Documents de concessions de terres, Caroline du Nord, États-Unis, 1693 à 1960

About This Collection

This collection consists of records related to North Carolina land grants, which are organized first by county, then by certificate range. Each land grant file consists of an envelope, or "shuck", on which summary information was recorded about the grant, as well as warrants, surveys, and other documents. Hand-drawn maps are often included in the surveys, which describe the boundaries of, and any land marks related to, each grant of land. Information available for each land grant might include any of the following details:

• Certificate number
• County
• Name of grantee (land owner)
• Number of acres
• Grant number
• Date the grant was issued
• Warrant number
• Entry number
• Date the grant was entered
• Entry Book and page number
• Location description

About Land Records

Land records provide two types of important evidence for the genealogist. First, they often state kinship ties, especially when a group of heirs jointly sells some inherited land. Second, they place individuals in a specific time and place, allowing the researcher to sort people and families into neighborhoods and closely related groups. By locating people with reference to creeks and other natural features, the deeds, land grants, and land tax lists help distinguish one John Anderson, son of Mark, from another John Anderson in the same county. Prior to the Civil War, most free adult males owned land; so if the land records of an area have survived but do not mention your ancestor, you should reevaluate the assumption that he or she lived in the area. In the South, which has far fewer vital records than New England, the land records are even more crucial to genealogical success.

The above paragraph was taken from Sandra H. Luebking's, "Research in Land and Tax Records" in The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, ed. Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997).