CABARRUS GENEALOGY SOCIETY

African American Genealogy in Cabarrus County: St. John's Lutheran Church, 1858-1859 Relgion So Sweet   sheet music from   Slave Songs of the United States   edited by  William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison  (New York: A. Simpson & Co., 1867). African American genealogy often becomes more difficult for the researcher when using records before the 1870 federal census. The task of checking church records and deeds of sale for persons whose last names may have changed several times prior to the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 and again upon the conclusion of the Civil War takes a great deal of time, even with the growing body of published sources available. Unfortunately, pre-Civil War Cabarrus County sources for researchers of African American genealogy are few. However, there are several pages from the records of St. John's Lutheran Church which list fifteen black members of the congregation in 1858 and 1859. These pa

Margaret Mitchell Barrier:  Mount Pleasant Home Front Defender Margaret Mitchell Barrier, date unknown. Photo courtesy of the Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society. One of Mount Pleasant's most intriguing stories involves Margaret Mitchell Barrier (26 Aug 1812 - 1 Apr 1896). Matthias Barrier (12 May 1803 - 6 May 1873), a blacksmith and farmer, was a great supporter of Western Carolina Male Academy, so he resolved to leave his farm outside of town and build a home next to the school. Margaret, who was the second wife of Matthias, would have three sons by him. They were a prominent family with a comfortable life until the outbreak of the Civil War. Deemed too old to fight, Matthias remained at home as part of the Home Guard. The older sons, Rufus and William, enlisted in Co. H which had organized at the college. Margaret was left at home with her daughter, Annie, and her young son Victor. Family lore states that as Union forces were pushing toward the prison in Salisbury, th

Cabarrus County Common Schools  Began on this Date in 1841 R. W. Allison, first chairman of Cabarrus County Common Schools.  Date unknown. Photo courtesy of  Findagrave.com, Susan I. Grills. Cabarrus County has a long tradition in education. As our early pioneers built communities, they built churches. These churches provided the foundation for the Revolutionaries who saw education as the path to self-government and independence. Schools and academies during this period were privately supported and generally educated the children of affluent parents. The State Constitution of 1776 directed that "as School or Schools shall be established by the Legislature for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the Masters paid by the public," but essentially provided only for the establishment of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. A statewide system of public schools was first proposed around 1817. The Education Act passed by the General As

How Cabarrus Tax Records  Can Supplement  the 1890 Census The 1890 census was the first to use punchcards and an electrical tabulation system. ( National Archives: Courtesy Bureau of the Census ) Now that we have made it past April 15, here is a more pleasant way to think about tax records! As most researchers know, the 1890 census was destroyed by fire. Only three North Carolina townships, two in Gaston County and one in Cleveland County, survived the 1921 fire in the Commerce Department Building in Washington, D. C. Many genealogists have hit a brick wall when confronted with the twenty year gap between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. As a partial substitute for the 1890 census, the Cabarrus County Tax Scroll showing heads of household is better than no list at all. By 1883, the Cabarrus Scroll lists the taxable head of household by name, race and age, if male. It also shows property by acreage, location and value, as well as numerous personal property categories. Examples fro

Using Rowan and Mecklenburg Newspapers  for Cabarrus Research Unfortunately for Cabarrus County researchers, there are no surviving Cabarrus newspapers before 1855, and very few before 1885. While Rowan and Mecklenburg county papers carry very few marriage and death announcements for Cabarrus people, these sources are still worth the time and effort. April 1848 issues of the Carolina Watchman , published in Salisbury, give four marriages and one obituary with Cabarrus ties. Three of the four marriages are not noted in the recorded marriage bonds, while a fourth gives the bride's surname incorrectly! The obituary is for a Cabarrus resident whose tombstone does not survive and may be the only proof of death. The marriages are: February 6, William J. Revis to Mary, daughter of Jacob Lemone, deceased; February 17, John A. Shinn to Delilah A., daughter of Jacob Lemone, deceased; March 23, Jesse Barrier of Rowan to Elizabeth C., daughter of John Fouts of Cabarrus; April 20,

Early Life in Cabarrus County: Grain Crops The grain cradle, used beginning about 1830,  caught the grain  cut by its blades,  making it an  improvemen t  over the  sickle and scythe, which left the grain  lying on  the ground.  Courtesy of Learn  NC, University of NC, Chapel Hill. "Essay of Agriculture," written by William Shakespeare Harris (1815-1875), describes many aspects of early life in Cabarrus County including farming and building techniques, clothing and lifestyle. Here we discuss the primary grain crops grown in Cabarrus County during Harris' day. The earliest grain raised, primarily to provide flour and meal for bread, was corn. The first settlers cleared small patches in which to raise just enough corn for the family's needs. Farmers had little need for oats, since horses and cattle were left to graze among the wooded landscape for food. A farmer rarely fed his livestock, "though some overmuch careful farmer sometimes gave his hors

Why I Do Genealogy Research Recently, I was volunteering in the Lore History Room at the Concord Library. A man, who I would guess to be in his 60s, came in and asked for help to solve a mystery that had troubled him his whole life. He was emotional as he told his story and I could tell it disturbed him to his very core. He had been adopted as a baby to parents who had given him a good life, however, was an only child. His adoptive parents were now deceased and neither of them had siblings. Any grandparents or other family members were long gone. As the only one left, he felt alone and disconnected. He explained that he had been desperately trying to find someone - anyone - from his birth family. He needed to know if there were others with whom he was related. State law prohibited him from getting any information from the closed adoption records and he knew absolutely nothing about his birth family. He asked me, and one other researcher in the room that day, if we could offe