Burning Questions ~ I haz 'em

Below is a transcript that I found last year quite by accident and this site and all of the hard work of the site owner had opened up a brick wall for me. I have since dug in to find out more about my Edwards family. It goes slow, that big re-do project everyone is very tired of reading about and so on (this is part of the re-do project btw!!).. Grin. I do have a copy of the original document but shamelessly did not transcribe because it was already done. I ordered "Alleghany County Heritage" from The Alleghany County Historical-Genealogical Society this weekend so hoping I find a lot of information. Edwards was a prolific surname in Ashe and Alleghany Counties, North Carolina, and still is today. I would like to add these counties to my travel list. A travel list that I don't get to do much of. I am committed to burn up my vacation to Pennsic this year but plan on 2012 to be a somewhere else vacation. I wanted it to be Scotland, I won't be able to afford it by then so I will be doing some Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia travel plans. See how quick I slide off topic?

Two more books I would like to find, they have Edwards Family mentions:

History of the Davis fam. des. of John Davis, d. East Hampton, LI. By Albert H. Davis. New York, 1888.

The family of Granville H. Cox, 1822-1888, of early Ashe County, North Carolina, and Atchison County, Missouri

This document had a lot of information and one of the informants, Jane Duncan, is my great-great-great-grandmother. Within is her father, his father, their families. It was easy to source. I could attach it to a lot of places in my database!
 
However, in putting the information in RM4 and doing my sourcing, the questions started to arise. The document is created in 1892 with a witnessed post script in 1954. The deed was registered in 1925. That is a long span of time. Why such a long time.

And.. The big question.

What required my ggg-grandmother and her two sisters to give this information and why is it all posted in a deed book? I think I will have to figure out why this proceeding happened. William Edwards died in 1869, so why was this done in 1892? I don't know much about deeds and land and all that but I find it odd that this document exists. I am grateful for it, it is a great genealogical find! But I want to know the why of it all, I always do! It is probably a very simple reason.

Here is the transcript with the website credit to the real transcriber:

Alleghany County, NC, Deed Book 33, pp.524-525
 
COPY
Edwards William Descendants
State of North Carolina, Alleghany County
 
Interlineations by Transcriber

This day Sarah CHOATE and Nancy FENDER and Jane E. DUNCAN comes before me and each in one form of law makes oath. Mrs. CHOATE that she was born January 13th, 1809, Mrs. FENDER 16th of April 1815, Mrs. DUNCAN, September 4th, 1817, in North Carolina.
  
That their fathers name was William EDWARDS and was born in Orange County, North Carolina, October 15th, 1776, and that his wife's maiden name was Nancy CARTER, and that the names of his brothers and sisters were Starling EDWARDS, David EDWARDS, Elizabeth EDWARDS, who married Henry BREWER, Polly EDWARDS who married Syl or Cil BREWER, Susan EDWARDS who married Charles TOLIVER, Sally EDWARDS who married Jacob CROUSE.

That their Grandfather's name on their father's side was William EDWARDS [actually their grandfather was David EDWARDS] and that he lived in Orange County, North Carolina [true], and that he died about 1779, according to their information, and that their said grandfather came from England and settled in Virginia, prior to his coming and settling in North Carolina, and that their said grandfather had two brothers, if no more, to wit: Thomas EDWARDS and Robert EDWARDS [not true], and he their said grandfather had a sister by the name of Frankie EDWARDS, but neither one knows who she married. That their grandfather's brother Robert EDWARDS, after coming to America and staying awhile, returned to England [not true], according to the information that they received from their father, and the reports and traditions of the family, when they were little girls, and that their said grandfather married Elizabeth or Betsy MORRIS [probably true], and that he either married her in Virginia or at least she came from Virginia.

That the brothers and sisters names of affiants were Thomas EDWARDS, Nathaniel EDWARDS, David EDWARDS, Johnathan EDWARDS, Joshua EDWARDS, and the three affiants. That after the death of their said grandfather his widow then married Richard WILLIAMS and Sarah CHOAT makes oath than when she was a child or little girl she often heard the lessee of the property of Robert EDWARDS, the brother of her grandfather, speak of and that he leased it, or in some way left it, and returned to England, and soon after he thus returned to England that he died: and that the said property of said Robert EDWARDS, was in the state of New York on in the vicinity therof.

That their uncle Starling EDWARDS children were Peggy who married RIGGINS, Rhoda who married Amos HOWELL, Betsy married Henry WOODIE, Sally married Wm. WOODIE, Rachel married a LAWRENCE, Lucy married a RHOUTS or FOUTS, and that his boys names were John EDWARDS, William EDWARDS and Clisby EDWARDS.

Their uncle David's childrens names were William EDWARDS, Henry or Hal EDWARDS, Morris EDWARDS, S.O. EDWARDS, and Phoebe who married A.B. COX, Sally who married Hutch BURTON, Mahala who married Henry RICHARDSON, Betsy who married Jesse CONLEY, Thursy who married Noah WARD.
 
They do not know who the children of Elizabeth, Polly or Susan were, but the children of their aunt Sallie CROUSE, Candace who married John WOODRUFF, David CROUSE, Jacob CROUSE, John CROUSE, Charles CROUSE, William CROUSE, Sally who married Martin GAMBILL, Betsy, James ANDERS, Margaret married Lorenza ANDERS, Frankie married Richard CHEEK.
 
[Signed] Sarah CHOAT, Nancy FENDER, Jane E. DUNCAN
Attest: W.C. FIELDS, J.F. WARDEN

Sworn to before me and subscribed before me at Sparta in Alleghany County, North Carolina, this March 24th, 1892. Given under my hand and official seal of office, at office in Sparta in said County and State, this March 24th, A.D. 1892. W.E. COX, Clerk.
 
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this May 15, 1925. A.F. REEVES, Clerk Superior Court.

Filed for registration May 15, 1925. Registered May 23, 1925. L.E. EDWARDS, Register of Deeds..

[The following is written in the margin of the deed book] Correction: David EDWARDS, Sr., was the son of John EDWARDS and was a soldier in Continental Army. He married Elizabeth MORRIS. David EDWARDS, Jr., was the son of David EDWARDS, Sr. He married Elizabeth ANDREWS and settled near Zion Church. This May 20, 1954. [Signed] Geo. W. EDWARDS. Witness: Ernest E. EDWARDS, Register of Deeds.

Pasted from <http://moonzstuff.com/edwards/william1776.html>