Look into the fascinating world of North Carolina research  from the perspective of an engineer-trained sleuth, Diane L. Richard,who loves to “dig” into records, the more obscure the better, and never worries about how “dirty” she might get doing that.

W124, “Tarheels in Your Family Tree? History & Record Idiosyncrasies You Want to Know About!,” 11 am, Wednesday, 10 May 2017.

Diane gives you insight into fourteen elements of doing NC research that many don’t think about – whether we’re talking about geographic impediments, state and county formation, laws, and so much more. Understanding this context will quickly expand your appreciation for the records created and where to look for them.

S446, “Crimes Across Multiple Jurisdictions: Meet Wake County’s Abbott Brothers,” 2:30 pm, Saturday, 13 May 2017.

A fun talk about 18th century criminals, crimes,and courts! ALL of the brothers appeared in court at one time or another and not just in the court of their birth county. You’ll see records from county courts, district courts, and even a court in another state. Let’s see what the court records tells us about these seemingly “bad” boys.

F326, “Get Excited About your Pre-1870 NC African American research,” 11 am, Friday, 12 May 2017.

Learn exciting possibilities for records available to research your enslaved or free black ancestors. There are slave-specific records and then records that “should” be color-blind. Examples of many different records where slaves or free blacks are mentioned will be shared–could these include your family?

F344, Two States, Multiple Counties –What’s a Border?,” 2:30 pm, Friday, 12 May 2017.”

This session illustrates that we sometimes consider state and county borders as more substantive than they are when it came to where our families conducted their business. Using examples from NC/VA, LA/TX, MS and AL, let’s explore that your family may not have traveled more than 10 miles from home in their lifetime and yet, transacted business in five or more counties and two or more states.