The Winter 2021 Issue (Vol.4 Issue 2) of our award winning newsletter, Wake Genealogy Watch, is now available online for reading or download. You can visit the WCGS website or access through this link - Wake Genealogy Watch, Winter 2021   This issue contains the following topics: Wake Treasures Journal search tips – We have over 20 years of content online available for our members to use. These tips will get you started. Get details on the GenHelp sessions which return in 2021 to give guidance for your research. An overview of the three new Wake Resources webpages that webmaster Cynthia Gage has curated for us. Ann Myhre shares her experiences finding cousins in unexpected places. Dr. Ted Bainbridge recounts his efforts to explore and verify a family history tradition. Meet More of our Board Members – Barbara McGeachy, Carla Stancil, and Linda Hames. Unexpected resources that may help enrich your ancestors’ stories and...

This volunteer would work closely with our Journal editor, Donna Shackle, to publish our twice yearly journal, Wake Treasures . Journal Copyeditor/Proofreader: Our journal team is in need of a crack proofreader for our bi-annual journals. Once our editor has the journal nearly complete, you'll step in to catch all the "oops" and "gotchas". Interested?  Please reach out to our volunteer coordinator, Saundra Cropps, at Info@Wakecogen.org Return to the WakeCoGen Website

 From Donna Shackle, Journal Editor: This issue is a treat!  We have the pentultimate installment from Cary Faison on the Railroad, Hortons, and Faisons and continuations of the 1897 Raleigh Colored School census and of the Soldiers Home Record.  In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment we have the 1915 & 1917 membership lists from the Raleigh Equal Suffrage League.  Belle Long, the former Director of the Joel Lane Museum House, has written about the identity of Colonel Theophilus Hunter's second wife, Jane.  Read along to see how she discovered the identity of Jane and puts to rest a local mystery.  This issue could not have happened without the volunteers who helped to transcribe these records.  Please consider volunteering to transcribe from home.  If you are interested, please contact me for more information. Members can access this issue of the journal by logging into the Member Area at the Wakecogen.org website. You wil...

Cynthia Gage , WCGS Webmaster, has been hard at work restructuring portions of the Wakecogen website. Her efforts have been focused on expanding the curation of our link and resource page to enhance the usefulness for Wake researchers, both local and remote.  What was previously one Links and Resources page has grown into three separate pages of Wake centric content, each with their own focus and curated list. Be sure to visit Wakecogen.org to check them out. You will find the three resource pages linked in the left side bar visible from any page on our website. Here is a brief overview of what Cynthia has created for our use. Wake Digital Resources - "On-line resources are a wonderful source for genealogists - particularly remote researchers - to help find information and data about their ancestors.  There are many fee-based sites which have lots of information about Wake County and its people, but there are also some free resources, some easy to find and others buri...

 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

 From the National Genealogy Society: Contact: Susan Yockey Phone: 571-234-8021 awards@ngsgenealogy.org For Release: 19 October 2020   National Genealogical Society Invites Nominations for its 2021 Awards & Competitions FALLS CHURCH, va, 19 October 2020 —The National Genealogical Society (NGS) invites individuals, societies, and organizations to participate in its  2021 Awards and Competitions  program. NGS annually recognizes excellence in the field of genealogy. This year it has expanded its program to reflect its merger with the Federation of Genealogical Societies.   The deadline for submission of nominations is 15 December 2020.  The  NGS Awards  program recognizes scholarship, service, excellence, and achievement in the fields of genealogy, history, and biography by presenting awards to individuals, societies, and organizations. The Society’s  competitions   challenge individuals and societies! “We encourage you to nominat...

 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

 Saundra Cropps, our WCGS Volunteer CoOrdinator, is sharing an interesting even and resource with us today. The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) annual conference is virtual this weekend. From Saundra: "The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) annual conference is the largest international African American conference that promotes African-ancestored family history, genealogy, and cultural diversity. Due to COVID-19 the conference is virtual from October 14, 2020-October 17, 2020. Topics include Ethnicity, Race and Nationality, Family Presentations, Research, Genealogy, DNA, History, Migration, Preservation, Special Topics, Educational Methods, etc. I am particularly interested in the arrival of the first documented Africans in English America in 1619 at Point Comfort (not Jamestown); and the ancestors who fought in every battle on American and foreign soil." To find out more, click on this link -  AAHGS Conference final_digit...

First of all, many thanks to Heather Andolina for sharing her ancestors and journey of discovery with WCGS. It was a really fascinating evening.   Here is the link to the trailer for her documentary - Infamous Characters Notorious Villains. Watch the video at YouTube here -  https://youtu.be/KiAIThQZwIE When I went to watch the trailer, I stumbled on into an absolute rabbit hole of good Melungeon videos that are really worth watching. If you were intrigued along with me, you might want to check these out too. Lisa Alther reads excerpts her book Kinfolks, and talks of her Melungeon heritage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX4-GSXxQMg Darlene Franklin Campbell gives a detailed account through time and space of the peoples who traveled the world to converge in the Appalacian Ridge to create the Melungeon people. Watch her Melungeon Overview Presentation -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rx5C0Jf_lo Here is the trailer for another documentary that was made i...

From Legacy Family Tree Webinars: We're celebrating 10 years of genealogy webinars! Below is the top webinar from each year since 2010. Unlocked and free through September 24, 2020. Enjoy! Click this Anniversary link for details! If you are not a member they have really good discounts for membership right now too. Act early the best discount is for Sep 15-16! Return to the WakeCoGen Website