New Hanover County Public Library - Genealogy 101- Lecture II

Genealogy 101 - Lecture II

Presented by David Norris
Sponsored by the New Hanover County Public Library
February 2008

Birth, Marriage, and Death Records; Land Records;
County Courts and Other Local Records; Church Records; City Directories

Great all-round resources for all of the above types of records:

Ancestry Library – Available to you at the New Hanover Co. Library. Lots of US, UK, and foreign records. You can subscribe yourself, or visit http://www.ancestry.com to see what they have.

Godfrey Library – www.godfrey.org Fee-based site, but many hundreds of sources are available free to guests. Includes many links to marriage, death, land, and other records.

Family Search - www.familysearch.org.Their library catalog lists thousands of reels of microfilmed records, which can be borrowed though their local Family History Center.

Genweb http://www.usgenweb.com Genealogy pages for US counties.

Cyndi’s List http://www.cyndislist.com Another great source; worth checking for any new family tree project.

Linkpendium – Their North Carolina page: http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/NC Lots of great material!

Google Book Search - http://books.google.com Excellent source for out-of-print genealogy and local history books online; many reprint old county or church records.

British History Online has lots of wonderful primary source materials. Among these are::

----- A selection of their 19th century Ordnance Survey maps of Britain: -- http://www.british-history.ac.uk/map.aspx

----- Calendar of State Papers - http://www.british-history.ac.uk/catalogue.aspx?gid=123 These are available up to 1721 now, and include "the colonies", including Carolina. There are references to the Lords Proprietors, Carolina pirates, the Cary Rebellion and the Tuscarora War, and other early North Carolina matters.

Early Court, Land and Other Records

County courts once handled the tasks of modern county commissioners and administrators. The county judges decided where to place roads, bridges, and ferries; granted licenses to taverns and inns; recorded livestock brands and marks; and appointed local officials, besides handling minor criminal cases and lawsuits. County funds were paid to jurors, and bounties went to hunters who killed wolves and other predators. Deeds, wills, probate matters, apprenticeships, and many other civil matters were handled in county courts, leaving records for the genealogist.

County lines changed greatly through history, making it difficult to know what county an ancestor lived in. An impressive animated gif file showing US county boundary changes: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/us.gif

See “Historical County Lines” at http://jrshelby.com/hcl for links to changes in county boundaries for each state from the 1600s to the present. Their North Carolina page is here: http://www.mynorthcarolinagenealogy.com/nc_maps/nc_cf.htm

The Colonial Records of North Carolina 26 volumes of historical materials were compiled between 1886 and 1907. They are going online at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Documenting the American South http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr. The Colonial Records set is also available in the NHCPL North Carolina Room at the Main Library downtown, and at UNC-W.

Other states, such as South Carolina, have similar multivolume sets.

Genweb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/ncrecords.html - This Genweb page lists what the NC State Archives has for each county – some on microfilm; others that are not filmed may require visiting in person

The North Carolina State Archives

Web site: http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us They do not do your research for you, but will answer basic questions or send a particular document that you need.

Select “Mars Catalog” to search records. If you find a particular will, land grant, or other record, you can find instructions for ordering a copy at http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives/mail.htm. North Carolina residents need pay only nominal fees; I just paid $2 for a seven-page Confederate pension file.

Many North Carolina county records have been published and are available at the Main New Hanover County Public. Library, second floor, North Carolina Room. They can also order books and microfilm via the Interlibrary Loan.

There are also some useful local and regional history and genealogy books at the Randall Library at UNC-W.

Modern county records are online at many county government sites, especially in larger counties. Try a Google search for the county government site you want. Often the register of deeds (or equivalent office) has some land and vital records online. For instance, Chatham County, North Carolina offers downloadable copies of land records going back into the mid-1800s; Wake County has deeds and other real estate records back to around 1900; and New Hanover County has birth, death, and marriage records covering the 20th century.

Church Records

Church records can be found on many local county genealogy web pages at Genweb. Ancestry.com also has a great many available; others have been published and can be found in our Main Library’s History Room.

Quakers left particularly extensive records, but you can find much useful genealogical data for ancestors of other denominations as well. Unfortunately, many early church registers and other books have been lost.

Ancestors are most often mentioned when joining or leaving a church; serving on a committee; holding a post as minister, deacon, or other official; or being disciplined for infractions of church rules.

City Directories

City directories became common in the 1800s. Wilmington’s date back to 1860; there are copies in the NHCPL, North Carolina Room.

There were also directories for counties or states. They might list doctors, lawyers, hotels, millers, prominent farmers, railroads and steamboat lines. For online versions of these directories, Ancestry.com is a good source, as are Linkpendium and Genweb.

Entries usually include name, occupation, and address (later, perhaps phone numbers). City directories include renters; most town dwellers rented homes and stores, but are not listed in property records. They are also good for finding people in the intervals between census years.

Directories usually are packed with ads for town businesses. They help give a feel for live in a town in a bygone era, and might have a mention of an ancestor.

Prepared by David Norris for Genealogy 101 sponsored by the New Hanover Public Library, February 2008