Cumberland County, NC Index to Deeds, Indentures, Quit Claims  Contact: Myrtle Bridges

 Division of property of Duncan Black - 1833 
 Daniel Leslie to John Leslie Deed - 1817 
 Cumberland County Deeds Online 
 Muse to Morrison Deed - 1774 
 Morrison to Morrison Deed - 1839 
 McLean to Morrison Deed - 1854
 1790 Deed: Hugh Black-Daniel Finley 
 Deed: McGregor-Finlayson to McRae
 Deed: Rebecca Sinclair, Duncan F. Sinclair and Daniel F. Sinclair to Mathew Strickland - 1854
 McLeod (McLoud, McLood) Deeds 1754-1785
 1807 - Margaret MacKay to Lauchlin MacKay 
 1782 - Nathan King's Oath 
 1854 - Edward McPherson and Alexander McPherson, Jr. deed 
 1803 - McPherson/Campbell Deed 
 1813 - McPherson/Buie Deed 
 1897 - Abigail Poe Deed 
 1815 - Grantor Kinchen P. Tyson   Grantee John Ferrell
 1851 Deed from Arch A. F. Smith to Datus Jones 
 Miscellaneous Early Deed Abstracts
 1773 Deed from Lazarus Creel To Edmund Baxley
 1760 Deed from Lazarus Creel To John Hill
 1758 Deed from Martin (Grantham )(Trantham)? To Lazarus Creal
 1769 Deed from Joseph Fort To Lazarus Creel
 1774 Deed from Thomas Creel To Thomas Davis
 1854 Deed from Ann Snow to Thomas J. Jordan 
 1854 Deed from Flora Snow to Ann Snow 
 1827 Deed from John Black, Sheriff, to John Darroch 
 1825 Deed from Duncan Darroch Daniel Darroch To Malcolm Darroch
  A McPhail deed to Thomas Murphy
 Misc. Data Cumb. Co. Deed Book

Explanation of how land claims and entries became land grants in North Carolina, from 
"The Dixie Frontier," by Everett Dick, 1948, p. 10:
"The North Carolina law, applicable to Tennessee in 1782, had the advantage over that of 
Kentucky, however, in that an official surveyor marked off the land. The system was: 
(1) A claimant would go into the woods and mark out roughly the boundaries of the desired tract. 
(2) This rude survey when submitted to the entry-taker at the land office was called an "entry." 
He made a record of the entry and issued a warrant for the survey. 
(3) The official surveyor 
connected with the land office then made a survey and submitted a plat to the secretary of state, 
who issued a land grant. 
(4) The title was complete when the grant was recorded in the office of 
the register of the county where the land lay."

(Source: Jan 1986 issue of the Cumberland County Genealogical Society newsletter) 
Contributed by Steve Edgerton September 17, 2005

Deed Records Insight
All individuals doing research have at one time or another wondered about the system of measurements 
used by early surveyors.

The basis of measurement was the Gunther chain invented by Edmund Gunther in 1620. The Gunther's chain 
was sixty-six feet in length and consisted of a hundred links of 7 92/100 inches each. It was made of 
number 6 or 9 wire.

This chain played an important role in today's system of measurement. Our rod is 16 1/2 feet or 
one-fourth of a chain. The mile is 80 chains. The acre is ten square chains or 43,560 square feet. 
The rod was also known as the pole. Streets were laid out one chain wide.

The old linear measure, now often called the surveyors measure, was as follows...
7 92/100 INCHES....   make 1 LINK
25 LINKS...           make 1 POLE
100 LINKS, 4 POLES or 66 FEET....    make 1 CHAIN
10 CHAINS....         make 1 FURLONG
8 FURLONGS...         make 1 MILE

Deeds, Land Grant Insights
In addition to the above information you will find on land grants the names of the CHAIN carriers. 
These are good clues to family relationships. The male chain carriers must have been 14 years or older 
and were usually sons, brothers of the grantee. If there were no males of age, the chain carrier was 
possibly a member of the wife's family. 

Deed of Gift
When there are two dates listed on a deed of gift, and these dates are at a wide berth, you are looking 
at the approximate date of death for the grantor. Often deed of gifts from father to son divulge the 
approximate marriage date for the son.  

(Source: Jan 1986 issue of the Cumberland County Genealogical Society newsletter) 
Contributed by Steve Edgerton February 16, 2004

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Last up-dated August 31, 2022