Thanks for the Honor!
Folks, it's been a blast! The last few years as your coordinator have been a blessing to me as a researcher and genealogist. Philosophical differences with the NC Gen Web and other key projects pending with the Briles Information Network have prompted me to resign as coordinator for Randolph and Davidson Gen Web. I wish everyone at the NC Gen Web much success with their vision and hope everyone has a great New Year!
Newspaper Digitization Project Link
The NC State Archives announced that the newspaper digitization project is now available online. Many papers dating from 1752-1890s from cities like Edenton (1787-1801), Fayetteville (1798-1795), Hillsboro (1786), New Bern (1751-1804), Salisbury (1799-1898), and Wilmington (1765-1816) have been added to the database. Over 23,000 digital images are available for viewing, which is also keyword searchable. Check this site out today, very cool!
Linthicum Surname Added/Research Ongoing!
Terry L. Linthicum of Green Valley, Arizona has contacted the project in reference to adding the Linthicum family name to the surname page. Of course we were glad to do it! Mr. Linthicum's research is ongoing and has requested help with any information regarding Soloman Linthicum. The project has added a special family page for Linthicum with some lineage information and questions for researchers. We encourage everyone to view this page and contact the project if you have information for Terry. Thank you Terry for contacting the RCGWP!
Another Cemetery Transcribed and Photographed!
The Randolph County Gen Web, in conjunction with the Briles Information Network, is pleased to announce the transcription of a another cemetery in Trinity, NC. Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting Cemetery has been transcribed and photographed by R. Trent Briles. The church is located at 3673 Hoover Hill Rd in Trinity and has over 200 grave markers. The process was done by visiting the site and photographing every marker in the cemetery. No other source was used! You can view the markers, transcription, and directions to the cemetery by clicking on this link. All transcribed cemeteries will be listed on the research page. NEXT UP: Pierce Chapel Baptist Church
Randolph County Natives Killed in WWII
A new page has been created to display the Randolph County Natives killed in World War II. You can also click on the link to view the entire state and also other branches of service. You can access this page by clicking here or by checking out the data link above and looking under the military heading.
Famous Church Transcribed and Photographed!
The Randolph County Gen Web, in conjunction with the Briles Information Network, is pleased to announce the transcription of a very famous church cemeterey in Trinity, NC. Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, now called Mt. Pleasant Community Church, has been transcribed and photographed by R. Trent Briles. Mt. Pleasant is located at 4713 Cashatt Rd in Trinity and has over 280 grave markers. The process was done by visiting the site and photographing every marker in the cemetery. No other source was used! You can view the markers, transcription, and directions to the cemetery by clicking on this link. All transcribed cemeteries will be listed on the data page. NEXT UP: Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting!
Briles Named New Davidson County Coordinator
Well, it's official! Effective September 1, 2009, I took on the task of running two very active counties in North Carolina. The Randolph & Davidson County Project will be under the coordination of me, Trent Briles. I look forward to running both counties and hope that I can continue to provide the best in genealogical information for visiting and researchers to the sites. You can view the new Davidson County Gen Web Page by clicking on this link.
Prices for Vital Records Increase!
The North Carolina Vital Records Unit has increased it's fee for research and making copies of records in the State of North Carolina. The new prices went into effect August 24, 2009 and will consist of the following:
Fee for a first copy of a vital record, or for conducting a search of the files for the record when no copy is made: $24
Fee for each additional copy requested from the same search: $15.
The new forms are available on the NC Vitals Site and remember Vital records are also available from the Register of Deeds in the county where the event took place. I would suggest you request a copy of an uncertified copy from the Register of Deeds(unless you need a certified copy), because the fee is nominal for uncertified copies of vital records. If you have any questions, please contact me here at the project.
NC/Randolph Biographies Link Added
The project has added new link to the research page. "Index to the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" is a listing of the North Carolina Biographies in Randolph County, which dates back to 1781. You can search any county or by Surname. The index can be found by clicking on this link.
Death Row Facts Page Added
Have you ever wondered how many people from Randolph County have been executed in NC? How many are currently on death row? I have compiled a list of past and current offenders on death row and placed the information on a special page! The title is called "Randolph County Executions and Current Death Row Inmates" and currently eight inmates from Randolph County on death row. When you view the page, make sure you move your mouse over the person's name for additional facts about the case. I hope you find this page interesting.
New Book About Randolph County!
Don Bulla of Asheboro, NC has written a book about Randolph County. His brother Ralph Bulla worked for the Courier Tribune and wrote social stories, anniversaries, church stories, human interest, reunions, etc. Don got all of these stories off microfilm and compliled a book. The name of the book is "Visiting With Ralph Bulla, Courier Tribune Articles 1954-1957." The cost of the book is $60 and for more information regarding this book, please contact the Randolph County Library.
New Search Feature
The Project has added a new feature to aid in your research for cemetery records and surnames. A Find-A-Grave search box has been added to the "data" page that will allow you to search cemetery records and surnames for Randolph County ONLY. This search will save you time and energy and prevent from having to search through each cemetery listing in the county. Currently there are 2,530 names listed in the Find-A-Grave network for Randolph County. I hope this new search feature will help in your research.
RSS Feed Added
The Project has added a RSS feed to the main site. What is a RSS Feed? RSS or "Rich Site Summary" is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many sites such as the RCGWP and quite often news blogs syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to visitors. RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web by posting updates to the site. It allows you to stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. The RSS Feed LOGO is to the right, just below the link for the Randolph County Message Board. The Twitter button is right beside it!
What do you need to view an RSS Feed
Viewing the RCGWP Feed is very simple. You will need a reader and yes most or all of them are FREE! The RCGWP recommends using Google Reader, Mozilla Firefox, MY Yahoo, and FEED Demon. Internet Explorer also works fine as a RSS Reader. We have tried all of the above and believe these are the best on the Internet. The RSS feed will also be featured on FeedBurner, powered by Google. You can also subscribe this way by clicking here!
How does RSS Feeds work
After you download or find a reader, come back to the Project and look for this RSS logo 
You can click on it or right click on it to retrieve the address of the feed (COPY LINK LOCATION). Simply put the RSS address into your reader and that's it! You now will receive updates for the Project without having to visit the site. Example: Let say you visit ten genealogy sites a week and enjoy reading the content of those sites. Instead of visiting each of the sites individually, simply subscribe to their RSS feed and check your reader to see if the site has posted updates or added new material. Now of course, we encourage everyone to visit the Project often to research our site and others on the State Site. If you have any questions regarding the RSS feed, please contact me directly!
1890 NC Branson Business Directory
A link has been added to the data page for the 1890 NC Branson Business Directory. You can view this directory on-line by clicking on the link provided here or you can actually download the entire book from Google's Book web site, fo free. There are several listings for Randolph County in this publication. Check it out today!
Three New Links Added
Three links have been added to the RCGWP which should enhance your genealogy research! The first link is for the North Carolina Miscellany North Carolina Miscellany is a blog produced, edited, and maintained by the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The North Carolina Collection, located in historic Wilson Library, is the state’s premier collection of published materials documenting the history, literature, and culture of the Tar Heel state. The collection is free and open to the public. The second site is for North Carolina Architects & Builders . This biographical dictionary highlights architects and builders who have produced North Carolina's architecture for more than 300 years. A brief biography plus a building list traces each person's work in the state. This is a growing website, with many more entries still to be added. The third site added to the network is Family Search Record Search. Family Search Indexing is a non-profit community effort sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you can search vitals records and census data for free. Please note the BIN does not support the beliefs of the LDS. All of these sites are excellent resources for genealogy research and are free!. Please visit these sites today!
Twitter is ON!
The RCGWP is now on Twitter! You can monitor updates via Twitter by joining the project. Simply go to Twitter.com and add the Randolph County Gen Web Project. The member name is RandolphGWP. Once you have the project on line, you will received updates as they happen. Death notices and updates to the site will be featured on Twitter!
New Links Added
Two links have been added to the RCGWP which should enhance your genealogy research! The first link is for the Randolph County Family Group Sheets . This page only list the families that have submitted their sheet to the main site located here. You must list your family group sheet to the main site before it is listed on the Randolph County page. The second site is the New North Carolina Family Records Online. This page is a project of the state library and state archives of NC. Please visit this page today!
Military Links Updated
The NC Military Links has been updated with the addition of the "NC in the Civil War" Page. The curator of this site, Diane Siniard, has updated the county links as well as other important information for the North Carolina. These pages are dedicated to the men and women of the Civil War and include a "What's New" Index. Check out her site today. The main link has been added to the data section of the RCGWP.
High Point Enterprise Now Free
A yearly check of the High Point Enterprise web site has revealed a change in direction for the newspaper. When the change took place is anyone's guess, but it's for the better. You can now view obituaries and other articles, for free, with online registration. The registration is free and takes only a few minutes to complete. The format is very basic and the display is average at best, but it's free so we won't complain. The RCGWP has boycotted the Enterprise for the last three years when the paper started charging for online access. With this change, we will use HPE along with the rest of the sources in the area. Welcome Back HPE!
A Friend Loses a Friend and Wife
I would like extend my condolences to the Alan Burroughs family in Randolph County. Alan lost his wife, Mary Beck Burroughs suddenly on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at the very young age of 45. I've known Alan for years and work with him in Greensboro. I will be praying for your family Alan. Mary's death notice has been posted on the site and can be viewed by clicking this link. God Bless Alan.
Policy Regarding Death Notices
The Randolph County Gen Web Project has archived the December death notices. As we start a new year, I would like to post my policy regarding obituaries. Any questions, please contact me here at the project.
Death Notices from Newspapers and Funeral Homes are copyrighted. Notices posted here are abstracts and list only the facts of the decedent. They are posted in a specific format created by the curator. The following criteria must be followed with regards to the decedent:
1. Born in Randolph County, i.e. Native, OR
2. Died in Randolph County, OR
3. Currently resides in Randolph County, OR
4. Is buried in Randolph County
Death Notices are posted as soon as they are received into the project. The facts "only" are retrieved from the actual notice and edited for content for the project. The curator then creates a unique notice, in order of specific facts, then posts them on the message board here. The following format is used for this unique format:
Name of the deceased, date of death and location of the passing, service information, burial location and officiant, birth information, predeceased information, surviving family members, and finally the funeral home handling the service. Family pets and other editorial comments can not be posted due to copyright laws unless specific permission is granted by the author. Why? Because this information or "facts" is not substantiated by my research and thus permission is needed from the author.
Once we move to the next month, the previous month notices are compiled and archived in a specific format. The past notices are removed from the message board and placed on the actual project site. A search engine has been placed on the archived site to search for a specific notice by name.
The above procedure allows the project to continue to post notices without the issue of copyright laws because it list the facts only. Death notices posted here will NOT deviate from the above procedure.
Best Viewed on I.E.
The RCGWP is best viewed on Internet Explorer 7.0 and Apple's Safari browser. The surname page for I.E. 7.0 only and will not work on any other browser. Sorry, I don't have a fix for this. I'm currently working on a text-only version for Apple's Safari and Firefox web browsers.
The Message Board
The policy governing the message board for queries has changed. You will no longer need to register to respond to queries already posted on the board. You will, however need to register to start a new thread on the board. This change in policy affects the look-up and query section only. I also posted the email for
Judy Lockhart regarding look-ups. You can email her directly by visiting the board.
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He who has no fools, knaves, or beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning." -- Old English proverb
Navigation Around the Site
As stated above, I want to make the navigation around the site easy and painless. The majority of the research can be accessed by the menus above or by the links on the right.
County projects are required to be updated every 6 to 8 weeks. I plan to update this site everyday by posting death notices and listing queries via mutiple message boards.
Here's the Latest...UPDATE!
- November Death Notices for 2009 have been archived.
- Newspaper Digitization Project Link added to the data page under archives.
- Linthicum link added to Surname page and under the family heading on the data page.
- September & October Death Notices for 2009 have been archived.
- Two new pages added to the RCGWP! "Transcribed & Photographed Cemeteries of Randolph County" Page has been added to list all of the cemeteries that have been recently transcribed. This page will be stored under the data page along with a listing of cemeteries in Randolph County courtesy of Google. This link will also be stored under the data page or you can click here. for a sneak peak! This list is still under construction.
- Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting Cemetery has been transcribed and photographed. You can visit the link either by the data page or by clicking here.
- Randolph County Natives Killed in World War II-Death listing
- Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, now Mt. Pleasant Community Church, has been transcribed and photographed. You can visit the link either by the data page or by clicking here.
- August Death Notices have been archived.
- Two New Links Added to the "data" page. The Randolph Guide, a online newspaper, and the "Notes on the History of Randolph County". Both are web sites that contain great historical information!
- New file added to the "data" page. Dictionary of NC Biography Index Link
- New file added to the "data" page. A Guide to research material from the NC Archives!
- Randolph County and NC Death Row Page Added!
- Death Notices for July, 2009 have been archived
- Don Bulla has written a book about Randolph County called "Visiting With Ralph Bulla, Courier Tribune Articles 1954-1957."
- The Genealogical Society of Davidson County will host a major genealogical Swap Meet on Saturday, September 19, 2009 from 10am to 3pm. Currently, Societies from Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, and Randolph Counties have committed to participate as well as Lexington Library's History Room.
State Coordinator: Diane Siniard
Asst. State Coordinator: Katherine Benbow
Please visit the US and NC Gen Web Projects.
