Durham County Widows' Year's Support

A selection of county records container lists are available in PDF format. As records series are arranged and described, additional container lists will become available. Widows' Year’s Support files contain records relating to the apportionment of widows’ dower rights in the real property of her deceased husband, and the allocation of a sufficiency of provisions to enable her to support herself and family during the first year after his death, while the estate was being settled.  North Carolina abolished the dower in 1960. In some counties these records are maintained in Estates or Special Proceedings.