North Carolina Bible Records

United States North Carolina  Bible Records

Bibles were often given to a bride as a wedding gift, and families recorded in them information about their immediate family and close relatives. Bible records can include birth, marriage, and death dates; parents’ names; and names of children and their spouses, including maiden names. A person’s age at the time of death may be given. Many families kept Bible records from the 1700s to more recent times, although few of these records have survived. Some have been donated to local libraries or societies, but you may need to contact descendants to find some family Bible records.

Start with the free Index to Early Bible Records (pre-1830; 17,000 entries).

Published Family Bibles
Copies of Bible records are in the McCubbins’ Collection described in North Carolina Genealogy. Other collections with Bible records include:


 * Daughters of the American Revolution (North Carolina). Genealogical Collection. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971.) This collection includes family histories and transcripts of Bible, cemetery, church, will, marriage, death, and obituary records. The volumes are generally arranged by county, and many have individual indexes. There is a surname index to this collection:


 * Kirkham, E. Kay. An Index to Some of the Family Records of the Southern States: 35,000 Microfilm References from the NSDAR Files and Elsewhere. (Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1979.) Digital version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry.


 * Lester, Memory Aldridge. Bible Records from the Southern States 7 vols. in 6 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: M.A. Lester, 1956–1962.), These volumes often provide birth, marriage, and death dates, as well as marriage places. The entries are arranged alphabetically by Bible owner.
 * Martin, Ruth. North Carolina Bible Records. 8 vols. N.p., 1932?–1936?., Series one (vols.1–7) has Bible, church, and cemetery records. Series two (vol.1) has Bible, birth, and marriage records, and genealogies.
 * Dance, Martha. Index to North Carolina Bible Records, Volumes 1–4 and 6. Comp. Ruth Martin. (San Diego, California: San Diego Family History Center, 1991.)
 * Spence, Wilma C. North Carolina Bible Records Dating from the Early Eighteenth Century to the Present Day: Including Genealogical Notes and Letters Found in Some Bibles. (Logan, Utah: Unique Printing Service, 1973.), Birth, marriage, and death dates are often given for several generations. The book includes a surname index.

Bible records may also be found in periodicals. These are referenced in the "Families" section of the Periodical Source Index described in North Carolina Periodicals

Copies, or abstracts of old family Bibles that are no longer known to exist, may survive in Revolutionary War Pension application files at NARA, Washington, D.C., which are available online at three commercial websites: Ancestry, Footnote, and Heritage Quest Online.

FamilySearch Catalog
Bible records can be found in the FamilySearch Catalog by using a Place Search under:

NORTH CAROLINA- BIBLE RECORDS

NORTH CAROLINA, [COUNTY]- BIBLE RECORDS

Websites

 * North Carolina family Bible records: The North Carolina Library and State Archives hosts a Bible records digital collection. It includes over 2000 copies of family Bibles. These records are searchable by surname or locality.  Note that only names mentioned in the title are indexed. The collection is continuously growing.
 * North Carolina Bible Records on North Carolina Pioneers.com: Contains an index list of Bible records in their collection. You must be a member to see the contents of the Bible record.