Madison County, North Carolina Genealogy

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

Description
Madison County is located in the Southwestern portion of North Carolina and shares a border with Tennessee. It was named for President James Madison.

County Courthouse


Madison County Courthouse P O Box 66 Marshall, NC 28753 Phone:828-649-3131 Register of Deeds has birth, marriage, death burial and land records Clerk Superopr Court has divorce, probate and court records from 1851  Register of Deeds PO Box 66 Marshall, NC 28753 Telephone: 828-649-3131 Fax: 828-649-0615 Website  Clerk of Superior Court PO Box 217 Marshall, NC 28753 Telephone: (828) 649-2200

Parent County
1851--Madison County was created 27 January 1851 from Buncombe and Yancey Counties. County seat: Marshall

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

Neighboring Counties

 * Buncombe
 * Cocke County, Tennessee
 * Greene County, Tennessee
 * Haywood
 * Unicoi County, Tennessee
 * Yancey

African American

 * Freedman Bank Records, 1865-1874 - search this freely available database for bank records of African-American individuals. This database includes records from all 29 branches of the bank. North Carolina bank locations included Wilmington, Raleigh &amp; New Bern.

Cemeteries

 * at FamilySearch — index and images

County Records

 * 1833-1970 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Education

 * Mars Hill College yearbooks - from 1917-2011; digitized by the NC Digital Heritage Center
 * Madison County College Students - a name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in the county

Maps

 * Madison County Maps

Military

 * Military records at the Madison County NCGenWeb Archives

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


 * - 2nd Battalion, North Carolina Infantry
 * - 16th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company B
 * - 2nd Battalion, North Carolina Infantry, Company H
 * - 5th Battalion, North Carolina Cavalry, Company A
 * - 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company G
 * - 7th Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company D

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * 1940 - 1948 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * Madison county newspapers - a listing of newspapers published in the county &amp; libraries that hold them; via the Library of Congress. If you find a paper of interest on microfilm, you may be able to request it via Interlibrary Loan with your local public library.
 * Madison 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.
 * See the "Deaths" category in the Vital Records section for information on obituaries

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


 * 1851 - 1952 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.


 * Wills and Estate records of Madison County - on the NCGenWeb Archives

Vital Records
Uncertified copies of vital records can be ordered for a small fee from the Register of Deeds. Please visit their website for more information.

Births

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

Marriages

 * 1741 - 2004 - North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1799 - 1893 - Madison 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
 * 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

 * Obituaries from The Record and The French Broad News - being placed online by the Madison County Genealogical Society; an ongoing project.
 * Madison 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

Societies and Libraries
Buncombe County Genealogical Society 128 Bingham Road, Suite 950 Asheville, North Carolina 28806 Telephone Number: 828-253-1894 Website

Madison County Genealogical Society PO Box 155 Mars Hill, NC 28754-0155 Website


 * Madison County Public Library

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

 * Madison County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Madison County, NCGenWeb - free genealogy resources; part of the USGenWeb Project