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A leading expert on North Carolina, Virginia, and royal genealogy, John Anderson Brayton is the author of nearly a score of books and numerous articles in highly respected periodicals, including the North Carolina Genealogical Journal and the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. His publications are known for extraordinary attention to detail. All of them, like the two-volume Transcription of Provincial North Carolina Wills, 1663-1729/30, are characterized by faithful transcriptions of original sources. His uncompromising scholarship has enabled him to debunk myths and mistakes found in numerous older genealogy publications.

Mr. Brayton’s latest work is Abstracts of Pasquotank County, NC, Deeds, 1750-1770. Pasquotank County, located in the Albemarle region of North Carolina, was formed in 1670. It is the parent of Camden County. For Abstracts of Pasquotank County, NC, Deeds, 1750-1770, Mr. Brayton traveled to the Elizabeth City courthouse, where he abstracted the original Pasquotank deeds in its possession. The transcriptions incorporate a variety of land instruments: (1) instruments of sale from grantor to grantee, (2) deeds of trust in which the debtor offers collateral in the event he cannot pay the amount owed, (3) decrees issued by courts in which a debtor’s property must be sold to pay off a debt, (4) deeds of gift; (5) straight sales of Negro slaves from one person to another, and (6) land grants from the governor to a patentee. In all, the author has produced 2,250 abstracts, which hold the key to about 9,000 early inhabitants of North Carolina. In addition to the complete name index to persons named in the instruments, Mr. Brayton has also added an index to slaves and another to places named in the deeds.