Surry County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States   North Carolina    Surry County

Parent County
1771--Surry County was created from Rowan County. County seat: Dobson

Brief History
Surry County, North Carolina is said to have been named after Surrey County, England. The county's northern boundary is the Virginia state line.

Surry County was originally formed from Rowan County in 1771. Rowan had been formed from Anson in 1753, and Anson was formed from Bladen in 1750. The act to form Surry County was proposed to the assembly of North Carolina in December 1770, and was passed the following month, January 1771. This act became effective 1 Apr 1771.

Wilkes County was formed in 1777 from Surry County and, according to some sources, Washington District, also known as the District of Washington. Evidently, however, the District of Washington was created in the same legislative session. Washington District is, today, Washington County, Tennessee. Stokes County was formed ten years later, in 1789, from the eastern section of Surry County.

Surry County records dated from the 1770s and 1780s cover parts of present-day Ashe, Alleghany, Forsyth, Stokes, Wilkes, and Yadkin Counties.

In 1790, the county seat of Surry County became Rockford.

Yet another division took place in 1851, as Yadkin County was formed from the area south of Yadkin River. In 1853, the county seat was moved from Rockford to the new town of Dobson, and has remained there to this day. Dobson is named for William Polk Dobson, a prominent citizen. The Registrar of Deeds Office in Dobson welcomes visitors to its very user-friendly collection of vital records.

The 1860 census for Surry County shows about 1,200 slaves in the county.

Settlers from Virginia and Pennsylvania who were of the Quaker religion came from the New Garden and other meetings in Guilford County, North Carolina. Some of those families include Bond, Burcham, Hill, Hiatt, Horton, Love, Pinson, Jackson, Jessup, Simmons, Stanley and Taylor. Many of them moved on to Indiana but numerous descendants are still in the area.

Those of the German Moravian faith who came from other North Carolina settlements include the Brinkley, Hauser, Kiger, Moser and Shouse lines. Families of French descent include Hardin, Poindexter, Lambert, Laurence, and probably Laffoon.

The Riggs family, said to descend from Edward Riggs III who came to Massachusetts in the 1630s and founded Morristown, New Jersey, came to Surry County with the Henson, Jarvis and Wilmoth families.

Families that came from Albermarle County, North Carolina, were Burrus, Cave, Easley, Fleming, Franklin, Ollesby, Perkins, Snow, Taliaferro and Tucker. Those that came from neighboring Stokes County were East, Hill, King, Pratt, Simpson, Venable and Vernon.

Other prominent familes were Marion, Creed, McKinney, Moore, Dudley and McCraw.

Present-day Surry County is southern living at its best. Because of being somewhat isolated at the base of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, it has been able to retain the long-held traditions of the families lines that have remained there for over 220 years. Some have clung to the old Elizabethan English and many have strong roots in their Primitive Baptist upbringing. Most of these second-generation Americans were born in Virginia and migrated to North Carolina looking for the fertile land that had been advertised and scouted.

Populated Places

 * Dobson (county seat)
 * Elkin
 * Mount Airy
 * Pilot Mountain

Neighboring Counties

 * Alleghany
 * Carroll County, Virginia
 * Forsyth
 * Grayson County, Virginia
 * Patrick County, Virginia
 * Stokes
 * Wilkes
 * Yadkin

Townships

 * Bryan
 * Dobson
 * Eldora
 * Elkin
 * Franklin
 * Long Hill
 * Marsh
 * Mount Airy
 * Pilot Mountain
 * Rockford
 * Shoals
 * Sloam
 * South Westfield
 * Stewarts Creek
 * Westfield

Major Rivers

 * Ararat River
 * Fisher River
 * Mitchell River
 * Yadkin River

Cemeteries

 * Fisher's Gap Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery (online list, New River Notes)
 * Liberty Union Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery (online list, New River Notes)
 * Stony Ridge, Wolff Family Cemetery (online list, New River Notes)
 * Surry County Cemetery Records, North Carolina (Interment.net)
 * Surry County, North Carolina Cemeteries (online lists, Cemetery Census)
 * Surry County, North Carolina Cemeteries (online lists, GenWeb Archives)
 * Surry County, North Carolina Cemetery Transcriptions (Access Genealogy)
 * USGS: List of cemeteries in Surry County (USGS)
 * Wolff Family Cemetery (online list, New River Notes)

Censuses

 * 1786 State Census for Surry County; 15 districts were established, but the returns from six are missing.
 * 1790 Census, Surry County, North Carolina (transcription, alphabetical order, GenWeb Archives)
 * 1790 Census, Surry County, North Carolina (transcription, searchable by surname, Don Chesnut)
 * 1810 Census, Surry County, North Carolina (last name index, GenWeb Archives)
 * 1850 Census, Surry County, North Carolina (index, GenWeb Archives)

Family Histories

 * [Adamson] Dixon Ben F. and Alice L. Dwelle Dixon. The Adamson Source Book, a Genealogy of the Descendants of Rachel Williams Adamson, 1776-1850 of Surry County, N.C., Jefferson County, Tenn., and Lawrence County, Ind.: with an Addendum of Miscellaneous Historical Material on the Name Adamson. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: B.F. Dixon, 1942-1961.
 * Coats, Charlotte, Joshua Richardson, Lazarus Tilley, William Mason: The American Revolution and Before, 2006.
 * Combs &amp;c Families of Surry County, North Carolina (website)
 * Dunagin, Percy E., The Early Dunagins of Surry County, North Carolina, Family Heritage Publishers, 2007.
 * Heinegg, Paul, Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.

Land
Surry County, North Carolina deed records date from 1771, when the county was formed. In addition to more ordinary deeds, Surry County land records at the Register of Deeds' office also include records involving Lord Granville's agents, and state land grants. Bills of sale for slaves are also included.

According to the Register of Deeds' web pages in the county government site, the earliest deed index for the county covers 1771 to 1870. This was followed by a second index, which covers the period from 1870 to 1937.

The office of the Register of Deeds is located at 201 E. Kapp Street in Dobson. More information, including phone number and office hours, can be found in the Register of Deeds' web pages.

Local Histories

 * Absher, Mrs. W.O., and Mae R. Hayes, Surry County, North Carolina Deed Book C (1777-1788). Self-published.
 * Books About Surry County (items for sale)
 * Boyles, Carolyn, Wilma Hiatt, and Surry County Genealogical Association, Surry County (Images of America series), Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.
 * Columbine, Mary Felts, Surry County, North Carolina: Early Settlers and Road Builders, 1771-1850, 2005.
 * Heinegg, Paul, Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005.
 * Holcomb, Brent, Marriages of Surry County, North Carolina, 1778-1868, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982.
 * Hollingsworth, Jesse Gentry, History of Surry County, or Annals of Northwest North Carolina, W.H. Fisher Company, 1935. (Google Books link, without preview)
 * Jackson, Hester B., Surry County Soldiers in the Civil War, Dobson, North Carolina: Surry County Historical Society, 1992.
 * Linn, Jo White, Surry County, North Carolina Wills, 1771-1827, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1992.
 * Snow, Carol Leonard, Surry County, North Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Toast, North Carolina: Self-published, 1995, 3 vols. (FHL)
 * Thompson, Evelyn Scales, Around Surry County (Black America Series), Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2005. (Google Books link with preview)

Newspapers

 * Surry County, North Carolina Obituaries

Research Guides

 * Sweeney, Alice J. "Bassett Historical Center," The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Aug. 2002):1-3. Available at ; digital version at Virginia Genealogical Society website.

Taxation
Tax lists, 1784-1789, are extant.


 * 1786 Taxables, Surry County (online lists)
 * 1786 Taxables, Atkins District, Surry County, North Carolina (GenWeb Archives)
 * 1786 Taxables, Krous' District, Surry County, North Carolina (GenWeb Archives)

Vital Records
Brent Holcomb, in his book Marriages of Surry County, North Carolina 1779-1868, points out that no Surry County marriage bonds from prior to 1779 are extant. Most bonds are housed in Raleigh, North Carolina at the State Archives, but Holcomb points out that about 120 Surry County marriage bonds were found to remain in the Surry County Courthouse in Dobson.

Yearbooks

 * Surry Community College - various issues between 1969-1995

Societies and Libraries

 * Bassett Historical Center, Bassett, Virginia. Website includes descriptions of collections. Excellent resource for family history research in Henry, Patrick, Floyd, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties in Virginia, the city of Martinsville, Virginia, and Rockingham, Stokes and Surry counties in North Carolina.
 * Elkin Public Library, member of Northwestern Regional Library system, 111 North Front St., Elkin, North Carolina
 * Northwestern Regional Library: Genealogy (links; information regarding the area genealogy holdings at the Charles H. Stone Memorial Library, Danbury Public Library, and Yadkin County Public Library.

Web Sites

 * Books About Surry County (items for sale)
 * Mt. Airy Museum Happenings
 * Register of Deeds, Surry County
 * Surry County (official government website)
 * Surry County Genealogy (North Carolina Genealogy)
 * Surry County Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Surry County Genealogical Association
 * Surry County NCGenWeb
 * Surry County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * Surry County, North Carolina Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Surry County, North Carolina Genealogy Trails
 * Surry County, North Carolina History, Records, Facts, Genealogy, and Ancestry (Family History 101)
 * Surry Cousins
 * Surry Cousins