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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: katjaeb on Thursday 10 April 25 22:32 BST (UK)

Title: Dower renunciations in North Carolina deeds?
Post by: katjaeb on Thursday 10 April 25 22:32 BST (UK)

Hi all,

Researching a man who was married and having children in Guilford County, North Carolina sometime between about 1795 and 1817. I was hoping to encounter this wife's name in the deeds, as she dies by 1817 (husband remarries) and there's no marriage record.

Husband was a landowner and appears several times in the deed book selling property during this 1795-1817 window. None of the sales, however, include the renunciation of dower or name the wife, which I thought was a legal requirement. And this omission doesn't seem to be limited to my subject, either; I'm not seeing any wives or dower notations in any of the other deeds in the vicinity. (Looking at the deed books on FamilySearch.)

Any ideas why they weren't recording that information? Is there a legal thing I'm not understanding?
Thanks!

-K

Title: Re: Dower renunciations in North Carolina deeds?
Post by: mckha489 on Friday 11 April 25 11:00 BST (UK)

I presume you have read this? (I realise it’s South not North)
Are the renunciations perhaps a separate document?

https://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/SeriesDescriptions/l10044.html

Title: Re: Dower renunciations in North Carolina deeds?
Post by: katjaeb on Friday 11 April 25 19:09 BST (UK)

Thanks, that does seem to be the most likely situation. No separate volume is on FamilySearch, so now the task will be to find out if they still exist at the county courthouse!