Focus on North Carolina: Introduction to NC Genealogy Research

Are you just starting to research your North Carolina ancestors, or have you researched for a while and hit brick walls and need a refresher?  This webinar will first review the history of North Carolina, the various groups that migrated to it, and some of the major events that impacted the state.  It will then cover many of the different types of records available, both common and obscure, how to use them in your genealogical research, and most importantly where to find them and how to search them.

North Carolina was the site of some of the earliest settlements in this country, predating the Mayflower settlements by over 30 years.  However, a treacherous coastline caused Europeans to prefer settling to the north in Virginia and south in South Carolina.  There was migration into NC, and in 1663 the Carolina Charter was issued creating a vast region known as Carolina with its own government and governmental records.

Carolina was originally governed by eight Lords Proprietors who ruled from England, followed by being governed as a Royal Colony.  Although a number of records for this time period remain in England, most of the records of genealogical interest were local and remained local, and a surprising number still exist today.  After the Revolutionary War, the new State of North Carolina continued with many of those local institutions and their records, along with creating their own new ones.

Many of these records will be found online, but quite a few have never been digitized and will require visits to various repositories, especially the State Archives of North Carolina.  Record groups discussed include vital records (birth, marriage, death), land records, court records, state government records, and military records.