Catawba was formed in 1842 from Lincoln County . It was named for an Indian tribe which lived in that section of the State. The present land area is 399.97 square miles and the 2000 population was 141,686. The act establishing the county named commissioners to acquire land within two miles of the center of the county, lay out a town by the name of Newton, and erect a courthouse. Controversy developed over the location. Consequently in 1845 an act was passed authorizing the erecting of the courthouse in Newton, which is now the county seat.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
What follows is an outline of beginning dates of extant records of each county. The beginning dates do not imply that all records are extant since some of North Carolina's county records have been lost due to fire and other causes. Find out about the Catawba Courthouse Hours and Location
Catawba County Clerk of Superior Court has Court Records from 1843 and Probate Records from 1843 and is located at Courthouse,
PO Box 790,
Newton, NC 28658; (828) 464-5216,
Fax (828) 465-8975 . The Clerk of the Superior Court holds probate records and court records if they have not been transferred to the state archives in Raleigh. Probate records include not only wills, but also loose estates records, most of which have not been microfilmed. Court records may include apprentice bonds, bastardy bonds, and officials' or constables' bonds in addition to dockets, fee and account books, and court minutes and orders. They also have Divorce Records.
Catawba County Register of Deeds has Land Records from 1837 and Marriage Records from 1843 and is located at PO
Box 65, Justice Center Newton NC 28658; 828-465-1573,
[EMAIL] . The register of deeds at the county seat holds land and vital records if they have not been transferred to the state archives in Raleigh. Land records may include deeds, grants, plats, and other miscellaneous items. Vital records include Birth and Marriage records.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Court Records by clicking the link below:
North Carolina Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
Click Here to Search North Carolina Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
Do not contact North Carolina Vital Records or the North Carolina State Archives, as there are no birth records prior to 1913 in a state public office. For death certificates prior to 1930, contact the North Carolina State Archives. A few delayed death records may exist back to 1909. Prior to this, there are no death records of any sort other than wills and estate settlements in the North Carolina State Archives. Also you can order birth and death records online quickly and easily via VitalChek! Usually you recieve them in 2-5 days.
STATE:North Carolina Vital Records is located at 1903 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1903;
(919) 733-3526 (This office does not accept FAX or e-mail orders). All Fees are listed below under "Cost".
They have the following records:
Birth Certificates: Birth records are available from 1913 to the present.
For birth records prior to the dates listed above, contact the local Register of Deeds office in the county where the birth occurred. In order to process a request, Vital Records needs to know: Full Name on Certificate, Date of Birth, Mother's Full Maiden Name, Father's Full Name, Place (City or County) of Birth.
You can download an application online for Birth Certificates.
Death Certificates: Certified copies of death records are available from 1930 to the present. For death certificates prior to 1930, contact the North Carolina State Archives. A few delayed death records may exist back to 1909. Prior to this, there are no death records of any sort other than wills and estate settlements in the North Carolina State Archives. Vital Records needs to know: Full Name of Deceased, Date of Death, Place (City or County) of Death, Date of Birth Fees are listed below. You can download an application online for Death Certificates.
Marriage Certificates: Certified copies of Marriage records are available from 1962 to the present.
Vital Records needs to know: Full Name of Groom, Full Name of Bride, Date of Marriage, Place (City or County) Where License Was Issued. You can download an application online for Marriage Certificates.
Marriages prior to 1962 should be available from the County Register of Deeds office where the marriage was performed. Fees vary.
Divorce Certificates: Certified copies of Divorce records are available from 1958 to the present.
Vital Records needs to know: Full Name of Husband, Full Name of Wife, Date of Divorce, Place (City or County) of Divorce. You can download an application online for Divorce Certificates.
If the records are not available at the North Carolina Vital Records office, they should be available from the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the divorce was granted. Fees vary.
Order Online: You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering below
Cost: A fee of $15 is charged for each name searched in a five-year period, regardless of the search results as per G.S. 130A-93.1. If the record is located, one certified or uncertified copy of the record will be provided at no additional cost. Additional copies of the same record, when requested at the same time, are $5 each.
These fees are for a search, regardless of the results. Search fees are not refundable. Any additional request to search in 5-year increments for records outside of the original 5-year period will cost an additional $15 fee
How to Order: Make certified checks and money orders should be made payable to "North Carolina Vital Records". Credit Cards may be uses by using VitalChek services Please do not send cash or checks. Fees are non refundable. Additional fees are required for expedited service. Mail all Applications to: North Carolina Vital Records, 1903 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1903. You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering HERE.
In - Person Requests:
Individuals may visit the office on the first floor of the Cooper Memorial Health Building at 225 N. McDowell Street, Raleigh, N.C. between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday – Friday, except on state government holidays. Parking is available on the north (Lane Street) side of the Cooper Building. Customers should bring a valid photo ID and non-refundable $15 search fee for each request. Copies of the same certificate are $5 if requested at the same time. You will be asked to fill out an application upon arrival or you may bring a completed one with you (see above for required forms). Walk-in requests for same day service are subject to an additional $15 expedited services fee and will usually be fulfilled in about one hour. Customers are encouraged to leave completed requests forms with us for a mailed response to avoid the extra fee for same day services.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE - Search over 82 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research. New content added weekly! Most comprehensive SSDI site online!
Research Death records In The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of historical North Carolina newspaper articles about deaths. Search for local articles about an old family friend that died many years ago or a celebrity that committed suicide. Historical newspapers contain a wealth of information about the deceased.
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Catawba County, North Carolina are 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your family tree in Catawba County, North Carolina are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Slave Schedules exist for 1850 & 1860. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Census Records by clicking the link below:
North Carolina Antique Maps & Atlases has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for North Carolina and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for North Carolina showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
You can view rotating animated maps for North Carolina showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries . You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has county maps the show the locations of churches, cemeteries, roads, ect... free for viewing or download here
Official NCDOT County Maintenance Maps are being generated into TIF and PDF. In each county, sheet number "1" always shows the entire county. Each supplemental sheet shows area insets, usually congested areas. A sheet key is shown for any county that requires more than 2 sheets. Catawba County D.O.T. Maps [Thumbnail of Sheet Key]
TIFs [1] - [2] - [3] - [4]
PDFs [1] - [2] - [3] - [4]
Excellent maps, atlases, and gazetteers for North Carolina are
readily available. The best gazetteer available for North Carolina
is William Stevens Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary
of Tar Heel Places (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina
Press, 1968). The Gazetteer includes historical definitions,
derivations of place-names, and exact locations. It is cross-indexed
well and gives references for the first use of place-names.
An important historical publication is Richard Edwards, ed.,
Statistical gazetteer of the states of Virginia and North Carolina
(Richmond, Va.: Published for the Proprietor, 1856). There are
several excellent atlases and map guides available for North
Carolina.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Maps. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Maps by clicking the link below:
The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Military Records by clicking the link below:
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of North Carolina (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of North Carolina (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
That all governments require money to operate was well known to those who established North Carolina's civil administration. They decided to follow existing methods of taxation by placing levies on people. Prior to 1777, people who were taxed were usually called taxables, tithables, or polls; in essence they were paying a head tax. A 1715 law enacted by the general assembly defined taxables as all free males sixteen years of age and over and all slaves, male and female, aged twelve and over. The law was revised in 1749 and included all white males aged sixteen and over, as well as negroes, mulattoes, mustees or octoroons (offspring of a white and a quadroon), and all persons of mixed blood to the fourth generation, both male and female, who were twelve years of age and older.
Tax rules remained fairly constant from 1749 until 1777 when the state began applying different criteria, such as restricting the poll tax to freemen who did not own a minimum amount of property, exempting soldiers, changing the minimum age to twenty-one, or taxing only unmarried men. By 1784 the legislature settled on taxing freemen and male servants twenty-one and over and all slaves (male and female) between twelve and fifty. In 1801 all free males over fifty were exempted from the poll tax, and then in 1817 the exemption age was lowered to forty-five. A constitutional amendment in 1835 set age limits at twenty-one to forty-five for free males and twelve to fifty for slaves. The constitution of 1868 included all males between the ages of twenty-one and fifty. Poll taxes were abolished in North Carolina in 1970. Property taxes were levied in North Carolina from 1715 through 1722 and then abolished. They were reinstated in 1777 and remain in effect today.
North Carolina tax lists have survived better than those for many states. The lists date from the first decade of the eighteenth century to the present. Microfilmed copies are available at the North Carolina State Archives and FHL, the Many transcriptions are found in the pages of North Carolina's periodicals
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
North
Carolina State Archives,
Office of Archives and
History—State Library Building Public Services Branch,
Mail Service Center 4614,
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-4614
Phone: (919) 807-7310, Fax: (919) 733-1354, [EMAIL]
North Carolina Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search North Carolina Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
Early denominations present in North Carolina in fewer numbers include Baptist, Methodist, Lutherans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. While their respective repositories house historical records, the North Carolina State Archives has a good collection of church records on microfilm. Consult the holdings of other major genealogical libraries with southern collections for additional sources, including the FHL.
Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Catawba County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Find Obituaries in The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of North Carolina obituaries to help you research your family history. Search for a North Carolina newspaper obituary about your ancestor or a celebrity. Begin your search today and find death notices and funeral announcements printed in newspapers from North Carolina.
When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Catawba County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Catawba County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
North Carolina Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
: A Dictionary
of Tar Heel Places (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina
Press, 1968). The Gazetteer includes historical definitions,
derivations of place-names, and exact locations. It is cross-indexed
well and gives references for the first use of place-names.
An important historical publication is Richard Edwards, ed.,
(Richmond, Va.: Published for the Proprietor, 1856). There are
several excellent atlases and map guides available for North
Carolina.
