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Watauga County, North Carolina
Map
Location in the state of North Carolina
Location of North Carolina in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1849
County Seat	Boone
Courthouse
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United States    North Carolina    Watauga County

County Courthouse

History

The area that became Watauga and Ashe counties was part of Anson County during the early period; part of Rowan County in 1753, Surry County in 1771, Wilkes County in 1777 and was briefly part of the State of Franklin from 1784-89. After Franklin it was claimed as part of Washington County (part of the Southwest Territory, and later Tennessee) until it was annexed back by North Carolina into Wilkes County again in 1792.^[1] Ashe was incorporated as a separate entity by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1799. North Carolina erected Watauga County primarily from Ashe County in 1849.

Parent County

1849--Watauga County was created from Ashe, Caldwell,Wilkes, and Yancey Counties.
County seat: Boone ^[2]

County histories are available such as:

• A History of Watauga County, North Carolina : with sketches of prominent families by John Preston Arthur (1915)

Boundary Changes

Record Loss

1873--Courthouse fire destroyed all of the land records and most of the court records.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

• Beech Mountain
• Blowing Rock
• Boone
• Seven Devils

Neighboring Counties

• Ashe
• Avery
• Caldwell
• Johnson County, Tennessee
• Wilkes

Resources

Cemeteries

Church

LDS Ward and Branch Records

• Howard's Chapel

Court

Land

Local Histories

Maps

Military

Newspapers

Probate

Taxation

Vital Records

Yearbooks

• Appalachian State University: 1923-2006
• Watauga County students at NC colleges - via the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Societies and Libraries 

Web Sites

• NCGenWeb: Watauga County - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb Project
• Family History Library Catalog

References

1. ↑ Arthur L. Fletcher, Ashe County: A History (Jefferson, N.C.: Ashe County Research Assoc., 1963), 33-34.
2. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).