Hertford County, North Carolina Inventories and Sales of Estates, 1830-1831. (Volume #1)

By: Raymond Parker Fouts, Pub. 1988, reprinted 2024, 148 pages, soft cover, ISBN #978-1-63914-196-8. Hertford County was created in 1759 from parts of Bertie, Chowan, and Northampton Counties and later itself gave up parts of itself to help create Gates County. Hertford County is a BURNED County. These are some of the few earlier records that have been preserved. The dates 1830-1831 are the years in which these records were recorded in the County Court. The earliest data found in an account, which usually implies the year of death of the decedent, is 1827. The Court appointed auditors to "State ana Settle" the accounts of the administration or executors of estates. They also made divisions of property to the heirs, a few of which are found in this volume in the form of proceeds of the estates. Sales of the perishable property in an estate were made by the administrators or executors, and sometimes the sheriff, by order of the court. They attracted buyers from nearby counties and Virginia, as well as family members and neighbors. Judging by the volume of "spirits" listed as "for the sale", they must have been quite congenial social occasions.