The will abstracts in this volume, 1749-1790, are based on the oldest Mecklenburg County wills of record, as well as upon the extant returns of wills and estates of the North Carolina Secretary of State. While the length and contents of these abstracts vary, most of them provide the name of the testator, date of the will, names and relationships of all heirs to the estate (sometimes with ages given or inferred), contents of the estate, names of executors, and, usually, the date of probate.

"These abstracts cover the entire period when Mecklenburg included such a large area, and going on to 1779, the first nine deed books."--Intr.

"These abstracts cover the entire period when Mecklenburg included such a large area, and going on to 1779, the first nine deed books."--Intr.

Following up on her 2004 work, "Families of Cabarrus County, North Carolina," Kathleen Marler has now assembled an alphabetically arranged collection of abstracts of early inhabitants of Mecklenburg County, the parent county of Cabarrus. The principal sources for her new book are Mecklenburg County Deed Volumes 1-3 (July 1778 through September 1786), Mecklenburg wills, the 1790 U.S. Census for Mecklenburg County, and several other primary and secondary sources.