The next Speaker Series lecture hosted by the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society will be “Audacity and Courage in Uncertain Times: The Life of Hansford Bayton, Black Steamboat Captain and Northern Neck Entrepreneur,” presented by Dr. Julia Sullivan-Detheridge, Bayton’s great-granddaughter and biographer.

The program takes place on Thursday, June 9, at 7 p.m. in-person at the Lancaster Community Library in Kilmarnock and virtually by Zoom. Admission for either format is $5 for the public and free for LVHS members. Library doors open at 6:30, but seating is limited, so reservations are strongly suggested. Registration for the live Zoom broadcast is required by noon on the day of the event. A recording will also be available later. To sign up, call 804-462-7280 or visit www.LancasterVaHistory.org.

According to LVHS executive director Karen Hart, Hansford C. Bayton was born in 1863 in Essex County to a young, single, enslaved black woman, Julia Holmes. His biological father was a...