Speaker: Cyndi Deal, WCS Digitization Co-Ordinator

 

If you have ancestors in Wake County going back a few years or centuries, you will be interested in learning about the ongoing Wake Cemetery Survey digitization project from WCGS. You will find the FAN clubs – Friends, Associates and Neighbors, so clearly illustrated in their place and time. There are records of burials for first settlers, historical figures, Native Americans, and enslaved. There are accounts of rich and poor resting side by side. You will find records of homeplaces and landmarks that don’t exist anymore. The records tell stories of our ancestors’ struggles, survivals, and successes.

 

This presentation will cover the background information related to the original Survey, the process bringing the digitization to reality and a glimpse of what you can expect to find when you visit the record set in the member area of the WCGS website.

 

Registration availability coming soon as event nears

 

Speaker: Diane L. Richard

 

Women are traditionally challenging to document in historical public records. Personally written diaries, journals, correspondence, and more can help fill in gaps about female ancestors. This talk goes well past journals and diaries as “women” had voices in myriad ways.  

 

Registration availability opens as event nears

 

 

Speaker: George Thomas

 

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