Franklin County, North Carolina Genealogy

Guide to Franklin County, North Carolina ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
Franklin County is located in the north-central portion of North Carolina and was named for Benjamin Franklin.

County Courthouse
Franklin County Courthouse 102 South Main Street Louisburg, NC 27549 Phone: 919-497-4200 Franklin County Website Register of Deeds has birth and death records from 1913, marriage records from 1869, land records from 1779. Clerk Superior Court has divorce and court records. Marriage bonds from 1779 are located at the NC Archives.

The first county courthouse was a log building erected circa 1781 either on or very near the current county courthouse location on Main Street between Court and Nash Streets. The log courthouse was replaced with a structure of brick and stone in 1849. The 1849 courthouse was completely remodeled in 1936 and again in 1968 when it was also enlarged.

The first jail was built close to the original courthouse and during the same time frame, but it was destroyed by fire in 1872. It was replaced with a stone building which still stands, though now abandoned, on the south side of Nash Street about one-and-a-half blocks east of Main Street. The new Franklin County Jail &amp; Sheriff's Department Complex was built in 1994 and is located west of downtown Louisburg on T. Kemp Road.

History Timeline
Franklin county was formed in 1779 from the southern half of Bute County in the midst of the American Revolution and was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin who had recently negotiated an alliance and secured loan agreements with France that would eventually help to win America's independence. The abolishment of Bute County came at the urging of area resident and strong political activist, Benjamin Seawell, who introduced a bill to separate from the county which had been named after the Earl of Bute. Seawell had also been among those selected to represent the county at the Halifax Congress of April 1776. Fellow representatives of Bute at that meeting included Green Hill, William Alston, Thomas Sherrod, Thomas Eaton, Benjamin Person, Benjamin Word, and Philemon Hawkins. The act establishing the county authorized that the first court be held at the home of Benjamin Seawell and it was left to the justices to determine where subsequent courts were to be held until a courthouse could be erected - a goal that was finally met in 1781 with the construction of a log courthouse.

Louisburg, the county seat, was also chartered in 1779 and is believed to have been named for King Louis XVI of France who was a strong American ally. There is disagreement among historians as to when the town was first named, with estimates ranging from as early as 1758, though historians generally agree that the name of the town was originally spelled "Lewisburg". Once the charter had been established, 100 acres of land were purchased from Patewells &amp; Jacobina Milner for the platting of the new county seat. The initial survey for the town was performed by William Christmas who was also responsible for the layout of Raleigh, North Carolina. Louisburg remained the only town in the county until after the Revolutionary War.

Situated in the northeastern section of the State, Franklin County is bounded by Nash, Wake, Granville, Vance, and Warren counties. The present land area is 492.02 square miles and the population has grown from roughly 7,500 at the dawn of the 19th century to 47,260 in the year 2000. The soil is fertile and, in some areas, chock-full of granite. Originally a community focused primarily on agriculture and livestock and boasting 3,367 farms covering 267,530 acres in the year 1900, today Franklin County is home to 574 farms encompassing 128,412 total acres. The county is now focused on broadening her economic base through encouragement of real estate development and much attention is now given to enticing large corporations to bring their operations to the county.

Bible Records

 * Family Bible Records

Biographies

 * Family Histories
 * Historical Family Collections

Cemeteries

 * at FamilySearch

Church Records

 * 1700-1970 - at FamilySearch — index

Baptist
 * Jaile's Creek Constituted 1771.
 * Maple Spring Constituted 1793.
 * Sandy Creek Constituted 1770. Minute book (1770-1859) online.

Court Records

 * The Franklin County Register of Deeds and the Franklin County Court Clerk have a number of records; contact for more information. Note that most of the originals of the older records have been transferred to the State Archives and that the records contained at the County level are usually hand copied into the County Books. Generally, it is much more cost effective to get documents on the County level rather than through the Archives.

Transcriptions: (NCGenWeb)
 * Holland Murphy Petition-1822
 * Extract of Minutes: 1786-1787
 * Extract of Minutes: 1788-1790
 * Extract of Minutes: 1791-1800
 * Extract of Minutes: 1801-1805
 * Extract of Minutes: 1806-1807
 * Extract of Minutes: 1808-1810
 * Extract of Minutes: 1811-1813
 * Extract of Minutes: 1814-1815
 * Extract of Minutes: 1816-1817
 * Extract of Minutes: 1818-1820
 * Extract of Minutes: 1821
 * Extract of Minutes: 1822
 * Extract of Minutes: 1823
 * Extract of Minutes: 1824 &amp; 1828
 * Extract of Minutes:1829
 * Extract of Minutes: 1831-1833
 * Extract of Minutes: 1834-1837
 * Extract of Minutes: 1838-1839
 * Extract of Minutes: 1840

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups
African-American
 * Franklin County Freedmen's Marriages. Cohabitation Marriages of former slaves.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Franklin County Map Collections

Military Records

 * Franklin County Military Page

Revolutionary War 
 * 1779-1782  at FamilySearch
 * North Carolina Loyalist Units

Civil War 
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
 * 1885-1953  at FamilySearch
 * North Carolina Civil War Rosters
 * Civil War- North Carolina History
 * Franklin County U.S. Colored Troops


 * - 12th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company K
 * - 12th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company L
 * - 13th Battalion, North Carolina Infantry, Company B
 * - 15th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 5th Volunteers, Company E
 * - 15th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 5th Volunteers, Company G
 * - 15th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 5th Volunteers, Company L
 * - 1st Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company K
 * - 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company E
 * - 3rd Battalion, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company A

World War I 
 * 1917-1919  at FamilySearch

World War II 
 * 1940-1948  at FamilySearch

Vietnam War 
 * Vietnam Casualties from North Carolina

Newspapers

 * The Franklin Times
 * State Library: North Carolina Newspapers

Other Records
County Records
 * 1833-1970  at FamilySearch

Probate Records
North Carolina has a number of resources for collections of wills at both the State and County levels. Older wills were sent to the North Carolina State Archives where most are indexed and stored by county. The records in the Archives are also filed under a cross-index to wills, cross-referenced by devisor and devisee. The Franklin County Courthouse has copies of all county wills. Originals have been transferred to the NC State Archives.


 * North Carolina Probate Records tips

Online Probate Records
 * 1660-1790 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry $
 * 1663-1979  at FamilySearch
 * 1665-1998 North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998 at Ancestry $
 * 1735-1970  at FamilySearch
 * 1760-1800 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1760-1800 at Ancestry $
 * 1785-1964  have been digitized by FamilySearch
 * 1787-1838 Images of Wills and Estates, Vols. 1 & 2. North Carolina Pioneers $
 * Pre-1790 Pre-1790 Franklin County, North Carolina Genealogy Wills (North Carolina State Archives)
 * Franklin County Wills Index
 * Franklin County Index to Wills-Devisors List
 * Franklin County USGenWeb Archives-Wills Index
 * Franklin County Probate Records. Browsable images from FamilySearch.

School Records
Yearbooks 
 * Louisburg College: 1923-1997
 * Franklin County students at North Carolina colleges. Yearbook Index. (NCGenWeb)
 * Franklinton High School Yearbook-1930

Tax Records

 * 1766 Tax Lists, Bute County, 1766 (index) in NC Taxpayers vol. 2 at Ancestry $
 * 1771 Tax Lists, Bute County, 1771 (index) in NC Taxpayers vol. 2 at Ancestry $
 * 1771 Tax Lists, Bute County, 1771 (images) at FamilySearch
 * 1771 Tax Lists, Franklin County, 1771 (index) in NC Taxpayers vol. 2 at Ancestry $
 * 1798 List of Taxables, 1798 (images) at FamilySearch
 * 1815 Tax Lists, Franklin County, 1815 (images) at North Carolina Digital Collections

Vital Records

 * 1800-2000 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Birth

 * 1800-2000  at FamilySearch
 * 1866-1964  at FamilySearch

Marriage

 * 1741-2004 North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast
 * 1741-2004 North Carolina Marriage Index 1741-2004 at Ancestry $
 * 1759-1979  at FamilySearch.org
 * 1762-1979  at FamilySearch
 * 1763-1868  at FamilySearch
 * 1779-1868 Franklin County Marriages 1779-1868 (NCGenWeb)
 * 1869-1964 Franklin County Marriage Index 1869-1964 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch.
 * Franklin County Marriages

Death

 * 1898-1994  at FamilySearch
 * 1906-1930  at FamilySearch
 * 1908-2004 North Carolina Death Indexes 1908-2004 at Ancestry $
 * 1909-1975 North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 at Ancestry $
 * 1931-1994  at FamilySearch

Divorce

 * 1926-1975  at FamilySearch
 * 1958-2004 North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry $

Archives
The North Carolina State Archives has copies of Franklin County records starting from its establishment in 1779. Guide to Research Materials.

Libraries

 * Braswell Memorial Library 727 N. Grace Street Rocky Mount, NC 27804 Phone: 252-442-1951 Website

Societies

 * Tar River Connections Genealogical Society PO Box 8764 Rocky Mount, NC 27804 Website

Websites

 * Franklin County NCGenWeb
 * USGenWeb Project
 * Franklin County USGenWeb Archives
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.