North Carolina Colonial Records

Online Records

 * 1600-1959 - Land records, North Carolina and Tennessee; indexes - images only.
 * 1669-1759 - Colonial estate papers - images only.
 * 1679-1775 - North Carolina wills and court records - images only.
 * 1704-1846 - Minutes and standing committee - images only. Society of Friends. North Carolina Yearly Meeting.
 * 1712-1781 - Letters from North and South Carolina to England regarding the conditions of the Church of England - images only.
 * 1740s-1790s - Sextons and curators of the Church of England in England, 1740's-1790's; list of plantation owners, 1740's-1800 - images only. There are some North Carolina records included in this collection, including some letters of recommendation and ordination for ministers and missionaries of the Church of England to come to North Carolina.
 * 1755-1774 - North Carolina court of claims of land records - images only.
 * 1762-1934 - Quarterly meeting minutes- images only. Society of Friends. North Carolina Yearly Meeting. Eastern Quarterly Meeting .
 * 1764-1853 - Land grants, land entries and warrants and list of grants for various counties of North Carolina - images only.
 * 1769-1771 - List of warrants for various counties of North Carolina - images only.

History
The first European settlements in North Carolina were along the Albermarle Sound. The Concessions and Agreements of Albermarle Province were written in 1665 with the name being changed to North Carolina in 1691. The Carolina charter was declared null and void in 1706, and Carolinas were divided into two provinces, with governors, in 1712. North Carolina officially became a royal colony of Great Britain in 1729. North Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies of the United States.

Court and Land Records

 * The Governor, Council, and Assembly in Royal North Carolina by Charles S. Cooke. (Chapel Hill: North Carolina University, 1912).
 * Index to the Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, Covering Volumes I-XXV, Published under the Supervision of the Trustees of the Public Libraries, by Order of the General Assembly. 2 Vols. (1886. Reprint. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing, 1993).
 * The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 1662-1790 by William Saunders. 30 Vols. (1886. Reprint. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing, 1993).
 * North Carolina Wills and Inventories Copied from Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories in the Office of the Secretary of State by John Bryan Grimes. (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1912).
 * North Carolina Wills: A Testator Index, 1665-1900 by Thornton W. Mitchell. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965).
 * An Abstract of North Carolina Wills from about 1760 to about `800: Supplementing Grimes' Abstract of North Carolina Wills 1663 to 1760 by Fred A. Olds. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1965).
 * North Carolina Taxpayers, 1679-1790 by Clarence E. Ratcliff. 2 Vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987-1989).
 * Early Records of North Carolina: From the Secretary of State Papers, 1677-1794 by Stephen E. Bradley. (Keysville, VA: The Author, 1992).
 * Province of North Carolina, 1663-1729, Abstracts of Land Patents by Margaret M. Hofmann. (Roanoke Rapids, NC: The Author, 1983).
 * Colony of North Carolina, Abstracts of Land Patents (1735-1775) by Margaret M. Hofmann. 2 Vols. (Roanoke Rapids, NC: The Author, 1982).
 * The Granville District of North Carolina, 1748-1763: Abstracts of Land Grants by Margaret M. Hofmann. (Weldon, NC: Roanoke News, 1986).
 * Deed Abstract of Tryon, Lincoln and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina, 1769-1786: Tryon County Wills and Estates by Brent H. Holcomb. (Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1977).
 * North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent H. Holcomb. (Clinton, SC: The Author, 1975).
 * Land Tenure in Proprietary North Carolina by Lawrence Morgan. (Chapel Hill, North Carolina University, 1912).
 * The Proprietors of Carolina by William Stevens Powell. (1963. Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1968).

Church Records

 * Quaker Marriage Certificates: Pasquotank, Perquimans, Piney Woods, and Suttons Creek Monthly Meetings, North Carolina, 1677-1800 by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1988).
 * Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, 1752-1879. 11 Vols. (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1922-1969).
 * History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina: From the Earliest Period of the Colonization of the Dutch, German and Swiss Settlers to the Close of the First Half of the Present Century by G. D. Bernheim. (Philadelphia: Lutheran Book Store, 1872).
 * Early Methodism in the Carolinas by A. M. Chreitzberg. (1897. Reprint. Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Co., 1972).
 * The Episcopal Church in North Carolina, 1701-1959 by Lawrence London and Sarah Lemmon. (Raleigh: Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, 1987).
 * The Society of the Propagation of the Gospel in the province of North Carolina and Correspondence of John Rust Eaton by David Dickson Oliver. (Raleigh: James Sprunt, 1910).
 * History of North Carolina by George Paschal. 2 Vols. (Raleigh: General Board, North Carolina Baptist State Convention, 1930-1955).
 * Historic Sketch of the Reformed Church in North Carolina by Reformed Church, Classis of North Carolina. (Philadelphia: Publication Board of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1908).
 * History of the Lutheran Church in North Carolina by United Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North Carolina. (n.p.: The Synod, 1953).

Other

 * Westward from Virginia: The Exploration of the Virginia-Carolina Frontier, 1650-1710 by Alan Vance Briceland. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987).
 * North and South Carolina Marriage Records: From the Earliest Colonial Days to the Civil War by William m. Clemens. (1927. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1981).
 * Explorations, Descriptions, and Attempted Settlements of Carolina, 1584-1590 by Richard Hakluyt. Rev. ed. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1953).
 * Carolina Families: A Bibliography of Books about North and South Carolina Families by Donald M. Hehir. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994).
 * North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History by Helen Leary and Maurice Stirewalt. (Raleigh: North Carolina Genealogical Society, 1980).
 * Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763 by Enoch Lawrence Lee. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and history, 1968).
 * Colonial North Carolina, a History by Hugh Talmage Lefler. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973).
 * The County Court in North Carolina Before 1750 by Paul M. McCain. (1954. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1970).
 * The Highland Scots of North Carolina, 1732-1776 by Duane Meyer. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966).
 * Records of Emigrants from England and Scotland to North Carolina, 1774-1775 by Albert Ray Newsome. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and history, 1962).
 * The Regulators in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1759-1776 by William Stevens Powell. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1971).
 * The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina by Hugh F. Rankin. (Raleigh: Department of Archives and History, 1972).
 * The Mecklenburg Signers and Their Neighbors by Worth S. Ray. (1947. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1966).
 * Narratives of Early Carolina, 1650-1708 by A. S. Salley. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911).
 * Crime and Society in North Carolina, 1663-1776 by Donna J. Spindel. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989).

Guides to Manuscript Collections

 * The Southern Historical Collection: A Guide to Manuscripts by Susan Sokol Blosser. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Library, 1970).
 * Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in the North Carolina State Archives by Barbara T. Cain. 3rd Ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1981).
 * Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives: Section B, County Records. 10th ed. (Raleigh: Division of Archives and history, 1988).
 * List of the Papeles Procendentes De Cuba (Cuban Papers) in the Archives of the North Carolina Historical Commission by Historical Records Survey. (Raleigh: The Survey, 1942).
 * Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Duke University Library by Nannie M. Trilley. (Durham: Duke University Press, 1947).
 * Genealogical Resources in the Guilford College Library. (Greenville, NC: The Library, 1977). The Guilford Library contains records of the Society of Friends beginning in 1680.