Congrats to our most recent genealogy grant recipients!

October 2011

Cemeteries are an important part of genealogical research, and Helen Sharpe understands that as well as anyone involved in genealogy. She has spent the last year locating, photographing and researching cemeteries in Nash County, NC. In fact, she has personally researched 234 cemeteries. The information she has gathered is being used to trace ancestors of both the American Revolution and the Civil War. She is working on developing two books, one on her cemetery research and one on Civil War veteran gravesites, for use in the Braswell Memorial Library. The grant award will help fund the printing and binding of the books, and other costs associated with compiling and preserving Helen’s research.

November 2011

Established in 1983, the Fayette and Raleigh County Genealogical Society is a small, yet very active organization. Some of their current projects include reading and recording all of the cemeteries in Fayette and Raleigh counties, publishing a quarterly newsletter, converting records from microfilm to DVD, updating previously published census records to include slave records, and developing a Research Guide which will be made available at the Courthouse and Visitors’ Centers. They have also published seven Fayette County cemetery books to-date. But like so many genealogical societies and libraries, they are struggling to cope with the impact of a down economy. They recently lost storage space in the local county library due to space constraints, and have been required to move all materials to a storage unit until a new space is made available. The grant award will help alleviate the financial burden of paying for temporary storage so they Society can continue their good work.

Apply for a genealogy grant here.