Scotland County, North Carolina Genealogy

From FamilySearch Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Guide to Scotland County, North Carolina ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Facts
County seat: Laurinburg
Organized: 1899
Parent County(s): Richmond[1]
Neighboring Counties
Dillon (SC)  • Hoke  • Marlboro (SC)  • Moore  • Richmond  • Robeson
See County Maps
Courthouse
NorthCarolinaScotlandCourthouse.jpg
Location Map
Nc-scotland.png
Adoption
Adopt-a-wiki page
Logonew small.gif This page adopted by:
NCGenWeb Project
who welcome you to contribute.
Adopt a page today

County Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

Scotland County is located in the south-central portion of North Carolina and shares a border with South Carolina. It was named for the ancestral home of many of its inhabitants.[2]

County Courthouse[edit | edit source]

Scotland County Courthouse
212 Biggs Street
Laurinburg, NC 28352
Phone: 910-277-2577
Scotland County Website

Register of Deeds has birth records from 1913, marriage, death and burial records from 1899, and land records.
Clerk Superior Court has divorce, probate and court records from 1899.[3]

Scotland County, North Carolina Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records[4]
Birth* Marriage Death* Court Land Probate Census
1913 1889 1899 1899 1900 1899 1784
*Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1913. General compliance by 1920.

Record Loss[edit | edit source]

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

  • 1899 Scotland County was created from Richmond County.
  • County seat: Laurinburg[5]

For animated maps illustrating North Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation North Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1664-1965) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places[edit | edit source]

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:[6]

Cities
Towns
Unincorporated communities
Census-designated places
Townships
  • Laurel Hill
  • Spring Hill
  • Stewartsville
  • Williamson


History Timeline[edit | edit source]

The earliest settlers in what is now Scotland County were composed largely of Highland Scots. It is fairly well established by several writers of Scottish history that there were Highlanders living in this area as early as 1729, when North Carolina became a royal colony. However, much of the Scot settlement came in the next quarter century. It was during this period that many Scots pushed up the Cape Fear River into the area surrounding their Cross Creek settlement, later Campbellton, now Fayetteville, and consequently, into the area that is now Scotland County.
Through the ensuing years, other groups and individuals have come to the county, bringing their own heritage to mingle with that of the Scots, Scotch-Irish, English, Welsh, and African. Some of our present-day citizens can even link their heritage to that of the first Americans -- the Native Americans. So although the name of the county is Scotland and the Scottish influence is quite strong, the Scots have no monopoly on the county or its history.
The political beginning for Scotland County came when the legislature of North Carolina, on February 20, 1899, created the new county. The county was formed entirely from Richmond County. The entire area had been a part of Anson County and, before that, a part of Bladen.

The main reason given for the movement to break away from Richmond County was that the county seat, Rockingham, being some twenty to thirty miles away, was too far from the eastern part of the county. Any business in the county seat required an all-day trip and sometimes an overnight stay on the part of many citizens. However, there seem to have been other factors at work, including a strong red shirt movement and much dissatisfaction with the county government at Rockingham. There were charges and counter-charges and strong feeling displayed by both proponents and opponents of the new county. A petition opposing the formation of the new county was circulated in the legislature of 1895 by Richmond County opponents of the separation, and in the petition attention was called to the small number of Populists and Republicans who voted in Laurinburg. The accusation was that the number was so small because of intimidation in the heavily Democratic town. One sentence read: Laurinburg, in politics, ought to be called Rottenburg.

Mr. Maxey John wrote the act which created the county. He had written similar acts twice before. In 1893, the act failed to pass the General Assembly, and in 1895, the act passed, but with a provision for an election in all Richmond County to approve or disapprove the new county. The election failed to approve the new county, and no serious attempt was made in the 1897 session of the General Assembly, which was Republican-Fusionist controlled. However, in 1899, another attempt was made. The act was introduced in the General Assembly by Mr. Hector McLean, who is sometimes called the Father of Scotland County.
In the act establishing the county, the legislature designated Laurinburg as the county seat and required that the county commissioners select a site for a jail within a mile of the center of town. The county began to function in December 1900, and the wills and deeds books begin in that month.[7]

Additional Information[edit | edit source]

Resources[edit | edit source]

Bible Records[edit | edit source]

Biographies[edit | edit source]

Business, Commerce, and Occupations[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries of Scotland County, North Carolina online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)
List of Cemeteries in the County
See North Carolina Cemeteries for more information

 

Census Records[edit | edit source]

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1900 12,553 —
1910 15,363 22.4%
1920 15,600 1.5%
1930 20,174 29.3%
1940 23,232 15.2%
1950 26,336 13.4%
1960 25,183 −4.4%
1970 26,929 6.9%
1980 32,273 19.8%
1990 33,754 4.6%
2000 35,998 6.6%
2010 36,157 0.4%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".


Church Records[edit | edit source]


List of Churches and Church Parishes

Court Records[edit | edit source]

The Clerk of Superior Court is elected for four years and must be a resident of the county in which he or she is elected. Unlike clerks of court in other states, the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina has numerous judicial functions.

As judge of probate, the Clerk has exclusive original jurisdiction over matters relating to the probate of wills, and the administration of estates, including appointing personal representatives, auditing their accounting, and removing them from office if necessary. The Clerk also presides over many other legal matters including adoptions, incompetency proceedings, condemnation of private lands for public use, and foreclosures. The Clerk is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions of the district and superior court. In addition, the Clerk receives and disburses money collected each year from court fees and fines.

Directories[edit | edit source]

Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups[edit | edit source]

Funeral Homes[edit | edit source]

Genealogies[edit | edit source]

Guardianship[edit | edit source]

Land and Property Records[edit | edit source]

Records can also be obtained through the North Carolina State Archives:

  • North Carolina State Archives
    109 E. Jones Street
    Raleigh, NC 27601
    Mailing Address: 4614 Mail Service Center
    Raleigh, NC 27699-4614
    Phone: 919-807-7310
    Check their Manuscript and Archives Reference System Online Catalog for land records processed.

Local Histories[edit | edit source]

Maps and Gazetteers[edit | edit source]

{{NC Maps Intro|Scotlan

Moore CountyHoke CountyRobeson CountyRichmond CountyMarlboro CountyNC SCOTLAND.PNG
Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Migration[edit | edit source]

Military Records[edit | edit source]

Revolutionary War

Civil War

World War I

World War II

Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Obituaries[edit | edit source]

Other Records[edit | edit source]

OTHER Records
County Records


Voter Registration

Periodicals[edit | edit source]

Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Online Probate Indexes and Records
*1660-1790 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry $

School Records[edit | edit source]

Social Security Records[edit | edit source]

Tax Records[edit | edit source]

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

Birth[edit | edit source]

Marriage[edit | edit source]

Death[edit | edit source]

Divorce[edit | edit source]

Research Facilities[edit | edit source]

Archives[edit | edit source]

Listed below are archives in Scotland County. For state-wide archival repositories, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers[edit | edit source]

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

  • Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
  • FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Libraries[edit | edit source]

Listed below are libraries in Scotland County. For state-wide library facilities, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries.

Museums[edit | edit source]

Societies[edit | edit source]

Listed below are societies in Scotland County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see North Carolina Societies.

  • Scotland County Genealogical Society
    PO Box 496
    Laurel Hill, NC 28351

Websites[edit | edit source]

Research Guides[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), North Carolina.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  2. ↑ https://www.ncpedia.org/geography/Scotland
  3. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), North Carolina.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  4. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Scotland County, North Carolina. Page 506-514 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 505-509.
  5. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), North Carolina.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Scotland County, North Carolina," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_County,_North_Carolina, accessed 25 February 2020.
  7. ↑ By Betty P. Myers, 1975, revised 1977, 1994 Scotland History (NCGenWeb
v • d • e
Links to North Carolina-related articles
Topics
Counties
Alamance · Alexander · Alleghany · Anson · Ashe · Avery · Beaufort · Bertie · Bladen · Brunswick · Buncombe · Burke · Cabarrus · Caldwell · Camden · Carteret · Caswell · Catawba · Chatham · Cherokee · Chowan · Clay · Cleveland · Columbus · Craven · Cumberland · Currituck · Dare · Davidson · Davie · Duplin · Durham · Edgecombe · Forsyth · Franklin · Gaston · Gates · Graham · Granville · Greene · Guilford · Halifax · Harnett · Haywood · Henderson · Hertford · Hoke · Hyde · Iredell · Jackson · Johnston · Jones · Lee · Lenoir · Lincoln · Macon · Madison · Martin · McDowell · Mecklenburg · Mitchell · Montgomery · Moore · Nash · New Hanover · Northampton · Onslow · Orange · Pamlico · Pasquotank · Pender · Perquimans · Person · Pitt · Polk · Randolph · Richmond · Robeson · Rockingham · Rowan · Rutherford · Sampson · Scotland · Stanly · Stokes · Surry · Swain · Transylvania · Tyrrell · Union · Vance · Wake · Warren · Washington · Watauga · Wayne · Wilkes · Wilson · Yadkin · Yancey
Counties gone
to TN or VA
Extinct or
Renamed
Counties
Major
 Repositories
Library of Congress · National Archives at Atlanta · North Carolina State Archives · State Library of North Carolina · Duke University Perkins Library · Genealogical Society of Old Tyron County · McEachern Library of Local History · Olivia Raney Local History Library · Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County · Rowan Public Library · University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries · Bristol Public Library · Chattanooga Public Library Downtown · Knox County Public Library · Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown
Migration
Routes
Retrieved from "https://paas-loadb-dhtaff8ujtdt-1826058300.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/wiki/en/index.php?title=Scotland_County,_North_Carolina_Genealogy&oldid=4492992"