Wake County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States   North Carolina    Wake County

History
From Crossroads to Capital: the Founding and Early History of Raleigh - site from the North Carolina State Library

Parent County
1771--Wake County was created from Cumberland, Johnston, and Orange Counties. County seat: Raleigh

Record Loss
1832--Several deed books were destroyed in register's office fire.

Neighboring Counties

 * Chatham
 * Durham
 * Franklin
 * Granville
 * Harnett
 * Johnston
 * Nash

Biographies

 * [Stacy] Marvin Hendrix Stacy, 1877-1919 (1919) - a UNC administrator; full-text via the Internet Archive

Cemeteries

 * Raleigh City Cemetery listings
 * NCGenWeb Wake County Archives - A-L, M-Z cemeteries
 * Find-A-Grave - Wake County cemeteries
 * Interment.net - Wake County cemeteries
 * FHL Microfilm - Pre-1914 Cemetery Inscriptions, Wake County. FHL Microfilm 882940 Item 9
 * Manusciprt: Confederate deaths and burials in North Carolina. [Find in a Library]
 * Historic Oakwood Cemetery - in Raleigh, NC

Church

 * Wake County church Information - via NCGenWeb

Court

 * Wake County court records - via NCGenWeb Archives

Education

 * Education page at Wake County, NCGenWeb
 * Book: History of Meredith College (1972) - by Mary Lynch Johnson; full-text online
 * Book: Vision Revisited: A History of Meredith College, 1971-1988 - by Carolyn C. Robinson; full-text online

Yearbooks

 * Meredith College: 1904-2009
 * NC State University: 1903-2010
 * Peace College: 1902-2010
 * Wake County students at NC colleges - via the NCGenWeb Yearbook Index

Family Histories

 * [Lane] Joel Lane, pioneer and patriot : a biographical sketch, including notes about the Lane family and the colonial and revolutionary history of Wake County, North Carolina
 * [Massey] Massey, William W. "Richard Massey of Bartons Creek, Wake County, North Carolina: With the Search for his Parentage," The Genealogist, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall 2004):196-227.

Land

 * Wake County deeds - via NCGenWeb Archives

Local Histories

 * Historical Raleigh from its foundation in 1792 : descriptive, biographical, educational, industrial, religious; reminiscences reviewed and carefully compiled. (1902) - full text via NC Digital Collections
 * History of Wake County, North Carolina : with sketches of those who have most influenced its development (1922) - full text via the Internet Archive

Maps

 * Wake County maps - more than 50 maps of the area; via the NC Maps website of the North Carolina State Library

Military

 * Wake County military information - via Wake County NCGenWeb
 * Wake County military records - via the NCGenWeb Archives

Newspapers

 * Wake county newspaper articles - via the NCGenWeb Archives
 * Newspapers published in Wake County - via the Library of Congress

Probate

 * Wake county wills and estates - via the NCGenWeb Archives
 * Book: Wake County, North Carolina Abstracts of Wills, Inventories, and Settlements of Estates: 1771-1802” published in 1984 by Frances Holloway Wynne. View the index for people of interest.

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

 * North Carolina Births and Christenings, 1866-1964 - search this name index to birth, baptism and christening records from the state ; via FamilySearch

Marriages

 * North Carolina Marriages, 1762-1979 - via FamilySearch; images included


 * Raleigh marriage and death notices from five of the area's newspapers 1799-1893 are posted at the North Carolina Libraries and State Archives website. These papers include theRaleigh Register, the North Carolina State Gazette, Daily Sentinel, Raleigh Observer and News and Observer. The notices are originally found in book form in the SLNC's 6-volume Marriage and Death notices.
 * NC People in the Papers - online database that includes deaths from Broughton's 6-volume Raleigh Marriage &amp; Death Notices. An ongoing project

Deaths

 * Wake County deaths -- deceased individuals of the area as reported in various newspapers; dates range from late 1700s to 1900s.
 * North Carolina Death Certificates, 1906-1930 - via FamilySearch; images included


 * North Carolina Deaths &amp; Burials, 1898-1994 - via FamilySearch

Societies and Libraries

 * Wake County Genealogical Society
 * Wake County Historical Society
 * Apex Historical Society
 * Olivia Raney Local History Library

Web Sites

 * NCGenWeb: Wake County - part of the USGenWeb Project