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What we are best with is a project where
families have roots all over the place ... we like a challenge!
Whether your family spent generations in one town or moved
frequently, even from or within other countries ... we can help you!
That said, if your family all came from one place, there may be
other researchers who can better help you ... as they may live and
breath that town -- if we think that's the case, we'll let you know!
On the other hand, if your family was fairly mobile ... we are
excellent at researching around the globe! We have many
resources at our fingertips and are great at ferreting out
hard-to-find information.
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!
For earlier months,
check out our
Genealogy Experience page!
So, let us create the gift that
will keep on giving for your family!!
Here
are a few more
specifics of what we
can do!! |
