Understanding N.C.'s vital records history provides a better sense of what types of records are available, what information they contain, and where they might be located. Researching N.C. vital records requires considering specific questions that can impact where to look. Also, because N.C. did not begin birth and death records until 1913 and marriage record keeping was inconsistent before 1868, research strategies and tips are provided to overcome barriers to finding information. Also see what N.C. repositories can offer researchers.
There are many avenues for discovering vital information about your family. If you are new to genealogy, check out this Getting Started guide to genealogical research available online from the SLNC Government & Heritage Library. Other tips to keep in mind throughout your search include:
There are essential questions to address when beginning a vital record search and the answers are essential to your research and helpful when requesting copies.
When did the birth, death, or marriage occur?
The chart below provides the statewide registration years for births, deaths, and marriages in North Carolina. There are some exceptions, but these dates should be used as a general frame of reference when conducting research. This will prevent you from searching for a record that does not exist. For information about researching vital events that occurred before these time-periods, please visit the vital records substitutes tab of this research guide..
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Birth |
Death |
Marriage |
|
Statewide registration |
1913 |
1913 |
1868 |
Links to the historic registration laws passed by the N.C. General Assembly are provided below:
Vital records are filed in the county where the event occurred, usually at the register of deeds or the clerk of court. Keep in mind that county boundary lines have changed over time. Understanding the formation of North Carolina’s 100 counties will help ensure you are searching in the right place for a given time-period.
One critical resource for researching records and history of North Carolina’s counties is a listing of county formations, with dates and parent counties. These chronologies are available from the SLNC Government & Heritage Library and in NCpedia.org. Additionally, NCpedia has an encyclopedia page for all 100 North Carolina’s counties. These pages include historical county formation information, including founders and parent counties; links to encyclopedia entries related to those counties; links to county government websites; and other useful information.
You can find the county formation chronologies here:
North Carolina County Formation, chronology, from the State Library of North Carolina
Another invaluable resource for understanding the legal and legislative history of county formation is The formation of the North Carolina counties, 1663-1943, by David Leroy Corbitt (1996). Corbitt’s book, an annotated legal and legislative history of the counties, is a state government publication. And it is also available digitized in the North Carolina Digital Collections. Each digitized county page is also linked to each NCpedia article about the individual county, as another access point to this information.
The State Library of North Carolina
The SLNC Government & Heritage Library offers a variety of resources to support your family history research. The library is a great place to start your search, as the library has specialized resources – like abstracts and indexes of original records held by the State Archives – to help researchers more easily and effectively locate the presence of original documents. The library is also able to help with research methods and search strategies and help in uncovering resources that may be held by other institutions across the state. You can search the library’s print collection on the online catalog, N.C. Cardinal. If you are a North Carolina resident or state employee, please visit our website for more information about how to apply for a library card.
Here are some of the library resources available to supplement your research:
The State Archives of North Carolina
An important resource for understanding the records available at the State Archives for each North Carolina county is the Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives. This book is available in print as well as online at the State Archives website. You can also search what records they have available using their online catalog.
North Carolina Digital Collections
An important resource to consult is the North Carolina Digital Collections. A collaboration between the State Library and the State Archives, the Digital Collections contain over 90,000 historic and recent documents related to North Carolina. This collection includes state government publications, county and state agency records and governors’ papers, items from manuscript collections, military and pension records, and many other items relate to state history. Part of this collection is the Family Records collection which includes bible records, indexed marriage and death announcements, cemetery records, and copies of genealogical research donated to the library. This collection just scratches the surface of what is available in the State Library and State Archives collections.
Additional Resources
The website FamilySearch was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is free of charge to use – you just have to register for an account! Their collection contains historic records and indexes from around the world.
The National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has an online tool called Where to Write for Vital Records that can be used for locating information about vital records in other states and territories.