My Spruills were primarily in Washington and Tyrrell Counties in North Carolina. Therefore, my knowledge of Spruill resources for other areas is limited. If you know of a printed resource that would be helpful to your fellow Spruill researchers, please send me the bibliographic information and I will post it on this page. If you are willing to do lookups in any Spruill resources available to you, please let me know and I'll post that information here as well.

• Cox, Clarice S. Gabriel Spruill of Carroll County Georgia Descendants and Allied Families (Decorah, Iowa: The Anundsen Publishing Co., 1984). Records the descendants of Gabriel and Ann Mann Spruill and includes some early records of the Spruill family. This book has an index and several pictures of Spruills.
  

• Davis, Elizabeth L. and Ethel W. Spruill. The Story of Dunwoody Its Heritage and Horizons 1821-1975 (Atlanta, Georgia: Williams Printing Company, 1975). Dunwoody is located in DeKalb County, Georgia. Ethel Warren Spruill is the second wife of Stephen Thomas Spruill. For more information about this family, see the Spruill Center for the Arts. There are several Spruill pictures in this book, unfortunately it has no index.
  

• Durrill, Wayne K. War of Another Kind A Southern Community in the Great Rebellion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990)  This book describes in detail the disintegration during the Civil War Southern Plantation society in Washington County, North Carolina. Several Spruills are mentioned. There are extensive footnotes and a wonderful bibliography. If your Spruills lived in this county during the Civil War, this book is a must have!
  

• Family Bible of Nolia and Nina May (Holbrook) Spruill, Family Puzzlers, 19 Apr 1997, No. 1487, pg. 19
  

Lambeth, Mary Weeks. Memories and Records of Eastern North Carolina (Nashville: Curley Printing Co., 1957) - this book is out-of-print and very hard to find.  Mrs. Weeks is the granddaughter of Mrs. Mary Frances Spruill Davis, who is the daughter of Gen. Hezekiah G. Spruill of Tyrrell and Washington Counties in North Carolina.
Brand new, prewrapped copies from the publisher are available for $35.00 postpaid.
Limited copies available.  Please contact Florence L. Parman for details.

• Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh editor. The Pettigrew Papers Volume I (Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1971)
  

Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh editor. The Pettigrew Papers Volume II 1819-1843 (Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1988)  "The rich manuscript collections of Pettigrew family papers in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh yield important information and insights on planter life in eastern North Carolina."  Volume I is out of print and hard to find. Volume II may be ordered from the North Carolina State Archives. There is a Volume III expected which will bring the story of the Pettigrews up to the death of James Johnston Pettigrew at Gettysburg in July, 1863. Several Spruills are mentioned throughout both volumes.

• The Long Lost Journal of Confederate General James Johnston Pettigrew by Daniel F. Bauer.
  A historical novel of the South during the Civil War as seen through the eyes of a confederate general who fought at Gettysburg.
  

• Melson, James William. Benjamin and Nancy Spruill (Columbia, North Carolina: privately printed by the author, 1964/65) (I belive there is a copy in the NC State Archives.)  From the acknowledgement page: "The compiled lineage of Benjamin and Nancy Spruill is brought down from Doctor Godfrey Spruill (1650/1718/19) to the descendants of Benjamin and Nancy Spruill..."   From the dedication page: "This record is compiled for and dedicated to Mrs. John W. Melson and to Mrs. Thomas F. O'Brien, Jr., my wife and daughter, who were Helen Ralph Spruill, the daughter of Thomas Sanderson Spruill and his wife mable Ralph Spruill, prior to her marriage to John William Melson of Columbia, North Carolina, the son of Alonzo Melson and his wife Mary Pledger Melson; and Kay Spruill Melson, the daughter of John W. and Helen S. Melson, prior to her marriage to Thomas Franklin O'Brien, Jr., the son of Thomas Franklin O'Brien, Sr., and his wife Mary McCready O'Brien of Charlotte, North Carolina."  There is a reference section in the back of the book, by chapter. There is no index.
  

Modlin, Elizabeth, Helen Jones and Shirleyan Phelps editors. Washington County, NC: A Tapestry (Winston-Salem, NC: The Josten Printing Company, 1998)This book is a project of the Washington County Bicentennial Committee. It is based on the unpublished manuscript, The Story of Washington County, NC, of John W. Darden which was completed 1 Jan 1950. It is a wonderful history of the county and includes many pictures of places and families. The book is 697 pages with index. Click here for information on ordering this book. The Spruills have always been a prominent family in Washington County and are generously represented in this book.

Modlin, Elizabeth, Helen Jones and Shirleyan Phelps editors. Washington County, NC: A Tapestry (Winston-Salem, NC: The Josten Printing Company, 1998)This book is a project of the Washington County Bicentennial Committee. It is based on the unpublished manuscript, The Story of Washington County, NC, of John W. Darden which was completed 1 Jan 1950. It is a wonderful history of the county and includes many pictures of places and families. The book is 697 pages with index. Click here for information on ordering this book. The Spruills have always been a prominent family in Washington County and are generously represented in this book.

Modlin, Elizabeth, Helen Jones and Shirleyan Phelps editors. Washington County, NC: A Tapestry (Winston-Salem, NC: The Josten Printing Company, 1998)This book is a project of the Washington County Bicentennial Committee. It is based on the unpublished manuscript, The Story of Washington County, NC, of John W. Darden which was completed 1 Jan 1950. It is a wonderful history of the county and includes many pictures of places and families. The book is 697 pages with index. Click here for information on ordering this book. The Spruills have always been a prominent family in Washington County and are generously represented in this book.

Redford, Dorothy Spruill. Somerset Homecoming: Recoverng A Lost Heritage (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1988) - the folks at Somerset tell me that the book is being revised and reprinted and will be available in 2000)  "What started as the simple desire to tell her daughter about her own family's history--inspired by Alex Haley's Roots--became for Dorothy Spruill Redford a ten-year odyssey into the past. Her journey culminated trimphantly on August 30, 1986 when she brought together over two thousand descendants of the slaves who worked and lived at Somerset Place, an antebellum plantation in Washington County, North Carolina... Somerset Homecoming is the rich and compelling story of the Somerset Place slaves, who built the plantation over two hundred years ago."  This book has no index.

Simpson, Bland. Into the Sound Country A Carolian's Coastal Plain (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1997)  The sound country of Eastern North Carolina is one of America's most beautiful and underexplored areas. Into the Sound Country is an affectionate, impressionistic, and personal portrait of the coastal plain by two natives of the region, writer Bland Simpson and photographer Ann Cary Simpson. The North Carolina branch of the Spruill family figures into the book at several points, and Bland Simpson is a direct descendant of Doctor Godfrey Spruill and Joanna Spruill.
                                                      

Weisiger, Benjamin B. III compiler. Henrico County Virginia Deed 1677-1705 (1986; reprint, Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 199

Yerby, Catherine Spruill. "Our Family History," Tyrrell Times October 1996, Tyrrell County (NC) Genealogical and Historical Society, p. 35.  Catherine Yerby and her son Thomas are the ones who went into the swamp in 1963 and found the grave of Colonel Hezekiah Spruill (born 1732, died 1804). Mrs. Yerby did extensive research into the Spruill family. Her daughter, Virginia, still lives in Columbia, NC, and has her mother's research.

AMERICAN DATA FROM THE ABERDEEN JOURNAL 1748-1783, by David Dobson, 49 pp. $10.00. 750 references, subjects covered are banishment of felons to the Plantations, shipping links, advertisements for indentured servants, news of events in the colonies, details on Scottish regiments fighting in the French and Indian Wars or Revolutionary War, reports of privateers, letters from America and obituaries of American emigrants.

COLONISTS FROM SCOTLAND, Emigration in North America, 1707-1783, by Charles Cargill Graham, 213 pp., indexed, paper. $23.00. Chapters devoted to Lowland and Highland emigration, forced transportation of felons and the drafting of Scottish troops to the colonies, etc.

DIRECTORY OF SCOTTISH SETTLERS IN NORTH AMERICA, 1625-1825, Vol. VII $17.50, Although the sixth volume of the Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America was said at the time of its publication in 1986 to be last in the series, subsequent research has brought to light sufficient new material to warrant this seventh volume. Largely a miscellany, this volume draws upon printed books and manuscripts, church records, burgess rolls, probate records, state records, and public records of every description. All 2000 entries refer to Scots who emigrated to North America or who are reported to have lived or died there, and they include some or all of the following: place and date of birth, place of residence, names of parents, occupation, name of spouse, date of emigration, place and date of settlement and date of death.

DIRECTORY OF SCOTTISH SETTLERS IN NORTH AMERICA, 1625-1825, Vol. VII $17.50, Although the sixth volume of the Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America was said at the time of its publication in 1986 to be last in the series, subsequent research has brought to light sufficient new material to warrant this seventh volume. Largely a miscellany, this volume draws upon printed books and manuscripts, church records, burgess rolls, probate records, state records, and public records of every description. All 2000 entries refer to Scots who emigrated to North America or who are reported to have lived or died there, and they include some or all of the following: place and date of birth, place of residence, names of parents, occupation, name of spouse, date of emigration, place and date of settlement and date of death.

AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENTS OF SCOTCH HIGHLANDERS IN AMERICA- Prior to the Peace of 1783, by John P. McLean, 455 pp., illus., paper, $36.50. Interesting account of Highland emigration, with an overview of the Highlanders, then a description of the events, resettlement schemes, emigration, history of settlements in America. Focuses attention on the Highlanders in North Carolina; with lists of petitions for patents of land (1740); heads of families (1767); and Highland Royalists (1776); Highlanders in Georgia with a list of petitioners; in New York with a list of grantees (1764); on the Mohawk with a list of petitioners (1779/80); Royalists in New York (1777-1783); and in Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Biographical sketches included.

THE GREAT HISTORIC FAMILIES OF SCOTLAND, By James Taylor. 2 vols. in one. 410 & 431 pp., indexed. 2nd ed. (1889), repr. Balto., 1995. $55.00. One of the great genealogical compendia of Scottish families, Taylor's Historic Families of Scotland has been in constant demand since its original appearance at the end of the 19th century. According to one review, it would be welcome by those who valued high standards of genealogical research and delighted in the romance of history. Equally important, from the genealogist's point of view, is the fact that the fifty or so main families selected for inclusion are thoroughly representative in character and are the progenitors of untold numbers of people living today. As might be expected of such a work, the narrative traces the families from their earliest recorded origins all the way up to the end of the 19th century. "Dr. Taylor has written a work fitted to interest and fascinate a public as wide as the Scottish people. . . ."-- The Scotsman

THE HISTORICAL FAMILIES OF DUMFRIESSHIRE AND THE BORDER WARS, second edition, by C. L. Johnstone, 213 pp., illus., indexed, paper, $24.00. Account of the long-established families of this region of Scotland and of the so-called Border Wars that were waged from the 12th century between dominant Scottish families of South Dumfriesshire and the English in North Cumberland. Families include: Armstrong, Baliol, Bell, Boswell, Bruce, Carlile/Carlyle, Carruthers, Clark, Corry, Crichton, Cummings, Douglas, Dinwiddie, Fergusson, Fleming, Gladstone, Gordon, Grahem, Irving, Jardine, Johnstone, Kennedy, Kerr, Kirkpatrick, Laird, Maitland, Maxwell, Murray, Scott, Sharp, Stuart/Stewart, Trumble and Wallace.

THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICATION OF SCOTTISH SURNAMES, Clifford S. Sims, 122 pp., paper. (1862), repr. 1995. $17.50. Mentions name of family founder, coat-of-arms. Sims' surname derivations are based on localities, baptismal names, trades, offices, professions, etc.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA, Henry Jones Ford. 607 pp., indexed, paper. (1915), repr. 1995. $42.50. Commences with a discussion of the Scottish migration to Ulster in the 17th century, followed by causes of Scotch-Irish emigration to North America...settlement in New England, New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania.

SCOTS-IRISH LINKS 1725-1757. In Two Parts, David Dobson. 2 vols. in one. 59 pp., paper. (1994,1995), repr. 1997. $9.00. The purpose of this book is to help person make the linkage first to Ulster and then back to Scotland. Identifies some 12000 Scotsmen (in two alphabetically arranged lists) who resided in Ulster between early 1600s and early 1700s.

SCOTTISH FAMILY HISTORY - A Guide to Works of Reference on the History and Genealogy of Scottish Families. By Margaret Stuart. To which is prefixed an essay on How To Write The History Of A Family. By Sir James Balfour Paul. 386 pp. (1930), repr. Balto., 1994. $25.00. This book is a timesaving and comprehensive guide to family histories contained in books, pamphlets, periodical articles, and manuscript collections up to the year of its original publication in 1930. The coverage is exhaustive, embracing references to approximately 6,500 families. The families are listed in alphabetical order and, thereunder, where necessary to distinguish families of the same name, by residence, seat, or estate, the citations giving the title of the publication in which the genealogy is found, the author, date of publication, and, where appropriate, volume and page number.

SCOTTISH QUAKERS AND EARLY AMERICA, 1650-1700, by David Dobson, 52 pp., illus., paper. $10.95. Identifies many of the Scottish Quakers who settled in east Jersey in the 1680s. Describes 500 Quakers, name of parents, marriage, spouse, etc.

THE SCOTTISH SETTLERS OF AMERICA--The 17th and 18th Centuries, by Stephen M. Millett, 234 pp., paper. $25.00. Originally published in thirteen installments of U. S. Scots magazine, Dr. Millett's account of Scottish emigration to Colonial America is the best introduction to its subject.

A TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SCOTLAND, By Samuel Lewis. 2 vols. 2nd edition. 1,233 pp. (1851), repr. Balto., 1989. Low in stock. $75.00. Every fact of importance that illustrates the local history of Scotland is in this book. Arranged alphabetically by place (village, parish, town, etc.), it has an accurate description of all Scottish localities as they were at the time of publication (1851), showing where a village was located in relation to its parish, or the nearest town or towns, where a parish was located in relation to its nearest district, and the names of villages in it, the number of inhabitants of an area, the main landowners, and chief topographical features. This work enables you to identify a given locality in relation to a parish and thus the identification of the parish records. So, if you know the place of origin of your ancestor--the village or town--this gazetteer will show you, in effect, which parish records to search for births, marriages, and deaths. Modern gazetteers are useless for this purpose. The civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1855, at which time all the old parish registers were called in. The LDS Church has copied the parish registers of every parish in Scotland, from the earliest up to 1855, and has indexed virtually all of them--all the more reason to know your ancestor's parish.

TRACING YOUR SCOTTISH ANCESTRY, By Kathleen B. Cory. 228 pp., indexed, wrappers. 2nd edition, Balto., 1997. $16.95. This is the most practical, the most up-to-date, and the most informative guide to Scottish ancestry ever to come on the market. Packed with information and advice on basic research techniques, it focuses on the holdings of the two principal Scottish record repositories, the General Register Office at New Register House and the Scottish Record Office, both in Edinburgh. With records of births, marriages, and deaths before and after 1855 and census returns from 1841 to 1891 at the first-named location, and wills, testaments, deeds, and church records at the other, the author guides you, record by record, to a successful conclusion of your search. With chapters on other records and repositories, five useful appendices (including one that lists every parish in Scotland by district number, county and commissariat), and various maps, this publication will be welcomed by everyone interested in Scottish genealogy.