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Northampton County, North Carolina
Map
Location in the state of North Carolina
Location of North Carolina in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1741
County Seat	Jackson
Courthouse
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United States    North Carolina    Northampton County

County Courthouse

History

Northampton County was formed in 1741 from Bertie County and was named in honor of James Crompton Earl of Northampton, an English nobleman. Located in the northeastern section of the state, it is bounded by the State of Virginia and neighboring North Carolina counties of Halifax, Bertie and Hertford. The Roanoke River determines the southwest boarder of Northampton following its flow from the Roanoke Rapids Lake in the northwestern corner of Northampton County. The Meherrin River marks the northeastern border. The present land area is 536 square miles and the 2003 estimated population was 21,782. Jackson is the seat of Northampton County and is an extremely fertile area along the Roanoke River with cotton, corn and peanuts being its principal crops. The first courthouse was built here in 1742 and was known as Northampton Courthouse; Jackson, NC was incorporated in 1823 and named after Andrew Jackson who was born near the NC/SC line, studied law in Salisbury, NC and later became the seventh President of the United States.

During the Nat Turner slave insurrection of 1831 in the adjoining Southampton County, Virginia, NC militia were mobilized at Jackson, NC in readiness for the anticipated slave uprising that was quelled prior to the militia's intervention. The Northampton County Courthouse was built in 1859 and it is purported that Cornwallis visited a tavern that was located diagonally opposite the Courthouse. Lafayette, the first Frenchman to come to the aid of the American revolutionary cause and whom the United States Congress commissioned a major general of the Continental Army on July 31, 1777 dined in Jackson on his 1825 triumphal visit to North Carolina.

Parent County

1741--Northampton County was created from Bertie County.
County seat: Jackson ^[1]

Boundary Changes

Record Loss

Some records are missing.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

• Bertie
• Brunswick County, Virginia
• Greensville County, Virginia
• Halifax
• Hertford
• Southampton County, Virginia
• Warren

Resources

Cemeteries

• SearchNorthampton County Cemeteries at NCGenWeb

Church

Court

Family Histories

A great deal of information about several early Northampton County families is presented in:

• Dozier, Rebecca Leach, Lou Woodard King and Penn Perry. Twelve Northhampton County, North Carolina Families, 1650-1850: Bridgers, Daughtry, Futrell, Jenkins, Joyner, Lassiter, Martin, Odom, Parker, Stephenson, Sumner, Woodard. Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 2004. FHL Book 975.649 D2d

Bibliography

• [Boddie] Leary, Helen F.M. "The Two William Boddies of North Carolina," The American Genealogist, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Jan. 1991):16-29; Vol. 62, No. 2 (Apr. 1991):106-110; Vol. 66, No. 3 (Jul. 1991):148-153. Available at FHL.

Land

The Northampton County Register of Deeds Office has real estate records extending back as far as 1741.

Northampton County Register of Deeds
Thomas Bragg Street
Jasper Eley Annex Building
PO Box 128
Jackson, NC 27845
Phone: (252)534-2511

Local Histories

Maps

Military

Newspapers

Probate

Taxation

Vital Records

Societies and Libraries 

Web Sites

• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Family History Library Catalog

References

1. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).