Wake County Genealogical Society Blog

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Reminder - Members! Show Your Wakecogen Colors! Grab a Member Name Tag by September 15..

Members, purchase by September 15!

You may have seen several of us “older” members wearing our WCGS name tags at genealogical events. We ordered them pre-COVID when we only had in-person meetings.

We are once again taking orders for name tags! Any member may order a WCGS name tag. We will take orders until September 15.

The name tag has your name and “Wake County Genealogical Society”. Lettering is white on a dark blue background. Name tags are $15. Specify either a magnet back or a pin back. Clearly write your name for the tag.

Order by Sept. 15. Pay by Check or Paypal

You can pick them up at any in-person WCGS event in October through December. Or you can ask us to mail your name tag for an additional $6 for postage and padded envelope.

Payment is required before we place the order on September 15th.

Payment by Check or Paypal:

Mail a check made out to Wake County Genealogical Society and send it to

Barbara McGeachy

3602 Burwell Rollins Circle

Raleigh, NC 27612

Or on PayPal, send the money to Wake County Genealogical Society Inc.

Any questions? Email President(at)WakeCoGen.org

Potential Grave Relocation - Rhodes Cemetery in Wendell

Shared to our Facebook page by Elizabeth Godwin via the News and Observer listing:

Potential Grave Relocation

In the matter of the proposed removal and reinterment of approximately 2 graves at the Rhodes Cemetery, 3130 Buck Stage Trail, Wendell, Wake County, NC (PIN 1784796727).

The cemetery contains 1 inscribed grave marker for Lenard L. Rhodes (1831-1862) and one potential uninscribed grave marker.

The request for removal and reinterment is anticipated to be considered by the Wendell Town Board of Commissioners in fall 2025.

Anyone with information regarding the cemetery or the next-of-kin of the deceased, please contact Olivia Heckendorf at oheckendorf@rgaincorporated.com or 609-366-7101.

IPL0260506 Aug 7,14,21,28 2025 (Link) The location is shown below. Note that the ad lists location as Wendell, while Google maps calls it Zebulon. The cemetery is shown by the orange pin on the developed lot at Buck Stage Road. This location in southeast of the intersection of Buck Stage with Mashburn Road and south of Hwy 97.

click image for large version

Lenard L. Rhodes (1831-1862) was married to Ann Eliza Pace. They are shown on the 1860 US Census in Wake county, NC, Wake, North Easter Division at Eagle Rock Post Office. They are shown in proximity to other Rhodes cemeteries that were reported and/or surveyed in the Wake County Cemetery Survey. Those can be viewed at the image collection on our website. The cemetery for Lenard was not included in the original survey. They may be kin to these other Rhodes families.

Source

The Rhodes - Lee Cemetery shows William A and Berilla buried there. View the survey here.

The other Rhodes Cemetery listed was reported but not surveyed. View the scant detail we have for it here.

If anyone can place Lenard's descendants, please notify them of this upcoming relocation of their ancestors.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Wake Genealogy Watch - Fall 2025, 9.1 - Latest issue of our newsletter is live now!

The Fall 2025 issue (Vol. 9, Issue 1) of our award-winning newsletter, Wake Genealogy Watch, is now available online for reading or download. Visit the WCGS website or click the link here: Wake Genealogy Watch, Fall 2025.

This issue includes:

A recap of our Find Your Family event in May.
Registration details for Barbara McGeachy’s expanded fall genealogy classes—now 11 topics (up from 8).
Practical how-to articles to guide your research.
A review of Belle Long’s same-name study on multiple Joel Lanes, with a link to her original work.
Ed Webb’s success story of using the BIRLS/FOIA process to successfully acquire his father’s BIRLS military record packet.
A video tutorial on using AI tools to turn ancestor profiles into narratives, bios, and research plans.
Cynthia Gage shares the NUMIDENT Social Security dataset for 20th Century Ancestors.
Information on ordering a WCGS member nametag.
A full calendar of upcoming events.

Dive in and explore all the resources and stories designed to enrich your genealogy journey!

Photo Note: If you choose to read a printed version of this newsletter, some of the photos will be difficult to view due to size constraints. Please refer to the online edition where you can enlarge the photos to accommodate better viewing.

Click this newsletter page link to view this and all past newsletter content.

We welcome your feedback, input, and submissions for inclusion in future editions. Please address all concerns to newsletter@wakecogen.org.

A Tale of Two Maps - Maps of Henry Mouzon 1775 and 1777

Have fun spending some time comparing and contrasting these two colonial era maps that are held by the Library of Congress. Both made under the direction of Henry Muzon. Both show the early colonies of North and South Carolina. Both are hand colored, although each is executed somewhat differently. One created in London, the other in Paris. They even share a title -

An accurate map of North and South Carolina,
with their Indian frontiers, shewing in a distinct manner all
the mountains, rivers, swamps, marshes, bays, creeks,
harbours, sandbanks, and soundings on the coast
with the roads and Indian paths as well as
The Boundary or Provincial Lines, the several Townships
and other divisions of the Land in both Provinces:
The whole from Actual Surveys by Henry Mouzon and Others.

Click through to see larger images, but more importantly, click the hyperlinked dates to view the original maps at the Library of Congress.

1775

1777

If you have time for nothing else, be sure to open the 1777 version to see Cornwallis's Route from Charleston to the Piedmont area of North Carolina. No doubt this was colored by someone other than the makers after the fact because these troop movements happened in 1780-81 time frame. Note also that Cornwallis is spelled Cournoualis. Interesting. I guess this reflects its French publication.

Another feature not to be missed in both maps is their wonderful hand drawn craftsmanship. You will see this if you do a tight zoom on the hand lettering in the upper left corner of either map.

Are you still up for a challenge? Can you can find the location of the land that became Wake County in 1771, but for some reason, is still designated as being in another county on these maps? I guess folks were a little busy with warring and other things at this point.

I hope you enjoy this deep dive into colonial, Revolution era maps. These are so totally fascinating that this could take several hot afternoons to satisfy your curiosity!

2025 Wake County Genealogical Society Virtual Meetings - next - September 23, 2025

Tuesday, Sep 23, 2025 @ 6:30pm – Virtual

Topic: Revolutionary War: Moore's Creek Battleground and the Scots-Irish in NC

Speaker: John Miles

The Revolutionary War battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, NC occurred in 1776 as a group of Scottish Loyalists comprising the 84th Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment were trying to execute a link-up with British Amphibious Forces approaching Wilmington.

Patriot forces got intel about the planned link-up and set up a blocking position at a bridge across Moore's Creek (the last significant obstacle on the way to Wilmington). The 84th Regiment then attempted a frontal assault on the Patriot defensive position using the traditional Scottish tactic of a Highland Charge.

Join us! Free and virtual!

*Please register by 4pm day of meeting.

*Please save your passcode and link for ease of entry at start time.

*Presentation starts promptly at 6:30 pm.

Link to register at the Wakecogen website events page.

Registration is now open!

Upcoming Events

View events page for details

Tuesday, Oct 28, 2025 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Reconstruct your Ancestor's World with Google
presented by Lisa Louise Cooke, GenealogyGems.com

Tuesday, Dec 2, 2025 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Become a Power User of DigitalNC.org
presented by Taneya Koonce

Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Getting Started in Genealogical Research
Presented by Renate Sanders

Tuesday, Feb 24, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
NC Archives Digital Services: Using the Website Digital Collections and Online Catalog
presented by Anna Peitzman

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Wake Wednesday - The Life and Times of Lucius Griffis 1839 - 1918

This Reading Room Review is republished from the Wake Genealogy Watch newsletter, Fall 2023, p.3.

The Life and Times of Lucius Griffis (1839-1918): Including a Detailed Study of His Participation in the American Civil War (1861-1865), written by Brian Craig Griffis. 119 pp.

Brian Griffis shares this glimpse into his Wake County family story with us. He researched for years to discover and round out the context of his ancestor, Lucius Griffis. - CD

Lucius was a Wake County native born and bred, a fatherless son who was raised by two women. He was not much of a student and chose to pursue farming as soon as he could get away from the classroom. He was a soldier, a deserter who paid the consequences and rejoined his unit, a soldier again drilling and marching all over the South without seeing any real battle action until a very pivotal moment. He was a husband and father of a family unit tragically broken by the war and its aftermath, a husband again twice over, a veteran so crippled and debilitated from his injuries during the war that he spent his later years on the dole in the poorhouses of Raleigh.

That was my elevator speech version of Lucius' life. I am being deliberately brief here because Brian has done so much research on his 2nd Great grandfather over many years. He has done a masterful job of pushing past the easy task of snagging links at Ancestry.com. You will find he has dug deep to find records that not only document Lucius' presence in the many phases of his life, but jaw dropping accounts of what his ancestor faced as a soldier, deserter, and veteran. Brian has also captured the desolation of Lucius and various family members as they struggle to survive in the chaotic place that was the Reconstruction South.

Brian’s book will be of interest to a wide variety of readers’ interests including:

· Wake County research
· Civil War history in both North Carolina and Virginia especially those interested in the NC 47th’s role in battle and eyewitness accounts of battles and last days of the war
· Raleigh's occupation by Federal troops in the immediate aftermath of the war
· Social support and reform in the postbellum era
· History of the Wake County Home and Cemetery

Those seeking a model of best practices for research and family history writing will want to make time for a nice leisurely read to enjoy not only the story, but Brian’s strategy for “filling in the dash.” Brian presents us with a richly told story of a Wake County man and his cohorts as they struggle through some historically tumultuous events in our history.

In pressing beyond the standard data points of Birth, Marriage and Death records, Brian has made use of a great many alternate resources. These notably include:

· Eyewitness accounts of NC47th from published sketches of Captain Thorp, Co. A and Lieutenant Rogers, Co I, (Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861-1865)
· Eyewitness accounts of Surrender at Appomattox
· Eyewitness accounts of the Federal occupation of Raleigh
· Lucius’ Confederate service file
· NARA Confederate Archives
· Articles and reports from newspapers on various topics throughout the biography

Brian has made careful and helpful use of his footnotes and source bibliography. He includes photos with illustration credits. At the end, readers will find an Appendix with an eleven generation Griffis pedigree including the author and Lucius.

Click to read or download the PDF. Note that this is a large file and may take a minute or two to open. For printed copies or usage permission, you may contact the author at bcghistory@gmail.com.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Wake Wednesday - Major General Calvin Jones, M. D. of Wake Forest

Did you miss the Summer 2024 feature about Major General Calvin Jones, M. D. of Wake Forest in the Wake Genealogy Watch newsletter?

If so, here is your reminder to seek out the feature to correct that mistake! Ed Morris, the former executive director of the Wake Forest Historical Museum shares his vast knowledge on Jones and illustrates why he can truly be called an early Wake County renaissance man. Jones was a soldier, medical man, entrepreneur, educator, politician and founder of a school that would eventually become Wake Forest University. This is not guilding the lilly. There is much more to know. I don't want to spoil Ed's masterful telling of the story, so I will direct you to it with the encouragement to keep a sharp eye. You don't want to miss how Major General Calvin cleverly saved North Carolina from being a battleground state in the War of 1812. He was truly a masterful strategist!

Dr. Calvin Jones of Wake Forest. Portrait
photo by Ken Bennett, Wake Forest University

This featured article can be accessed in this issue of the WGW on pages 3-7.

You can browse all the past issues of The Wake Genealogy Watch at this link.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Upchurch and Allied Families Association Newsletter - August 2025

For those following along, here is the latest Upchurch and Allied Families Association Newsletter.

August 2025

This issue features the J.B. Mills & Cora Upchurch Mills house set to be demolished due to excessive deterioration and vandalism, and another Upchurch family member's connection to the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show!

View past UAFA newsletters here

Monday, August 18, 2025

Declaration of Independence Signer - John Penn "Speaks" at Braswell Memorial Library, August 27

Invitation from Braswell Memorial Public Library in Rocky Mount:

Please join us on Wednesday, August 27^th at 6 p.m. in our Warner Meeting Room to hear

Mark Pace speaking as Patriot John Penn!

We are leading up to the momentous date of 4 July 2026, which will be the

250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Come learn from John Penn, North Carolina’s signer of the Declaration,

what the current state of the union was in the year 1788!

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/penn-john

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Fall Schedule Genealogy Classes with Barbara McGeachy - Sept 8 - Nov 17

Do you want to start delving into your family history? Are you interested in taking your genealogy skills to the next level? We have great news for you whether you are a beginner or intermediate family researcher. A new, expanded series of genealogy classes offered by Barbara McGeachy, President of Wake County Genealogical Society. Classes will start this September and run through November.

Barbara's classes are offered in partnership with the City of Raleigh Parks and Recreation. Classes will be held Mondays from 10:30 am to noon in the large meeting room in the Laurel Hills Community Center, 3808 Edwards Mill Road.

Beginning Genealogy Classes taught by WCGS President, Barbara McGeachy

Fall 2025 Genealogy Class list :

Genealogy: Getting Started! - Monday, Sep 8

Learn how to research your family history. Start with yourself and work back in time. Start with records you already have. Find records on-line to fill in the gaps. Learn how to record names, dates, and locations. Learn how to keep track of what facts you find and where you found them. *This class is recommended (but not required) as a foundation for the others in the series.

Genealogy: Hatch‘em, Match‘em, Dispatch‘em - Monday, Sep 15

After learning the basics, we now learn how to find vital records (birth, marriage, and death) which are essential to genealogy.

Genealogy: Making Sense of the Census - Monday, Sep 22

The census records all Americans every 10 years, from 1790 to 1950. Learn what information is in the census and how to find your ancestors!

Genealogy: Where There’s a Will - Monday, Sep 29

Learn about estate records, a rich source of genealogical information. Wills list heirs; inventory lists describe all the person’s worldly goods and their value. Learn where to find your ancestors’ wills and other estate records.

Genealogy: Read all about your ancestors! - Monday, Oct 6

Local newspapers were the internet and TV of their day! Find wedding descriptions, obituaries, family reunions, arrest records, and lots more genealogical data. Learn where to find old newspapers online.

Genealogy: Should I take a DNA test? - Monday, Oct 13

Why take a DNA test? Where can you take a test? How much does a DNA test cost? What are the pros & cons of testing?

Genealogy: Understanding DNA test results - Monday, Oct 20

Learn how to use the results of your DNA test. We’ll explain the ethnicity report and the match list. Any testing company has similar results.

Genealogy: Using FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com - Monday, Oct 27

Learn how to find your ancestors on the two most popular on-line websites for family history. FamilySearch.org is free to everyone. Ancestry.com has a free version and a library version is free at Wake County Public Libraries. Your ancestors are waiting to be found!

Genealogy: Land to the East - Monday, Nov 3

Deeds can have valuable genealogical information, including spouses, heirs, parent/child relationships and more. This class focuses on the 20 states (mainly east of the Mississippi River) that use the "metes and bounds" system for describing land.

Genealogy: Land to the West - Monday, Nov 10

If your ancestors owned land in a "public domain state", that is, west of the original 13 colonies, their land is described using a grid. Learn about the 30 states that use this system and how to find your ancestors' land!

Genealogy: How did my ancestors get here? - Monday, Nov 17

Learn about European migration to America from 1607 (Jamestown, Virginia) through the early 1900s. Find passenger lists, citizenship papers, and more!

*This first class - Genealogy: Getting Started! - is recommended (but not required) as a foundation for the others in the series.

Please share this opportunity with friends and neighbors!

Any questions? Email Barbara president@wakecogen.org

Each class is $8. You must register for each separately.

You must register for each class separately. Find help accessing the registration forms below. Class titles above are hyperlinked to their individual registration. If they don't take you to registration, the instructions below will. Look for the genealogy class with 11 sections. Note: Classes will read unavailable until Monday, July 22 when registration opens.

Enroll online at
https://ncraleighweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web/splash.html
Or stop by any staffed parks & rec center.

Online registration guide - click to enlarge. Search "genealogy"

Another way to find the classes online (if you are on phone, tablet, or half screen on a PC this is helpful to know) - From the link above, click the "Activities" tab.

Find the green "funnel" at the top right corner of the search page and click it.

Put "genealogy" in the keyword search and choose Laurel Hills in the location field.

Scroll down and click the green search button in the lower right corner.

Open the "Genealogy: Getting Started" tab. Enroll in each session individually.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Wake Wednesday - The Civil War era earthworks that circle Raleigh

Did you know that that portions of the earthworks built to fortify the city of Raleigh during the Civil War still exist?

Did you know you can find these earthworks remnants at places like New Bern Ave, Peace and West Streets, and other locations throughout the city? Did you know that the earthworks have their own blog.

Not just a post, but an entire blog!

2020 version of Bredenberg's fortification map

Visit the blog - Raleigh's Wall - to see the wall on maps - old and new - and hear stories uncovered as author/blogger, Alfred Roy Bredenberg, uncovered the wall and its history. He has also developed an interactive map of the fortifications. Brededberg also writes a companion blog Civil War Nuances dedicated to stories and insights into the Civil War.

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