Donald Mosher Memorial Award for Colonial Virginia Research

This competitive $500 grant, established in 2001 by Merrill Hill Mosher, CG, of Oregon, honors her late husband, Donald Mosher.

The Donald Mosher Award recognizes original colonial research on Virginia topics published within the past five years or intended for future publication. The Award honors high-quality scholarly work, such as genealogical studies of Virginia families or the preparation and publication of materials especially valuable to those pursuing Virginia genealogy. While relevance to Virginia families is required, preference may be given to colonial-era family research or resources.

An annual award will go to one example of well-documented, rigorously researched genealogical writing in article or book form on Virginia subjects. Trustees of the BCG Education Fund are not eligible for this award.

To Apply

The annual deadline is 1 February. There are no word or page limitations. 

Authors should submit the project as a single PDF attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. One submission per person in any given year.

Add a brief cover letter (as an additional PDF or word processing document) stating:

• Name of submitter, email address, phone, and mailing address. All submissions should come from the author; for exception requests, contact the BCG Education Fund in advance. For works with multiple authors, details for each author should be included, and their agreement should be obtained in advance.
• A description of the item, including author and title, and the publication status or plans for publication.
• How your project meets the aware criteria.
• If the project is a guide or set of compiled records, explain its usefulness to Virginia genealogical research and the details of its availability to researchers.

 Receipt of your submission will be acknowledged.

Questions may also be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Applicants will be informed by the BCG Education Fund trustees of the results. Decisions of the selection committee will be final. One awared will be given each year or, at the committe's discretion, no award.

Roster of Mosher Award Recipients

Selena Mayes DuLac, Henrico County, Virginia, Land Patent Abstracts with Some Plat Maps, vol. I, 2002; and vol. III, 2009.

Victor S. Dunn, CG, “Virginia Business Records and Manuscript Index” hosted by the Virginia Genealogical Society.

Eric Hedrick, Historical Documents from Augusta County, Virginia: Volume 6—Judgments,
(http://www.erichedrick.com/augusta/, 2013); and Victims of the Massacre at Seybert's Fort, Augusta County, Virginia, 1758 (http://www.erichedrick.com/fortseybert/, 2019).

James Lively of England for his study identifying the 16th and 17th century English origins of the Underwood family of Virginia, 2006.

Nathan W. Murphy, MA, AG, “The Devon Seafaring Origins of William Byrd’s Mother’s Family: Grace (Stegge) Byrd of London, England, Thomas Stegge of Westover Parish, Charles City County, Virginia, and Captain Abraham Reed of Charles City County, Virginia; Including Additional Details about His Father John Byrd’s Career as a London Goldsmith,” The American Genealogist, Vol. 84, No. 4 (October 2010): 241-256; 2010; "The English Origin of Rev. Daniel Sturges, of Virginia and Georgia: His Relationship to Lady Hesilrige, and Further Clues to the Identity of Samuel Richardson's Pamela," to be published in an upcoming edition of The Genealogist, 2020; and "The English Origin of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel¹ Clark of Charles City County, Virginia," The American Genealogist Vol. 91, No. 4 (dated July/October 2020, published December 2021):241–9; 2019.

James Winter Petty, CGRS, AG, for his work extracting headrights from Virginia county records, 2005.