Based on recorded wills and original wills at the North Carolina State Archives as well as "Loose Estate Papers" of intestates, these abstracts cover not only wills but powers of attorney, bonds, inventories, bills of sale, etc. Significantly, Surry County lay within the Granville Proprietary at its formation, and after Lord Granville's death in 1763 until 1778, the Proprietary land office did not reopen, making it very difficult--but for these will abstracts--for the present-day researcher to establish the residence of many individuals during that time period. What is more, as there are no extant marriage bonds for Surry County for the period 1771 to 1780, these will abstracts assume an importance out of all proportion to their customary value.

John Manning? Cain (1779-1876) was either born in Rutherford Co., N. C. or near Richmond, Va. He was buried in Gwinnett Co., Ga. He married Harriet Malinda (Milly?) Prickett/Pritchard in 1804 and they had five children. In 1825, he married Edna Poole (1783-ca. 1856) and they had one son. All the families of this book were intermarried. Descendants and relatives lived chiefly in the South.