WakeCoGen Blog - news from the Wake County Genealogy Society
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Topic: Who's your daddy? Exploring North Carolina Bastardy Bonds
Speaker: A. Danielle Pritchett, MLS
*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!
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Upcoming Events |
Tuesday, Apr 28, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Researching Your Mom: Don't overlook researching your immediate family!
presented by Diane L Richard
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Preserving Small Family Cemeteries
Presented by Joel Hobby
Tuesday, Jun 23, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Fishing in Every Pond: Cousin Baiting
presented by Christine Cohen
Tuesday, Jul 28, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Virtual
Early Migration and Settlement Patterns
presented by J. Mark Lowe
The Spring 2026 issue (Vol. 9, Issue 3) of the Wake Genealogy Watch newsletter is now available online for reading or download. Visit the WCGS website or click here: Wake Genealogy Watch, Spring 2026.
Photo Note: 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. Visit the searchable Wake
Genealogy Watch cumulative
index to browse past issues.
Your feedback is valuable and we would love to have your input
and submissions for inclusion in future editions. Please contact us at newsletter@wakecogen.org.
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| What's in your collection?* |
Also
bring genealogy magazines and journals to share on a “free” table
*Note: Books in the image are representative only.
Who: Members and non-members of WCGS
Where: Laurel Hills Community Center
large meeting room,
3808
Edwards Mill Rd, Raleigh (near Crabtree Mall)
When: Saturday, June 20, 2026 from 10
am to noon (rain or shine)
Followed by lunch
(Dutch treat) – location TBD
How does this work?
Check-in:
Optionally, bring books and get a voucher listing the number of books you
brought.
Shop:
Select the books you want.
Journals
and magazines are free – please limit yourself to 5.
Check-out:
if you brought any books, each book entitles you to take a book. If you want
more books than you brought, pay $5 for each additional book
Examples:
Bring
5 books, take 7 – pay $10
Bring
5 books, take 3 – no money back
Bring
no books, take 3 – pay $15
Terms
Cash
only
No
bills over $20
No
sales tax (we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity)
All
proceeds go to the WCGS
Leftovers
books: we’ll donate to the Wake County Public Library
Leftover
magazines / journals: we’ll recycle
When - Wednesday, April 29, at 9:30 am
Where - Panera Bread, 1004 Parkside Main Street, Cary.
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| Designed by pch.vector / Freepik |
Let’s get to know each other! We’ll chat about what genealogical topics we're working on, or a brick wall, or ask other members how to do something.
No RSVP - just show up, order your beverage or food, and look around for Barbara and Sherry at a large table with a sign for WCGS.
Thanks to Sherry Gajewski for suggesting and hosting this event!
We tentatively plan to hold several more “Coffee and Conversation” events on different days and locations throughout 2026. If you are interested in hosting one, email President@WakeCoGen.org and we'll choose a date and location.
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| The magazine version of Davis' North Carolina Gazette c. 1764 View at NCDigital |
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| Boylan's Raleigh Minerva View at NC Digital |
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| Gales' Raleigh Register View at NC Digital |
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| Source |
Looking for a fun way to dive into local history with fellow genealogy enthusiasts? The Wake County Genealogical Society is hosting a special meet-up in downtown Raleigh, and you’re invited!
We’ll be exploring the city via the Historic Raleigh Trolley followed by a social lunch. Space is extremely limited, so grab your seat before they’re gone!
Event Details
When: Saturday, March 28Time: 11:00 AM (Tour lasts approx. 1 hour)Where: Mordecai Historic Park (Tour departs from Mimosa Street)Cost: $10 per Adult
Act Fast: There are only 26 spots total for this time slot. It is open to the general public, so get your tickets ASAP!
Update: as of 10am, Thurs. March 12, there are 18 spots still available.
**Be sure to get either printed tickets or have your tickets ready to show on your phone when you board the trolley.**
Departure Point: The tour starts and ends on Mimosa Street, right next to the large green Raleigh Trolley sign.
Parking: Street parking is available on Mimosa Street and surrounding city streets. Do not park in the nearby funeral home lot, as it is private property.
Visitor Center: Located on Cedar Street. Arrive early to check out the gift shop, bathrooms, and free exhibits—including the genealogy of the Mordecai family!
Accessibility: The standard trolley requires climbing 3 or 4 steps. If you require a wheelchair-accessible trolley, please indicate your needs when purchasing your ticket on RecLink. You will remain on the trolley for the duration of the one-hour tour.Questions? The helpful staff at the Mordecai Visitor Center can be reached at 919-996-4364 (Tuesday–Sunday).
Cost: ~$4 (Seniors).How to book: You cannot book this online. Pay at the Visitor Center on the morning of the event.Pro Tip: Show your pre-purchased trolley ticket to the attendant; you may receive a "combo" discount!
After the tour, we’ll head over to High Park Bar and Grill (625 E. Whitaker Mill Road) for a casual lunch. They offer an extensive regular menu plus a brunch menu. It's reasonably priced and usually easy to get a table on Saturdays!
Imagine living in a time when it took months to know what was happening in your own "little corner of the world" as well as the Colonies at large. North Carolina did not have a dedicated newspaper until 1751. The first local newspaper, the North Carolina Gazette, was published in New Bern roughly weekly.
Imagine going through the chaotic times leading up to the Revolution with no timely account of the world, local or global. Colonists of NC had to wait weeks and sometimes months for updates from England and other colonies. Not knowing the events was difficult, but not seening the rising tide of dissent had to be disconcerting as well.
Events such as the French and Indian War and the Native raids against the western NC settlements that we talked about earlier took a toll on the general morale of the colonists. The punative decrees and regulations yet to come against the colonists as a result of their resistance to the King and his agents added a further layer of divisiveness.
I imagine some folks were content to be far removed from the news cycle, slow as it may have been. Others went to great pains to keep up with current events.
So, how was a colonist to stay informed in a time without 24 hour news channels and friends feeding them news via social media?
In the earliest days of the colonies, news dissemination consisted of mail, newspapers and broadsides carried by travellers along colonial roads and dispersed and discussed at taverns, churches and courthouses, the local gathering spots of their day. This was exactly how the colonists got their news at this time. North Carolina colonists relied most heavily on papers from Virginia and South Carolina. They also were keen to hear news from merchants and travelers, and letters from other regions.
Here are two articles from the Virginia Gazette during this early colonial period, dated 1755. This is the era of Fort Dobbs and early attempts to make a lasting treaty between the British colonies and the Cherokee. This predates the later Cherokee raids in the area near Fort Dobbs and the Proclamation of 1763 that limited the western boundary of the British colony to the crest of the Appalachian mountains.
Both articles are available to read in their entireity online. The first, dated September 5, 1755, summarized the British and French attempted claims of the Indian territory. The second describes an treaty struck between the British and the Cherokee. It is dated September 19, 1755, just two weeks later.
Excerpts are here. The full articles are available at the links below.
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| excerpt from Virginia Gazette, 5 Sept, 1755 news of treaty talks between British and Cherokee Indians Read full article via this link |
But though the Tract inhabited by them be no more than 150 Miles in Length, yet the Lands that are their undoubted Proper
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| excerpt from Virginia Gazette, 19 Sept, 1755 Summarizes boundary dispute between British and French over India lands Read full article via this link |
Here is a transcript of the text in the September 19 article that has been updated to remove the "long s" for easier reading:
"May 22. While the Nation is in Doubt whether we are to have Peace or War, and uncertain how the Differences about Limits in North-America may be settled, we are glad to find the Amsterdam Gazette giving us a glimmering Light into this Affair, in a Paragraph of News dated from Paris, April 28, which runs thus,
'It is judged here that the Pretensions of the English are too vast. To say nothing of the Extent they would give to the Limits of Acadia or Nova-Scotia, they maintain that the Ohio, or the fine River, belongs to them, because the Source of it is in the Lands of their Allies, the Iroquois. The French might likewise say it belongs to them, because it falls into the Mississippi, which runs through their Dominion. But one Reason which they (the French) take to be decisive in their Favor, is, that they discovered that River, and were the first that settled on it. This Discovery and Priority of Settlement are the Titles of their Possession; and no other Titles have the Europeans in America. Moreover, the Appalachian Mountains are, and must always be, the natural Boundaries of the English Possessions. But the Virginians have passed those Boundaries in erecting Forts towards the Ohio; and we do not see that our Canadians have gone beyond them in building Duquesne Fort, in Order to hinder their Rivals from proceeding further.' "
The article continues beyond shown here:
"— In the Utrecht Gazette of the same Date, we find a Paragraph to the same Purpose, only with some immaterial Variation in the Style; from whence we presume they have been inserted by Order or Desire of the French Ministry, to prepossess the World in Favor of their Claims...
Now, in Answer to this French State of the Case, we are to observe, That the six Indian Nations, named Iroquois by the French, are Subjects and Allies of Great-Britain, and have been so declared in the Treaty of Utrecht.
The five original confederated Nations are the Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneedas, and Mohocks. The Tuscaroras, Missasagos, and other Tribes, are since incorporated with them. Therefore as all the Land South of St. Lawrence River is the original Property of the five Nations, with their Allies and Tributaries, the French can have no Shadow of Pretence to any Part of this Country; and their Settlement about Champlain Lake is mere Depredation, contrary to our Title, which is entirely derived from Agreement and Purchase.
By public Indian Treaties our Right is far beyond the great Lakes (i.e. the Lakes called Superior, Huron, and Michigan) and South-West to the Chikasas Nation by the Branches of the Mississippi..."
- AI transcription by Google Gemini 3
