1773 Colonial North Carolina Indenture – Portsmouth Island, Carteret County – Silvanus Dixon and John Nelson
An original colonial North Carolina printed-and-manuscript indenture dated July 1773, conveying property situated on Portsmouth Island in Carteret County.
The surviving handwritten description identifies coastal land on Portsmouth Island and employs the traditional metes-and-bounds system, referring to the sound side, William Bragg’s line, marked trees and other geographical boundaries. Portsmouth Island, located near Ocracoke Inlet, developed into an important colonial harbor and lightering community through which vessels, cargo and passengers passed between the Atlantic and mainland North Carolina.
John Nelson appears as one of the principal executing parties. An endorsement on the reverse acknowledges the receipt of fifty pounds proclamation money from Silvanus Dixon. The deed was witnessed by Adam Gaskins and Babel Gaskins.
The document is associated with the early Dixon family of Carteret County and complements other surviving Dixon documents concerning landholding around Core Sound, Hunting Quarters and Portsmouth Island.
Date: July 1773
Place: Portsmouth Island, Carteret County, North Carolina
Associated parties: John Nelson and Silvanus Dixon
Consideration: £50 proclamation money
Witnesses: Adam Gaskins and Babel Gaskins
Condition: Poor and fragmentary. Separated into several large sections with substantial fold losses, holes, fading, staining and edge wear. Important portions of the date, property description, signatures and reverse financial endorsement survive. All photographed sections are included. Professional conservation is recommended.
An original colonial North Carolina printed-and-manuscript indenture dated July 1773, conveying property situated on Portsmouth Island in Carteret County.
The surviving handwritten description identifies coastal land on Portsmouth Island and employs the traditional metes-and-bounds system, referring to the sound side, William Bragg’s line, marked trees and other geographical boundaries. Portsmouth Island, located near Ocracoke Inlet, developed into an important colonial harbor and lightering community through which vessels, cargo and passengers passed between the Atlantic and mainland North Carolina.
John Nelson appears as one of the principal executing parties. An endorsement on the reverse acknowledges the receipt of fifty pounds proclamation money from Silvanus Dixon. The deed was witnessed by Adam Gaskins and Babel Gaskins.
The document is associated with the early Dixon family of Carteret County and complements other surviving Dixon documents concerning landholding around Core Sound, Hunting Quarters and Portsmouth Island.
Date: July 1773
Place: Portsmouth Island, Carteret County, North Carolina
Associated parties: John Nelson and Silvanus Dixon
Consideration: £50 proclamation money
Witnesses: Adam Gaskins and Babel Gaskins
Condition: Poor and fragmentary. Separated into several large sections with substantial fold losses, holes, fading, staining and edge wear. Important portions of the date, property description, signatures and reverse financial endorsement survive. All photographed sections are included. Professional conservation is recommended.
