Tuesday, Aug 25, 2026 @ 6:30pm – Virtual Topic:   Doing European Research When You Don't Speak the Language Speaker:   Jessica Conklin If your ancestors crossed the Atlantic, there's no need for a language barrier to stop your research in its tracks! With my 4-step method for decoding genealogical records in unfamiliar languages, you can learn to read documents from your ancestor's country of origin. We'll also explore computer tips and useful online resources (like translation tools and even AI) that help make foreign languages accessible and understandable. Join us! Free and virtual! *Please register by 4pm day of meeting. *Please save your passcode and link for ease of entry at start time. *Presentation starts promptly at 6:30 pm. Link to register at the Wakecogen website events page .   Registration is now open! **Get the video recording to watch on-demand for 30 days and access to our webinar handout library with your WCGS membership!**       ...

  Don't forget to sign up for these two events. Both are free and open to all with registration. Our next virtual meeting and presentation is next Tuesday, Jan 28 at 6:30pm . If you are not making full use of the free content available with registration at FamilySearch, you are missing out. Join us as Jill Morelli guides us through the most up-to-date search methods at the international site. You will be glad you did. Sign up  here . If you are local, there is still time to register for the Wakecogen Meetup on February 10 at 10am . We will tour both the NC Archives and the NC State Library (in same building) and lunch at the legislature cafeteria right next door is optional. Tours are free with registration and open to all. There are 30 spots available. Full details are here .  We look forward to seeing you on Zoom and in person! Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website  -  Homepage  |  WCGS Events  |  Join WCGS  |  Pub...

Here are the details for the WCGS virtual meeting of 2025. This promises to be a popular topic! Please join us. Tuesday, Jan 28 @ 6:30pm - Virtual Topic:  Be a Super Sleuth! Accessing and Using Images on Family Search Speaker:  Jill Morelli, CG, CGL Did you know that Family Search is placing their recently digitized material online in less that 24 hours after it is scanned? Did you know that they were placing them, not in the Catalog but in Images? This makes the images tab (under Search) as the most up-to-date repository of records--not the Catalog. These records are also not yet indexed and so they cannot be accessed using a surname search. What is a Super Sleuth to do? We will learn how to access these records and perhaps how to use other tools to find your ancestor in the document easier. You will want to see what FS has put on line in the geographic area where you are researching! Treasures await!   Join us!  Free and virtual! *Please register by 4pm day of meet...

Register for the next Virtual Meeting from WCGS! Topic:  Genealogy Escape Room ™  – The Case of William Sydney Porter: Oh Henry!  Speaker:  Thomas MacEntee Tuesday,  Dec 5 , 2023 @ 6:30pm - Virtual Audience Level: Beginner.  The more, the merrier, join us for a fun evening of Genealogy Sleuthing led by Thomas! Imagine you are trapped in your state archive and the only way out is to solve a series of genealogy research puzzles. Are you up to the challenge? Are you ready for Genealogy Escape Room™?  Based on the popular escape room concept, Genealogy Escape Room™ turns the typical webinar format upside down! Each registrant will receive a Case Review File used to solve a series of online research tasks BEFORE the live webinar takes place. The webinar is the "reveal," where a step-by-step review of each puzzle, task, and clue all the way to the final "key" to open the door.  Genealogy methodology concepts will be summarized before announcing who esca...

Join us for the next Virtual Meeting from WCGS! Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 @ 6:30pm - Virtual (combined November-December) Topic :     Finding and Understanding NC Court Records Speaker:   David McCorkle Courts have always dealt with crimes and disputes, but in the past they also handled much more routine items that can be of great interest to your genealogical research.   These include many functions now performed by other government offices such as proving deeds, probate, petitions, taxes, appointment of local officials, licenses, bastardy, manumission – the list goes on.  To complicate things, the type of courts and what areas they were responsible for has changed over time. This discussion will help you know what you can find along with how and where to find it.    A North Carolina native, David is President and founder of NC Historical Records Online (NCHRO), with a mission to provide public online access to images of original records and other re...

There is still plenty of time to sign up for our next virtual Society Meeting. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, August 23, 6:30pm. Topic:  In Her Own Words - Lives of Women Through Diaries, Journals, Correspondence and More! Speaker:  Diane L. Richard Women are traditionally challenging to document in historical public records. Personally written diaries, journals, correspondence, and more can help fill in gaps about female ancestors. This talk goes well past journals and diaries as “women” had voices in myriad ways. This virtual meeting and presentation is open to all, but registration is required.   Visit the  WCGS Events  page to  access the registration link.   To learn Zoom tips for successfully joining the meeting, please read  Important ZOOM Tips . Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website  -  Homepage  |  WCGS Events  |  Join WCGS  |  Publications  |  Wake Cemetery Survey Images ...

We are planning a special little preview activity for our May 24 virtual meeting. Prior to the meeting during the open chat time, our program chair, George Thomas is planning a fun feature and we need your help. Please   submit any  Fabulous, Famous and Infamous folk  you have found while perusing the 1950 Census images. I have seen what George Thomas, program director,  has planned and I think it will be highly entertaining. Forward thes following details for what you find -  the name, state, county, and enumeration district   to George's email -  geothos@bellsouth.net    and he will take your findings and create a slide show that should prove to be a lot of fun as we warm up for the evening's presentation.  Imaging finding this! A very young Bruce Springsteen was residing in the home of his grandparent's New Jersey home in 1950 along with his parents!  Are you up for the thrill of the hunt?  Hint: Steve Morse's Unified Enumer...

The late summer event offerings from WCGS are just around the corner. There is still time to register. Please  visit our  Registration page . Next up -  August 24, 6:30pm - WCGS virtual meeting Topic - Research and Resources at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania   speaker -  Dr. Lee Arnold, Senior Director of the Library & Collections, Chief Operating Officer Founded in 1824, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) is one of the largest family history libraries in the nation, has excellent collections on local and regional history and offers a manuscript collection renowned for its 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century holdings. HSP houses many national treasures, such as the first draft of the United States Constitution, an original printer’s proof of the Declaration of Independence, and the earliest surviving American photograph. But the true strength of the Society' collection is the overall breadth and depth of materials that together of...

The Wake County Genealogical Society has decided to have only virtual meetings for the remainder of 2020!   If you have been thinking about joining, now is the time so you don't miss a single meeting.  And as a bonus, if you join before the end of August your new membership will run until the end of our next membership year, August 31, 2021.  Of course you will also have access to all the other membership benefits !  Check out our WCGS events calendar for the rest of the year. Join now! Return to the WakeCoGen Website

WCGS members and followers should check your email for instructions on how to register for our May 26 virtual meeting. If you are not a member and want to be included, visit our  Membership page  to join and be included. You must register for the meeting before May 26. Date/Time :   Tuesday May 26, 2020 at 6:30pm ET Speaker: Judy Russell Topic: How Old Does He Have to Be? - Is this man John the father or John the son? Could that man be my ancestor who married in 1802? Knowing a person's age is often the key to distinquishing two people of the same name.  But if no record gives the birth data, how do you know who someone was? The law can often give the answer.  Please join us for a pre-recorded webinar with Judy G. Russell, also known as The Legal Genealogist! This virtual meeting and presentation is open to all members and newsletter recipients. If you are on one of those lists, you will receive an email with registration instructions closer to the d...