Tarboro is the county seat of Edgecombe County, which is one of the oldest counties in eastern North Carolina. The newspaper records in this book have references to persons also in the surrounding counties such as: Pitt, Halifax, Nash, Wilson, Wake, Greene, Wayne, and Johnston. Some of the newspapers here are The Southern, The Free Press, The North Carolinian, the North Carolina Press, The North Carolina Free Press, Political Synopsis, The Tarboro Mercury, The Tarboro Press and The Tarboro Scaevola.