Running into uh oh's

In my previous post I mentioned how the flood of 1999 from Hurricane Dennis and Floyd destroyed records that were in the courthouse in Edgecombe County. It turns out that the state archives does have records for Edgecombe County during the period I am looking for. However, I will have to sit through a lot of microfilm/microfische until I find what I need. So needless to say I may be sitting there for a few hours.

There are many other courthouses not only in North Carolina but across the country, especially here in the South, where courthouse records have been lost to floods and fires.

Do not let this get you down. Look for other avenues to explore. Locate church records, graveyards, school records, check and see if your local libraries have any records. I know NC State University Library has many old books that record wills and census information and other important documents concerning the state of NC and its citizens.

So keep trekking on.

So I got my grandma's death certificate today

So I went to Tarboro, Edgecombe County, NC today to see family and to get a copy of my grandma's death certificate. I also stopped by the cemetery to see grandma's grave. the grass has started to creep over the grave and in a few weeks I imagine it will be covered in grass and you won't even be able to tell that it's a fairly recent grave, well except by seeing the funeral home metal plaque that says her name and birth and death year.

So the death certificate lists the causes of death as
Immediate cause: End Stage Dementia with contributing factors of cerebrovascular disease, failure to thrive and hypertension. but the time of death is not recorded on it.

While at the courthouse I decided to look into my grandma's first marriage. But I was told all of those records were destroyed in the flood of 1999, so I was told to check the archives. So I am going to do that tomorrow or sometime next week.