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This is a continuation of the
information presented on our main page about the types of Genealogy
and Family History Research work that we have been doing, starting
in September 2005. These only represent a recent snap-shot of
what we have done since we have been performing Genealogy and Family
History Research for almost 20 years.
It will be obvious that we don't
specialize in any one area of research though we are strong in
several regions (NC, especially Wake County, US, UK, Finnish
and other areas of research), as discussed on the
main page. What we are best with is a project where
families have roots all over the place ... we like a challenge!
Whether your family spent generations in one town or moved
frequently, even from or within other countries ... we can help you!
That said, if your family all came from one place, there may be
other researchers who can better help you ... as they may live and
breath that town -- if we think that's the case, we'll let you know!
On the other hand, if your family was fairly mobile ... we are
excellent at researching around the globe! We have many
resources at our fingertips and are great at ferreting out
hard-to-find information.
November
2007: The NC archives has re-opened in it's new home -- it's a
nice arrangement that makes researching easier and more efficient!
The rest of this month and December will be very busy with NC
projects including the continued research into several projects
started earlier in the year, several new projects where there is DNA
information suggesting familial relationships that need to be
proven/documented, plans to work in tandem with a novice researcher
at the local research facilities, acquiring wills/estates, court
records, deed copies etc to support the research of others, and so
much more! A set of binders went out to a client, documenting
maternal and paternal family back several generations -- connecting
Russia, Wisconsin, Canada, Oregon, and many other locales!
Most recent edition of
Internet Genealogy
(January 2008) has been published -
"Lineage, First Family and Pioneer
Societies on the Web,
"National Genealogical
Society,"
"World Vital Records"
and net note
"Free Public Records Directory."
Another edition of the
WCGS Updates is in process and includes our contributions.
October
2007: Several projects are winding down and binders have
been produced (using page inserts and with dividers) to be
distributed to clients and their extended families. Articles have
been written and reviewed for publication in the December/January
issue of
Internet Genealogy.
Wrote an article on visiting UNC-CH Wilson Library and the
Manuscripts Department that includes information on some Wake County
related finds for the next edition of
the
Wake County journal, Wake Treasures. Have been busy
plotting land deeds in Hertford and Wayne County for two projects to
locate land -- using civil war era maps, topographic maps, flood
plain maps, soil survey maps, division of land maps, etc! Gave a
program to a local genealogy club titled Emigration, Immigration
and Naturalization Research. Continued working on projects
involving about a dozen NC counties and so much more!
September 2007: September is ending in a flurry of
activity -- with the NC archives closing for 4 weeks to relocate to
it's permanent space, it was the month to work on every project with
a NC connection -- and we did! Also traveled to
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to photograph a civil war era diary,
information on the contents of an 1825 New Bern bank and circa 1850
guardian documents. The
Wake County newsletter,
WCGS Updates, will be published shortly and the
Wake
County USGenWeb site was updated. Gave a talk to the local
NC APG chapter
on internet resources (based on items published in WCGS Updates,
the Family Chronicle article from earlier this year and an
updated version of
Internet Resources for Searching Anywhere USA).
This month sees
published three articles and some net notes for Internet Genealogy
(October 2007) -
"Chronicling America,"
"Black Studies Center,"
"When Disaster Strikes: Genealogy and Mother Nature"
and net notes
"GenWeb Search," Encyclopedia of Genealogy"
and
"Geni and Zooof." And, several
projects with non-NC connections were also worked on and are almost
completed. So, the typical smorgasbord of projects!
August 2007: As always with the end of a vacation, a large
stack of mail and e-mail awaited as the month started .... working
on several projects across many NC counties ... these same projects
span from the late 1700s to the early 1900s from individuals that
just popped into the state for a few years to families with long,
long roots! Proofed some articles for
Internet Genealogy
and dug into a variety of projects -- finishing out two complete
family tree research projects that took us coast-to-coast,
continuing researc in several NC counties and so much more!
July 2007: Been busy at the Wake County Local History Library
(Olivia Raney) and with the
NC
archives and
NC
library now open, all NC research is going full steam ahead!
Researching everything from property to people across several NC
counties and from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s. Working on
a few projects involving post-Civil War African-American research
and also 20th century European/Slavic emigrants. The last few weeks
have seen the
Wake County Journal, Wake Treasures, and it's newsletter,
WCGS Updates, both published. And, as always, working on
some articles for
Internet Genealogy. Wrapped up some at-heir research
involving several families coast-to-coast and winding down on a
project focused on OR, MN, WI and mid 1800 emigrants from Russia and
Ireland. Took some time out for a vacation and so much more!
June 2007: We can honestly report that June just zipped
by! Finished the article for
Wake Treasures and gave the related talk for
North Carolina
Genealogical Society -- "Looking for Scots Heritage Becomes a
Lesson in the History of Wake and Johnston Counties."
Worked on several Wake County projects and traveled to
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to look at Civil War era diaries and early
19th century correspondence to Ireland. Also continued research to
settle some estates by finding heirs-at-law, literally
coast-to-coast in the US! Started several projects for
individuals with 18th century NC roots in Halifax, Duplin, Wake and
other counties. Additionally, started a project to research
one of those pesky immigrant ancestors for someone -- you know the
type, a surname that can be spelled a seeming zillion ways!
And, worked on researching several families with African-American
heritage in NC -- a challenge whether looking at 19th or 18th
century records! In parallel, started an African-American Research
Guide that will be posted shortly on the
Wake County GenWeb site.
May 2007: Where did April Go?!?! The early part of May
was spent recovering from working as much as possible at the
NC
archives and
NC
library the latter half of April as they are both closed then
until July 11 and early June, respectively! Once they closed,
this month has been spent writing on an article for
Wake Treasures and a related talk for
North Carolina
Genealogical Society (to be given June 30th), doing Wake County
research (since ORL is still open), wrapping up the project on
Finnish ancestry and working hard to finish two projects that
spanned the US, attending the National Genealogical Society
Conference in Richmond (VA) where I attended numerous invaluable
programs, picking up some new research projects looking for
heirs-at-law with MA connections, writing two articles and a net
note for the next edition of
Internet Genealogy and
these were just published in the June/July edition,
Family Search Labs: You Be the
Judge, Searching Digital Documentation on HistoryKat, Immigrant
Servants Database, Prologue, WorldCat, and Free on Ancestry,
while in
Family Chronicle was published
"40 Fabulous Websites You've Got to Try!),"
working on a project with NC, VA and KY connections,
continuing to do some challenging African-American research, and so
much more!
April 2007: Spring is arriving and spring break is over ... we
will be continuing with most of the projects listed for March,
starting a few new NC projects (various families with roots in
Bladen, Burke, Montgomery, Surry & Yadkin Counties), trying to
locate the NC ancestral origins of some individuals who lived and
died elsewhere though were born in NC (the proverbial
needle-in-a-haystack project, though, we have had success finding
the ancestral county and ancestors for a few!!), writing some more
articles/net notes for
Internet Genealogy,
plus finishing research on these projects: Finnish-Canadians, TN/KY
families, and a pesky character that has been tracked from NE to IL
to WI to OR to WA to NM ... never mind at least 3 marriages along
the way! And, as usual, so much more!
March 2007: Made regular treks to the NC archives & State
Library, kept busy working on Civil War era records for Onslow
County, late 18th century records for Wake County, searched for
Revolutionary War connections in several counties and prepared for several other soon-to-be-started projects involving
several NC counties. Continued to do research coast-to-coast
searching for heirs-at-law to help close out MA land cases while
also doing 20th century and civil war research for authors of
upcoming books. For a change of pace, published an article for
Family Chronicle "Web Sites Worth
Surfing," wrote an article for the June 2007
issue, wrote several Net Notes and published two articles for Internet Genealogy
(May 2007) -
"20 Billion Names: One Year Later"
and
"Are You Ready to
Unlock Your Genealogy." Also started a new
column for the WCGS newsletter titled
"Research the Cosmos - Learn about internet
resources all over the planet."
Continued work on all the projects started or continued in February
and so much more!
February 2007: Hit the road running finishing an article for Internet Genealogy
on two new web-based databases that were improving and updating in
real-time (several re-writes involved to keep the article current)!
Continuing work on a project involving Irish and Russian emigrants
with OR, WI and MN connections and another project with connections
to Christian County KY and Giles County TN! More work on an adoptee
trying to trace his historical family connections to NC and for
another individual with Canadian and Finnish connections. And,
several NC projects are in motion involving Wake County and several
other counties spread throughout NC. Another trip to
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to look at Civil War era documents for 3
different families as well as documentation on an African-American
choir c. 1930. Add to that projects
involving research in LA, OH, WI, FL, NJ and elsewhere.
Updated the Wake County Genweb site and wrote articles for the WCGS
update (newsletter) and so much
more!
January 2007: HAPPY 2007! As the NC archives was closed the
first half of the month, the main focus early in the month was Finnish
ancestry, writing more articles for Internet Genealogy
(and wrote an article for the companion publication
Family
Chronicle),
gave a talk "Preserving your families history" at Oak View
Historic Park on Genealogy/Family History, continued research into a
myriad of events of the early 20th century (including filing FOIA
requests) for a book project, compiling an individual's research
data, planned the next visit to the
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to photograph a manuscript and some family
papers and check out an interview transcription, researching various
families outside NC and starting research into several new
NC-focused projects. As the archives opened, worked on
projects involving Wake, Northampton, Lincoln, Hertford and many
other NC counties, while also tracking a family from MA to CA to OH
and learned more about a Louisiana born family, assisted in many
searches for heirs tied to probate, submitted a presentation
proposal for the 2008 NGS Conference and confirmed a talk to be
given in June for the NCGS titled "Looking
for Scots heritage becomes a lesson in the history of Wake and
Johnston Counties" and so much more!
December 2006: Just this month ... in advance of the holiday
season wrapped up work on several familiar projects and started some
new ones. Proofed some future articles for Internet Genealogy,
visited the
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to photograph a lawyer's letterpress book, a civil-war era hymn book
and more modern documents dealing with lynching in the south, started compiling a persons genealogy
files by putting the details into Family Tree Maker, started new
projects on emigrants from the early 1900s, 19th century Irish
emigrants, another family with Wake County connections, and other NC
focused research. Also continued research into a myriad of
events of the early 20th century (including filing FOIA requests)
for a book project. Have several new NC-focused projects on
our plate that will be started in the New Year, put the finishing
touches on the recent edition of
the
WCGS Updates and as usual, so much more!
November 2006: Just this month ... Published the resource list
that we use with our talks (Lulu.com
),
gave a talk titled "Research the Cosmos - Learn about internet
resources all over the planet," wrote several articles for the
WCGS Updates, wrapped up some
Revolutionary War service searches and also looking for mysterious
roots in Cumberland County. Cont'd with projects involving
Finnish, Irish and other non-US origins. Performed some
research on historical figures who lived during WWI and WWII that
involved tracing emigration records. Started a project to help an
orphan trace his mother's North Carolina roots using information
collected after her death. Will also be searching the
Wisconsin, Irish and other roots for someone else. Always
checking for new resources to continue research on various Wake
County records projects. Started another new project to trace a very
mobile family that migrated from NC to various mid-western and
western locales. Spent much time in the court records of
Rowan County (NC) -- one individual over a 10 year time span was
involved in four different court actions in the 1760s,
ranging from not paying rent, to something to do with a horse and
eventually "papering/bad money!" Starting a project to
help someone organize all the data they have collected (10+ paper
files) in Family Tree Maker. And, as always, so much more ....
October 2006: Just this month ... besides
continuing some previous projects into Finnish records and
historical figures tied to McKinley's assassination, we've started a
new project that has taken us to
UNC-CH the
Manuscript Department to look into Railroads and Texas in the
mid 1850s, done some old-fashioned research into some NC Families
(Cleveland, Buncombe, Alexander, Cumberland, Sampson and other
counties) at the
NC
Archives/Library, connected an individual who died in Dallas TX
to his roots in Guilford County NC in the late 1800s, researched
into Native Americans with NC connections, and have continued to
trace families in Brooklyn NY and southern California. Wrote
an article for Internet Genealogy
the December/January issue about several new exciting databases now
available or to be available in early 2007. Will be
starting a project to document the Revolutionary War service of
several North Carolinians and another one to search for "rumored"
Irish Roots ... and so much more!
September 2006: Just this
month ... cont'd several projects started in August and earlier!
Recently explored North Carolina Civil War Records (Pension
Application, Compiled Service Record, etc) for a Wake County
individual. Will be starting a new project to explore a 1905
Murder Trial and another new project looks at Anarchists and the
assassination and President McKinley. Yet another project is
exploring the ancestry of a North Carolinian with purported Native
American ancestry. Let's not forget research for a family with
lots of pieces already researched (Harnett County and successor
counties) and our task is to confirm the relationships and if
possible, make a key "connection" between two generations.
And, what's a month without writing a couple of articles for future
editions of
Internet Genealogy
and the just published November edition has "Iron Range
Research Center" !?! Also visited UNC-CH, the Southern Manuscript
Collection to look at a Civil War era diary and look at the
correspondence of a WWI era attaché and so much more!
August 2006: Just this month ... started with a week's
vacation in New England, then proposed and wrote a few articles for future editions
of Internet Genealogy, picked up on several projects started
in July or earlier including the project tracking 11 siblings, the
Finnish research, the Wake County project, the Bertie County (NC)
project, the illusive mid-westerner (eventually found in New
Mexico!), and also started a new project
with an Edgecombe County (NC) focus (and some Quaker connections,
with ties to VA) and another involving several
NC
counties and another project to
photograph correspondence of a famous Civil War Confederate General
(out at
UNC-CH Wilson Library),
learned more about a diary author connected to an interesting piece
of late 19th century history, updated the
Wake
County GenWeb site, wrote articles for the
WCGS Updates and so much more!
July 2006: Just this month ... continued looking into
the records of Bertie, Wake and other counties (NC projects),
continued trying to track someone who did not want to be found in
the 1930s, continued on a big project tracking 11 siblings to
identify spouses, children, grandchildren (mostly located in the
Midwest though as far as CA), research into some CA families,
continued work on Finnish and French-Canadian projects, looked into
a NC individual who committed a crime in the mid 1800s, starting a
project tracking some purported Scots in NC, did some research into
North Carolinians involved in the Civil War, met with someone to
obtain a letter written in the early 1930s by a brother-in-laws
great grandmother, had more pieces published
in Internet Genealogy and so much more!
June 2006: Just this month ... started a family
research project with ties to Bertie and Currituck counties,
completed a project that tracked a family from IA to WA to OR to NV
to CA and also created a compilation of the work done on the Czech
families in Chicago, continued work on a family of French-Canadian
origin, on a Finnish ancestry project, and also on several families
with strong Wake County roots. Did several small projects
involving a will in Surry County, locating someone in Long Island,
someone else in Brooklyn, tracking a family around the mid-west, a
Kansas-based family and was busy with the most recent edition of the
Wake Updates (newsletter of the Wake County Genealogical Society)
and a "Net Notes" for
Internet Genealogy Magazine.
May 2006: Just this month ... wrote more "Net Notes" for
Internet Genealogy Magazine and had two articles published (one
in a print version and one in an
online version), continuing our "Wake County"
records project, completed another phase of a Quebec -> NY -> MA
project, researching in CA records & Marshall County IL and OH for 3
very-hard-to-find individuals(!), continuing work on the Bohemian
(Czech) families who lived in Chicago, completing a project that
looked at Slave owners, slaves and their progeny in NC, starting
projects related to the Spencer family, a family that migrated from
Iowa to Oregon with a stop in Idaho thrown in and a MA family of 12
children, we are getting more heavily in to 18th & 19th century
Finnish records for project of Finns who migrated to WA and also
Canada. Also posted many new links to the
Wake County Gen Web site.
April 2006: Just in the past month ... we started with looking at NC Bastardy
Bonds at the NC archives, continued research of Bohemian
(Czechoslovakian) families in Chicago, continued projects involving
Wake County, Northampton & Halifax & Vance Counties and also
Beaufort and Hyde Counties (all in NC), started a project on Finnish
families with ties to Washington USA and Ontario Canada (so, we have
looked at Emigration, US, Canadian and Finnish records), a
project connecting a family from MA to NY and now hopefully Canada!
We again revisited California records for a new project.
March 2006: Just in the past
month ... we have continued doing research at the NC Archives, done
research on Laura Keene (the actress who was with President Lincoln
when he was shot), gave the talk on "Help, I Live in Raleigh and My
Family Comes from Outside North Carolina), traced a 19th century
family from Massachusetts back to New York, continued research on
projects involving families in Beaufort, Wake, Warren and other NC
counties, started a project involving slave owners, slaves, their
plantations and their progeny (white and mulatto), wrote several
pieces for "Internet Genealogy," and tracking some families living
in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
February 2006: Just in the past month ... we have done
research at the NC archives and Library and at the Wake County
History Library (Beaufort, Warren, Edgecombe, Wake & other
counties), research on Bohemian / Czechoslovakians from Chicago,
obituary research around the country, writing Net Notes for
"Internet Genealogy," preparing to give a talk on "Help, I live in
Raleigh and My Family Comes From Outside North Carolina," provided
research consultations to over 30 individuals, finished the TX
research, keep revisiting New York, Ireland and Scottish records for
another project, and so much more!
January 2006: Just in the past month ... we have done
research in California (Los Angeles County etc.), Brooklyn NY (Kings
County), Dallas County, Bexar County, Deaf Smith County and other
parts of TX, Pitt County, NC (at the Archives), visited the Southern
Historical Manuscripts at Wilson Library (UNC Chapel Hill), back
again in the Chicago records, starting a Raleigh, NC project,
writing an article on the Illinois online databases for a new
magazine "Internet Genealogy," and so much more!
December 2005: Just in the past month ... we have
done research in California (Kings County), Brooklyn NY (also Kings
County!), Oregon, Dallas and other parts of TX, and passenger
records and a glimpse at Canadian and Scottish records ... and, we
just kept researching through the holidays.
November 2005: Just in the past month ... we have
done research in California, Chicago, Ohio (Warren, Hamilton and
neighboring counties), New Jersey (Ocean County), Massachusetts
(Weymouth area and Boston), DC, North Carolina (Wake & Chatham Counties),
Indiana (Hammond area) -- projects have involved 19th & 20th century
records some projects are to locate descendents of individuals to
help with Probate or Land issues.
October 2005: Just in the past month ... we have done research
in Florida (St. Petersburg and Jacksonville records), Illinois
(Warren County & Lake County & Chicago), Indiana (Lake County),
Lancashire UK & UK Military records, California, Massachusetts,
Wales, Ohio, Alsace France, a mobile family in North Carolina, and
Pennsylvania -- projects have involved 19th & 20th century records
-- one project was to find a common surname between non-related
individuals ("Great news on "Wilson" ... Thank you so much!") -- other projects are to locate descendents of
individuals to help with Probate or Land issues.
September 2005: Just in the past month ... we have done
research in Chicago and Illinois counties, Pennsylvania (several
counties), Alsace France, Belarus (Minsk area), Glamorgan & Monmouth
Wales, the UK (several counties) ... making use of census records,
passenger records, church & cemetery records, newspaper articles,
archives near and far, newsgroups and anything we can think of and
get our hands on!
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