New Hanover County, North Carolina Inferior Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1738-1785. (Vols. #1 and 2)

By: Alexander McDonald Walker, Pub. 1958 & 1959, Reprinted 2018, 262 pages, Index, ISBN #0-89308-936-2. New Hanover was created in 1729 as New Hanover precinct of Bath County which was later desolved. It is the parent county to Brunswick, Duplin and Pender Counties. It sits on the Atlantic Ocean in the Southeastern portion of the state. It is surrounded by: Brunswick, Bladen, Duplin, Onslow and Sampson Counties. The court was held 4 times a year and heard such cases of assault, batteries, trespass, all breaches of the peace. They held authority of administration in intestate estates and orphans, granted license to build water grist mills, to taverns and ordinaries, and to build and maintain public ferries. The court also appointed Constables and Overseers of Roads, and named the men who lived within the bounds to keep them in repair, as well as recommending three persons to the Governor, of whom one was made Sheriff, as well as imposing taxes for roads, courthouses and goals, appointed all county officers, civil and military, all lists of Jurors and probates of Wills. These records are extremely valuable for the researcher, especially if an ancestor died intestate (without a will), and in some instances a person may be listed in these court records and nowhere else in the county records.