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Note: Early Land Settlement Established in 1664, Albemarle encompassed the newly formed Lord's Propietors' province of Carolina. The land under a royal charter from King Charles II all belonged to eight Lord Proprietors. Settlers could only obtain land by their GRANT, and it was thereafter subject to quitrents paid to the Proprietors who in the most part were absentee landlords. Proprieters could give Land Patents in two ways:
Purchase patents Pay a fee for the land Headrights Given a quantity of land simply for being in the colony and/or paying for importation of other settlers into the colony. The number of acres per head and per type of head (male/female/child, free/ bonded/slave, etc.) varied according to the date of the patent. The terms of the patent usually stipulated that the grantee agreed to settle upon the land or cause it to be settled, to clear & plant a given number of acres in a specified tme and other conditions.In early periods, the settler could claim 640 acres for himself and 100 acres each for wife and children or other persons he brought with him into the colony. More commonly it was 50 acres for each person. After 1729 (Royal Colony), fewer headrights were issued. An Albemarle law of 1669 prohibiting any person from holding more than 660 acres without special dispensation from the Proprietors, but this "dispensation" for influential men was easy to obtain. Thomas Pollock has one plantation of 40,000 acres in Bertie.
In 1728, all the Proprietors (except Lord Carteret - Granville) sold their rights to the Crown. This Granville District was bounded by Virginia on the North and ran from the Coast, along the southern boundaries of Chatham, Randolph, Davidson and Rowan Counties. (You might need to know this if your ancestors migrated from that area to Bertie)
From 1728, land grants (in what would be Bertie County), were made from the King and approved by the Council. After Independence one of the first acts of the General Assembly (1777)was opening Land Offices throughout the state of North Carolina.
Each County appointed a Surveyor and an Entry Taker.
Basic procedure was this:
Person locates the desired land and makes application to an entry taker. The petition was read at a meeting of Governor and Council (called Court of Claims) (These petitions no longer exist) Person then petitioned the Council for a warrant (order) to the provincial surveyor to set apart certain land which was loosely described on the face of the warrant. The Court appointed Surveyor for the area makes the survey using metes and bounds and relating it to natural barriers, rivers, streams, identifiable trees as property corners. Surveyor set down a detailed land description �direction in degrees; distance in poles and created a plat (map) Person pays the fixed fee per acre and the Council issued a land patent (document) The land warrant and the survey were filed in the Secretary of the colony and eventually recorded in bound volumes. Patent also was recorded in office of the Crown auditor so that the officer would know who was to pay the annual tax on the land called the quit rent. Bertie County Court Minutes (transcribed by Wynette Haun) record this as: "14th Feb 1743. Mordecai White proved his Rights to wit 7 whites". Thus he brought in 6 other people and was proving his headright. In some instance the Court Minutes actually lists the names of the people he brought in and claimed.
NC has 3400 land patents of the Proprietary period. Sec of State Land Grant Office, Raleigh . Books Hoffman used were 1,2,3,5,7,8,9,13.
No original papers survive, but they are amazingly complete. There may be some missing years, but in some instances the Lord Proprietors actually closed the land office so there may not have been any land patents during those years anyway.
The King purchased land back from Proprietors in 1729, but transfer to the agents of the Crown took several months, so office didn't open again until Feb 25, 1731. Proprietor's officers continued to issue patents through Nov 1730.
The land office opened by Gov. Gabriel Johnston was on May 12, 1735.
Published Resources for Land Grants Province of North Carolina 1663-1729 Abstracts of Land Patents by Margaret M. Hofman, 1979 Colony of NC 1735-1764 Abstract of Land Patents Vol I Margaret Hofman 1982 Colony of NC 1765-1775Abstract of Land Patents Vol II Margaret Hofman, 1984 Margaret Hofman's Book Page
Petitions against King George III It was written in 1777. As I understand it, there were several of these petitions circulated in the county for signature.There would be a different set of names on different petitions. As best as I can read it, here is what it says: " I will have faithfull and true alegiants to the State of North Carolina and will to the utmost of my power support maintaine and defend the Independent Government thereof against george the III king of great Britain and his successers and the attempts of any other prince power State or potentate who by secret arts treason conspiraces or by open force shall attempt to subvert the same and will in every respect conduct myself as a peaceable orderly subject and will diclose and make known to the govener or some member of the Council of State or some Justice of the Peace all treasons conspirances and attempts committed or intended to be committed against the State which shall come to my knowledge so help me God"
Here are the names on mine. (Forgive me, some are hard to read.) Josiah Perry Josiah, b. 1741 d. 11/1821 in Bertie Co. m. Millicent Freeman. He was ca 36 years old in 1777... so he probably didn't have any sons fighting in the Revolution....and I would guess that he may have served in the Militia for Bertie County. Researcher:Bruce Perry" bruce.perry@@worldnet.att.net
James Fletcher(?) Samuel Rayner Jethro X Trumbell Edward X Outlaw William X Brown John Outlaw John (?) Ray George X Hughs Thomas X Hughs Jonathan X Millar Jonathan Miller was 67 years old and owned over a 1,000 acres of land in Bertie at the time. He had two sons, Jonathan Jr. and Solomon. Researcher: dcm@@inteliport.com David C.Miller
James Laughton Joseph X Morriss John X Cowand Solomon Hughs Thomas Mizell Aaron Outlaw William Mizell William Rayner George X Hughs, Jun. Benjamin X Brown Henry Harison Timothy Mizell Charles Freeman Josiah X Outlaw John X Perry Richard Birdd Stephen McBavell(?) Lewis Outlaw James X Asbel David X Paugh Benjamin Ward Aaron Mizell Nicholas X Hinton John Williams Jas. Boone Wynns David X Birdd Francis X Brown John Ramsey (?) Abner B. Caro??? Jacob X Read(?) William Cake Filgo William X Hughs Aaron Asbell William X Butler, Jun. Mordecai White Amos X Britt James X White William Cowand John X Brittan Isaac X Brittan William X Brittan William X Cowand John Freeman Timothy Hunter Hugh ???? Isaac Perry Tho. Slatton (?) William X Sparkman Joseph Watford James X Williams John X White Edward X Birdd James X Hughs Thomas T. Outlaw William W. Watford John X Watford Thomas X Hughs Jonas X Mizell Jesse Sparkman Amos Ranar James X Holley, Jun. John Raner Luke White James Borroughs Mordacai White Nicolis Harmon(?) Harday Watford Henry See Ezekiel Wimberly.From NC Archives - Rev War File. Contributed by: John Cowand cowand@@ibm.net
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