>In this posting I hope to accomplish three things: >1st: To provide a little insight into the Cohabitation Records. >2nd: To provide information on where you might acquire these > records. >3rd: To inform you of which Cohab Records I have access to and am > willing to do lookups. > >FIRST: > >The following information was taken from the published abstracted book: >Rowan County, North Carolina Cohabitation Bonds, by June C. Watson. > >"The material in this book has been taken from microfilm at the Edith M. >Clark Historical Room of the Rowan (County) Public LIbrary. THe originals >are found in the Register of Deeds Office of Rowan County, North Carolina >and are available for all to see...In 1866 the General Assembly (of North >Carolina) passed 'An act concerning Negroes and Persons of Color or mixed >Blood) that they appear before the Clerk of the County Court or a Justice >of a Peace to have this fact (their cohabitation and marriage) recorded, >prior to September 1, 1866.'" (The date was later extended to the >January 1, 1868.) > >Rowan County, North Carolina Cohabitation Bonds, June C. Watson; (Call #: >NC 929.3756 R877W). > >>From this information we gather again that the North Carolina State >Legislature made an act which required that all blacks (most of whom had >just been freed) appear before the Clerk of Court and legally register >their marriage. Another reading suggested that in one county (and >possibly all) the Clerk was paid twenty-five cents for the recording of >all of these marriages. Whether this twenty-five cents was paid by the >couple or the state, one can not say; however it is a definite incentive >to the Clerk to be thorough in his recordings. One reading indicates that >it appears that in one county there were two ledger books: one that was >used as a portable (temporary) ledger and the other was the permanent >ledger in which all of the information was transcribed. IT was suggested >that the Clerk may have rode on horseback throughout thecounty and >recorded the information. Nonetheless, the law was enacted and one >supposes that most if not all complied. > The cohab records provide the date of the record and the names of >the husband and wife and how long they have been cohabitating. The Rowan >Records and according to another source the Forsyth County Records contain >the names ofthe slave owners (whether this is a statewide practice or >local phenomenon - I can't say; that is the inclusion of the former >owner's name.) > >SECOND: >Today there appear to be two or three different types of copies of these >records: The originals, microfilm, and published abstracts. According to >the information in the above mentioned book the originals are stored at >the Office of the Register of Deeds of the County in which they were >recorded (thus if the Record or Bond was recorded in Rowan County the >orignials are located in the Rowan County Office of Register of Deeds if >they were recorded in Wake County then the originals are in the Office of >the Register of Deeds of Wake County). As for the microfilms, I honestly >can not say whether all of the counties have microfilmed their cohab >records or not. If it has been done on a county by county basis, then of >course the Office of the Register of Deeds and the History Room of the >County Library probably has a copy. (As to who else may have a copy I can >not say.) Now for the published abstracts, these are the form of the >records that I am most familiar with. A number of local genealogists >possibly at the encouragement of the county genealogical societies have >abstracted the records and published them in book forms. These books are >usually located in the history rooms of the county libraries. Whether all >counties have been published and abstracted - I'm not for sure. In the >published abstracts that I have worked with all provide the husband and >wife's name, the date, and how long they had been cohabitating together. >(Only one of the three published abstracts provides the owner's names, >so in some cases you may have to go to the originals to get that >information.) And all were indexed. > >(In a previous posting or in replies I may have mentioned that the >originals were located in the County Courthouse, in an attempt to be most >accurate I have revereted to the Office of the Register of Deeds. This >was used in the Rowan Book and is more accurate as while hte Office of >Register of Deeds has historically been associated with the Court House's >a number of counties have built separate Administrative Buildings and >often the Office of Register of Deeds (while culturally connected to the >Court House) might no longer be housed in the courthouse. > >THIRD: > >I have access to the following county cohab records and I am willing to >do lookups in these counties; (please note that I will be using the >published abstracted versions): > >-Marriage, COHABITATION, Divorce, and Bastardy Records of WAYNE COUNTY, >NORTH CAROLINA. >-ROWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA COHABITATION BONDS >-DAVIE CUONTY, NORTH CAROLINA COHABITATION BONDS >-I may have access to FORSYTH COUNTY NORH CAROLINA COHABITATION BONDS. > > >I apologize for being very "wordy" and highly detailed, but I like to be >as accurate as possible and I don't want to unknowingly provide the least >bit of erroneous information which might cause someone not to find that >prized piece of information. > >I hope this information is of use to someone. >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >- African Ancestored Genealogy Discussion >- To unsubscribe, email: Majordomo@MsState.Edu >- In body of message: unsubscribe afrigeneas >- >- Afrigeneas archives: http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/ >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >