tips, tools and Guidance to trace Your ancestors in the tar heel State

Transcription

north
carolina
Genealogy
Handbook
NC
Tips, Tools and Guidance
to Trace Your Ancestors
in the Tar Heel State
State Research Guides
North Carolina
Get your Tar Heel State research off on the right foot.
3
By David A. Fryxell
A
lthough North Carolina was
one of the original 13 Colonies,
its geography, harsh coastline
and system of “proprietor” land grants
meant it was settled mostly via older
Colonies. First, in the 1650s, came Virginians who populated the Albemarle
Sound area. Primarily English, these
transplants spread throughout the
Coastal Plains region by 1730. Small
groups of German Palatines, Swiss and
French Huguenots did settle directly
along the coast in the early 1700s, followed by Scots in the upper Cape Fear
Valley from 1729 to 1775. But other
Scots and Germans trekked the Great
Wagon Road from Pennsylvania and
Virginia to fill the Piedmont region.
This peripatetic spirit persisted,
so your ancestors may have been just
passing through: By 1850, a quarter of
all North Carolina natives had gone
to live in other states. Whether your
Tar Heel kin stuck around or moved
on, this advice will help you start your
research on solid footing.
Geographic footprints
The mobile population led to an evolving crazy-quilt of counties. Today’s 100
North Carolina counties weren’t finalized until 1911, and six counties went
extinct in the process (Albemarle, Bath,
Bute, Dobbs, Glasgow and Tryon).
For help figuring out which county
your ancestors were in when, consult
<rootsweb.com/~ncgenweb> and the
maps at <rootsweb.com/~nccatawb/
countyfm.htm>.
All this settlement also created land
records. In 1663, King Charles II of
England rewarded eight supporters
with lands in the New World, making
them Lords Proprietor of Carolina.
They began granting land in 1669; surviving records, from 1679 to 1729, are
at the North Carolina State Archives
<www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives> .
Part of an index to these records has
been microfilmed, and you can borrow it from the Family History Library
(FHL) <www.familysearch.org>. You
also can find headright patents from
this era through 1754, named for
the practice of granting 50 acres per
“head”—that is, per person brought
into the colony.
Carolina became a royal colony in
1729, when seven of the proprietors sold
their shares to King George II. Check
the aforementioned index for published
abstracts of this era’s land records; the
originals are at the state archives. The
holdout proprietor was Lord Granville,
and his domain—roughly the state’s
northern half—became known as the
Granville District. You’ll find its records
at the state archives.
Keep in mind that the boundary
between Virginia and North Carolina
was fluid, and the border with South
Carolina wasn’t finalized until 1772.
So your ancestors’ land records might
be in these states, just as Tennesseans’
records may be in North Carolina,
which ceded its western claims with
statehood in 1789.
Only the state archives has land
grants from the Revolutionary War
and statehood periods. Thousands
of county records of subsequent land
exchanges (deeds), however, are on
FHL microfilm.
Booting the Brits
North Carolina was a hotbed of Revolutionary War battles, but its military
records begin even earlier. Visit <www.
mindspring.com/~jsruss/colonial> for
transcribed militia lists from various
Colonial-era conflicts; these records
include names from the Regulator
Movement (1764 to 1771), a precursor to the Revolution in which backcountry North Carolinians rebelled
against high taxes and the inability to
“regulate” their own affairs.
The Daughters of the American Revolution has collected records of North
Carolina patriots—including rosters;
1818, 1832 and 1835 pension lists;
and bounty-land grants—in Roster
of Soldiers from North Carolina in the
American Revolution (Genealogical
Publishing Co., $52.50). Volunteers
also are transcribing many Revolutionary War records online at <rootsweb.
com/~ncrevwar/ncrevwar.htm>.
www.familytreemagazine.com
Don’t assume your North Carolina kin favored breaking with Britain,
however. You can find Tory ancestors
in Loyalists in North Carolina During
the Revolution by Robert O. DeMond
(Genealogical Publishing Co., $29.50);
the book’s appendixes of names are
online at <members.aol.com/HoseyGen/
NCLOYAL6.HTML>.
Post-statehood steps
Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
With independence came statehood
and the first federal census in 1790.
Although that enumeration included
North Carolina, the schedules for Caswell, Granville and Orange counties
haven’t survived. Those records have
been partly reconstructed from tax lists,
which are an excellent source for finding North Carolina ancestors from the
1680s on. Both the state archives and
FHL have microfilmed tax lists. You
also can find records for 24 of 50 counties in a Colonial census, published as
State Census of North Carolina, 17841787 by Alvaretta K. Register (Genealogical Publishing Co., $20).
Access federal censuses on microfilm from the FHL, National Archives
and Records Administration <archives.
gov> and at major genealogical libraries. You can search them on the Web at
Ancestry.com <ancestry.com> ($155.40
per year) or HeritageQuest Online
Duke Homestead, both a state historic site
and national historic landmark, shows what
life was like on an 1800s tobacco farm.
Family Tree Magazine
North Carolina
<heritagequestonline.com> (free via
subscribing libraries).
Other good sources for tracing 18thand 19th-century North Carolinians
include Bible and cemetery records. The
Works Progress Administration created
an index of North Carolina cemetery
inscriptions, available on FHL microfilm and at the state archives. Most
1800s court records are at the archives
and on FHL microfilm, too. The threevolume North Carolina Historical and
Genealogical Register edited by James
R.B. Hathaway (Clearfield Co., $135)
compiles 50,000 names from court,
land and probate records.
For wills and probate records,
consult two out-of-print books from
Genealogical Publishing Co.: Abstract
of North Carolina Wills (1690-1760)
by John Bryan Grimes and An Abstract
of North Carolina Wills (from about
1760 to about 1800) by Fred A. Olds.
You’ll find these and other sources on
the North Carolina Wills, 1665-1900
CD (Genealogical Publishing Co.,
$29.99). Original pre-1760 wills are
at the state archives; later wills are in
county offices.
Wading into Civil War
The next great milestone in North Carolina history was of course the Civil War.
The state wasn’t strongly pro-secession—
some of your Tar Heel ancestors might
have even fought for the Union—but
nonetheless ultimately contributed
125,000 men to the Confederate cause,
more than any other state. Once you’ve
found a soldier’s name using the Civil
War Soldiers and Sailors System <www.
itd.nps.gov/cwss>, you can learn more in
the 15-volume North Carolina Troops,
1861-1865: A Roster edited by Matthew Brown (North Carolina Office of
Archives and History, $650).
It fell to the defeated Southern states
to grant pensions to Civil War veterans and widows, which North Carolina did in 1885 and 1901. The state
archives and FHL have these records
and an index.
After the war, the 1870 census was
the first to name all African-Americans,
including newly freed slaves. For help
tracing African-American ancestors,
see Preliminary Guide to Records
Relating to Blacks in the North Carolina State Archives, a brochure available from the archives.
Vital records afoot
Like many Southern states, North Carolina was tardy in adopting statewide
vital records. Registration of births
and deaths didn’t begin until 1913.
Each county’s register of deeds keeps
the originals, or you can order birth
records (from 1913 on) and death
records (starting in 1930) from the
state vital-records office <vitalrecords.
dhhs.state.nc.us/vr/holdings>, which
charges $15 per search. Death records
from 1913 to 1955 and indexes from
1913 to 1967 are at the state archives;
the FHL has microfilmed death records
(1906 to 1994) and indexes (1906 to
1967), too, along with most county
birth indexes.
From 1741 to 1868, marriages had
to be preceded by either the publishing of banns or posting a bond. Look
for pre-1851 banns in church records;
thereafter, copies were filed with
county clerks. Marriage bonds have
survived for about half the counties;
the archives has abstracts, and you can
find some online in the International
Genealogical Index on FamilySearch
and at Ancestry.com. Marriage records
from 1868 to 1962 are kept by each
county’s register of deeds; most are on
FHL microfilm. The state vital-records
office has marriages from 1962 on.
Still stuck? You can find other clues
about your ancestors in North Carolina’s centuries of county records, collected at the state archives and indexed
in the state archives’ online catalog
<www.ncarchives.dcr.state.nc.us>. To
get started searching the 9,000 bound
volumes, 21,000 boxes and 24,000
reels of records, download the County
Records Guide <www.ah.dcr.state.
nc.us/archives/FindingAids/co_guide.
pdf>. Just dig in your heels, and you’ll
soon be adding branches to your North
Carolina family tree. 3
Contributing editor David A. Fryxell is
researching North Carolina families including
Dickinson, Seale, Pope, Muse and Stow.
North Carolina
Fast Facts and Key Resources
n
Colony founded: 1653
n
First federal census: 1790
n
Colonial census: 1784 through 1787
+%.45#+9
!SHEVILLE
Counties: 100 (first established 1664)
n
State-land state
Contact for vital records:
North Carolina Vital Records
1903 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
(919) 733-3526
n
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Statewide marriage
records begin: 1962
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death records begin: 1913
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<vitalrecords.dhhs.state.nc.us/
vr/holdings>
Web Sites
n
Avenues of Early NC Settlement
<ncnatural.com/maps/ethnic.jpg>
FamilySearch: North
Carolina Research Outline
n
<www.familysearch.org/eng/search/
rg/guide/north_carolina.asp>
n
Finding Slave Records
The Formation of the North Carolina
Counties, 1663-1943 by David Leroy
Corbitt (North Carolina State
Archives, $15)
&AMILY4REE-AGAZINE
n Guide to Private Manuscript
3TATESERIES
Collections in the North Carolina State
.ORTH#AROLINA
Archives edited by Barbara T. Cain
INXIN
(North Carolina State Archives, $25)
n
Military Organizations
in Colonial North Carolina
n Guide to Research Materials in
the North Carolina State Archives:
County Records (North Carolina State
Archives, $15 or download free from
<www.mindspring.com/
~jsruss/colonial>
<www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives/
FindingAids/co_guide.pdf>)
<statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/iss/gr/
slaveprep3.htm>
n
n
North Carolina GenWeb Project
<rootsweb.com/~ncgenweb>
n
North Carolina Historical Timeline
<rootsweb.com/~nccatawb/
timeline.htm>
Guide to Research Materials in the
North Carolina State Archives: State
Agency Records (North Carolina State
Archives, $30)
Organizations and Archives
Duke University
William R. Perkins Library
103 Perkins Library, Durham,
NC 27708, (919) 660-5822,
n
<www.lib.duke.edu>
National Archives and Records
Administration Southeast Region
5780 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA
30260, (770) 968-2100,
n
<archives.gov/southeast>
North Carolina Genealogical Society
Box 1492, Raleigh, NC 27602,
n
<www.ncgenealogy.org>
n
North Carolina Genealogical
Society Journal CD (North Carolina
Genealogical Society, $25)
North Carolina State Archives
109 E. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601,
(919) 807-7310, <www.ah.dcr.state.
n
nc.us/archives>
n
n
North Carolina in the Civil War
<rootsweb.com/~ncmil/nccivwar.htm>
n
North Carolina Newspaper Project
<statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/
ncnp/intro.htm>
Resources
Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited
by William S. Powell (University of
North Carolina Press, $65)
n
North Carolina Research: Genealogy
and Local History edited by Helen F.M.
Leary (North Carolina Genealogical
Society, $45)
n
North Carolina Through Four Centuries
by William S. Powell (University of
North Carolina Press, $42.50)
n
State Library of North Carolina
109 E. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601,
(919) 807-7460, <statelibrary.dcr.
n
state.nc.us>
University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina Collection
Wilson Library CB 3930, Chapel
Hill, NC 27514, (919) 962-1172,
n
<www.lib.unc.edu>
www.familytreemagazine.com
XNR Productions
Statehood: 1789
D
n
North Carolina
The scene of the Civil War’s two
largest naval bombardments and
most ambitious amphibious assault,
the “Last Major Stronghold of the
Confederacy” is today the state’s mostvisited historic site.
Historic Sites
Charlotte Museum of History
3500 Shamrock Drive
Charlotte, NC 28215
(704) 568-1774
n
<www.charlottemuseum.org>
Mecklenburg County’s oldest existing
home, the Revolutionary War-era
abode of Hezekiah Alexander, is now a
museum with nearly 15,000 artifacts.
<www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/
sections/hs/neuse/neuse.htm>
View the remnants of the Confederate
ironclad CSS Neuse and a museum
depicting the life and career of North
Carolina’s first elected governor.
Duke Homestead State Historic Site
and Tobacco Museum
2828 Duke Homestead Road
Durham, NC 27705
(919) 477-5498
n
<www.dukehomestead.
nchistoricsites.org>
See living history demonstrations of
life on a typical 1800s yeoman farm
at this national historic landmark,
featuring the Duke family’s mid-1800s
home, tobacco barns and factory.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
1610 Fort Fisher Blvd. S.
Kure Beach, NC 28449
(910) 458-5538
n
Explore North Carolina
4301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
(800) 847-4862
n
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
1401 National Park Drive
Manteo, NC 27954
(252) 473-5772
<www.visitnc.com>
Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers and
colonists established settlements in
this area in 1585 and 1587. The site hosts
the outdoor drama “The Lost Colony”
and is home to Elizabethan gardens.
Nearby Roanoke Island Festival Park
(252-475-1500, <www.roanokeisland.
com>) offers more history.
n North Carolina Museum of History
5 E. Edenton St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 807-7900
<ncmuseumofhistory.org>
Changing exhibits trace the state’s
history from earliest Colonial times
and its Cherokee people to today.
Tryon Palace Historic Site and Gardens
610 Pollock St.
New Bern, NC 28560
(252) 514-4900
n
Guilford Courthouse
National Military Park
2332 New Garden Road
Greensboro, NC 27410
(336) 288-1776
n
<www.tryonpalace.org>
<nps.gov/guco>
Honoring the site of the March 15,
1781, Revolutionary War battle, the
park consists of 28 monuments and a
visitor center on 200 acres, with paved
walking trails.
Historic Rosedale Plantation
3427 N. Tryon St.
Charlotte, NC 28206
(704) 335-0325
n
<www.historicrosedale.org>
<www.fortfisher.nchistoricsites.org>
Information
n
<nps.gov/fora>
CSS Neuse State Historic Site and
Gov. Richard Caswell Memorial
2612 W. Vernon Ave.
Kinston, NC 28502
(252) 522-2091
n
visitor
Once a 911-acre plantation, Rosedale
includes the 1815 manor house, plus
eight acres of grounds and gardens.
Tour 13 period gardens and three
historic homes on the site of Colonial
and state governor William Tryon’s
18th-century residence.
Wright Brothers National Memorial
800 Colington Road
Highway 158, Milepost 7.5
Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
(252) 441-7430
n
<nps.gov/wrbr>
The Wright brothers made the world’s
first controlled powered flights here
Dec. 17, 1903. See reproductions of
their 1903 airplane, 1902 glider, living
quarters and hangar.
timeline
1650s Permanent
settlement begins in
Albemarle area
1729
North Carolina
becomes a
royal colony
1861 North
Carolina
secedes
1903 Wright
Brothers
make first
flight
1960 “The Andy
Griffith Show,” set in
fictional Mayberry,
NC, first airs on TV
3
3
1585 Settlers land at
Roanoke; “The Lost
Colony” later disappears
mysteriously
Family Tree Magazine
1663 Charles II
grants land to
Lords Proprietor
1775 Gov. Josiah
Martin flees,
ending British rule
1868
North Carolina
rejoins the Union
1911 Hoke County
completes the
state’s current 100county organization
452
NORTH CAROLINA | research guide
NC
NORTH CAROLINA
» BY EMILY ANNE CROOM
rch
s
452-474_Z9868i_FT Resource Book_452 452
ea
tip
In the 1650s, before Carolina was an official colony, Virginians
began seeking new tobacco-farming land around Albemarle
Sound in the northeast corner of what is now North Carolina.
Ten years later, the British king granted eight proprietors the
region south of Virginia. By 1691, when the northern part
of the province settled by the proprietors had acquired the
name North Carolina, it had developed a different economy
and society from its southern counterpart and was, in effect,
a separate colony. Official separation occurred in 1712, and
Parliament made both Carolinas royal colonies in 1729.
Many early settlers came from Barbados, Virginia, and
Europe, including Swiss, German, French (Huguenots), and
English immigrants. Along with tobacco and rice, North
Carolina farmers produced foodstuffs for neighboring
colonies and the West Indies, and a naval stores industry
developed. Because barrier islands and lack of natural harbors discouraged ocean-going vessels, trade and passengers
generally went through the harbors at Charles Town and
Norfolk. Slavery, though present, developed more slowly in
North Carolina than elsewhere. Most of the Indians eventually died of disease or in war with the newcomers, or were
forced westward.
As a royal colony, North Carolina saw its population mushroom. From the 1730s, Ulster Scots, Germans, Virginians,
and other British colonists arrived in large numbers, many
coming via the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road through
Maryland and Virginia and settling in the Piedmont. By the
1760s, North Carolinians were spilling over the mountains
into eastern Tennessee.
North Carolina’s Continental Congress delegates voted
for independence, but during the Revolution, conflict raged
between the colony’s patriots and loyalists, who included
many Highland Scots. Wary of a strong central government,
North Carolina did not ratify the new Constitution until late
1789, after the Bill of Rights was proposed. North Carolina
permanently relinquished claim to Tennessee in 1790.
As cotton production increased and farmland wore out,
many North Carolinians moved west and southwest to newer
states. But in spite of large emigrations, by 1860 North Caro-
res
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
• Due to its colonial beginnings, North Carolina is a state
land state.
• Marriage license applications, often made by a friend or
relative of the groom, may not be completely accurate.
• The boundaries of North Carolina were established
after settlement began: the Virginia border about 1728;
the South Carolina border, 1772. Researchers should
consult land records from adjoining states when studying
ancestors from border counties.
• Although numerous church records exist for North
Carolina research, no 18th-century Anglican parish
registers survive.
• Someone reporting a North Carolina birth prior to 1796
may have been born in what is now Tennessee.
• Major archival collections are housed at the North Carolina
Division of Archives and History; University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill; and Duke University, Durham.
CENSUS RECORDS
• Federal census population schedules: 1790 (incomplete),
1800, 1810 (incomplete), 1820 (incomplete), 1830, 1840,
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragments of Gaston and
Cleveland counties), 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
• Federal census soundex or miracode: 1880, 1900, 1910,
1920, 1930
• Federal mortality schedules: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
• Federal slave schedules: 1850, 1860
• State census: 1784–1787
• Special census of Civil War Union veterans and widows:
1890
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research guide | NORTH CAROLINA
lina had almost one million residents, of whom one-third
were slaves, about 3 percent were free blacks, and about
three-tenths of 1 percent were foreign-born immigrants.
North Carolina did not secede until after Civil War hostilities began. Sending and losing large numbers of men to the
war, the state saw limited engagements but experienced a
significant peace movement. The state was readmitted to the
Union in 1868.
From the Civil War forward, industries developed around
natural resources and dominant crops—forests (especially the
furniture industry), minerals, commercial fishing, tobacco,
and cotton. The 1990 census was the first to show the urban
population barely surpassing the rural.
RECORD HIGHLIGHTS
North Carolina began statewide registration of births and
deaths in October 1913, marriages in 1962, and divorces in
1958. Records of these events are also kept in the county
where the event occurred: birth (before 1960), death, and
marriage records with the register of deeds; divorces with
the superior court clerk. Before the 20th century, legislative
divorces (before 1835) or court-granted divorces (after 1814)
were rare. The state archives holds surviving pre-1868 marriage bonds; few early marriage licenses exist.
For vital records copies, try the county office first. The
Vital Records Registrar website <vitalrecords.nc.gov/vitalrecords> contains information on obtaining copies from the
state Vital Records Unit.
The state archives site <www.archives.ncdcr.gov> contains
information on its genealogical holdings. For detailed guides
to manuscripts and county records held at the archives, see
<www.archives.ncdcr.gov/ead>. Other records include:
• Colonial records, including some abstracted or microfilmed tax lists and estate records
• Early North Carolina papers in several series, especially
series KK, of the Draper Manuscripts, which are housed at
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and available on
microfilm at major research libraries
• 1785-1787 state census, various counties, not complete;
no state censuses after 1787
•Pre-Civil War records of ante-bellum plantations and
industries (see Witcher’s book cited below)
•Post-Civil War African-American cohabitation (marriage) records and slave narratives
•Records of the three North Carolina branches of the
Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (FHL film 928586)
•North Carolina Confederate pension records from 1885,
at the state archives
EARCHIVES,
LIBRARIES,
AND SOCIETIES
Braswell Memorial Library
727 N. Grace St., Rocky Mount, NC 27804,
(252) 442-1951, <www.braswell-library.
org>
Alamance County Genealogical Society
Box 3052, Burlington, NC 27215, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncacgs>
Broad River Genealogical Society
Box 2261, Shelby, NC 28151, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncbrgs>
Charles R. Jonas Public Library
306 W. Main St., Lincolnton, NC 28092,
(704) 735-8044, <www.glrl.lib.nc.us/
index.htm>
Alexander County Genealogical Society
Box 545, Hiddenite, NC 28636
Burke County Genealogical Society
Box 661, Morganton, NC 28680, <www.
ncgenweb.us/burke/burkegs.htm>
Chatham County Historical Association
Box 93, Pittsboro, NC 27312,
<chathamhistory.org>
Burke County Public Library,
Morganton Branch
204 S. King St., Morganton, NC 28655,
(828) 437-5638, <www.bcpls.org>
Cumberland County Genealogical Society
Box 53299, Fayetteville, NC 28305,
<www.ncgenweb.us/cumberland/
society.htm>
Cabarrus Genealogy Society
Box 2981, Concord, NC 28025, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nccgs>
Davidson County Public Library
602 S. Main St., Lexington, NC 27292,
(336) 242-2040, <www.co.davidson.
nc.us/library>
Alleghany HistoricalGenealogical Society
Box 817, Sparta, NC 28675, <www.ahgs.org>
Ashe County Historical Society
Box 1361, Jefferson, NC 28640,
<www.ashehistoricalsociety.org>
Baptist Historical Collection
Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest
University, Box 7777, Winston-Salem, NC
27109, (336) 758-3978, <zsr.wfu.edu/
collections/special/Baptist>
Beaufort County Genealogical Society
Box 1089, Washington, NC 27889, <www.
ncroots.com/Beaufort/bcgs.htm>
Bladen County Historical Society
Box 848, Elizabethtown, NC 28337
453
Carolinas Genealogical Society
Box 397, Monroe, NC 28111, <www.roots
web.ancestry.com/~ncunion/
Genealogical_society.htm>
Carteret County Historical Society
1008 Arendell St., Morehead City, NC
28557, <www.thehistoryplace.org>
Catawba County Genealogical Society
Box 2406, Hickory, NC 28603, <www.
ncgenweb.us/catawba/ccgsmain.htm>
Davie County Historical and
Genealogical Society
371 N. Main St., Mocksville, NC 27028,
<www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
~ncdavhgs>
Durham-Orange Genealogical Society
Box 4703, Chapel Hill, NC 27515, <www.
ncgenweb.us/dogsnc>
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resources | NORTH CAROLINA
Family Research Society of Northeastern
North Carolina
Box 1425, Elizabeth City, NC 27906,
(252) 333-1640, <www.rootsweb.
ancestry.com/~ncfrsnnc>
Forsyth County Genealogical Society
Box 5715, Winston-Salem, NC 27113,
~ncfcgs>
Free Will Baptist Collection, Moye Library
Mount Olive College, 634 Henderson St.,
Mount Olive, NC 28365, (800) 6530854, <www.moc.edu/?moyelibrary/
Library%20Homepage>
Friends Historical Collection,
Guilford College
5800 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC
27410, (336) 316-2000, <www.guilford.edu>
Gaston Lincoln Genealogical Society
Box 584, Mount Holly, NC 28120,
~ncglgs/Index.htm>
Gates County Historical Society
Box 98, Gates, NC 27937, <www.
throughwire.net/gchs>
Genealogical Society of Davidson County
Box 1665, Lexington, NC 27293, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncgsdc>
Genealogical Society of Iredell County
Box 946, Statesville, NC 28687, (704)
878-5384, <www.kindredtrails.com/
NC_Iredell.html>
of Old Tryon County
Box 938, Forest City, NC 28043, (828)
247-8700
Guilford County Genealogical Society
Box 49104, Greensboro, NC 27419, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncgcgs>
Haywood County Genealogical Society
Box 1331, Waynesville, NC 28786, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nchcgs>
Henderson County Genealogical
and Historical Society
400 N. Main St., Hendersonville, NC 28792,
(828) 693-1531, <www.hcghs.com>
Hyde County Historical and
<www.ncgenweb.us/hyde/HCHGS.HTM>
Jackson County Genealogical Society
Box 2108, Cullowhee, NC 28723, <www.
jcncgs.com>
Johnston County Genealogical
and Historical Society
Box 2373, Smithfield, NC 27577, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncjohnst>
Moravian Archives
457 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, NC
27101, <www.moravianarchives.org>
National Archives and Record
Administration, Southeast Region
5780 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260,
(770) 968-2100, <www.archives.gov/
southeast>
Old Buncombe County
Box 2122, Asheville, NC 28802, (828) 2531894, <obcgs.com>
Old Dobbs County Genealogical Society
Box 617, Goldsboro, NC 27533, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncodcgs>
Old Mecklenburg Genealogical Society
Box 32453, Charlotte, NC 28232, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncomgs>
Old New Hanover Genealogical Society
Box 2536, Wilmington, NC 28402,
<www.onhgs.org>
Pack Memorial Public Library
67 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801,
(828) 255-5203, <www.buncombe
county.org/governing/depts/Library>
PAF-Finders Genealogy Club
Box 17494, Raleigh, NC 27619, (919) 8766456, <freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.
ancestry.com/~paffinders>
Pitt County Family Researchers
Box 2608, Greenville, NC 27836, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncpcfr>
Presbyterian Church, Montreat Office
Box 849, Montreat, NC 28757, (828) 6697061, <www.history.pcusa.org>
North Carolina Department of Health
and Human Services, Vital Records
1903 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC
27699, (919) 733-3000, <vitalrecords.
dhhs.state.nc.us/vr/index.html>
Public Library of Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County
310 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202,
(704) 416-0100, <www.plcmc.org>
North Carolina Genealogical Society
Box 30815, Raleigh, NC 27622,
<www.ncgenealogy.org>
Genealogical Society of Rowan County
Box 4305, Salisbury, NC 28145,
<www.lib.co.rowan.nc.us/
HistoryRoom/html/gsrc.htm>
North Carolina State Archives
4614 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC
27699, (919) 807-7310, <www.archives.
ncdcr.gov>
Granville County Genealogical Society
Box 1746, Oxford, NC 27565, <www.gcgs.
org>
State Library of North Carolina
109 E. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601, (919)
807-7430, <statelibrary.ncdcr.gov>
North Carolina Synod Archives,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
1988 Lutheran Synod Dr., Salisbury, NC
28144, (704) 633-4861
North Carolina African-American
Historical Society
Box 26334, Raleigh, NC 27611
Genealogical Society of
Rockingham and Stokes Counties
Box 152, Mayodan, NC 27027, <gsrsnc.
com>
455
Rare Books, Manuscript, and Special
Collections Library
Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, (919)
660-5822, <scriptorium.lib.duke.edu>
Richard H. Thornton Library
Box 339, Oxford, NC 27565, (919) 6931121, <www.granville.lib.nc.us>
Rowan Public Library
201 W. Fisher St., Salisbury, NC 28144,
(704) 638-3001, <www.lib.co.rowan.
nc.us>
8/2/10 10:50:02 AM
456
Southeastern North Carolina
Box 463, Lake Waccamaw, NC 28450,
<www.sencgs.org>
Biographical History of North Carolina
From Colonial Times to the Present edited
by Samuel A’Court Ashe (C.L. Van Noppen,
1905-1917)
Exploring Your Cherokee Ancestry: A Basic
Genealogical Research Guide by Thomas
G. Mooney (Cherokee National Historical
Society, 1988, ca. 1990)
Southport Historical Society
Box 10014, Southport, NC 28461,
<www.southporthistoricalsociety.com>
A Bibliography of North Carolina,
1589-1956 by Mary Lindsay Thornton
(Greenwood Press, 1973, ca. 1958)
Toe Valley Genealogical Society
491 Beaver Creek Rd., Spruce Pine, NC
28777, <www.rootsweb.ancestry.
com/~ncmitche/tvgs.html>
The Carolina Backcountry on the
Eve of the Revolution by Charles
Woodmason (Published for the Institute
of Early American History and Culture at
Williamsburg, Va., by University of North
Carolina Press, 1953)
The Flowering of Methodism in Western
North Carolina by George William
Bumgarner and James Elwood Carroll
(Commission on Archives and History of
the Western North Carolina Conference of
the United Methodist Church, 1984)
Union County Public Library
316 E. Windsor St., Monroe, NC 28112,
(704) 283-8184, <www.union.lib.nc.us>
Wake County Genealogical Society
Box 17713, Raleigh, NC 27619, <www.
rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncwcgs>
Wayne County Historical Association
116 N. William St., Goldsboro, NC
27533, (919) 734-5023, <www.
waynecountyhistoricalnc.org>
Western North Carolina Conference
Archives (Methodist)
3400 Shamrock Dr., Charlotte, NC 28215,
(704) 535-2260, <www.wnccumc.org>
Wilkes Genealogical Society
Box 1629, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659,
<www.wilkesgensoc.org>
Wilson County Genealogical Society
<www.wcgs.org>
Wilson Library, University of North
Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27514, (919) 962-1172,
<www.lib.unc.edu/ncc>
EGENERAL
RESOURCES
The American Indian in North Carolina by
Douglas L. Rights (J.F. Blair, 1957)
Archival and Manuscript Repositories in
North Carolina: A Directory (Society of
North Carolina Archivists, 1993)
Carolina Cradle; Settlement of the
Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762 by
Robert W. Ramsey (University of North
Carolina Press, 1964)
Carolina Families: A Bibliography of Books
About North and South Carolina Families
by Donald M. Hehir (Heritage Books, 1994)
Colonial Families of Virginia and North
Carolina compiled by Motte Alston Read
(filmed by the Genealogical Society of
Utah, 1952)
The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10
vols., collected and edited by William L.
Saunders (P.M. Hale State Printer, 1886-90)
The Country Church in North Carolina by
Jesse Marvin Ormond (Duke University
Press, 1931)
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6
vols., by William Stevens Powell (University
of North Carolina Press, ca. 1979-1996)
Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 16801830 by David Dobson (Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1986)
Early Methodism in the Carolinas by A.M.
Chreitzberg (Reprint Co., 1972)
Encyclopedia of American Quaker
Genealogy by William Wade Hinshaw,
compiled by Thomas W. Marshall
(Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969)
The Episcopal Church in North Carolina,
1701-1959 edited by Lawrence Foushee
London and Sarah McCulloh Lemmon
(Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, 1987)
The Formation of North Carolina Counties,
1663-1943 by David Leroy Corbitt (State
Department of Archives and History, 1969)
Guide to Genealogical Research in North
Carolina by Wendy L. Elliott (W.L. Elliott,
ca. 1988)
Guide to Manuscripts in the Archives of
the Moravian Church in America, Southern
Province by the Historical Records Survey
(Historical Records Survey, 1942)
Guide to Manuscripts in the Southern
Historical Collection of the University of
North Carolina by the Historical Records
Survey (University of North Carolina Press,
1941)
Guide to North Carolina Newspapers
on Microfilm: Titles Available From the
Division of Archives and History compiled
by Roger C. Jones (North Carolina Division
of Archives and History, 1984)
Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in
the North Carolina State Archives compiled
and edited by Barbara T. Cain et al. (North
Carolina Division of Archives and History,
1981)
Guide to Research Materials in the North
Carolina State Archives: County Records
(North Carolina Division of Archives and
History)
Guide to Research Materials in the North
Carolina State Archives (North Carolina
Division of Archives and History, 1995)
The Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina by
Linda Simmons-Henry; edited by Phillip N.
Henry and Carol M. Speas (North Carolina
African-American Heritage Foundation and
the Delmar Co., 1990)
8/2/10 10:50:02 AM
The Historical Records of North Carolina
edited by Charles Christopher Crittenden
and Dan Lacy (North Carolina Historical
Commission, 1938-39)
Introductory Guide to Indian-Related
Records (to 1876) in the North Carolina State
Archives by Donna Spindel (North Carolina
Historical Sketches of North Carolina,
From 1584 to 1851, Compiled From
Original Records, Official Documents and
Traditional Statements by John H. Wheeler
(filmed by the Genealogical Society of
Utah, 1980)
Inventory of the State Archives of North
Carolina (filmed by the Genealogical
Society of Utah, 1986)
A History of African Americans in North
Carolina by Jeffrey J. Crow et al. (North
Carolina Divions of Archives and History,
1992)
History of the German Settlements and of
the Lutheran Church in North and South
Carolina, From the Earliest Period of the
Colonization of the Dutch, German and
Swiss Settlers to the Close of the First
Half of the Present Century by Gotthardt
Dellmann Bernheim (The Lutheran Book
Store, 1872)
History of North Carolina, 4 vols., by Hugh
Talmage Leffer (Lewis Historical Publishing
Co., 1956)
History of the North Carolina Baptists
by George Washington Paschal (Church
History Research and Archives, 1990, 1955)
History of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in North Carolina by the Prostestant
Episcopal Church (North Carolina Division
of Archives and History, 1961)
I Have Called You Friends; the Story of
Quakerism in North Carolina by Francis
Charles Anscombe (Christopher Publishing
House, 1959)
Index to the North Carolina Historical and
Genealogical Register: Hathaway’s Register
by David O. Hamrick (D.O. Hamrick, 1983)
An Index to North Carolina Newspapers,
1784-1789 by Alan D. Watson (North
1992)
An Intermediate Short, Short Course in
the Use of Some North Carolina Records
in Genealogical Research by Margaret M.
Hofmann (Copy-It-Print, 1990)
King’s Mountain and Its Heroes; History
of the Battle of King’s Mountain, October
7th, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It by
Lyman Copeland Draper (Reprint Co., 1967)
Lawson’s History of North Carolina:
Containing the Exact Description and
Natural History of That Country, Together
With the Present State Thereof and a
Journal of a Thousand Miles Traveled
Through Several Nations of Indians by
John Lawson and Frances Latham Harriss
(Garrett and Massie, 1937)
Lost Tribes of North Carolina. Where did
They Come From? Where did They go? by
Worth Stickley Ray (1947)
“A Master Plan for North Carolina
Research” by Helen F.M. Leary in National
Genealogical Society Quarterly vol. 75
(March 1987), pages 15-36
McCubbin’s Collection by Mamie
McCubbins et al. (filmed by the
Genealogical Society of Utah, 1956)
The Melungeons: Notes on the Origin of a
Race by Bonnie Ball (Overmountain Press,
1992)
Melungeons Yesterday and Today by Jean
Patterson Bible (J.P. Bible, 1975)
More Than Petticoats. Remarkable North
Carolina Women by Scotti Kent (TwoDot,
2000)
North Carolina Bible Records; Dating From
the Early Eighteenth Century to the Present
Day, Including Genealogical Notes and
Letters Found in Some Bibles compiled
by Wilma Cartwright Spence and Edna
Morrisette Shannonhouse (Unique Print
Service, ca. 1973)
North Carolina Disciples of Christ: A
History of Their Rise and Progress, and
of Their Contribution to Their General
457
Brotherhood by Charles Crossfield Ware
(University of Microfilms International,
1982)
The North Carolina Experience, an
Interpretive and Documentary History
edited by Lindley S. Butler and Alan D.
Watson (University of North Carolina
Press, 1984)
North Carolina Genealogical Reference: A
Research Guide for all Genealogists, Both
Amateur and Professional compiled and
edited by Wallace R. Draughon and William
Perry Johnson (s.n., 1966)
North Carolina Genealogical Research by
George K. Schweitzer (G.K. Schweitzer,
1984)
North Carolina Higher Court Records edited
by Mattie Erma Parker (State Dept. of
Archives and History, 1968-1981)
North Carolina Lives: The Tar Heel Who’s
Who; a Reference Edition Recording the
Biographies of Contemporary Leaders in
North Carolina With Special Emphasis
on Their Achievements in Making it one
of America’s Greatest States by William
Stevens Powell (Historical Records
Association, 1962)
North Carolina Local History, a Select
Bibliography compiled by George
Stevenson (North Carolina Division of
Archives and History, 1984)
North Carolina Portraits of Faith: A
Pictorial History of Religions by Anne
Russell and Marjorie Megivern (Donning
Co., 1986)
North Carolina Research: Genealogy and
Local History, 2nd edition, by Helen F.M.
Leary, ed. (North Carolina Genealogical
Society, 1996)
North Carolina Research Outline by the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(online at <www.familysearch.org/eng/
search/RG/guide/north_carolina.asp>)
North Carolina Through Four Centuries
by William Stevens Powell (University of
North Carolina Press, ca. 1989)
8/2/10 10:50:03 AM
458
Old Cherokee Families: Notes of Dr. Emmet
Starr, 3 vols., edited and annotated by Jack
D. Baker and David Keith Hampton (Baker
Pub. Co., 1987)
of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Lincoln, and
Adjoining Counties, Accompanied With
Miscellaneous Information by C.L. Hunter
(Regional Publishing Co., 1970)
Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for
North Carolina, 1864-1866 by the US
Bureau of Internal Revenue (filmed by the
One Dozen Pre-Revolutionary War Families
of Eastern North Carolina, and Some of
Their Descendants by Primrose Watson
Fisher (New Bern Historical Society
Foundation, 1958)
Slavery in the State of North Carolina by
John Spencer Bassett (AMS Press, 1972)
North Carolina Extant Voter Registrations
of 1867 by Frances Holloway Wynne
(Heritage Books, 1992)
Paths Towards Freedom: A Biographical
History of Blacks and Indians in North
Carolina by Frank Emory (Center for Urban
Affairs, North Carolina State University,
1976)
Quaker Women of Carolina: Freedom,
Achievement by Seth B. Hinshaw and Mary
Edith Hinshaw (North Carolina United
Society of Friends Women, 1994)
Records of the Executive Council, 1644-1734
edited by Robert J. Cain (North Carolina
Sojourners no More: The Quakers in the
New South, 1865-1920 by Damon D. Hickey
(North Carolina Friends Historical Society,
1997)
North Carolina Higher-court Records, 5
vols. (State Department of Archives and
History, 1968-1981)
Some Colonial and Revolutionary Families
of North Carolina, 3 vols., by Marilu Burch
Smallwood (1964-1976)
North Carolina Taxpayers compiled
by Clarence E. Ratcliff (Genealogical
Publishing. Co., 1987-1989)
The Southern Historical Collection; a Guide
to Manuscripts by Susan Sokol Blosser and
Clyde Norman Wilson, Jr. (1970)
North Carolina Wills and Court Records,
1679-1775 (filmed by the Genealogical
Union Lists of North Carolina Newspapers,
1751-1900 edited by H.G. Jones and Julius
H. Avant (State Department of Archives
and History, 1963)
North Carolina Wills and Inventories,
Copied From Original and Recorded
Wills and Inventories in the Office of the
Secretary of State by J. Bryan Grimes
(Genealogical Publishing. Co., 1967)
ECENSUS
An Abstract of North Carolina Wills From
About 1760 to About 1800 by Fred A. Olds
(Genealogical Publishing. Co., 1965)
Reminiscences and Memoirs of North
Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians by
John H. Wheeler (Genealogical Publishing
Co., 1966)
Catalogue, North Carolina Federal Court
Records, National Archives—Atlanta
Branch edited by William D. Bennett (W.D.
Bennett, 1987)
A Selective Guide to Women-Related
Records in the North Carolina State Archives
by Catherine E. Thompson (North Carolina
Colonial Estate Papers, 1669-1759 by the
North Carolina Division of Archives and
History (filmed by the Genealogical Society
of Utah, 1996)
Explorations, Descriptions and Attempted
Settlements of Carolina, 1584-1590 by
Richard Hakluyt, edited by David Leroy
Corbitt (State Department. of Archives and
History, 1948)
Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and
Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles
of a Portion of Her Early Settlers by William
Henry Foote (filmed by the Library of
Congress, ca. 1980)
The County Court in North Carolina Before
1750 by Paul Moffatt McCain (Duke
University Press, 1954)
The Highland Scots of North Carolina by
Duane Gilbert Meyer (Carolina Charter
Tercentenary Commission, 1963)
The Eastern Cherokees, a Census of
the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia in 1851
compiled by David W. Siler (Polyanthos,
1972)
The Loyalists in North Carolina During
the Revolution by Robert O. DeMond
(Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979, ca. 1940)
Sketches of the Pioneers of Methodism in
North Carolina and Virginia by M.H. Moore
(Southern Methodist Publishing House,
1884)
Sketches of Western North Carolina,
Historical and Biographical; Illustrating
Principally the Revolutionary Period
RECORDS
The First Laws of the State of North
Carolina, 2 vols., by John D. Cushing (M.
Clazier, 1984)
North Carolina Wills, a Testator Index
1665-1900, 2 vols., by Thornton W. Mitchell
(T.W. Mitchell, 1987)
The State Records of North State Census
Records by Ann S. Lainhart (AMS, 1970)
EIMMIGRATION
RECORDS
Marylanders to Carolina: Migration of
Marylanders to North Carolina and South
Carolina Prior to 1800 by Henry C. Peden,
Jr. (Family Line Publications, 1994)
8/2/10 10:50:03 AM
The Moravians in North Carolina; an
Authentic History by Levin Theodore
Reichel (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968)
North Carolina Land Grants in Tennessee,
1778-1791 compiled by Goldene Fillers
Burgner (Southern Historical Press, 1981)
North Carolina Naturalization Index, 17921862 by Betty J. Camin (B.J. Camin, 1989)
North Carolina Land and Property Records:
A Register of the Several Counties,
Alphabetically Arranged, Being a Listing
of Deed Records, Mortgages, Trusts, etc.
by the Jesus Christ Church of Latter-Day
Saints Genealogical Department (filmed by
the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1969)
Record of Emigrants From England and
Scotland to North Carolina, 1774-1775
edited by Albert Ray Newsome (North
ca. 1989)
Roster of Soldiers From North Carolina in
the American Revolution by the Daughters
of the American Revolution (North
Carolina) (Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1977)
The Proprietors of Carolina by William
Stevens Powell (Carolina Charter
Tercentenary Commission, 1963)
Province of North Carolina, 1663-1729:
Abstracts of Land Patents by Margaret M.
Hofmann (Roanoke News Co., 1979)
Westward From Virginia: The Exploration
of the Virginia-Carolina Frontier, 1650-1710
by Alan Vance Briceland (University Press
of Virginia, 1987)
EMAPS
ELAND RECORDS
The Formation of North Carolina Counties,
1663-1943 by David Leroy Corbitt (North
1950)
Colonial Land Entries in North Carolina, 3
vols., by A.B. Pruitt (A.B. Pruitt, 1994-1995)
Colony of North Carolina: Abstracts of Land
Patents, 2 vols., by Margaret M. Hofmann
(Roanoke News Co., 1982-1984)
The Granville District of North Carolina,
1748-1763: Abstracts of Land Grants, 4
vols., by Margaret M. Hofmann (Roanoke
News Co., 1986-1993)
The History of Land Titles in Western North
Carolina: A History of the Cherokee Land
Laws Affecting the Title to Land Lying West
of the Meigs and Freeman Line, and Laws
Affecting the Title of Land Lying East of the
Meigs and Freeman Line Back to the Top
of Blue Ridge by George Henry Smathers
(Miller Printing Co., 1938)
Land Grants, Land Entries and Warrants
and List of Grants for Various Counties of
North Carolina, 1764-1853 by the North
Carolina Secretary of State (filmed by the
Land Records, 1600 Thru 1957; Indexes,
1693-1959 by the North Carolina Secretary
of State Land Grant Office (North Carolina
State Archives, 1980-2003)
Index to Maps of North Carolina in Books
and Periodicals Illustrating the History of
the State From the Voyage of Verrazzano in
1524 to 1975 by David Sanders Clark (Clark,
1976)
The National Post Road by Virginia Greene
DePriest (V.G. DePriest, 1990)
Important Topographical and Historical
Information, From Recent and Original
Sources Together With the Results of the
Last Census, Population and Statistics in
Many Cases to 1855 edited by Richard
Edwards (Published for the Proprietor, 1856)
EMILITARY
RECORDS
Abstracts and Letters of Resignations of
Militia Officers in North Carolina, 17791840 compiled and abstracted by Timothy
Kearney (North Carolina Genealogical
Society, 1992, Walsworth Pub.)
Abstracts of Pensions of North Carolina
Soldiers of the Revolution, War of 1812 &
Indian Wars by Annie W. Burns (ca. 1960)
The Black Experience in Revolutionary
North Carolina by Jeffrey J. Crow (North
1977)
Compendium of the Confederate Armies,
11 vols., by Stewart Sifakis (Facts on File,
1992-1995)
Histories of the Several Regiments and
Battalions From North Carolina in the Great
War, 1861-’65, 5 vols., edited by Walter
Clark (Broadfoot Publishing., 1996)
North Carolina Atlas and Gazetteer: Topo
Maps of the Entire State (Delorme, 1997)
The King’s Mountain Men; the Story of
the Battle, With Sketches of the American
Soldiers who Took Part by Katherine Keogh
White (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1966)
North Carolina Atlas: Portrait of a
Changing Southern State edited by James
W. Clay et al. (University of North Carolina
Press, 1975)
Muster Roles of the Soldiers of the War of
1812 Detached From the Militia of North
Carolina in 1812 and 1814 by Maurice S.
Toler (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976)
North Carolina County Maps compiled by
C.J. Puetz (Puetz Place, ca. 1980)
North Carolina Civil War Documentary
edited by W. Buck Yearns and John G.
Barrett (University of North Carolina, 2002)
North Carolina, Her Counties, Her
Townships, and Her Towns compiled by
Joan Colbert Gioe (Researchers, 1981)
North Carolina in Maps by William P.
Cumming (State Department of Archives
and History, 1966)
Statistical Gazetteer of the States of
Virginia and North Carolina: Embracing
459
North Carolina Confederate Militia Officers
Roster as Contained in the AdjutantGeneral’s Officers Roster edited by Stephen
E. Bradley, Jr. (Broadfoot Pub. Co., 1992)
North Carolina Revolutionary Soldiers,
Sailors, Patriots & Descendants compiled
by Joseph T. Maddox and Mary Carter
(Georgia Pioneers Publications, ca. 1970)
8/2/10 10:50:03 AM
460
NORTH CAROLINA | Alamance—Alexander
North Carolina’s Role in the First World
War by Sarah McCulloh Lemmon (State
Department. of Archives and History, 1966)
EVITAL
North Carolina’s Role in the SpanishAmerican War by Joseph S. Steelman
(North Carolina Division of Archives and
History, 1975)
Abstracts of Vital Records From Raleigh,
North Carolina Newspapers compiled by
Lois Smathers Neal (Reprint Co., 1979-1995)
North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster,
15 vols., compiled by Louis H. Manarin
(State Department of Archives and History,
1966-2003)
North Carolina, World War I Selective
Service System Draft Registration Cards,
1917-1918 by the US Selective Service
System (National Archives, 1987-1988)
Roster of Soldiers From North Carolina
in the American Revolution: With an
Appendix Containing a Collection of
Miscellaneous Records by the Daughters of
the American Revolution, North Carolina
(Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977)
This Destructive War: The British
Campaign in the Carolinas, 1780-1782 by
John S. Pancake (University of Alabama
Press, 2003)
Volunteer Soldiers in the Cherokee War,
1836-39 by James L. Douthat (Mountain
Press, 1995)
RECORDS
Cemetery Records of North Carolina, 8
vols., copied by the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints Genealogical Society
(The Society, 1947-1961)
Death Certificates, 1906-1994; Still Births,
1914-1953; Fetal Deaths, 1960-1974;
Index, 1906-1967, 1906-1974 by the North
Carolina Department of Public Health,
Vital Records Section (filmed by the
Genealogical Society of Utah, 1993-1995)
Gravestone Records, 10 vols., by Leora Hiatt
McEachern (L.H. McEachern, 1971-1981)
Guide to Vital Statistics Records in North
Carolina by the Historical Records Survey
(The Survey, 1942)
Index to Death Certificates, 1968-1994
(North Carolina Department of Public
Health Vital Records Section, ca. 1994)
An Index to Marriage Bonds Filed in the
North Carolina State Archives (North
1977)
Marriage and Death Notices in Raleigh
Register and North Carolina State Gazette
(1799-1867), 4 vols., compiled by Carrie
L. Broughton (Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1949)
Master File Relocation Card Index for Grave
and Cemetery Removal and Relocation,
1934-1954 by the Tennessee Valley
Authority (filmed by the Genealogical
North Carolina Marriage Records: Early to
1800 edited by Jordan R. Dodd (Precision
Indexing, 1990)
Post-1914 Cemetery Inscription Card Index
by the Historical Records Survey (North
Carolina Department. of Archives and
History, 1972)
Pre-1914 Cemetery Inscription Card Index
by the Historical Records Survey (North
Carolina Department. of Archives and
History, 1972)
Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages
of Freed People in North Carolina County
by County, 3 vols., compiled by Barnetta
McGee White (Iberian Publishing Co., 1995)
Tar Heel Tombstones and the Tales They Tell
by Henry King (Down Home Press, 1990)
WCOUNTY DETAILSE
ALAMANCE
Box 837, 118 W. Harden St., Graham, NC 27253, (336) 570-6565,
<www.alamance-nc.com>
• INCORPORATED: April 1849
• PARENT COUNTY: Orange
• BIRTH RECORDS: start in 1913, kept by Registrar of Deeds
• MARRIAGE: 1849, Registrar of Deeds
• DIVORCE: 1917, Superior Court
• DEATH: 1913, Registrar of Deeds
• LAND: 1905, Registrar of Deeds
• PROBATE: 1949, Superior Court
• COURT: 1920, Superior Court
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1849-1920, divorce
records 1889-1917, land records 1793-1905, probate records 18561949, and wills 1832-1900.
ALBEMARLE
• INCORPORATED: 1664
• PARENT COUNTY: Original county
• NOTES: County divided into Chowan, Currituck, Pasauotark, and
Perauimans Precincts in 1668. County discontinued in 1689.
ALEXANDER
201 First St. SW Suite 1, Taylorsville, NC 28681, (828) 632-3152,
<www.co.alexander.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: Jan. 15, 1847
• PARENT COUNTIES: Iredell, Caldwell, Wilkes
records 1867-1905, probate records 1858-1939, and wills 18471949. Courthouse burned in 1865, destroying many records.
8/2/10 10:50:04 AM
Alleghany—Bladen | NORTH CAROLINA
ALLEGHANY
12 N. Main St., Box 186, Sparta, NC 28675, (336) 372-4342,
<www.alleghanycounty-nc.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Ashe
records 1862-1932, land records 1837-1908, probate records 18591928, and wills 1859-1912. Courthouse fire in 1932 destroyed some
records.
461
• INCORPORATED: February 1911
• PARENT COUNTIES: Caldwell, Mitchell, Watauga
BATH
<www.usgennet.org/usa/nc/county/bath>
• NOTES: Divided into Archdale, Pamptecough and Wickham
Precincts 1705; County discontinued in 1724.
ANSON
BEAUFORT
Box 352, Wadesboro, NC 28170, (704) 694-3212,
<www.co.anson.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: March 1750
• PARENT COUNTY: Bladen
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1771-1777, 1848-1905,
divorce records 1872-1925, land records 1749-1838, naturalization
records 1913-1924, probate records 1805-1953, and wills 17541946. Courthouse burned 1868.
112 W. Second St., Washington, NC 27889, (252) 946-2323,
<www.beaufort-county.com>
• INCORPORATED: December 1705
• PARENT COUNTY: Bath
• DIVORCE: 1923, State Archives
BERKELEY
ARCHDALE
• INCORPORATED: Dec. 3, 1705
• NOTES: See Craven County. Name changed to Craven, 1712.
• PARENT COUNTY: Precinct in Albemarle County
• NOTES: See Perquimans County. Perquimans County known as
Berkeley Precinct from 1670 to 1682.
ASHE
BERTIE
150 Government Circle Suite 2300, Jefferson, NC 28640, (336)
219-2540, <www.ashecountygov.com>
• INCORPORATED: Nov. 18, 1799
• PARENT COUNTY: Wilkes
• MARRIAGE: 1853, Superior Court
• PROBATE: 1935 Superior Court
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1807-1938, divorce records
1822-1912, land records 1778-1954, probate records 1819-1935 and
wills 1801-1912. Fire in 1865 destroyed many court records.
Box 340, Windsor, NC 27983, (252) 794-5309,
<www.co.bertie.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: August 1722
• PARENT COUNTY: Chowan
• DIVORCE: unknown start, Superior Court
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1724-1915, land records
1723-1820, marriage records 1762-1868, 1870-1903, probate
records 1728-1920, and wills 1749-1897.
AVERY
BLADEN
200 Montezuma St., Newland, NC 28657, (828) 733-8260,
<www.averycountync.gov>
106 E. Broad St., Elizabethtown, NC 28337, (910) 862-6710,
<www.bladeninfo.org>
8/2/10 10:50:04 AM
462
NORTH CAROLINA | Brunswick—Camden
| resources
• PARENT COUNTY: New Hanover
• MARRIAGE: 1904, Superior Court
divorce records 1893-1955, land records 1738-1804, marriage
records 1892-1904, and probate records 1761, 1862, and 18681956. Courthouse burned 1800 and 1893.
BRUNSWICK
Box 87, 76 Courthouse Dr., Bolivia, NC 28422, (910) 253-2690,
<www.brunsco.net>
• INCORPORATED: January 1764
• PARENT COUNTIES: New Hanover, Bladen
records 1849, 1866, 1869-1905, probate records 1783-1920, and
wills 1765-1912. Many records were destroyed in 1865.
BUNCOMBE
60 Court Plaza, Room 110, Asheville, NC 28801, (828) 250-4300,
<www.buncombecounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Burke, Rutherford
records 1830-1918, land records 1789-1919, marriage records 18421867, probate records 1815-1924, and wills 1826-1909. Courthouse
burned 1830 and 1835.
BURKE
201 S. Green St., Box 219, Morganton, NC 28680, (828) 4385450,<www.co.burke.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: June 1, 1777
• PARENT COUNTY: Rowan
records 1828-1911, marriage records 1780-1865, probate records
1776-1934, and wills 1790-1905. Many records prior to 1865 were
destroyed during the Civil War.
BUTE
<www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncbute>
• PARENT COUNTY: Granville
• NOTES: Became Warren and Franklin counties in 1779.
CABARRUS
65 Church St. SE, Concord, NC 28025, (704) 920-2112,
<www.co.cabarrus.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: November 1792
• PARENT COUNTY: Mecklenburg
records 1866, 1868, and 1783-1930, probate records 1793-1953,
and wills 1794-1921. Courthouse burned 1874.
CALDWELL
905 West Ave. NW, Lenoir, NC 28645, (828) 757-1310,
<www.co.caldwell.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Burke, Wilkes
records 1850-1925, probate records 1841-1934, and wills 18301925.
CAMDEN
117 North NC343, Camden, NC 27921, (252) 331-4851,
<www.camdencountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Pasquotank
1739-1912, and probate records 1790-1929.
8/2/10 10:50:05 AM
Carteret—Clay | NORTH CAROLINA
CARTERET
Courthouse Sq., Beaufort, NC 28516, (252) 728-8474,
<www.carteretcountygov.org>
• PARENT COUNTY: Craven
records 1877-1939, land records 1721-1952, marriage records 17461872, probate records 1744-1957, and wills 1744-1921.
CASWELL
Box 98, 139 E. Church St., Yanceyville, NC 27379, (336) 694-4197,
<www.caswellcountync.gov>
• INCORPORATED: April 8, 1777
records 1818-1928, land records 1780-1884, marriage records
1778-1868, and probate records 1772-1941.
CATAWBA
Box 65, Newton, NC 28658, (828) 465-1573,
<www.catawbacountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Lincoln
CHATHAM
12 East Rd., Pittsboro, NC 27312, (919) 542-8235,
<www.chathamnc.org>
463
1771-1948, and wills 1771-1964.
CHEROKEE
53 Peachtree, Murphy, NC 28906, (828) 837-2613,
<www.cherokeecounty-nc.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Macon
records 1869-1914, and 1942, probate records 1843-1940, and
wills 1857-1941. A portion of Cherokee County lies in Cherokee
land. For information regarding the genealogy of the Eastern
band of the Cherokee of North Carolina contact the Qualla Public
Library, Acauoni Road, Cherokee, NC.
CHOWAN
101 S. Broad St., Edenton, NC 27932, (252) 482-2619,
<www.chowancounty-nc.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Albemarle
records 1823-1909, and marriage records 1747-1868.
CLARENDON
• NOTES: Abandoned in 1667.
CLAY
Box 118, Hayesville, NC 28904, (828) 389-0087,
<www.clayconc.com>
• PARENT COUNTY: Cherokee
1845-1937, probate records 1862-1943, and wills 1870-1928.
8/2/10 10:50:05 AM
464
NORTH CAROLINA | Cleveland—Davie
CLEVELAND
311 E. Marion St., Box 1210, Shelby, NC 28150, (704) 484-4834,
<www.clevelandcounty.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Rutherford, Lincoln
• DIVORCE 1908, SUPERIOR COURT
COLUMBUS
612 N. Madison St., Whiteville, NC 28472, (910) 640-6625,
<www.columbusco.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Bladen, Brunswick
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1817-1968, probate
CRAVEN
226 Pollock St., New Bern, NC 28560, (252) 636-6617,
<www.cravencounty.com>
• PARENT COUNTY: Archdale Precinct of Bath County
divorce records 1828-1897, probate records 1745-1945, and wills
1737-1868. Formerly Archdale Precinct of Bath County. Named
changed to Craven, 1712.
CUMBERLAND
117 Dick St. Room 114, Fayetteville, NC 28301, (910) 678-7775,
<www.co.cumberland.nc.us>
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1755-1913, marriage
CURRITUCK
Box 71, Currituck, NC 27929, (252) 232-3297,
<www.co.currituck.nc.us>
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1799-1907, probate
DARE
962 Marshall C. Collins Dr., Manteo, NC 27954, (252) 475-5970,
<www.co.dare.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Currituck, Tyrell, Hyde
DAVIDSON
Box 464, Lexington, NC 27293, (336) 242-2150,
<www.co.davidson.nc.us>
1831-1944, land records 1808-1922, probate records 1817-1948, and
wills 1823-1940. Courthouse fire in 1866 destroyed some records.
DAVIE
123 S. Main St., Mocksville, NC 27028, (336) 751-2513,
<www.co.davie.nc.us>
8/2/10 10:50:05 AM
Dobbs—Gates | NORTH CAROLINA
• DEATH: 1913, Registrar of Probate
DOBBS
• PARENT COUNTY: Johnston
• NOTES: Discontinued and became part of Wayne County in 1779
and Glasgow and Lenoir Counties in 1791.
DUPLIN
118 Duplin St., Kenansville, NC 28349, (910) 296-2108,
<www.duplincountync.com>
• Incorporated: April 7, 1750
1752-1930, and wills 1759-1913.
DURHAM
200 E. Main St., Durham, NC 27707, (919) 560-0480,
<www.co.durham.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Orange, Wake
• BIRTH RECORDS: start in 1913, kept by Dept. of Health
• DEATH: 1913, Dept. of Health
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1887-1924, naturalization
records 1882-1904, and probate records 1875-1926.
EDGECOMBE
301 Saint Andrews St., Box 386, Tarboro, NC 27886, (252) 6417924, <www.edgecombecountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Bertie
• DEATH 1913, REGISTRAR OF DEEDS
• COURT: unknown start, Superior Court
465
divorce records 1835-1901, land records 1732-1741, probate records
1748-1917, and wills 1750-1945. Records prior to 1759 are found in
Halifax County.
FORSYTH
102 W. Third St., Box 20639, Winston-Salem, NC 27120,
<www.co.forsyth.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Stokes
FRANKLIN
113 S. Main St., Box 545, Louisburg, NC 27549, (919) 496-3500,
<www.co.franklin.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Bute
1781-1934, and wills 1787-1929.
GASTON
325 N. Marietta St., Box 1578, Gastonia, NC 28053, (704) 8627680, <www.co.gaston.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Lincoln
records 1859-1910, probate records 1839-1928, and wills 18491924. Many records were destroyed in courthouse in 1874.
GATES
Box 471, Gatesville, NC 27938, (252) 357-0850,
<www.gatescounty.govoffice2.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Chowan, Hertford, Perquimans
8/2/10 10:50:06 AM
466
NORTH CAROLINA | Glasgow—Haywood
1765-1920, and wills 1762-1904.
GLASGOW
• PARENT COUNTY: Dobbs
• NOTES: Name changed to Greene County in 1799.
GRAHAM
Box 406, Robbinsville, NC 28771, (828) 479-7971,
<www.grahamcounty.org>
• INCORPORATED: Janurary 1872
• PARENT COUNTY: Cherokee
• LAND: 1922, Superior Court
1789-1921, marriage records 1873-1926, and probate records 18471930. A portion of Graham County lies in Cherokee land. Contact
Eastern Band of the Cherokee at Cherokee Qualla Public Library,
Acauoni Road, Cherokee, NC for genealogy information.
GRANVILLE
101 Main St., Oxford, NC 27565, (919) 693-6314,
<www.granvillecounty.org>
• INCORPORATED: June 1746
• PARENT COUNTY: Edgecombe
records 1819-1895, probate records 1746-1919, and wills 1749-1968.
GREENE
Box 86, Snow Hill, NC 28580, (252) 747-3620,
<www.co.greene.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Glasgow
records 1875-1959, probate records 1809-1962, and wills 18461944. Established as Glasgow County in 1791. Name changed to
Greene County in 1799. Courthouse burned in 1876.
GUILFORD
201 S. Eugene St., Box 3427, Greensboro, NC 27402, (336) 6417556, <www.co.guilford.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Rowan, Orange
records 1820-1929, probate records 1778-1942, and wills 17711968. Courthouse burned 1872; many older records still available.
HALIFAX
King St., Box 67, Halifax, NC 27839, (252) 583-2101,
<www.halifaxnc.com>
records 1870-1922, naturalization records 1916-1925, probate
HARNETT
305 W. Cornelius Harnett Blvd. Suite 200, Lillington, NC 27546,
(910) 893-7542, <www.harnett.org>
• PARENT COUNTY: Cumberland
• NOTES: Many Court and land records were destroyed in
courthouse fires in 1892 and 1894.
HAYWOOD
215 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC 28786, (828) 452-6635,
<www.haywoodnc.net>
8/2/10 10:50:06 AM
Henderson—Johnston | NORTH CAROLINA
• PARENT COUNTY: Buncombe
HENDERSON
200 N. Grove St. Suite 129, Hendersonville, NC 28792, (828) 6974901, <www.hendersoncountync.org>
• PARENT COUNTY: Buncombe
1838-1968, and wills 1797, 1817, and 1835-1969
HERTFORD
701 N. King St., Box 36, Winton, NC 27986, (252) 358-7850,
<www.co.hertford.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: May. 1, 1760
• PARENT COUNTIES: Bertie, Chowan, Northampton
• MILITARY: 1928, Registrar of Deeds
1871-1914, land records 1775-1940, probate records 1830-1914, and
wills 1763, and 1861-1903. Courthouse burned in 1832 and 1862.
HOKE
304 N. Main St., Raeford, NC 28376, (910) 875-2035,
<www.hokecounty.net>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Cumberland, Robeson
467
HYDE
Box 294, Swan Quarter, NC 27885, (252) 926-4181,
<www.hydecounty.org/government>
records 1829-1914, probate records 1735-1933, and wills 17601908. Formerly Wickham, Precinct of Bath County. Name changed
to Hyde, 1712.
IREDELL
201 E. Water St., Box 904, Statesville, NC 28677, (704) 872-7468,
<www.co.iredell.nc.us>
1790-1970, and wills 1787-1917. Courthouse burned in 1854.
JACKSON
401 Grindstaff Cove Rd., Room 103, Sylva, NC 28779, (828) 5867592, <www.jacksonnc.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Haywood, Macon
• MARRIAGE: ca. 1890 Registrar of Deeds
• NOTES: A portion of Jackson County lies in Cherokee land.
Contact Cherokee Qualla Public Library, Acauoni Road, Cherokee,
NC for genealogy information. State Archives has court records
1853-1910 and probate records 1853-1879.
JOHNSTON
Box 118, Smithfield, NC 27577, (919) 989-5160,
<www.co.johnston.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: June 1746
8/2/10 10:50:06 AM
468
NORTH CAROLINA | Jones—Martin
1748-1939, marriage records 1746-1868, and probate records
1771-1962.
JONES
Box 189, Trenton, NC 28585, (252) 448-2551,
<www.co.jones.nc.us>
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1807-1932, marriage
records 1851-1874, probate records 1780-1854, and wills 17791935. Courthouse burned in 1862.
LEE
Box 2040, Sanford, NC 27331, (919) 774-4821,
<www.leecountync.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Chatham, Moore
LENOIR
Box 3289, Kinston, NC 28502, (252) 559-6420,
<www.co.lenoir.nc.us>
records 1880-1914, marriage records 1791-1868, and probate
records 1830-1956. Registrar of Deeds has Wills 1824-1916.
Courthouse burned in 1878 and 1880.
LINCOLN
115 W. Main St., Box 218, Lincolnton, NC 28093, (704) 736-8530,
<www.co.lincoln.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Tryon
records 1811-1921, marriage records 1779-1868, and probate
records 1779-1925.
MACON
5 W. Main St., Franklin, NC 28734, (828) 349-2095,
<www.maconnc.org>
• PARENT COUNTY: Haywood
1831-1920, and wills 1830-1905, and 1933.
MADISON
Box 66, 75 Blannahasset Island, Marshall, NC 28753, (828) 6493131, <www.madisoncountync.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Buncombe, Yancey
1833-1943, and wills 1851-1912.
MARTIN
Box 348, Williamston, NC 27892, (252) 792-1683,
<www.martincountyncgov.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Halifax, Tyrrell
records 1882-1903, and probate records 1820-1906. Courthouse
burned in 1884.
8/2/10 10:50:07 AM
McDowell—New Hanover | NORTH CAROLINA
MCDOWELL
21 S. Main St. Suite A, Marion, NC 28752, (828) 652-4727,
<www.mcdowellgov.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Burke, Rutherford
1842-1868, and probate records 1830-1832, 1842-1939, and wills
1841-1920.
MECKLENBURG
720 E. Fourth St., Charlotte, NC 28202, (704) 336-2443,
<www.charmeck.org>
• INCORPORATED: Feb. 1, 1763
• PARENT COUNTY: Anson
• BIRTH RECORDS: start in 1913, kept by Dept. of Health
• DEATH: 1913, Dept. of Health
records 1846-1969, marriage records 1783-1868, naturalization
records 1822, 1886-1927, probate records 1762-1957, and wills
1749-1918.
MITCHELL
26 Crimson Laurel Circle Suite #4, Bakersville, NC 28705, (828)
688-2139 ext. 1, <www.mitchellcounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Watauga,
Yancey
MONTGOMERY
102 E. Main St., Troy, NC 27371, (910) 576-4271,
<www.montgomeryrod.net>
469
1818-1970, and wills 1785-1970. Courthouse burned in 1835.
MOORE
Box 1210, Carthage, NC 28327, (910) 947-6370,
<www.moorecountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Cumberland
records 1887-1915, land records 1797-1923, naturalization records
1887-1914, probate records 1828-1921, and wills 1831, 1859-1921.
Courthouse burned in 1889.
NASH
Box 974, Nashville, NC 27856, (252) 459-9836,
<www.co.nash.nc.us>
• DIVORCE: 1867, Registrar of Deeds
1770-1909, and wills 1778-1922.
NEW HANOVER
216 N. Second St. Room 4, Wilmington, NC 28401, (910) 341-4530,
<www.nhcgov.com>
1746-1939, and wills 1732-1961.
8/2/10 10:50:07 AM
470
NORTH CAROLINA | Northampton—Perquimans
NORTHAMPTON
Box 128, Jackson, NC 27845, (252) 534-2511,
<www.northamptonnc.com>
• PARENT COUNTY: Bertie
1781-1929, and wills 1764-1950.
ONSLOW
109 Old Bridge St., Jacksonville, NC 28540, (910) 347-3451,
<www.co.onslow.nc.us>
1735-1914, and wills 1746-1968. Many records were destroyed in
storms in 1752 and 1786.
ORANGE
200 S. Cameron St., Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278, (919) 2452675, <www.co.orange.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Bladen, Granville, Johnston
PAMLICO
Box 433, Bayboro, NC 28515, (252) 745-4421,
<www.co.pamlico.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Beaufort, Craven
records 1874-1915, probate records 1872-1939, and wills 1872-1921.
PAMPTECOUGH
• NOTES: See Beaufort County. Name changed to Beaufort in 1712.
PASQUOTANK
206 E. Main, Box 154, Elizabeth City, NC 27909, (252) 335-4367,
<www.co.pasquotank.nc.us>
PENDER
300 E. Fremont St., Box 43, Burgaw, NC 28425, (910) 259-1225,
<www.pender-county.com>
• NOTES: State Archives has marriage records 1875-1936, probate
records 1866-1969, and wills 1832, 1875-1969.
PERQUIMANS
Box 74, Hertford, NC 27944, (252) 426-5660,
<www.co.perquimans.nc.us>
• MARRIAGE RECORDS: start in 1869, kept by Registrar of Deeds
1714-1930, and wills 1711-1909. Perquimans County was known as
Berkeley Precinct 1670-1682.
8/2/10 10:50:07 AM
Person—Rockingham | NORTH CAROLINA
PERSON
105 S. Main St., Roxboro, NC 27573, (336) 597-1733,
<www.personcounty.net>
• PARENT COUNTY: Caswell
PITT
W. Third St., Box 35, Greenville, NC 27835, (252) 902-1650,
<www.co.pitt.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Beaufort
records 1861, 1866, 1870-1906, marriage records 1826-1833, 18671875, probate records 1791, 1827-1947, and wills 1805, 1808, 1817,
1836-1930, and 1938. Courthouse burned 1857.
POLK
Box 308, Columbus, NC 28722, (828) 894-8450,
<www.polkcounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Henderson, Rutherford
divorce records 1856-1909, and probate records 1851-1913. Polk
County was originally established in 1847 from Henderson and
Rutherford Counties. In 1848 the act was appealed. Polk was
reestablished in 1855.
RANDOLPH
158 Worth St., Asheboro, NC 27203, (336) 318-6960,
<www.co.randolph.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Guilford
471
1781-1928, and wills 1775-1902.
RICHMOND
114 E. Franklin St. #101, Rockingham, NC 28379, (910) 997-8250,
<www.co.richmond.nc.us>
1772-1933, and wills 1779-1915.
ROBESON
500 N. Elm St., Box 22, Lumberton, NC 28358, (910) 671-3044,
<www.co.robeson.nc.us>
1801-1935, and wills 1783-1918, 1930, 1933, and 1935.
ROCKINGHAM
371 NC 65 #212, Box 56, Wentworth, NC 27320, (336) 342-8100,
<www.co.rockingham.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Guilford
1780-1926, and wills 1772-1925, 1936, and 1938.
8/2/10 10:50:08 AM
472
NORTH CAROLINA | Rowan—Swain
ROWAN
Box 2568, Salisbury, NC 28145, (704) 638-3102,
<www.co.rowan.nc.us>
• INCORPORATED: March 27, 1753
records 1805-1900, naturalization records 1823-1915, probate
records 1753-1929, and wills 1743-1900. Federal troops destroyed
some records in 1865.
RUTHERFORD
229 N. Main St., Box 551, Rutherfordton, NC 28139, (828) 287-6155,
<www.rutherfordcountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Tryon
SAMPSON
Sampson County Courthouse, Room 107, Main St., Clinton, NC
28328, (910) 592-8026, <www.sampsonnc.com>
• PARENT COUNTY: Duplin
records 1869-1921, probate records 1784-1923, and wills 17781953. Courthouse burned 1921.
SCOTLAND
212 Biggs St., Box 769, Laurinburg, NC 28353, (910) 277-2577,
<www.scotlandcounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTY: Richmond
• NOTES: State Archives has divorce records 1901-1948, probate
records 1887-1951, and wills, 1893, 1896, and 1900-1937.
STANLY
201 S. Second St., Albemarle, NC 28001, (704) 983-3640,
<www.co.stanly.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Montgomery
• NOTES: State Archives has divorce records 1854-1920 and
probate records 1820, 1839-1952.
STOKES
1014 Main St., Danbury, NC 27016, (336) 593-2811,
<www.co.stokes.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTY: Surry
SURRY
201 E. Kapp St., Box 303, Dobson, NC 27017, (336) 401-8150,
<www.co.surry.nc.us>
• BURIAL: unknown start, Registrar of Deeds
• NOTES: State Archives Court records 1778-1910, divorce records
SWAIN
101 Mitchell St., Box 1183, Bryson, NC 28713, (828) 488-9273,
<www.swaincountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Jackson, Macon
8/2/10 10:50:08 AM
Transylvania—Washington | NORTH CAROLINA
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1871-1907. A portion of
Swain County lies in Cherokee land. For genealogy information on
the Eastern Band of the Cherokee contact the Cherokee Qualla
Public Library, Acauoni Road, Cherokee, NC. Many records were
destroyed in a courthouse fire in 1879.
TRANSYLVANIA
12 E. Main St., Brevard, NC 28712, (828) 884-3162,
<www.transylvaniacounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Henderson, Jackson
TRYON
• PARENT COUNTY: Mecklenburg
• NOTES: See Lincoln and Rutherford Counties. Discontinued 1779.
Split into Lincoln and Rutherford Counties.
TYRRELL
Box 449, Columbia, NC 27925, (252) 796-2901,
<www.ncgenweb.us/tyrrell/TYRRELL.HTM>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank
UNION
Box 248, Monroe, NC 28111, (704) 283-3727,
<www.co.union.nc.us>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Anson, Mecklenburg
473
records 1865-1928, probate records 1818-1969, and wills 18371968, 1977, 1978.
VANCE
122 Young St. Suite F, Henderson, NC 27536, (252) 738-2110,
<www.vancecounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Franklin, Granville, Warren
WAKE
St. Garland James Bldg., Box 1897, Raleigh, NC 27602, (919) 8565460, <www.wakegov.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Cumberland, Johnston, Orange
• NOTES: State Archives has court records 1777-1941, Death records
1900-1909, divorce records 1831-1952, marriage records 17901865, naturalization records 1821-1908, probate records 1771-1952,
and wills 1771-1966. Fire at the Registrar’s office in 1832 destroyed
some deed books.
WARREN
Box 506, Warrenton, NC 27589, (252) 257-3265,
<www.warrencountync.com>
• PARENT COUNTY: Bute
records 1874-1914, 1922, marriage records 1779-1868, probate
WASHINGTON
120 Adams St., Box 1007, Plymouth, NC 27962, (252) 793-2325,
<www.washconc.org>
• INCORPORATED: Nov. 1799
8/2/10 10:50:08 AM
474
NORTH CAROLINA | Watauga—Yancey
• PARENT COUNTY: Tyrrell
records 1851, 1873-1903, probate records 1795-1933, and wills
1856-1964. Courthouse burned 1862, 1869 and 1873.
WATAUGA
842 W. King St. Suite 9, Boone, NC 28607, (828) 265-8052,
<www.wataugacounty.org>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Ashe, Caldwell, Wilkes, Yancey
records 1874-1948, land records 1858-1976, probate records
1858-1948, and wills 1859, 1872-1947. A courthouse fire in 1873
destroyed all of the land records and most of the Court records.
WAYNE
224 E. Walnut St., Box 267, Goldsboro, NC 27533, (919) 731-1449,
<www.waynegov.com>
• INCORPORATED: October 1779
1782-1937. Clerk of Superior Court has Wills 1776-1927.
WICKHAM
• NOTES: See Hyde County. Name changed to Hyde, 1712.
WILKES
110 North St., Wilkesboro, NC 28697, (336) 651-7351,
<www.wilkescounty.net>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Surry, District of Washington
WILSON
101 N. Goldsboro St., Wilson, NC 27893, (252) 399-2935,
<www.wilson-co.com>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash, Wayne
YADKIN
Box 211, 101 State St., Yadkinville, NC 27055, (336) 679-4225,
<www.yadkincounty.gov>
• PARENT COUNTY: Surry
YANCEY
County Courthouse, Burnsville, NC 28714, (828) 682-2174,
<www.yanceycountync.gov>
• PARENT COUNTIES: Buncombe, Burke
8/2/10 10:50:09 AM
rn
-@
IN
T H E geography of our imagination, the South is as constant as a Moon Pie. Forever under fluttering Stars and Bars, the stereotypical land of cotton is a drawling amalgam of Gone with the Wind and "The Andy Griffith Show," To Kill a
'k
I
Mockingbird and the Grand Ole Opry, In the Heat of the Night and Inherit the
Wind, bound together with grits and washed down with a cool mint julep our
on the veranda, y'all. In the popular mind, Southern history began at Fort Surnter
and ended when the Dixie of George Wallace gave way to the New South of Ted
Turner.
But if you go looking for your Southern ancestors in Tara, you're likely to
be disappointed. The reality of the South is much more complex than those
stereotypes. Indeed, if you try to trace your Southern roots back more than three
or four generations, you'll quickly stumble across a South that looks more like
the Wild West than Mayberry. You'll find pioneers and Indians and families
headed west-the
frontier South of Daniel Boone, where the fever for land was
hotter than Atlanta in August. Change was the constant here, with populations
on the move and state and county borders melting like ice cubes in S W E
)ID YOUR
ANCESTQRS MA
DIXIE?
THESOUTH
WI L
F A M I LY TREE, I F Y O U FOLLOV
u R G E T T I N G STARTED
SOUTHERN
YOUR
rr:
@PHILIP GOULDICO
A
ROOT!
_
- ...El(
'
Charles Mason andJeremiah Dixon lay out their
famous boundary line.
I always thought of my maternal ancestors, for example, as being strictly from Alabama, where my mother grew up. But our
family tree actually runs from Virginia to
North Carolina to South Carolina, with offshoots in Georgia, before becoming firmly
planted in the red dirt of Alabama.
Even the definition of "the South" isn't as
solid as the Mason-Dixon line. That famous
boundary, after all, put Maryland and
Delaware down South-yet neither seceded
and we think of both now as "mid-Atlantic
states." Kentucky was a "border state" during the recent unpleasanmess, but its settlement patterns are deeply Dixie. Certainly "the
South" encompasses the 11states of the Confederacy, yet Confederate Texas has a split
personality, both Southern and Western.
FIRSTS'
IS SOUTHWA
So where do you start in tnls surprisingly
complicated region? Like any genealogical
-
1565 Spanish found
St. Augustine, Fla., first
permanent white settlement in what's now the
United States
.
quest, Southern genealogy begins in your own backyardstart with sources in your own
home and family, then work
backward from today, one step
at a time. Emily Croom, author
of the best-selling Unpuzzling
Your Past (Betterway Books,
$18.99) and an expert on
Southern roots, advises, "Each
family has its own starting
point in Southern research. For
those families still in the South,
the starting point of research is
where they are now. For those
famities no longer in the South, that starting
point is when they left the region."
For many families who left the South,
Croom says, the trigger was World War II military service or postwar job opportunities. 0thers moved away a few years earliel; seeking
relief from the Great Depression and the Dust
Bowl. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
the lure of cities replaced the promise of cheap
farm land, tugging families away from the
South, which remained heavily rural.
So your first challenge is to learn when,
where and why your individual ancestor or
family moved to a city, left the South, or
chose to remain in the rural South. Interview
family members and pore over family papers.
Consult city directories and the federal censuses from 1920 backward; many states also
had state censuses that can supplement or fill
the gaps in federal enumerations. Study vital
records beginning with the most recent birth,
marriage and death certificates (see page 46).
Once you've identified your ancestor's last
known Southern location, learn all you can
,,tablish
settle-
1670 Charleston,
SC, founded
1797 Mint
julep invented
in Virginia
- 8 .
%;2
' First permanent English settlement in America,
at Jamestown,Va.
NTI N C
1743 Thomas
Jefferson born
in Virginia
rCCL)., RICE, ROOTS
As you work your way back from your last
known Southern ancestor into the past, you'll
stumble over some special challenges and puzzles; to get past them, it helps to know a little
history.
Just as New Englanders proudly trace
their roots to the Mayflower, the story of
Southern families starts with the arrival of
105 settlers in Jamestown, Va., in 1607-well
before the Pilgrims. In 1617, these nascent
Southerners shipped their first tobacco back
to England, starting an economic boom that
would make wealthy Virginia the envy of
other colonies. By 1700, Virginia already
boasted 58,000 people.
The restoration of the British monarchy in
1660, with Charles 11, sparked a second wave
of colonization. The crown gave a land grant '
to eight supporters who became the Lords
Proprietors of the new colony of Carolina
(from the Latin for Charles) in 1670. What
tobacco was to Virginia, rice eventually became to Carolina, beckoning immigrants
from the English colony of Barbados who
- -86 French
I
.
about that state and even that county. The
books and Web sites listed in the Toolkit on
page 45 will help you get started. Guides such
as Ancestry's Red Book (Ancestry, $49.95),
The Handybook for Genealogists (Everton
Publishers, $34.99) and The Source (Ancestry, $49.95) will help you locate specific resources for your family's part of the South.
Also search the Family History Library's catalog <www.familysearch.org/Eng/Li brary/
FHLClframeset-fhlc.asp> for state and
county records, which you can often borrow
through your local Family History Center.
1821 Texas becomes
part of new nation of
Mexico; Stephen Austin
founds Anglo-American
colony in Texas.
emulated that island's plantation economy.
French Huguenots also came beginning in the
1680s, seeking religious freedom. By 1730,
the population in the Charleston area alone
had reached 30,000.
North Carolina saw tentative settlements
even before 1650, when it was dubbed Albemarle, but didn't really take off until 1691,
when settlers from Virginia arrived and renamed it. That migration set the pattern for
the next century and a half, as settlers pushed
ever west and south in search of land and opportunity. Huguenots and Swiss Protestants
came as well, and by 1730 North Carolina
had 30,000 colonists.
The last of the Southern original colonies
(apart from the arguable Maryland and
Delaware) was Georgia, chartered in 1732
with an unusual two-pronged mission: to
serve as a barrier against Florida, which Spain
had settled way back in 1565, and to welcome debtors and other castoffs from mother
England. James Oglethorpe landed at Savannah with the first 115 settlers in 1733. In
Georgia's early years it did attract 1,800
"charity colonists," along with a number of
Scots and Germans, but the colony never
quite Jived up to its original intent, and Georgians envied the prosperity of neighboring
South Carolina. By 1752, with little more
G.o.6 &
.
Y
1838-39Trail o f Tears
forces 13,000 Cherokee
west o f t h e Mississippi
1860 South Carolina is
the first state t o secede
from the Union
A ,tatue o f ~ e o r g ewashington standsinfront of
the South Carolina Capitol in Columbia. One of
the 3 original US states, South Carolina was also
thefintstateto secede from the
in 1860.
the web
find it on
I
You'll find many state-specific pages I
(see page 45) t o help you
your Southern roots. Also try these . '.i
- regional sites:
1 NTERN ET MAIL l NC LISTS
Appalachianfamily
ippalachian roots. To subscribe,
e-mail saying "subscribe" t o
7
m AfriCeneas
~www.afrigeneas.com>
African-American genealogy
logroups.com.
= Deep-South-Roots-L
m Carolina Cuzins
Covers Georgia, Alabama, F' -da
and Mississippi. To subscril-, send
"SUB DEEP-SOUTH-ROOTS-Lfirstname
lastname" to listerv@listserv.indiana.edu.
~www.carolinacuzins.org>
The Freedmen's Bureau Online
<freedmensbureau.com>
records o f freed slaves
Early Families in Southern States
Focuses on colonial Maryland, Virginia
and Carolinas. To subscribe, send "subscribe" t o efss-I-request@rootsweL -9m.
rn
Mid-Atlantic Roots Network
<midatlantic.rootsweb.com>
includes Virginia and North Carolina
= The-Road
rn Southern Trails
Focuses on Scots and Germans along 1
"Philadelphia Road," including Virginia
and the Carolinas. Send "subscribe" to
the-road-I-request@rootsweb.com.
Traveller Southern Families
Southern Trails
Focuses on Southern migration.
Send "subscribe" to Southern-Trails-Lrequest@rootsweb.com.
National Archives Confixlerate
Pension Records information
~www.nara.gov/genealogy/confed.html>
.-is
than 5,000 people, Georgia dropped its charter and became a royal colony.
If your ancestors stopped in one of these
ongmal colonies or you can trace them back to
V i , the Carolinas or coastal Georgia, you
can tap a wealth of genealogy resources dating
to colonial times. Genealogical Publishing Co.
~.genealogybookshop.com>,for example,
has published dozens of highly specific compilations such as Virgnia Northern Neck Land
Grants, 1694-1742 and South Carolina Mar-
riages, 1688-1799. Many o f these can be
found in larger public libraries. The richness of
colonial records is also reflected in the CDROMs from Genealogy.com <www.genealogy.
corn>, such as Colonial Amm'cu, 1607-1789
C2mt.s Index (#310, $29.99), and in the databases at Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com>.
Of course, these original states were also
included in the very &st US census, in 1790,
but those records for Virginia and Georgia
were burned in the War of 1812 (as were cen-
1896 George Washington
T
Carver joins the Tuskegee
Institute, where he begins
t o popularize the peanut
1877 Recon-
1915 D.W. Grifith
films Birth ofa Nation
5
suses for the future Southern states of Kentucky and Tennessee).
Your Southern colonial ancestors may also
have fought in the Revolutionary War
(thoughnot necessarily on the winning side!).
These military records are available on microfilm from the Family History Library and
the National Archives <www.nara.gOv,.
The
Daughters of the American Revolution maintains a library of 160,000 books, 300,000 genealogical files and 60,000 microforms in
Washington, DC. You can search the catalog
online at <www.dar.org/library/onlinlib.html>.
THE REALLY OLD WEST
If your ancestors pushed on beyond the colonial South, try picturing them not so much as
characters from Gone with the Wind as the
pioneers following Daniel Boone in George
Caleb B i a r n ' s famous painting of crossiig
the Cumberland Gap. They were motivated
by an impulse later called "manifest destiny,"
succinctly expressed by Boone as: "Now is
the time to secure all this country; we've got
it, let's keep it!" Land lured 18th- and early
19th-century Southerners as powerfully as
gold later called people to California.
First they settled the western parts of the
origmal colonies. Your Scotch-Irish ancestors
may have settled the rolling, forested Piedmont of Virginia; some moved south from
Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s, while others
arrived directly in Southern ports and headed
west. Your German ancestors may have
headed for the Shenandoah Valley of Vuginia
or for the area near Salem, NC. Other settlers
took advantage of land bounties for veterans
of the French and Indian War:
After Boone and others brought back
1
vis Presley born
in Tupelo, Miss.
T
$
6
struction ends
L
I
h 1912 Goo Goo Clusters,
'
Atlanta
pharmacist John
5. Pemberton
I
creates Cow-Cola
"the South's favorite
candy," introduced
a
1
1926 Nashville country
radio program becomes
"The Grand Ole Opry"
1
1939 Kentucky Fried
Chicken recipe
perfected
1936 Margaret
Mitchell's Cone with
the Wind is published
word of the riches to be found in Kentucky
and Tennessee, settlement rapidly pushed farther west. One early settler, upon seeing Kentucky, described, "So Rich a Soil, Covered in
Clover in full Bloom, the Woods alive in wild
game. ... It appeared that nature in the profusion of her Bounties had spread a feast for
all that lives." Those who hadn't yet found
their fortune in the original colonies found
those "Bounties" irresistible. In early 19thcentury Viginia, if you asked after the whereabouts of a man it was common to get the
answer, "He's gone to hell or Kentucky."
Land speculators fueled the expansion, as
did land bounties offered to North Carolinians and Virginians who fought in the Revolutionary War. If your North Carolina
ancestor served as a private, he got 600 acres
out West; if a colonel, 7,000 acres or more.
By 1783, Kentucky already had 12,000
people. After statehood in 1792, the population expanded from the "bluegrass country"
around Lexington southward and westward,
fueled first by state homestead acts and then
by tobacco farming. Tennessee followed into
statehood in 1796.
Historian Frank L. Owsley Sr. likened the
settlement pattern itself to genealogy: "The
Carolinas settled Georgia and, with considerable aid from Viginia, settled Tennessee. The
remainder of the states of the Lower South
were the children and grandchildren of the
Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee."
Indian treaties and displacements, soil exhaustion in the east, public land sales and the
invention of the cotton gin all combined to
fuel the next wave of settlement. In one of the
fastest settlements in history, the population
of Mississippi more than doubled from 1810
to 1820 and that of Alabama grew 16-fold,
from barely over 9,000 to 144,000.
If your ancestors caught "Alabama fever,"
look for them to have headed west and south
during this mass exodus. Leaders in older
states fretted over the depopulating effects of
this "fever," such as this 1817 lament from
North Carolina Congressman James Graham:
"The Alabama Feaver (sic) rages here with
great violence and has carried off vast numbers of our Citizens. ... There is no question
that this feaver is contagious.. . for as soon as
one neighbor visits another who has just returned from Alabama he immediately discovers the same symptoms which are exhibited by
the one who has seen alluring Alabama."
--60 "The Andy Criffith
Jllow" brings Mayberry,
NC, to TV
FINDINGYOUR FICKLE FAMILY
As you trace your Southern ancestors backwards across what once was the frontier of
"the Old Southwest," don't look for them to
have simply uprooted from, say, Viginia and
then settled for good in Alabama. Migrating
families typically tried several new homesteads, possibly in several states. Historian
Owsley compares this fickle migration pattern
to "a great drove of blackbirds lighting in a
grain fieldn--one gust of wind and they're
aloft again, only to settle in the next field ovec
You can look for patterns, however. Mi-
1 1968 Martin Luther
Louisiana's diverse heritage includes heavy French
influences. Because of that diversity, researchers
willfind records in French, Spanish and Latin.
7
1980 J.R. Ewing is shot
on N ' s "Dallas"
King Jr.assassinated
I*
Roots becomes;.5a.& J-:
TV miniseries $ 3 . ' ) i &*
;
I
;
:
&
8
IJ L:
grating families often went due west, and they
looked for valleys to settle in that reminded
them of the place they'd just left. They moved
in clusters, with one family member or even a
neighbor being the first to try a new area, and
others in the cluster following later. Children
of migrating families were more likely to eventually migrate again themselves. If you can't
trace your ancestors, try their siblings and other
kin; look for unrelated people who lived near
your ancestors and who may have lived near
them in their previous home, too.
Census records can be valuable tools here,
since federal censuses go back to 1810 for
Louisiana, Kentucky and parts of Tennessee,
1820 for Mississippi and 1830 for Alabama
and Arkansas. Some areas had territorial censuses even earlier. Texas, not a state until
1845, had its own census ranging from 1829 to 1836. You can
access these through Family History Centers, the National
Archives and larger libraries.
Census records are also coming
online at such subscription sites
as <www.genealogylibrary.com>
and <www.ancestry.com> , as
well as through volunteer efforts
at <www.usgenweb.org>.
Don't just check for your
Southern ancestors in one
county or even one state, however. If you can't find them in Alabama, for
example, maybe they weren't there long
enough to be counted before heading for
greener pastures in Mississippi or Texas.
The 1850 census was the first to list the
names of all free inhabitants in a household
as well as the first to record their birthplaces,
so it gives a valuable snapshot of Southerners'
migrating ways-and may help you find patterns in your family's past. That enumeration
found almost 400,000 people born in Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas
who had landed in Alabama, Georgia (nonGeorgia natives),Mississippi and Louisiana.
You can also explore records of what
likely drew your ancestors to this part of the
South in the first place-public land. More
than 2 million title records for public land
sales (called "patents") are searchable online
at the Bureau of Land Management's site
<www.glorecords.blm.gov>. These cover all
the Southern states except the original
colonies, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas,
from 1820 to 1908. It's a great way to find
L
44 FAMILY
TREEMAGAZINE
August
2001
not only your ancestors but their neighbors,
whose names might help you take the next
step backward. (For tips on using the site, see
the October 2000 Family Tree Magazine.)
WHATCOUNTY WAS THAT WHEN?
A little hlstory lesson is also helpful in finding
your ancestors' vital records, probate records
and other state and local paperwork such as
court cases and land transactions. Because of
the shifting boundaries of the expandmg frontie&your family may have switched from one
county to another, or even changed states,
without ever leaving home.
In 1750, remember, Viginia encompassed
everything to the west of today's state. Tennessee was largely claimed by North Carolina
until 1784. Mississippi and Alabama were
part of the Mississippi Territory from 1798
until statehood in 181 7 and 1819, respectively, while Georgia claimed parts of Alabama and Florida until 1802.
More problematic for family historians is
the shifting of county lines. In 1740, for example, all of noncoastal North Carolina was
divided into just three counties; today, the
state has 100 counties, and those in the western three-quarters have been subdivided several times. Orange County, for instance, was
formed in 1752 from parts of Bladen,
Granville and Johnston counties. And county
lines weren't just redrawn way back when: As
recently as 1861, Mitchell County, NC, was
created from five "parent" counties.
Other counties simply changed names. In
1858, for example, Benton County, Ala., became Calhoun County, for John C. Calhoun.
The USGenWeb site's state pages
can help you unscramble your ancestors'
county lines and figure out what was whlch
county when. The especially Byzantine evolution of South Carolina counties and "districts" is painstakingly traced on that state's
USGenWeb site at <www.geocities.com/
Heartland/HiIls/3837/sc-countyhistories.htmI>.
The South's past comes alive at historic buildings
such as Houmas House Plantation in Burnside,
La., (above) and Civil War re-enactments like this
on - '.-Andenonville, Ga. (below).
History also created special challenges for
genealogy in Louisiana, where the counties
are called "parishes." That state's diverse heritage means that you'll find records in Spanish, French and even Latin.
Once you do place your ancestors, you
might take advantage of "county heritage
Digging ~ r ~Dixie?
r o Alas, some old times
there are forgotten-records have been lost
or destroyed over the years. Because ofthe
Civil War and the South's fondness for
wooden courthouses, you'll find many
"burned counties" where records have
gone up in smoke. (Record keeping itself
also suffered during the Civil War, with
manpower in short supply and much o f the
actual fighting taking place in the South.)
Federal census records also have gaps.
Among the missing and destroyed census
records are: most o f 1820 Alabama; 1790,
i800,18io and parts o f 1820 Georgia; 1790
and 1800 Kentucky; some counties in 1790,
1810 and 1820 North Carolina; 1790,1800
and parts o f 1810 and 1820 Tennessee;
17go,i800 and parts o f 1810 Virginia. The
good news is that you can find state,
county and even colonial censuses, as well
as tax lists and other substitutes. See the
state-by-state resource guides in the Toolkit
on page 45 to get started with these. Also
keep in mind that the bulk o f the entire national 1890 census was lost to fire.
Southern states were also generally
slower than the rest ofthe country in beginning statewide registration o f births,
deaths and marriages. Even then,
statewide compliance sometimes took
decades. Below you'll see when these
records officially began and where t o write
for information (generally states limit access to recent vital records t o family members); many other, earlier records are
available at the county level. You can find
more state-by-state vital records information at <www.vitalrec.com>. For county information, see each state's page on the
USGenWeb site <www.usgenweb.org/
thestates.html> or consult a reference
such as The Handybookfor Genealogists
(Everton Publishers, $34.99).
State archives may house county-created vital records dating even from before
the beginning o f statewide registrations.
The Virginia state archives, for example,
has copies o f all surviving birth and death
records prior t o 1896 plus 1853 t o 1935
marriage records.
books." Sharon Williamson, USGenWeb coordinator for North Carolina <www.rootsweb.
corn/-ncgenweb>, says, "These books contain a combination o f genealogy and history
and make it much easier t o get a picture o f
what early life was like in a particular place."
The county pages o n USGenWeb state sites
are a good place t o check whether your ancestor's county had such a book.
THEOTHER
SIDE OF THE SOUTH
O f course, n o t everyone in the South came
f r o m Europe, and hundreds o f thousands
"migrated" against their will. The first
African slaves came t o the South n o t long
after the first settlers, in 1619. Though slavery took several decades t o become widespread, b y 1710 South Carolina had more
blacks than whites and b y 1800, the United
States had almost 1million slaves.
Tracing your slave ancestors in the South
back past 1870, the year o f the first post-Civil
War census, typically requires identifying the
slaveholding family and locating their records.
For an in-depth, seven-step guide t o getting
C
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.
W .
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Alabama Vital Records, Box 5625,
f&f
Division ofvital Records, Arkansas Department of Health, 4815 cwww.healthyarkansas.com/certificates/
W. Markham St., Slot 44, Little Rock, AR 72205, (501) 661-2336 certificates.html>; <www.state.ar.us/ah
Vital Records Registry, Box 60630,
Lsbb*4
New Orleans, LA7oi60, (504) 568-515-
pa
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1936
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Vital Records Branch, 1903 Mail Service
Center, Raleigh, NC 21699, (gig) 733-3526
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If
on the
The American South: A History
started, see the February 2001 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
You'll also want to consult an important
new resource. In February, the records of more
than 480,000 ex-slaves, extracted from the
Reconstruction-era records of the Freedman's
Savings and Trust Co., were released on a
searchable CD-ROM database. Depositors
often named other relatives and their whereabouts, and early records included names of
former slave owners and their plantations.
You can search this CD-ROM free at any
Family History Center, or buy it for $6.50 at
<www.familvsearch.orw~click OrderDownload ~rodudts,then soV&are Products. (Read
a review of this CD on page 65.)
American Indians lived throughout the
South as well: among them, the Powhatan in
Virginia; Tuscarora in North Carolina;
Cherokee in the Carolinas and Georgia; Yamassee in South C a r o h and Georgia; Creek
in Alabama, Georgia and Florida; Choctaw
in Missisippi; Seminoles in Florida; and
Chickasaw in Mississippi and Alabama.
White settlers, wars, treaties and mass relocations gradually drove most of them west to
what became the Indian Territory, today's
Oklahoma. Look for a guide to getting
started with your American Indian heritage
in the next issue of Family Tree Magazine.
A GRAY
~lfrll
'0RY
by William J. Cooper Jr.and Thomas
E. Terrill (McCraw-Hill, $53)
Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing
the African American Family Tree by Tony
Burroughs (Fireside, $16)
The Dixie Frontier: A Social History
by Everett Dick (University of Oklahoma
Press, $16.95)
Encyclopedia ofSouthem Culture edited
by Charles Reagan Wilson and William
Ferris (University of North Carolina
Press, $60)
Frontiers in Conjict: The Old Southwest,
1795-1830 by Thomas D. Clark and John
D.W. Cuice (University of New Mexico
Press, out of print)
Search ofConfederate Anceston:
The
by J.H. Segars (Southern
Heritage Press, $10.95)
National Genealogical Society research
guides: Research ir = w t h Carolina by
CeLee Corley Her.-. ..:, Research in
Tennessee by Gale Williams Bamman,
Research in Texas by Uoyd Bockstruck,
Research in Virginia by Eric Crundset (each
$6.50 from <www.ngsgenealogy.org>)
m The Routledge Historical Atlas of the
American South by Andrew K. Frank
(Routledge, $17.95)
Slave Genealogy:A Research Guide
with Case Studies by David H . Streets
(Heritage Books, $19.50)
m The Southem Frontier, 1670-1732
by Verner W. Crane (W.W. Norton, out
of print)
Tracing Your Civil War A n d o r
by Bertram Hawthorne Croene
(Ballantine, $10)
Unpuuling Your Past by Emily Croom
(Betterway Books, $18.99)-many of the
examples in this essential beginner's
guide are Southern; all but one in 7he
Sleuth Bookfor Genealogists, also by Emily
Croom (Betterway Books, $18.&), are
Southern
e
I
The Civil War marks a sharp boundary in the
history and the genealogy of the South. Begmning with South Carolina's secession in December 1860,your Southern ancestors lived in
a different country for more than four years.
If you trace your family back to the 1860s
South, Croom emphasizes the importance of ;
studying the history of where they lived during and after the war before you try to push
further backwards in time. Like other historic and Confederate Armies (known as the
disruptions, the war may have prompted your "OR" for "Official Records") and its companion naval volumes. For pension records,
ancestors to move.
You'll find valuable information in Con- you'll need to consult individual state
federate military records and state pension archives; Henry Putney Beers' The Confehfiles (unlikeUnion troops, who earned federal acy: A Guide to the Archives of the Confedpensions, those on the losing side had to rely erate States of America is a good starting
on their states). The best source for finding point. Also look for old issues of Confederate
your ancestor's regiment is the 16-volume Veteranmagazine, published from 1893 to
Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861 -1 865 1932, and its two-volume index.
But not aU Southern men served in the miledited by Janet B. Hewett, available in major
libraries. Once you find the right regiment, itary. Some also sympathized with or joined
you may find firsthand reports of your ances- the Union cause, and many families were ditor's unit in War of the Rebellion: A Compi- vided by the war just as the nation was.
For a complete guide to researching your
lation of the Official Records of the Union
Field workers pick cotton around
r g q . Cotton remained the South's
main cash crop until the New Deal
ofthe 1930s helped divers* the
region's economy.
Civil War roots, see the October
2000 Family Tree Magazine.
Gradually, painfully, in fits
and starts, the post-Civil War
South became more a part of the
American mainstream. Researching your family in the
South after 1865 is not so different from researching anywhere
else in the US. Today's "Dixie" is home to
CNN and "America's team," Coke and
NASA, Disney World and George W. Bushhard to believe it was ever another, rebellious
nation, much less an untamed frontier.
Little did Scarlett O'Hara dream what tomorrow would bring to the South when she
opined, "Tomorrow is another day." But we
are that tomorrow, and frankly, it's up to us
to give a damn about how we got here.
*
Family Tree Magazine editorial director DAVIDA.
FRYXELLis researching Dickinson, Chapman, Clough,
Lowe and Rousseau families,
Nelson,
among others, in most ofthe Southern states. YOU can
reach him at FTMedit@f.vpubs.com.
www.familytreemagazine. com
47

tips, tools and Guidance to trace Your ancestors in the tar heel State

Transcription

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