One in a series highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog in WorldCat.
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| This North Carolina county book contains a treasure trove of detailed land grant information |
North Carolina is well
represented at CGS. The shelf section begins with The
North Carolinian – a Quarterly Journal of Genealogy and History. We have
volumes 1- 8 covering 1955 to 1966. We also have large collections of the North Carolina Historical Society Journal,
North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, and two sets of journals for
specific counties.
Our North Carolina
collection includes a large section for individual counties. One book that
looks particularly useful is N.C. State
Land Grant Entry Book (1778), Orange County, Volume 1, Grants #1 – 1000. This
book pairs images of the original federal land grants with succinct
transcriptions of each grant. It also includes data tables
specific to names, locations, and waterways to facilitate researching by name
or location. Author Stewart E. Dunaway notes, “In addition, I provide a number of interesting
“tid-bits” about these grants, such as total acres granted, how many acres by
stream and by quantity.”
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| A very detailed lot description from Hillsborough, NC: History of Town Lots |
Lots; the Complete Reference Guide. This source describes the formation of and history of
each Hillsborough lot – all 238 of them. For example, for a single lot (No. 20) Dunaway tells us
what deeds are associated with this property, provides two detail maps, and recounts the ownership history. He
tells us Abner Nash first bought these lots and built a mill. Other buildings
were added, the property was sold to Peter Mallett and the name of the mill was
changed to Mallett’s Old Mill. A Nathan Palmer owned the mill and when he died
his wife sold the property, and it goes on for two additional pages. This book
is a gold mine of detailed information. I hope Dunaway moves on to Tennessee
and does this for Carter County, where my ancestors lived.
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| I keep learning new, useful information like the meaning of “headright” |
The last book I selected
for this post was North Carolina
Headrights: A List of Names, 1663-1744, compiled by Caroline B. Whitley. I
chose this volume because I was not familiar with the term “Headright”. Turns
out headright is another term for “landright,” which is how land grants were
made throughout the British American colonies. “Although there were numerous
refinements and variations, the system allotted each grantee a certain amount
of land based on the number of persons he or she brought into the colony …. so,
acquisition of land by headright.” This book is organized chronologically. It
lists the name of the grantee and summarizes the substance of each grant.
Copyright © 2019 by California Genealogical Society
MAY
2019