RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2010
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Long overdue but well worth the wait is the publication of the new twelfth edition of the GUIDE TO COUNTY RECORDS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES. Last revised in 1997, this updated, expanded version contains an exhaustive list of all the original and microfilmed county records housed in the State Archives as of 1 March 2009. Created in 1903, the repository in Raleigh is the third oldest state archives in the United States. As a result, it possesses an abundance of all sorts of information.
Inventories of the records appear under the names of the counties, which are arranged alphabetically. In addition, all pages have headers so researchers can easily locate a particular county. Records for each county are classified as either originals or microfilm copies and grouped thereunder as series. Items within each series are arranged alphabetically or chronologically. Although general categories for each county's cross-referenced listings may sometimes vary, some common designations are bonds; court; corporation and partnership; election; estate; land; marriage, divorce, and vital statistics; tax and fiscal; and miscellaneous records. Since "miscellaneous" covers a broad range of materials, the lesser known classifications are indexed. Samples include lunacy records, registrations of physicians and surgeons, and documents dealing with roads, bridges, and ferries.
Included in the guidebook for the first time are the C. R. X. records--county records that came to the Archives from a source other than an official custodian. Types of C. R. X. records may differ from county to county, with some counties not listing any entries. Examples of what may be found in these materials are bastardy and apprentice bonds, land entry books, school and estate records, civil and criminal action papers, court minutes, cohabitation records, poll taxes, voter registrations, and lists of taxable property.
This new version of the reference work describes more than 13,000 bound volumes, 22,000 boxes of loose records, and 24,000 reels of microfilm. Among its resources are extensive sets of municipal and court records from each of the state's 100 current counties and from the state's five defunct counties. The wealth of data encompassed makes the GUIDE TO COUNTY RECORDS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES an indispensable tool for historians and genealogists. A copy of the twelfth edition should be an integral part of historical and genealogical collections in both public libraries and in personal libraries of researchers interested in the Tar Heel State.
Eye-catching with colorful photographs of various North Carolina courthouses on the covers, the softbound book has 394 pages. The volume furnishes an introduction which gives the background concerning the transference of local records to the State Archives and a state map showing which counties have lost records to fires or have missing records due to other causes. New to the twelfth edition are a helpful 19-page glossary of record types and related terminology and a detailed index. Priced at $28.02 (which includes tax and shipping costs), GUIDE TO COUNTY RECORDS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES may be ordered online at http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/ or at www.Amazon.com. It may also be purchased from the Historical Publications Section (N), Office of Archives and History, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-4622. For credit card orders, call 919-733-7442, extension 0.
Charles N. Ferguson, 811 South Market, Shawnee, OK 74801 is seeking information about these individuals who lived in Hopkins Co., TX, in 1870 and in Red River Co., TX, in 1880:
William M. FURGUSON/FERGUSON, b. about 1825 in TN and d.
about 1869 in AR;
Martha FERGUSON, b. about 1825 in MO and d. after 1880 in TX;
James Wesley FERGUSON, b. in Oct. 1848 in MO and d. in 1911 in OK;
William Riley FERGUSON, b. in Oct. 1849 in Red River Co., TX, and d. in 1899 in
TX;
John FERGUSON, b. about 1852 in Red River Co., TX;
Amos FERGUSON, b. about 1853 in Red River Co., TX;
Francis Marion FERGUSON, b. in 1854 in Red River Co., TX, and d. in 1945 in
Dallas Co., TX;
Coleman S. FERGUSON, b. in 1858 in Red River Co., TX;
Richard B. FERGUSON, b. in 1861 in TX;
and
Charles Levi FERGUSON, b. in April 1869 in AR and d. in 1939 in White Co., AR;
Information is especially needed on
John, Amos, Coleman, and Richard. Does
anyone have pictures of these people?