Bath County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States   North Carolina    Bath County

Bath County was created from Albemarle County, North Carolina in 1696. In 1705 Beaufort, Craven, and Hyde precincts (later counties) were formed within Bath County. When Bath County was abolished in 1739, its by then seven precincts, Hyde, Beaufort, Craven, Carteret, New Hanover, Bladen, and Onslow, became counties.

Records. A few records exist for Bath County. They are scattered in the courthouses of some of its early precincts, and at the North Carolina State Archives. Some of Bath County's earliest deeds from 1700 are included in Beaufort County Deed Book One (1701-1729). Several earlier Bath County documents from before 1700 can be found in the records of Albemarle County and its precincts. Few of the earliest records of Craven and Hyde Counties have been preserved. Bath County's principal seat of government seems to have been the town of Bath (founded 1705) in Beaufort Precinct. Beaufort and Hyde Precincts held joint sessions of court, apparently in Beaufort. "Eighteen Bath County wills (1702-1718), mostly for Beaufort and Hyde Precincts, were recorded in Beaufort Precinct and may be found in Beaufort County Deed Book One and are not on record in the will books in the Beaufort County Clerk's Office. Also, ten of the eighteen do not appear in Grimes' 'Abstracts of North Carolina Wills 1663-1760' probably because the originals of the ten were never sent to the Secretary of State as required by law. In fact, over sixty more Beaufort County wills, dated 1720 to 1760, were retained in the courthouse and later copied into the Old Will Book and thus do not appear in Grimes' volume."