Abstracts of Lincoln County North Carolina Land Entries, 1780 & 1795-1797 Land Processions, 1789-1834 & Lincolnton, NC Deeds, 1785-1868

By Albert Bruce Pruitt, published 1988, reprinted 2026, 306 pages, index, soft cover, Maps, ISBN #978-0-94499-219-7. Lincoln County was formed in 1779 from Tryon County and later parts of Burke County were added. This book is divided into three sections. The first part covers land entries from 1780 & 1795-1797. A land entry is a claim made to the appointed county entry taker by someone seeking a land grant from the State. To get a grant, or patent, from the Stat for unclaimed, or vacant, land, a person went to the county entry taker and described the land. The entry taker usually recorded the date, the person’s name, number of acres, nearby waterways, and neighboring land holders. The entry taker then filled out a warrant of survey to the county surveyor. This warrant was an order to survey the land and usually described it the same as the entry. The surveyor usually made field notes. These entries are considered to be the best contemporary documentary evidence for an accurate location of these settlers when the county was created is the original Land Entry Book. It has better details than that to be found in the subsequent land grants. It was customary for the settler to describe the location of his land on some stream or head waters of some stream, or on some mountain. Each entry is dated. There were numerous transfers of entries before the issuance of a grant. Some are referred to in the entry, but generally the entry taker would mark through the name of the original entree and insert the name of the one to whom it was transferred. Not only was the first named entered, frequently marked out, but many times erased and the next name written in its place. Many of the entries had as many as four names marked out and written in with no way of knowing whose name was the last one written. North Carolina started recoding land transactions through the Land Entry System around March 1778. These abstracts of 811 entries of this old Entry Book will be of help to many whose ancestors either passed through or remained in Lincoln County. Part two covers Land Processions from 1789-1834. A Land Procession is a survey done to ascertain the lines to settle land disputes or to resurvey land when the original survey was lost. This process was a carryover from Colonial Times. The processioner was to settle a land dispute but if he could not, it was then up to the court to appoint 5 men to review the data and make a decision. Part three covers deeds for the city of Lincolnton from 1785-1868. The Index to this book mentions approximately 5,200 persons.