WELCOME to the Wake County Genealogical Society website!
February Meeting
The Story of Rachel: Challenges of Manumission
February 28, 2023 6:30 to 8:15 PM
On-Line Virtual Meeting (Free)
Speaker: Diane L. Richard
 One would think that if someone “freed” a slave via their will, their dying declaration would always be honored, but, unfortunately, you would be quite mistaken. Manumissions were rare in the pre-Civil War south due to very restrictive laws. In this presentation we’ll explore: (1) What Manumission is; (2) Manumission Laws of NC through time; (3) Challenges of Manumitting a Slave; (4) Quakers and the Freeing of Slaves; and (5) the Odyssey of Rachel. In 1782, Rachel was seemingly freed by her owner’s will, but it wasn’t until about 1800 that she and her children were actually freed and assumed a new surname. In this talk we’ll learn about the jurisdictions, entities, and parties involved in freeing Rachel and how the overall process played out.
Virtual and free with registration beginning shortly after the January meeting. Visit the WCGS Events page to access the registration link.
Wake Genealogy Watch - Winter Edition
The Winter 2023 Issue (Vol.6 Issue 2) of our award-winning newsletter, Wake Genealogy Watch, is now available online for reading or download. You can downoad the latest newsletter through this link - Wake Genealogy Watch, Winter 2023
Features included in this issue include:
- Details on a super OLLI class that will be taught by WCGS Member, Barbara McGeachy – Genealogy: Starting with the Basics
- Links to a host of online resources that are outside the traditional research sites
- A super timeline/map visualization video packed with historical context for the American First Colonies (1565 – 1700)
- Family History Guides to each state that provide rich access to a world of records and research strategies from your pc or cell phone
- The latest Enslaved Persons research resources
- International research groups and blogs for Germany and France
- Wake County Civil War Pension File links and useful Wake County map links
- Highlights from our December NC Government and History Library tour
- A Genetic Genealogy review of the latest tools to hit your match lists – AncestryDNA’s Parent SideView, My Heritage’s new match sorting options, and FTDNA’s new Discover tool and Time Tree. All exciting stuff!
- Our handy events calendar will help you save the dates, so you don't miss a single moment of WCGS excitement.
Photo Note: If you choose to read a printed version of this newsletter, some of the photos will be difficult to view due to size constraints. Please refer to the online edition where you can enlarge the photos to accommodate better viewing.
As always we welcome your articles, comments, other items for the newsletter, so please contact Cyndi at newsletter@wakecogen.org if you have something to share.
Meet-Up: Feb 11 at Johnston Co. Heritage Center
Our first meet-up of 2023 will be Saturday, Feb 11th at the Johnston County Heritage Center in Smithfield. We can check out the repository of records for Wake County settlers and ancestors before there was even a Wake County! Prior to its formation in 1770, the land we think of as Wake lay partially in Johnston county (also Cumberland and Orange, stories for another day).
The Johnston County Heritage Center holds approximately 2,500 books, 800 reels of microfilm, 300 maps/atlases, 100,000 photographic images, 600 private collections of books and papers, and vertical files on genealogy, biography, and local history. The focus for genealogical records primarily includes the eastern half of North Carolina and the Virginia Tidewater region. Todd Johnson, Executive Director of the Center has offered to give us a tour and help us get our bearings on searching Wake County Records.We will meet at 10:00 am to learn and browse. Afterwards we'll find a lunch spot so we can visit and enjoy each other's company!
Wake Treasures - Vol 31, Issue 2 is Available!
Welcome to the last issue of Wake Treasures in 2022 In this issue Carla Stancil contines her vignettes on her Wake County ancestors, and shares the letters her father wrote while away from home in Marines. You'll also read the Wake County Court Records (batch 6), Wake County Deaths in WW1, and the 1896 Tax List. Look for continuation of the 1896 Tax Records, the Ferguson Family Ledger, and the Gertrude Weil Papers in the next issue. Warm thanks again to Carla for sharing this piece of history with us.
 If you have any Wake County an ancestors or research, Wake Treasures would love to feature your work in a future issue. We welcome submissions of research reports, narratives, and special articles. If you have questions or want to learn more about being published in our award winning journal, feel free to contact me at journal@wakecogen.org.
Please consider joining the journal team. In order to make the publication possible, a team of volunteers works behind the scenes and needs your help. There are currently openings for a content curator and transcribers. If you're interested in learning more about how you can help, please contact me at Journal@wakecogen.org and I will be happy to discuss volunteering opportunities.
Happy Reading, Donna, editor
To download this new edition, log into the Members Area and go to the Wake Treasures webpage. And if you have personal stories of people, places, and events connected to Wake County, please consider sharing them for inclusion into future editions!
Do You Have a Special Interest? Join a SIG!
What is a SIG (Special Interest Group), you ask? Well, it’s NOT a class nor a series of lectures nor instructor-led training. Instead, it is a collaborative format focused on a specific theme where members can share tips and tricks to help each other improve their skills in performing research or using genealogical tools. SIG participation is one of the many benefits of being a WCGS member! Here is information about two of our SIGs which will meet in November.
Family Tree Maker SIG - This SIG is for users of Family Tree Maker 2019. FTM sessions address aspects of using FTM such as resolving places, adding media, creating citations, linking to Ancestry and FamilySearch, creating charts and reports, etc. The SIG meets monthly on the first Saturday from 10:30 to noon. The next meeting is Nov 6.
If you are a member of WCGS and are interested in participating, please send an email to the WCGS webmaster to get on the SIG group list. A week before the meeting, an email is sent out with the Zoom link to those in the group. Notes or handouts from the meetings are posted in the Members area of the website (under " Member Only Files") and available to all WCGS members whether a SIG member or not.
German Genes SIG - This SIG is for people who have German speaking ancestors. Sessions will discuss resources for doing German research, historical German speaking locales, research learning opportunites, and historical context. The SIG meets monthly on the third Saturday from 10:30 to noon. The next meeting is Nov 20.
If you are a member of WCGS and are interested in participating, please send an email to Sue Olmsted to get on the SIG group list. A week before the meeting, an email is sent out with the Zoom link to those in the group. Notes or handouts from the meetings are posted in the Members area of the website (under " Member Only Files") and available to all WCGS members whether a SIG member or not.
Other SIGs? - If you have a different genealogy-related special interest, then other WCGS members are probably interested too! Since SIGS are collaborative, considering forming a new one by sending your suggestion to the WCGS President.
WCGS on Lulu!
Did you know WCGS has publications of transcribed records which are available for purchase on Lulu? Visit the Wake County Genealogical Society Bookstore here.
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March Meeting - The Revolution and Finding Wake in Orange and Durham in Wake
Mark Chilton, Orange County Register of Deeds and Historian, will speak on his county’s records identifying land and people in what became Wake County in 1771.
Black History Month Genealogy Conference and Banquet
The North Carolina / Piedmont-Triad Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) is celebrating its 25th Anniversary on February 10 & 11, 2023 in Greensboro, NC.
Wake Cemetery Update
ALL 20 townships are now live! Latest updates - GPS and links data is online for 12 out of the 20 townships - progress! Check Neuse Township as an example. Use the Surname Finder created by Cynthia Gage to help you find kin in the smaller family cemeteries across Wake County.
Postponed until June - Songs of the Enslaved and Downtrodden
Mary D. Williams and her powerful voice will lead us to the day when songs of hope wafted across our southern landscape.
Volunteer needs
Near or far, there is always a way you can help WCGS!
Amazon Smile
WCGS is a Member of AmazonSmile--help earn funds for our society!
When shopping at amazon.com, please use http://smile.amazon.com/ch/56-1392575. When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Wake County Genealogical Society, Inc. Bookmark the link and you will be supporting us every time you shop! THANK YOU!
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