Land Warrants of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, 1778-1900

By Albert Bruce Pruitt, published 2001, reprinted 2026, 214 pages, index, soft cover, ISBN #978-0-94499-279-1. Edgecombe County was formed in 1741 Bertie County. Acquiring a land warrant is the second process in a settler acquiring these vacant lands at the time. These 986 abstracts of material are arranged as follows: 1) the number at the beginning is the file or shuck number. 2) name (or names) on the cover of the shuck followed by the number of acres indicated. Sometimes there are two numbers of acres because the grant and survey were not for the same number of acres. 3) abstract of the warrant including warrant number, date, entry taker’s name, person making the entry, number of acres, waterway on which the land was, and description including names of neighbors. This description should be identical to the description in the entry book. So for the missing land entries, we can determine what was in the land entry.4) number of acres surveyed, date of survey, surveyor’s name, and names of chain carriers. 5) grant number and grant date. It will be noticed that the grants are not in numerical order. 6) beginning with grants issued about 1795, we find additional receipts in most shucks. These receipts are from the state Treasurer or Comptroller and indicate the state’s portion of grant fees (or purchase money) has been paid.