Thanks Carla for all the information. It distresses me no end to find that Wake Co has turned over the old deed books to the archives. By you own admission it nearly impossible for one to weiw them there. Fortunately some of the county's still keep there old deed books and they are an invaluable source of information. I find it much easier to read the old deed books because most of the microfilm at the archives is unreadable. I have an ancestor that bought land in Wake Co in the 1792. The original deed is lost and I hoped to get to read a copy in the wake County deed book. But if they are now owned by the archives it unlikely that I will ever get a copy.