North Carolina's wills were
filed with the Secretary of State prior to 1760 and at the county level after
that time. Between 1760 and 1868, the county court assumed jurisdiction over
probate matters. Since that time, wills and estates have come before the clerk
of the superior court in each county.
The records included in
this data set range from abstracts to full, unabridged texts of wills. These
probate records are great resources for gaining an understanding of North Carolina's
industrial and social life by gaining an understanding of its citizens. Probates
are especially valuable for genealogists because they provide information not
only on property held by an individual but on that person's relationships with
family and friends.
Copyright information for
each volume can be found on its copyright page. If you wish to cite information
found in one of this data set's volumes, we recommend using the following format:
Author's Last Name, Author's
First Name. Book Title. Place of publication: Publisher. Copyright Date.
Page Numbers. Reproduced on Genealogy.com's Online Data Set #509 (North Carolina
Wills, 1665-1900).
Books Included
in this Data Set
North Carolina Wills:
A Testator Index, 1665-1900
Thornton
W. Mitchell
An index to more than 75,000 persons who died and left wills in North Carolina
between 1655 and 1900, this volume represents one of the single-most important
finding-aids in North Carolina genealogy. Organized by surname, you'll find:
- Name of testator
- County in which the
individual's will was proved
- Date of probate
- Book and page number
where you'll find a copy the will
- Location of the original
will.
The author also provides a concise history of the probate records of all 107
North Carolina counties. Within the history he details the date of the county's
formation, the territory from which it was formed, the dates wills were first
filed and recorded, the various record book designations, the status of the
records, and the location of the original, recorded and copied wills.
North Carolina Wills
And Inventories
J. Bryan Grimes
A critical source on North Carolina's pre-Revolutionary War families, here you'll
find the full text of 200 wills and 50 inventories. This includes the period
of time when the recording of wills was the responsibility of North Carolina's
counties. The records not only provide detailed assessments of an individual's
material possessions they also note family members, friends, and relationships.
Abstract of North
Carolina Wills, 1663-1760
J. Bryan Grimes
Compiled from wills found in the Office of the Secretary of State of North Carolina,
the abstracts collected here reference approximately 20,000 names. Alphabetically
arranged according to the name of the testator, the abstracts usually provide
the following information:
- Date of will administration
- Place of residence
- Names of family members,
witnesses, and probate officers
- Names of plantations
mentioned
- Page number and will
book in which you'll find a copy of the original record
An Abstract of North
Carolina Wills from About 1760 to About 1800, Supplementing Grimes' Abstract
of North Carolina Wills 1663 to 1760
J. Bryan Grimes
Arranged alphabetically by county and by surname, this volume supplements a
1906 work by J. Bryan Grimes containing abstracts of the State Wills. The State
Wills were those recorded during the period between 1663 and 1760, when it was
required that wills be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. After
1760 wills were recorded at the county level. This comprehensive volume covers
abstracts of wills from 1760 to 1800 from the entire state of North Carolina.
Generally, you'll find the following information:
- Name of testator
- Dates of will
- Names of family members
