The Will of Cabarrus "Meck Dec " Signer, John Phifer, Now In N. C. State Archives Digital Collection A portion of John Phifer's will from the State Archives of North Carolina's collection of North Carolina Secretary of State Wills. The State Archives of North Carolina recently announced the creation of a new digital collection, North Carolina Secretary of State Wills . The digital collection contains wills from 1663 to 1789. These are loose original wills probated in the colonial North Carolina province. After 1760 most original wills were kept by the clerk in the county in which they were probated, though there are some wills after 1760 in the collection. You can browse the collection or narrow your search using the Mitchell Will Index, which can be accessed in the Manuscript and Archives Reference System ( MARS) catalog . The original wills are no longer accessible to the public for conservation concerns. Due to the age of some of the wills, the ink ma