Stock Marks of Tyrrell County, North Carolina |
Introduction and Instructions |
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Stock marks and brands were initially entered in the minutes of the Tyrrell County Court of
Pleas & Quarter Sessions from 1736 until 1763, with a few appearing in 1765. After that they
were mostly entered separately in a book instead of in the minutes. The entries in the court minutes were not in chronological order,
and seem to be entered in batches that did not necessarily correspond to the dates of
the court terms. Most entries had dates, but some didn't. Those that didn't were given the date
of the court term in which they appeared. Extracts from the minutes follow the pattern of
extracts from the book as described below except that dates are either exact or that of the court term. There is an anomaly in the stock marks book. It was missing stock marks from 1771 to 1782. As I was transcribing records from the minute book in the April 1782 term, I encountered pages and pages of stock mark records from 1771 to 1782. Apparently these pages were originally in the stock mark book, became separated, and were appended at the end of a minute book that concluded in the April 1782 term. There were other loose pages of stock marks that were apparently inserted into the minute books from time to time after that.
Many thanks to Beth O'Briant who extracted Tyrrell County Stock Marks, 1763-1819 and made
the extracts available to us. In these abstracts, names only are given, along with the
year. The stock marks used are not abstracted but are available, if needed, on microfilm
at the North Carolina Archives in Raleigh. A sample of an entire entry follows:
"Isaac Meekins Esquire record. For his son Isaac Meekins Proper mark a Croop and Slit in
each ear June 21st anno Dom. 1763" The above entry is for the ear only. Sometimes brands were included as well and sometimes they were separate entries. In many cases after 1800, entries do not have dates. However, they were entered and copied in chronological order, so they may be interpolated to a degree. To assist you in searching this data, an every name index has been created. Where a name appears more than once, it is followed by a number in parentheses so they may be differentiated. Each index entry points to a distinct place in the extracts. Click on the name in the index and your browser will open the extract table on the entry containing that person's name. |