Pasquotank County North Carolina Poor House Records 1807-1868.

The poor house records consist of “invisible” people – widows of men who died either poor or in dire straits as their estates were not able to sustain the family left behind; orphans of those deceased men; men who became injured or disabled and were therefore unable to support their families; the elderly or the disabled; people who built coffins or dug graves. In other words, those who lived on the margins of society. Other names in the book include those who provided provisions to the poor, assisted with childbirth, cared for people when they were injured or sick, provided firewood or fence rails for the poor house, sold beef or pork to the poor house, etc. Poor House records are seldom used for genealogy as the originals are not indexed, but contain a lot of everyday people, i.e. our ancestors.

240 pages including index by Sharon Rea Gable (2019), $30