Excerpts from  the Ancestry announcement  about this record set -  These records were "Created after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade but prior to emancipation, these registers documented and tracked the former legally enslaved people in the British Colonies." They span years from 1813-1840 and "detail enslaved individuals across 20 former British colonies including Jamaica, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope." "Unlike many documents from this era, the Former British Colonies Enslavement Registers include details like names, ages, family relationships, places of origin, and life events." There is a short introduction video at the announcement page hosted by Nicka Sewell-Smith. There is also a lengthy blog post at Ancestry that provides instruction on record types, information held in the records and tips of overcoming stumbling blocks within. The post also includes guidance on dealing with emotions that may come from t...

It was a busy weekend for learning and reconnecting with fellow genealogists last week when the NC Genealogical Society held court at McKimmon Center in Raleigh for the two day 2026 Fall Conference on September 18 and 19. The featured speaker was the Legal Genealogist - Judy Russell. She was joined by 24 expert genealogy researchers,  writers, archivists, librarians, and historians. There was much to share and much to be learned. Here are photos shared by members of the festivities and activities.  Clockwise from top left - Kathy Ruse and sister-in-law attend together every year;  WCGS members turn out for our alumni speaker Diane Richard; The WCGS info table in fine form manned by Cynthia Gage and Carla Stancil; Monica Fleming and Cynthia Gage compare notes with featured speaker Judy Russell.  Photos by Cynthia Gage, Carla Stancil, and Jennie Gunther.   Click image to view larger. Left to right lower images -Diane Richard commands attention as she sh...

The Family History Group hosted by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is run by  our own WCGS President Barbara McGeachy. She wants to let you know that there is still time to join OLLI and take advantage of this study group this year. The topic for the first meeting was a presentation by Cynthia Gage on finding WW2 records in Federal Repositories. (Was it a preview of the upcomming WCGS meeting on Oct. 27?) Message from Barbara -  We are OLLI members researching our own family history - beginner to advanced. We meet once a month on the second Friday morning both in the McKimmon Center and on Zoom. We discuss our research, learn about upcoming local events, share tips, ask questions, and hear a presentation from a member or guest. This group is free to members of OLLI at NCSU. For details visit   https://olli.lifelonglearning.ncsu.edu/      More topics planned for the 2026-2027 season:      Mining digital records at federal repositories ...

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026 @ 6:30pm – Virtual Topic:    WWII Service: Discovering your Ancestor's Story using Online Resources Speaker:   Cynthia Gage As a genealogist, I feel that my role is to preserve not just the names of my ancestors, but also to learn the stories of their lives in order to fully appreciate the history that led to me. Military service is one of those important stories and luckily for us as researchers, many records exist. The service record is only one part of a veteran's story: the other is their experience. This presentation focuses on WWII service and will provide sources and techniques for gathering and analyzing information from both parts of the story. For those with Army servicemen, there are online sources which can help rebuild the service records that were lost in the1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center. Join us! Free and virtual! *Please register by 4pm day of meeting. *Please save your passcode and link for ease of entry at st...

The Friends of the Archives' Fall Virtual Meeting will include a special presentation: Remembering the American Revolution in the Cherokee Homeland. Details from FOA's event page: Commemorating the American Revolution poses particular challenges if one lives in far Western North Carolina. Here in the Cherokee ancestral homelands, the Revolution brought a bitter and destructive conflict over Cherokee land, with a portion of the Cherokee population entering the war as members of a British-allied coalition of Indigenous peoples. That war, in turn, belonged to a much longer struggle to protect Cherokee land and the wellbeing of Cherokee communities – a struggle that preceded the Revolution and continued long after 1776. In this presentation, Shana Bushyhead Condill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Executive Director of the Museum of the Cherokee People, and Andrew Denson, professor of history at Western Carolina University, will discuss the challenges involved in remembering the...

For those following along, here is the latest Upchurch and Allied Families Association Newsletter. September 2026  - Features include a DNAarticle and Upchurches in the News. View past UAFA newsletters here Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website - Homepage | WCGS Events | Join WCGS | Publications | Wake Cemetery Survey Images | Society Surnames | Digital Resources | History Resources | More Links and Resources | Contact - info(at)wakecogen(dot)org

Legacy Family Tree Webinars   has been sharing content with family history researchers for 16 years now. With a combination of free and paid content, many a budding genealogist has leveled up their skills. With nearly 3,000 webinars in their library todate (and still growing) they are leveraging their content in an new way designed to take member learners through a structured process. Note that there are more than 11 thousand syllabus pages available to Legacy members also shared within this program. This new presentation model consists of  curated content picked by experts presented in the correct order. Most modules include 4 to 6 webinars grouped on a focus subject. Watching all earns you a certificate of completion and all kinds of new skills. Just a few Learning Paths from Legacy There are currently 112 curated paths on every genealogically relevant topic you can think of. You also have the option to curate your own list as you need it.  From Artificial Intellig...

The Chavis surname is prevalent in central and eastern North Carolina. In Wake County, the surname is found early in Granville, Wake and Orange counties as well as other parts of North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. If you have the Chavis surname in your direct ancestor line, you may be interested in this DNA Surname Project that was recently mentioned in the Conference Keeper Newsletter. An excerpt follows: IS THERE A CHAVIS IN YOUR TREE? If you have the surname Chavis in your family tree, you may apply for free DNA testing at Family Tree DNA for the CHAVIS surname group project. Contact Sabine Preston at Tamesabine@gmail.com with subject Chavis testing and send family history or tree. Details of this and two other DNA projects offering free testing can be found on our Awards, Grants & Scholarships page.   The original text is shared in the newsletter linked here . This background for the Chavis family is featured on the Family Tree DNA Chavis surname page. Here ar...

The first issue of this newsletter describing all the events coordinated by founder Desi Campbell is a celebration of history, discovery and rememberance. You will want to read this if you are doing AA research and interested in promoting family involvement and togetherness. You will find articles on homecoming, reconnecting family branches, walking the footsteps of ancestors, a summary of August reunions. FamFest updates, Harnett County's historical legacy, work of the Harnett County AA Heritage Center and more. click image to view larger The full newsletter can be viewed here.

Even if you can't squeeze this much genealogy into one weekend, you may want to register for the Fall 2026 Conference of the North Carolina Genealogical Society. The conference is in Raleigh at the McKimmon Center and there is a virtual attendance option. There are 22 in-person lectures. These will be Livestreamed. They are also available to view on demand for 60 days after the conference with either option. There are an additional 10 lectures that are available for streaming during the conference and viewing time. The overview of speakers, topics and special workshops can be viewed at the NCGS 2026 Conference page . This includes links to schedules, pricing and registration. There are some deadlines you need to be aware of: September 13 (Sun) – Last day to purchase lunches. There might be extras to purchase at the conference, but no guarantees. Otherwise you’ll need to forage outside the facility.    September 16 (Wed) – Last day to register online for in-person attendance....

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...

This sounds like fun. Does WCGS have enough trivia buffs to pull a team together? From NC Archives: Think you're an expert on North Carolina history, geography, and culture? Here's your chance to show off your skills about North Carolina whiskey, the Regulators movement, and historic mills across North Carolina. On Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 7 pm * , players can participate—individually or in teams—at the Transfer Co. Food Hall as we present fascinating trivia about the Old North State. Bragging rights are on the line in this Carolina contest of wits! We look forward to seeing you there.  * All details at this link . Any questions should be directed to the the contact info at the weblink.   Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website - Homepage | WCGS Events | Join WCGS | Publications | Wake Cemetery Survey Images | Society Surnames | Digital Resources | History Resources | More Links and Resources | Donate | Contact - info(at)wakecogen(dot)org