North Carolina genealogy records

Births and deaths

North Carolina began recording births and deaths in October 1913. The state office, North Carolina Vital Records in Raleigh, holds birth certificates from 1913 and death certificates from 1930 to the present. For deaths before 1930 it sends researchers to the State Archives, and it notes that a few delayed death records go back to 1909. The State Library lists the archives' holdings as death certificates from 1913 to 1979 with a statewide index.

For a birth before 1913, the state office says to contact the Register of Deeds in the county where the birth happened, and not to write to Vital Records. Some people born before 1913 later filed a delayed birth registration. The State Library notes that these delayed registrations can reach back into the 1700s and that they required documentary proof of the birth date or age, birthplace and parents; when a family Bible was offered as proof, its owner at the time had to be identified.

North Carolina Vital Records says plainly that it should not be your first stop for genealogy. Its research page states that it charges $24 for each three-year period searched, whether or not a record is found, and that it sends an uncertified copy unless state law (NCGS 130A-93) entitles you to a certified one. Check the county Register of Deeds or the State Archives first.

Marriages and divorces

Before 1868 couples were not required to apply for a marriage record, and many married after banns were read in church. Couples who married through the county posted a marriage bond, and the State Archives holds the surviving bonds from 1741 to 1868. A bond lists the groom, the bride, the date, the bondsman, a witness and the county. The State Library warns that only a small share of marriages were recorded in bonds and that some bonds were lost in courthouse fires, so a missing bond does not prove there was no marriage. The archives also holds cohabitation records from 1866 and 1867, in which formerly enslaved couples registered their marriages.

In 1868 the bonds ended and marriage licenses became the job of each county's Register of Deeds. Until the early 1900s many licenses and registers give only names and ages; later ones often name the parents. The archives usually holds these on microfilm, so the State Library suggests checking with the county Register of Deeds. The state office has copies of marriages only from 1962 and of divorces from 1958; for an earlier divorce, ask the Clerk of Court in the county where it was filed.

Census records

North Carolina's federal census survives from 1790. The National Archives has no 1790 schedules for its neighbors Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. There are gaps: the National Archives lists the 1820 schedules for Currituck, Franklin, Martin, Montgomery, Randolph and Wake counties as missing.

Before 1850 the census names only the head of household and counts everyone else by age group. From 1850 every person is named. The State Library suggests the 1850 to 1880 mortality schedules, which list people who died in the year before the census, as a substitute for the missing death certificates.

Wills, estates, courts and land

For the 1700s and 1800s, county records are the heart of North Carolina research. The State Archives collects county records of statewide value, such as bonds, court records, land records, estate records, marriage and vital records, tax records and wills. Its Guide to County Records shows, county by county, what the archives holds and whether it has the originals or only microfilm, and processed series are described in its online catalog.

Estate files can name a widow, children and in-laws when no other record does. Read them together with deeds and tax lists from the same county. The County Records Guide shows whether the archives has the originals or only microfilm for your county and years.

Military records

The State Archives holds Confederate pension applications made under the state's 1885 and 1901 pension acts, which sometimes include letters or affidavits about a soldier's or a widow's claim. It also holds about 5,000 War of 1812 pay vouchers for militia called out to defend the coast in 1813 or ordered to Wadesboro in 1815, covering 31 counties.

For a twentieth century veteran, the archives holds some separation reports made when the person left service. It can send a copy at no cost to the veteran, next of kin or a designated agent, among others it names.

Newspapers and family Bibles

Since 1959 the archives and the State Library have microfilmed more than 1,000 North Carolina newspaper titles. Some early papers, from 1752 to the 1890s, are free online through DigitalNC, and later ones through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America.

The State Archives also holds copies of family pages from privately owned Bibles, arranged by surname. They have been digitized, with transcriptions, in North Carolina Family Records Online. A Bible record can be the only written birth date for someone born before 1913.