The following scans are of a card that my 2nd great grandfather, Claude Rual Smith, Sr used to carry in his pocket. I believe it is a Draft Registration Card to prove that he had registered for the draft. It was probably also used as a form of identity.

The WWI draft registration card that I pulled off of ancestry.com is below.

Looking for Wills at the NC State Archives

This post has been updated with new screenshots from the NC State Archives website. Please refer to this 2011 post instead.

I consider Mitchell's "Will Index" to be my #1 resource material to researching NC families. It is a two volume set that sits out on the main counter at the NC State Archives. It can be searched online using the NC State Archives MARs search Engine. This is how I went about finding the last will and testament for Henry Williams:

Go to NC State Archives webpage

Click on the MARs Catalog link on the left side and a new window will open. It may take a couple of minutes to completely load. You will see the main search page. I have included a screen shot below:

Next I type in "Henry Williams" in the search box and I put a check mark beside the Mitchell Will Index listing. Then I click on the search button.

The database loads the Mitchell Will Index and reports back that there are 7 hits in the County Records Part 1 section and 9 hits in the County Records Part 2 section. This index is alphabetized by county name. Counties starting with a letter in the first half of the alphabet are in County Records Part 1 and those in the second half of the alphabet are in County Records Part 2. The actual published copy of the index is alphabetized by last name.

If I wanted to look for a will for Henry Williams in Caswell County, NC only, then I could type in "Henry Williams Caswell" into the search box and it would bring up 1 hit in County Records Part 1.

Click on the County Records Part 1 link and I get a display of 1 record for Henry Williams.

Click on the blue "I" icon in the first line

The record depicts information for this Henry Williams. The will was recorded 1786 in Caswell Co., NC. The call number and MARS Id number are not important.

Once you find the will date, person's name and county, you can go to the Archives and look through the will boxes. They are organized by county first, then alphabetized by last name. Before you can look through the records you have to fill out a call slip. The call numbers start with a 3-digit prefix assigned to the county of interest. Caswell County's 3-digit prefix is 020. Then the next 3-digits are assigned to document type. For wills, that number is always 801. The last number of the call number is the box number that contains your ancestor's file. This last number is left blank on the call slip. You will put your surname on the call slip instead. They will bring you the box that contains the surname for the county of interest. For example, I might find the will of Henry Williams, 1786, Caswell County, using the following call number: 020.801.25. Box 25 containing the surname Williams.

The archivist will give you the whole box and you can only take out 1 file folder at a time. You must keep all documents inside the folder in order at all times. You can request copies be made by filling out a copy request form. Copies are $0.10 a page. Information on locating estate records at the archives can be found in my post "Locating Estate Records at the NC State Archives."

A Peek into the NC State Archives: Loose Documents of Estate Records

In this post, I'd like to talk about a collection that is part of the Archives: "The Series of Original Loose Documents of Estate Records." This collection contains a serious of documents pertaining to the estates of deceased persons in NC. This collection is sorted by county, then alphabetical by last name.

Documents contained in these files include administrator bonds, affidavits, inventory and estate sales receipts, legal proceedings, division of assets to legatees, etc. These files can be reviewed by filling out a call slip. The call numbers start with a 3-digit prefix assigned to the county of interest. Sampson County's 3-digit prefix is 087. Then the next 3-digits are assigned to document type. For estates, that number is always 508. The last number of the call number is the box number that contains your ancestor's file. This last number is left blank on the call slip. You will put your surname on the call slip instead. They will bring you the box that contains the surname for the county of interest. For example, I might find the loose documents of the estate of Abiah Godwin in Randolph County using the following call number: 081.508.56. Box 56 containing the surname Godwin.

Below is an example of documents contained in the file of Abiah Godwin, Sampson Co., NC (In order of appearance in the file):

Page 1 illustrates how much money the administrator of the estate brought before the judge, probably from the sale of items in the estate. The administrator brought in 79 pounds, 3 shillings, and 11 pence. 39 pounds, 6 shillings, and 8 pence were awarded to the administrator for his duties as administrator leaving 39 pounds, 16 shilling, and 3 pence to be divided between Abiah Godwin's 7 legatees…5 pounds, 13 shilling, 7 pence awarded per legatee.

Page 2 is a scan of what was on the back of the first page. It reads "A settlement of the estate Abiah Godwin, Deceased."

Page 3 is a receipt of monies owed to Samuel Godwin from the estate for his duties of administrator.

Pages 4 and 5 contain an inventory of the estate of Abiah Godwin taken on 4 Feb 1796, consisting of furniture, pots, farm stock, kitchen goods, etc.

The records contained in this series are "Loose Papers" which means they range from administration bonds to petitions for dowers, etc. Some items are frequently misfiled, so it is a good idea to look through all of the folders for the surname you are researching. For example, you might find a court suit about your ancestor in his Father's estate file, even though the two of them died 40 years apart. 

The value of this collection is that it is organized by county and then by surname whereas other bound volumes of estate records are organized by date.

You can read about how to find WILLS at the NC State Archives in my post "Looking for Wills at the NC State Archives - Updated."