Research Blog

Traversing the Past: Colonial Travel in Eastern North Carolina
Traveling through New Bern on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd or to Chocowinity on Hwy 17 or Greenville on 43,…
Beaufort County, North Carolina Ancestors by Roy Archbell, Jr.
I was thrilled this past week to receive in the mail a great big heavy package postmarked from Virginia. As…
WARNING! Be cautious using ChatGPT for genealogy research
I love technology and I'm always up for trying new things. Last month, I used ChatGPT — a site I…
Heirs of John Holmes to James Creamer
I've referenced this deed previously on this site, but I realized I've never transcribed it. This relates to the John…
GET MORE from Ancestry DNA & FamilyTree DNA – TOOLS to use for Solving Genetic Genealogy Problems 🧬
I was invited to give a presentation to the Craven County Genealogical Society about how to get more out of…
Using DNA to solve a mystery: Who was Nancy Catherine Watson, the third wife of Eli J. Cox?
In March 2014, I wrote a lengthy post about the mystery of my 3rd great-grandmother Nancy Catherine WATSON, the last…
Genetic Genealogy Basics: Ethnicity Reports, Autosomal DNA, mtDNA, Y-DNA and DNA site comparisons 🌳
A lot of people have all kinds of questions about DNA tests and family tree research. Genetic genealogy has exploded…
NC GENEALOGY TREASURE TROVE 100% FREE at FamilySearch – Learn to search the UNINDEXED CATALOG
The best free genealogy resource online is FamilySearch.org, and in particular, their free online catalog. A lot of people get…
True Stories from Colonial North Carolina
I was recently asked by Wake County Public Libraries to give a virtual Zoom presentation on fascinating but little known…
NC Tax Lists at NC Digital Collections
North Carolina Digital Collections has scanned North Carolina Tax Lists and organized them for researchers. Check them out via the…
1779 Craven County Tax List
Below is a transcription of names found on the 1779 Tax List. These original scans can be found here at…
John Vendrick, his wife, and his mother
About a week ago, I was poking around in Currituck County land records. I don't even remember why. While skimming…