North Carolina Colonial Records

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United States

U.S. Colonial Records

North Carolina

Colonial Records

Online Records

• 1600-1959 - Land records, North Carolina and Tennessee; indexes - images only.
• 1669-1759 - Colonial estate papers - images only.
• 1679-1775 - North Carolina wills and court records - images only.
• 1704-1846 - Minutes and standing committee - images only. Society of Friends. North Carolina Yearly Meeting.
• 1712-1781 - Letters from North and South Carolina to England regarding the conditions of the Church of England - images only.
• 1740s-1790s - Sextons and curators of the Church of England in England, 1740's-1790's; list of plantation owners, 1740's-1800 - images only. There are some North Carolina records included in this collection, including some letters of recommendation and ordination for ministers and missionaries of the Church of England to come to North Carolina.
• 1755-1774 - North Carolina court of claims of land records - images only.
• 1762-1934 - Quarterly meeting minutes- images only. Society of Friends. North Carolina Yearly Meeting. Eastern Quarterly Meeting .
• 1764-1853 - Land grants, land entries and warrants and list of grants for various counties of North Carolina - images only.
• 1769-1771 - List of warrants for various counties of North Carolina - images only.

History

The first European settlements in North Carolina were along the Albermarle Sound. The Concessions and Agreements of Albermarle Province were written in 1665 with the name being changed to North Carolina in 1691. The Carolina charter was declared null and void in 1706, and Carolinas were divided into two provinces, with governors, in 1712. North Carolina officially became a royal colony of Great Britain in 1729. North Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies of the United States.

Earliest Church Records	Earliest Land Records	Earliest Court Records	Earliest Newspapers
1677	1663	1663	1751

Resources

Court and Land Records

• An Abstract of North Carolina Wills from about 1760 to about 1800: Supplementing Grimes' Abstract of North Carolina Wills 1663 to 1760 by Fred A. Olds. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1965).
• Colony of North Carolina, Abstracts of Land Patents by Margaret M. Hofmann. 2 Vols. (Roanoke Rapids, NC: The Author, 1982).
• The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 1662-1790 by William Saunders. 30 Vols. (1886. Reprint. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing, 1993).
• Deed Abstract of Tryon, Lincoln and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina, 1769-1786: Tryon County Wills and Estates by Brent H. Holcomb. (Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1977).
• Early Records of North Carolina: From the Secretary of State Papers, 1677-1794 by Stephen E. Bradley. (Keysville, VA: The Author, 1992).
• The Governor, Council, and Assembly in Royal North Carolina by Charles S. Cooke. (Chapel Hill: North Carolina University, 1912).
• The Granville District of North Carolina, 1748-1763: Abstracts of Land Grants by Margaret M. Hofmann. (Weldon, NC: Roanoke News, 1986).
• Index to Colonial & state records of North Carolina compiled by Stephen B. Weeks. 4 Vols. (Goldsboro, North Carolina : Nash Brothers, 1909-1914).
• Land Tenure in Proprietary North Carolina by Lawrence Morgan. (Chapel Hill, North Carolina University, 1912).
• North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent H. Holcomb. (Clinton, SC: The Author, 1975).
• North Carolina Taxpayers, 1679-1790 by Clarence E. Ratcliff. 2 Vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987-1989).
• North Carolina Wills and Inventories Copied from Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories in the Office of the Secretary of State by John Bryan Grimes. (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1912).
• North Carolina Wills: A Testator Index, 1665-1900 by Thornton W. Mitchell. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965).
• The Proprietors of Carolina by William Stevens Powell. (1963. Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1968).
• Province of North Carolina, 1663-1729, Abstracts of Land Patents by Margaret M. Hofmann. (Roanoke Rapids, NC: The Author, 1983).

Church Records

• Early Methodism in the Carolinas by A. M. Chreitzberg. (1897. Reprint. Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Co., 1972).
• The Episcopal Church in North Carolina, 1701-1959 by Lawrence London and Sarah Lemmon. (Raleigh: Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, 1987).
• 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 G. D. Bernheim. (Philadelphia: Lutheran Book Store, 1872).
• History of the Lutheran Church in North Carolina by United Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina. (n.p.: The Synod, 1953).
• History of North Carolina by George Paschal. 2 Vols. (Raleigh: General Board, North Carolina Baptist State Convention, 1930-1955). Free digital book available through Archive.org: vol. 1 and 2.
• Historic Sketch of the Reformed Church in North Carolina by Reformed Church, Classis of North Carolina. (Philadelphia: Publication Board of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1908).
• Quaker Marriage Certificates: Pasquotank, Perquimans, Piney Woods, and Suttons Creek Monthly Meetings, North Carolina, 1677-1800 by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1988).
• Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, 1752-1879. 11 Vols. (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1922-1969).
• The Society of the Propagation of the Gospel in the province of North Carolina and Correspondence of John Rust Eaton by David Dickson Oliver. (Raleigh: James Sprunt, 1910). Free digital book available through Google Books.

Other

• Carolina Families: A Bibliography of Books about North and South Carolina Families by Donald M. Hehir. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994).
• Colonial North Carolina, a History by Hugh Talmage Lefler. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973).
• The County Court in North Carolina Before 1750 by Paul M. McCain. (1954. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1970).
• Crime and Society in North Carolina, 1663-1776 by Donna J. Spindel. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989). An E-book can be borrowed digitally on Archive.org
• Explorations, Descriptions, and Attempted Settlements of Carolina, 1584-1590 by Richard Hakluyt. Rev. ed. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1953).
• The Highland Scots of North Carolina, 1732-1776 by Duane Meyer. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966).
• Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763 by Enoch Lawrence Lee. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and history, 1968).
• The Mecklenburg Signers and Their Neighbors by Worth S. Ray. (1947. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1966).
• Narratives of Early Carolina, 1650-1708 by A. S. Salley. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911).
• North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History by Helen Leary and Maurice Stirewalt. (Raleigh: North Carolina Genealogical Society, 1980).
• North and South Carolina Marriage Records: From the Earliest Colonial Days to the Civil War by William m. Clemens. (1927. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1981).
• The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina by Hugh F. Rankin. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1972).
• Records of Emigrants from England and Scotland to North Carolina, 1774-1775 by Albert Ray Newsome. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and history, 1962).
• The Regulators in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1759-1776 by William Stevens Powell. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1971).
• Westward from Virginia: The Exploration of the Virginia-Carolina Frontier, 1650-1710 by Alan Vance Briceland. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987).

Guides to Manuscript Collections

• Genealogical Resources in the Guilford College Library. (Greenville, NC: The Library, 1977). The Guilford Library contains records of the Society of Friends beginning in 1680.
• Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Duke University Library by Nannie M. Trilley. (Durham: Duke University Press, 1947).
• Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in the North Carolina State Archives by Barbara T. Cain. 3rd Ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1981).
• Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives: Section B, County Records. 10th ed. (Raleigh: Division of Archives and history, 1988).
• List of the Papeles Procendentes De Cuba (Cuban Papers) in the Archives of the North Carolina Historical Commission by Historical Records Survey. (Raleigh: The Survey, 1942).
• The Southern Historical Collection: A Guide to Manuscripts by Susan Sokol Blosser. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Library, 1970).