The Virginia Piedmont Company of the Jamestowne Society recently met at the Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg, for its biannual meeting with over 30 members and guests present.

Following a luncheon and a business meeting, Janet E. Johnson, current secretary and past-president of the Historic Staunton River Foundation, Inc., presented a program entitled, “The Carrington Family of Virginia.” Since 2004, Johnson has conducted research at Mulberry Hill Plantation in Randolph (Charlotte County), the ancestral home of the Carringtons, numerous local libraries and the Library of Virginia. Johnson’s presentation highlighted the journey the Carrington family embarked in the mid- 1600s from Cheshire, England to the Island of Barbados.

It was from this small island that the parents of the famed Judge Paul Carrington of Virginia would immigrate. Initially, they settled in Cumberland County and by the formation of Charlotte County in 1765, Judge Paul Carrington would begin construction of Mulberry Hill. Since that time, the house and its grounds have stood as a testament to its creator and cultivator and now gives homage to his many lineal and collateral descendants. At the conclusion of Johnson’s presentation, many members of the audience conveyed their lineage and ancestry from Judge Paul Carrington, and one member was actually named in his honor.

The Jamestowne Society, headquartered in Richmond, is a hereditary society that admits members by invitation only and in accordance with the Society’s bylaws. The following criteria is used in determining membership eligibility: the Jamestowne ancestor was a stockholder in the London Company or Virginia Company; owned land on Jamestowne Island or lived on the Island prior to 1700; or was a resident of Virginia at the time of the 1624-25 Muster; served as Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Attorney General, clerk of the General Court, Member of the Council or member of the House of Burgesses prior to 1700. The Society is broken into Companies throughout the 50 states and an annual meeting is held in Williamsburg each May. The Virginia Piedmont Company encompasses “Southside and South Central Virginia,” from Charlottesville, in the north, to Danville in the South, to Lynchburg in the west, and Farmville in the east.