Wake Wednesday - Wake County Resources for Cemetery Cleanup and Preservation

A reprint of the article, "Cemetery Cleanup and Preservation - Wake County Resources" from the Summer 2024 issue of the Wake Genealogy Watch has been permantently added to the Wake Cemterey Survey Image Project page of our website. The article contains an expansive list of resources for care of a cemetery, ways to find helping hands, guidance in researching the owner and the historical significance of the cemetery, experts avaliable locally and guidance for proper restoration techniques. 

Please visit this page if you have questions about getting started or proper technique or other places to look for cemeteries listed in Wake County. 

The cemetery of  the former Six Forks Baptist Church at 9130 Baileywick Road in
North Raleigh, is badly in need of preservation. Note the tipped and broken stones. 

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Wake Wednesday: Who were the New Lights of Northern Wake County

You have heard of the New Lights for years, probably without even knowing it. They have a township named after them in the very northern portion of  Wake County. While the name sounds kind of shimmery and new agey, the New Lights have a history that extends back in Wake County beyond the Revolution. 

Fendol Bevers map c. 1871

The New Lights were Baptists that migrated to North Carolina in the 1750's during the Great Awakening - a series of religious revivals in American Christian history. They were Baptists, but not Calvinists. They believed in a more personal connection to God, that God "brought new Light into their lives through their emotional conversion experiences", and that their fate was not preordained but dependent on their connection to God and their good deeds. They were also know as Separatist Baptists.

The New Lights established the first Baptist church in Wake County in 1775 and built their community around it. Their community grew and thrived through the l880's. Two gristmills and three general stores kept their community clothed and fed and their economy humming. 

Not all in the larger community, approved of their industry and independent religious spirit. Charles Woodmason, a pre-Revolutionary Anglican itinerant preacher was a loud critic of the New Lights and viewed them as an "infestation." A staunch believer in church-guided worship and governance, he felt that these "enthusiasts" were an unruly bunch led by an indwelling Holy Spirit to defy the order of organized religion.  Woodson spent years traveling thousands of miles around provincial North Carolina preaching the "evils" of the New Lights. 

Never the less, the New Lights persisted into the 1880s in northern Wake County working, thriving and following their Light. They left behind church record books for the years 1807-1834 that are archived at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library of  Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. These records may be downloaded to view.

Today we remember New Light by its quaint name on our maps, but the history of the New Lights is so much richer.

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Wake Wednesday - Tips for Sucessful Searching in the Wake County Cemetery Survey Image Collection

The Wake County Cemetery Survey Image Collection* hosted at the Wake County Genealogical Society represents a decades long endeavor when considering the years of field research by the original participants and adding on the efforts of the latest imaging volunteers who digitized, collated, researched, reviewed and processed all the images to make them available to view online in an orderly and logical fashion. That was no small task or feat of accomplishment due to the size, condition and handwritten nature of the bulk of the large collection. 

The full collection has been live at our website for a couple of years now. It is helping Wake researchers regularly reconnect with cemeteries and family history to enrich their stories. I am hearing some wonderful stories as folks report  their successes. 

We want you all to be successful in your search. A reprint of "Wake Cemetery Survey Image Collection: Tips for Successful Searches," from the Summer 2024 issue of the Wake Genealogy Watch has been reprinted and attached to the image collection landing page. The article contains many tips and illustrations to help you access all the information buried within the massive number of files included. It include directions to access the recently updated information in each township spreadsheet as well as the image files created by the original field volunteers. 

Please take a moment to check out this search tip article if you have cemeteries in Wake County to track down. Let us know if you have success!

*The Wake Cemetery Survey Image Collection was digitized by Wake County Genealogical Society in partnership with Upchurch and Allied Families Association

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Historical Context Roadtrippin' - Fall 2024

As the weather is cooling, it is a great time to get out and explore our beautiful and history state. If you like exploring the past as well as admiring the scenery, be sure to check out the fall schedule of event at the North Carolina Historic Sites webpage.

Check out their calendar now so you can start planning your trips. 

Whether it is cooking receipts from an 18th century German cookbook or the foodways of the Catawba that has you curious,The President James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville has you covered. 

18 Century German Cooking, Sep 28 in Pineville

It is not too late to catch an Alamance Battleground tour later this week, or wait a couple weeks and visit Fort Dobbs for a living history illustration of barracks life. 

Find out why blue jeans are blue and all the skilled work that was required to make them blue in the early days at the Brunswick Town site in Winnabow NC. 

Explore 19th Century mourning customs at a monthlong exhibit at House in the Horseshoe. 

Find out how NC women were participating in that  "Tea Party" protest in Historic Edenton.

It's election time (in case you haven't noticed)! Experience an 18th century election. Would you have been able to vote then?

Time travel at Fort Dobbs as you visit with soldiers from many wars and conflicts in our history. 

 You could travel from town to town to revel in the Christmas lights across our state. Celebrate a 1770 German Christmas or find out how citizens made do during a Civil War Christmas at Bentonville.

There is more. I just scratched the surface. 

Bon Voyage. I might see you sometime, somewhere.

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Wakecogen September Meet & Greet

When:  Saturday, Sept 14, 3:00 - 5:00pm

Where:  Overture at Crabtree, 4408 Marriott Drive, Raleigh, NC. 
Visitor and street parking available.

Why:  Enjoy the company of other local genealogists!

Please RSVP acceptances only to CarlaStancil@gmail.com            

Please join us in person! We would love to see you at our next meet and greet "potluck."  Let's each bring a light snack (optional). Carla will provide beverages. You can look forward to some great genealogy chat. No formal program is planned, just an opportunity to meet like minded folks! We will gather in The Cork conference room behind the kitchen in the common area of Overture.

Can't wait to meet you and greet you !

March 2024 Meetup

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Wake Genealogy Watch - Fall Edition 2024, v8.1 - Live Now at our website

The Fall 2024 Issue (Vol. 8 Issue 1) of our award-winning newsletter, Wake Genealogy Watch, is now available online for reading or download. You can visit the WCGS website  or access through this link - Wake Genealogy Watch, Fall 2024 

Features in this issue include:

• A welcome message from our new President – Barbara McGeachy

• Details for the Sept. 14 WCGS Meet and Greet.

• A summary and video preview of the new Ancestry ProTools Enhanced Matches Feature.

• Details on a project to add deceased local women veterans in the Raleigh National Cemetery to the national Military Women’s Memorial project, and a call for volunteers to get our lady vets represented.

• An update on NC cemetery oversight protection and a new pilot project to help build the database of lost, abandoned, or historically or culturally cemeteries­ thus aiding their protection.

• A WCGS member inductee into a lineage society based on the service of her free black ancestor’s service in the Revolutionary War.

• Fall 2024 OLLI Classes of interest to genealogists.

• A look at some very early North Carolina Tax records imaged and hosted at NC Digital.

• A recap of the Wake County Enslaved Persons Project (presented at our July virtual meeting) with links to the collection and associated projects.

• A guide to the FamilySearch Full Text Tool with a review of a searched image and the AI transcript results produced by the feature.

• Another packed events calendar!
  
  

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.

Visit the WCGS Blog for more events, late breaking news, tutorials, updates, and other special posts.  

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Wake Wednesday - When Piggly Wiggly came to Raleigh: a new kind of grocery store!

Seems he was right. Just a quick dash through any modern grocery store will tell you that. 

Now in a post-covid world, it seems like the list and collect model is returning too with the ease of internet ordering and delivery. What goes around, comes around...

Link through to this post about the Piggly Wiggly stores in Raleigh. The first opened in Raleigh in 1921. The store featured in the image below was located in the Cameron Park Apartment building on Hillsborough Street. Image is circa 1940. 

View this Olde Raleigh on Facebook post here to read the whole story.

Clarence Saunders, Founder: 

“If you see something you want to buy of your own free will that you can exercise without argument with anyone, without persuasion from anyone, without intimation from anyone, without suggestion from anyone, without mental contact with anyone whatsoever,”  

 Enjoy other images of nostalgic shopping trips including Piggly Wiggly, other Raleigh grocery stores, and department stores at the Flicker page of NCArchives Albert Barden Collection. Have fun browsing!

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WCGS Membership Renewal Time is Upon Us

Members and interested followers - 

The new membership year runs from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025. Members have received an email reminder to renew your subscription. You can also log in and renew through the website. The grace period ends mid-October. Renew soon so you don't miss any updates or content.

Those of you who are new to us or who have been following along for a while, consider joining our community! If you have caught any of our virtual monthly meetings, you know we offer only the best and you will always leave the evening with some new tip or hint you can use. Your support fuels our efforts, allowing us to continue offering great content, including our monthly virtual meetings, newsletter, blog and special projects with your help. For information on joining the society, click here.

Wakecogen Holiday Gathering 2023

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