Vance County, North CarolinaEdit This Page

From FamilySearch Wiki

This North Carolina-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. While this page is under construction, may we suggest Cyndi's List.

Vance County, North Carolina
Map
Location in the state of North Carolina
Location of North Carolina in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1881
County Seat	Henderson
Courthouse
Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: NCGenWeb Project who welcome you to contribute. County Coordinator Vance Co. NCGenWeb Adopt a page today

United States    North Carolina    Vance County

County Courthouse

History

The county was formed in 1881 from parts of Franklin County, Granville County, and Warren County. According to the 1955 book, Zeb's Black Baby, by Samuel Thomas Peace Sr., "The formation of Vance County was accomplished largely as a political expediency. It was in 1881 when Blacks in large numbers were voting solidly Republican. Granville and Franklin Counties were nip and tuck, Democratic or Republican. From the Democratic standpoint, Warren County was hopelessly Republican. But by taking from Granville, Franklin and Warren, those sections that were heavily Republican and out of these sections forming the new county of Vance, the Democratic party could lose Vance to the Republicans and save Granville and Franklin for the Democrats (see gerrymandering). [U.S.] Senator [Zebulon Baird] Vance was a Democrat. He took kindly to this move and thanked the [North Carolina] Legislature for honoring him with naming the new county after him. At the same time Vance showed his humor by always referring to Vance County as 'Zeb's Black Baby.'  In the 1890 Census, Vance County was more than 63 percent African American.

• Formation and Naming of Vance County

• Vance County Quick Facts

• Henderson in the 1920s

Parent County

1881--Vance County was created from Granville, Warren, and Franklin Counties.
County seat: Henderson ^[1]

Boundary Changes

Record Loss

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

• Franklin
• Granville
• Mecklenburg County, Virginia
• Warren

Resources

Cemeteries

• Vance County USGenWeb Archives: Cemeteries

• Vance County Cemeteries from Cemetery Census
  
• Plank Chapel Cemetery
• Vance County Cemeteries from Find-A-Grave
  
• Kittrell Confederate Cemetery
• NC Vance: Cemeteries
  

Church

Court

Land

The Vance County Register of Deeds maintains land records back to the formation of the County in 1881. There is a searchable online database for land records dating back to 1881 available here:

Land Records

Local Histories

Life in Henderson in the 1920s, by Frances Parker Woodlief

Maps

• North Carolina Maps,  collaborative digitization project by the North Carolina State Archives, the Outer Banks History Center, and the University Library at UNC-Chapel Hill.
  
• NC Vance: Maps

Military

Newspapers

The Daily Dispatch (Henderson, NC)

Probate

Taxation

Vital Records

Vance County has a number of marriage records missing, reason unknown.  They have Marriage Registers that cover 1881-1962; Marriage Licenses for 1897, 1902, 1911-1968; there is an Index to the Marriage Register, 1963-1969.

North Carolina began requiring Birth and Death records in 1913; there are a number of Delayed Birth Certificates that were filed by those born prior to that date, and there are a few Death Certificates that go back as far as 1909.

Copies of Birth, Death and Marriage records can be obtained from the Register of Deeds office.

           Vance County Register of Deeds
           122 Young Street, Suite F
           Henderson, NC 27536
           Phone: 252-738-2110

There are Marriage records for Vance County on a few places online, the following databases are free:

• North Carolina Marriages 1759-1979
• Vance County Marriages 1900-1929 (currently A-K)
• Vance County USGenWeb Archives-Marriages

Societies and Libraries 

Vance County has an active Historical Society and a new Genealogical Society which is an offshoot of the Historical Society.

H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library

Web Sites

• Vance County, NCGenWeb
  
• Vance County, USGenWeb Archives
• Vance County History & Genealogy
• Family History Library Catalog
  
• Vance County Government
• City of Henderson (Vance County seat of government)

References

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