Amanuensis Monday: Zachariah O'Neal of Johnston County, North Carolina, 1796

Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:  "A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

For this week's Amanuensis Monday post, I have focused on the will of ZACHARIAH O'NEAL of Johnston County, North Carolina, written 20 March 1796. [1] Zachariah was a farmer, as you will be able to tell from the 400 Acres of Land, stock (animals), and working tools listed in his will below. 

He had a wife named Annie and at least eight children: 

1) Thomas Oneale

2) Winney Oneale

3) Creasey Oneale

4) Edee Oneale

5) Lodowick Oneale

6) Stephen Oneale

7) Micajah Oneale

8) Aley Houst

I like this particular will because it contains information about the land that Zachariah owned and where he got it from and the 3 negros he owned by name - Dick, Jinny, & Peter. Details like this help us to track and prove his children in subsequent generations. 

A little bit more about Zachariah O'Neal: 

He was listed in Captain Houlder's Company in Johnston County, North Carolina in 1787 as having 1 male 21-60 years old, 2 males under 21 and above 60, 5 white females, and 1 black between the age of 12 and 50. [2]

He was also listed on the 1790 Johnston County, North Carolina census with 4 white males under 16 years old, 2 white males over 16 years old, 6 white females, and 1 slave. 

Zachariah wrote his will on March 20th, 1796, giving most everything to his wife, Annie, and then after her death, to his children. 

I do not know when his will was proved. But his wife Annie wrote her will on August 17th, 1829 and it was proved Feb 1835. Annie only mentioned 2 or 3 of her children in her will; I'm guessing that her older children moved away from the area and that is why they were not mentioned in her will. 

Here are the images of Zachariah O'Neal's will. You can click on the image to make it bigger. A transcript of the entire will is below. 

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 1

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 2

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 3

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 4

The last will and testament of Zacharias O'Neal, Johnston Co., NC [1]

Written 20 Mar 1796

In the name of God Amen the 20th day of March 1796

I Zacharias Oneale of Johnston County in the

State of North Carolina being very sick and weak

in Body but of perfect mind and memory thanks

be given to God for the same and calling to mind

the mortality of my body and knowing that I 

have once to die do make and ordain this my last

will and testament as touching my worldly Estate

wherewith it hath pleased god to bless me with 

in this life I give and demise in the following

manner and form...

Impremis. I give and Bequeath to my loving

son Thomas Oneale four hundred acres of land

in this county being the land I purchased of

Meed Gulley and took a title in my said son 

Thomas Oneals name for the same I give to him

his heirs and assigns for ever he first paying and 

taking up my obligation of one Hundred Dollars

given Meed Gulley for a last payment of said 

land also I give to my said son Thomas Oneal

one Maire of a Sorrel collar and one shot 

gun also the household furniture that I have

given him heretofore in his possession. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving friend John 

Ogbon one Sorrel Mair with a saddle and bridle

Item, I give to my loving wife three worke horses

two saddles and bridles also six cows and 

their calves also four head of sheep also one

feather bed and furniture during her life time

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter

Winn Oneale, two cows and calves two head of sheep

also one feather bed and furniture also six heads of 

hogs freely to be by her possessed.

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter

Creasey Oneale two cows and yearlings one

feather bed and furniture six head of 

hogs two sheep freely by her to be possessed

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter 

Edee Oneale two cows and yearlings one feather

bed and furniture six head of hogs two sheep 

freely to be by her to be possessed. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Lodowick 

Oneale my lower land and plantation on

Little River in this county being the land & 

Plantation I purchased of Stephen Young to

him his heirs and assigns forever also two cows

and yearlings freely by him to be possessed. 

Item, I give to my aforesaid wife, Anne, all the

remainder of my stock of hogs besides that is not

heretofore willed also I give her all my corn and 

meete now laid up for her use to support my 

family on so long as the same will serve her also 

I give to my said wife Anney my negro man

named Dick during the time of her life time

or being my widow and after her death or marriage

I give the said Negro man Dick to my loving son 

Stephen Oneale to him and his heirs and assigns

forever...

Item, I give to my beloved wife Anne the use and 

service of my negro man Peter and negro woman

Jinney during the time of her natural life and 

after my said wifes death I give and bequeath 

to my loving son Micajah Oneale my aforesaid 

negroman Peter to him and his heirs and assigns 

forever. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Lodowick

Oneale after the death of said wife, my said negro

woman named Jinny to him and his heirs and assigns forever. 

Item, I give to my said wife Anney the use and Privilege

of my lands and plantation whereon we now live

during her natural life time and after the 

death of my said wife I give and bequeath the 

said land and plantation whereon we now live to 

my loving son Micajah Oneal to him his heirs and assigns forever. 

I also give to my said son Micajah Oneale two 

cows and yearlings freely to be by him possessed

I give to my loving wife Anney all the remainder

part of my cattle not before willed also I give 

to my said wife all my dwelling houses and 

kitchen furniture that I have not before 

willed to her during her natural life and 

after her death to be all except one feather bed 

and furniture to be equally to be divided between my 

daughters herenamed that is to say Aley Houst

Winney Oneale, Creasey Oneale, and Edee Oneale

freely to be by them possessed

Item, I give & bequeath to my loving son Stephen

Oneale after the death of my wife on feather bed and furniture

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Thomas 

Oneale, one cart and wheeles freeley to be by him possessed. 

Item, I give to my loving wife one cart and wheeles

I also give to my said wife all my working

tooles of every nature with all the residue of

my Estate

I also constitute and appoint my loving wife 

Anney Oneale and my loving son Thomas Oneale 

Execuutrix and Executor of this my last will 

testament revoking and disallowing other and

Former will or wills Executors or Executrixs ratifying

and confirming this and no other to be my 

last will and testament. 

In witness whereof I have herunto set my 

hand and seal the day and year above written

Signed sealed and pronounced to be the last 

will and testament of Zacharius Oneales in the presents of us

T Hollemon

Etheldred Price (his mark)

Sam Oneale (his mark)

                                                    Zacharius Oneale (his mark & seal)

If you descend from this family, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly. 

I have not yet determined if there is a connection between this Zachariah O'Neal and my Moses O'Neal who wrote a will in Johnston County in 1813. I would like to know more information about this Zachariah O'Neal. 

Additional Posts: 

Will of Annie O'Neal, Johnston Co., NC 1829, Wife of Zachariah O'Neal

Sources: 

[1] Johnston County, North Carolina, Original Will Records, Zacharias O'Neal, 1796, C.R. 056.801.8; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina, copied March 2014. 

[2] "State Census of North Carolina, 1784-1787," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Sep 2014), Zachariah O'Neal under Capt Houlder's Company, 1787. 

[3] 1790 US Federal Census, Johnston County, North Carolina, population schedule, Zachariah O'Neal; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Sep 2014); NARA Film M637, Roll 7.

The Will of John Dyer of DeKalb Co., TN 1844

In my last post, I introduced my 6^th great-grandfather, John Dyer who married Mary Polly Youngblood. I confirmed the relationship between him and my 5^th great-grandmother, Sally Elvira Dyer by downloading a copy of his will from the FamilySearch website. What an awesome resource! We are so lucky to have the FamilySearch website!

John Dyer’s will listed his twelve children by name and also listed several of his tracts of land that he owned in both Putnam County, Tennessee (where he previously lived) and in De Kalb County, Tennessee (where he lived when he wrote his will). His list of twelve children included my 5^th great-grandmother, Sally Elvira (Dyer) Burton. It also mentioned Mahala Carr who is the ancestor of my grandfather’s DNA match.

The Will of John Dyer [1]

Transcribed by Ginger R. Smith, ginger.reney@gmail.com, 29 May 2014

Written 27 Sept 1844

DeKalb Co., TN

I John Dyer do make and publish this my last will and testament, hereby revoking and making void all other wills by me at any time made. First I desire that my funeral expenses and all my debts be paid as soon after my death as possible out of my money that I may die possessed of or may come to the hands of my executors. Secondly, I give and bequeath to my son Jefferson D Dyer my tract of land in Putnam County, Tennessee lying on the Walton road it being the tract on which I lived and from which I moved when I settled in Dekalb County said tract is supposed to contain about two hundred acres. Thirdly I give and bequeath to my son John M Dyer my tract of land in Putnam County Tennessee known as the Crider place said tract of land joins the land of John Ripeto, Abram Buck and Montgomery Kenard and others said tract is supposed to contain two hundred acres. Fourthly I do leave to my beloved wife Polly Dyer all my tract of land in Dekalb County where I now live during her natural life and after her death I give and bequeath said land to my son Carol Dyer and my Daughters Nancy and Manerva Dyer in the following portions to wit, to my son Carrol Dyer two thirds of said tract and to my daughters Nancy and Manerva one third divided between them. Fifthly I desire that all my perishable property be sold as soon after my death as convenient and credit of twelve months and out of the proceeds of said sales I give and bequeath to my daughters Maltursoto and Peggy as soon as they many marry or come of adult? age as much as my other daughters had given to either of them by me when they married. Sixthly I give and bequeath to my daughters Maria Matthews, Matilda Gormin, Mahala Carr, Polly Robe__, and Sally Burton ten Dollars each. Seventhly I do give and bequeath the balance after taking out the above bequests to my beloved wife Polly Dyer and my son Carrol Dyer and my daughters Malhusodo, Peggy, Nancy, and Manerva equally between them for the purpose educating and clothing them. I desire that my executors sell my tract of land in Putnam County known as the Triffato Waller either at private or public sale to the best advantage and the proceeds disposed of as the proceeds of the perishable property. Lastly I do hereby nominate and appoint my friends Wm H Richardson and Alexander Martin my executors in witness whereof I do to this my last will set my hand and seal this 27^th day of September 1844.

                                                                                John (His Mark) Dyer

Signed sealed and published in our presence and we have subscribed our names hereto in the presence of the Testator this 27^th day of September 1844.

Magor (his mark) Marcun

Zachariah (his mark) Kirkland

State of Tennessee

Dekalb County                                  October Term 1844

A paper purporting to be the last will and testament of John Dyer dec’d was presented in open court for probate and was duly proven in open court by the oaths of Magor Marcun and Zachariah Kirkland, subscribing witnesses to the same who being first duly sworn depose and say that they were acquaintances with John Dyer the testator and that he made his mark to said will and acknowledged that he executed the same for the purpose therein specified and by his request they became subscribing witnesses to the same and acknowledge that said will be recorded. Given under my hand at office the 7^th day of October 1844.

                                                                Wm B Lawrence Clk

                                                                Of Dekalb County Court

John Dyer’s 12 Children mentioned in his will:

1.       Jefferson D Dyer

2.       John M Dyer

3.       Carol Dyer

4.       Nancy Dyer

5.       Manerva Dyer

6.       Maltursoto Dyer

7.       Peggy Dyer

8.       Matilda Gowin

9.       Mahala Carr

10.   Polly Roberts

11.   Maria Mattheny

12.   Sally Burton

Land and Property:

According to this will, John Dyer previously lived in Putnam Co., TN before moving to Dekalb Co. He owned 200A in Putnam Co., TN located on the old Walton Road where he previously lived. This land he willed to his son Jefferson D Dyer; He also owned another 200A tract of land in Putnam Co., TN known as the Crider Place which joined the land of John Ripeto, Abram Buck, and Montgomery Kenard. This tract he willed to his son John M Dyer. The other tract of land he owned in Putnam Co., TN was known as Buffalo Waller and this was to be sold with the proceeds divided between his daughters Mathursa and Peggy.

The land John lived on in DeKalb Co., TN at the time he wrote his will was not described and it was willed to his wife Polly Dyer. I am currently in the process of looking for the will of his wife Mary Polly Dyer. I have not yet found it. Unfortunately, the will book posted to the FamilySearch website is not indexed. A look at the Putnam and DeKalb Co., TN deeds would help me determine what happened to these tracts of land.

I have not yet started researching the members of this family, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. John and Mary Polly Dyer's daughter Sally Dyer was my 5th great-grandmother. She married Charles Burton. If you are connected to this family, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me.

---

Sources:

[1] DeKalb County, Tennessee, Wills, 1838-1854, Vol. A, p. 50, John Dyer, 1844; County Court Clerk’s Office; digital images, “Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 22 April 2014).

---

Many Alamance County Records now Offsite at Archives

I just received this notice from the North Carolina State Archives today on their blog, History For All the People. One item to note is that many records in Alamance County, including the Record of Wills, are stored offsite and are no longer available for viewing on Saturday. If you would like access to any of the following records from Alamance County on a Saturday, you will need to call 919-807-7310 to request to view them.  

Polk County:
 ·         Record of Inheritance Tax, 1921-1968; C.R.080.513.1 (Arranged alphabetically by last name of the deceased)
 ·         You may also find Inheritance tax records in the loose estate records (C.R.080.508).

 Alamance County:
 (Records stored offsite.  No access available on Saturday.  Please call (919-807-7310) and request to view volumes on Saturday.)
 ·         Record of Wills, 1849-1968; C.R.001.801.9-C.R.001.801.30
 ·         Record of Administrators, 1902-1968; C.R.001.504.1-C.R.001.504.16 (15 volumes)
 ·         Record of Settlements, 1919-1951; C.R.001.518.4-C.R.001.518.10 (7 volumes)
 ·         Guardian Bonds, 1910-1953; C.R.001.511.3-C.R.001.511.5 (3 volumes)
 ·         Guardian Returns, 1879-1951; C.R.001.509.02-C.R.001.509.06 (5 volume)
 ·         Guardian Record, 1954-1963; C.R.001.509.07 (1 volume)
 ·         Record of Guardians and Trustees, 1963-1968; C.R.001.509.08 (1 volume)
 ·         Record of Accounts, 1932-1951; C.R.001.501.04-C.R.001.501.07 (4 volumes)

I LOVE using the Will Records! These are the original wills written by or for my ancestors. These records are organized first by county, then alphabetically within each county, then by date, so it is really easy to find all of the people of the same surname who wrote wills in each county because they are all grouped together in the same box. I'm kind of surprised that the Alamance County Wills are being stored offsite because in my mind, it seems as if it is a break in the collection. If I were looking for a will in Randolph County, for example, and I did not find it, the next place I would look would be in Alamance County because they are right next to each other. Since I can only go to the Archives on Saturdays, I would have to plan ahead of time for them to pull all of those records for me prior to my arrival. 

Also, I usually investigate the Guardian returns, records, and accounts at the same time I look at the wills and estate files, so it seems again odd to me that the Estate files would be left onsite for Alamance County, but the wills and associated administration and guardian records would be stored offsite. 

Oh, and did you notice that in the Record of Wills for Alamance County listed above, that the list starts at box 9? Does anyone else find that odd? Why not start at box 1? Hmmm.....

I just found out about the Record of Inheritance Tax files last week. They are not really of much interest to me because most of them did not start until the 1920s. However if you are researching in Orange County, NC, these records started in 1820!!! So do check them out if have exhausted all avenues (wills, estates, guardians, etc) and looking for something new to check out. You can check out the complete list here. 

Francesca, “Recent Transferred County Records: Alamanace and Polk Counties,” History For All the People, posted 24 May 2012 (http://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/recent-transferred-county-records-alamance-and-polk-counties-2/ : accessed 24 May 2012). 

Ginger Smith, "Many Alamance County Records now Offsite at Archives," Genealogy by Ginger, posted 24 May 2012, (http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). 

Email from Reader: Looking for Wills at the Archives

I receive a lot of emails from readers of my blog, some of them surname related and some of them North Carolina and State Archives related. I would like to share the following reader email regarding locating wills at the North Carolina State Archives and my response to her questions.

Hello Ginger,
I just finished reading your blog about the MARS catalog, and just wanted to add that I've been using it for awhile now and think it is great.  I always tell people who write to me to try it out. I have been able to have a field day with the land grants.  I noticed the recent change in how the catalog was organized, and it has thrown me off.  Old dogs have trouble learning new tricks.

I am also an avid genealogist and am one of the administrators at the Glover Surname DNA project. I was so lucky to have our Glover patriarch's will be one of the digitalized ones....and that's because it was way back in 1754. It was spelled Glovyer, but we all know it is the correct person.

My generalized question for you is this:  I can see by the MARS catalog that there are several wills located at the archive center of collateral people who married into the families, but they are not available as scanned images.  Are you aware of any plans underfoot to have these records scanned?  Or 2ndly, are there microfilms of these wills?

Thanks,
Wendy.......from out in California

Just FYI for background purposes, Wendy is referring to the MARS online catalog on the North Carolina State Archives website. MARS stands for Manuscript and Archives Reference System and is an online catalog of many of the Archives' holdings in Raleigh, NC. Here is my response to Wendy from California:

Hi Wendy, 

Thanks so much for writing. That is great that your Glover/Glovyer patriarch's will has been digitized! The digitized wills are the colonial wills that were held under the Secretary of State's Office. Usually these wills were written prior to 1776. These have been digitized because they are too fragile to be brought out to the public for viewing and handling. 

Most of the wills have been microfilmed, however, it was not the original wills that were microfilmed, but rather copies or transcripts that were made from the original wills and bound in books. Only 5 county's "original" wills have actually been microfilmed by the Archives - Beaufort, Caswell, Granville, Pasquotank, and Person.

FamilySearch.org has digitized most of these non-"original" transcriped copies of wills on their site and you can access them here 

They are still in the process of digitizing and uploading to the site and they are not yet indexed. But if you go to the will index and find your ancestor, it is pretty easy to then find them in the appropriate book and page of the scanned image. 

My only word of caution is to remember that these are transcripts which means that someone wrote what they thought they saw on the original will and these were sometimes written 3 or 4 times and mistakes were made. I have found several mistakes in the microfilmed and digital copies I have pulled off of the FamilySearch site. So if you question any information in the will, I recommend to order the original from the Archives right away before pulling your hair out over a mistake that a county clerk probably made during transcription. 

I hope this helps to answer your questions. I have not heard of any intentions to digitize the original wills from the Archives. However, many records are being scanned and uploaded to the North Carolina Digital Collections site here, including bible records. 

Ginger

Amanuensis Monday - The Will of Samuel Lewis of Randolph Co., NC

Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

This week I want to share some records about my LEWIS family from Randolph County, North Carolina that I haven't worked on in several years. I started looking at this family again after connecting with a woman who was a Family Finder autosomal DNA match to one of my matches. Although we were not directly related via ftDNA's Family Finder DNA test, we did find we were related via the STEED family. You will see some STEEDS are mentioned in the will I've presented below. We did not let the lack of shared DNA deter us from exchanging information about our respective Steed family connections. Both of us have yet to find the connection to the other woman that we both match to.

Below you will find scans of the will of Samuel Lewis. He was born sometime before 1759 either in Virginia or North Carolina. It was written 23 August 1823 in Randolph County, North Carolina. Although Samuel does mention all of his children, including the married names of his daughters, he never does mention his wife's name, though he does will to her two acres of land and the house, so we know she is still living. I have not been able to identify her name to date either. I am descended from Samuel's son, John Lewis.

Here is the transcript of the above will: (formatting added by me for emphasis)

In the name of God Amen, I Samuel Lewis of the County
of Randolph and State of North Carolina being of
a  sound mind and disposing Memory and knowing that it
is appointed for all men once to die do make and
ordain this my last will and testament in the following
manner To wit,
1st  I give to loving wife my dwelling House
with two Acres of Land with one cow and calf one
feather bed & furniture, and one Sow and pigs. One pot
during her Widowhood.
2nd  I give to Son John Twenty five cents in cash.
3rd  I give to Son James Twenty five cents in cash.
4th  I give to Son Clayton Steed twenty five cents.
5th  I give to Daughter Polly Wood twenty five cents.
6th  I give to Daughter Peggy Blaylock twenty five cents.
7th  I give to Son William twenty five cents –
also one half of my Land including the
plantation and Land where he now lives
to the South line of my tract.
8th  I give to Daughter Rachel Smithson
twenty five ets.
9th  I give to Son Jesse Twenty five ets
also one half of my Land including my old
plantation Except my dwelling house & two Acres
of land which is giving to my wife unless
She and son Jesse can otherwise agree ---
As to Negro Georo [George?] my - will is that he be sold
and purchased by some of my children if they
can otherwise to sell him where he wishes.
10th  I give to grand daughter Levicy Steed twenty five ets.
11th I give to Grand son Lewis Steed twenty five ets
then the balance of my property to be sold
and Equally divided between my wife
and my children named with my two Grand
children Levicy Steed and Lewis Steed after paying
all my just debts -------
my two Grand children is only to have the part
of one of my children ----------
Also my wife to keep what property she had
when I married her.
Lastly, I nominate and appoint Thomas Thornleigh [or Thornbough]
and Samuel Hill Executors to this my last
will and Testament in witness whereof I have
hereunto set my hand of seal 23 day of
August 1823.
Witness
Jesse Shaw Jurat. Samuel His Mark Lewis
H. Nailor

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

State of North Carolina )

Randolph County ) August Term 1826
The execution of this will of Samuel Lewis
was duly proven in open court by Jesse Shaw, one of the
subscribing  witness thereto & order to be recorded.
Jesse Harper

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to the will, I was able to glean the following information:

• He willed twenty five cents to each of his 8 children (named) and two Steed grandchildren.
• His wife is not mentioned by name. He willed to her 2 acres and the house.
• He willed half of his land to sons William (lives on it) and Jesse Lewis.
• Eight children named in his will:

                                                               i.      John Lewis

                                                              ii.      James Lewis

                                                            iii.      Clayton Steed

                                                            iv.      Polly Wood

                                                             v.      Peggy Blaylock

                                                            vi.      William Lewis

                                                          vii.      Rachel Smithson

                                                         viii.      Jesse Lewis

• Executors:

                                                               i.      Thomas Thornleigh (or Thornbough)

                                                              ii.      Samuel Hill

§  Witnesses:

                                                               i.      Jesse Shaw (Jurat)

                                                              ii.      H. Nailor

One of the children that is missing is Elizabeth Lewis. She died probably around 1802, prior to the signing of this will. She was married to Clayton Steed, who is listed as "son" in this will. Their two children, Lewis and Levicy Steed are listed as grandchildren in Samuel's will. Clayton Steed was my 6th great-granduncle. His wife Elizabeth Lewis was my 6th great-grandaunt. I was related to both of them through the Lewis and Steed families. Their children, Levicy and Lewis were my 1st cousins 7x removed. We shared two sets of ancestors in common - Nathaniel Steed and wife Susannah Franklin, and Samuel Lewis and his unnamed wife.  

I am descended from Samuel Lewis via the following:

1. Samuel Lewis, d. 1826 Randolph Co., NC
2. John Lewis, d. 1830 Randolph Co., NC; md Lavinia Steed (daughter of Nathaniel Steed and Susannah Franklin and sister of Clayton Steed mentioned in Samuel Lewis' will)
3. Nancy Lewis, b. ca 1809, Randolph Co., NC; md. Elijah Godwin 1826, Randolph Co., NC
4. Agrippa Spinks Godwin, b. 19 Mar 1827, Randolph Co., NC, d. 28 Sept 1864, Ironton, MO in the Civil War; md. Elizabeth Ann Orr (daughter of David Orr and Eliza T. Caldwell)
5. David Orr Godwin, b. 10 May 1854, South Fork, Fulton Co., AR, d. 24 Oct 1928, Mammoth Springs, Fulton Co., AR; md. Zilphia Ann Elizabeth Pulley (daughter of William Henry Pulley and Emily Casinda M Gooden)
6. Alvin Theodore Godwin, b. 27 Jan 1879 Mammoth Springs, Fulton Co., AR, d. 17 Nov 1950, Mammoth Springs, Fulton Co., AR; md. Lou Ella Davis (daughter of William Davis and Dora Nix)
7. Orville Godwin, b. 12 Oct 1905 in Hardy, Sharp Co., AR; d. 10 Sept 1956, Tulsa, Tulsa Co., OK; md. Nova Lee Peters (daughter of William Edward Peters and Dora King)

[1] Will of Samuel Lewis, 1823, Randolph County, North Carolina; Found at the North Carolina State Archives, Series of Original Wills.

North Carolina Probate Records on FamilySearch.org

I have been looking for the parents of Jesse Dunlap, my fifth great-grandfather. I found an article written about Jesse Dunlap in the book A History of Boone County Arkansas (p. 217) in which it is said that Jesse Dunlap was born in Stokes County, North Carolina in 1783. The only problem is that Stokes County wasn’t formed until 1789.

But all information is good information in my opinion, so I decided to use that as a starting point. Whenever I am looking for someone’s parents and I don’t have anything to go on except a location, I usually start by looking through the wills for that surname in that location.

The North Carolina State Archives has access to the Mitchell’s Will Index through their online catalog called MARS. Sometimes a person didn’t write a will, but there are items relating to their estate recorded in the county in which they died. Items relating to a person’s estate have been scanned and digitized by FamilySearch.org. Although the digital items have not been indexed, they are browsable online for FREE on their website and many of the county records have indexes contained within the bound books.

Some genealogists might wonder what the benefit of such documents are if you can’t do a collection-wide textual search for your ancestors’ names. I still find the images useful. I loaded the images for the North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970 and then selected Stokes County. Under Stokes County, there are 5 sets of wills – volumes 1-5. 

Volumes 1, 3, and 5 have an index at the beginning; volumes 2 and 4 do not. I do not want to miss any Dunlaps who might have recorded a will in either of these two volumes, so I look through both volumes, one image at a time. Volume 2 has 184 images which is roughly about 90 pages total because each image is a scan of two pages of the book. As I “browse” through each image, I look for the signature or name of the person who wrote the will. I don’t actually have to read each wills, but merely scan through the images for the short block of text that looks like a signature to see if it is a Dunlap. Here is an example of a will written by Fredric Hausen.

I don’t have the best attention span, but browsing through 182 images is not that bad. It took me about 40 minutes to look through this volume containing 182 images. Unfortunately I did not find any Dunlaps in this volume. Volume 4 will probably take me another 40 minutes as it is 197 images.

Have you checked out FamilySearch’s latest browsable images? North Carolina and South Carolina Probate Records have been very valuable to me these days!

Looking for Wills at the NC State Archives - Updated

In 2008 I wrote a post, “Looking for Wills at the NC State Archives” in which I talked about how to use the NC State Archives’ online catalog (MARS) to see if your ancestor left a will in North Carolina. Since then the Archives has totally redesigned their online catalog, so my screenshots are obsolete. I have updated them in the post below. Please feel free to leave comments or questions for help in the comment boxes below.

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

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:

Because I want to look in a specific resource –the Mitchell’s Will Index – I click on the Browse Button to open the list of collections. The Mitchell’s Will Index is found under the Popular Collections Heading. Click the little plus sign beside “Popular Collections” to expand the sub-headings and then click the box beside “Mitchell Will Index” to select it. Make sure a green check box appears.

Once the Mitchell Will Index is loaded as the collection I want to search, I type in “Williams” in the main search box:

And I get the following 49 pages of results!!! – What???

If you look at the Mars ID, all results have the same first 4 digits – 5200, but different set of 2^nd numbers. The first result has a 5200.1 – this is for Alamance County. The next 3 results have 5200.2 – This is for Albemarle County. They are listed alphabetically by county. The Archives uses a set of numbers for county codes. So this is good to know if you are looking for a particular county. I happen to know that Caswell County’s code is “20” and I could scroll through these results until I get to 20, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to go back and use the search box again.

I can enter “Williams, Caswell.”

And then I get 5 results, one of which is my Henry Williams. And you see the county code is in fact, 20.

The MARS system is only a catalog, it is not a digital repository with digital images. But using this will tell you if your ancestor left a will in the state of North Carolina.
However, there ARE some wills written before 1776 which have been scanned with digital images accessible from this catalog. You can NOT access them from the Mitchell's Will Index though. They are accessed from the Secretary of State Record Group. (More on this later)

Double clicking on Henry Williams brings up the information for this record:

This 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.


What's Next? - Head to the Archives

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. 

County:
The call numbers start with a 3-digit prefix assigned to the county of interest. Caswell County's 3-digit prefix is 020. 


Document Type:
Then the next 3-digits are assigned to document type. For wills, that number is always 801. 


Folder Number:
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.


Here's some information on Estate Records at the NC State Archives in my post "A Peek into the NC State Archives: Loose Documents of Estate Records"