Nansemond-Isle of Wight County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Newspapers.....Cyclone, 1887 

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"Alexandria Gazette," April 20, 1887, p. 2 col 4 

  CYCLONE IN VIRGINIA.- The most destructive cyclone that has ever visited 
Virginia passed over Isle of Wight county Monday night.  It first struck that 
section of the county in the vicinity of Windsor Station, on the Norfolk and 
Western Railway, and was so severe as to cause great excitement and fear among 
the people living in that locality.  Dwellings, out houses and fences were 
blown down, and the timbers sent flying in every direction, while large trees 
which had stood the storms of years were uprooted and their branches twisted 
in every conceivable shape.  The dwelling-house of John Wright, a prominent 
farmer living two miles from Windsor Station, and about six hundred yards from 
the railroad, was blown down, and he and his wife and daughter instantly 
killed, being crushed to death by falling timbers.  The occupants of another 
house a short distance away were also killed.  Details of the damage done by 
the cyclone in the interior of the county have not yet been learned. 


"Alexandria Gazette," April 21, 1887, p. 2 col. 3 

     The Cyclone in Nansemond. 

  The terrible cyclone which swept a portion of Nansemond county with such 
fatal effect on Monday night caused more damage than was at first realized. 
Many houses and out buildings have been blown down, farms swept clean of 
fencing and countless trees destroyed.  Mrs. John Wright and Mr. James M. 
Luke, the two victims, were buried at Myrtle Station Tuesday afternoon. 
Mr. John Wright is severely bruised, though it is not thought fatally.  His 
residence was a two story frame, about half a mile from Myrtle Station, on 
the Norfolk and Western Railroad.  The storm struck it a little after 7 
p. m., lifted it from its foundation, and carried it at least a hundred 
yards to where it was dashed to atoms, the fragments being blown some of 
them two miles away.  At the time the house was occupied by Mr. Wright and 
wife and a little girl, a half-sister of Mr. Wright, and Mr. James M. Luke, 
a young man, who had been in the house but a few minutes when the catastrophe 
occurred.  As already announced by telegraph, Mrs. Wright and Mr. Luke were 
killed instantly.  The body of the lady was found about one hundred and fifty 
yards from where the house formerly stood, and that of Mr. Luke about one 
hundred yards, lying across the trunk of an uprooted tree.  Mr. Wright was 
blown about two hundred yards in an open field, and when he regained 
consciousness found his way back and gave the alarm, and brought to his 
assistance several neighbors.  The girl was found about forty yards away and 
not seriously injured.  The whole mass was carried in a northwesterly 
direction and everything demolished- house and contents.  The path of the 
storm was about one hundred yards in width.  Mr. Luke was nearly twenty-five 
years of age.  Mr. and Mrs. Wright were young people, and married on the 16th 
of last December. 

  Houses and contents, barns and outhouses were blown down in different 
sections of the county.  Isaiah Johnson's house at Myrtle Station was blown 
down.  Two children of Mr. Sylvester Wright were killed.  All the outbuildings 
on the farm of H. K. Williams were blown down, and the main building was moved, 
but not enough to make it dangerous.  At Carrsville the storm first struck the 
residence of J. H. English, demolishing all his outhouses; at James Joyner's 
and Justin Fowler's all the outhouses were demolished; at Benj. Crumpler's all 
the outhouses were destroyed and the dwelling was lifted from its foundation 
but not much damaged; at Benjamin Spiver's [sic; Spivey's] all the houses, 
twelve in number, were completely wrecked, and the seven members of the family 
who were in the dewlling narrowly escaped with their lives, one of them being 
caught under the wreck.  A valuable horse was killed. 

  At Suffolk, in Isle of Wight county, the storm prostrated buildings, barns, 
outhouses, fences and trees, and several persons were injured. 


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