Guilford County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States   North Carolina    Guilford County

Parent County
1770--Guilford County was created 5 December 1770 from Orange and Rowan Counties, but it did not start administration of its territory until 1 April 1771, so no Guilford records exist before that date.

County seat: Greensboro

Boundary Changes
The law creating Guilford County was passed in 1770, and the county started administration of its territory on April 1, 1771. Any land records prior to that time will be in the records of other counties. Approximately, the western two-thirds of the county came from Rowan County, and the eastern one-third came from Orange County. Rowan was created in 1753 from Anson County, and Orange was created in 1752 from parts of Johnston, Bladen, and Granville counties.

"Old Guilford County" was three times larger than present-day Guilford County, since Randolph County was created from the southern third of Guilford in 1779, and Rockingham County was created from the northern third of Old Guilford in 1785.

Record Loss
1872--Courthouse fire resulted in some loss of records.

Neighboring Counties

 * Alamance
 * Davidson
 * Forsyth
 * Randolph
 * Rockingham
 * Stokes

Cemeteries

 * Search Greensboro Cemeteries, a growing index to many cemeteries in Guilford County.
 * Union Cemetery is one of the most important burial sites for African Americans in Guilford County. The list is of all marked graves. It has been in use since the 1880s.
 * Guilford NCGenWeb index of cemeteries.

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Greensboro

Court

 * Guilford NCGenWeb Court and Land Records page

Land

 * Guilford NCGenWeb Court and Land Records page

Local Histories

 * Guilford County, NC GenWeb Local History (includes links to book excerpts)
 * Stockard, Sallie Walker, The History of Guilford County, North Carolina, 1902 (complete text in Internet Archive)
 * Stoesen, Alexander R., Guilford County: A Brief History, 2000 (NC Office of Archives &amp; History Publications Shop)

Maps

 * Some maps are linked to this page: Guilford NCGenWeb page on local history

Military

 * Guilford NCGenWeb page on military records
 * At the Greensboro Library page, Scroll down for the index of names in the book, Biographical Sketches of soldiers &amp; patriots in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse: March 15, 1781.
 * Guilford County Men &amp; Women Who Served in World War II

Newspapers

 * Greensboro News &amp; Record

Vital Records
Online index to Guilford County marriage and death records can be found at the Greensboro Library Web site.

Yearbooks

 * Greensboro College: 1908-2005
 * Guilford College: 1911-2005
 * High Point University: 1927-2007
 * North Carolina Agricultural &amp; Technical College: 1929-2009
 * UNC-Greensboro: 1902-1993


 * Guilford County students at North Carolina colleges - a list alphabetized by surname from the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Societies and Libraries

 * Friends Historical Collection at Guilford College
 * Greensboro Libraries
 * Greensboro Libraries: Central Library (includes the Genealogy Collection), 219 No. Church St.
 * Greensboro Libraries: Genealogy
 * Guilford County Genealogical Society
 * High Point Library Public Library &amp; its Heritage Research Center
 * Penny Postcards from North Carolina: Guilford County
 * UNC-Chapel Hill Library's North Carolina Collection, Guilford County materials

Web Sites

 * Family History Catalog: Guilford County, North Carolina
 * Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission
 * Guilford County Markers (The Historical Marker Database)
 * Guilford County, North Carolina (RootsWeb)
 * Guilford County, North Carolina (Wikipedia)
 * Guilford County, North Carolina GenWeb (has a lot of information on its website)
 * Guilford County, North Carolina GenWeb Archives
 * Librarian's Guide to Guilford County, NC: History Page