North Carolina Wills and Inventories

These North Carolina wills and inventories were copied from original records of wills and inventories in the office of the secretary of state. The wills reflect the varied phrases of domestic life in the colony. The text of any will may include: the will and death dates, the name of the deceased, names of family members, items bequeathed, names of beneficiaries, name of executrix/executor, names of witnesses and type of burial requested. Presented in alphabetical order, the wills span the eighteenth century. Fewer inventories than wills are published, but enough of these fascinating records are given to throw a strong side light on economic conditions in the colony at the time the inventories were compiled. The estate inventories list all kinds of property, such as livestock, furniture, books, cookware, flatware, glassware, linens, parcels of land, tools, slaves, clothes, appliances, etc. Presented in alphabetical order, the inventories are dated from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. These wills and inventories will give readers an accurate illustration of industrial and social life in the colony of North Carolina, and will furnish an invaluable source of information about North Carolina's history an economic conditions prior to the Revolution.