid $4,477 of his salary, and the Fieldale Sanitary District paid the rest. Fieldale was the last community to have a special police force; others, closed many years before, included Bassett and Ridgeway. District board chair Hoyt Wiggonton said that the District no longer could afford it.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.