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Table of Contents:

Welcome and summary of project
Announcements
Introduction to the project
Goals of the project
Need for the project
What's in store for the project
Documents that have been transcribed
Links to other websites

Welcome everyone to the new North Carolina Bradford Project page.

I have been working the past 2 or 3 years with people who are subscribed to my Bradford email list that have Bradford's in NC and lately realized that there are a lot of us who are descended from these lines that are not on my list.  Hopefully, I can catch the majority of you here.  Below, read the Introduction and FAQ about the project or the NC Bradford documents.
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Announcements

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Introdocution:  About the Project

Why is there a project on the NC line of Bradfords?  Very simply because there were so many of them and it has been a real pain to sort them out, who belongs to which line.  A little background information, before the mid-1800s, there were 3 main lines of Bradfords in North Carolina, and I call them the southern line and the northern lines.  1 line, which I am descended from, was primarily centered in Cabarrus and Mecklenburg Counties, close to the SC border.  2 lines were way up North near the VA border.  1 of the northern lines was centered in Granville County and the other was centered in Orange County.  For the most part, it's been fairly easy to keep the 2 northern lines seperated from the southern line, but it's been really tricky to keep the 2 northern lines seperated from each other.  The Goal of this project is to seperate and identify all three lines (and any others that may be there).
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How are the goals of the project being met?

There are 2 ways that I am trying to acheive these goals.  The first is that I am asking anyone with NC Bradfords to send me their information.  I am keeping a database of the NC lines.  I am not asking you to send the information so I can hoard it or keep control of it, I will gladly accept help.  What I am doing with the information is 2-fold.  First, I am entering all names and any information a person sends.  While doing this, I make note of any documented information you specify and any estimated information (for instance, born between 1790-1795).  When I enter this information, I also note for every documented information and name who sent the information.  I use this information so that if someone else sends the same line, I can put you in contact with each other!  I also use the information so that if I dig up anything for your line, I'll know who to contact.  Secondly, I have a TON of NC resources and have easy access to the state archives and aim to do research on the NC Bradfords 3 hours a week.  So far, I've found wills, marriages, land information, court records, and more.  I make copies of all records I find and hopefully can fill in some missing information for you.

I am also working with the folks that maintain the Bradford Y-DNA Project in hopes it will give us some help.  This site is working on the traditional genealogical methods and they are using newer DNA methods and hopefully with the 2 combined, we can finally straighten out the lines.

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Why is there a need for the project?

As you can see, It is really easy to confuse these lines and they can get jumbled up into a huge knot.  For instance, all three lines had a David Bradford all living around the same time before the 1800s.  2 of those Davids has sons named David, both born around the same time.  There are many cases of Thomas and William and Philemon in both northern lines, all living around the same time.  Through the DNA project, we know it is not a case of folks moving back and forth between counties or owning land in both counties, they are distinctly different lines.  And to top it all off, none of the lines are related.  It's my goal (and I'm sure others!) to untangle that knot.

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Documents:

Census Records

Marriage Records

Military Records:

Wills

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