North Carolina Quakers: Their History and the Records They Left Behind

The Carolina backcountry is known for its genealogical roadblocks: from social and geographic challenges to record destruction, to the failure to create records in the first place. This session begins by examining the cultural influences that have created the problems—influences we need to understand if we are to develop alternative resources and approaches. Building on this foundation, Mills then explores thirty-two strategies for overcoming research obstacles, using a variety of short case studies and little-known materials to illustrate key points. *** This class requires an active webinar membership to attend. ***

Learn about the historic trails and trailblazers that lead early settlers to and from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and the West. Get specific clues to help you solve difficult research questions.

Understand the geographical and migration patterns that make NC hard to find. Learn which records will lead you to answers and how to find alternate records. Discover the records, repositories and the resources you need to find a tarheel ancestor.

Successful Quaker research requires a familiarity with typical Quaker migration routes, and no two Quaker migration events are the same. This was true for the Hunt family of Burlington County, New Jersey. Once they began to move, they covered a lot of ground. Follow them from New Jersey to Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and on to Ohio, then moving again to Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. This case study will also identify when and where the family ceased to be members of the Society of Friends.

What motivated our ancestors to move to the Midwest? We’ll examine how newspaper advertising, broadsides, pamphlets, and books were aimed at prospective migrants from other parts of the U.S. and from Europe.

Colorado was settled by people from a wide variety of backgrounds. If you have ancestors who lived in Colorado there are wonderful online and repository resources for finding the records they left and learning about their often colorful lives in the Centennial State.

While many 17th-century Connecticut colonists have been researched and written about, there remain research challenges: distinguishing people with the same name, deciphering hard-to-read handwriting, understanding unique record sets, and more. This class examines the beginnings of Connecticut, New Haven, and Saybrook Colonies and the people who inhabited the lands prior to colonization. The class reviews published genealogical resources and record transcriptions and then presents strategies to locate and utilize primary sources. The webinar concludes with tips on overcoming common research challenges.

As a major center of American history and starting point for westward migration, Philadelphia has much more to offer genealogists than just tourist sites. The greater Philadelphia area is home to a variety of underrated libraries and archives that should not be missed by serious family historians.

What are the secrets to finding New England vital records today? If you understand how they were made, and all the things that have happened to them since, you will bring new skills and insight to your vital records research. Also, let's develop some strategies for those times when the record cannot be found.