Abstracts of deeds recording the purchase of real property by African-Americans during the first fifty years of freedom (or earlier):

• On 8 April 1857, Noah Lynch gave a mortgage deed to Oswald Lipscomb and Edward A. Sherman, acting as the firm Lipscomb and Sherman, on a one-quarter-acre lot in the Town of Wilson at the corner of Spring and Green Streets. Lynch had purchased the lot from B.H. Bardin and J. Sauls on credit, and Lipscomb and Sherman had agreed to take over payments. If Lynch failed to repay Lipscomb and Sherman, the mortgage deed was cancelled. Deed book 1, page 268.
• On 17 November 1866, for $101.50, W.T. Brewer sold Elijah Cox a 50-acre tract on the west side of Cabin Branch adjoining Zillah Lucas, Thomas Woodard, and others. The tract had been drawn by Obedience Tomlinson in the division of the land of Thomas Tomlinson Sr. Deed book 3, page 457.
• On 15 May 1869, for $400, E.G. and Martha Clark sold Hardy Farmer and Wiley Short a lot on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Redmond Batts, Bailey Batts, and Guilford Horne and containing about 120 acres. Deed book 3, page 557.
• On 12 November 1869, for $1275, R.J. Taylor and wife sold brothers Hilliard Ellis and Warren Rountree 245 acres on Little Swamp adjacent to Stephen Lipscomb and others. Deed book 3, page 467.
• On 2 January 1870, Joshua and Matilda Barnes sold Hardy Farmer and Wiley Short an eight-acre lot on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Jordan Winstead and others. Deed book 5, page 479.
• On 23 December 1870, for $150, John Williamson sold Alfred Jackson a six-acre tract on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Zilpha Privett, Washington Dew, and others. Deed book 5, page 293.