Lancaster – Helm – Sibold

Lucy Lee Lancaster

Thanks to Lucy Lee Lancaster (1905-1989) we know a lot about her family who made Blacksburg and Giles County their home, soon after the arrival of the early settlers in the late 1700’s. The list of intertwined families of the area is long, this is the short version: Barger, Helm, Lancaster, Martin, Sibold.

Also, thanks to Lucy Lee, the paper trail to her life is extensive. Her papers (44 boxes) are in the Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives Lucy Lee Lancaster Papers 1915 – 1989. It is from this rich source as well as newspapers and genealogical documents from which much of this information is drawn.

Lucy Lee’s grave maker reads, “A Much Loved Public Spirited Lady.” This agrees with what has been written about her. As summed up in Justine Elias’ article, which was published in the Roanoke Times 17 January 1991, “According to those who knew Lancaster, her gifts were rare: her charity, curiosity and sense of adventure.” She was a trailblazer in education, a dedicated librarian, a keen traveler, an avid collector of information, things and people, an accomplished genealogist, and tireless civic leader.

Early Life

Lucy Lee was born in Eggleston, Giles County, Virginia at her Sibold grandparent’s home, on 28th of June in 1905 to William L. and Lucy Lee Sibold Lancaster. Her sister, Martha Arabella, named after her grandmother, Arabella E. Helm Lancaster, was born two years later. Her parents were married for about 2.5 years before Lucy Lee was born.

Lucy was the great-great-granddaughter of Philip and Eve Barger who settled in the Blacksburg area when William Black deeded his land to create the town of Blacksburg, 1798. Her great-grandfather, John Barger Helm, married Christina, who was Philip and Eve Barger’s daughter. Their daughter, Arabella Emily Helm, married Josiah Baker Lancaster, from Lynchburg, Va. They were Lucy Lee’s grandparents. Arabella and Josiah lived in the Helm-Lancaster house which was located just south of the south-western corner of Main and Roanoke Street (about where the National Bank of Blacksburg is currently located). Her father was the oldest of four children: William Lewis Lancaster (1857), Georgia F. Lancaster (1862), Eustace A. Lancaster (1869) and Leslie H. Lancaster (1874).

Lucy Lee Lancaster’s other set of grandparents who lived in Eggleston, were Martin L. Sibold (1844-1914) and Martha Ann Jones Sibold (1851-1924). They lived in a lovely home on Rocky Hollow Road, near Eggleston. Later in life they moved to Eggleston village. Their children: Lucy Lee (1875-1951; married William L. Lancaster), Maggie Sue (1971-1961; married Elbert A. Anderson), Annie Kate (1878-1974; married Floyd Eaton Snidow), John Luther Sibold (1885-1939; married Fannie C. Johnston) and Arthur P. Sibold (1892-1977; married Elizabeth J. Stoops)

By tracing the family in the US Census records from 1860 onward, the Sibold family were living off Rocky Hollow Road on a farm in Giles County and the Helm/Lancaster family were living in Blacksburg, working first as tinners and traders in the 1860’s and then as the postmaster and clerk by 1870’s and 1880’s.

Lucy Lee’s Parents

Lucy Lee’s parents, Lucy Lee Sibold and William Lancaster married on November 4, 1902 in Giles County. Lucy Lee was 27 and William was 45. He is listed in the 1880 Census as an assistant postmaster and in the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 census as a civil engineer. In the 1930 census is he was noted as the Mayor of Blacksburg. He was mayor from 1924 to 1930 according to A Special Place for 200 Years: A History of Blacksburg, Virginia, ed., Clara B. Cox. Roanoke, Va.: Town of Blacksburg, Va., 1998, Print, p. 155.

Lucy Lee Lancaster (daughter) was born in Eggleston, Giles County, Virginia. She was living with her mother and sister on her grandparents, Martin L. and Martha A. Sibold’s farm in 1910 census. Also noted in the census was that Lucy Lee Sibold Lancaster had birthed three children with only two living at that time. The Lancaster’s had a baby boy in 1903, William L. Lancaster, Jr, who died in 1904. William L. Lancaster was also living in Giles, but at a different residence on the Eggleston Road. At this time he was living on the job-site of road-building work camp because he was the a civil engineer for the highway department. Her grandparent’s farm was on Rocky Hollow Road, which is north-west of Eggleston. By the 1920 census, William L. and Lucy Lee Sibold Lancaster were living on College View Hill road (now named Washington Street) in a house that they owned. In the 1930 census it was worth $7,500 and in the 1940 census, $9,000.

Lucy Lee’s younger sister, Martha Arabella tragically died in 1926 at the age of 19. She was attending VPI at the time. The William died in 1933, 7 years afterwards. Lucy Lee and her mother, Lucy Lee Sibold, were found living in the 403 Washington Street house in the 1940’s census. The census noted that her mother, 64 at the time, had attended college for 2 years and Lucy for 5 years. Lucy Lee, the daughter, was making $1,680 per year as the assistant librarian at VPI.

Early Education

Much of the information about her early education is captured in her papers, documents and ephemera that are held by the Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives – Lucy Lee Lancaster Papers 1915 – 1989. The Roanoke Times 19 March 1972 special VT Centennial edition provided additional information.

Lucy Lee’s education provides a glimpse of how the turn of the century county public school system educated Blacksburg children. Lucy Lee entered public school in 4th grade when she was 9 years-old, in the fall of 1914. Prior to that her mother “home-schooled” Lucy Lee, which was typical. She was an excellent student, judging by her grades and papers. She attended primary school from grades 4-7. At that time 8th grade did not exist, so she became a freshman high school student when she was 13 and graduated four years later in the spring of 1921 at age 16. She was involved with many school clubs and functions. In October 1913 she probably attended the first Blacksburg Fair.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Education

In the fall of 1921, Lucy Lee became one of the first five women to be admitted to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) as a full time student, a new student classification at that time. (Seven other women were allowed to take specific classes under a “Special Student” classification and they were usually staff or faculty wives.) These pioneering coeds included Lucy Lee (applied biology, graduated in 1925), Carrie Taylor Sibold (applied biology, graduated in 1925), Mary Brumfield (entered in her junior year, applied biology, graduated in 1923), Billie Kent Kabrich (applied chemistry; left after sophomore year), Louise Jacobs took Billie’s place (applied chemistry, entered her junior year and graduated in 1925), and Ruth Terrett (civil engineering, graduated in 1925.) Much has been written about these ladies and if you wish to learn more, check out History of Women at Virginia Tech .

Lucy Lee’s many boxes of “stuff” that are curated by the VT Special Collections & University Archives provide an opportunity to learn about her personality. She was a smart, witty, adventurous and fun-loving young woman. She was a joiner of clubs and organizations, even at an early age. What is striking is that she and her female classmates understood that going to VPI was groundbreaking, as evident in the hand-made Tin Horn annual. At that time these women were not allowed to be included in the male version, The Bugle. Thus, with playful and at times sarcastic humor, these woman created their own version – the Tin Horn.

Library Career

The VPI library was located in the Second Academic Building on campus until 1914 when the library moved to the Hokie Stone (limestone) building which was originally built as a chapel and auditorium in 1903. Eventually it was converted to a gym and then the library in 1914. This handsome but small building, was called the “Dutch Barn.” It served as the college and town library. In August 1953 it burned during renovations, fortunately the library collection had been removed. A new building was built on the same site and named for Dr. Carol Montgomery Newman in the spring of 1956.

During Lucy Lee’s junior year in college (1923) she worked in this library and graded papers for Dr. Newman. In an interview for the Roanoke Times 19 March 1972 article she recollected that her mother took her to the VPI library as a young child, which was used by all who lived in Blacksburg. Her mother wanted her to become a teacher; however, that did not appeal to her. So, she went to the New York Library School at Columbia University in Albany from 1925 to 1926. She returned four years later to finish in 1930-31. Though employed by VPI as an assistant librarian at the time, she was granted leave to work on her post-graduate degree in library science.

Lucy Lee was the assistant librarian from 1925 until her retirement in 1975, a few months shy of 50 years. She claimed she worked nearly all possible jobs within the library. And during this time, early on in her career and late into her life, she gave talks about a wide range of topics to many and various groups around the state and beyond.

The list of head librarians at VPI and then VT during Lucy Lee’s employment: Mary Hiss (1925), Ralph Minthorne Brown (1925-46), Seymour Robb (1946-61), Frank Shirk (1961-70). The title changed to “library director”: Gerald Rudolph (1970-74), and Gordon Bechanan (1974-84).

The Adventurous Traveler

Lucy Lee was known as an avid and adventurous traveler. She would take off two months most summers, often traveling on her own. She enjoyed visiting archeology sites and heritage destinations to further her genealogical research. She traveled abroad and within the USA. Evidence of her first trip was found in a ship manifest to England in 1938. Her last ship voyage was probably to Brazil in 1961. After that it appears she preferred to traveled by air. In her papers she left a postcard collection representing 23 places in the US and 11 places abroad. Also within her papers are travel notes that include over 50 trips, the first in 1935 when she was 30 years-old and her last in 1984 when she was 79 years-old. Lucy Lee visited every continent and very often traveled to very remote and challenging destinations.

Esther Derring, Paul N. Derring’s sister, was her trusty traveling companion for many years. They especially enjoyed visiting ancient archeological sites. On her own, Lucy Lee visited Germany & the British Isles to work on her family history.

Organizations

As Emily Stuart, friend and YMCA Director in the 1970 & 80’s stated, “You name it, she belonged to it …” We compiled the list of organizations that are included in her personal papers. Lucy Lee was involved with 71 organizations in her lifetime, which in broad categories include: athletics, civics, education, genealogy, government, history, honor societies, library, religious, travel, & visual arts. At the end of her life she was very involved in the YMCA, serving on the board of directors from 1970 to 1989. Upon her death her house and its contents were left to the YMCA at VT.

Genealogy

Lucy Lee Lancaster was an accomplished genealogist. Found within her papers is the complete genealogy of her family as well as all the ancillary family information. It appears that she also helped other people with their family history. This is the list of all the families she researched, over 90 found in her papers. She left us so much information that could have been lost without her dedication.

Articles or Presentations About Lucy Lee Lancaster

• Lucy Lee Lancaster – Women of Library History
• Lancaster, L.L. (1969, December 31). First Tech coed earned degree in 1923:  Dr. Burruss paved the way for women.  News Messenger, Centennial Edition, p. J1.
• Special Collections, Virginia Tech. (2007).  A guide to the Lucy Lee Lancaster papers, 1915-1989.  
• Miss Lucy Lee Lancaster – International Woman’s Day Celebration at the YMCA presentation at VT, March 8, 2022 by Jody Booze-Daniels
• History of Women at Virginia Tech , a collaboration between Virginia Tech Special Collections, University Libraries and the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech

Social Media

Blacksburg, Memories of the Way We Were, Facebook Group, search on Lancaster – Trail blazers of their time, these 5 young women graduated from VPI in 1925, from left to right – Mary Ella Carr Brumfield, Ruth Terrett, Lucy Lee Lancaster, Louise Jacobs, & Carrie Taylor Sibold. I have enjoyed reading Lucy Lee Lancaster’s documents which she donated to the VT archives. She was an impressive local historian and genealogist. Lucy Lee was the VPI librarian for many years and lived at 404 Washington St, SW for most of her life. (Side note-1920 Census for her family list her residence on College View Hill, not named Washington Street at that time). Her father, William L. Lancaster, was the mayor of Blacksburg from 1924 to 1930.

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