April 2014 -- Retired News items ...
DISCONTINUED December 2013 -- Too busy doing all the research, writing and
presentations to keep up the blog. Archived news from the front page will be posted here
as retired.
November 2013:
October 2013: [busy as usual just didn't blog about it <grin!>
September 2013:
August 2013:
July 2013: Already scheduled and with more to come:
TIME DOES FLY ... Where did the last 6 months go! Been busy with research, traveling to
repositories near and far, completing lineage applications, slave research, article writing,
WCGS publications responsibilities, Upfront with NGS blog posts, working with clients who
have recently done DNA testing, taken several classes on understanding DNA test results
(including the newer Autosomal DNA tests), photographing items, and so much more!
January 2013: Happy 2013! May it find you safe, healthy, happy and prosperous! After
"recovering" from the long holiday period (greatly enjoying NOT working), we are back in
the saddle and quite busy!
December 2012: A busy month -- aren't they all! With the holidays and a last-minute
vacation, a relatively short work month!
November 2012: How the time flies when one is so busy! Can't believe 4 months have
come and gone! And, do know that the main page is updated with News monthly and
upcoming talks and recently published articles are always noted on their respective pages!
Otherwise ...
July 2012: Time or not, the news needs to get out! Activities for the last few months have
included:
NOTE: Between teaching a 6 week class at ENCORE, article writing, client work, a personal
life ;-) and much more, this blog was obviously not maintained!
January 2012: Welcome to the NEW Mosaic RPM website. We are so excited to finally have
our site updated and ready to go for the start of the new year! Most of the information found
on the site is the material that you are familiar with, though it might be found in different
places. Please do take a few minutes to check it out! And, some material has outlived its
usefulness and is no longer included. As before, on this "blog" we will post monthly updates
mentioning "select" bits of research et al that we have been involved with during that month.
NOTE: Due to technical issues, between September 2011-December 2011, this blog was not
active
NOTE: Pre-January 2012 entries do not contain active hyperlinks nor graphics [pulled from
older website]
August 2011: It's hard to come back from two weeks of vacation! Have updated the list of
articles written for several publications. Once the e-mail and snail mail are all cleared out,
then it will be completing reports of research finished before vacation, resuming research
on some other projects and starting in on a few other projects. Hopefully, we'll update this
page before the end of the month. WARNING -- we have just learned that our web pages
server will no longer support Frontpage extensions come September -- as you may have
guessed, this website is written using Frontpage. So, if you have any issues accessing the
website after Labor Day, know that we will be in the process of migrating the website to
using a supported webpage editing software.
July 2011: Happy 4th of July! Tomorrow will be some 18th century land tax research at the
Library of Virginia. Have added more Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle articles
written in 2010 to this site. Did a lot of research that just didn't make it to the blog -- at the
NC archives and the State library of NC -- covering 18th through 20th century NC research.
Also research in the records of other states. Continue to be busy posting news at Upfront
with NGS (the blog). Created a WCGS Facebook page and have also been busy posting
relevant news to that platform. Google+ has emerged on the scene and some effort has
been put into exploring that new service. Additionally, articles written for Volume 37, issues
No 2 & No 3 of the North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) Journal have also been
added to the articles authored page.
June 2011: Have written pieces on The Freedmen's Bureau Records -- Research Your
Southern Ancestors and the CCC for Archives.com. Gave the last of 4 presentations on the
Freedmen's Bureau to the Durham-Orange County Genealogical Society. Spent 1.5 weeks
involved with a high school graduation, company in town and some down-time at the beach.
And, then seemingly, the rest of the month catching up! Did research on several projects --
NC African-American Research, Revolutionary war service research, trying to document
the parents of a late 18th century female (for a lineage society application), land research, a
"born in NC" where the NC birth place (county) has yet to reveal itself!
May 2011: Where to start? Several projects currently being worked on involve: 1. African-
American research, post and pre-Civil War, 2. Proof of Revolutionary War service along
with documenting family connections, 3. Using early 19th & late 18th century NC records to
try and prove a family connection -- loose court records being a primary resource, 4.
research in the records of burnt counties and then looking for activity in adjacent counties
and/or predecessor counties [successfully got a family "back to NC" from out-of-state in
the early 1800s to run into a "burnt county" in NC -- still plugging away on that], 5. VA tax &
related research [including research at LVA], 6. Several projects where "like-named"
individuals are found and am working to separate out these individuals where key records
are not extant. 7. Obscure record searches for projects where more conventional records
have not been sufficient -- county accounts, road records, etc. Also provided a brief
overview for resources for select states for the Archives.com site ["State Resources for
Genealogy Research" for AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, SC, TN & TX] ... and much, much more ... time
to get back to those projects!
March-April 2011: Too busy researching and giving talks to post! Have talked 2 more times
on the Freedmen's Bureau Records and on June 1st will do so again for D-OGS (Durham
Orange Genealogical Society) -- if you heard any of Diane's talks, she would greatly
appreciate your posting feedback at SpeakerWiki. Have proofed several articles for Internet
Genealogy and Family Chronicle [in May announced a new iPhone, iPad etc app]. Continue
to be busy with WCGS though Diane's term as President ends in May.
February 2011: Diane gave her talk on the Freedmen's Bureau Records at the 6th Annual
NCGS Speakers Forum on Saturday, 19 February 2011 -- this is a fascinating group of
records that provides information on ALL types of post-civil war individuals -- Freedmen
and their families, widows, ex-soldiers, the old and disabled and just so much more!
January 2011: Happy New Year! Internet Genealogy now has a FREE e-mail newsletter, you
can sign up using this link - tips from several genealogists are included and Diane's
contribution is census tips. Also, the current edition of IG is now out and contains an
assortment of Net Notes by Diane. If you live in the Piedmont of NC, do check out the 6th
Annual NCGS Speakers Forum on Saturday, 19 February 2011. Registration details. Diane
will give a talk titled Freedmen’s Bureau Records: Much More Valuable to Anyone’s
Research Than You Might Have Thought! [Regardless of race or origin circumstances,
many pertinent post-Civil War records are found in the Freedmen’s Bureau Collection. While
it contains records of freedmen, it also includes information about impoverished North
Carolinians of all races.]. Otherwise we've hit the year running with an assortment of
projects from collecting land and deed records to searching for Revolutionary War service
to seeking records for families living in "burnt" counties to trying to identify the parents of
freed slaves, learn those NC origins of those whose families migrated out of the state
before the 1850 census. Early next month Diane will talk with some college-age students at
UNC-CH (INLS 754: Access, Outreach and Public Service in Cultural Heritage Institutions at
the School of Information and Library Science) about what genealogists do so that our
future librarians will have a better sense of how to best serve us! DNA test results continue
to help or redirect research directions -- this past week I've seen results that match what
one would expect (e.g. surname matches) and another project where the only match is to
another surname -- we are upgrading the results on that test to see if that was an anomaly
of the lower-level results or holds for 67 markers; if so, we'll be off in a new direction for
that project. We were reminded last week that records are not always archived how one
would expect. Typically in NC, records are housed in the collection of the county as it was
at the time the record was created (e.g. pre-1771 Wake county records are found in
Johnston county). And, an exception is that pre-1759 Edgecombe County records are
housed with Halifax County records -- the county created later! Off to label, scan and e-mail
some recently collected documents which will hopefully benefit our clients research! We
were saddened to learn of the "demise" of Ancestry Expert Connect -- it was a powerful tool
helping to match those needing research to providers of research.
December 2010: Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous
2011! Some Christmas gift projects are in the process of being completed and we continue
to research other "hard to find" ancestors -- ex-slaves, Native Americans, the
"westwardly" mobile, the "only stopped" in NC for a generation or less, the "most common
of names," Revolutionary War/War of 1812/Civil War service and other projects that
continue to keep us challenged. The Upfront with NGS blog keeps us busy as we share
news about NGS and the genealogy world at large. We have been reminded by two
projects, that though we may have a "specific" birth place (e.g. a city or county) that it was
much easier for ancestors to "live under the radar" and not be documented. If they didn't
own land -- no deeds, no voting records, etc. If they moved frequently enough -- the tax man
might not have found them! And, not all records created, survive -- even if the tax man
found them, if those records don't survive, we will never know! And, a lack of extant
records does not have to stop your research in it's tracks -- you might never find that one
document that proves the relationship and you can often still build a strong circumstantial
case as to who your ancestor was. When you create your circumstantial case -- do
DOCUMENT the basis for your assertions. We have recently read many colorful narratives
about various ancestral lines, none of which can be substantiated. We understand that
when you share your research results it is tempting to want to "fill in the gaps" to humanize
your ancestors -- please just make it clear what is "fact" and what is "fiction." You can use
historical facts and information on a community to provide some context for your ancestor.
You can use information on disasters and other circumstances (e.g. economic, religious,
etc) to suggest what may have motivated your ancestor and unfortunately, unless your
ancestor left a diary, we will "never" truly know what they were thinking or what motivated
them. And, we don't have to completely get inside an ancestors head to appreciate the role
they have played in the families history. When gathering with family this holiday season,
take the opportunity to collect more family lore, pool what the family knows or discuss the
merits of DNA testing. Though DNA testing has added another tool to our research arsenal
-- a lack of matches, unexpected matches to other surnames, distant matches, etc can
challenge us to make the best use of this tool. And, remember, that is you don't match the
person you were targeting as a distant ancestor -- that at least helps you know what family
to not pursue! That said, we need to finish working on those promised Christmas gifts and
see if we can deliver some good news to the other ancestor hunters we are pursuing.
November 2010: Glorious colors of fall -- enjoyable to the eye, though, the much shorter
days make it harder to work past 5pm! Busy this month with lineage research and
applications -- all off to now be vetted! Several "successful" African-American (ex-slave
research projects) with one straddling the NC/VA line -- a marriage here, a census record
there, a marriage there, a census record here, etc. Just learned that we have the "cover"
article for the now available issue of Internet Genealogy with "25 Obscure Databases You
Need to Know About." Busy with the Upfront with NGS blog for NGS and collecting material
for the 2011 editions of the NCGS Journal as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the
Civil War. Several "born in NC" projects continue to occupy our time -- to show you how
challenging these can be, with two of them we have "clues" as to "where" in NC and we still
cannot find proof that they came from where was stated or attach the person to parents --
fortunately, not all projects are as challenging as these. Creating some family trees from
compiled information to create a "visual" of one's ancestral tree. Reviewing DNA results to
see if we can get some leads or end up with more questions than answers (e.g. the results
don't match anybody or don't match that "surname"). Many other projects, from document
gathering, to proving Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, etc services, to filling in the
gaps of known ancestors lives, etc have and will keep us busy. Our trip to NARA II last
month was not fruitful for my client (though we will be making one more push into other
European records) and it did inspire the identification of more fun records to abstract for the
NCGS Journal (previously mentioned). With Thanksgiving just around the corner -- we wish
you the best as families far and wide celebrate together. If you are able to join your family
this holiday, it is a great opportunity to either listen to the stories of your parents,
grandparents etc, or, if you are the elder statesman of your family, be sure to share your
memories of your life and what you "know" of your deceased parents, grandparents, etc
with the younger generations. If no visits and they will be forced, as we are, to try and
reconstruct our lives.
October 2010: October has finally brought cooler weather -- after setting a record of over 90
days of 90+ degree weather, we were more than ready for some nice cool fall weather!
October has been busy doing African-American research (both NC and VA), military
research (Rev War, War of 1812 and Civil War), writing articles for Internet Genealogy (and
we've just learned that the November edition has one of our articles as the cover article --
"30 Top Genealogy Websites!" along with Net Notes, Ulster Historical Foundation and In
Motion: The African-American Migration Experience), providing content for the next NCGS
Journal and also starting as the blog editor for Upfront with NGS (free news blog of NGS).
Also busy trying to turn over all kinds of "rocks" looking for several elusive individuals in
NC while also trying to make the "leap" from TN, GA, MS/AL and other states back to NC for
those "born in NC" projects. We continue to support WCGS and have agreed to give a talk
next spring on Freedman's records -- documents in the Federal collection that most people
aren't aware of and that help research "anyone" in post Civil War Confederate states. We
also continue to serve as the "legs" for those that can't get to NC to obtain documents to
support their research. Later this month we will be visiting NARA II to look at Consular
records for France and Germany -- we have been tracking an American citizen arrested in
1908 on the road to Paris from Berlin and we very much want to learn more about his arrest
and any information we might glean on his parents, etc -- got our fingers crossed!
September 2010: Hope everyone had a super Labor Day weekend! Writing more articles
for Family Chronicle, and just learned that our article "Replacing the Irish Census" has been
published in the October issue of Family Chronicle. And, the current copy of Internet
Genealogy on the stands has several pieces by us -- Net Notes, "African-American
Newspapers," "Researching Your African-American Roots," and "Georgia Digital
Archives." Lineage related research and applications abound! Continued research into the
ancestors of freed slaves (who often left NC for elsewhere) and those who "were born in
NC" and left the state for places west of here. Continuing to look for those who kept a low
profile in 19th and 18th century NC -- not mentioned in wills or estates, bought land from
strangers ... they just seem to "appear" in a tax record, census, marriage record, etc and so
looking into tax records, road records, loose court papers and under many other rocks to
try and learn more about them and to also try and connect them to their parents, siblings,
etc. And much more though it's now time to actually do the work and not report on it!
August 2010: A month sure does go fast when you take some vacation time, return to a
busted hot water heater and have to get a kid back to college! And, that said, we've done a
lot in the last few days and will just keep working through our various projects. We are
mostly doing reports for all the research we did before we went away. It has been
satisfying to put some packets in the mail, including some in support of a client claiming
Irish citizenship. Our archives bag is starting to fill up and a trip to Wilson Library, UNC-CH,
is planned for next week. Another two articles of ours have been published at Genealogy
Archives, Tips to Help You Find Seemingly “Lost” Ancestors.and How To Find Immigration
Records & Passenger Lists. We've also been busy proofing articles for the next edition of
Internet Genealogy. More later as we continue to dig out of our post holiday mail/e-mail/"to
do" list!
July 2010: Hope everyone had a super 4th of July weekend -- instead of reading, writing and
arithmetic, our July has started out with reading, writing and researching! And lots of all
three! Continuing to prepare for Diane's talk on the 24th and her week long stay in DC for
NIGR ... we've decided that clones is the only way we'll make it through July! And, we
weren't imagining how hot June was -- it was record setting! Working on several "born in
NC" projects (if there is a state west of as far as TX we are probably tracking someone who
was "born in NC!"), research for the descendants of ex-slaves, still tracking a mystery
musician around the globe -- last found in France and Germany in 1908, pursuing
Revolutionary War military and other service for lineage applications as well as Scottish
and Irish ancestors for others, writing articles for Family Chronicle, helping clients give
great gifts in the forms of family trees with supporting research and just so much more!
Need to meet that article deadline, close out some current projects, continue fascinating
research for several projects and line up those projects which might benefit from some
time at the Library of Congress (LOC) or National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) -- which we might squeeze in next week. Otherwise, stay cool as we experience
even more heat!
June 2010: Hope you all had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend -- and, if you are like us,
May just whizzed by! June is off to a busy start -- the newest edition of Internet Genealogy
is now in print and Diane has written several pieces for it as she also writes some pieces
for future editions. Weekly trips to the NC archives keep us busy with research in colonial
records, revolutionary war and civil war records, documents that hopefully shed insight into
the lives and extended family of former slaves, and those that might help with those "born in
NC" families found elsewhere in the 1850 census or whose parents, in the 1880 census are
identified as born in NC. DNA continues to play a role in our projects -- whether suggesting
other locales to research or that there was a non-parental event (e.g. the last name of the
person and the DNA group don't match). And, sometimes we are just busy trying to
document the numerous branches of a family tree where we are slowed as we hit mid-19th
century records, especially if the family didn't own land. And, we are always trying to track
those families whose middle name seemed to be "move" as in they are never found in the
same place in the census records, never mind those in between periods! We hear those
client files calling to use ....
May 2010: Hope everyone had a super Mother's Day, even if just having a lazy Sunday!
Mine was great with daughter home from college! We are sad to announce that Discovering
Family History ceased publication with it's April 2010 issue -- Moorshead Publications will
be incorporating more beginner type articles in Family Chronicle as a result. It was great to
see all the people that showed up at the Raleigh Family History Center for the May 1st
Seminar -- Diane gave talks "Online Maps" and "Born in NC." Lineage society research and
applications, trying to determine the parents of slaves, making use of DNA test results to
bridge from MS to NC (and beyond), Orange & Durham counties slave research,
Revolutionary War era research and so much more has kept us busy as this month starts.
In July, Diane will give a talk about Timelines for the 5th Annual North Carolina Genealogical
Society Speakers Forum and she'll be attending National Institute on Genealogical
Research (NIGR) in July to improve skills with regards to Federal Records research and the
DC-area research repositories ... now it's time to do some of that promised client work!
April 2010: Hope you all survived "Tax Day!" ... with that now past, many of you can now
spend more time researching your family! Projects involving families in many counties
during many different time periods and with all different kinds of objectives have kept us at
the State Library of NC and the North Carolina State Archives on a regular basis this
month! We have also spent some time working on some articles for future editions of
Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy (for Moorshead Publications). We also spent
some time preparing to give 2 talks on May 1, "Online Maps" and "Born in NC" for the
Raleigh FHC Seminar. We recently had another piece published as part of the Learn from
the Experts Series at Genealogy Archives -- Why They Moved and How To Find Them. Some
lineage and hereditary society applications have been submitted and others are in process.
African-American research projects, post slavery and during slavery, keep us on our toes
as we try to document and learn the ancestry of these elusive family members. Continued
research into 19th and 18th century NC records for clues for seemingly "invisible"
individuals. Several projects involve those "born in NC" types -- searching for clues where
they were found to be living, marching backwards on their lives and those of like-named
individuals in the area and neighbors to see if we can find "where" they were from in NC
and/or whom their parents were! Revolutionary war and civil war research trying to prove
participation and/or service and/or trying to obtain service and pension records continue to
keep us busy! Tracking an early 20th century musician who traveled the world of NY, UK,
France, Germany and Australia has us scratching our head as to where did he go next (not a
passenger record yet to be found!) And, other hard-to-find individuals, each with their
unique stories, have us busy in the records of NC, multiple states in the US,
emigration/immigration records, etc. We have also been reminded that in early records,
keep your eyes wide open for name variants that might be quite different from what you
"thought" the name was! Phonetic spelling by clerks and illiteracy can make for quite a
variety of names as found for one person. So, another busy and exciting month and we're
only half-way through it!
March 2010: The month started with a slight break to enjoy being with college-age daughter
and husband away from home for a few days -- a respite much needed. Since then it's been
fast and furious with research -- lineage to African-American to the ubiquitous "born in NC"
problem to 20th century Wake/Johnston county people and land research to writing pieces
for the WCGS publications (Wake Treasures and Wake Updates, journal and newsletter
respectively) and more articles for the various Moorshead publications. Also busy dusting
off some talks to give to a May 1st event at the local LDS church (and Family History
Center). So far we have been reminded of the role that looking into any "name" even close
has in our research as well as though we hope that intense research will yield the answer to
the question, serendipity definitely can be the sledgehammer that breaks the brick wall.
And, how can we forget those DNA results which don't confirm what we are hoping and
throw us for a loop as we find that our results match an "unexpected" surname! Someone
the other day asked me how I find some of the stuff I do and my response was along the
lines of "look under every rock and think outside the box of conventional genealogy
research." Stuck in the past, come back to the future (did you actually get every vital record
and census document?). Stuck on your line, look at extended family (or anyone with the
same surname, especially if born in the same state). Stuck on extended family, look at
neighbors. Stuck in your county and/or state, look at nearby counties/states. Still stuck --
look at church formation and records, migration trails ... Don't just focus on the obvious, try
and document every mention of your ancestor/family, no matter how small. Even if this
information doesn't solve your research question, you have at least learned more about
your ancestor and can produce a more "colorful" family history. Time to go check some
newspaper indexes, meet with a client, visit the state library and then the state archives -- a
typical Friday!!
February 2010: Snow and lots of it greeted us this month -- enough to keep the kids out of
school for 3 days as we tried to defrost, though, nothing compared to Snowmageddon as it's
hitting VA and north! Lots of articles written so far this month (1/3rd of the way in) and also
lots of research! Projects focusing on land in colonial Chatham county to those families
who migrated from NC to the Mid-west and seemed to stop in every state along the way, to
African-American/Slave search -- trying to determine parents and/or plantations of birth,
searching on 20th century families who left their NC farms in the 1920s-1930s for
elsewhere such as NYC, Philadelphia, DC, Norfolk/Portsmouth, etc., many "born in NC"
projects where we are desperately trying to connect them to their ancestral homes, lineage
application requirements from DAR/SAR to Sons of Colonial Wars to Society of the
Cincinnati have us deep in Revolutionary War era records seeking "proof" of ancestors
service. And not to loose sight of just basic "deep" research into early 19th and mid-to-late
18th century documents, of the more obscure variety, to try and learn as much as possible
about those North Carolinian families with deep roots. And, let's not forget the quest to try
and find "where" an ancestor emigrated from -- for many of the families I research, the
answer will be England/Wales, Scotland or Ireland -- the hard part is determining which,
trying to find information on their passage and then identifying specifically "where" back
home might be. And, that's just the first 10 days ... let's see what the rest has us doing!
January 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR! We don't know about you and it was hard to return to
work after an enjoyable holiday break. Though, visits to the Library of Congress
(researching the patent card file and books for an early 1900s Tin Pan Alley musician was
fun) and the National archives (unfortunately, no research there and did visit the public
displays) were a great treat for this genealogist! We hope to spend about one day per month
at these and other great DC facilities doing research. Otherwise, there are projects not
completed in December on our plate -- involving many types of records, across centuries of
time, for both NC and other locales! Once we catch our breath mid-way through the month,
we'll update you on what we've been up to! Articles have been written an proofed, much
research at the NC archives has taken place, project binders filled with family documents
and reports have been created and so much more!
December 2009: Hope you had a super Thanksgiving and have an enjoyable time preparing
for the December holiday season. We have just published another article at Genealogy
Archives, UK Census Records Uncovered. This will mostly be a month of starting and
completing projects promised in time for Christmas -- whether it's a lineage application,
producing binders of research already completed, starting research or meeting some
article deadlines -- we will be busy between now and years' end. A trip to UNC-CH as well
as regular visits to the NC archives will also be on our plate. We are happy to report that
some long-term projects finally had some breakthroughs late last month -- as they say
"patience" is a virtue though impatience is probably a middle name had by many of us! It's
time to complete those projects ... best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a safe, healthy
and prosperous 2010!
November 2009: Hope you had a super Halloween and remembered to turn your clocks
back 1 hour! We have a just published article at Genealogy Archives, Locate Ancestors
with UK Vital Records, and Diane is polishing up her talk for the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers
Forum. The topic of her talk, "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a
case study," (you can read about this same topic in a Discovering Family History Article
titled "North Carolina and Beyond," Discovering Family History, May/June 2009, pages 8-11)
is timely since in the last two weeks we have received about 8 inquiries where in each
case, from the 1850 census or some other resource, an ancestor has been identified as
"born in NC" with no other information provided! These are tough projects and success if
possible ... Involved with several projects where families just love to use the same names
over and over again in each generation and across generations -- when combined with
somewhat common surnames, we have been kept busy with the Glenn and Turner and
Jackson families -- trying to separate out the various branches and generations of these
family trees! Will visit the Greensboro courthouse this week for some estate papers, having
been researching estate records for slave lists, and am searching diligently to see if proof
can be found that some individuals "served" in the Revolutionary war while living in North
Carolina.
October 2009: We have already been busy writing Net Notes and an article for Internet
Genealogy, spending every afternoon at the NC archives looking at land grant documents,
maps, tax records, marriage records and so much more for several NC counties. We
continue to help many individuals with two classic questions -- My ancestor was "born in
NC," can we figure out where and to whom? (both those who learn this from the 1850+
census and those who through other records know this for an 18th century ancestor) AND
My ancestor was either a slave (negro or mulatto) or free black, can we learn what
plantation they came from and possibly who the parents were? These are both challenging
questions -- both focused research and some serendipity normally come into play to
answer these questions. We continue to support research in Wake County and the Wake
County Genealogical Society (WCGS) -- Diane is now President of WCGS and continues to
spearhead "publishing" volumes of abstracted/transcribed material for those researching
Wake County Ancestors. And, next month will be the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum -- if
you are in the Raleigh area, do check out the exciting day of talks (Saturday November 7)
including one by Diane titled "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a
case study."
September 2009: Hope you had a super Labor Day weekend -- we all know that it
unofficially marks the end of summer! Kids are back in school and life takes on a new
rhythm! We have started the month by writing, writing, and doing more writing! We are
working on articles for Discovering Family History and Family Chronicle right now and the
Oct/Nov edition of Internet Genealogy has been published with our article "Understanding
County Boundaries Through Time!" We have welcomed some new clients via the Ancestry
Expert Connect service. We will be writing a piece for a newly just "opened" new web-
service (we'll let you know more once our article is posted!). We continue to regularly visit
the NC archives and State library of NC (Raleigh), later this month we will trek out to Duke
(to examine some manuscript collections) and we also plan to take our first foray to the
National Archives (NARA) and the Library of Congress (LoC) as we familiarize ourselves
with the DC-area repositories. Several lineage related projects have been worked on as
well as some special projects meant as gifts! Not directly related to work and we've had a
spate of computer and printer issues -- given how much we use both to research on,
document and share with others -- it has slowed us down a bit! We continue to acquire vital
records documents for individuals (in NC, SC, NJ and elsewhere) to help facilitate our
clients and their needs. We know we have much more up our sleeve this month and we'll
tell you about it later, when we catch our breath!
August 2009: Besides bringing some extremely hot weather it has seen us doing research
for a variety of NC-focused families, non-NC-focused families and migrant families across
the US. And, before going further we want to express our continued appreciation of our
clients and their extreme patience with us this year -- we have never experienced such a
personally chaotic year (husband work lay-off, illness, NGS conference, more illness, child
graduating high school, husband finding job in DC -- 4+ hours away, child going off to college
and so much more ... hectic to say the least and the dust has mostly settled). Projects are
being completed and started which are meant as "gifts" for their recipients -- we consider
these one of the best gifts someone can get! We have been working on several projects of
the group we call "born in NC" -- in the 1850 census, someone is found living outside NC
and their birth date is listed as in NC -- these can be very challenging projects. A lot of
individuals/families migrated through NC on their way to their final destination. Sometimes
we are successful in determining the NC birth county and other information and sometimes
not. Separating out families using land, tax, court, will/estate and other records where they
just loved to use the same forenames in every branch of every generation! Tracking down
revolutionary war era information for those that "served" as well as others continues to
keep us busy. Additionally, tracking down land grants and deeds as ways to document
where a family lived and/or connect them to one another, continue to keep us busy. How
about those families who we find in NC that migrated from VA -- we have tracked a family
from Wake County back to Bertie and figure that they probably came from Isle of Wight VA
-- the hard part is "proving" this! Two active projects are ripe with name variants -- though
names are pretty standardized now, back in the 1700s and 1800s it was not unusual for a
single document to spell one name a bunch of different ways -- compound this with different
clerks, different pronunciation, illiteracy, etc and you can find yourself having to check out
15-20 variants as you trawl through the records! So, what is the "correct" name for a
branch of the family and can we read any significance into these name variants in the early
records? Hopefully our research will answer those questions as we review documents and
signatures to figure out who is who.
July 2009: Needless to say, the month of June was so busy that we didn't get back to letting
you know what we've been up to. First, we hope that everyone had a super 4th of July
weekend. Second, starting next month, we'll be regularly traveling to DC and will be
available to access any of the wonderful archives and repositories located in the greater
DC metro area. Third, the August 2009 editions of Discovering Family History and Family
Chronicle are now available and we have articles in both -- "First Things First" and "
Godfrey Memorial Library" in DFH and "Looking for a Man Who Didn't Want to be Found!"
and "Capturing WWII Veteran Memories" in FC. And, I don't think we mentioned that just in
time for the NGS 2009 conference in May, the Wake County Genealogical Society has
made available via lulu.com several new publications and a reprint of the much-in-demand
Wake County Heritage Book -- check out the society's store, http://stores.lulu.com/store.
php?fAcctID=1837949, to learn more! So, obviously not "lazy days" for us this summer! As
far as research we have continued to search in Revolutionary War era records to learn
more about a Duplin County family. We are also working on about five Wake County
focused projects covering from the county's formation in 1771 to the circa 1830s time
period! We continue to work on some lineage projects and will be starting another one
shortly. We have also continued to work on some families who loved to move around or
were itinerant emigrants -- necessitating research into the records for several different
states. Never mind "crossing the pond" for some families with the main focus being on the
records of England, Wales and Scotland. And, there are the projects where we start by
knowing "born in NC" and little else and so we try to determine "where" in NC the ancestral
birth place might be. We also are still working to straighten out several like-named like-
aged individuals in Randolph County -- which ones are the target family! And, so much
more ...
June 2009: The month is starting off with finishing a project involving research in Newberry
County SC and starting up several Wake County NC focused ones. A trip to UNC-CH has
taken place to photograph some estate records in family collection and also look into the
correspondence of an avid genealogist -- did he leave any clues about his own family's
research? This month will bring some DAR and Sons of Colonial Wars related research.
We continue to try and correlated DNA results with research performed. Research into NC
Revolutionary War records and early 18th century NC shipping records will benefit two
other projects. As the month progresses, we'll fill you in on even more exciting projects!
Diane will be giving a talk at the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum program in November --
"Born in NC According to 1850 Census – Now What?” described by: How often do we have
a project and at some point we have an 1850 census entry that says born in NC (or it could
be any other state other than where the person is currently living!). What do you do? This
talk will present some general strategies for how to approach this challenge and also look
at a case study where we successfully used these strategies in combination with a family
diary (no locations mentioned) to determine where in NC the father of John Jackson Boyce
came from, starting with the family in Cass County GA c. 1850. Details will be posted at the
NCGS web-site.
May 2009: Today (May 4) was the last planning meeting for NGS 2009 -- I hope to meet
many clients, colleagues and friends as they come visit Raleigh next week. On Tuesday
and Wednesday (May 12 & 13) look for me at Exhibitor Registration and about the exhibit
hall, on Wednesday at the Local Societies event that evening, Thursday evening at the
History Museum Dessert Reception and on Saturday at the WCGS sponsored luncheon --
otherwise I will be attending sessions and out and about the hallways! Don't hesitate to
come up and chat with me -- I'd love to meet you! Otherwise, articles have been written and
proofed for upcoming Moorshead Publications (Discovering Family History and Family
Chronicle) and other now published in Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History.
Compiled some information on Mecklenburg VA Will/Estate records, pre-civil war to try and
identify the slave owners of a family. Been busy in the records of McKeesport PA tracking
down several families who emigrated from England and Wales. Researching several
families in Davidson, McNairy, Shelby counties and elsewhere in TN, along with Cherokee
ancestry in western NC! And, the month is just getting started! The NGS 2009 Conference
went well -- it was nice to meet so many e-mail and facebook friends! And, life is now
somewhat back to normal!
April 2009: Hope everybody got their taxes filed in time! The last month we have been
writing and reviewing articles for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History,
blogging for the NGS 2009 Conference Blog, working on WCGS publications to have
available at NGS 2009, photographing collections at UNC-CH and the NC Archives, and
doing lots of fun research -- which we will report on soon ... Provided information to
Ancestry's new service, Expert Connect -- it's a new way to connect potential clients with
researchers. Took photographs of NC county tax records (1782 forward) at the NC
archives, acquired NC death certificates via the archives and obituaries via the State
Library of NC, checked out NC land grant indices and documents and had our hands in so
many more original and microfilmed NC records! Continued African-American/slave
research in VA and NC. Also spent time looking into deed indices, land grant documents,
will/estates and more ....
March 2009: FLU, FLU, FLU -- On and off since the 1st till the 18th, Diane has been suffering
the flu -- she hopes (she says with fingers crossed) that maybe she is on the road to
recovery! ... as soon as she is, she'll post what she's been up to -- by the time we
resurfaced from the flu, working hard to catch up and then a road-trip to FL, it was April ...
so, know that we were busy in March though look to April for the details!
February 2009: We don't know where January went and in February we've been busy with
land grant and land research -- Edgecombe/Nash/Franklin counties. We have been tracking
a family with TN roots (Davidson and Maury Counties) which connections to SC and GA!
Continued writing and proofing for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History.
Another project has us deep in the records of PA while another has us trawling the records
of Burke County (NC) for a family -- marriage records have really helped with the latter.
Several families continue to challenge us -- by keeping a low profile in the extant records
while other families just loved to use the same names in each branch for each generation
and the challenge is to separate them out! We continue to be busy with the NGS 2009
Conference Blog and WCGS activities -- everything from blogging to looking at early 20th
century Wake County postcards. We will go out to UNC-CH to photograph documents from
3 collections. We gave a presentation titled " Exploring Maps for Research or Curiosity"
which focused on using maps (online and offline) in your genealogy and family history
research. We have continued to research African-American/Slavery roots in Mecklenburg
County VA (and later this month will be writing an article on the same subject for a
Person/Caswell county family researched extensively last year). Additionally, we started a
new project where one branch of a NC family has Cherokee roots and we have been deeply
immersed in the Indian Census, Federal Census, vital records and other records to learn
more about this heritage. Check back with us later in the month and we'll let you know what
else we got up to!
January 2009: HAPPY NEW YEAR! A governor's inauguration, inventory and snow all have
made getting to the NC archives a bit of a challenge this month and that hasn't stopped our
NC projects from moving forward! Several projects have us separating several branches of
family who in late 18th century NC loved to use the same forenames and lived within small
geographic areas of a county -- lots of research into land, taxes and election records. Other
projects are focused on NC land and land grants -- what land did a family purchase, what did
they buy, what were they bequeathed and where would that land be today? The March
2009 edition of Internet Genealogy will be hitting the streets and we have several articles
included (as we are writing other pieces for future editions): Read up on Research:
Genealogy Book Reviews, Family Tree Connection and Live Roots, Family Research Labs:
One-Stop Genealogy, Olde-English Handwriting: An Online Course, and several Net Notes --
1. In the First Person, 2. Slave Trade, 3. Cassini Maps, and 4. Memeo Share. Projects
involving Finnish and Croatian records are advancing ... with success in locating baptismal
records. Research in MS, OH, PA and other states are slowly revealing those ancestral
trails. With NGS 2009 only a few months away, more blog entries are to be written and
planning for the vendor area will ensue and WCGS has started prepping for it's conference
luncheon program and wrapping up planned publications. We abstracted the Wake County
Civil Action Papers for 1778-1793 and finished abstracting some Wake Court Documents
found at UNC-CH to be published in the next edition of the Wake Treasures. These and more
are keeping us busy this month!
December 2008: We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a safe, prosperous and
healthy New Year! Though we have been busy with preparations for the holiday, we have
remained committed to our clients and their projects also! In addition to continuing to write
articles for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History, we have been busy with
completing some research support (e.g., "I am elated as I received the message below from
our XXXX Chapter DAR Registrar. I appreciate all you did on finding the information on
XXXXX of Orange County. It was something that I would not have found. I mailed what you
had sent to me - without even abbreviating it - directly to DAR ... Again, thank you ... XXXXX
was verified." and application "filling out" for various Lineage Societies. Two emigrant
projects have kept us on our toes as we work in non-English records -- for a Finnish project
we are communicating with the local Parish in somewhat butchered Finnish and Swedish to
get 20th century records to help us bridge the emigrant to the older parish records available
online -- for a Croatian project we will be delving into microfilmed parish records at the local
FHC. We have also done some research, both genealogical and a survey of surviving local
newspaper to support two in-the-works documentaries! In support of NC-focused projects,
we have researched the records of Halifax, Granville, Buncombe, Lincoln, Randolph,
Madison, Sampson, several coastal counties and other NC counties. We are wrapping up an
extensive NC family research project which will be produced as a print publication for
extended family members. For another project, we will be shifting from the paternal side in
Eastern NC to researching the maternal side. We continue to support clients from around
the world -- recent clients call Australia, Thailand, Norway and England home. We have just
started another African-American research project -- a slave-era born gentlemen shows up
in Northampton county and marries -- where did he come from? These and other unique
ancestral and historical projects have kept us busy, challenged and excited!
November 2008: We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! As genealogists and family
historians -- this is one of the holidays most special for sharing with family -- enjoying good
food and good company! If you are meeting with family members whom you see
infrequently or are increasingly frail -- please do spend time with them, learn their stories
and share them with others! Several net notes have been written and three articles are in
process for what will hopefully be included in the January issue of Internet Genealogy. The
December edition of Discovering Family History is now available -- besides our recurring
piece "First Things First" it contains an article on reCAPTCHA and one titled "If I were to
start my genealogy now." Treks to the Manuscripts Collection at UNC-CH (photograph part
of the J.M Dent collection -- a British book publisher) and the NC archives (many projects
across several collections) took place. We continued work with Deedmapper, WCGS
publications, the local NGS 2009 Planning Committee and the NGS 2009 Blog. Projects
involving Finnish, German/French, Croatian and other emigrants have kept us busy with
passenger, naturalization and related paperwork. Colonial research in North Carolina
helped clients with DAR, OFFNC and Society of Colonial Wars applications. The research of
African-American ancestry continues to keep us challenged. Four projects involving
ancestry in Randolph County have kept us busy in the records of that county, while several
other projects have expanded how many different NC counties we have researched in to
66! DNA testing and results continue to both help with research and puzzle us! All too often
the results do not match the surname that we are accustomed to and that necessitates
trying to document how that happened. And, as always, other unique projects keep us
challenged as we search out illusive ancestors!
October 2008: It seems like I was just reporting on the September issue of Internet
Genealogy and now the November issue is issue is available -- it includes 4 net notes and 2
articles (Explore Maps From the Comfort of Your Home! and What's With All the Fuss About
Wikis?) from Diane. A news flash -- Internet Genealogy is now available in an online
edition! And, next month look for the next edition of Discovering Family History with our
recurring piece "First Things First" and maybe more! We've had several projects this
month where we have made use of 19th century NC (e.g. Craven County) school records
and voting lists! These are both great ways to identify who one's neighbors are and/or who
lives in the same geographic area. And, for the school lists -- the children's names are
grouped by family! You can also watch the evolution of districts and the families living
within a district! Several projects have had us in the records of Randolph County NC. And
another project has branched from MN to now OH and IN as emigrant siblings dispersed
around the country in the early 1900s as we continue and start projects focusing on NJ, RI,
PA. Lineage society research for DAR, Society of the Cincinnati, and Order of First Families
of NC have kept us busy. Several projects are winding down -- some where we have
continued to be frustrated in our inability to make connections and others where we
successfully learned more! And, land (with and without using Deedmapper) continues to be
a focus of NC research in the late 18th and early 19th centuries -- Chatham and Iredell and
other counties. Other projects are waiting on DNA testing results -- cases where the paper
trail is a little muddy and we need some guidance -- e.g. somewhere in the tree we know the
mother and not father! We continue to photograph documents in the Manuscripts Collection
at UNC-CH and at the NC archives (select online finding aids and MARS catalog) -- we have
done so for family researchers and also individuals involved in radio, tv or book projects.
Last and not least -- wrapping up a project intended as a November birthday present and
will be starting a Christmas research project soon!
September 2008: Hope you all had a super Labor Day weekend ... We've been working hard
on a land tracing problem -- e.g. what do you do when the property you are tracing is now
under a man-made lake ?!?! We hope to bridge that and identify the original land grant for
the property! Several of our client projects with "brick walls" are turning to DNA testing! In
one case, only the mother is known and in others, which "branches" of a family tree to
investigate, is unknown! Otherwise, we are collecting Land grants, doing deed research
and generally "following the land" for several NC projects. This has necessitated spending
quite a bit of time with Deedmapper, trying to plot and make sense of those NC deeds (e.g.
thence from the pile of stones N 86 E 15 poles, to a stake, thence ...) Also we are doing lots
of research in our neighboring state SC for a family that seemed to weave it's way through
time and space along the NC/SC border! Another project has us extensively looking into
death notices and death certificates to complement census research for a family which
appears to have no tombstones in the cemetery where they are buried and so family
connections are a bit vague! And, so much more!
August 2008: A busy month researching pre-Revolutionary War records in Mecklenburg
County, Land records in Lincoln, Buncombe and Rockingham Counties amongst other
locales, writing pieces for the next edition of the WCGS Updates newsletter, the NGS 2009
conference blog, and the next edition of Discovering Family History, spending a day in the
Manuscripts Collection at UNC-CH photographing early 19th century letters and 20th
century documents, doing research in St. Louis County MN on an emigrant family
(Yugoslavia), researching some deaths in TX, working with DNA results on a couple of
projects -- coupled with traditional documentation research, work on several lineage
focused research projects -- DAR, OFFNC, Sons of Colonial Wars, and Society of the
Cincinnati. And, the September edition of Internet Genealogy hit the newsstands contains
two net notes "FamilyRelatives" and "Bloodlines of Salem" and articles about "Project
StoryKeeper and LifeLenz" and "CPS Alumni: School's In on the Web!" The former article
was appealing to Diane as she was able to include some information about her deceased
mother and family in the article while for the latter article her examples are from her
husband's family! Another busy yet interesting month of research and writing!
July 2008: Half of this month was spent preparing for vacation and then actually taking it!
We traveled to the beautiful Canadian province of Quebec -- toured Quebec City, the
Gaspesie Region, Montreal and more. Additionally, we enjoyed traveling Interstate 81
through NY, PA and into VA -- just a delightful drive! Though we were away, we still did
some proofing for pieces for the September/October edition of Discovering Family History
and that is pretty much it for work in the latter part of the month! Before leaving we did
some work on almost every project that we are currently involved with and actually closed
a few out including one of trying to determine did a specific person serve in the
Revolutionary War and if so, is he the same person connected to the target family -- little
evidence of Revolutionary War service and even less evidence of a family connection. We
also made a break through on some African-American research -- looking at Person and
Caswell county estate records we found mention of a slave consistent with the one we
were seeking -- listed on 5 children's death certificates as their father. Given no surviving
wills for the target slave-owners, his wife's remarriage by the early 1860s and no
documentation for this individual, this was a real find! In addition to NC-focused research,
we also did some 19th and 20th century research for individuals in TX and elsewhere in the
US to assist with some MA estate issues. Basically, we did a lot more in the first part of this
month and our memory of that flurry of work has dimmed as we return from vacation and
resume researching and writing!
June 2008: As we are writing this is the day before July starts, it's obvious that this month
just flew by! The July/August edition of Discovering Family History is printed and carries our
new reoccurring column "First Things First" as well as an article on "Blacksheep". We also
finished writing articles for the next edition as well as planned some future articles and Net
Notes for Internet Genealogy. We are on the local planning committee for NGS 2009 which
is coming to Raleigh in May 2009. We are responsible for the NGS 2009 conference blog
and got it up and running this month -- check it out! We took a trek out to an African-
American cemetery in Wilson to take photographs of some surviving tombstones. On the
research front we have researched numerous NC families, families along the TN/MS
border, families that migrated from VA to NC and those that migrated from NC to GA!
Several projects involve those challenging individuals for whom we only know -- born in
NC! We have successfully traced one of these individuals back to NC to only learn that it
appears that the family lived near the border area of NC/SC and originally came from SC!
So, now we start again to see if we can determine where in SC! On a less successful note,
there are a few long-term projects where we appear, for now, to have exhausted "what" to
research -- we will now pause for a bit an wait on some serendipity or the availability of new
research sources as increasing amounts of materials are digitized and put online. We have
also started or continue to do research in support of lineage society applications -- Order of
the First Families of North Carolina, Daughters of the American Revolution and Society of
the Cincinnati. And, as usual, so much more!
May 2008: The May/June edition of Discovering Family History carries our new reoccurring
column "First Things First" and we also finished writing and proofing articles for the next
edition. Currently researching several families for whom the oldest ancestor is one of
those "ubiquitous" "born in NC" and that is all we know! These are always such a
challenge -- the best hope is to get "clues" from records in the state to which they
migrated! The next WCGS Updates is in process and pieces have been written for that and
the 1st compilation "Apprenticeship Bonds" should be going to press any day. Have agreed
to give the talk "Explore NC through maps from the comfort of your home!" next month for
the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society of North Carolina. Many hours have been spent in
the deeds, wills, court minutes, marriage, tax records of many counties from Nash to
Davidson to Wayne and several other counties! And, several recent projects have had
links to MS and TN! A recent project has us tracking both the lineage and land of an
individual whose family has early 18th century NC roots as we try to untangle and connect
the NC/VA connections for another family. The most recent Internet Genealogy (June/July
2008) will be hitting the stands with our pieces on A New and Improved World Vital Records
and Net Notes on Ghost towns, ResourceShelf and The Poorhouse Story.
April 2008: The month started with a vacation, preparing for the NCGS Speakers Forum
(4/12/08), proofing articles for the next edition of Internet Genealogy (June/July 2008),
scheduling articles for future editions of that publication and it's sister publication,
Discovering Family History. We also jumped back into some projects -- one with a focus on
MS and St. Louis MO, another with historic Onslow county (NC) roots, and a new project
that currently focuses on Cleveland, Gaston and Polk Counties (NC) -- we'll have to see
where that project might take us! Before months end we'll be exploring the records of about
15 NC counties (some familiar friends and some we haven't researched in before) as well
as starting research on a new project with a Rhode Island/MA focus.
March 2008: Busy with WCGS activities -- preparing and giving a talk titled "Online Maps,
Focusing on North Carolina" (this same topic will be the basis of "Explore NC through maps
from the comfort of your home!" to be given next month at the NCGS Speakers Forum),
finishing the newsletter WCGS Updates (now posted), working on miscellaneous publication
projects and more. For NGS 2009 -- continued preparation for that exciting event! Arranged
a tour for our local NC APG group to visit the Wilson library at UNC-CH. Also visited UNC-
CH to photograph an extensive family document collection and research in another
collection looking for references to an individual who married into the family. Busy with
research at the NC archives on several families representing several counties across
many different time periods! Also doing research into an African-American family that
migrated from post-Civil War MS to St. Louis and appears to have roots in VA. This month
has seen several "clients" with previously closed projects ask us to work on new projects
or continue efforts on old projects. And, we continue to plan and write articles for
Moorshead Publications. And, we are doing so much more! This month's mail included the
May 2008 edition of Internet Genealogy -- which includes our pieces "Accessing Family
History Books Online" and "US Passport Applications Online" as well as a Net Note on
"Paper of Record." The month ended with the office closing for vacation.
February 2008: We received our most recent issue of Internet Genealogy (March 2008) --
we have a Net Note on "LostCousins" and an article about "Passenger Records and
Naturalization Records." And, the newest edition of Family Chronicle actually includes a
pilot version of a new publication Discovering Family History (you can download the full
preview edition). We are pleased in that we authored what is to become a regular feature
"First Things First." The first week of this month we will work with an out-of-town client with
NC connections who is coming to Raleigh -- we will meet at the NC archives/State Library
building and work together on advancing his research. We will also resume work on a
couple of extensive NC projects where the families have been in the state for at least 200
years and also a couple of projects where we are trying to use DNA results to further the
research and make connections, sometimes to individual with differing surnames (meaning
the male client has one surname and yet the DNA results point to a different surname based
on genetics!). Regular visits to UNC-CH, Olivia Raney Local History Library, State Library
of North Carolina and the NC Archives.
January 2008: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Regrettably, the rising costs of parking, office supplies,
gasoline, subscriptions and the like have necessitated an increase in our fees -- the first in
over 4 years! Please check out Genealogy_Pricing for the new fee structure. Existing
clients will continue to pay as before until the current project is completed. Published a new
resource guide at lulu.com -- Internet Resources for Genealogy and Family Research in
North Carolina. We are honored that ThinkGenealogy has just listed Diane L. Richard (of
Mosaic Research and Project Management) as the most prolific of the "Top 10 Genealogy
and Technology Most Published Authors of 2007!" It has been confirmed that we will be part
of the NCGS 2008 Speaker's Forum (Explore NC through maps from the comfort of your
home!). We continued to some research to identify heirs-at-law for estate issues. Have
posted some of our 2006 articles from Internet Genealogy. Started to crumble some brick
walls -- one connecting someone from NC to NY and another connecting someone from NY
to NC! Continue to research in Colonial and late 18th century records to find the origins of
some Welsh and other emigrants! Two projects have us doing research to prove an
African-American/Negro ancestry from post-civil war to slavery and possibly earlier. And,
so much more! The month ended with a trek to UNC-CH the Manuscript Department --
photographed a mid 1800s map, several early 1960s television program scripts and some
early 1800s family papers.
December 2007: This month passed in a flurry of activity, not all genealogy research
related! A binder was compiled for a coast-to-coast research project, many days were
spent at the NC archives and NC library doing NC research -- including one project that
involved collecting many, many documents and getting them certified for submission to a
UK ancestral authority. A trek to UNC-CH the Manuscript Department was made -- about
1600+ photos of documents were taken! A few projects were finished just in time for the
holidays. For one project involving adoption and an African-American born in NYC with NC
roots -- after 18 months of on again, off again research, there was a big break! As the year
ended, we can point to some wonderful successes though also a few projects where brick
walls were not "broken down!" Time was also spent creating a NC internet genealogy
research guide -- hopefully in early 2008 this will become available! As usual, some time
was put into WCGS (finalizing Vol 17, Issue 2 of Wake Treasures) and other activities.
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.
We hope that whether you celebrated Thanksgiving or not this month, whether you visited
with family or not, that your family and ancestors were a part of your thoughts this month!
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!Writing pieces for Upfront
with NGS[AUG 2013] New article posted at Archives.com -- Tips for Applying to a Lineage
Society
A researcher with Rootsonomy
New article -- Not Your Grandmother's Diary published at Archives.com
Now listed as a "House Historian" at The Home History Book website (select NC)
FGS talks now available via Fleetwood Onsite -- $10/$15 per talk -- NOTE: Diane has not yet
listened to her recordings and so cannot vouch for the quality
Now a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild!
- [AUG 2013] New article posted at Archives.com -- Tips for Applying to a Lineage
Society - A researcher with Rootsonomy
- New article -- Not Your Grandmother's Diary published at Archives.com
- Now listed as a "House Historian" at The Home History Book website (select NC)
- FGS talks now available via Fleetwood Onsite -- $10/$15 per talk -- NOTE: Diane has
not yet listened to her recordings and so cannot vouch for the quality - Now a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild!
DISCONTINUED December 2013 -- Too busy doing all the research, writing and
presentations to keep up the blog. Archived news from the front page will be posted here
as retired.
November 2013:
- Created a new Pinterest Board!
- Did a spate of Obituary research at the State Library of NC (1st floor)
- Continue to research (to try and distinguish) like-named individuals?
- Whose the father? a popular question recently
- Where in NC did they come from? another popular question!
- Writing pieces for Upfront with NGS
- Set up 3 spring 2014 programs for WCGS
- I have my DNA results ... now what? the 3rd popular question!
October 2013: [busy as usual just didn't blog about it <grin!>
September 2013:
- Taped a future NCGS webinar
- visited (and will visit again) Duke University and its manuscript collection
(photographing 2 different client projects) - Extensive "Lineage Application" (NC Society of Cincinnati) research at the State
Archives of North Carolina! - Completed the newest WCGS Journal
- Writing pieces for Upfront with NGS
- Several new client projects for those with North Carolinian roots are underway or
will start soon! - New article posted at Archives.com -- Timelines as Genealogical Research Tools
August 2013:
- Another NC Society of Cincinnati lineage application
- visiting Duke University and University of NC (Chapel Hill) and their manuscript
collections (client work and content for WCGS journal) to photograph select items - NC Archives and State Library -- numerous projects -- research from 18th through
21st centuries - Finalizing the Wake County Genealogical Society journal content and providing
content for the newsletter while preparing for start of the 2013-2014 membership
year - Writing Net notes for Internet Genealogy
- Writing pieces for Upfront with NGS
- Contracted with several new clients for projects to start Mid-September
- and more ...
July 2013: Already scheduled and with more to come:
- wrapping up a NC Society of Cincinnati lineage application
- visiting Duke University and it's manuscripts collection (4 different collections) to
photograph select items - writing an article for Family Chronicle
- Work on new content for the next editions of the Wake County Genealogical Society
journal - Posting images to an Ancestry.com account for a client
- NC Archives Research and possibly research at Anderson House (DC)
- Writing pieces for Upfront with NGS
- Taking a VACATION (Yippee)
TIME DOES FLY ... Where did the last 6 months go! Been busy with research, traveling to
repositories near and far, completing lineage applications, slave research, article writing,
WCGS publications responsibilities, Upfront with NGS blog posts, working with clients who
have recently done DNA testing, taken several classes on understanding DNA test results
(including the newer Autosomal DNA tests), photographing items, and so much more!
January 2013: Happy 2013! May it find you safe, healthy, happy and prosperous! After
"recovering" from the long holiday period (greatly enjoying NOT working), we are back in
the saddle and quite busy!
- Research into original records at the NC archives and UNC-CH (Wilson library)
- Research for death records and obituaries for modern estate research (e.g.
determining living heirs-at-law) - Listed with The Home History Book as a House Historian
- Continued to pursue African-American ancestors to determine "which" plantation
they were born on and/or lived on - Work on new content for the next editions of the Wake County Genealogical Society
newsletter and journal - Writing for Internet Genealogy
- Writing pieces for Upfront with NGS
December 2012: A busy month -- aren't they all! With the holidays and a last-minute
vacation, a relatively short work month!
- Gave a talk to the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society -- Genealogical Research and
Resources for North Carolina - As always, regular visits to the NC archives and State Library of NC have occurred.\
to research those NC-connected ancestors! - Articles written for Archives.com and one was just posted -- Taking the Roll: 19th
Century School Censuses - Dec 2012/Jan 2013 issue of Internet Genealogy has Gale and myGenshare and
NetNotes written by Diane
November 2012: How the time flies when one is so busy! Can't believe 4 months have
come and gone! And, do know that the main page is updated with News monthly and
upcoming talks and recently published articles are always noted on their respective pages!
Otherwise ...
- lots of time has been spent at Duke and UNC-CH -- researching in and
photographing collections held by these institutions! - As always, regular visits to the NC archives and State Library of NC have occurred
-- researching colonial to mid-20th century newspaper, records, across the state --
probate, land, military (Rev War, War of 1812, Civil War, etc), tax, court (minutes and
civil action papers) and much much more! - Quite a few projects have involved that pesky NC/VA border area as well as those
migrating North Carolinians who moved westward. - Attended FGS 2012 and gave 2 talks in August and then in September presented to
WCGS about Lineage societies. - Mention -- Claudia Breland's Genealogy News, September 2012 ... "What's even
better is that I'll be meeting with a colleague, Diane Richard, who is very familiar with
the [NC] Archives and promises to show me some little-known resources."
July 2012: Time or not, the news needs to get out! Activities for the last few months have
included:
- Taught a 6 week class at ENCORE (NC State Continuing Education Program)
- Gave a talk to WCGS & been busy with publications and operations for the group
- Written and had articles published by Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle and
Archives.com - Worked on Lineage Applications (Society of Cincinnati, Colonial Dames, SAR, etc),
Revolutionary War Research, specific county research, "born in NC" research
though found elsewhere -- what next, ex-slave or slave descendant research, Civil
War research, and much, much more! - Prepping for 2 talks to be given at FGS (Birmingham) at the end of August
- Research on Who Do You Think You Are for the Reba McEntire episode
NOTE: Between teaching a 6 week class at ENCORE, article writing, client work, a personal
life ;-) and much more, this blog was obviously not maintained!
January 2012: Welcome to the NEW Mosaic RPM website. We are so excited to finally have
our site updated and ready to go for the start of the new year! Most of the information found
on the site is the material that you are familiar with, though it might be found in different
places. Please do take a few minutes to check it out! And, some material has outlived its
usefulness and is no longer included. As before, on this "blog" we will post monthly updates
mentioning "select" bits of research et al that we have been involved with during that month.
NOTE: Due to technical issues, between September 2011-December 2011, this blog was not
active
NOTE: Pre-January 2012 entries do not contain active hyperlinks nor graphics [pulled from
older website]
August 2011: It's hard to come back from two weeks of vacation! Have updated the list of
articles written for several publications. Once the e-mail and snail mail are all cleared out,
then it will be completing reports of research finished before vacation, resuming research
on some other projects and starting in on a few other projects. Hopefully, we'll update this
page before the end of the month. WARNING -- we have just learned that our web pages
server will no longer support Frontpage extensions come September -- as you may have
guessed, this website is written using Frontpage. So, if you have any issues accessing the
website after Labor Day, know that we will be in the process of migrating the website to
using a supported webpage editing software.
July 2011: Happy 4th of July! Tomorrow will be some 18th century land tax research at the
Library of Virginia. Have added more Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle articles
written in 2010 to this site. Did a lot of research that just didn't make it to the blog -- at the
NC archives and the State library of NC -- covering 18th through 20th century NC research.
Also research in the records of other states. Continue to be busy posting news at Upfront
with NGS (the blog). Created a WCGS Facebook page and have also been busy posting
relevant news to that platform. Google+ has emerged on the scene and some effort has
been put into exploring that new service. Additionally, articles written for Volume 37, issues
No 2 & No 3 of the North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) Journal have also been
added to the articles authored page.
June 2011: Have written pieces on The Freedmen's Bureau Records -- Research Your
Southern Ancestors and the CCC for Archives.com. Gave the last of 4 presentations on the
Freedmen's Bureau to the Durham-Orange County Genealogical Society. Spent 1.5 weeks
involved with a high school graduation, company in town and some down-time at the beach.
And, then seemingly, the rest of the month catching up! Did research on several projects --
NC African-American Research, Revolutionary war service research, trying to document
the parents of a late 18th century female (for a lineage society application), land research, a
"born in NC" where the NC birth place (county) has yet to reveal itself!
May 2011: Where to start? Several projects currently being worked on involve: 1. African-
American research, post and pre-Civil War, 2. Proof of Revolutionary War service along
with documenting family connections, 3. Using early 19th & late 18th century NC records to
try and prove a family connection -- loose court records being a primary resource, 4.
research in the records of burnt counties and then looking for activity in adjacent counties
and/or predecessor counties [successfully got a family "back to NC" from out-of-state in
the early 1800s to run into a "burnt county" in NC -- still plugging away on that], 5. VA tax &
related research [including research at LVA], 6. Several projects where "like-named"
individuals are found and am working to separate out these individuals where key records
are not extant. 7. Obscure record searches for projects where more conventional records
have not been sufficient -- county accounts, road records, etc. Also provided a brief
overview for resources for select states for the Archives.com site ["State Resources for
Genealogy Research" for AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, SC, TN & TX] ... and much, much more ... time
to get back to those projects!
March-April 2011: Too busy researching and giving talks to post! Have talked 2 more times
on the Freedmen's Bureau Records and on June 1st will do so again for D-OGS (Durham
Orange Genealogical Society) -- if you heard any of Diane's talks, she would greatly
appreciate your posting feedback at SpeakerWiki. Have proofed several articles for Internet
Genealogy and Family Chronicle [in May announced a new iPhone, iPad etc app]. Continue
to be busy with WCGS though Diane's term as President ends in May.
February 2011: Diane gave her talk on the Freedmen's Bureau Records at the 6th Annual
NCGS Speakers Forum on Saturday, 19 February 2011 -- this is a fascinating group of
records that provides information on ALL types of post-civil war individuals -- Freedmen
and their families, widows, ex-soldiers, the old and disabled and just so much more!
January 2011: Happy New Year! Internet Genealogy now has a FREE e-mail newsletter, you
can sign up using this link - tips from several genealogists are included and Diane's
contribution is census tips. Also, the current edition of IG is now out and contains an
assortment of Net Notes by Diane. If you live in the Piedmont of NC, do check out the 6th
Annual NCGS Speakers Forum on Saturday, 19 February 2011. Registration details. Diane
will give a talk titled Freedmen’s Bureau Records: Much More Valuable to Anyone’s
Research Than You Might Have Thought! [Regardless of race or origin circumstances,
many pertinent post-Civil War records are found in the Freedmen’s Bureau Collection. While
it contains records of freedmen, it also includes information about impoverished North
Carolinians of all races.]. Otherwise we've hit the year running with an assortment of
projects from collecting land and deed records to searching for Revolutionary War service
to seeking records for families living in "burnt" counties to trying to identify the parents of
freed slaves, learn those NC origins of those whose families migrated out of the state
before the 1850 census. Early next month Diane will talk with some college-age students at
UNC-CH (INLS 754: Access, Outreach and Public Service in Cultural Heritage Institutions at
the School of Information and Library Science) about what genealogists do so that our
future librarians will have a better sense of how to best serve us! DNA test results continue
to help or redirect research directions -- this past week I've seen results that match what
one would expect (e.g. surname matches) and another project where the only match is to
another surname -- we are upgrading the results on that test to see if that was an anomaly
of the lower-level results or holds for 67 markers; if so, we'll be off in a new direction for
that project. We were reminded last week that records are not always archived how one
would expect. Typically in NC, records are housed in the collection of the county as it was
at the time the record was created (e.g. pre-1771 Wake county records are found in
Johnston county). And, an exception is that pre-1759 Edgecombe County records are
housed with Halifax County records -- the county created later! Off to label, scan and e-mail
some recently collected documents which will hopefully benefit our clients research! We
were saddened to learn of the "demise" of Ancestry Expert Connect -- it was a powerful tool
helping to match those needing research to providers of research.
December 2010: Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous
2011! Some Christmas gift projects are in the process of being completed and we continue
to research other "hard to find" ancestors -- ex-slaves, Native Americans, the
"westwardly" mobile, the "only stopped" in NC for a generation or less, the "most common
of names," Revolutionary War/War of 1812/Civil War service and other projects that
continue to keep us challenged. The Upfront with NGS blog keeps us busy as we share
news about NGS and the genealogy world at large. We have been reminded by two
projects, that though we may have a "specific" birth place (e.g. a city or county) that it was
much easier for ancestors to "live under the radar" and not be documented. If they didn't
own land -- no deeds, no voting records, etc. If they moved frequently enough -- the tax man
might not have found them! And, not all records created, survive -- even if the tax man
found them, if those records don't survive, we will never know! And, a lack of extant
records does not have to stop your research in it's tracks -- you might never find that one
document that proves the relationship and you can often still build a strong circumstantial
case as to who your ancestor was. When you create your circumstantial case -- do
DOCUMENT the basis for your assertions. We have recently read many colorful narratives
about various ancestral lines, none of which can be substantiated. We understand that
when you share your research results it is tempting to want to "fill in the gaps" to humanize
your ancestors -- please just make it clear what is "fact" and what is "fiction." You can use
historical facts and information on a community to provide some context for your ancestor.
You can use information on disasters and other circumstances (e.g. economic, religious,
etc) to suggest what may have motivated your ancestor and unfortunately, unless your
ancestor left a diary, we will "never" truly know what they were thinking or what motivated
them. And, we don't have to completely get inside an ancestors head to appreciate the role
they have played in the families history. When gathering with family this holiday season,
take the opportunity to collect more family lore, pool what the family knows or discuss the
merits of DNA testing. Though DNA testing has added another tool to our research arsenal
-- a lack of matches, unexpected matches to other surnames, distant matches, etc can
challenge us to make the best use of this tool. And, remember, that is you don't match the
person you were targeting as a distant ancestor -- that at least helps you know what family
to not pursue! That said, we need to finish working on those promised Christmas gifts and
see if we can deliver some good news to the other ancestor hunters we are pursuing.
November 2010: Glorious colors of fall -- enjoyable to the eye, though, the much shorter
days make it harder to work past 5pm! Busy this month with lineage research and
applications -- all off to now be vetted! Several "successful" African-American (ex-slave
research projects) with one straddling the NC/VA line -- a marriage here, a census record
there, a marriage there, a census record here, etc. Just learned that we have the "cover"
article for the now available issue of Internet Genealogy with "25 Obscure Databases You
Need to Know About." Busy with the Upfront with NGS blog for NGS and collecting material
for the 2011 editions of the NCGS Journal as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the
Civil War. Several "born in NC" projects continue to occupy our time -- to show you how
challenging these can be, with two of them we have "clues" as to "where" in NC and we still
cannot find proof that they came from where was stated or attach the person to parents --
fortunately, not all projects are as challenging as these. Creating some family trees from
compiled information to create a "visual" of one's ancestral tree. Reviewing DNA results to
see if we can get some leads or end up with more questions than answers (e.g. the results
don't match anybody or don't match that "surname"). Many other projects, from document
gathering, to proving Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, etc services, to filling in the
gaps of known ancestors lives, etc have and will keep us busy. Our trip to NARA II last
month was not fruitful for my client (though we will be making one more push into other
European records) and it did inspire the identification of more fun records to abstract for the
NCGS Journal (previously mentioned). With Thanksgiving just around the corner -- we wish
you the best as families far and wide celebrate together. If you are able to join your family
this holiday, it is a great opportunity to either listen to the stories of your parents,
grandparents etc, or, if you are the elder statesman of your family, be sure to share your
memories of your life and what you "know" of your deceased parents, grandparents, etc
with the younger generations. If no visits and they will be forced, as we are, to try and
reconstruct our lives.
October 2010: October has finally brought cooler weather -- after setting a record of over 90
days of 90+ degree weather, we were more than ready for some nice cool fall weather!
October has been busy doing African-American research (both NC and VA), military
research (Rev War, War of 1812 and Civil War), writing articles for Internet Genealogy (and
we've just learned that the November edition has one of our articles as the cover article --
"30 Top Genealogy Websites!" along with Net Notes, Ulster Historical Foundation and In
Motion: The African-American Migration Experience), providing content for the next NCGS
Journal and also starting as the blog editor for Upfront with NGS (free news blog of NGS).
Also busy trying to turn over all kinds of "rocks" looking for several elusive individuals in
NC while also trying to make the "leap" from TN, GA, MS/AL and other states back to NC for
those "born in NC" projects. We continue to support WCGS and have agreed to give a talk
next spring on Freedman's records -- documents in the Federal collection that most people
aren't aware of and that help research "anyone" in post Civil War Confederate states. We
also continue to serve as the "legs" for those that can't get to NC to obtain documents to
support their research. Later this month we will be visiting NARA II to look at Consular
records for France and Germany -- we have been tracking an American citizen arrested in
1908 on the road to Paris from Berlin and we very much want to learn more about his arrest
and any information we might glean on his parents, etc -- got our fingers crossed!
September 2010: Hope everyone had a super Labor Day weekend! Writing more articles
for Family Chronicle, and just learned that our article "Replacing the Irish Census" has been
published in the October issue of Family Chronicle. And, the current copy of Internet
Genealogy on the stands has several pieces by us -- Net Notes, "African-American
Newspapers," "Researching Your African-American Roots," and "Georgia Digital
Archives." Lineage related research and applications abound! Continued research into the
ancestors of freed slaves (who often left NC for elsewhere) and those who "were born in
NC" and left the state for places west of here. Continuing to look for those who kept a low
profile in 19th and 18th century NC -- not mentioned in wills or estates, bought land from
strangers ... they just seem to "appear" in a tax record, census, marriage record, etc and so
looking into tax records, road records, loose court papers and under many other rocks to
try and learn more about them and to also try and connect them to their parents, siblings,
etc. And much more though it's now time to actually do the work and not report on it!
August 2010: A month sure does go fast when you take some vacation time, return to a
busted hot water heater and have to get a kid back to college! And, that said, we've done a
lot in the last few days and will just keep working through our various projects. We are
mostly doing reports for all the research we did before we went away. It has been
satisfying to put some packets in the mail, including some in support of a client claiming
Irish citizenship. Our archives bag is starting to fill up and a trip to Wilson Library, UNC-CH,
is planned for next week. Another two articles of ours have been published at Genealogy
Archives, Tips to Help You Find Seemingly “Lost” Ancestors.and How To Find Immigration
Records & Passenger Lists. We've also been busy proofing articles for the next edition of
Internet Genealogy. More later as we continue to dig out of our post holiday mail/e-mail/"to
do" list!
July 2010: Hope everyone had a super 4th of July weekend -- instead of reading, writing and
arithmetic, our July has started out with reading, writing and researching! And lots of all
three! Continuing to prepare for Diane's talk on the 24th and her week long stay in DC for
NIGR ... we've decided that clones is the only way we'll make it through July! And, we
weren't imagining how hot June was -- it was record setting! Working on several "born in
NC" projects (if there is a state west of as far as TX we are probably tracking someone who
was "born in NC!"), research for the descendants of ex-slaves, still tracking a mystery
musician around the globe -- last found in France and Germany in 1908, pursuing
Revolutionary War military and other service for lineage applications as well as Scottish
and Irish ancestors for others, writing articles for Family Chronicle, helping clients give
great gifts in the forms of family trees with supporting research and just so much more!
Need to meet that article deadline, close out some current projects, continue fascinating
research for several projects and line up those projects which might benefit from some
time at the Library of Congress (LOC) or National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) -- which we might squeeze in next week. Otherwise, stay cool as we experience
even more heat!
June 2010: Hope you all had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend -- and, if you are like us,
May just whizzed by! June is off to a busy start -- the newest edition of Internet Genealogy
is now in print and Diane has written several pieces for it as she also writes some pieces
for future editions. Weekly trips to the NC archives keep us busy with research in colonial
records, revolutionary war and civil war records, documents that hopefully shed insight into
the lives and extended family of former slaves, and those that might help with those "born in
NC" families found elsewhere in the 1850 census or whose parents, in the 1880 census are
identified as born in NC. DNA continues to play a role in our projects -- whether suggesting
other locales to research or that there was a non-parental event (e.g. the last name of the
person and the DNA group don't match). And, sometimes we are just busy trying to
document the numerous branches of a family tree where we are slowed as we hit mid-19th
century records, especially if the family didn't own land. And, we are always trying to track
those families whose middle name seemed to be "move" as in they are never found in the
same place in the census records, never mind those in between periods! We hear those
client files calling to use ....
May 2010: Hope everyone had a super Mother's Day, even if just having a lazy Sunday!
Mine was great with daughter home from college! We are sad to announce that Discovering
Family History ceased publication with it's April 2010 issue -- Moorshead Publications will
be incorporating more beginner type articles in Family Chronicle as a result. It was great to
see all the people that showed up at the Raleigh Family History Center for the May 1st
Seminar -- Diane gave talks "Online Maps" and "Born in NC." Lineage society research and
applications, trying to determine the parents of slaves, making use of DNA test results to
bridge from MS to NC (and beyond), Orange & Durham counties slave research,
Revolutionary War era research and so much more has kept us busy as this month starts.
In July, Diane will give a talk about Timelines for the 5th Annual North Carolina Genealogical
Society Speakers Forum and she'll be attending National Institute on Genealogical
Research (NIGR) in July to improve skills with regards to Federal Records research and the
DC-area research repositories ... now it's time to do some of that promised client work!
April 2010: Hope you all survived "Tax Day!" ... with that now past, many of you can now
spend more time researching your family! Projects involving families in many counties
during many different time periods and with all different kinds of objectives have kept us at
the State Library of NC and the North Carolina State Archives on a regular basis this
month! We have also spent some time working on some articles for future editions of
Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy (for Moorshead Publications). We also spent
some time preparing to give 2 talks on May 1, "Online Maps" and "Born in NC" for the
Raleigh FHC Seminar. We recently had another piece published as part of the Learn from
the Experts Series at Genealogy Archives -- Why They Moved and How To Find Them. Some
lineage and hereditary society applications have been submitted and others are in process.
African-American research projects, post slavery and during slavery, keep us on our toes
as we try to document and learn the ancestry of these elusive family members. Continued
research into 19th and 18th century NC records for clues for seemingly "invisible"
individuals. Several projects involve those "born in NC" types -- searching for clues where
they were found to be living, marching backwards on their lives and those of like-named
individuals in the area and neighbors to see if we can find "where" they were from in NC
and/or whom their parents were! Revolutionary war and civil war research trying to prove
participation and/or service and/or trying to obtain service and pension records continue to
keep us busy! Tracking an early 20th century musician who traveled the world of NY, UK,
France, Germany and Australia has us scratching our head as to where did he go next (not a
passenger record yet to be found!) And, other hard-to-find individuals, each with their
unique stories, have us busy in the records of NC, multiple states in the US,
emigration/immigration records, etc. We have also been reminded that in early records,
keep your eyes wide open for name variants that might be quite different from what you
"thought" the name was! Phonetic spelling by clerks and illiteracy can make for quite a
variety of names as found for one person. So, another busy and exciting month and we're
only half-way through it!
March 2010: The month started with a slight break to enjoy being with college-age daughter
and husband away from home for a few days -- a respite much needed. Since then it's been
fast and furious with research -- lineage to African-American to the ubiquitous "born in NC"
problem to 20th century Wake/Johnston county people and land research to writing pieces
for the WCGS publications (Wake Treasures and Wake Updates, journal and newsletter
respectively) and more articles for the various Moorshead publications. Also busy dusting
off some talks to give to a May 1st event at the local LDS church (and Family History
Center). So far we have been reminded of the role that looking into any "name" even close
has in our research as well as though we hope that intense research will yield the answer to
the question, serendipity definitely can be the sledgehammer that breaks the brick wall.
And, how can we forget those DNA results which don't confirm what we are hoping and
throw us for a loop as we find that our results match an "unexpected" surname! Someone
the other day asked me how I find some of the stuff I do and my response was along the
lines of "look under every rock and think outside the box of conventional genealogy
research." Stuck in the past, come back to the future (did you actually get every vital record
and census document?). Stuck on your line, look at extended family (or anyone with the
same surname, especially if born in the same state). Stuck on extended family, look at
neighbors. Stuck in your county and/or state, look at nearby counties/states. Still stuck --
look at church formation and records, migration trails ... Don't just focus on the obvious, try
and document every mention of your ancestor/family, no matter how small. Even if this
information doesn't solve your research question, you have at least learned more about
your ancestor and can produce a more "colorful" family history. Time to go check some
newspaper indexes, meet with a client, visit the state library and then the state archives -- a
typical Friday!!
February 2010: Snow and lots of it greeted us this month -- enough to keep the kids out of
school for 3 days as we tried to defrost, though, nothing compared to Snowmageddon as it's
hitting VA and north! Lots of articles written so far this month (1/3rd of the way in) and also
lots of research! Projects focusing on land in colonial Chatham county to those families
who migrated from NC to the Mid-west and seemed to stop in every state along the way, to
African-American/Slave search -- trying to determine parents and/or plantations of birth,
searching on 20th century families who left their NC farms in the 1920s-1930s for
elsewhere such as NYC, Philadelphia, DC, Norfolk/Portsmouth, etc., many "born in NC"
projects where we are desperately trying to connect them to their ancestral homes, lineage
application requirements from DAR/SAR to Sons of Colonial Wars to Society of the
Cincinnati have us deep in Revolutionary War era records seeking "proof" of ancestors
service. And not to loose sight of just basic "deep" research into early 19th and mid-to-late
18th century documents, of the more obscure variety, to try and learn as much as possible
about those North Carolinian families with deep roots. And, let's not forget the quest to try
and find "where" an ancestor emigrated from -- for many of the families I research, the
answer will be England/Wales, Scotland or Ireland -- the hard part is determining which,
trying to find information on their passage and then identifying specifically "where" back
home might be. And, that's just the first 10 days ... let's see what the rest has us doing!
January 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR! We don't know about you and it was hard to return to
work after an enjoyable holiday break. Though, visits to the Library of Congress
(researching the patent card file and books for an early 1900s Tin Pan Alley musician was
fun) and the National archives (unfortunately, no research there and did visit the public
displays) were a great treat for this genealogist! We hope to spend about one day per month
at these and other great DC facilities doing research. Otherwise, there are projects not
completed in December on our plate -- involving many types of records, across centuries of
time, for both NC and other locales! Once we catch our breath mid-way through the month,
we'll update you on what we've been up to! Articles have been written an proofed, much
research at the NC archives has taken place, project binders filled with family documents
and reports have been created and so much more!
December 2009: Hope you had a super Thanksgiving and have an enjoyable time preparing
for the December holiday season. We have just published another article at Genealogy
Archives, UK Census Records Uncovered. This will mostly be a month of starting and
completing projects promised in time for Christmas -- whether it's a lineage application,
producing binders of research already completed, starting research or meeting some
article deadlines -- we will be busy between now and years' end. A trip to UNC-CH as well
as regular visits to the NC archives will also be on our plate. We are happy to report that
some long-term projects finally had some breakthroughs late last month -- as they say
"patience" is a virtue though impatience is probably a middle name had by many of us! It's
time to complete those projects ... best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a safe, healthy
and prosperous 2010!
November 2009: Hope you had a super Halloween and remembered to turn your clocks
back 1 hour! We have a just published article at Genealogy Archives, Locate Ancestors
with UK Vital Records, and Diane is polishing up her talk for the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers
Forum. The topic of her talk, "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a
case study," (you can read about this same topic in a Discovering Family History Article
titled "North Carolina and Beyond," Discovering Family History, May/June 2009, pages 8-11)
is timely since in the last two weeks we have received about 8 inquiries where in each
case, from the 1850 census or some other resource, an ancestor has been identified as
"born in NC" with no other information provided! These are tough projects and success if
possible ... Involved with several projects where families just love to use the same names
over and over again in each generation and across generations -- when combined with
somewhat common surnames, we have been kept busy with the Glenn and Turner and
Jackson families -- trying to separate out the various branches and generations of these
family trees! Will visit the Greensboro courthouse this week for some estate papers, having
been researching estate records for slave lists, and am searching diligently to see if proof
can be found that some individuals "served" in the Revolutionary war while living in North
Carolina.
October 2009: We have already been busy writing Net Notes and an article for Internet
Genealogy, spending every afternoon at the NC archives looking at land grant documents,
maps, tax records, marriage records and so much more for several NC counties. We
continue to help many individuals with two classic questions -- My ancestor was "born in
NC," can we figure out where and to whom? (both those who learn this from the 1850+
census and those who through other records know this for an 18th century ancestor) AND
My ancestor was either a slave (negro or mulatto) or free black, can we learn what
plantation they came from and possibly who the parents were? These are both challenging
questions -- both focused research and some serendipity normally come into play to
answer these questions. We continue to support research in Wake County and the Wake
County Genealogical Society (WCGS) -- Diane is now President of WCGS and continues to
spearhead "publishing" volumes of abstracted/transcribed material for those researching
Wake County Ancestors. And, next month will be the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum -- if
you are in the Raleigh area, do check out the exciting day of talks (Saturday November 7)
including one by Diane titled "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a
case study."
September 2009: Hope you had a super Labor Day weekend -- we all know that it
unofficially marks the end of summer! Kids are back in school and life takes on a new
rhythm! We have started the month by writing, writing, and doing more writing! We are
working on articles for Discovering Family History and Family Chronicle right now and the
Oct/Nov edition of Internet Genealogy has been published with our article "Understanding
County Boundaries Through Time!" We have welcomed some new clients via the Ancestry
Expert Connect service. We will be writing a piece for a newly just "opened" new web-
service (we'll let you know more once our article is posted!). We continue to regularly visit
the NC archives and State library of NC (Raleigh), later this month we will trek out to Duke
(to examine some manuscript collections) and we also plan to take our first foray to the
National Archives (NARA) and the Library of Congress (LoC) as we familiarize ourselves
with the DC-area repositories. Several lineage related projects have been worked on as
well as some special projects meant as gifts! Not directly related to work and we've had a
spate of computer and printer issues -- given how much we use both to research on,
document and share with others -- it has slowed us down a bit! We continue to acquire vital
records documents for individuals (in NC, SC, NJ and elsewhere) to help facilitate our
clients and their needs. We know we have much more up our sleeve this month and we'll
tell you about it later, when we catch our breath!
August 2009: Besides bringing some extremely hot weather it has seen us doing research
for a variety of NC-focused families, non-NC-focused families and migrant families across
the US. And, before going further we want to express our continued appreciation of our
clients and their extreme patience with us this year -- we have never experienced such a
personally chaotic year (husband work lay-off, illness, NGS conference, more illness, child
graduating high school, husband finding job in DC -- 4+ hours away, child going off to college
and so much more ... hectic to say the least and the dust has mostly settled). Projects are
being completed and started which are meant as "gifts" for their recipients -- we consider
these one of the best gifts someone can get! We have been working on several projects of
the group we call "born in NC" -- in the 1850 census, someone is found living outside NC
and their birth date is listed as in NC -- these can be very challenging projects. A lot of
individuals/families migrated through NC on their way to their final destination. Sometimes
we are successful in determining the NC birth county and other information and sometimes
not. Separating out families using land, tax, court, will/estate and other records where they
just loved to use the same forenames in every branch of every generation! Tracking down
revolutionary war era information for those that "served" as well as others continues to
keep us busy. Additionally, tracking down land grants and deeds as ways to document
where a family lived and/or connect them to one another, continue to keep us busy. How
about those families who we find in NC that migrated from VA -- we have tracked a family
from Wake County back to Bertie and figure that they probably came from Isle of Wight VA
-- the hard part is "proving" this! Two active projects are ripe with name variants -- though
names are pretty standardized now, back in the 1700s and 1800s it was not unusual for a
single document to spell one name a bunch of different ways -- compound this with different
clerks, different pronunciation, illiteracy, etc and you can find yourself having to check out
15-20 variants as you trawl through the records! So, what is the "correct" name for a
branch of the family and can we read any significance into these name variants in the early
records? Hopefully our research will answer those questions as we review documents and
signatures to figure out who is who.
July 2009: Needless to say, the month of June was so busy that we didn't get back to letting
you know what we've been up to. First, we hope that everyone had a super 4th of July
weekend. Second, starting next month, we'll be regularly traveling to DC and will be
available to access any of the wonderful archives and repositories located in the greater
DC metro area. Third, the August 2009 editions of Discovering Family History and Family
Chronicle are now available and we have articles in both -- "First Things First" and "
Godfrey Memorial Library" in DFH and "Looking for a Man Who Didn't Want to be Found!"
and "Capturing WWII Veteran Memories" in FC. And, I don't think we mentioned that just in
time for the NGS 2009 conference in May, the Wake County Genealogical Society has
made available via lulu.com several new publications and a reprint of the much-in-demand
Wake County Heritage Book -- check out the society's store, http://stores.lulu.com/store.
php?fAcctID=1837949, to learn more! So, obviously not "lazy days" for us this summer! As
far as research we have continued to search in Revolutionary War era records to learn
more about a Duplin County family. We are also working on about five Wake County
focused projects covering from the county's formation in 1771 to the circa 1830s time
period! We continue to work on some lineage projects and will be starting another one
shortly. We have also continued to work on some families who loved to move around or
were itinerant emigrants -- necessitating research into the records for several different
states. Never mind "crossing the pond" for some families with the main focus being on the
records of England, Wales and Scotland. And, there are the projects where we start by
knowing "born in NC" and little else and so we try to determine "where" in NC the ancestral
birth place might be. We also are still working to straighten out several like-named like-
aged individuals in Randolph County -- which ones are the target family! And, so much
more ...
June 2009: The month is starting off with finishing a project involving research in Newberry
County SC and starting up several Wake County NC focused ones. A trip to UNC-CH has
taken place to photograph some estate records in family collection and also look into the
correspondence of an avid genealogist -- did he leave any clues about his own family's
research? This month will bring some DAR and Sons of Colonial Wars related research.
We continue to try and correlated DNA results with research performed. Research into NC
Revolutionary War records and early 18th century NC shipping records will benefit two
other projects. As the month progresses, we'll fill you in on even more exciting projects!
Diane will be giving a talk at the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum program in November --
"Born in NC According to 1850 Census – Now What?” described by: How often do we have
a project and at some point we have an 1850 census entry that says born in NC (or it could
be any other state other than where the person is currently living!). What do you do? This
talk will present some general strategies for how to approach this challenge and also look
at a case study where we successfully used these strategies in combination with a family
diary (no locations mentioned) to determine where in NC the father of John Jackson Boyce
came from, starting with the family in Cass County GA c. 1850. Details will be posted at the
NCGS web-site.
May 2009: Today (May 4) was the last planning meeting for NGS 2009 -- I hope to meet
many clients, colleagues and friends as they come visit Raleigh next week. On Tuesday
and Wednesday (May 12 & 13) look for me at Exhibitor Registration and about the exhibit
hall, on Wednesday at the Local Societies event that evening, Thursday evening at the
History Museum Dessert Reception and on Saturday at the WCGS sponsored luncheon --
otherwise I will be attending sessions and out and about the hallways! Don't hesitate to
come up and chat with me -- I'd love to meet you! Otherwise, articles have been written and
proofed for upcoming Moorshead Publications (Discovering Family History and Family
Chronicle) and other now published in Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History.
Compiled some information on Mecklenburg VA Will/Estate records, pre-civil war to try and
identify the slave owners of a family. Been busy in the records of McKeesport PA tracking
down several families who emigrated from England and Wales. Researching several
families in Davidson, McNairy, Shelby counties and elsewhere in TN, along with Cherokee
ancestry in western NC! And, the month is just getting started! The NGS 2009 Conference
went well -- it was nice to meet so many e-mail and facebook friends! And, life is now
somewhat back to normal!
April 2009: Hope everybody got their taxes filed in time! The last month we have been
writing and reviewing articles for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History,
blogging for the NGS 2009 Conference Blog, working on WCGS publications to have
available at NGS 2009, photographing collections at UNC-CH and the NC Archives, and
doing lots of fun research -- which we will report on soon ... Provided information to
Ancestry's new service, Expert Connect -- it's a new way to connect potential clients with
researchers. Took photographs of NC county tax records (1782 forward) at the NC
archives, acquired NC death certificates via the archives and obituaries via the State
Library of NC, checked out NC land grant indices and documents and had our hands in so
many more original and microfilmed NC records! Continued African-American/slave
research in VA and NC. Also spent time looking into deed indices, land grant documents,
will/estates and more ....
March 2009: FLU, FLU, FLU -- On and off since the 1st till the 18th, Diane has been suffering
the flu -- she hopes (she says with fingers crossed) that maybe she is on the road to
recovery! ... as soon as she is, she'll post what she's been up to -- by the time we
resurfaced from the flu, working hard to catch up and then a road-trip to FL, it was April ...
so, know that we were busy in March though look to April for the details!
February 2009: We don't know where January went and in February we've been busy with
land grant and land research -- Edgecombe/Nash/Franklin counties. We have been tracking
a family with TN roots (Davidson and Maury Counties) which connections to SC and GA!
Continued writing and proofing for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History.
Another project has us deep in the records of PA while another has us trawling the records
of Burke County (NC) for a family -- marriage records have really helped with the latter.
Several families continue to challenge us -- by keeping a low profile in the extant records
while other families just loved to use the same names in each branch for each generation
and the challenge is to separate them out! We continue to be busy with the NGS 2009
Conference Blog and WCGS activities -- everything from blogging to looking at early 20th
century Wake County postcards. We will go out to UNC-CH to photograph documents from
3 collections. We gave a presentation titled " Exploring Maps for Research or Curiosity"
which focused on using maps (online and offline) in your genealogy and family history
research. We have continued to research African-American/Slavery roots in Mecklenburg
County VA (and later this month will be writing an article on the same subject for a
Person/Caswell county family researched extensively last year). Additionally, we started a
new project where one branch of a NC family has Cherokee roots and we have been deeply
immersed in the Indian Census, Federal Census, vital records and other records to learn
more about this heritage. Check back with us later in the month and we'll let you know what
else we got up to!
January 2009: HAPPY NEW YEAR! A governor's inauguration, inventory and snow all have
made getting to the NC archives a bit of a challenge this month and that hasn't stopped our
NC projects from moving forward! Several projects have us separating several branches of
family who in late 18th century NC loved to use the same forenames and lived within small
geographic areas of a county -- lots of research into land, taxes and election records. Other
projects are focused on NC land and land grants -- what land did a family purchase, what did
they buy, what were they bequeathed and where would that land be today? The March
2009 edition of Internet Genealogy will be hitting the streets and we have several articles
included (as we are writing other pieces for future editions): Read up on Research:
Genealogy Book Reviews, Family Tree Connection and Live Roots, Family Research Labs:
One-Stop Genealogy, Olde-English Handwriting: An Online Course, and several Net Notes --
1. In the First Person, 2. Slave Trade, 3. Cassini Maps, and 4. Memeo Share. Projects
involving Finnish and Croatian records are advancing ... with success in locating baptismal
records. Research in MS, OH, PA and other states are slowly revealing those ancestral
trails. With NGS 2009 only a few months away, more blog entries are to be written and
planning for the vendor area will ensue and WCGS has started prepping for it's conference
luncheon program and wrapping up planned publications. We abstracted the Wake County
Civil Action Papers for 1778-1793 and finished abstracting some Wake Court Documents
found at UNC-CH to be published in the next edition of the Wake Treasures. These and more
are keeping us busy this month!
December 2008: We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a safe, prosperous and
healthy New Year! Though we have been busy with preparations for the holiday, we have
remained committed to our clients and their projects also! In addition to continuing to write
articles for Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History, we have been busy with
completing some research support (e.g., "I am elated as I received the message below from
our XXXX Chapter DAR Registrar. I appreciate all you did on finding the information on
XXXXX of Orange County. It was something that I would not have found. I mailed what you
had sent to me - without even abbreviating it - directly to DAR ... Again, thank you ... XXXXX
was verified." and application "filling out" for various Lineage Societies. Two emigrant
projects have kept us on our toes as we work in non-English records -- for a Finnish project
we are communicating with the local Parish in somewhat butchered Finnish and Swedish to
get 20th century records to help us bridge the emigrant to the older parish records available
online -- for a Croatian project we will be delving into microfilmed parish records at the local
FHC. We have also done some research, both genealogical and a survey of surviving local
newspaper to support two in-the-works documentaries! In support of NC-focused projects,
we have researched the records of Halifax, Granville, Buncombe, Lincoln, Randolph,
Madison, Sampson, several coastal counties and other NC counties. We are wrapping up an
extensive NC family research project which will be produced as a print publication for
extended family members. For another project, we will be shifting from the paternal side in
Eastern NC to researching the maternal side. We continue to support clients from around
the world -- recent clients call Australia, Thailand, Norway and England home. We have just
started another African-American research project -- a slave-era born gentlemen shows up
in Northampton county and marries -- where did he come from? These and other unique
ancestral and historical projects have kept us busy, challenged and excited!
November 2008: We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! As genealogists and family
historians -- this is one of the holidays most special for sharing with family -- enjoying good
food and good company! If you are meeting with family members whom you see
infrequently or are increasingly frail -- please do spend time with them, learn their stories
and share them with others! Several net notes have been written and three articles are in
process for what will hopefully be included in the January issue of Internet Genealogy. The
December edition of Discovering Family History is now available -- besides our recurring
piece "First Things First" it contains an article on reCAPTCHA and one titled "If I were to
start my genealogy now." Treks to the Manuscripts Collection at UNC-CH (photograph part
of the J.M Dent collection -- a British book publisher) and the NC archives (many projects
across several collections) took place. We continued work with Deedmapper, WCGS
publications, the local NGS 2009 Planning Committee and the NGS 2009 Blog. Projects
involving Finnish, German/French, Croatian and other emigrants have kept us busy with
passenger, naturalization and related paperwork. Colonial research in North Carolina
helped clients with DAR, OFFNC and Society of Colonial Wars applications. The research of
African-American ancestry continues to keep us challenged. Four projects involving
ancestry in Randolph County have kept us busy in the records of that county, while several
other projects have expanded how many different NC counties we have researched in to
66! DNA testing and results continue to both help with research and puzzle us! All too often
the results do not match the surname that we are accustomed to and that necessitates
trying to document how that happened. And, as always, other unique projects keep us
challenged as we search out illusive ancestors!
October 2008: It seems like I was just reporting on the September issue of Internet
Genealogy and now the November issue is issue is available -- it includes 4 net notes and 2
articles (Explore Maps From the Comfort of Your Home! and What's With All the Fuss About
Wikis?) from Diane. A news flash -- Internet Genealogy is now available in an online
edition! And, next month look for the next edition of Discovering Family History with our
recurring piece "First Things First" and maybe more! We've had several projects this
month where we have made use of 19th century NC (e.g. Craven County) school records
and voting lists! These are both great ways to identify who one's neighbors are and/or who
lives in the same geographic area. And, for the school lists -- the children's names are
grouped by family! You can also watch the evolution of districts and the families living
within a district! Several projects have had us in the records of Randolph County NC. And
another project has branched from MN to now OH and IN as emigrant siblings dispersed
around the country in the early 1900s as we continue and start projects focusing on NJ, RI,
PA. Lineage society research for DAR, Society of the Cincinnati, and Order of First Families
of NC have kept us busy. Several projects are winding down -- some where we have
continued to be frustrated in our inability to make connections and others where we
successfully learned more! And, land (with and without using Deedmapper) continues to be
a focus of NC research in the late 18th and early 19th centuries -- Chatham and Iredell and
other counties. Other projects are waiting on DNA testing results -- cases where the paper
trail is a little muddy and we need some guidance -- e.g. somewhere in the tree we know the
mother and not father! We continue to photograph documents in the Manuscripts Collection
at UNC-CH and at the NC archives (select online finding aids and MARS catalog) -- we have
done so for family researchers and also individuals involved in radio, tv or book projects.
Last and not least -- wrapping up a project intended as a November birthday present and
will be starting a Christmas research project soon!
September 2008: Hope you all had a super Labor Day weekend ... We've been working hard
on a land tracing problem -- e.g. what do you do when the property you are tracing is now
under a man-made lake ?!?! We hope to bridge that and identify the original land grant for
the property! Several of our client projects with "brick walls" are turning to DNA testing! In
one case, only the mother is known and in others, which "branches" of a family tree to
investigate, is unknown! Otherwise, we are collecting Land grants, doing deed research
and generally "following the land" for several NC projects. This has necessitated spending
quite a bit of time with Deedmapper, trying to plot and make sense of those NC deeds (e.g.
thence from the pile of stones N 86 E 15 poles, to a stake, thence ...) Also we are doing lots
of research in our neighboring state SC for a family that seemed to weave it's way through
time and space along the NC/SC border! Another project has us extensively looking into
death notices and death certificates to complement census research for a family which
appears to have no tombstones in the cemetery where they are buried and so family
connections are a bit vague! And, so much more!
August 2008: A busy month researching pre-Revolutionary War records in Mecklenburg
County, Land records in Lincoln, Buncombe and Rockingham Counties amongst other
locales, writing pieces for the next edition of the WCGS Updates newsletter, the NGS 2009
conference blog, and the next edition of Discovering Family History, spending a day in the
Manuscripts Collection at UNC-CH photographing early 19th century letters and 20th
century documents, doing research in St. Louis County MN on an emigrant family
(Yugoslavia), researching some deaths in TX, working with DNA results on a couple of
projects -- coupled with traditional documentation research, work on several lineage
focused research projects -- DAR, OFFNC, Sons of Colonial Wars, and Society of the
Cincinnati. And, the September edition of Internet Genealogy hit the newsstands contains
two net notes "FamilyRelatives" and "Bloodlines of Salem" and articles about "Project
StoryKeeper and LifeLenz" and "CPS Alumni: School's In on the Web!" The former article
was appealing to Diane as she was able to include some information about her deceased
mother and family in the article while for the latter article her examples are from her
husband's family! Another busy yet interesting month of research and writing!
July 2008: Half of this month was spent preparing for vacation and then actually taking it!
We traveled to the beautiful Canadian province of Quebec -- toured Quebec City, the
Gaspesie Region, Montreal and more. Additionally, we enjoyed traveling Interstate 81
through NY, PA and into VA -- just a delightful drive! Though we were away, we still did
some proofing for pieces for the September/October edition of Discovering Family History
and that is pretty much it for work in the latter part of the month! Before leaving we did
some work on almost every project that we are currently involved with and actually closed
a few out including one of trying to determine did a specific person serve in the
Revolutionary War and if so, is he the same person connected to the target family -- little
evidence of Revolutionary War service and even less evidence of a family connection. We
also made a break through on some African-American research -- looking at Person and
Caswell county estate records we found mention of a slave consistent with the one we
were seeking -- listed on 5 children's death certificates as their father. Given no surviving
wills for the target slave-owners, his wife's remarriage by the early 1860s and no
documentation for this individual, this was a real find! In addition to NC-focused research,
we also did some 19th and 20th century research for individuals in TX and elsewhere in the
US to assist with some MA estate issues. Basically, we did a lot more in the first part of this
month and our memory of that flurry of work has dimmed as we return from vacation and
resume researching and writing!
June 2008: As we are writing this is the day before July starts, it's obvious that this month
just flew by! The July/August edition of Discovering Family History is printed and carries our
new reoccurring column "First Things First" as well as an article on "Blacksheep". We also
finished writing articles for the next edition as well as planned some future articles and Net
Notes for Internet Genealogy. We are on the local planning committee for NGS 2009 which
is coming to Raleigh in May 2009. We are responsible for the NGS 2009 conference blog
and got it up and running this month -- check it out! We took a trek out to an African-
American cemetery in Wilson to take photographs of some surviving tombstones. On the
research front we have researched numerous NC families, families along the TN/MS
border, families that migrated from VA to NC and those that migrated from NC to GA!
Several projects involve those challenging individuals for whom we only know -- born in
NC! We have successfully traced one of these individuals back to NC to only learn that it
appears that the family lived near the border area of NC/SC and originally came from SC!
So, now we start again to see if we can determine where in SC! On a less successful note,
there are a few long-term projects where we appear, for now, to have exhausted "what" to
research -- we will now pause for a bit an wait on some serendipity or the availability of new
research sources as increasing amounts of materials are digitized and put online. We have
also started or continue to do research in support of lineage society applications -- Order of
the First Families of North Carolina, Daughters of the American Revolution and Society of
the Cincinnati. And, as usual, so much more!
May 2008: The May/June edition of Discovering Family History carries our new reoccurring
column "First Things First" and we also finished writing and proofing articles for the next
edition. Currently researching several families for whom the oldest ancestor is one of
those "ubiquitous" "born in NC" and that is all we know! These are always such a
challenge -- the best hope is to get "clues" from records in the state to which they
migrated! The next WCGS Updates is in process and pieces have been written for that and
the 1st compilation "Apprenticeship Bonds" should be going to press any day. Have agreed
to give the talk "Explore NC through maps from the comfort of your home!" next month for
the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society of North Carolina. Many hours have been spent in
the deeds, wills, court minutes, marriage, tax records of many counties from Nash to
Davidson to Wayne and several other counties! And, several recent projects have had
links to MS and TN! A recent project has us tracking both the lineage and land of an
individual whose family has early 18th century NC roots as we try to untangle and connect
the NC/VA connections for another family. The most recent Internet Genealogy (June/July
2008) will be hitting the stands with our pieces on A New and Improved World Vital Records
and Net Notes on Ghost towns, ResourceShelf and The Poorhouse Story.
April 2008: The month started with a vacation, preparing for the NCGS Speakers Forum
(4/12/08), proofing articles for the next edition of Internet Genealogy (June/July 2008),
scheduling articles for future editions of that publication and it's sister publication,
Discovering Family History. We also jumped back into some projects -- one with a focus on
MS and St. Louis MO, another with historic Onslow county (NC) roots, and a new project
that currently focuses on Cleveland, Gaston and Polk Counties (NC) -- we'll have to see
where that project might take us! Before months end we'll be exploring the records of about
15 NC counties (some familiar friends and some we haven't researched in before) as well
as starting research on a new project with a Rhode Island/MA focus.
March 2008: Busy with WCGS activities -- preparing and giving a talk titled "Online Maps,
Focusing on North Carolina" (this same topic will be the basis of "Explore NC through maps
from the comfort of your home!" to be given next month at the NCGS Speakers Forum),
finishing the newsletter WCGS Updates (now posted), working on miscellaneous publication
projects and more. For NGS 2009 -- continued preparation for that exciting event! Arranged
a tour for our local NC APG group to visit the Wilson library at UNC-CH. Also visited UNC-
CH to photograph an extensive family document collection and research in another
collection looking for references to an individual who married into the family. Busy with
research at the NC archives on several families representing several counties across
many different time periods! Also doing research into an African-American family that
migrated from post-Civil War MS to St. Louis and appears to have roots in VA. This month
has seen several "clients" with previously closed projects ask us to work on new projects
or continue efforts on old projects. And, we continue to plan and write articles for
Moorshead Publications. And, we are doing so much more! This month's mail included the
May 2008 edition of Internet Genealogy -- which includes our pieces "Accessing Family
History Books Online" and "US Passport Applications Online" as well as a Net Note on
"Paper of Record." The month ended with the office closing for vacation.
February 2008: We received our most recent issue of Internet Genealogy (March 2008) --
we have a Net Note on "LostCousins" and an article about "Passenger Records and
Naturalization Records." And, the newest edition of Family Chronicle actually includes a
pilot version of a new publication Discovering Family History (you can download the full
preview edition). We are pleased in that we authored what is to become a regular feature
"First Things First." The first week of this month we will work with an out-of-town client with
NC connections who is coming to Raleigh -- we will meet at the NC archives/State Library
building and work together on advancing his research. We will also resume work on a
couple of extensive NC projects where the families have been in the state for at least 200
years and also a couple of projects where we are trying to use DNA results to further the
research and make connections, sometimes to individual with differing surnames (meaning
the male client has one surname and yet the DNA results point to a different surname based
on genetics!). Regular visits to UNC-CH, Olivia Raney Local History Library, State Library
of North Carolina and the NC Archives.
January 2008: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Regrettably, the rising costs of parking, office supplies,
gasoline, subscriptions and the like have necessitated an increase in our fees -- the first in
over 4 years! Please check out Genealogy_Pricing for the new fee structure. Existing
clients will continue to pay as before until the current project is completed. Published a new
resource guide at lulu.com -- Internet Resources for Genealogy and Family Research in
North Carolina. We are honored that ThinkGenealogy has just listed Diane L. Richard (of
Mosaic Research and Project Management) as the most prolific of the "Top 10 Genealogy
and Technology Most Published Authors of 2007!" It has been confirmed that we will be part
of the NCGS 2008 Speaker's Forum (Explore NC through maps from the comfort of your
home!). We continued to some research to identify heirs-at-law for estate issues. Have
posted some of our 2006 articles from Internet Genealogy. Started to crumble some brick
walls -- one connecting someone from NC to NY and another connecting someone from NY
to NC! Continue to research in Colonial and late 18th century records to find the origins of
some Welsh and other emigrants! Two projects have us doing research to prove an
African-American/Negro ancestry from post-civil war to slavery and possibly earlier. And,
so much more! The month ended with a trek to UNC-CH the Manuscript Department --
photographed a mid 1800s map, several early 1960s television program scripts and some
early 1800s family papers.
December 2007: This month passed in a flurry of activity, not all genealogy research
related! A binder was compiled for a coast-to-coast research project, many days were
spent at the NC archives and NC library doing NC research -- including one project that
involved collecting many, many documents and getting them certified for submission to a
UK ancestral authority. A trek to UNC-CH the Manuscript Department was made -- about
1600+ photos of documents were taken! A few projects were finished just in time for the
holidays. For one project involving adoption and an African-American born in NYC with NC
roots -- after 18 months of on again, off again research, there was a big break! As the year
ended, we can point to some wonderful successes though also a few projects where brick
walls were not "broken down!" Time was also spent creating a NC internet genealogy
research guide -- hopefully in early 2008 this will become available! As usual, some time
was put into WCGS (finalizing Vol 17, Issue 2 of Wake Treasures) and other activities.
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.
We hope that whether you celebrated Thanksgiving or not this month, whether you visited
with family or not, that your family and ancestors were a part of your thoughts this month!
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!Writing pieces for Upfront
with NGS[AUG 2013] New article posted at Archives.com -- Tips for Applying to a Lineage
Society
A researcher with Rootsonomy
New article -- Not Your Grandmother's Diary published at Archives.com
Now listed as a "House Historian" at The Home History Book website (select NC)
FGS talks now available via Fleetwood Onsite -- $10/$15 per talk -- NOTE: Diane has not yet
listened to her recordings and so cannot vouch for the quality
Now a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild!
Mosaic Research and Project Management
Blog
Blog
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