Durham County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States North Carolina  Durham County


 * This article is about a county in North Carolina. For other uses, see Durham (disambiguation).

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

County Courthouse


Durham County Courthouse 200 East Main Street Durham, NC 27707 Phone: 919-560-0480 County Health Department  has birth, death and burial records Register of Deeds has marriage and land records Clerk Superior Court has divorce, probate and court records from 1881  Register of Deeds PO Box 1107 Durham, NC 27705 Telephone: 919-560-0480 Fax: 919-560-0497 Website  Clerk of Superior Court 510 S Dillard St Durham, NC 27701 Telephone: (919) 808-3000

Parent County
28 February 1881 Durham County was created from Orange and Wake Counties. County seat: Durham

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.

Neighboring Counties
Chatham | Granville | Orange | Person | Wake

Cemeteries

 * Durham County Cemeteries - via Durham County NCGenWeb
 * Durham County Cemetery Listings - via Durham County NCGenWeb Archives
 * Durham County Cemeteries - user-contributed burial records via Find-A-Grave
 * Durham County Burial Listings - via CemeteryCensus, a group cemetery transcription project

Court

 * Widow's Dower &amp; Year's Support 1881-1944 - included in NC County Records Collections

Directories

 * Durham County Directories -- via Durham County NCGenWeb

Education

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

Yearbooks

 * Duke University: 1912-1995
 * NC Central University: 1929-2009

Land

 * Durham County Deeds, 1881-1984 -can be searched online at the website of the Durham County Register of Deeds; images included.

Maps

 * Durham County Maps - via the University of North Carolina's NC Maps collection

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

Newspapers

 * Carolina Times- 400+ issues available online from 1937-1950 of ths African-American newspaper; provided by DigitalNC.org
 * Index to the Durham Herald
 * 1981 (index Jan -May)
 * 1981 (subject index, May - Dec / name index, May - Dec)
 * 1982 (name index | subject index)
 * 1983 (name index | subject index)
 * 1984 (name index)
 * 1985 (name index | subject index)
 * Durham County newspapers - a listing of newspapers published in the county &amp; libraries that hold them; via the Library of Congress.

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1660 – 1790 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry.com — index and images $]
 * 1663 - 1979 at FamilySearch.org — 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 ima


 * 1881-1907 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Vital Records
Uncertified copies of vital records can be ordered for a small fee from the Register of Deeds. Please visit their website for more information.

Births

 * North Carolina Births and Christenings, 1866-1964 - search this name index to birth, baptism and christening records from the state; via FamilySearch
 * 1800 - 2000 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1866 - 1964 at FamilySearch.org — index

Marriages

 * 1762-1979 - North Carolina Marriages, 1762-1979 - search this database of marriages from across the state - images included; via FamilySearch
 * 1799-1893 - Durham County marriages - may be included throughout Carrie Broughton's 6-volume index of the Raleigh Register &amp; State Gazette newspaper (1799-1893). Marriages are listed by year and PDF files are searchable. Available on the North Carolina Digital Collections website.
 * 1881-1951 - Durham County Marriage Books 1-6 Index 1881-1951 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 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

Divorce

 * 1958 - 2004North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Deaths

 * Misc. Durham County Obituaries - via the Durham County NCGenWeb Archives
 * Deaths from 1981-1984 - check the Indexes to the Durham Herald in the newspaper category above
 * Durham County deaths - list of county area deaths reported in various newspapers; dates range from late 1700s to 1900s.
 * North Carolina Death Certificates, 1906-1930 - search a statewide collection of freely available death certificates - images are included; via FamilySearch
 * North Carolina Deaths &amp; Burials, 1898-1994 - search death records from across the state; via FamilySearch
 * 1898 - 1994 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

Societies, Libraries and Museums
Durham – Orange Genealogical Society P.O. Box 4703 Chapel Hill 27515-4703 Website
 * Duke Special Collections Library

Websites

 * Durham County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * NCGenWeb: Durham County - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb Project