RECORDS

RECORDS

RECORD.............

OTHER

Wills & Probates

Land Records

Marriages

Births

Deaths & Burials

Court Records

Sightings

Tax Records

Divorces

Petitions

Vignettes

Compiled Sources

Family Bibles

Passenger Lists

English Records

Colonial Virginia

Dower Rights

WILLS & PROBATES. Often contains names of witnesses and executors which are relatives or close friends of the deceased. You will seldom find death dates in these records but the information can be used to narrow down the date of death. Any mention of wives, children or grandchildren are proof of relationship. Women's property rights were severely limited until mid or late 1800. Widows often found themselves destitute and dependent upon their children or friends for support. Many wills set conditions on the wife's inheritance. The law usually provided for the minimum "widow's third" or dower that the law provided for. Probate records can give a picture of family relations. Probated means the will in question was "admitted to probate" or accepted as the deceased's legal last will and testament. Proved just means the witnesses swore to its authenticity.

LAND RECORDS. Deeds and property records are useful in identifying property of bordering relatives, in-laws or neighbors. It may place an ancestor in a certain location at a specific time.

MARRIAGES. Sources are: county or town records, Bible records, church registers, newspapers, marriage license, interviews, letters, diaries, obituaries and pension application. You can estimate marriage with census records. In Colonial Days the prospective bridegroom made application to the Clerk of the County Court for a license to marry. He entered into a "Marriage Bond," which was a conditional bond. The groom signed the bond along with some person as his surety. It set out the names of the parties involved. All bonds were acknowledged before the Clerk, and filed in the Clerk's office as official papers.

DIVORCES. The United States Constitution left complete authority over marriage and divorce legislation to the separate states. Each state had the freedom to develop its own divorce legislation.

BURIAL RECORDS. Sources are: newspaper obituaries, tombstones, death certificates, interviews, funeral homes, bible records, church records, county histories, social security death index and federal mortality schedules for people who died in a census year.

COURT RECORDS. Courthouses contain a wealth of genealogy information. Unfortunately, several of the old courthouses had fires which destroyed these records.

NC BASTARD BONDS. The "Bastardy Bonds" of North Carolina are bonds posted because of the birth or impending birth of a a bastard child. These bonds were intended to protect the county or parish from the expense of raising the child. When the pregnancy of a woman or birth of a child was brought to the attention of the court, a warrant was issued and the woman brought into court. She was questioned under oath and asked to declare the name of the child's father. The reputed father was then served a warrant and required to post bond. If the woman refused to name the father, she, her father or some other interested party would post the bond. In some cases it was found that the mother and reputed father together posted the bond. If the woman refused to post bond or declare the father, she was often sent to jail.

COMPILED SOURCES. Primarily books and articles.

SIGHTINGS. Any mention of an individual not covered by other records. An examples would be newspaper article, church records, social events and taxes.