Britain had spent the better portion of 1774 trying to squelch all dissent and rebellion in the colonies by making Massachusetts the scapegoat and example in their hard line drawn with the Intolerable Acts . The Acts had the exact opposite effect. The other colonies were wat ching and sensing that they would suffer equal harshness soon enough. Rather than standing by, the other colonies acted in support of Massachusetts by engaging in boycotts of British goods. They sent aid and support to Boston and they began organizing and holding clandestine meetings to discuss their dissent and possible actions. They were,  in effect,  forming a shadow government. This was occurring widely across all thirteen colonies.   "Halifax Resolves mural" by Francis Vandeveer Kughler. Source   In North Carolina, these clandestine meetings led to two very important documents written in the year leading up to the Revolution. The documents are the Mecklenburg Resolves made May 31, 1775, and ...

Press Release from the NC Archives: Telling Our NC 250 Story: Free Women of Color in Revolutionary North Carolina Thu, Jun 11 2026, 12 - 1pm A panel of cultural heritage scholars and descendants will discuss free women of color during the Revolutionary Era. Hundreds of records from multiple archives—including freedom papers, census lists, marriage records, and estate accounts at the State Archives—document the lives of these women, along with their families and communities. Panelists will explore the experiences of these remarkable women who navigated the complex cultural, legal, and racial terrain of North Carolina and the new nation. Register for Telling Our Story before the digital presentation on June 11 at noon.  Address questions to contact at this link -  https://archives.ncdcr.gov/news/events/telling-our-nc-250-story-free-women-color-revolutionary-north-carolina Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website - Homepage | WCGS Events | Join WCGS | Publications |...

Family Tree Magazine offers many finding aides and guides at the city, county and state level on their website. Enter their recently updated Raleigh, NC City Guide for Genealogists . We are quite surprised and pleased to find our Wake Treasures journal and our website referenced and linked as resources on the webpage. WCGS is gratified that our efforts to facilitate the goals of research, preservation, education and collaboration are recognized in this way. Visit the Raleigh Guide webpage for a host of useful resource links.  Visit the Guide! 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

On Wednesday, April 29, Members of WCGS met in Cary at the Panera Bread at Parkside for casual conversation about genealogy and other favorite topics. Thanks to Barbara and Sherry for planning this great outing. - CD In photo: seated: Ed Webb and Sherry Gajewski. Standing: Barbara McGeachy, Carol Kimball Stahl, Jennie Gunther, and Gayle Williams. Photo graciously taken by an anonymous man. Barbara’s Summary: “We stayed about ninety minutes and discussed many genealogical topics. Some highlights:   Sherry recently scanned some photos and added them online. A distant cousin saw her photos of their family and shared their photos of Sherry's family that she had never seen. Another cousin was able to identify people in a family reunion photo.   Jennie attended the recent NC State Archives presentation about artifact preservation. They only discussed paper preservation. We all agreed that we’d love to have a session on preserving non-paper artifacts. The NC Museum of History handles...

The year 1774 opened to increasing divisiveness between British Parliament and the colonists. Resentment and hostilities were fomenting on both sides. The King and Parliament were insensed by Massachusetts colonists' revolt - the Boston Tea party - in December of 1773. Another round of opressive measures were enacted directed at quelling rebellion and stripping govenment powers at a local provincial level. Britain was laser focused on Massachusetts, but their fury and strident restrictions sent a shudder through out all the thirteen colonies. The colonists' unease harkened back to the days of the 1760s between the French & Indian War and the Regulator movement. Over the course of that year, the British enacted no less than five new acts, collectively called the Coercive Acts. The Acts were the most punitive and restrictive thus far. Their oppressive nature lead the colonists to call them "Intolerable" instead. While these acts specifically singled out Massachuset...

Piedmont colonists (including those living in Wake County, now just two years young ) lived with a mix of routine frontier hardship and growing political stress as the colony inched toward revolution. Day‑to‑day life was physically demanding and often uncertain.  With only a few poor roads in and out of the area, travel and trade with the coast and Virginia was limited. They had to produce most everything for themselves and barter for what they couldn't make and hope to bring in a bit of cash if they managed a good bargain with their neighbors.  They lived in a subsistance economy that required hands-on effort for everything - clearing land, planting seed, tending animals, working fields, building homes, barns and fences, making their own cloth, soap and food items that didn't grow from the ground. The Regulator uprising   th at had just been chaotically resolved, had already left many backcountry farmers angry at corrupt officials and unfair taxes. By 1773,  neighbo...