No trip to the Outer Banks would be complete without a visit to the Outer Banks History Center in Manteo at Festival Park, a local satellite office of the North Carolina State Archives. They collect lots of information about the Outer Banks and make the originals available to the local population here. The history here is indeed rich, and they should be commended for keeping the information locally and available to the people who live here and in close proximity. Today’s trip was to use the Beatrice McArthur collection. Mrs. McArthur, 1923-2002, was born in Buxton, NC to Joseph and Arville Credle Barnett. She was a school teacher on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and married Arthur Lee McArthur of Cordele, Georgia. They lived variously in Durham, Charlotte, Cramerton and Greensboro, NC but retired to Buxton where she continued to research and compile a history of the Hatteras Island families. Research was one of her greatest passions and she was instrumental in gathering the recorded history and genealogy of the Cape Hatteras region. She also co-founded the Hatteras Island Genealogical and Historical Society. The collection extends in some cases to Okracoke Island and occasionally to the mainland and Roanoke Island. The materials include family group sheets, correspondence, copies of birth records, death records, family Bible records, marriage licenses, obituaries, census records and more. It is truly a wealth of information. Aside from lots of history pertaining to the region and many newspaper clippings, there is family specific information on the following Island families: Austin, Balance, Barnett, Burrus, Casey, Dailey, Farrow, Flowers, Fulcher, Garrish, Gaskill, Gaskins, Grey, Hooper, Howard, Jackson, Jarvis, Jennett, Jennings, Meekins, Midgett, Miller, Neal, Norton, O’Neal, Oden, Payne, Peele, Pugh, Quidley, Relfe, Rollinson, Scarborough, Simpson, Stowe Styron, Taylor, Tolson, Toler, Whedbee, Williams, Willis, White.
This blog is © History Chasers
Click here to view all recent Searching for the Lost Colony DNA Blog posts
