Randolph County, NC Genealogists

08/27/2023

A very old article I wrote…just found. Many of us would LOVE to find a picture of the SA tombstone… the arrowhead…or whose “garden” it was put into! If anyone has any info, please let me know!

09/11/2021

No…never forget.

07/02/2021

06/06/2021

A few marriage records this morning from Randolph County for my Julian and York brethren!

06/06/2021

Owen Spears - Is this Daniel F. Trogdon yours? I found these estate records and thought they may be the Daniel F. you mentioned. Jean LaCoss

05/01/2021

11 years ago, William Least Heat Moon the author of the New York best selling book Blue Highways came to Asheboro to meet with me for a tour of the Billy Trogdon Cemetery. I had reached out to him with an invite to come and review the genealogical research of his ancestor William Trogdon that he had written of in his book. His book sparked a MASSIVE amount of hype, with Trogdons searching for their “Indian” ancestor. I have had to disappoint too many to count Trogdons in that search after his book was published. William Least Heat Moon was a pen name, his Boy Scout name! I was able to provide Bill years of research that had NOT proven the myth of “William Trogdon killed by the Tories” he recounted in his book. We are open (and hoping) that proof is discovered. Until then, logic and reasoning do not support the myth I call it. Bill gave me copies of his original maps of the “monument” that he had drawn on his original trip to Randolph County which lead to the chapter about William 1 in his book. It was a great visit and an honor to show him and his wife all of the significant sights of the Trogdon’s in the Franklinville area.

05/01/2021

Today my Uncle Brigadier General Floyd Harrison Trogdon was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. A great patriot, man, husband, father, brother and uncle. I believe he is one of only two generals from Randolph County, NC from WWII era. A native son.

04/20/2021

Feel free to add your surnames of interest in Randolph County, NC. Who knows who you may find!!

03/22/2021

I have had a once in a lifetime genealogical miracle!!!! For 30 years, I have pondered what may have happened to "Nance," a slave willed to my 7 x great grandfather Ure Trogdon from his father Samuel (wife Abigail Julian). I knew that Ure lost all physical possessions (Deed of Trust) and to date, the only "property" I can find documentation of his paying back is paying $65 for the release back to him of "Nance" in 1831. I had no idea of what happened to her. Because Ure paid to have her returned to him, I assumed that he emancipated her and I just haven't found a record of it.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email that is nothing short of a miracle. A young lady reached out to me who is a direct descendant of Nance! Better yet, this young lady has been on a research journey that is extraordinarily thorough and incredibly well documented. She had no idea of Ure's losing Nance in a Deed of Trust, or of him paying for her return. I had no idea that when she was returned, she went to (I cannot find record of her being sold) to Ure's sister, Mary Ferree, at the time, a widow. Ure was the guardian of her minor children and I am assuming Nance was sent to Mary's to assist with the children.

We were able to provide each other information that we would only have happened upon by other miracles that to date have not happened! We both have researched extensively, but we have been approaching the Ure Trogdon family and what happened to all of the slaves after The Emancipation Proclamation from completely different directions. And they were not merging or intersecting paths, but parallel and again, it is a miracle that she reached out to me.

And to add to this amazing news - in her search for more information on Nance, she has uncovered tons of information about the other nine slaves...to the point that I think we will be able to find descendants of all of them. I pray so. This is just a snippet of a document listing the estate records listing all of the slaves that Samuel Trogdon willed to his children when he died in 1831. I have also the division of the slave estate records.

My new found research partner and I plan to meet soon to share documentation and we have agreed to work on working together to try to follow all of them. I was able many years ago to find trace the lineage of a local African American back to one of these slaves, Peter. I never thought I would be able have a connection and link to help find the 10 individuals mentioned in the estate records, but miracles DO happen.

I would LOVE to hear of any other researchers who have had any success (or failures) in finding slaves that may have been associated with your families. I have helped descendants of slaves in the past find their lineage and it is the most rewarding genealogical path I have gone down.

03/12/2021

It took a couple of days to get back to this....but here is the old newsletter. Brad Trogdon I will send you the file.

03/06/2021

It has been a long while since I have seen this newsletter I created back in 2010. The 1641 Trogdon name sighting in the UK was monumental AND amazing!

02/24/2021

To my genie friends....does ANYONE happen to have copies of the Randolph County Poorhouse records? I cannot find my copy of an entry that I now desperately need to find.

01/24/2021

While working at the Billy Trogdon Cemetery, I would catch a glimpse of Hootie Hoot I named him at the time. One day, I had this MAGNIFICENT encounter with Hootie. He LET me get THIS close, which is amazing since Holly was with me. I reckon he knew I was doing good work keeping up the cemetery he chose to call home.

01/04/2021

I need to document the exact GPS coordinates for the tombstone that Gina Smith (ECAFA) removed from the Billy Trogdon Cemetery. This is a travesty and desecration of a grave. PERIOD. On the ECAFA website it is stated a 6 inch in diameter Holly tree grew up through it. That tree is at minimum 3 feet ) young tree with no above ground root system) from the tombstone and did NOT cause Kissie’s tombstone to be broken...FACT. That tombstone has been in pieces for decades...I have photos. If one was going to remove a toddler’s tombstone from a cemetery, why you would not place that on her fathers grave, in close proximity to her, I will NEVER know. To remove it from the grave it has covered for 150 years is beyond my comprehension and is inconceivable. But to remove it from the entire cemetery, away from her family is, in my mind, the most egregious act one could commit. Descendants of the families buried in this cemetery should be as horrified as I was to learn of Kissie’s removal.

09/13/2020

Handmade “bricks” from the homesite of William Trogdon (The Patriot) circa 1722-1805, buried in the Billy Trogdon Cemetery. Who was “Billy?” We do not know. The father William born 1695, or William 1722, buried in the cemetery. We have only a Will from William the junior....from whom all Trogdons descend. Pick a Trogdon, any Trogdon from the US Trogdons, they WILL descend from William1 to Willliam2 and one of these children...Samuel, Ezekiel, Solomon, John, William (never married, no children), and the two girls...can’t remember names off the top of my head, wives of Robert Walker and Charles Duncan! That I remember!

07/22/2020

Okay folks....once in a lifetime (or my lifetime anyway) opportunity to buy Randolph County, NC research publications at very low cost. I just discovered this last week. I am going to post the link in the comments below. The RC Genealogical Society is selling their publications at an INCREDIBLY reduced rate. Here is a picture of the books I picked up from the library this morning. The order form is on the website. This 1900 census is a MUST for research of anyone living in that time period. The info in that census is now as significant in research of that time period as was the 1850 census when households had to list names. WHAT AN AMAZING DEAL.

06/27/2020

WHAT??? I was looking for something else and just saw this. There is only one C.O. Bean, that would be my great great grandfather Charles Oscar Bean. I know of 4 illegitimate children with Martha Harvell. I need to check this out. C.O. May not have been “father” but since he has “history” of 4...could be I have another line I didn’t know about!!

06/13/2020

Someone asked yesterday for a glimpse of the area around the cemetery, what it looked like. Fortunately, the cemetery is land locked. If you have an issue with a really southern accent, this may not be the video for you! Cuz I am cornbread and tadpoles kinda southern!

The scenes from the landlocked Billy Trogdon Cemetery.