The June 2024 law changes  (HB385, sec11)   that limit the protections of cemeteries - lost, abandoned, culturally and historically significant - have been discussed and updated previously on our blog - here . There has been a hopeful turn of events. Unfortunately, it is not the full restoration of oversight powers to the Office of State Archaelogy. This new proactive measure comes from outside the legislature. The N.C. Department of Transportation will team with N.C. State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education to begin research on mapping unmarked burial sites belonging to historically marginalized groups. This positive step forward is a pilot project beginning in Edgecombe County. The project goal is to  identify and map Indigenous burial sites, graves of formerly enslaved individuals, and historic African American cemeteries within the county. The pilot runs through the summer of 2026 and may expand after that.  This effort gives me hope t...

Updates on HB383 sec 11: The bill was passed on June 26 with the language that places old abandoned family cemeteries as well as historic archealogical relics at possibly more risk than before. The following language of HB385 Section 11 is taken directly form the Legislative Reporting Service at UNC School of Government.   The wording below is the version that passed. The concerning portions are highlighted in yellow as restrictions to the OSA  that did not exist previously. Part XI Removes all of former Part XI (amending various statutes related to coastal development) and replaces it with the following new content. Section 11 Adds new GS 113A-113.1 (requiring the Office of State Archeology [OSA] to provide information to owners and prospective purchasers in areas of environmental concern). Requires OSA to, upon request of an owner or prospective purchaser of land located in an area of environmental concern, to provide the owner or prospective purchaser with information as to...

I want to sandwich this between our two Native American centric Society Virtual Meetings for March and April 2021. I think some will find the information and links helpful if you are working with NA research.  This post is one I originally wrote for the Winter 2020 issue of the Wake Genealogy Watch newsletter .   - Cyndi Deal " But her name is Kizzie and it says she is Native American…," said the friend I am helping to build a DNA family tree. "Does that mean I am Native American? There were rumors about my father being Native American!"  Such hope. Such excitement. This in regards to a person purported to be her great grandmother labeled as such in someone else's undocumented tree… - CD   I gingerly explained that though there may have been someone at some point in the distant past that was Native American (NA), there are currently   no known records and no NA showing in her DNA ethnicity results to confirm that story. A sister also did not have N...

 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. Return to the WakeCoGen Website