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Archiver > NCBERTIE > 2000-11 > 0973390434


From: "Tracy Lott" <>
Subject: Re: [NCBERTIE] Another interesting book
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2000 20:13:54 -0600


Thank you for sharing this information. I'm going to check with our
library.

Sincerely,

Tracy
-----Original Message-----
From: David <>
To: <>
Date: Saturday, November 04, 2000 6:54 AM
Subject: [NCBERTIE] Another interesting book


>Barnetta McGhee White: SOMEBODY KNOWS MY NAME ; This book is a godsend for
>genealogists working on black North Carolina ancestors. The records made in
>North Carolina by local officials have such great validity because the
>couples were talking with people whom they knew, and who knew them. In
North
>Carolina, the General Assembly in 1866 passed An Act Concerning Negroes and
>Persons of Color or of Mixed Blood. This Act contained nineteen (19)
>sections with Sections 1, 5, and 6 being the ones which resulted in this
>large volume of material. Section 1 defined "persons of color". Section 5
>decreed that those persons whose cohabitation was to be ratified into a
>state of marriage were required to appear before the local Clerk of the
>County Court or Justice of the Peace to acknowledge that fact. Section 6
>described the penalty for failure to do so. Those acknowledgments were to
be
>recorded and regarded as proof that a marriage had existed. The wording of
>the North Carolina Act was sufficiently different from that of other states
>that it resulted in thousands of records which support the notion of
>marriages that were reasonably stable despite the rigors of slavery.
Records
>for over 22,400 couples remain in existence which shows widespread
>compliance and support for the law. These acknowledgements, made during the
>years 1866-1867, reveal that the number of years the couples had been
>married ranged from one year to 56 years. It is quite possible, and
>probable, that there are many more that have not yet been located. Even
when
>one considers the large number of original documents that have not survived
>the years of courthouse fires and floods, deliberate destruction, and the
>retention of public records in private collections, there remain sufficient
>numbers of records upon which new assumptions may be based. Somebody Knows
>My Name covers records from the following North Carolina counties:
>ALEXANDER, ALLEGHANY, BEAUFORT, BERTIE, BRUNSWICK, CALDWELL, CAMDEN,
>CARTERET, CASWELL, CATAWBA, CHOWAN, COLUMBUS, CRAVEN, CUMBERLAND,
CURRITUCK,
>DAVIDSON, DAVIE, DUPLIN, EDGECOMBE, FORSYTH, FRANKLIN, GATES, GRANVILLE,
>GUILFORD, HALIFAX, HYDE, IREDELL, JOHNSTON, LINCOLN, MACON, MITCHELL, NASH,
>NEW HANOVER, NORTHAMPTON, ORANGE, PASQUOTANK, PERQUIMANS, PERSON, PITT,
>RANDOLPH, RICHMOND, ROBESON, ROWAN, RUTHERFORD, SAMPSON, STOKES, SURRY,
>UNION, WAKE, WARREN, WASHINGTON, WAYNE, WILKES, AND WILSON. This book is
>destined to become the standard reference work for black genealogical
>research in North Carolina and is a necessity for any research library.
>1995. Paper, 3 vol. set, 5 x 8 North Carolina General Reference 6927IB
>Offered for sale by Willow Bend Books at US$49.95
>
>David E. Hoggard
>
>
>

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