The National Genealogical Society wound up its annual Family History Conference a few weeks ago in Raleigh, N.C. As usual with such a gathering of major speakers, vendors and book dealers, a lot of genealogy information was produced. In the next few columns, we will cover some of the latest developments.
NGS announced it had just published several new additions to its Research in the States series, with the newly revised editions covering North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and a brand new one “American Indians of Oklahoma.” To learn about these and other NGS activities, check ngsgenealogy.org.
Recordings of the sessions in various formats could be quite useful for people to secure, and the vendor for those is playbackngs.com. The society announced that the 2018 conference will be May 2-5 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And, May 8-11, 2019, the conference will return to St. Charles, Missouri, just outside St. Louis.
Several speakers addressed North Carolina research sources and one, David McCorkle, announced two websites: nclandgrants.com and his new one, in progress, nclandrecords.com, where he plans to gather all pertinent data concerning North Carolina land grants and associated documents. Check them out now and keep checking as he adds to this massive project. These two websites should be able to help a lot of people with their North Carolina research.
Freedman’s Bank Lecture
Emma Davis Hamilton will speak June 17 at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall, from 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on The Freedman’s Saving and Trust company records. This is a very important source for African-American genealogy, as the bank was created immediately after the Civil War and those who set up accounts provided a great deal of family history as part of their signing up. It has been a gold mine for many, since the source provides parents’ names, former plantation names, and sometimes former owners. This is a free admission day at the AHC. For more information, call 404-814-4042. Records of this bank can be found on Ancestry.com and other websites.
Vital records office moves
The Georgia State Office of Vital Records moved in March to a new location. It is now located near the airport at 1680 Phoenix Blvd., Suite 100, Atlanta, 30349. This is an even more difficult location to reach than the last one on Skyland Drive, off Buford Highway. For more information, see their website http://dph.georgia.gov/VitalRecords. They have updated their services to allow patrons to use credit cards.
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