North Carolina Genealogy Search

North Carolina family history is well documented from the 1660s through the county records the state has preserved better than most: the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh holds the original county deed, will, marriage bond and court minute books of all 100 counties, many of them digitized free, along with the colonial and state records. Statewide vital registration began in 1913, and the North Carolina death and marriage records from 1913 onward are indexed and imaged online through the Archives' partnership with Ancestry, free to use in North Carolina libraries.

Marriage bonds from 1741 to 1868, the land grant files from 1663 to 1959 and the Confederate pension applications are the Archives' most used collections.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

North Carolina statewide genealogy links

• State Library of North Carolina Genealogical Services
• North Carolina Department of Health and Human ServicesVital Records
• North Carolina State Archives
• North Carolina Department of Secretary of State Land Records Management Section
• Western Carolina UniversityResearch Guide for Genealogy
• The NCGenWeb ProjectSearch USGenWeb Archives
• North Carolina Genealogical Society

North Carolina began statewide birth and death registration in 1913, with a few cities keeping records from 1909, and North Carolina Vital Records in Raleigh holds the certificates, with county registers of deeds holding copies. Death certificates are public and images from 1913 to 1976 are online, birth records are restricted for 100 years, and marriage records are public from the county registers of deeds, with the State Archives holding marriage bonds from 1741 to 1868 and county marriage registers from 1868 onward, indexed online. Divorce records sit with the clerk of superior court.

• North Carolina Vital RecordsBirth, death, marriage and divorce certificates from 1913, checked September 25, 2026
• State Archives of North CarolinaMarriage bonds, county registers, wills, deeds and land grants, checked September 25, 2026
• North Carolina Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and what is public

The State Archives holds the land grant files from 1663 to 1959 with an online index, Confederate pension applications from 1885 and 1901 onward, North Carolina's Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War records, county tax lists, the 1784 to 1787 state census, the state's World War I service cards and the county records of every county, with its North Carolina Digital Collections free online. North Carolina took no other state censuses. The State Library of North Carolina holds the genealogy collection, DigitalNC holds free newspapers and yearbooks, and the National Archives at Atlanta holds North Carolina's federal court and Freedmen's Bureau records.

• North Carolina Digital CollectionsFree digitized state and county records, checked September 25, 2026
• National Archives at AtlantaFederal court and Freedmen's Bureau records for North Carolina, checked September 25, 2026
• FamilySearch North Carolina research guideFree indexed North Carolina records and images, checked September 25, 2026

North Carolina registers of deeds hold deeds, mortgages, marriage licenses and the county birth and death copies, and nearly all post free online indexes with images back to the county's founding, and clerks of superior court hold wills, estates and civil cases, with the older files at the State Archives. The Archives holds the original county court minutes, wills and deed books of all 100 counties, many digitized. Courthouse fires destroyed early records in Bladen, Buncombe, Burke, Cleveland, Hertford, Jones, Lenoir and other counties, so the land grants, marriage bonds and tax lists are the substitutes.

• North Carolina County Public RecordsRegisters of deeds and clerks of court for all 100 counties
• North Carolina Court RecordseCourts portal and clerk of court searches

These federal and national sources complement North Carolina's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when North Carolina state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

NARA, National Archives The federal government's primary archive. Holds the U.S. census (1790, 1950), ship passenger lists, naturalization records, military service files, and land entry files.

FamilySearch Free online genealogy platform operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Digitized microfilm copies of many county and state records worldwide.

Library of Congress, Local History & Genealogy The LoC's research guides, city directories, newspapers, and Civil War records, most accessible free online through loc.gov.