Joyce, In 1784, North Carolina changed its inheritance laws to eliminate common-law dower. Instead the widow was entitled to the use during her lifetime of 1/3 of the land owned by her husband at the time of his death. According to one reference, some later deeds do contain dower relinquishments, apparently by people from other states. The NC statute authorizing the ceding of TN to the US required that the then current laws of the State of NC be in effect until they were changed. I assume this was what actually occurred, but the lawyers can help us there. I wouldn't think that they would have gone back to common-law dower since it was so impractical. A good TN genealogical reference should have a more accurate answer and the exact dates of any changes from the NC laws.