Wake Genealogy Watch

This summer, WCGS member Linda Fogle and husband Ron attended a milestone reunion for Ron's paternal Fogle family. The reunion recognized the date his 2nd Great Grandparents settled in Bonham, Texas. Linda shares her first-hand account as well as some reports from others below. Especially noteworthy is the typed account of rememberances from the Fogle grandchildren gathered at the 100th reunion in 1976. The Fogles originally moved to the Bonham area in 1876 when Henry Fogle and his wife Mary Ann McCoy and their five children left their home in El Monte, California, to join a wagon train travelling to Texas, where Mary Ann’s father had bought land before his death in 1871. Two additional children were born after the family settled in Texas. Currier & Ives lithograph, c. 1870 Fogle descendant Amy Neville reported in the local newspape r: "... nearly 100 members of the Fogle family gathered this year to celebrate a remarkable milestone—the 150th annual Fogle Sesquicentennial...

Webtember is an annual, month-long online genealogy conference hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Held every September, the event features a large assortment of high-quality educational webinars led by international family history experts. The nice surprise is that the offerings are free to view for the full month of September with registration (as opposed to the usual 7-day view period). With 31 webinars on the schedule, there is a lot of high quality learning lead by favorite and familiar instructors, right at your finger tips from your favorite comfy chair. You will find a variety of topics including solid genealogy methodology, locality-based research, DNA topics including working matches and using third-party tools. The series starts Wednesday, September 9, so don't waste a minute.  You can view the full lineup here .  While you are checking out the Webtember content, browse a little further to check what they have in their library. I know you will find something...

Let's meet in-person at the upcoming NCGS conference in a couple of weeks! The Wake County Genealogy Society will have a table located in the America 250 lecture room on Friday and Saturday, September 18 and 19. The table will be manned during the breaks between presentations and some portions of the lunch breaks. Come by for a visit as well as a chance to participate in several fun activities (planned by Barbara McGeachy, Carla Stancil and Lori Winklestein). Let's chat and hang out. The planned activities include: A North Carolina trivia contest with some sweet prizes. Claim your free sticker that declares  "I have Wake County Ancestors" Enter a special genealogy book giveaway - the giveaway includes a book set and an individual book. Both are described below. ~ Wake: Capital County of North Carolina, Vol. I by Elizabeth Reid Murray and Vol. II by E. Todd Johnson & Elizabeth Reid Murray (hardcover with dust covers) The set will be kept together as one prize. Vo...

Marcus Boyd has been a WCGS member for several years. We are delighted to welcome him to the WCGS Board. He always brings something interesting to the table. He has some truly amazing talents for combining the latest tech with traditional genealogical content. I look forward to watching his story with us unfold. Marcus Boyd, WCGS Treasurer Hi Marcus. Please share some highlights of your personal genealogical journey including work, hobby and/or research experiences.  My interest in family history began in 2019, shortly after the birth of my first child. Around that time, I watched the fascinating documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which brings the experiences of World War I soldiers to life through veterans’ firsthand accounts and restored archival footage. When I shared the documentary with my dad, he mentioned that my great-grandfather had served in the war—something I had never known. That revelation made me wonder, “What else don’t I know about my family’s history?” More than...

This is a reprint from Wake Genealogy Watch, Spring 2019 (v2.3) . The strategy mentioned has stood the test of time and has not failed me yet. I wish I could be disciplined enough to get ALL my files converted to this method. That is the life of a genealogist - too much to do, not enough time to do it all! - CD File naming is one of the biggest challenges for me in my genealogy pursuits. There are so many files, with so many names—some the same that need differentiating, and all different types of records. Separate by name, surname group, record type, file type??… We all struggle with this. Two years ago, I was following along on Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do Over Facebook group and happened on to a discussion of document naming strategies . There were many very good strategies and suggestions there, but one was a game changer. It is something that I use consistently and it has proven itself in usefulness and accuracy. I currently use it for pictures and documents. I plan to use a ve...

Tuesday, Sept 22, 2026 @ 6:30pm – Virtual Topic:   Using Artificial Intelligence Tools in Genealogy Speaker:   David McCorkle Learn how to use AI tools to process genealogical evidence from various records in a more comprehensive and less time consuming manner. This lecture will cover document analysis, reading handwriting, processing images, and more, using real examples and the latest tools. This is an introductory lecture, so no AI knowledge is required. 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! **Get the video recording to watch on-demand for 30 days and access to our webinar handout library with your WCGS membership!**           ** At presenters discretion. Upcoming Events  View events page for details...