Land Warrants of Bladen County, North Carolina, 1778-1803

By Albert Bruce Pruitt, published 1987, reprinted 2026, 884 pages, index, soft cover, ISBN #978-0-94499-281-4. Bladen County was formed in 1734 New Hanover County and from it the counties of Anson, Orange Cumberland, Brunswick, Robeson, and Columbus were created. In this book, the 4,382 abstracts of material was 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.