Wake Wednesday - Seaboard Airline Depot

We all know it today as Logan's Nursery, but in its heyday, Seaboard Air Line Railroad Depot was a bustling place. It was our gateway to points north and the sunny south.

Folks waiting to board train at Seaboard Airline Depot! (source)

Logan's now (source)

The Orange Blossom Special regularly came thru Raleigh.
(source)

Whether you passed through its walls to board a train, or had an ancestor who worked there at its height of popularity, you will enjoy these links that feed our "nostalgic for rail travel" moment.

Seaboard Air Line wiki - with lots of great images

Raleigh's Rail History Hidden off Capital Boulevard - Don't miss the arial photos and insurance map.

Original Seaboard Coast Line Station in Downtown Raleigh c. 1862


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Wake Wednesday - FamilySearch Wiki - Wake County

Have you used the FamilySearch.org wiki for Wake county in your research. It is a great place to check for resource locations and contact points.  You will find info on church, land, military and probate records, as well as maps and county history and border changes. Check it out. There is a wealth of information there. It is a good place to start if you are just beginning your Wake County research.

source

Visit the wiki and be sure to scroll all the way down the page or you might miss something!

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Look for more Transcriptions Workshops from Wakecogen

We had such a great turnout for our recent Transcription Workshop on June 29. Results were so positive that more transcription events will be planned for the future. If you love old documents and the wonderful unexpected discoveries within, you will want to join us. Stay tuned for more info.

Here are the attendees getting some video instruction prior to starting our transcriptions. 

Photo: Monique Bunch

Photo: Monique Bunch

Photo: Monique Bunch

Here is the cool deed that I got to work with that day. This is the original that dates back to 1796. Full of long S's (fs) and thence's! Definitely white glove work.

Thanks to Diane Richard for the video and allowing Wakecogen to host on our website. It is on our home page after you scroll down to the end of the page.

Come join us!

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Followup to Leeds Color Sorting DNA Matches presentation WCGS - June 25

Followup to last weeks Leeds presentation - 

In my effort to cover the topic in the time allowed, I was using a very simplified data set that was edited (think one of those home shows) for time. 

If you are trying to create your own spreadsheet from memory of my steps, take heart, Dana Leeds will walk you thru in her blog posts (Links in the handout and here). 

I wish you much fun and success. As always start small and give yourself permission to start over when you start to get the hang of it.

 https://www.danaleeds.com/leeds-method-dna/

I like this description too.

https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method

Good luck with your DNA Match sorting!

Cyndi Deal


PS - Also, keep watching the Summer of DNA link at the top of the blog home page. All handouts and links will be posted there for reference.

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Wake Wednesday - Declaration of Independence - First Reading in Raleigh - What was it like then?

An article from the N&O has haunted me for years. It was about the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Wake County and what that must have been like.

I saved it. Can't find it now, but every summer at this time I think of it and how it captured my historic fancy those several years ago. So much so, that my young family including my two sons, husband and my father and step-mother made the trek downtown that hot, hot July 4 to tour the Joel Lane house and stand at the Boylan Bridge spot and imagine (despite construction detritus all around) what it must have felt like and sounded on that hill at the first reading in August of 1776.

Well, it haunted me enough to go searching for the article again. After several failed attempts - success!

I must give mad props and a plug to the NC Government and Heritage Library for their library card and the online access it provides. From their site, with my library card to log in, I was able to search the N&O Archives to find the article and I am so pleased. Now it is safely saved to my hard drive so I can pull it out each year and imagine being "in the room where it happened..."

"Raleigh hears the Declaration - maybe"

M. Jacobs, C 2006, 'Raleigh hears the Declaration - maybe', News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC), 30 Jun, p. A15, (online NewsBank).

You will need a subscription or a G&H library card to log in and read the article, but it is so worth it. No telling what else you might find with your card access.

This is my favorite passage from the article and the bit that propelled us down to that historic corner on a hot July afternoon:

In a chapter on the American Revolution, (Charles) Heck recorded that a colony-wide Council of Safety met at Halifax, N.C., on Aug. 1, 1776, and legislated that the citizenry would be "fully informed" about the Declaration of Independence.

He proceeded with "historic license:"

"[W]e have a right to conclude that [Colonel Joel] Lane was the 'Commissioner' or head of the Wake County Committee of Safety and was naturally the man who called the citizens available together before the little courthouse steps and read them as ordered on August 1st, 1776, or thereabouts, the Declaration of Independence."

Emboldened, he continued:

"How the sacredness of this hillside just north of Boylan Bridge [the present southwest corner of South Boylan Avenue and West Hargett streets] has so little been appreciated, the writer cannot understand. There, facing upward toward the crest of the hill where Joel Lane's new house stood, the words as Joel Lane, the political leader of the county, sounded them out in the experienced tone of a speaker, the people heard and the words reflected the words that spelled freedom and a new life to these pioneers and the echo must have resounded back over the fields and trees that covered the land where the city of freedom, so soon was to be born and where years of earnest effort were to make it become the embodiment of all that declaration stood for."

If you venture down to this historic "sacred hillside," I bet you will here the ghosts of freedom too.

SW corner S. Boylan and West Hargett in Yellow

Happy Independence Day, Wake County.

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Rescheduled Olive Family Reunion - September 2019 - Details within

If you are a member of the James Olive family association and planned to attend the reunion last year only to be foiled by a hurricane, here is your chance to regroup and regather.

Here is an excerpt of the Olive Branches newsletter with a brief description:

click to view original size

If you need more information, you can check their Facebook group or send me a message I have pdf files of the newsletter and the pre-registration sheet.

Reunion is Sept. 27-29 in Williamsburg.

Wake Wednesday - Journal Treasures - Insolvent Debtor Abstracts

Records for Insolvent debtors in Wake County, individuals unable to pay their debts were abstracted from the box of “Wake County “Insolvent Debtors 1800-1837 (broken series).” The box is located at the N.C. State Archives’ search room, with call number CR 099.914.11. 
This series originally appeared in an older version of the WCGS newletter and was republished in the Journal Volume 18 Number 2 (Summer/Fall 2008) to enable access for researchers. This excerpt and additional information is available online to WCGS subscribers.


From the folder “Insolvent debtors 1800, 1803,” there is a document showing the following abstracted information: 

“… We or either of us promise to pay Thomas Taylor Guardian to James Ridley … Seventy nine Dollars and Twenty Cents with Interest from the date, It being for value of him rec’d …” Dated 18 March 1800. 
Witness                                                       Nicholas Tompson? 
D. Hinton                                                    Benj. Haver? (House?) 
                                                                    Rubin N? (his mark) Jackson 

The back of this document says “Thomas Taylor vs Nicholas Thompson Guard. Note.” and “Nicholas Thompson To James Ridley Note 79.20 cents.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another document in that folder shows that Burwell Evans swears he has no land, money, stock or estate, real or personal, in his possession … “of the value of the debt, with which I am charged in Execution…” 

He also swears that he has not directly or indirectly sold or disposed of land, money, goods, stocks, debts, securities, contracts or estate (as a method of receiving any profit or of defrauding any creditor or creditors to whom he is indebted). 

Burwell (his mark, a “B”) Evans 

Sworn in Wake County before Wm. Armstrong? on April 22, 1803.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many more names appear in this transcription. There are four pages of abstracts for this collection and nine pages of debtors transcribed and listed by township for the year 1877.

Visit the Journal subject index here.

Journal access is a great perk of your Wake County Genealogical Society membership and a handy tool for those researching in Wake County remotely. Members have 24/7 access to the Journal. With 20 plus years of content, you will likely find the surnames and place names you are researching. Access the Journal issues directly in the Member Area after log-in.

Join for full access.

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This content is referenced with permission of Journal editor.

DNA Handout #3 from June WCGS meeting - Things you can do with your autosomal DNA results

 This handout was curated and created by Cini Gage. She wanted to share some of the many tools that we have been working with over the last couple of years. Please click on the images to view a larger version. This was formatted as a landscape spreadsheet and requires screenshots to get it to fit blog format.

Things you can do with your autosomal DNA results

click to see larger size

DNA Handout #2 from June WCGS meeting - Leeds Color Matching

Leeds Color Matching Sorting Method for atDNA Matches
Presenter: Cyndi Deal

DNA with DANA LEEDS - blog for Color Clustering Matches - https://dnawithdana.com

¡  1) DNA Color Clustering: The Leeds Method for Easily Visualizing Matches

¡  2) DNA Color Clustering: Identifying “In Common” Surnames

¡  3) DNA Color Clustering: Does it Work with 4th Cousins?

¡  4) DNA Color Clustering: Dealing with 3 Types of Overlap

¡  5) Check Your Work! (The “How”)

¡  6) 7 Organization Tips for Your DNA Color Cluster Chart

Dana Leeds’ Presentation at I4GG2018

¡  Creating and Analyzing Genetic Networks with a Spreadsheet - Dana Leeds ($)

http://i4gg.org/conference-videos/

Color and Tag with Ancestry’s new features –

·        Video from Blaine Bettinger - Sub-Clustering Your Shared Matches at AncestryDNA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ApidzEyA_k

Other Blogs and Work Groups

¡  Roberta Estes blog post,  The Leeds Method

https://dna-explained.com/2018/09/26/the-leeds-method/

¡  Roberta Estes blog post, Painting Leeds matches to DNAPAINTER (using matches with chromosome data)

https://dna-explained.com/2018/10/02/dnapainter-painting-leeds-method-matches

¡  Diahan Southard blog post, Organizing Matches with Leeds

https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method/

¡  Facebook Workgroup – Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques  >> search “Leeds” in box on left sidebar

https://www.facebook.com/groups/geneticgenealogytipsandtechniques

Preprinted worksheet for Leeds Method

¡  https://memoriesintime.co.nz/collections/family-history/products/dna-match-leeds-method-worksheet

DNA Match Manager

¡  https://heirloomsoftware.com/dna-match-manager/

Conditional Formatting “recipe”  -  Included in handout

Gather Matches for excel the Fast way

DNA Match Manager

•        https://heirloomsoftware.com/dna-match-manager/

•        Free, Fast

•        Works with all main test sites and GedMatch

•        Creates csv files that you can save in Excel

DNA Match Manager

Color match options – Easy vs. Power tools

Format Cell color

Right click on cell> choose fill tool (Paint bucket)> Choose color. This is simple and works, but you can’t sort it.

“Recipe” for Conditional Formatting in Excel

Home tab on Excel task Ribbon> Conditional Formatting dropdown> New Rule> 2^nd option: format only cells that contain> fill “cell value” and define a color.
Power Tool option: Allows you to sort columns into associated family lines when they become apparent.

My Latest leeds effort

Using Power Tools:

¡  Match Manager data

¡  Conditional Formatting

¡  Color Code the starting match

¡  Rearranging the Columns as family lines become apparent

This shows how my process has evolved since first Leeds chart example that I shared with you. You can see that I have been moving the columns around as their connections become obvious.

Final Step, transfer this valuable info to your AncestryDNA match Page. Color code and Tag your matches with Ancestry’s new features. See Blaine Bettinger video (link on Resource page).

DNA Handout #1 from June 2019 WCGS Meeting - Evaluating your atDNA Matches

Presented and prepared by Sallie Szymczyk

Evaluating Your atDNA Matches

WCGS

June 25,2019

Use a unique username

Open a new e-mail account

Provide at least a skeleton tree

Start with your closest matches to determine which side of your family they are on

Look at available trees for hints

Look for common surnames and locations

Check to see if your match has posted to a message board

Use the “Shared Matches” tool on Ancestry, the “In Common With” tool on FTDNA or “shared DNA Matches” on My Heritage

Determine Paternal or Maternal match

Make a spread sheet to keep track of your findings

Contact your matches with an “informed” e-mail – Do your home workReturn to the WakeCoGen Website

Upcoming Events - Busy WCGS schedule for Summer!

WCGS Members and Wake researchers!  It’s going to be a great summer of genealogy starting with these upcoming events:

June 29, 2019:  Transcription Workshop at Olivia Raney Library. 10am – noon. More info here.

July 2, 2019:  Family Tree Maker is coming to Raleigh!  WCGS will partner with FTM for an evening of great information on using FTM, upcoming upgrade, and much more. 7pm – 9pm. More info here.

WCGS Summer of DNA – don’t miss out on 3 great programs we’ll offer over the summer geared toward beginner and intermediate skill levels.

June 25, 2019:  Make Your Autosomal DNA Matches Work for You in two parts: Get Familiar with Your Shared Matches and Sort Shared Matches along family lines with Leeds Color Matching process. Olivia Raney Local History Library in Raleigh, NC refreshments at 6:30, program starts at 7pm.

July 23, 2019: Use Science to Refine the Placement of Autosomal Matches Into Your Tree: An introduction to the “What are the Odds” tool at DNAPainter.com.  Olivia Raney Local History Library in Raleigh, NC refreshments at 6:30, program starts at 7pm.

August 27, 2019: Autosomal DNA Q&A Panel group. Submit your questions with contact info, question and sketch of the relationship in question by July 25. The sketch (nothing fancy is needed!) will help us with context. Submit to Newsletter@wakecogen.org.  Cameron Village Regional Library in Raleigh, NC starting at 7pm.

Just starting out with DNA?  You’ll find lots of great resources to help you master the basics in these articles from a previous DNA presentation. We especially recommend the Blaine Bettinger video series at Legacy Webinars. DNA links and reading list on WCGS blog.

Haven't tested yet but want to play along?  There is still plenty of time! This progress tracker will guide you thru the steps and get you started so you can be ready for our Summer of DNA!  Progress Tracker for DNA Study. Work the progress tracker, then the reading list. Both of these study aids live on the WCGS blog so you can reference them any time you like.

Questions? Email CarlaStancil@gmail.com

See you there!

Carla Stancil

President, Wake County Genealogical Society

Wake Wednesday - Williams Crossroads

Quintessential Rural Wake County -


Williams X roads - check out the feature at Carolina Crossroads!

See cemeteries nearby in the Genealogical Helper. Scroll about half way... 

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