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State of North Carolina History
North Carolina’s name is derived from the Latin word Carolinus, meaning “of Charles.” The state was named in honor of King Charles I and King Charles II of England by their friends and supporters who were establishing colonies in the southern part of the Virginia colony.
The state is nicknamed the “Tar Heel State.” While time has obscured the source of the name, some historians believe it refers to one of the state’s major colonial-era products—tar—which was derived from slowly burning the stumps of longleaf pine trees. More commonly accepted is that the name came about during the Civil War.
Some say the name may have originally been used derisively, applied to North Carolina soldiers who could not hold a position against Union troops because they had forgotten to “tar their heels” and thus could not stick to their ground. Others contend the name was applied to North Carolina troops by Confederate leaders as a tribute to their sticking quality during battle. The state, once the northern part of the original Carolina colony, is also referred to as the “Old North State.”
The first permanent English settlers in North Carolina were Virginians who heard glowing reports of fertile bottom lands, abundant timber resources, and an excellent climate. They moved into the Albemarle Sound area about 1650, purchasing land from the local Indian tribes. The Virginia Assembly also granted land along the Chowan and Roanoke rivers to Roger Green in 1653. By 1657, Nathaniel Batts had a house at the western end of Albemarle Sound.
English claims on North Carolina date to 1497 when John Cabot visited the New World and claimed the area for King Henry VII. These claims were the basis for Charles I's 1629 grant of "Carolana" to Sir Robert Heath, who failed to settle Carolina before the execution of Charles I in 1649. During the Commonwealth period in England, many citizens remained loyal to Charles II. At his ascension to the throne of England in 1660, eight men pressed their claims for a reward: Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon; George Monck, Duke of Albemarle; Lord William Craven; Lord John Berkeley; Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury; Sir George Carteret; Sir William Berkeley; and Sir John Colleton. Charles II granted Carolina to the eight Lords Proprietors in 1663. After the claims of Heath's successors had been disposed of, the grant was revised and extended in 1665.
Two factors heavily influenced the development of North Carolina. Its stormy coastline, known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic," does not include a natural harbor to promote commerce. The Cape Fear River is the only river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and its approaches are endangered by the Frying Pan Shoals. Except for Highland Scots, immigrants to North Carolina generally arrived by overland routes. The second factor influencing North Carolina's development was the presence of approximately 35,000 Native Americans. They taught the European settlers important agricultural techniques such as planting row crops and fertilizing plants. The Europeans also learned the natives' techniques of wilderness war. But the presence of the whites eventually destroyed the native civilization through disease, forceful removal to reservations, and war.
New Bern was founded in 1710 by colonists from Germany, Switzerland, and England under the leadership of Christopher de Graffenried. The colonists landed in Virginia and trekked overland to North Carolina, arriving too late to plant and harvest crops. The settlement survived and flourished, however, and New Bern became the largest town in North Carolina during the colonial period. The New Bern settlement, however, was located in the Tuscarora hunting grounds, and the Cary Rebellion in 1711 left the colonists open to attack. The Tuscarora Indian War (1711-15) was the result.
In 1729 the Lords Proprietors, except for John Carteret, Earl Granville, sold their shares in the provinces of North and South Carolina to King James II of England, ending the proprietary period. North Carolina was the most sparsely settled English colony in America at that time. The end of the proprietary period marked the beginning of a period of great expansion and growth. Scots-Irish and German immigrants traveled over the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to North Carolina. Highland Scots, the only significant migration that sailed directly to North Carolina, settled in the Cape Fear River valley. The Moravians purchased nearly 100,000 acres in present-day Forsyth County from Earl Granville in 1753 and settled the tract they called "Wachovia."
The movement for independence was strong in North Carolina, and a provincial congress met in New Bern in 1774. Yet not all North Carolinians supported the revolution. The Highland Scots, in particular, remained loyal to the crown and recruited Loyalist military units.
In 1789, North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution and ceded its western lands, now known as Tennessee, to the federal government. The site for the state capital was located and named Raleigh three years later. Dissatisfaction with the state constitution of 1776, which heavily favored the eastern counties and towns, resulted in the constitutional convention of 1835 and the adoption of a new state constitution.
North Carolina was not ardently secessionist in 1860, but when the federal government requested troops to quell the rebellion, Gov. John W. Ellis refused, and North Carolina soon joined the Confederacy. North Carolina supplied about 125,000 troops to the Confederacy, more than any other southern state, and over 14,000 North Carolinians were killed in action.
From the end of the Civil War, North Carolina rapidly developed as an industrial state. Governmental support fostered the growth of the textile, tobacco, and furniture industries for which North Carolina is known.
Early Beginnings of North Carolina Counties - In pre-Revolutionary North Carolina the county was the primary political, as well as geographical unit. The colony relied heavily upon the county for administration of local government. Justices of the peace, as a body or court, administered the affairs of the county. These were men of standing and most often men of substance, and generally the leaders in their communities. Independence from England brought no major changes in this system. In the early days of statehood, justices were appointed by the governor to serve for good behavior; however, in making his appointments the governor relied on recommendations from the General Assembly. The members of the legislature from a given county had a powerful voice in the selection of justices of the peace for their county. This appointment input also gave legislators a good deal of influence in the government at the county level.
As a group, justices of the peace in a county formed a court known as the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Any three justices, sitting together, constituted a quorum for the transaction of business. It was common practice for the justices to meet each January, select a chairman, then elect five of their number to hold the regular sessions of the court for the year. During its early existence, the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions appointed the county sheriff, the coroner, and constables. Later these offices became elective positions with the sheriff and coroner elected from the county at large and constables from captain's districts (a militia-mustering area). Justices of the peace were also responsible for appointing a clerk of court, a register of deeds, a county attorney, a county trustee (treasurer), a surveyor, and overseers or wardens of the poor.
The Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions had dual responsibilities; it performed judicial as well as administrative functions. The administrative duties of the justices of the peace included the assessing and levying of taxes; the establishing and maintaining of roads, bridges, and ferries; the granting of licenses to taverns and controlling the prices charged for food; and the erecting and controlling of mills. Through their power of appointment, justices supervised the work of the law enforcement officers, the administrative officers of the court, the surveyor, and the wardens of the poor. Taxes were collected by the sheriff.
In its judicial capacity, the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions heard civil cases (except those assigned by law to a single justice or to a higher court). The court was responsible for probate, dower, guardianships, and the administration of estates and had jurisdiction in criminal cases in which the punishment did not extend to life, limb, or member.
The county itself was a single political unit; there were no townships; and the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, through its appointive and administrative powers, exerted strong control over county affairs. However, it should be emphasized that at this time the voters had no direct control over the court and thus no direct control over county government. Such was the situation until the end of the Civil War.
When the Constitution of North Carolina was rewritten in 1868, the drafters, many of whom were acquainted with local government systems in other parts of the country, devised a new and more democratic plan of organization for the counties.
Although the position of justice of the peace was retained, the old Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions was eliminated. Its judicial responsibilities were distributed between the justices and the North Carolina Superior Court. Its administrative work was assigned to a board of county commissioners composed of five members elected at large by the voters of the county. The county commissioners were made responsible for public buildings, schools, roads and bridges, and the financial affairs of the county, including taxation. The wide appointive powers of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions were not transferred to the board of county commissioners. Instead, the voters of the county elected the sheriff, coroner, clerk of court, register of deeds, surveyor, and treasurer. The sheriff continued to serve as tax collector.
Each county was divided into townships - a distinct innovation - and the voters of each township elected two justices of the peace and a clerk who served as the governing body of the township. Under the county commissioner's supervision, the township board was responsible for roads and bridges and for the assessment of property for taxation. Each township had a constable and each had a school committee.
This long ballot system was consciously constructed to favor the Republican Party. The support of this party lay in the newly enfranchised blacks who had been slaves only three years before, from native whites of small means who had opposed secession and remained loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War, and from a relatively small number of prominent citizens who believed that the state's shattered fortunes could be recovered only through cooperation and understanding between the races and accommodation with the dominant national political party. The ballot was intended to destroy forever the political power of the landowners, professional people, and merchants who had dominated state government, and thus local government under the old system, for nearly a century. Although most of the people were disenfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States because they had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof by actively supporting the Confederacy, they formed a new political party called the Conservative Party devoted to restoring as much of the pre-war social and governmental system as was possible under the circumstances. The new system of county government contained in the Constitution of 1868 became one of their targets.
Seven years after the Constitution of 1868 established the county commissioners and township systems, political control shifted to the conservatives. At a constitutional convention in 1875, the Constitution of North Carolina was amended to authorize the General Assembly to modify the plan of county government established in 1868. The legislature was quick to exercise its authority in this matter. The board of county commissioners was not abolished, but members were to be chosen by the justices of the peace of the county rather than by the people at large. While the commissioners retained their responsibilities, decisions on matters of substance could not be put into effect without the concurrence of a majority of the justices - all of whom were elected by the legislature. The justices were made responsible for conducting all elections. In more than a few counties, the board of commissioners was also made subject to legislative appointment.
This troubling arrangement lasted for twenty years. In 1895, the right of the people to elect county commissioners was restored in most counties, and the necessity for approval of the board's decisions by the justices of the peace was repealed. Townships were stripped of their powers, but they were retained as convenient administrative subdivisions, primarily for road building and maintenance purposes. Finally, in 1905 the people of all 100 counties regained direct control over the board of commissioners through the ballot box.
African American - Duke University Library in Durham and the University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill have excellent collections of materials relating to African Americans in North Carolina, in addition to that available through the National Archives. The North Carolina Department of Archives and History and the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem also have sources in their collections pertaining to African Americans and slavery. See Thornton W. Mitchell, comp., Preliminary Guide to Records Relating to Blacks in the North Carolina State Archives, Archives Information Circular, No. 17 (1980; revised, Raleigh, N.C.: State Department of Archives and History, 2001).
A basic guide to African American research in North Carolina is Ransom McBride, “Searching for the Past of the North Carolina Black Family in Local, Regional, and Federal Record Resources,” The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 9 (May 1983): 66-77. See also Minnie K. Peebles, “Black Genealogy,” North Carolina Historical Review, 55 (April 1978): 164-173.
Native American - By 1838 the majority of North Carolina’s Native American population had been destroyed or relocated to other areas. The Tuscarora moved up to New York after the Tuscarora War (1711–15), and most of the remaining Cherokee were removed farther west between 1825 and 1842 to what would become Oklahoma. A significant number of tribal members who did not want to move hid out in the mountains of North Carolina and became the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Another group of Cherokees remained in the state by petitioning to become citizens. Certificates allowing them to stay were issued if they proved they could care for themselves.
Most Cherokee records were created and are presently maintained by the federal government. The National Archives has a register of Cherokees who petitioned to remain in the East, registers of Indians who decided to migrate to the West between 1817 and 1838, and the Cherokee census of 1835 (called the Henderson Roll). The census includes a list of members of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Consult also the Eastern Cherokee Reservation Census Rolls, 1898 to 1939, and other removal records available at the National Archives.
An Act of Congress approved on 1 July 1902 gave the U.S. Court of Claims jurisdiction over any claim arising from treaty stipulations that the Cherokees had against the United States and vice versa. Three suits were brought before the court and each was decided in favor of the Cherokees. The Secretary of the Interior was instructed to identify those persons of Cherokee descent entitled to a portion of the more than one million dollars appropriated by Congress for use in payment of claims.
The court established that payment was to be made to all Eastern and Western Cherokees who were alive on 28 May 1906 and who could establish that they were members or descendants of members of the Eastern Cherokee Tribe at the time the treaties were made before 1845. Claims were to be filed with the claims agent on or before 31 August 1907. By that deadline nearly 46,000 applications were on file, representing about 90,000 individual claimants. Roughly one-third of these were entitled to a share. Census lists and rolls compiled by other special agents between 1835 and 1884 were used to determine eligibility and create a new 1910 Eastern Cherokee Enrollment.
Congress authorized the allotment of land to the Five Civilized Tribes on 3 March 1893 and appointed a commission to determine who was eligible to receive land. Over 200,000 applications for land selection were received. Cherokee allotments began in 1903. Applicants were required to submit documents and affidavits as proof of Cherokee citizenship.
Some records pertaining to the Cherokees from North Carolina are housed at the Indian Archives in the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City. The collection, which covers the Five Civilized Tribes, contains approximately three million pages of manuscripts and 6,000 bound volumes—the largest collection of Native American documents outside of the National Archives. (See Oklahoma—Archives, Libraries, and Societies.)
In addition to the sources described in the Introduction, Native American records are available at the North Carolina State Archives as detailed on their website.
The Lords Proprietors planned three counties in Carolina in 1664: Albemarle, Clarendon, and Craven. Craven County lay in South Carolina, and Clarendon County was abandoned in 1667 after achieving a population of about 800. Albemarle County included too large an area to provide adequate local government, so it was subdivided into Berkeley, Carteret, and Shaftesbury precincts about 1668. About 1681, the three original precincts were divided and renamed Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, and Perquimans precincts. By about 1689 the four precincts functioned as de facto counties. In 1696 Bath County was formed; it was divided into Archedale, Pamptecough, and Wickham precincts in 1705. The Provincial Government of North Carolina recognized the de facto status of the precincts and declared all precincts to be counties in their own right in 1739, and Albemarle and Bath counties were abolished.
Research in North Carolina county records can begin with the microfilmed North Carolina material at a central collection, such as the North Carolina State Archives, Allen County Public Library (see Indiana), the FHL, or other repositories with the North Carolina Core Collection. When counties were formed in North Carolina, many county clerks copied appropriate records from the parent county. In other cases, records pertaining to the land and families of the new county were transferred wholesale. Most counties therefore have some records that pre-date the formation of the county. The register of deeds at the county seat holds land and vital records, the clerk of the superior court holds probate records and court records if they have not been transferred to the state archives in Raleigh.
Land records may include deeds, grants, plats, and other miscellaneous items. Probate records include not only wills, but also loose estates records, most of which have not been microfilmed.
Court records may include apprentice bonds, bastardy bonds, and officials' or constables' bonds in addition to dockets, fee and account books, and court minutes and orders. The beginning dates do not imply that all records are extant since some of North Carolina's county records have been lost due to fire and other causes.
County records information is quoted from Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives (Section B: County Records)
County seats still may hold additional material, including original deed and will books. What follows on each county page below is an outline of beginning dates of extant records of each county.
North Carolina History by County
