North Carolina, Civil Action Court Papers - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States North Carolina

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes a variety of records, including records that sometimes state family relationships, where either adversary proceedings or ex parte proceedings. Civil actions were generally brought to settle questions of land ownership, unpaid debts, unfulfilled contracts, and unperformed agreements. They include divorces, suits concerning dower, breach of contract, slander, slave manumissions, naturalizations and legitimization of bastard children. These records are in chronological order. There are indexes to some of them and there are dockets which can be used as an index to the actual court records. The collection covers the years 1712 to 1970.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The information found in this collection varies by court case. It may include any of the following:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Date of court proceeding or transaction
 * Details of the case
 * Amount of monies exchanged or paid
 * Names of relatives, neighbors, or witnesses
 * Residences
 * Occupations

Pre-1868 County courts, sometimes called the County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, handled both civil and criminal cases. Minutes contain such matters as estate, land, illegitimacy, apprenticeships, bonds, certificates granting freedom to slaves, and more. Many of the original volumes have been lost or severely damaged. Most surviving volumes are in the state archives. In addition to having microfilms of many county court records, the library also has published abstracts many of the pre-1868 minute books. These publications are indexed.

1806–present: Superior Courts of Law were established in each county in 1806. Though the superior courts acted concurrently with the Court of Common Pleas, they handled more serious or complex civil and criminal cases. In 1868, the Superior Courts of Law merged with the Superior Court of Equity.

1806–1868: Superior Courts of Equity were also created in 1806. Their purpose was to deal with fairness issues. Most cases related to probate and land matters, and records generally listed heirs. In 1868, they merged with the Superior Court of Law.

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The names of interested individuals.
 * The approximate court date.
 * The place of residence.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "County" category ⇒ Select the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume" category which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the court records, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the date and locality to search for the family in census, land and church records.
 * Use the information found to search for probate records.
 * Use the information found to search additional state and county records.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local historical and genealogical groups also compile indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, plea se email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

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