Genealogical society to meet May 17

The Sussex County Genealogical Society will hold its general meeting at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 17, at Lewes Public Library and via Zoom.

The guest speaker will be Chris Slavens, a Laurel resident, local historian and author of "1742: The True Story of the Nanticoke Indians’ Plot to Unite the Tribes, Massacre the English and Take Back the Eastern Shore."

The book is a nonfiction account of the Nanticoke Indians and other Delmarva tribes from their first contact with English colonists through decades of bloody conflict and bitter concessions.

A simmering resistance boiled over in 1742, when Nanticoke leaders invited the Choptank, Assateague, Pocomoke and Askecksy tribes to a secret council in the vicinity of Trap Pond in Laurel.

Although the plot was unsuccessful, Slavens said it had the potential to split and weaken the English colonies on the eve of King George's War and a decade before the better-known French and Indian War, possibly changing the destiny of North America. He began researching the near-uprising in 2013, excited to discover that it had occurred near his home at Whaley's Crossroads, several miles east of Laurel.

All members and guests must register at lewes.lib.de.us and find the meeting date under Events. For more information, go to scgsdelaware.org.