According to certain shakey late-nineteenth century records, my Carr ancestors might have had their roots in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, New Jersey. Manahawkin has been part of Ocean County since 1850, but before that it was in Monmouth County. (Stafford Township was formed out of Shrewsbury Township in 1750.) Since I've been able to trace my Carr line back to Greenwich, New Jersey in Gloucester County, per tax records from the 1780s and Revolutionary War service records, I figure those Carr roots in Manahawkin must predate the Revolution. So, when I research my Carr line, I focus on Monmouth County research sites. I keep Ocean County in mind, however, because queries about a particular town can easily end up in the "wrong" county's bulletin board.

Continuing with this Elizabeth City line of discussion: If you want to actually meet other researchers and dig around in records, you might try the Family Research Society of Northeastern North Carolina (FRSNNC), which is based in Elizabeth City. My wife and I visited the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh back in the 1980s. They have a wonderful facility and tons of records. The state archives were loaded on a wagon and hauled to safety before the Yankees burned the town during the Civil War. The place, which has some of the oldest records in the South, is now understandably quite fire resistant. It looks like their online resources might be substantial as well.
Rootsweb has a town search engine. It can be helpful when you need some leads on where to look or if you just want to browse when you've run out of ideas. And if you have no luck with county or regional records, you can always check Rootsweb's State Resources List. Once you click on a state, it takes you to a page with a veritable cornucopia of links. Here's the North Carolina page, for example. If the list is unwieldy, try using Ctl F to search the page for keywords, like a county name or town or surname.
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