Gaston County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

Description
Gaston County is located in the Southwestern portion of North Carolina and shares a border with South Carolina. It was named for William Gaston, member of the U.S. House of Representatives and justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

County Courthouse
Gaston County Courthouse 325 N Marietta St Box 1578 Gastonia, NC 28053 Phone: 704-868-7684

Register of Deeds has birth, marriage and death records from 1913 Land records from 1847 Clerk Superior Court has divorce and court records  Register of Deeds PO Box 1578 Gastonia, NC 28021 Telephone: 704-862-7680 Fax: 704-862-7519 Website  Clerk of Superior Court 325 N Marietta St #1004 Gastonia, NC 28052 Telephone: (704) 852-3100

History
The earliest European settlers of Gaston County were principally Scots Irish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and English. In the 1750s, Dutch settler James Kuykendall and others constructed the Fort at the Point at the junction of the Catawba and South Fork Rivers. The fort was built because of ongoing hostilities with the Cherokee, but it was apparently never attacked. Tensions between the settlers and the Native American inhabitants (primarily of the Catawba tribe) were eased considerably when the boundary dispute between North Carolina and South Carolina was settled in 1772, after which most of the Catawba settled on a reservation near Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Most early farms were small, cultivated primarily by White yeoman farmers of English ancestry. North Carolina's colonial policy restricted the size of land grants, and in Gaston County they tended to be about 400 acres (1.6 km2) each. One of the earliest grants in the area was given to Captain Samuel Cobrin, commander of a local militia company, on September 29, 1750.

Between 1845 and 1848, Gaston County experienced an industrial boom. During this three-year period, the first three cotton mills in the County were established. Some authorities[who?] say that the first one was established by Thomas R. Tate on Mountain Island, near the present site of Duke Energy's Mountain Island Dam and Hydroelectric Station. Other sources say that the first mill was established by the Linebergers and others on the South Fork River near McAdenville. Most sources agree that among the first three mills in operation in the County was the Stowesville Mill, founded by Jasper Stowe and Associates in the South Point Community south of Belmont. Gaston County still leads all other counties in the country both in the number of spindles in operation and in the number of bales of cotton consumed.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Parent County
1846--Gaston County was created 21 December 1846 from Lincoln County. County seat: Gastonia

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
1874--Courthouse fire destroyed many court records.

Neighboring Counties

 * Cleveland
 * Lincoln
 * Mecklenburg
 * York County, South Carolina

Cemeteries

 * at FamilySearch — index and images

County Records

 * 1833-1970 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Land

 * The Bureau of Land Management General Land Office web site has searchable land records for North Carolina.

Local Histories

 * High Shoals, Gaston county, N.C., a Southern cotton mill town (1908)

Migration
Early migration routes to and from Gaston County for European settlers included:


 * Occaneechi Path pre-historic
 * Lower Cherokee Traders' Path pre-historic
 * Catawba and Northern Trail pre-historic
 * Fall Line Road about 1735 (overlapped Occaneechi Path)
 * Great Valley Road (south fork) 1740s (overlapped Occaneechi Path)
 * Upper Road about 1783 (overlapped Lower Cherokee Traders' Path)

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


 * - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company A
 * - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company I
 * - 16th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company M
 * - 1st Regiment, North Carolina Detailed Men, Company B
 * - 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company C
 * - 4th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company E
 * - 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
 * 1849 - 1964 - NC County Records: Gaston County includes indexed images of Estates 1839-1970 and Guardianships 1849-1964
 * Images of Wills and Estates 1847-67; 1869-98; 1898-1916 North Carolina Pioneers ($)

Schools

 * Sacred Heart College - founded in 1892 by the order of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Closed in 1987.
 * Gaston County College Students - a name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in the county.

Birth

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

Marriages

 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1848 - 1929 - Gaston County Marriage Index 1848-1929 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

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

Deaths

 * 1910 - 1956 - Gaston County Death Index 1910-1956 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 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

Societies and Libraries
Gaston-Lincoln Genealogical Society PO Box 584 Mt. Holly, NC 28120 Website
 * Gaston-Lincoln Regional Library System

Family History Centers

 * Gastonia North Carolina Family History Center

Websites

 * Gaston County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Gaston County, NCGenWeb - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb project.