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 […]
David Kite drowns in Swift Creek, reported by Sarah Averitt (Craven County) – 1828
(Note: This was originally published on March 15, 2016, but I have updated it with relationship information and a list of the actual spellings of the names in this transcription.) The spellings in the following transcription are true to what was there, but they are abysmal in comparison to the actual names. The individuals named […]
Check out the new East Carolina Roots Forum!
I posted a poll last night that had over 850 visitors and a 100% response for “YES! A forum would be helpful!” So, not one to let grass grow under my feet, I got right to work and set up a forum on this site. It is so brand new that there are only two […]
Poll for all of you East Carolina Roots regulars…
Many of you may have noticed, but I’ve not updated the East Carolina Roots Facebook page since at least October. I deleted my account, although there is someone else with access, but no one is posting to it. I may go back to Facebook if they make some serious changes, but in the meantime, I […]
Did you know all of these new records were at FamilySearch? I’ve got all of the links right here!
FamilySearch has been steadily putting a ton of North Carolina records on their site that aren’t yet easy to access through the normal browsing methods. (Another thanks to Becky for tipping me off about some of the great new things that have gone up over the last few months!) Anyhow, I decided to compile a […]
John Holmes & wife Esther to John Grist (Beaufort County, 1797)
The following is a transcription of a deed from John HOLMES (recorded as John HOMES) and his wife, Esther, to John GRIST, all of Beaufort County, North Carolina. This deed was listed in the Beaufort County indices as being located in Deed Book 1, but in fact, it was in Beaufort County Patent Book 1, […]
The John Holmes – George Fisher Connection
Was John HOLMES of Beaufort County the son of George FISHER of Craven County? If not, what was their relationship? I’m not sure, but I’m collecting evidence and I welcome any ideas or suggestions you might have! John and Esther HOLMES are my fifth-great grandparents, and since I descend from them twice, I certainly am […]
Merry Christmas to us! 🎄 Beaufort County Deeds now available online!
A great big GIGANTIC thank you to East Carolina Roots visitor Becky, who graciously commented on an earlier post about available deeds online that Beaufort County deeds are now available via FamilySearch. YES! Celebrating the birth of my LORD and Savior Jesus Christ is absolutely exciting enough for me, but now I get the added […]
