Ashe County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

County Courthouse
Ashe County Courthouse Court Street, P O Box 367 Jefferson, NC 28640 Phone: 704-694-3212

Register of Deeds has birth records from 1913 marriage records from 1853, divorce records from 1750 and court records from 1770

Brief History
The line between Virginia and North Carolina was established in 1749 by a surveying party led by Peter Jefferson, thus establishing the northern border of what became Ashe County. The first recorded visit to the area occurred in 1752 when Bishop Augustus Spangenberg, head of the Moravian Church of America, came, looking for 100,000 acres of land upon which to settle.

The area that became Ashe County was part of Anson County during the early colonial period, part of Rowan County in 1753, Surry County in 1771, Wilkes County in 1777 and, from 1784-1789, was part of the State of Franklin.

After being associated with the State of Franklin. the territory was claimed as part of Washington County which, in turn, was a part of the Southwest Territory, and later Tennessee. This was the case until it was annexed back by North Carolina into Wilkes County again in 1792.

Ashe County was incorporated as a separate entity by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1799. The county was named for Samuel Ashe, a Revolutionary War patriot, Governor of North Carolina, and superior court judge.

Ashe County is the northwestern-most county in the state of North Carolina, and covers 427 square miles. The county seat is the city of Jefferson, established in 1799. This was the first city in America to be named for Thomas Jefferson. He was Vice-President of the United States at the time.

Jefferson, the county seat, was platted in 1803. An early courthouse was destroyed in 1865. The old 1904 courthouse is now a historic landmark in Jefferson.

See also:


 * Formation of Ashe and Alleghany Counties, North Carolina (New River Notes)

Parent County
1799 -- Ashe County was created 18 November 1799 from Wilkes County. County seat: Jefferson

Boundary Changes
The area that became Ashe County had, at various times, been a part of Anson County, Rowan County, Surry County, and Wilkes County. Both Alleghany and Watauga Counties were formed out of Ashe County.

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
1865 -- The Ashe County Courthouse in Jefferson was destroyed by fire in 1865. Many of the records survived.

Populated Places
Municipalities include:


 * Jefferson (county seat): Ultimate Guide | Wikipedia
 * Lansing: official town website | Wikipedia
 * West Jefferson: City.Data.com | town website | Visit West Jefferson | Wikipedia

Unincorporated communities include:


 * Creston: HomeTownLocator | Wikipedia
 * Crumpler: HomeTownLocator | Wikipedia
 * Fleetwood
 * Glendale Springs: HomeTownLocator
 * Grassy Creek: HomeTownLocator | Wikipedia
 * Laurel Springs
 * Todd
 * Warrensville

See also:


 * Ashe County, North Carolina Post Offices (New River Notes)

Current townships (19):


 * Chestnut Hill: Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Clifton: Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Creston: Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Elk: Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Grassy Creek: City.Data.com | Histopolis | iTouchMap | SatelliteViews.net | Wikipedia
 * Helton: City.Data.com | Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Horse Creek: Histopolis
 * Hurricane: Histopolis
 * Jefferson: City.Data.com | Histopolis | Wikipedia
 * Laurel: City.Data.com | Histopolis
 * North Fork: Histopolis
 * Obids: City.Data.com | Histopolis
 * Oldfields: Histopolis
 * Peak Creek: Histopolis
 * Pine Swamp: Histopolis
 * Piney Creek: Histopolis
 * Pond Mountain: City.Data.com | Histopolis
 * Walnut Hill: City.Data.com | Histopolis
 * West Jefferson: City.Data.com | Histopolis | Mapcarta

U.S. Federal Census Townships (names bold on first appearance)


 * 1860 - Jefferson, North Eastern District, North Fork, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Scattering, South Eastern District, Town
 * 1870 - Chestnut Hill, Helton, Horse Creek, Jefferson, Laurel, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Staggs Creek
 * 1880 - Chestnut Hill, Helton, Horse Creek, Jefferson, Laurel, North Fork, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Staggs Creek
 * 1900 - Chestnut Hill, Clifton, Creston, Grassy Creek, Helton, Horse Creek, Jefferson, Laurel, North Fork, Obids, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Walnut Hill
 * 1910 - Chestnut Hill, Clifton, Grassy Creek, Helton, Horse Creek, Jefferson, Laurel, North Fork, Obids, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Walnut Hill
 * 1920 - Chestnut Hill, Clifton, Creston, Grassy Creek, Helton, Horse Creek, Jefferson, Laurel, North Fork, Obids, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Walnut Hill
 * 1930 - Chestnut Hill, Clifton, Creston, Elk, Grassy Creek, Helton, Horse Creek, Hurricane, Jefferson, Lansing, Laurel, North Fork, Obids, Oldfields, Peak Creek, Pine Swamp, Piney Creek, Pond Mountain, Todd, Walnut Hill, West Jefferson

General

 * Ashe County, North Carolina Records Inventory: Original Records (New River Notes)
 * North Carolina Digital Collections: Ashe County (NC State Archives)

General

 * Ashe County Cemeteries (extensive list in ePodunk)
 * Ashe County Cemetery Records (Interment.net)

Specific Cemeteries

 * Old Sullivan Cemetery, Jerd Branch, Helton Township (New River Notes)
 * Spencer Branch Cemetery, Helton Township(New River Notes)

Census

 * 1800 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * 1800 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1810 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * 1810 census, Ashe County, North Carolina, Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1820 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * 1820 census, Ashe County, North Carolina, Index | Notes | Part 1 | Part 2 (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1830 census, Ashe County, North Carolina, Index | Notes | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1840 census, Ashe County, North Carolina, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1850 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1850 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1860 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (images) (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1870 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * 1880 census, Ashe County, North Carolina (images; U.S. GenWeb Archives)

Church

 * Ashe County, NC GenWeb Archives: Churches
 * Fletcher, James Floyd. A History of the Ashe County, North Carolina and New River, Virginia Baptist Associations. 1982. (Google Books link, no preview)
 * Stafford, Garland R. Methodism in Ashe County, North Carolina from the Beginning to 1961. 1974. (Google Books link, no preview)

Court

 * Ashe County - District 23 (includes courthouse hours, location, and disability access; The North Carolina Court System)

Education

 * Ashe County in NC Yearbook Index (GenWeb)
 * Baldwin School, Old Fields Township, Ashe County, North Carolina, 1914 (New River Notes)
 * Healing Springs High School Commencement Program, 1932 (New River Notes)
 * Jefferson High School, Jefferson, NC, Annual Catalogue, 1924-1925 (New River Notes)

Genealogies and Biographies

 * Ham, Roy. Oral History Interview with Roy Ham, 1977, Interview H-0123-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 2007. Documenting the American South (complete text and audio)
 * Miller, Denny. The Miller Families of Ashe County, North Carolina. Google Books (no preview)
 * Shepherd Family Lines of Ashe County, North Carolina

Land

 * Ashe County, North Carolina Land Grants, 1799-1936 (New River Notes)
 * Ashe County, North Carolina Register of Deeds (official site)
 * Ashe County, North Carolina Remote Access Site (official site)
 * Register of Deeds Records, Ashe County (searchable database beginning 1935; NC State Archives)

Local Histories
County histories often provide important details of events and people of the local area. They often list such things as the names of first settlers, dates of settlement of communities, names of those who served in military organizations, details about the establishment of churches and businesses in the county and its towns, and many other facts helpful to the genealogist and family historian.


 * Anderson-Green, Paula Hathaway. A Hot-Bed of Musicians: Traditional Music in the Upper New River Valley (discusses Ashe County folk musicians and briefly mentions their family connections). Google Books
 * Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina: A History (from 1730 to 1913), Raleigh, North Carolina: Edwards &amp; Broughton Printing Company, 1914. Google Books
 * Ashe County Historical Society. Ashe County Revisited (Images of America series). Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2002 (photo history). Google Books
 * Ashe County Historical Society. Marriage Records of Ashe County, North Carolina 1801-1872, with Some After 1872. Ashe County Historical Society, 1989. Google Books
 * Ashe County, North Carolina 1870 Federal Census Index, Precision Indexing, 1993. Google Books
 * Cooper, Leland R. and Mary Lee Cooper. The People of the New River: Oral Histories from the Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga Counties of North Carolina. McFarland, 2001. Google Books | publisher | WorldCat
 * Cox, A.B., Footprints on the Sands of Time: A History of Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina, Sparta, North Carolina: Star Publishing Company, 1900. New River Notes (complete text)
 * Crawford, Martin. Ashe County's Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South. The University Press of Virginia, 2001. Google Books | publisher | additional info
 * Fletcher, Arthur L. Ashe County: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: Ashe County Research Assn., 1963; McFarland &amp; Co., 2009. Google Books
 * Goss, Bernard. The Heritage of Ashe County, North Carolina. Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Ashe County Heritage Book Committee in cooperation with the History Division of Hunter Publishing Co., 1984. WorldCat
 * History of Ashe County (NC Digital Collections, NC State Archives)
 * Houck, John, Clarice Weaver, and Carol Williams, Ashe County Historical Society. Ashe County (Images of America series), Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2000, 2003 (a photo history of the county). Google Books | WorldCat
 * Miller, Danny. The Miller Families of Ashe County, NC, 2007. Google Books
 * Oral History Interview with Roy Ham, 1977, Interview H-0123-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 2007. Documenting the American South (complete text and audio)
 * People from Ashe County, North Carolina, General Books, 2010. Google Books
 * Reeves, Eleanor Baker. A Factual History of Early Ashe County, North Carolina: Its People, Places and Events. 1986.

Maps

 * Ashe County GIS (detailed online maps)
 * Libre Map Project Virginia Map and GIS Data (detailed online topo maps)

Revolutionary War

 * 1779 - 1782 - at FamilySearch — index and images


 * Ashe County, North Carolina Revolutionary War Pension Roll (New River Notes)

War of 1812

 * Ashe County, North Carolina War of 1812 Veterans (New River Notes)

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 — images

Other Resources
 * The American Civil War in Alleghany County, North Carolina, and Ashe County, North Carolina (New River Notes)
 * Crawford, Martin. Ashe County's Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South (Nation Divided: New Studies in Civil War History). University of Virginia Press, 2001. Google Books page (with preview)


 * - 4th Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry and Infantry) (Confederate). Company B.
 * - 50th Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Confederate). Company D (Wilson Rifles).
 * - 1st Battalion, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company D
 * - 1st Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company A
 * - 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Detailed Men, Company G
 * - 5th Battalion, North Carolina Cavalry, Company D
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company B
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company F

World War I

 * Bickett, Thomas Walter. The Ashe County Case. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 2002. WorldCat
 * World War I draft registration cards, 1917-1918, for Ashe County have been microfilmed. Copies of these records are available at the Family History Library (their ) and are also available online at Ancestry.com, for a subscription fee. The original cards are maintained in the Southeast Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in East Point, Georgia and have been microfilmed by the National Archives as their Microcopy M1509.

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * The Ashe Mountain Times
 * Jefferson Post
 * The Mountain Messenger, 6 Feb 1873 (the only extant issue; in New River Notes)
 * The Mountain Times

Some older Ashe County, North Carolina news has been reported in the following:


 * The Landmark, Statesville, North Carolina (during at least the 1880s-1890s)
 * Raleigh Register, Raleigh, North Carolina (during at least the 1850s)

Other Records

 * Ashe and Alleghany Counties Representation in the North Carolina General Assembly, 1800-1876 (New River Notes)
 * Eastern Cherokee Applications at the National Archives: These discuss in detail a number of Ashe County families attempting to prove Cherokee ancestry.

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

The recording of wills and probate proceedings for the residents of Ashe County are the responsibility of the Clerk of Superior Court in the County Courthouse.


 * 1801 - 1941 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Taxation

 * 1815 - Mullins, Johnny C. "Ashe County, North Carolina - 1815 Tax List," The Mountain Empire Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Winter 1983):236-238; Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 1984):10-11. ff.

Vital Records
Vital records maintained by Ashe County are the responsibility of the Register of Deeds in the County Courthouse. Divorces are included in the duties of the Clerk of Superior Court at the Courthouse.

Birth

 * starting 1913
 * near full compliance by 1920


 * 1913 - 1966 - Ashe County Birth Index 1913-1966. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1800 - 2000 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1866 - 1964 - at FamilySearch.org — index

Marriage
Ashe County marriage records started in 1828. The Register of Deeds issued marriage licenses beginning in 1868.


 * 1801 - 1872 - Marriage Records of Ashe County, North Carolina, 1801-1872 (New River Notes)
 * 1851 - 1966 - Ashe County Marriage Index 1851-1966 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * Pre - 1799 - North Carolina Marriages to 1799, database North Carolina Pioneers
 * Ashe County, North Carolina Marriage Bonds at USGenWeb - free.
 * 1763 - 1868 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1762 - 1979 -  at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1759 - 1979 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina Marriage Index 1741-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Death

 * starting in 1913
 * near full compliance by 1920


 * 1913 - 1966 - Ashe County Death Index 1913-1966. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1898 - 1994 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 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

 * Superior court issues since 1814
 * 1958 - 2004 - North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Yearbooks

 * Ashe County students at NC colleges - a list via the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Societies and Libraries
Ashe County Historical Society Rt. 1, 148 Library Drive West Jefferson 28694 Website

Ashe County Public Library 148 Library Dr. West Jefferson, NC 28694 Website


 * Museum of Ashe County History

Web Sites

 * Ashe County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Ashe County Chamber of Commerce (includes visitor info)
 * Ashe County Civil War History (about the book Ashe County's Civil War)
 * Ashe County Heritage Development Plan (pdf; Ashe County Heritage Council)
 * Ashe County History
 * Ashe County, NC (RootsWeb)
 * Ashe County, NC GenWeb Archives
 * The Ashe County NCGenWeb Project, a member of The NCGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project
 * Ashe County Government: History
 * Ashe County, North Carolina (Wikipedia)
 * Ashe County, North Carolina Genealogy (Kindred Trails)
 * Ashe County, North Carolina: The Land of the Sky
 * Ashe County Public Library: Genealogy &amp; Local History
 * The Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State: Ashe County
 * History of Ashe County (Ashe County Chamber of Commerce)
 * Linkpedium: Ashe County Genealogy and Family History, referencing links to resources for Ashe County
 * Museum of Ashe County History
 * Museum of Ashe County History Facebook page
 * Museum of Ashe County to Hold Grand Opening (article, Ashe Mountain Times)
 * New River Notes: Ashe County, North Carolina section
 * Profile for Ashe County, North Carolina (ePodunk; includes genealogy and cemetery links)
 * North Carolina Pioneers North Carolina Pioneers