Book Description

By: Raymond Parker Fouts, Pub. 1984, reprinted 2024, 154 pages, Index, soft cover, ISBN #978-1-63914-182-1. Gates County was created in 1778 from Hertford, Chowan and Perquimans counties, N.C. It is located in the Northeastern corner of the state bordering Virginia. It is surrounded by the counties of Camden, Chowan, Hertford, Pasquotank, Perquimans counties N.C. and by Nansemond County, VA. Many inhabitants of the "BURNED" counties of Hertford, N.C. and Nansemond, VA. which adjoin Gates County are mentioned in these early Court records. The court was held 4 times a year and heard such cases of assault, batteries, trespass, all breaches of the peace. They held authority of administration in intestate estates and orphans, granted license to build water grist mills, to taverns and ordinaries, and to build and maintain public ferries. The court also appointed Constables and Overseers of Roads and named the men who lived within the bounds to keep them in repair, as well as recommending three persons to the Governor, of whom one was made Sheriff, as well as imposing taxes for roads, courthouses and goals, appointed all county officers, civil and military, all lists of Jurors and probates of Wills. These records are extremely valuable for the researcher, especially if an ancestor died intestate (without a will), and in some instances a person may be listed in these court records and nowhere else in the county records.