Moore and Cumberland Counties, NC

I spent the afternoon in Charlottesville, NC and completed my research of Cumberland County records.  There was a record of Mathis and others living east of Governors Creek around 1786, which could have been in Cumberland County.  But their deed indexes are online and there was no deed where Mathis sold that property.  It could also have been in Harnett or Lee County, but the former only has land records from 1855 and the latter from 1908.  So it looks as though land records are exhausted, unless I find a source for surveys related to land grants (I found online records for the grants, so I suspect the surveys are not available).  

I found where Mathis Davis was involved in at least two lawsuits, one against the state of North Carolina.  I suspect these were both settled in Moore County, where the records have been destroyed, so I won't pursue those.

I found no grantor deeds from Mathis, only grantee deeds.  The former would likely have required the signature of his spouse, since she would have a dower interest in the property.  If such a deed had shown that his wife's name was Martha, it would have been another brick in the foundation proving that he was the father of James, Aaron and Amos.