I’m sure many of you Joyner researchers have already sorted this out, but I’m still trying to make sense of who’s who. I’m going to start posting information about the Joyner family of Pitt County, primarily focusing on items spanning the colonial era to the mid-to-late-1800s. All of the following items come from the Pitt […]
The John Gray Blount Mysteries, Part 1: The Twist of the Wife
One day a couple of years ago, I googled the name of my elusive 4th great-grandfather, Wilson Daniels, whose parentage I still don’t know. One of the results was from the Internet Archive, the fourth volume of a collection of documents known as The John Gray Blount Papers. John Gray Blount and his brothers were […]
Select items from the estate records of Amon Joyner of Pitt County
There were at least two Amon Joyner living contemporaneously in Craven and Pitt Counties. How they are related is a complete mystery to me. I do know they are not the same man nor is one the father of the other, or at least if he is, not legitimately so. The Amon Joyner in Craven County is […]
Is this the mother of Laban Morris?
Hardy Gatlin heirs sell land to Laban Morris – 1814 (Annotated… sort of)
My ancestor Laban Morris never built on his own land. He did buy a parcel in 1814 (found in Deed Book 39, p. 589-591) from the heirs of Hardy Gatlin, but then he turned around and sold it to Hiram Pollard in 1815. Since I’m forever picking apart every single clue that I can to determine […]
Is Rachel Ann Spear really the daughter of James Spear?
I really am enjoying the new and improved Ancestor Hints on AncestryDNA — especially now that they have the ability to color code matches into surname and other custom groups. One issue that keeps coming up, though, is suggested matches who may not have their data exactly right. One such case is Rachel Ann Spear […]
Ancestry ThruLines™ — Proceed with caution!
I logged in to AncestryDNA today and was greeted by a new feature called ThruLines™ where the DNA Circles used to be. I’m always excited to see new features and this one was no exception until I saw what was coming up in my ThruLines. The Perpetuation of Family Tree “Fake News” Thomas Morris and Rachel Platt […]
Spear, Speir, Spire, Spyers, Spears Deeds (Craven and Beaufort Counties)
The following are Craven County Spear deeds(and all related spellings). This is not a comprehensive list. The following are Beaufort County JOHN SPEIR deeds.
Craven County Anderson Deeds & Grants
I’m organizing my genealogy files for the ten millionth time. I thought since I’ve downloaded so many deeds from the Craven, Beaufort, and Pitt County Register of Deeds I might start posting them here, beginning with Craven County Anderson Deeds & Grants. No, I’m not transcribing all of these, and this is obviously not a […]
Family Tree Fact Check: Elial Edwards, son of Emanuel Edwards
Oh my goodness. How does this even happen!? Just look. Wait… let me help you zoom in closer so you can see the level of crazy that we’re dealing with here… So which is it, Ancestry? Am I in the Lovie HOLMES circle, or am I in the Sinah HILL circle? Because they are two […]
Beaufort County Bastardy Bonds
If you’re not already a member of Beaufort County Genealogical Society, you might want to be. When you’re a member, you receive their genealogy journal, Pamteco Tracings. There have been some real gems in that publication over the years. This post features just one of the kinds of treasures you can find in its pages. […]
Formation of Pitt County, North Carolina
Pitt County was formed after Beaufort and Craven Counties, but the establishment of its border wasn’t a one-time thing. Below, you can read about the formation of Pitt County, North Carolina from David Leroy Corbitt’s book, The Formation of North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. See if it helps some pieces start falling into place with some […]
Formation of Craven County, North Carolina
Read the descriptions below for Craven County’s shifting borders and see if it helps some pieces start falling into place with some of your ancestors who seem to appear and vanish from this and neighboring counties inexplicably in the mid-to-late 1700s and into the 1800s. Remember, The Formation of North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 by David […]
Formation of Beaufort County, North Carolina
The Formation of North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 by David Leroy Corbitt is available for free at Archive.org, but for convenience’s sake, over the next few days I’m going to post the sections on the formation of Beaufort County (including Bath County), Craven, and Pitt Counties here at East Carolina Roots, since the bulk of the […]
Deed naming the children of James Lewis of Beaufort County, 1824
The following is a transcription of a deed conveying the land that was inherited by the children of James LEWIS to his widow, Nancy LEWIS. (Found in Beaufort County Deed Book 13, p. 303) The children are named as follows: Elisha LEWIS (married Alice BUCK; moved to Posey County, Indiana) Nathan LEWIS (married Sidney JONES; […]
Secretary of State Wills – Craven County (Quick index with direct links to NCDCR)
For your convenience, here’s a quick index in both order by surname and regular order (for SEO) with links to all of the Secretary of State Wills for Craven County that have been published by North Carolina Digital Collections. PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a complete list of all Craven County Willls. There are plenty […]
1775 Pitt County Tax List (Index with original images)
I’ve been meaning to get around to making an index and posting the images from the 1775 Pitt County Tax List (and other tax lists) ever since the State Library of North Carolina Digital Collections published the documents to their site. It’ll be slow going, but at least here’s this one. If you’d like to […]
Update on the William S. Morris family of New Bern
Nearly five years ago I published a post for a will I had stumbled upon for a William S. MORRIS of New Bern in which he declares his wishes that his “negro woman Patty” and her “mulatto” children be freed and well-maintained after his death. The will was dated 1831 and as far as I […]
Be careful with assumptions about “Verified” DNA relationships and those AncestryDNA “Hints”
Long story short: Hints shared with your AncestryDNA matches are only as good as the data that both of you have in your trees. This has been bothering me quite a bit and I decided I finally ought to just write something about it. I think it’s important enough that I may have the person […]
Have you checked the 1840 Pensioners Census for your Revolutionary War ancestors?
I got an email from a fellow researcher of a common family from eastern North Carolina in which this person was wondering if there was an 1840 Revolutionary War pensioners census for one eastern NC county like there was for another nearby county. It dawned on me that a lot of people might not know […]
