I've heard Helen Leary speak many times, and I've heard a similar lecture. I think her meaning was misunderstood by someone somewhere along the way. She was simply saying that the presence of a middle name makes it more likely that a NC resident has Virginia roots in his generation or his immediate ancestors. If the person has a middle name in early NC records, she was suggesting that the researcher seriously consider a Virginia origin. As for the dower question, NC law did indeed recognize dower rights for a period of time. It did not always coincide with dower rights in Virginia, and so Helen was saying that, if someone's wife releases a dower right in a NC deed, after NC stopped recognizing this right, it's possible the couple had recently moved to NC from Virginia. To quote the book she edited on NC genealogy, "North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History," pp. 578-79: "Until 1784, dower in North Carolina was dower by common law, which was the ordinary kind of dower in England and America.... Originally, the widow was required to sue her husband's heir(s) for allotment and possession of her dower tract, but this practice gradually went out of use and in 1784 NC law recognized the prevailing practice and provided for allotted upon her simple petition to the county court. The allotment procedure required that the court appointed a commission of neighbors unrelated to the widow or her husband to view the land in question and report their determination of the third that included the manor house and plantation - whereupon the court awarded her that portion, and her life estate title to that portion came into effect; no deed was required. In 1784, North Carolina abolished dower by common law. From that date until 1868 a widow's dower right in this state extended only to those lands of which her husband was still 'seized and possessed' at the time of his death. She had no conveyable interest in her husband's lands during his lifetime as she had had under the common-law form, and her relinquishment of dower right was no longer required for him to convey clear title to any lands he sold during the marriage. When the recordation of a deed made during this time period is accompanied bya notation that the wife had been 'examined privily' to determine her willingness to part with the land, it may indicate that a) the land came to her husband through her (i.e, she owned it prior to her marriage or inherited it during coverture) and she was releasing inheritance or other ownership rights; b) the grantor, grantee, or both were immigrants from a place where dower was by common law and relinquishment was still thought necessary or prudent; or c) she was the seller's mother, not wife. In 1868, dower by common law was restored in this state and was not abolished again until 1960." Helen Leary is an expert on NC genealogy, and many times I have driven many hours to hear her speak on the subject. Katherine Dick Benbow