For those of you who research in North Carolina, I wanted to share with you a resource I use regularly. It is the 2009 edition of Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives published by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. This is a wonderful resource that lists the original and microfilmed records of each NC county that are housed at the NC Archives. As I develop my research plans, I consult my copy to determine which records the archives have. That way, I can be more efficient with my actual time in the archives.
For example, when I was researching the Howard/Harward family living in Moore County, NC in the mid-late 1800's, I consulted my guide. I quickly learned that Moore County is a "burned" county. Land records and many court records prior to the courthouse fire in 1889 were mostly lost, so I knew not to spend time looking for these. I did discover that one tax book from 1852-1860 survived the fire. This surviving record was one of a few to survive the fire and fortunately I was able to place my ancestors in a specific location in the county for that time period. I was able to complete this part of my research fairly quickly since I knew what to look for ahead of time.
Do any other NC researchers use this regularly?
(I ordered my copy from here.)
Thank you so much for this information. I do research in NC also...and thank you for the link to order a copy of the guide. I was just about to google.
ReplyDeleteI use my copy regularly!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, thanks for the comment on my blog! I love North Carolina. I have a family line (Hodges) from Wautaga County. I haven't gotten around to researching them much so your NC research tips will come in handy!
ReplyDelete