Genealogy [1]
Genealogy
[2]Genealogy, the study of family origins and descent, has interested North Carolinians for centuries. Colonial printer [3] James Davis [4] of New Bern printed genealogical information regarding his family, and in the nineteenth century, the historical publications of John H. Wheeler [5] and Samuel A. Ashe [6] contained a great deal of genealogical information. J. R. B. Hathaway of Edenton [7] published the North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register [8] for several years around the beginning of the twentieth century. Several national lineage societies have created chapters in North Carolina, with an emphasis on researching and proving family lines as a basis for membership. These societies [9] have helped raise interest in genealogy even further.
In the early twentieth century, North Carolina secretary of state J. Bryan Grimes [10] published An Abstract of North Carolina Wills [11] (1910) and North Carolina Wills and Inventories [12] (1912). In 1968 Frederick A. Olds [13] compiled another abstract that supplemented Grimes's works. The twentieth century saw an explosive growth in the genealogical field as more people realized the importance of family research. The building of a new North Carolina Archives [14] helped to provide better facilities for researchers and genealogists. Manuscript departments at many of the universities and colleges in North Carolina also contain a wealth of genealogical information, and public libraries have expanded their holdings as more genealogical materials have become available. The availability of computers, CD-ROMS, published indexes, the Internet, e-mail, and other recent technological developments have all contributed to the growth of interest in genealogy by making resources more readily available to researchers. The North Carolina Genealogical Society [15], founded in 1974, and local societies are also important resources for genealogists.
Reference:
Helen F. M. Leary, North Carolina Research Genealogy and Local History (2nd ed., 1996).
Additional Resources:
North Carolina Family Records Online website: https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/digital/ncfamilyrecords/index.html [16] (accessed July 9, 2012).
North Carolina. Department of Cultural Resources. "Addicts' Hunt Pedigree." The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). February 13, 1976. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/addicts-hunt-pedigree/47132 [17] (accessed July 9, 2012).
"Genealogy Research." State Library of North Carolina. https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ghl/resources/genealogy.html [18] (accessed July 9, 2012).
Image Credits:
Family record sheet, likely from a family Bible, from the collections of the North Carolina State Archives and State Library of North Carolina.
1 January 2006 | Spencer, R. S., Jr.