Marriage, Cohabitation, Divorce, Bastardy Records of Wayne Co, NC

From information at the Johnston County Heritage Center, Smithfield, NC, in the Barnes surname file, I had previously seen records that had been copied from the Johnston County, NC Deeds – T2, Page 289-290, that showed Garry Sims had been appointed the guardian of the children of Mary Sims Burnnum, after her death. Heirs of Joseph Simms, Feb. 1842, was registered in Johnston County on 28 March, 1842. Garry Sims was from Greene County, Alabama. From researching the family, I found that Mary Sims Burnham had died in that county in 1836, and her husband, Louis Burnham had remarried in 1837 to Catherine Sumrel. Johnston County records for Jacob Barnes’ estate had listed Simms heirs, through his granddaughter, Mary, and I had thought they were the only Simms heirs.

Looking through the Wayne County  book under the surname Simms, I found another reference listing Martha Simms and James Pope, two new names. This had the added information that Martha Simms Pope was the granddaughter of Jacob Barnes, and that she had lived in Houston County, Georgia.

Cross-referencing the page with the Pope surname confirmed that all three entries were in the Wayne County Record of Deeds, Volume 19, page 57.

After that find, I took the book up to the reference desk to make copies, and asked how to locate the deed book. One of the staff took me over to the microfilm room, and pulled Wayne County Record of Deeds, C.103.40008, 1838-1848, Vols 18, 19, 20. She said to forward the microfilm to Volume 19, and then to start looking for page 57.

Pages 57 and 58 showed that James Cook, a planter from Houston County, Georgia, was asking to be included in the estate of Jacob Barnes of Johnston County, through his wife, Martha, who was a granddaughter. He applied the 6th day of December 1841. James Cook wanted an advance of $528.78.

Source: https://barnesfamilyhistory1.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/researching-the-barnes-surname-at-the-north-carolina-state-archives