Saundra Cropps, Library Manager at Olivia Raney Local History Library, recently shared wonderful news. Saundra's email - Hello everyone, Wake, Capital County of North Carolina: Prehistory throughCentennial (Vol. 1), 1983 is now digitized at DigitalNC. Follow the link above to browse the book and read this account of NC History. This is a historical moment for Wake County and we honor the author, the late Elizabeth Reid Murray today! I have attached her biography. I want to thank her son, Mr. Jim Reid, for giving The Olivia Raney Local History Library/WCPL permission to have her book digitized.  Please share as needed. This is indeed wonderful news. Elizabeth's volumes were one of my first resources for starting the Wake Wednesday series of blogposts. This is a fantastic resource full of wonderful local history and family stories. If your roots go way back in Wake, you will want to spend some time with this volume.  Saundra included Elizabeth Reid Murrays bi...

Let's salute Elizabeth Reid Murray, if not the Mother of Wake County ( Margaret Wake Tryon ), most definitely the Author of Wake County. Murray was a prolific writer and contributor to the historic writings of Wake and North Carolina at large. Her obituary provides an extensive list of her writings and awards.  From the obituary: " Her major published works are WAKE: Capital County of NC, vol. 1 (1983); WAKE: Capital County of NC, vol. 2 (2008), with co-author K. Todd Johnson; and From Raleigh’s Past (1965).  Other published works include: editor and compiler, North Carolina’s Older Population: Opportunities and Challenges (1960); contributor, Windows of the Way (1964);  editor, Wake County Historical Society newsletter, 1965-1969;  editor/photographer, Wake County history filmstrip; guest editor, “Wake County Bicentennial” edition, Raleigh Magazine (1971);  contributor to a history of the Raleigh Fire Department; contributor, Dictionary of North Carolina Biogr...

 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! Return to the WakeCoGen Website