Transylvania County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

Description
Transylvania County is located in the Southwestern portion of North Carolina and shares a border with South Carolina. Representative Joseph P. Jordan, who was born on a farm in Transylvania, introduced a bill to the North Carolina House of Commons to establish a new county and he chose the name Transylvania from Latin words meaning "over the trees" or "across the woods".

County Courthouse
Transvylvania County Courthouse 12 E Main St P O box 417 Brevard, NC 28712 Phone: 828-884-3162 Register of Deeds has birth and death records from 1913 marriage and land records from 1861 and military records Clerk Superior  Court has divorce, probate and court records

Register of Deeds 20 East Morgan Street, Suite 2 Brevard, NC 28712 Phone: 828-884-3162 Fax: 828-877-3118 Website

Clerk Superior Court 7 E Main St Brevard, NC 28712 Phone: (828) 885-3000

Parent County
1861--Transylvania County was created from Henderson and Jackson Counties. County seat: Brevard

Boundary Changes
From 1789-1820, there was a boundary dispute between North Carolina and Georgia for a county known as Walton County. It was located in what is now Transylvania County, North Carolina, and the dispute was serious enough that the two states dispatched their militias in what was known as Walton's War. See copy of Map under below collections. Read more about Walton's War.

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

 * Buncombe
 * Greenville County, South Carolina
 * Haywood
 * Henderson
 * Jackson
 * Oconee County, South Carolina
 * Pickens County, South Carolina

Census

 * Census records on the Transylvania County NCGenWeb site - includes several mortality schedules

County Records

 * 1833-1970 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Directories

 * Several NC state business directories are available online. Visit this list of directories, open the directory, and navigate to Transylvania County.  Directories include information on area businesses and citizens.

Education

 * Brevard College Yearbooks, 1935-1998 -- digitized by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
 * Transylvania County county students at NC colleges – via the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Maps

 * Walton County, NC - now extinct, disputed county between NC &amp; GA, includes history
 * Maps of Transylvania County - via NC Maps website from UNC

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


 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company G
 * - 7th Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company A
 * - 7th Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company H

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * Transylvania County newspapers - a listing of newspapers published in the county; via the Library of Congress
 * North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project - contains full-text papers from 1752-1890s. Search for your Carteret County ancestors.
 * Transylvania Times - a current newspaper of Brevard, NC

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


 * 1810 - 1951 - Index to Transylvania County estate records, 1810 to 1951
 * 1879 - 1968 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Births

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

Marriages

 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1861 - 1970 - Transylvania County Marriage Index 1861-1970 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1799 - 1893 - Transylvania County marriages - are included in 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 searcheable. Available on the North Carolina Digital Collections website.
 * 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

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

Deaths

 * 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


 * 1913 - 1916 - Transylvania County death certificates, 1913-1916
 * 1911 - 1961 - Transylvania County Death Index 1911-1961. Batch at FamilySearch - free.

Societies and Libraries
Transylvania Genealogical Society 189 West Main St. PO Box 2347 Brevard, NC 28712 Website

Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society PO Box 2122 Asheville, NC 28802-2122

Transylvania County Historical Society, Inc. PO Box 2061 Brevard, NC 28712 website

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

 * Transylvania County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Transylvania GenWeb Project- free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb Project
 * Transylvania County Archives-USGenWeb
 * Old Walton County, GA