North Carolina Cohabitation RecordsEdit This Page
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United States > Rural Records of the Southern United States > Cohabitation Records > North Carolina
North Carolina State Law
In the March 1866 session of the North Carolina General Assembly, an Act was passed concerning negroes and persons of color. Justices of the Peace were to collect and record in the County Clerk’s office, a record of the cohabitation of former slaves to ratify their state of marriage. The Court Clerk was required to maintain a record book for this purpose and to receive 25 cents per entry for his service. In Section 6, Chapter 40 of the Act, it was a misdemeanor if negroes did not record their marriage by September, 1866. This section of the Act was amended by Section 1, Chapter 70 (ratified March 1867), to extend the time of recording these marriages until January 1, 1868. [1]
Cohabitation records have survived from the following counties:
| County | FHL Film | Record Location |
| Alexander | None | State Archives |
| Alleghany | None | Alleghany County Courthouse |
| Beaufort | 234244 | Beaufort County Courthouse |
| Bertie | 255266 | State Archives |
| Brunswick | None | State Archives |
| Caldwell | 975.6845 V2k | Caldwell County Courthouse |
| Camden | None | Camden County Courthouse |
| Carteret | None | State Archives |
| Caswell | None | State Archives (one document) |
| Catawba | None | Catawba County Courthouse |
| Chowan | None | State Archives |
| Columbus | None | Columbus County Courthouse |
| Craven | None | Craven County Courthouse |
| Cumberland | None | Cumberland County Courthouse (one document) |
| Currituck | 1689140 Item 3 | Currituck County Courthouse |
| Davidson | None | State Archives |
| Davie | 975.669 V29b | Davie County Courthouse |
| Duplin | None | Duplin County Courthouse |
| Edgecombe | None | State Archives |
| Forsyth | 899593 | Forsyth County Courthouse |
| Franklin | None | State Archives |
| Gates | None | State Archives |
| Granville | None | Granville County Courthouse |
| Guilford | 833292 | State Archives |
| Halifax | None | State Archives |
| Hyde | None | State Archives |
| Iredell | None | State Archives |
| Johnston | 1759193 | State Archives |
| Lincoln | 1760466 | State Archives |
| Macon | None | State Archives (not catalogued) |
| Mitchell | None | Mitchell County Courthouse |
| Nash | None | State Archives |
| New Hanover | None | State Archives |
| Northampton | None | Northampton County Courthouse |
| Orange | None | State Archives |
| Pasquotank | None | State Archives |
| Perquimans | None | State Archives |
| Person | None | State Archives |
| Pitt | None | State Archives |
| Randolph | None | Randolph County Courthouse |
| Richmond | 1426280 Item 1 | State Archives |
| Robeson | None | Robeson County Courthouse |
| Rowan | 1760523 | Rowan County Courthouse |
| Rutherford | None | State Archives |
| Sampson | None | State Archives |
| Stokes | None | State Archives |
| Surry | None | State Archives |
| Union | None | Union County Courthouse |
| Wake | None | State Archives |
| Warren | None | Warren County Courthouse |
| Washington | None | State Archives |
| Wayne | None | Wayne County Courthouse |
| Wilkes | None | State Archives |
| Wilson | None | Wilson County Courthouse |
A comprehensive index for North Carolina Cohabitation Records is:
White, Barnetta McGhee, Ph.D.Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in North Carolina County by County. (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1995.) (FHL book 975.6 V2wb)
References
- ↑ White, Barnetta McGhee, Ph.D.,Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in N.C. County by County.(Athens, GA: Iberian Publishing Co.), 1995: xiv, xv.
See also:
Rural Records of the Southern United States
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- This page was last modified on 30 January 2013, at 06:28.
- This page has been accessed 847 times.
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