Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Tuesday’s Tip~Confirmation, Verification of Derivative Sources


Here a good case why derivative sources should be double checked. My 3rd Great Grandmother is Charity Dry wife of Martin ‘Mark’ I. Huneycutt. Many on-line trees have a man by the name of Martin Dry as her Father; so I’m off looking for Martin Dry in all available resources within my library and on-line. 

On of those major resources is a book compiled by Thornton W. Mitchell in 1987, revised and republished in 1992. His book is:

North Carolina Wills, A Testor Index, 1665-1900

I have a Corrected and Revised Edition and on Page 142 of that book Martin Dry is listed.

Martin Dry-Mitchell








Thornton W. Mitchell’s book says that Martin Dry left a Will in 1837 and that it can be found in PQS 5/405 (Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Book 5, page 405). 

Now, I’m a genealogist and I found this information about a week ago. Due West of me about 40 miles, by Interstate 85, is the County seat of Cabarrus County, North Carolina. I’m ready to head west and get a copy yesterday. So early this morning the wife and I drove over to Concord, North Carolina to retrieve this WILL. 

It was not to be!! I left empty handed.  

I was informed by the very nice clerk at the front window that all those books had been transported to the State Archives for safe keeping. She did say I was welcome to examine the basement and see if what I was looking for was still on-hand and had not yet been shipped. So I took a stroll down the stairs into the basement of the Cabarrus County Courthouse. To me this small excursion was very fruitful. While I DID NOT find the Pleas and Quarters Session books; I did find several indexes and one of those index books that  I found was a Will Index Book. 

So I open up the WILL INDEX Book to the page for the DRY surnames and low and behold but there he was listed on the very first line. 

IMG_0199-Martin Dry




BUT, his WILL IS NOT in PQS-5, page 405 according to this WILL INDEX BOOK; it is listed being in PQS-2, page 405.

Mitchell’s Book is WRONG according to the Courthouse indexes. 

I will not go so far as to say that this typewritten Index is an Original Source but I will say that I would put more faith in the data within the Index over the Book. 

I still need a copy of this WILL and while Raleigh, NC is just a 1 1/2 hour trip eastward  I instead went to the NC State Archives and requested a copy of the Will by e-mail -- http://req.archives.ncdcr.gov/

Has requested information on A Court Minute.
For Person: Martin  Dry
In Year: 1837
County: Cabarrus County
Other  Info:
Seeking the Will of Martin Dry, 1837
Will Index at Cabarrus Courthouse show WILL is in
Pleas and Quarter Session 2/405
Thornton Mitchell Book give source as
Pleas and Quarter Session 5/405
Charles L. Purvis

This is a good lesson in the necessity to verify information from derivative sources.










No comments:

Post a Comment