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.  

 

Registration availability opens as event nears

 

 

Speaker: George Thomas

 

Whether originating as surveys during the initial granting process or appearing in the wording from later deeds and estate divisions, land records of all sorts are important to the well-written family history. This presentation will begin with a brief overview of various formats typically used for sharing studies of historic land records. Focus will then turn to George’s exploration of a “platting-free” approach utilizing survey drawings digitally mined from sites such as North Carolina Land Grants Images and Data. Simple tools such as Adobe Photoshop can then be used to digitally connect “neighboring” land before overlaying the visual composition on top of a USGS topographic base map. This simple technique provides an accurate rendering and yet reduces much of the time usually spent platting land.