FAMILY TIES: HOW THE LINEAGE OF WEALTH FLOWS THROUGH TIME
Every city has its origins; Raleigh is no exception. With humble beginnings, Wake County and Raleigh were established from family land. Influential families, mostly recipients of land grants by the British monarchy, forged a life in the new land positioning themselves to not only keep the land they had, but imbed themselves within the fabric of Raleigh’s history.
This relational map paints a picture of Raleigh’s flow of wealth through family marriages and births. From the original property owning families beginning in Wake County in the 1700’s to today’s wealthy, traces of these original families flow through the generations. Each generation produces merchants, plantation owners, mayors, governors, and successful philanthropists. One can see how wealth and influence is transferred through marriages, land sales, and property holdings in order to keep the wealth “in the family”. As the flow of wealthy families comes and goes throughout Raleigh’s history, one can see historical events during the timeline cause a disruption in the traditional transfer of wealth.