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The coastal North Carolina County of Beaufort (formerly Archdale) was created from Bath County in 1712. Beaufort was itself the parent county, in whole or in part, of Pamlico and Pitt counties. Beaufort, as a seaport, was a great crossroads of migration from the Northeast. Boston is mentioned many times in county records as a place of origin. The North Carolina counties of Perquimans, Pasquotank, and Currituck, as well as the Virginia county of Norfolk, also contributed to Beaufort's migrational base.

Beaufort County records are the subject of the latest work from genealogist John Anderson Brayton, the author or transcriber of scores of books and articles pertaining to the early families of North Carolina and Southside Virginia. This volume is derived from original Land Record Books 12 through 20. Arranged chronologically, these record abstracts consist of (1) instruments of sale from grantor to grantee, (2) deeds of trust based on collateral, (3) decrees issued by courts in which a debtor's property must be sold off to pay a debt, (4) deeds of gift (similar to indentures), and (5) straight sales of Negro slaves from one person to another. In all, the instruments refer to about 1,500 inhabitants of Beaufort County between 1729 and 1748, each of whom can be found in the name, location, or slave index at the conclusion of the volume.