Pasquotank County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

County Courthouse


Pasquotank County Courthouse 206 East Main P O Box 154 Elizabeth City, NC 27907-0039 Phone: 252-335-4367 Courthouse burned 1862 Clerk Superior Court has divorce, probat and court records Registrar of Deeds has birth and death records from 1913 Marriage records records from 1867 and land records from from 1700's

Register of Deeds P.O. Box 154 Elizabeth City, NC 27907 Phone: 252-335-4367 Fax: 252-335-5106 Website

Clerk Superior Court P.O. Box 449 Elizabeth City, NC 27907-0449 Phone: (252) 331-4600

History
Pasquotank was formed as early as 1668 as a precinct in Albemarle County. Name derived from Indian word pasketanki, "where the current [of the stream] divides or forks." It is in the northeastern section of the State and is bounded by Albemarle Sound and Perquimans, Gates, and Camden counties. The present area is 229 square miles.... It is not known when the first courthouse was built, but from 1737 to 1757 the courthouse was at Brook Field. In 1758 it was moved to Relfe's Point. It remained there until 1762 or probably a little later. From 1765 until 1785 the courthouse was at Winfield. In 1784 the Assembly directed that it be moved to Nixonton, and from 1785 to 1800 Nixonton was the county seat. In 1799 Elizabeth (City) Town was named the county seat and on June 6, 1800, the first court was held there. Elizabeth City was first called Redding, which town was established in 1793. Redding was changed to Elizabeth Town in 1794, and Elizabeth Town was changed to Elizabeth City in 1801. It is the county seat. There is no description of the precinct when it was established.

This section quoted from Formation of the North Carolina Counties 1663-1943, by David Leroy Corbitt, pages 171-172 with later corrections; published 1996 by the NC Division of Archives and History, NC Department of Cultural Resources

... That all that part of Pasquotank County lying on the North East side of the said River [Pasquotank], and of a Line to be run from the Head of the said River a North West Course to the Virginia Line, shall be, and is hereby established a County, by the Name of Cambden.

The lines between Pasquotank and Perquimans and between Camden and Gates were ordered to be run in 1804. Because of the difficulty of establishing and marking the lines in the Dismal Swamp, they had not been previously marked.

... beginning near the fork of Little river, and running northwardly to the south-west corner of a ridge, known by the Middle Ridge, then along the west side of said ridge, crossing Colonel John Hamilton's turnpike road, to the north-west corner thereof, thence a northwardly course to a ridge in the desart known by Colonel Jesse Eason's Ridge, then a north course to the line that divides this State from the State of Virginia.

In 1818 an act was passed which authorized the boundary line between Pasquotank and Perquimans to be run and marked. No description is given in the law.

In 1909 an act was passed to define the boundary line between Pasquotank and Camden counties.

That the channel of Pasquotank River, from its mouth to its junction with the Dismal Swamp Canal, shall be the dividing line between Pasquotank and Camden counties; and the boundary line of Camden County, from the junction of the Dismal Swamp Canal and Pasquotank River to the Virginia line, shall be and remain as it now is.

Parent County
1668--Pasquotank County was created as a precinct in Albemarle County. County seat: Elizabeth City

Boundary Changes
Camden was formed from Pasquotank in 1777.

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.
 * Guide to Research at the NC Archives (listing of original &amp; microfilmed records)

Neighboring Counties

 * Camden
 * Gates
 * Perquimans

Bibles

 * Pasquotank Co., NC Bibles

Cemeteries

 * Pasquotank Co., NC Cemeteries

Census and Tax Records

 * Pasquotank Co. Census

Baptist

 * Flatty Creek aka Salem. Established by 1790.
 * Knobscrook, near Elizabeth City, N.C. Established by 1786.
 * Shiloh, Camden, N.C. Established 1729. Formerly located in Pasquotank County.

Church of England

 * Northeast Parish.
 * Pasquotank Parish. Established 1701.
 * St. John's Parish. Established by 1741.
 * St. Peter's Parish. Established by 1741.
 * Southwest Parish.

St. John's Parish and St. Peter's Parish united in 1756.


 * Book: Brief history of Christ Episcopal Church parish, Elizabeth City, N.C. (1948) - freely available online via the Eastern NC Digital Library

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 * LDS Ward and Branch Records - Elizabeth City

Methodist

 * Mount Lebanon. Organized about 1850. Served African Americans.

Genealogy

 * Broshier See Lumbroso.
 * Cartwright - Murphy, Lou Arden Andrews. Descendants of Peter Cartwright and his wife, Jane Morgan of Perquimans, Pasquotank &amp; Camden Counties, N.C. : with allied families: Falkner, Redus &amp; Parsons. Estes Park, Colo.: L.A. Murphy, 1996..
 * de Hinojosa - Hoff, Henry B. "Alexander de Hinojosa and His Descendants in Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct. 2004):260-273.
 * Gadd - Russell, George Ely. "John Lumbroso Jr. (1666-1744) of Pasquotank County, North Carolina," The American Genealogist, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan. 1983):32.
 * Lumbroso - Russell, George Ely. "John Lumbroso Jr. (1666-1744) of Pasquotank County, North Carolina," The American Genealogist, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan. 1983):32.
 * Lumbrozo - Russell, George Ely. "Portuguese and Spanish Colonists in Seventeenth-Century Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 76, No. 1 (January 2001):50-60; Vol. 77, No. 1 (Apr. 2001):138-147.

History

 * History of Pasquotank Co., NC
 * Ante-bellum Elizabeth City: the history of a canal town (1970) - book freely available online via the Eastern NC Digital Library
 * Brief sketch of Pasquotank County(1963) - book freely available online via the Eastern NC Digital Library

Maps

 * Pasquotank Co., NC in Maps

Military

 * Pasquotank Co., NC in the Military

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 — images


 * - 8th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * - 17th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry (1st Organization), Company A
 * - 8th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company A

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Miscelllaneous

 * Miscellaneous items pertaining to Pasquotank Co., NC

Newspapers

 * Pasquotank County residents in the newspaper - name listing of people from the county as located in misc. newspaper articles; time span varies. Articles indexed in the NC People in the Papers database.
 * Pasquotank county newspapers - a listing of newspapers published in the county &amp; libraries that hold them; via the Library of Congress.
 * North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project - contains full-text papers from 1752-1890s. Search for your Pasquotank County ancestors.

Organizations &amp; Links

 * Organizations &amp; useful addresses pertaining to Pasquotank Co., NC

Probate Records
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


 * Pre-1790  - Pre-1790  Wills stored at the North Carolina State Archives are online - free. Website tips.
 * 1720 - 1960 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.
 * Pasquotank Co., NC Wills NCGenWeb Project

Quakers

 * Quakers in Pasquotank Co., NC

Surnames

 * Pasquotank Co., NC Surnames

Birth Records

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

Marriage Records

 * 1760 - 1866 - Pasquotank County Marriage Bonds 1760-1866 at USGenWeb - free.
 * 1799 - 1893 - Pasquotank County marriages - may be included throughout 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 searchable. Available on the North Carolina Digital Collections website.
 * 1790 - 1875 - Pasquotank County Marriages 1790-1875 North Carolina Pioneers
 * North Carolina Marriages to 1799, a database, available to members North Carolina Pioneers
 * 1865 - 1932 - Pasquotank County Marriage Index (including Books 1-5) 1865-1932 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

Deaths

 * Pasquotank county deaths - list of county area deaths reported in various newspapers; dates range from late 1700s to 1900s.
 * 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

Divorce Records

 * 1958 - 2004 - North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry.com — index $

Yearbooks

 * College of the Albemarle: 1962-1997
 * Elizabeth City State University: 1925-2008
 * Pasquotank County students at NC colleges - list via the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Societies and Libraries
Family Research Society of Northeastern NC PO Box 1425 Elizabeth City, NC 27906-1425 website


 * Pasquotank-Camden Library

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Pasquotank County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * NCGenWeb: Pasquotank County - free genealogy resources; part of the USGenWeb Project
 * North Carolina Pioneers North Carolina Pioneers
 * North Carolina Pioneers North Carolina Pioneers