The North Carolina Genealogical Society held its fall workshop yesterday in Raleigh. The guest lecturer was the Reverend David McDonald, a 40-year genealogy veteran and former president of the National Genealogical Society. Four fascinating topics were covered – religion in early North Carolina, the Draper Manuscript Collection, transcribing records and overcoming brick walls. It was a genealogy lovefest.

The Draper Manuscript Collection proved to be the most scintillating topic by far. Born in 1815, Lyman Copeland Draper spent his entire adult life amassing the stories of the soldiers who fought in the Revolution from their children and grandchildren. Among his vast collection (491 volumes) are papers related to George Rogers Clark’s expedition and the soldiers of Virginia. North Carolina and South Carolina. But one must be willing to sift through the mostly un-indexed collection to find a nugget of gold. Sift, sift, sift.

A few local book publishers were on hand as well and, lo and behold, I found Martin Trantham and John Martinleer, 6th great grandfathers, listed in two collections of records from the counties of Cumberland and Rowan that were previously unknown to me. And from my mother’s side of the family came a collection of records from Rockingham County with more Joyces than I can shake a stick at. I rescued all three books from a life of obscurity in some warehouse.

So it’s back to work on the tree now that I’m armed with new information and new resources.