Cleveland County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

Description
The County was named for Benjamin Cleveland, a colonel in the American Revolutionary War, who took part in the Battle of King's Mountain. The County has Hastings as its seat and the County was created 1871. The County is located in the west area of the state.

County Courthouse
Cleveland County Courthouse 11 East Marion St P O Box 1210 Shelby, North Carolina 28150 Phone: 704-484-4834 Register of Deeds has birth and death records from 1914 Marriage records from 1851 and land records from 1841 Clerk Superior Court has divorce records  from 1921 Probate records from 1843 &amp; Circuit records from 1914  Register of Deeds PO Box 1210 Shelby, NC. 28151-1210 Telephone: 704-484-4834 Fax: 704-484-4909 Website Clerk of Superior Court 100 Justice Pl Shelby, NC 28150 Telephone: (704) 476-7800

History
Cleaveland was originally used but the present spelling was adopted in 1887.

Parent County
1841--Cleveland County was created 11 January 1841 from Lincoln and Rutherford Counties. County seat: Shelby

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.

Variant Spellings

 * Cleaveland

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Neighboring Counties

 * Burke
 * Catawba
 * Cherokee County, South Carolina
 * Gaston
 * Lincoln
 * Rutherford
 * York County, South Carolina

Cemeteries

 * at FamilySearch — index and images

Methodist

 * Mount Harmony United Methodist Church, near Polkville, N.C. Organized by 1791.

County Records

 * 1833-1970 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Education

 * Cleveland Community College Yearbooks: 1969-1991

Revolutionary War

 * 1779 - 1782 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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 — index and images


 * - 12th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company E
 * - 14th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 4th Volunteers, Company D
 * - 15th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 5th Volunteers, 1st Company D
 * - 15th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, formerly the 5th Volunteers, Company C
 * - 1st Regiment, North Carolina Detailed Men, Company C
 * - 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company D
 * - 4th Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry (59th North Carolina State Troops), Company I
 * - 4th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company H
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company E

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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
 * 1841 - 1868, 1910-1942 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Taxation

 * 1840-1848 - Cleveland County Tax Scroll, 1840-1848 (images) online at FamilySearch
 * 1849-1857 - Cleveland County Tax Scroll, 1849-1857 (images) online at FamilySearch: Part 1 and Part 2

Birth

 * 1800 - 2000 - at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1866 - 1964 - at FamilySearch.org — index

Death

 * Cleveland County Obituaries - misc. obits; from GenealogyBuff.com
 * 1898 - 1994 - at FamilySearch.org — index and images
 * 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

 * 1926 - 1975 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1958 - 2004 - North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Marriages

 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1870 - 1938 - Cleveland County Marriage Index 1870-1938 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

Societies and Libraries
Broad River Genealogical Society PO Box 2261 Shelby, NC 28150-2261 Website

Websites

 * Cleveland County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * USGenWeb Project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Cleveland County NCGenWeb
 * USGenWeb Archives-Cleveland County, NC
 * USGenWeb Archives-Cleveland County, NC