Gates County Probate Records

The earliest known expedition down the Chowan River in North Carolina was that of the Ralph Lane Colony in 1585. Then, in 1622, another expedition led by John Pory from Virginia along the Chowan River. The bordering Virginia county of Nansemond has residents whose lands overlapped into Gates County. In fact, Colonel Henry Baker of Nansemond County was granted 2400 acres near Buckland. So it was that ultimately a mail route was established leading from Suffolk, Virginia (Nansemond County) to Corapeake and Edenton, North Carolina. The stage coach route crossed the Chowan River at Barfield.

The first surviving will book of Gates County which is digitized here (1779 to 1819) was quite faded and many pages were illegitable.

Barnes, Thomas	Barnes, William	Benson, Miles	Benton, John
Benton, John (2)	Bethey, John	Blanshard, Aaron	Blanshard, Abraham
Blanshard, Sarah	Brady, James	Brinkley, Mary	Carter, Moore
Costen, Demsey	Costen, James	Daughtie, David	Davis, Garrett
Davis, John	Dunn, Sarah	Eason, William	Felton, Mary
Freeman, William	Garrett, James	Gatling, William	Goodman, Henry
Goodman, Joel	Goodman, Joel (2)	Goodman, William	Gordon, John
Green, Samuel	Gregory, John	Gwinn, William	Harrell, Isaac
Harrell, Jethro	Hays, William	Hill, Henry	Hines, Moses
Hinton, William	Hobbs, Guy	Hunter, Alice	Hunter, Jacob
Hyat, Solomon	Jones, Joseph	King, Henry	Langston, Isaac
Lassiter, Aaron	Lassiter, Robert	Lassiter, William	Lawrence, Rachael
Lewis, Phillip	Miltear, Jethro	Nesbit, Joseph	Norfleet, Jacob
Outlaw, James	Parker, Daniel	Parker, Elizabeth	Parker, Francis
Piland, George	Powell, John	Powell, William	Pullington, Thomas
Rice, David	Riddick, Kedar	Riddick, James	Riddick, Robert
Roberts, Jonathan	Ross, John	Rountree, Thomas	Saunders, Francis
Saunders, Sarah	Spivey, Elijah	Summer, Demsey	Summer, Edwin
Taylor, Samuel	Trotman, Elizabeth	Trotman, Rachel	Tugwell, Joseph
Umfleet, William	Walters, Jacob	Walters, William	Watters, James Bray
White, John	Wiggins, Ambrose	Williams, Demsey