Gaston County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States North Carolina  Gaston County

Guide to Gaston County North Carolina genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Gaston County Courthouse 325 N Marietta St Box 1578 Gastonia, NC 28053 Phone: 704-868-7684

Register of Deeds has birth, marriage and death records from 1913 Land records from 1847 Clerk Superior Court has divorce and court records

History
The earliest European settlers of Gaston County were principally Scots Irish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and English. In the 1750s, Dutch settler James Kuykendall and others constructed the Fort at the Point at the junction of the Catawba and South Fork Rivers. The fort was built because of ongoing hostilities with the Cherokee, but it was apparently never attacked. Tensions between the settlers and the Native American inhabitants (primarily of the Catawba tribe) were eased considerably when the boundary dispute between North Carolina and South Carolina was settled in 1772, after which most of the Catawba settled on a reservation near Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Most early farms were small, cultivated primarily by White yeoman farmers of English ancestry. North Carolina's colonial policy restricted the size of land grants, and in Gaston County they tended to be about 400 acres (1.6 km2) each. One of the earliest grants in the area was given to Captain Samuel Cobrin, commander of a local militia company, on September 29, 1750.

Between 1845 and 1848, Gaston County experienced an industrial boom. During this three-year period, the first three cotton mills in the County were established. Some authorities[who?] say that the first one was established by Thomas R. Tate on Mountain Island, near the present site of Duke Energy's Mountain Island Dam and Hydroelectric Station. Other sources say that the first mill was established by the Linebergers and others on the South Fork River near McAdenville. Most sources agree that among the first three mills in operation in the County was the Stowesville Mill, founded by Jasper Stowe and Associates in the South Point Community south of Belmont. Gaston County still leads all other counties in the country both in the number of spindles in operation and in the number of bales of cotton consumed.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Parent County
1846--Gaston County was created 21 December 1846 from Lincoln County. County seat: Gastonia

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating North Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation North Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1664-1965) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
1874--Courthouse fire destroyed many court records.

For a list of record loss in North Carolina counties see: North Carolina Counties with Burned Courthouses

Neighboring Counties

 * Cleveland
 * Lincoln
 * Mecklenburg
 * York County, South Carolina

Cemeteries

 * Gaston NCGenWeb - cemetery listing
 * Gaston County cemeteries on Find-A-Grave

Land

 * The Bureau of Land Management General Land Office web site has searchable land records for North Carolina.

Local Histories

 * High Shoals, Gaston county, N.C., a Southern cotton mill town (1908)

Migration
Early migration routes to and from Gaston County for European settlers included:


 * Occaneechi Path pre-historic
 * Lower Cherokee Traders' Path pre-historic
 * Catawba and Northern Trail pre-historic
 * Fall Line Road about 1735 (overlapped Occaneechi Path)
 * Great Valley Road (south fork) 1740s (overlapped Occaneechi Path)
 * Upper Road about 1783 (overlapped Lower Cherokee Traders' Path)

Civil War
Civil War Confederate units - Brief history, counties where recruited, etc.


 * -11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry

Probate

 * NC County Records: Gaston County includes indexed images of Estates 1839-1970 and Guardianships 1849-1964

Schools

 * Sacred Heart College - founded in 1892 by the order of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Closed in 1987.
 * Gaston County College Students - a name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in the county.

Marriages

 * 1848-1929 - Gaston County Marriage Index 1848-1929 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.

Deaths

 * 1910-1956 - Gaston County Death Index 1910-1956 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.

Societies and Libraries

 * Gaston-Lincoln Genealogical Society
 * Gaston-Lincoln Regional Library System

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Gastonia North Carolina Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Gaston County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Gaston County, NCGenWeb - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb project.