Obvious misspellings were transcribed exactly as they appear on the census ledger sheets. The families were grouped in semi-alphabetical order by last name and does not list the name of the town where they lived. The only improvement made was inserting zeros where spaces were blank to allow easier reading. The old-fashioned script handwriting was fairly good and understandable but the microfilming process darkened, faded or totally obliterated the entries in certain places. The bottom of the sheets curled during microfilming, making the last two entries on each page difficult to read.
Most surnames beginning with the letter B are almost illegible.
Rather than exclude these pages entirely, I did the best I could in transcribing the names. Also, torn pages were repaired with tape which completely covered certain entries. Many of the families listed here are descendants of the original pioneer families who settled in this area in the early 1700s when part of it was known as Old Dobbs County. Some of those pioneer families came from Isle of Wight County and Southampton County in Virginia and can be traced back to the 1600s Jamestown vicinity. Also, it should be noted that the northern part of Wayne County was taken in 1855 to create the southern part of Wilson County.