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.










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. 






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.