Michael Easter came to America from Holland and settled in Davidson County, North Carolina. He died ca. 1793. Descendants lived in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri, and elsewhere.
In 1970, a working-class, Jewish man from New York City married an African American woman from rural, segregated North Carolina. From their union, Michael Wenger has three children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Years later, Mr. Wenger served as Deputy Director for Outreach and Program Development for President Clintons Initiative on Race, an opportunity that confirmed for him the conscious and unconscious bias that people of color confront daily in the United States. Both personally and professionally, Mr. Wenger has peered into a world far beyond the comprehension of most white people in our society. His book, deeply moving and tenderly written, shares the discoveries hes made. He masterfully weaves his personal and professional journeys and helps readers of all races to become more aware of the pain that well-meaning white Americans inflict on people of color, often without knowing it, and to recognize the richness that awaits those with the courage to embrace our nations growing diversity. Mr. Wengers remarkable and inspirational story will, at times, move you to tears while occasionally triggering a knowing laugh as he recounts the struggles and triumphs of his journey. It will awaken you to the stark realities of life for some in America today, while fostering hope for and a commitment to a more racially equitable and harmonious future for all.
From its beginning as a German-speaking frontier settlement to a vibrant modern community of the twenty-first century, Lexington has exemplified the American spirit throughout its generations. This book, made up of articles originally published in the Lexington Yesterday column in the Lexington Chronicle and Dispatch News, celebrates all the communities that make up the unique character of Lexington. Follow Claudette Holliday, historian and seventh-generation descendant of one of Lexingtons first families, as she tells of Emily Geigers patriotic ride during the American Revolution, the notorious escapades of Bloody Bill Cunningham, Lexingtons murder trial of the century and other true tales from the areas rich history.
Chief among its contents we find abstracts of land grants, court records, conveyances, births, deaths, marriages, wills, petitions, military records (including a list of North Carolina Officers and Soldiers of the Continental Line, 1775-1782), licenses, and oaths. The abstracts derive from records now located in the state archives and from the public records of the following present-day counties of the Old Albemarle region: Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington, and the Virginia counties of Surry and Isle of Wight.