Caldwell County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

Description
Caldwell County is located in the Western portion of North Carolina and was named for Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

County Courthouse
Caldwell County Courthouse 905 West Ave NW Lenoir NC 28645 Phone: 828-757-1310 Register of Deeds has birth, marriage, death and land Clerk Superior Court has divorce, Court and Probate Records  Register of Deeds County Office Bldg. 905 West Ave., NW Lenoir, NC 28645 Telephone: 828-757-1310 Fax: 828-757-1294 Website  Clerk of Superior Court PO Box 1376 Lenoir, NC 28645 Telephone: (828) 759-3503

History
Caldwell County was formed in 1841 from Burke and Wilkes counties. It was named in honor of Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina. He strongly advocated a public school system and a railroad across the center of the State from Morehead City to Tennessee.

Caldwell County is in the west central section of the State and is bordered by Alexander, Catawba, Burke, Avery, Watauga and Wilkes counties. The present land area is 471.60 square miles and the 2000 population was 77,386.

The court was ordered to be held at the store of George Powell near the house of George Smith, Jr., until a courthouse was erected. Commissioners were named to select a site as near the center as possible, acquire land and a town, and erect a courthouse. Lenoir, named in honor of William Lenoir, is the county seat.

Parent County
1841--Caldwell County was created 11 January 1841 from Burke and Wilkes Counties. County seat: Lenoir

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
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Populated Places
Towns in Caldwell County are: Lenoir, Granite Falls, Hudson, Gamewell, Sawmills, Blowing Rock, Cajah's Mountain, Cedar Rock, Collettsville, Northlakes, Rhodhiss.

Neighboring Counties

 * Alexander
 * Avery
 * Burke
 * Catawba
 * Watauga
 * Wilkes

County Records

 * 1833-1970 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Court
Caldwell County Courthouse 216 Main St NW Lenoir, NC 28645 (828) 759-8403

Mailing Address: PO Box 1376 Lenoir, NC 28645

Directories

 * Lenoir City Directory - 1930/1931

Education

 * Caldwell County college students - a name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in the county
 * Davenport College: a few yearbooks between 1905-1932

Land
The Register of Deeds office is the primary custodian of permanent records for the county. We record a variety of real property documents including deeds, deeds of trust, mortgage cancellations, powers of attorney, maps and others. The Vital Records Division maintains Caldwell County birth records, death records, marriage licenses issued in Caldwell County, Military Discharges, and Notary records. Our online records search can be accessed from this site and contains all of our real estate indexes since the formation of the county and images of all of our real estate documents from the early 1900's forward. Indexes of all of our vital records can also be found there.

Caldwell County Register of Deeds

Caldwell County Registry of Deeds Records Search

Local Histories

 * Caldwell County History - from the Caldwell County Government website
 * Caldwell County Government

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


 * Old Cherokee Path pre-historic

Revolutionary War

 * 1779 - 1782 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861 - 1865 - at FamilySearch.org — index and images
 * 1861 - 1865 - at FamilySearch.org — index and images
 * 1861 - 1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861 - 1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1885 - 1953 - at FamilySearch — index and images


 * - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company B
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company C
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company F
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company I
 * - 8th Battalion, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company C

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1660 - 1790 - North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry.com — index and images $]
 * 1663 - 1979 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1665 - 1998 - North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1735 - 1970 - at FamilySearch.org — images
 * 1760 - 1800 - North Carolina Will Abstracts 1760-1800 at Ancestry.com — index and images
 * 1827 - 1915 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

The Caldwell County Clerk of the Court has probate records starting with 1830, if they have not been transferred to the North Carolina State Archives.

The Clerk of Superior Court is elected for four years and must be a resident of the county in which he or she is elected. Unlike clerks of court in other states, the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina has numerous judicial functions.

As judge of probate, the Clerk has exclusive original jurisdiction over matters relating to the probate of wills, and the administration of estates, including appointing personal representatives, auditing their accounting, and removing them from office if necessary. The Clerk also presides over many other legal matters including adoptions, incompetency proceedings, condemnation of private lands for public use, and foreclosures. The Clerk is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions of the district and superior court. In addition, the Clerk receives and disburses money collected each year from court fees and fines.

Clerk of Superior Court (828) 759-8402 Ext. 8376

Caldwell County Courthouse 216 Main St NW Lenoir, NC 28645 Mailing Address: PO Box 1376 Lenoir, NC 28645

Vital Records
The Caldwell County Register of Deeds offers online access to indexes of their Vital Records.

Do a Records Search: Caldwell County Records Search

Birth

 * 1800 - 2000 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1866 - 1964 - at FamilySearch.org — index

Death

 * 1898 - 1994 - at FamilySearch.org — index and images
 * 1906 - 1930 - at FamilySearch.org — index and images
 * 1908 - 2004 - North Carolina Death Indexes 1908-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $
 * 1909 - 1975 - North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1931 - 1994 - at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce

 * 1926 - 1975 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1958 - 2004 - North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Marriages

 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1841 - 1956 - Caldwell County Marriage Books 1-8 Index 1841-1956 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1878 - 1882 - Caldwell County marriage licenses, 1878-1882 - index available from NC State Library


 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina Marriage Index 1741-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $
 * 1759 - 1979 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1762 - 1979 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1763 - 1868 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Societies and Libraries
Caldwell County Genealogical Society PO Box 2476 Lenoir 28645-2476 Website

Caldwell County Genealogy PO Box 2476 Lenoir  NC 28645-2476 Telephone Number: 828-758-1075 Website
 * Caldwell Heritage Museum
 * North Carolina Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 30815, Raleigh, NC 27622-0815


 * Caldwell County Public Library

Websites

 * Caldwell County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Caldwell County NCGenWeb- free genealogy resources; a site within the USGenWeb Project
 * USGenWeb Archives-Caldwell County, NC
 * NCpedia
 * NCpedia