WakeCoGen Blog - news from the Wake County Genealogy Society
This volunteer would work closely with our Journal editor, Donna Shackle, to publish our twice yearly journal, Wake Treasures.
Journal Copyeditor/Proofreader: Our journal team is in need of a crack proofreader for our bi-annual journals. Once our editor has the journal nearly complete, you'll step in to catch all the "oops" and "gotchas". Interested? Please reach out to our volunteer coordinator, Saundra Cropps, at Info@Wakecogen.org
If I told you there was a back door to see all of the viewable Wake County Records in the FamilySearch Catalog, would you be interested? It is like viewing virtual microfilm from your own comfy chair!
This is a variation on a tip found on a North Carolina regional research group on Facebook. Thanks to Delores Williams of NCGenweb for sharing the tip.
You will need to log in to FamilySearch for this to be usable. Creating a log in is free.
Visit this link - shorturl.at/gqDHI
You will see the following page of Wake specific collections. Click on the text by the red arrow to access the ability to filter by township.
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Click thru the collections. When you find one that is interesting, click through to that page. Scroll down the page to see if the camera icon exists. If so, click the camera to browse the record.
From Donna Shackle, Journal Editor:
This issue is a treat! We have the pentultimate installment from Cary Faison on the Railroad, Hortons, and Faisons and continuations of the 1897 Raleigh Colored School census and of the Soldiers Home Record. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment we have the 1915 & 1917 membership lists from the Raleigh Equal Suffrage League. Belle Long, the former Director of the Joel Lane Museum House, has written about the identity of Colonel Theophilus Hunter's second wife, Jane. Read along to see how she discovered the identity of Jane and puts to rest a local mystery.
This issue could not have happened without the volunteers who helped to transcribe these records. Please consider volunteering to transcribe from home. If you are interested, please contact me for more information.
Members can access this issue of the journal by logging into the Member Area at the Wakecogen.org website. You will find the member area on the left sidebar. Enjoy!
Cynthia Gage, WCGS Webmaster, has been hard at work restructuring portions of the Wakecogen website. Her efforts have been focused on expanding the curation of our link and resource page to enhance the usefulness for Wake researchers, both local and remote.
What was previously one Links and Resources page has grown into three separate pages of Wake centric content, each with their own focus and curated list. Be sure to visit Wakecogen.org to check them out. You will find the three resource pages linked in the left side bar visible from any page on our website.
Here is a brief overview of what Cynthia has created for our use.
"On-line resources are a wonderful source for genealogists - particularly remote researchers - to help find information and data about their ancestors. There are many fee-based sites which have lots of information about Wake County and its people, but there are also some free resources, some easy to find and others buried deep within the sites. This page is intended to provide direct links to free searchable sites pertaining to Wake County or to North Carolina sites which containing Wake County records…" The Wake Digital Resources page can be filtered to search various categories - Church records, Death records, Directories, Land records, Military records, or Miscellaneous.
"The history of Wake County and its cities explains the progress of the area through time, gives us a glimpse of our ancestors' struggles and successes, and if we are lucky, will include their names. Here are some resources to give context to their lives, some of which contain surnames." The Wake History Resources can be filtered to search city or county categories.
More Wake County Links and Resources -
This page provides a list of links of a more broad focus that are relevant to research in Wake County and North Carolina. Categories on this resource page include county and state resources, research facilities, social media, local affiliation groups, and blogs with a local genealogical focus. These resources are less focused on Wake County but still very relevant and useful.
Please visit our website, Wakecogen.org and give these new pages a try. We hope you find some juicy leads for your research. If you know of a resource that could be added to one of these lists, let Cynthia know via email, webmaster@wakecogen.org.
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WCGS members and followers should check your email for instructions on how to register for our next virtual meeting. If you are not a member and want to be included, visit our Registration page.
You must register for the meeting by November 30.Have you ever considered what will happen to your years of genealogy research once you're gone? Learn how to ensure that your hard work carries on. Through a combination of planning, common sense, and new technologies, we'll review how to create an action plan for preserving your genealogy research.
If you are a seasoned Wake County researcher, you no doubt know of Elizabeth Reid Murray and her comprehensive history of Wake County. If not, you should. Her two volumes cover the history of the land we love from the prehistoric times in the region up through the 1920s.
The first volume has always been my favorite with stories of dinosaurs and Wake underwater, on thru the early settlement, the "trouble" with Regulators, the Revolution and choice of Wake for the state capitol. I am delighted to bring to your attention that this first volume of Wake: Capitol County of North Carolina is available to read and enjoy online through a partnership between Olivia Raney Family History Library and Digital NC. The details and links are found in this blog post from the Digital North Carolina Blog:
http://www.digitalnc.org/blog/book-about-the-history-of-wake-county-now-online/
Enjoy!
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From the National Genealogy Society:
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National Genealogical Society
Invites Nominations for its
2021 Awards & Competitions
FALLS CHURCH, va, 19 October 2020—The National Genealogical Society (NGS) invites individuals, societies, and organizations to participate in its 2021 Awards and Competitions program. NGS annually recognizes excellence in the field of genealogy. This year it has expanded its program to reflect its merger with the Federation of Genealogical Societies. The deadline for submission of nominations is 15 December 2020.
The NGS Awards program recognizes scholarship, service, excellence, and achievement in the fields of genealogy, history, and biography by presenting awards to individuals, societies, and organizations. The Society’s competitions challenge individuals and societies!
“We encourage you to nominate an organization or an individual you work with, research with, or admire for an award. We hope you will also consider participating in one of our competitions,” said Janet L. Bailey, chair of the awards committee. “There are so many outstanding individuals, societies, and organizations that deserve national recognition. We hope their peers will consider nominating them before December 15.”
Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogical education, exemplary standards of research, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, and guidance in research. It also offers many opportunities to interact with other genealogists. On 1 October 2020, NGS and the Federation of Genealogical Societies merged, making support for genealogy societies, family history associations, and other organizations an important part of the NGS mission. We welcome your organization to the new NGS.
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We currently have several volunteer spots that we are seeking to fill - Treasurer, Publications Manager, and multiple Transcriptionists. Here are the descriptions of the available positions. Everything is being done online right now. If you would like to build connections with a great group of fellow genealogy enthusiasts and have some interesting diversions, consider joining us!
WCGS Treasure position:
· Would you like to contribute your fair share to the Wake County Genealogical Society?
· Are you good with numbers?
· Do you have the ability to write checks?
· Are you willing to use Quicken to create quarterly reports?
· Would you like the honor of being a member of the Board of the Wake County Genealogical Society?
If so, you would be an ideal candidate for Treasurer of the Wake County Genealogical Society. Please email president@wakecogen.org to talk with our President, Carla Stancil, about this volunteer position.
Transcriptionists:
We have an ongoing need for Transcriptionists. The journal is looking for volunteers to transcribe original documents for the purpose of publication in Wake Treasures, the Wake County Genealogical Society’s journal. We provide templates and you can transcribe from the comfort of home while ensuring that these records are published for all to use. Whether you have time to transcribe a page or a series of pages, your contribution is greatly appreciated. All skill levels are welcome! Please contact journal@wakecogen.org
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From NARA:
Hundreds of Native American treaties have been scanned and are freely available online, for the first time, through the National Archives Catalog. Also, in partnership with The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), these treaties and extensive additional historical and contextual information are available through Treaties Explorer.
NARA is also appealing to citizen archivists for assistance in transcribing the treaty documents to make them more searchable and accessible.
View the NARA post here for full details.
Update: Here is a Smithsonian Magazine article about the new feature.
Saundra Cropps, our WCGS Volunteer CoOrdinator, is sharing an interesting even and resource with us today. The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) annual conference is virtual this weekend. From Saundra:
"The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) annual conference is the largest international African American conference that promotes African-ancestored family history, genealogy, and cultural diversity. Due to COVID-19 the conference is virtual from October 14, 2020-October 17, 2020. Topics include Ethnicity, Race and Nationality, Family Presentations, Research, Genealogy, DNA, History, Migration, Preservation, Special Topics, Educational Methods, etc. I am particularly interested in the arrival of the first documented Africans in English America in 1619 at Point Comfort (not Jamestown); and the ancestors who fought in every battle on American and foreign soil."
To find out more, click on this link - AAHGS Conference final_digital version.pdf
I have peeked at the AAHGS Syllabus. It is a hefty two hundreds and eighty pages packed with content. I see some great topics including:
Grave Concerns: Where do Cemeteries Go When They Die?
Miseducation In The Classroom
The Emotional Side of DNA Testing
Traveling with the Green Book
Reconstructing Family from Post Emancipation Records
How to Know What to Ask When I Don't Know What to Ask
Searching for Descendant Communities at Virginia Plantations
Gathering at the Welcome Table
There is so much good content here. I see many names I recognize among the presenters - Renate Yarborough Sanders, Andre Kearns, Desi Campbell and WCGS's own Diane Richard, are but a few in the lineup.
Check out this treasure trove of information and resources! For those interested in the conference, visit the AAHGS webpage. The registration page is here if you would like to participate.
The October 1 session of GenHelp was a great success. We are pleased to announce that we have two more sessions of virtual help scheduled through the end of the year from from this tag team effort.
Wake County Genealogical Society (WCGS) and Raleigh SrTechEd (RSTE) are partnering to offer GenHelp - monthly virtual sessions to provide free genealogy assistance to hobbyists the first Thursday of the month at 6:30pm ET.
Thursday, November 5, 2020 @ 6:30pmThursday, December 3, 2020 @ 6:30pm
WCGS members and followers should check your email for instructions on how to register for our next virtual meeting. If you are not a member and want to be included, visit our Registration page.
You must register for the meeting by October 26.
