North Carolina: Bibliography and Sources

North Carolina Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

John H. Long, Editor; Peggy Tuck Sinko, Associate Editor; Gordon DenBoer, Historical Compiler; Douglas Knox, Book Digitizing Director; Emily Kelley, Research Associate and Digital Compiler; Laura Rico-Beck, GIS Specialist and Digital Compiler; Peter Siczewicz, ArcIMS Interactive Map Designer; Robert Will, Cartographic Assistant

Copyright The Newberry Library 2009

Alexander, Nancy. Here Will I Dwell: The Story of Caldwell County. N.p., 1956.

Arthur, John Preston. A History of Watauga County, North Carolina; with Sketches of Prominent Families. Richmond, Va.: Everett Waddey Co., 1915.

Black, Roy W., Sr. "Genesis of County Organization in the Western District of North Carolina and in the State of Tennessee." West Tennessee Historical Society Papers 2 (1948): 95–118.

Bost, Margaret, comp. Cabarrus County, North Carolina: Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, April 17, 1797–April 17, 1805. Edited by Clarence Horton. Concord, N.C.: Cabarrus Genealogy Society, 1994.

Bradley, Stephen E., Jr., comp. The Deeds of Tyrrell County, North Carolina, 1735–1760. Keysville, Va.: n.p., 1991.

Brawley, James S. Rowan County: A Brief History. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1974.

Cappon, Lester J., Barbara Bartz Petchenik, and John Hamilton Long, eds. Atlas of Early American History: The Revolutionary Era, 1760–1790. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976. Section on boundaries is thoroughly documented.

Casstevens, Frances Harding, ed. The Heritage of Yadkin County. Yadkinville, N.C.: Yadkin County Historical Society, 1981.

Clewell, John Henry. History of Wachovia in North Carolina: The Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Church in North Carolina during a Century and a Half, 1752–1902. New York: Doubleday, Page, and Co., 1902.

Connor, R. D. W., comp. and ed. A Manual of North Carolina. Raleigh: North Carolina Historical Commission, 1913.

Cope, Robert F., and Manly Wade Wellman. The County of Gaston: Two Centuries of a North Carolina Region. [Gastonia, N.C.]: Gaston County Historical Society, 1961.

Corbitt, David Leroy. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663–1943. 1950. Reprint, with supplementary data and corrections. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1969.

Craven, Wesley Frank. Colonies in Transition, 1660–1713. New York: Harper and Row, 1968.

Cumming, William P. North Carolina in Maps. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1966. An excellent portfolio of reproductions of fifteen historical maps.

DenBoer, Gordon. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: North Carolina. Edited by John H. Long. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. 122 counties, 434 pages, 490 maps.

De Vorsey, Louis, Jr. Indian Boundary in the Southern Colonies, 1763–1775. Chapel Hill: University of North Carlina Press, 1961.

Draughon, Wallace R. North Carolina Genealogical Reference: A Research Guide. Durham, N.C: Seeman Printery, 1956.

Dubester, Henry J. State Censuses: An Annotated Bibliography of Censuses of Population Taken after the Year 1790 by States and Territories of the United States. 1948. Reprint. New York: Burt Franklin, 1969. The standard guide for its subject.

Dunbar, Gary S. Geographical History of the Carolina Banks. Technical Report No. 8, Part A. Baton Rouge, La.: Coastal Studies Institute and Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, 1956.

Durham, Walter T. Before Tennessee: The Southwest Territory, 1790–1796, a Narrative History of the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio. Piney Flats, Tenn.: Rocky Mount Historical Association, 1990.

Eller, E. M. "The Houses of Peace": Being a Historical, Legendary, and Contemporary Account of the Moravians and Their Settlement of Salem in North Carolina. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1937.

Federal Writers' Project, North Carolina. North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1939.

Filby, P. William, comp. Bibliography of American County Histories. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985.

Folmsbee, Stanley J., Robert E. Corlew, and Enoch L. Mitchell. Tennessee: A Short History. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1969.

Fries, Adelaide, ed. Forsyth: The History of a County on the March. 1949. Rev. ed., compiled by Stuart Thurman Wright, edited by J. Edwin Hendricks. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976.

Georgia. Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed at Louisville, in November and December, 1803. Louisville, Ga., 1803.

Georgia. Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed at Milledgeville, at an Annual Session, in November and December, 1810. Milledgeville, Ga., 1810.

Hamilton, Ann B. Researcher's Guide to United States Census Availability, 1790–1910. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1987.

Hardy, Marion W. A Glimpse of Pamlico County. Charlotte: Herb Eaton, Inc., n.d.

Hathaway, J. R. B. "Albemarle County and the Original Precincts of Carolina, later North Carolina." North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register 3 (1903): 304–310.

Haun, Weynette Parks, comp. Hyde County, North Carolina, County Court Minutes, 1736–1756. Book 1. Durham, N.C.: n.p., 1985.

Hawks, Francis L. History of North Carolina: With Maps and Illustrations. 2 vols. Fayetteville, N.C., 1857–1858.

Hilliard, Sam Bowers. Atlas of Antebellum Southern Agriculture. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984.

Hughes, Shelby Jean Nelson, ed. Martin County Heritage. Williamston, N.C.: Martin County Historical Society, 1980.

Hunter, C. L. Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical; Illustrating Principally the Revolutionary Period of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Lincoln, and Adjoining Counties, Accompanied with Miscellaneous Information, Much of It Never Before Published. Raleigh, 1877.

Iredell, James, comp. Laws of the State of North Carolina. 1791. Reprinted, with an editorial note by John D. Cushing, as The First Laws of the State of North Carolina. 2 vols. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazer, 1984.

Jeffrey, Thomas E. "County Division: A Forgotten Issue in Antebellum North Carolina's Politics, Part I." North Carolina Historical Review 65 (1988): 314–354.

Jordan, Rene. "The Evolution of Early Tennessee County Boundaries: Hawkins County and Sumner County." Tennessee Ancestors 11, no. 1 (April 1995): 4–11.

Kane, Joseph Nathan. American Counties: Origins of Names, Dates of Creation and Organization, Area, Population, Historical Data, and Published Sources. 3d ed. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1972.

King, Henry T. Sketches of Pitt County: A Brief History of the County, 1704–1910. Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton Printing Co., 1911.

Lainhart, Ann S. State Census Records. [Baltimore]: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992.

Lee, Lawrence. The History of Brunswick County, North Carolina. Bolivia, N.C.: Brunswick County, 1980.

Lee, Lawrence. The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965.

Lee, Lawrence. New Hanover County: A Brief History. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1971.

Lefler, Hugh T., and Albert Ray Newsome. North Carolina: The History of a Southern State. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954.

Lefler, Hugh T., and William S. Powell. Colonial North Carolina: A History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.

Lefler, Hugh T., and Paul W. Wager, eds. Orange County: 1752–1952. Chapel Hill: Orange Printshop, 1953.

Long, John H. "A Case Study in Utilizing Computer Technology: The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries." Perspectives: American Historical Association Newsletter 30, no. 3 (March 1992): 16–17. Describes how computers have been employed in the making of this atlas.

Lonsdale, Richard E. Atlas of North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967.

McBee, May Wilson, comp. Anson County, North Carolina, Abststracts of Early Records. N.p., 1950.

MacDonald, Grace E., comp. Check-List of Session Laws. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1936. Complemented by Pollack (below), this guide lists all state session laws through 1935.

MacDonald, Grace E., comp. Check-List of Statutes of States of the United States of America, Including Revisions, Compilations, Digests, Codes and Indexes. Providence: Oxford Press, 1937. The most complete guide to state codes through 1937.

McRae, Barbara Sears, comp. Records of Old Macon County, N.C., 1829–1850. Baltimore: Clearfield Co. and Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991.

Map of the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1835.

Martin, Francois-Xavier. The History of North Carolina, from the Earliest Period. 2 vols. New Orleans, 1829.

Merrens, Harry Roy. Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical Geography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964.

Mobley, Joe A. Pamlico County: A Brief History. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1991.

North Carolina. Session Laws of North Carolina. Newbern et al., 1776–. Cited as N.C. Sess. Laws.

North Carolina. State Records of North Carolina. Vols. 1–10, Colonial Records, edited by William L. Saunders; vols. 11–26, State Records, edited by Walter Clark. Goldsboro and Raleigh, 1886–1907. Index to entire series (4 vols.) compiled and edited by Stephen B. Weeks, Goldsboro and Raleigh, 1909–1914. Cited as N.C. Recs.

North Carolina Department of Transportation. County Maps. Raleigh, c. 1990. Modern highway maps for all counties, useful for locating place names, water courses, and geographical features.

[Oldmixon, John.] British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and State of the British Colonies on the Continent and Islands of America. 2d ed. 2 vols. London, 1741.

Parry, Clive, ed. Consolidated Treaty Series. 231 vols. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, 1969–1981.

Paullin, Charles O. Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States. Edited by John K. Wright. Washington, D.C., and New York: Carnegie Institution of Washington and American Geographical Society of New York, 1932. Excellent section on international and interstate boundary disputes.

Pearce, T. H. Franklin County, 1779–1979. Freeman, S.D.: Pine Hill Press, 1979.

Peterson, Ron. "Two Early Boundary Lines with the Cherokee Nation." Journal of Cherokee Studies 6 (1981): 14–33.

Pollack, Ervin H., comp. Supplement with Bibliographical Notes, Emendations, and Additions to the Check List of Session Laws, Compiled by Grace E. MacDonald. Preliminary ed. Boston: National Association of State Libraries, 1941. Fills gaps in MacDonald's 1935 compilation (above) to produce the most complete list of state session laws through 1935.

Powell, William S. Annals of Progress: The Story of Lenoir County and Kinston, North Carolina. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1963.

Powell, William S. North Carolina: A Bicentennial History. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1977.

Powell, William S. The North Carolina Gazetteer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.

Powell, William S., ed. Ye Countie of Albemarle in Carolina: A Collection of Documents, 1664–1675. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1958.

Preston, Thomas W. Historical Sketches of the Holston Valleys. Kingsport, Tenn.: Kingsport Press, 1926.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Bladen County, N.C., 1778–1781. N.p., 1989.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Brunswick County, N.C., 1794–1820. N.p., 1989.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Buncombe County, N.C., 1794–1796. N.p., 1989.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Duplin County, N.C., 1778–1795; Sampson County, N.C., 1784–1795 and 1853–1860. N.p., 1990.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Iredell County, N.C., 1789–1804; Cabarrus County, N.C., 1793–1795; Anson County, N.C., 1795–1797. N.p., 1990.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entries: Robeson County, N.C., 1787–1795. N.p., 1988.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entrys [sic]: Anson County, N.C., 1778–1795. N.p., 1987.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Land Entrys [sic]: Lincoln County, N.C., 1783–1795. N.p., 1987.

Pruitt, A. B., comp. Abstracts of Lincoln County, N.C.: Land Entries, 1780 and 1795–1797; Land Processions, 1789–1834; and Lincolnton, N.C., Deeds, 1785–1868. N.p., 1988.

Rabenhorst, Thomas D., and Carville V. Earle, eds. Historical U.S. County Outline Map Collection, 1840-1980. Baltimore: Department of Geography, University of Maryland (Baltimore County), 1984. A portfolio of redrawn federal maps; no supporting text or documentation.

Ramsey, J. G. M. Annals of Tennessee, to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement, as the Watauqa Association, from 1769 to 1777; a Part of North-Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; the State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788; a Part of North-Carolina, from 1788 to 1790; the Territory of the U. States, South of the Ohio, from 1790 to 1796; the State of Tennessee, from 1796 to 1800. Charleston, S.C., 1853.

Ray, Worth S. Old Albemarle and Its Absentee Landlords. Austin, Tex.: n.p., 1947.

Register, Alvaretta Kenan, ed. State Census of North Carolina, 1784–1787. 2d ed., rev. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973.

Royce, Charles C., comp. "Indian Land Cessions in the United States." Part 2 of Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896–1897. Washington, D.C.: 1899. The standard authority in its field; state maps detail all Indian land-cession treaties with the federal government.

Salley, A. S., Jr. Boundary Line between North Carolina and South Carolina. Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina, no. 10. Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1929.

Salley, A.S., Jr., ed. Commissions and Instructions from the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Public Officials of South Carolina, 1685–1715. Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1916.

Sames, James Walter III, comp. Four Steps West: A Documentary Concerning the First Dividing Line in America, and Its Three Extensions, between Virginia and North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. Versailles, Ky.,: n.p., 1971.

Sams, Anita B. Wayfarers in Walton: A History of Walton County, Georgia, 1818–1967. Monroe, Ga.: General Charitable Foundation of Monroe, Ga., Inc., 1967.

Sealock, Richard B., Margaret M. Sealock, and Margaret S. Powell. Bibliography of Place-Name Literature: United States and Canada. 3d ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982.

Shields, Ruth Herndon, comp. Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Orange County in the Province of North Carolina, September 1752 through August 1766. Chapel Hill: n.p., 1965.

Shortt, Adam, and Arthur G. Doughty, eds. Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada. Vol. 1, 1759-1791. Canadian Archives, Sessional Paper no. 18. Ottawa, 1907. Contains full text of King George III's Proclamation of 1763, including boundary descriptions.

Sink, M. Jewell, and Mary Green Matthews. Pathfinders Past and Present: A History of Davidson County, North Carolina. High Point, N.C.: Hall Printing Co., 1972.

Sinko, Peggy Tuck. Guide to and Family History at the Newberry Library. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1987.

Skaggs, Marvin Lucian. "First Boundary Survey between the Carolinas." North Carolina Historical Review 12 (1935): 231–232.

Skaggs, Marvin Lucian. North Carlina Boundary Disputes Involving Her Southern Line. University of North Carolina Departments of History and Political Science, James Sprunt Studies in History and Political Science, vol. 25, no. l. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941.

Skaggs, Marvin Lucian. "Progress in the North Carolina–South Carolina Boundary Dispute." North Carolina Historical Review 15 (1938): 341–353.

Sondley, Foster A. A History of Buncombe County, North Carolina. 2 vols. Asheville: Advocate Printing Co., 1930.

South Carolina. Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly. Columbia, 1776–. Cited as S.C. Acts.

South Carolina. Statutes at Large of South Carolina. Edited by Thomas J. Cooper and David J. McCord. 10 vols. Columbia, 1836–1841.

Stephenson, Richard W., comp. Land Ownership Maps: A Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1967. Most of the maps listed here have been reproduced on microfiche by the Library of Congress.

Stick, David. Dare County: A History. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1970.

Stick, David. The Outer Banks of North Carolina, 1584–1958. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1958.

Stout, Garland P. Historical Research Maps: North Carolina Counties. Greensboro, N.C.: B. P. Stout, 1972–1980.

Swindler, William F., ed. Sources and Documents of United States Constitutions. 10 vols. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, 1973–1979. The most complete and up-to-date compilation for the states.

Territorial Papers of the United States. Vols. 1-26 edited by Clarence E. Carter; vols. 27-28 edited by John P. Bloom. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1934-1975. Cited as Terr. Papers U.S.

Thorndale, William, and William Dollarhide. Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987. An atlas of well-designed county outline maps for each state, accompanied by a bibliography and an explanation of methodology.

Thornton, Mary Lindsay, comp. Official Publications of the Colony and State of North Carolina, 1794–1939: A Bibliography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954.

Turner, J. Kelly, and John L. Bridgers, Jr. History of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton Printing Co., 1920.

United States. Statutes at Large of the United States of America, 1789–1873. 17 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1845–1874. Cited as U.S. Stat.

Van Zandt, Franklin K. Boundaries of the United States and the Several States. Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976. The standard compilation for its subject.

Watson, Alan D. A History of New Bern and Craven County. New Bern, N.C.: Tryon Palace Commission, 1987.

Watson, Joseph W., comp. Abstracts of the Early Deeds of Wake County, North Carolina, 1785–1802. Rocky Mount, N.C.: Joseph W. Watson, 1978.

Weathers, Lee B. The Living Past of Cleveland County: A History. 1956. Reprint. Spartanburg, S.C.: Reprint Company, 1980.

Weir, Robert M. Colonial South Carolina: A History. Millwood, N.Y.: KTO Press, 1983.

Wellman, Manly Wade. The Kingdom of Madison: A Southern Mountain Fastness and Its People. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973.

Wells, Robert V. Population of the British Colonies in America before 1776. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975.

Whitener, Daniel J. History of Watauga County, North Carolina, 1849–1949, and History of Appalachian State Teachers College, 1899–1949. Boone, N.C.: n.p., 1949.

Wiggins, David Hunter. "Running the North Carolina–South Carolina Boundary: A Geographic Evaluation." Master's thesis, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1974.

Williams, Sally. Index and Abstract of Deeds of Yancey County, N.C., Deed Book 1, Which Included Portions of Old Buncombe and Old Burke Counties. Medford, Ore.: Traveling Seminar Library, 1985.

Williams, Samuel C. "The First Territorial Division Named for Washington." Tennessee Historical Magazine, 2nd ser., 2 (January 1932): 153-164.

Williams, Samuel C. History of the Lost State of Franklin. Johnson City, Tenn.: Watauqa Press, 1924.

Williams, Samuel C. "North Carolina–Tennessee Boundary Line Survey (1799)."Tennessee Historical Magazine 6 (July 1920): 46–57.

Williams, Samuel C. Tennessee during the Revolutionary War. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, 1944.

Willis, Dixie T., comp. Pamlico County, North Carolina, Cemeteries: With Some Family Bible Records. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1983.

Wise, Linda, comp. Directory of the State and County Officials of North Carolina. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, 1995.