Sir Walter Raligh got the whole thing going with a grant from Queen Elizabeth in 1584. The first permanent settlement was in 1653. It became a state, the 12th, in 1789. It then ceded from the Union in 1861 and was readmitted in 1868.

The first recorded event ennvolving the Putman family in North Carolina was on a 1694 Land Warrant. This warrant is recorded in The Old Albemarle County, North Carolina, Book of Land Warrants and Surveys, 1681 to 1706. The Patent is on page 220 and the actual Warrant on page 193. A transcript of the original document dated January 1, 1694 is found in the Addendum of this history. Albemarle County was the first County formed in what is North Carolina, and dates back to 1663. Carolina was under the control of the Virginia Colony at that time. In order to encourage the settlement of the Carolina Colony, Virginia was instructed by England to give a warrant for 50 acres to anyone who transported himself or others to the Carolinas. The bearer of these rights or warrants held what was called a headright. When a person went to the new lands, he turned in his rights and obtained a Warrant. When he took official possession of the lands, he received a Patent for the lands. In this case one Thomas Miller was to lead a party of thirteen settlers, including a John Putman, into the wilds of North Carolina. I have nothing more on this John Putman. In fact, he may never have even gone into North Carolina.

The next recorded event in North Carolina came in 1754 when Thomas Putman purchased 310 acres in northern Granville County. This Thomas Putman is, in my opinion, the son of Zachariah Putman. He came down from Virginia in the early 1750s into the northern part of North Carolina. It was this Thomas Putman who fathered the several Putman lines that were in North Carolina in the late 1700s. This section on North Carolina Putmans begins with this Thomas Putman, his children and his grand children and his great grand children. North Carolina was a growing colony in the mid and late 1700s. New counties were constantly being formed out of old counties. In a great many cases, our forebearers lived on the same farm, but it was a part of two, three or four counties as the boundaries kept shifting. For example the original County of Bute was formed in 1764 and discontinued in 1779. The earliest County, Albemarle, was formed in 1663 and went out of existence in 1739. Things were not easy then, and are even more confusing today.

The Putmans of North Carolina first entered the state from Virginia and settled just over the Virginia border in Granville County. The area then became the Franklin Warren Vance (FWV) district of Bute County and then became three separate counties when Bute was discontinued in 1779. At about the time of the Revolution, Thomas and his sons John and Barnet moved further south into northwestern South Carolina. Benjamin and his family moved after the Revolution to the same general area but remain on the southern North Carolina border in Rutherford County and remained there as it became Cleveland County in 1842. After the Revolution, most of these families have reverted to the PUTNAM spelling and many remain in that area today. Others of our family bounced back and forth over the North Carolina/South Carolina border and things get a little confusing. But, I am trying. After the Revolution we also get members of the New England branch trickling down. A family that had become Quakers settled near the New Garden Meeting Area in Guilford County and then like many others, moved into Greene and Jefferson Counties in eastern Tennessee in the early 1800s. Less confusion here, but still one has to be on one's toes.

The vast majority of families in North Carolina are part of the Southern Putman Lineage. There is a fair amount of information on the census entries, but if you want family trees and moore, go to the SOUTHERN PUTMAN section, then to NORTH CAROLINA and all I have is on the pages for ELIAS, WILLIS and THOMAS PUTMAN.

The first Federal Census was taken in 1790 and that data is available. However, earlier tax records exist and are helpful in determining who was where when.