Caldwell County, North Carolina Genealogy
United States 
North Carolina Caldwell County
Guide to Caldwell County North Carolina genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
| Caldwell County, North Carolina | |||||||||
| Map | |||||||||
 Location in the state of North Carolina | |||||||||
 Location of North Carolina in the U.S. | |||||||||
| Facts | |||||||||
| Founded | 1841 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County Seat | Lenoir | ||||||||
| Courthouse | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Contents
County Courthouse
| | |||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Caldwell County Courthouse
905 West Ave NW
Lenoir NC 28645
Phone: 828-757-1310
Register of Deeds has birth, marriage, death and land
Clerk Superior Court has divorce, Court and Probate Records[1]
History
Caldwell County was formed in 1841 from Burke and Wilkes counties. It was named in honor of Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina. He strongly advocated a public school system and a railroad across the center of the State from Morehead City to Tennessee.
Caldwell County is in the west central section of the State and is bordered by Alexander, Catawba, Burke, Avery, Watauga and Wilkes counties. The present land area is 471.60 square miles and the 2000 population was 77,386.
The court was ordered to be held at the store of George Powell near the house of George Smith, Jr., until a courthouse was erected. Commissioners were named to select a site as near the center as possible, acquire land and a town, and erect a courthouse. Lenoir, named in honor of William Lenoir, is the county seat.
Parent County
1841--Caldwell County was created 11 January 1841 from Burke and Wilkes Counties. County seat: Lenoir [2]
Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating North Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation North Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1664-1965) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.
Record Loss
For a list of record loss in North Carolina counties see: North Carolina Counties with Burned Courthouses
Places/Localities
Populated Places
Towns in Caldwell County are: Lenoir, Granite Falls, Hudson, Gamewell, Sawmills, Blowing Rock, Cajah's Mountain, Cedar Rock, Collettsville, Northlakes, Rhodhiss.
Neighboring Counties
Resources
Cemeteries
- Blue Ridge Memorial Cemetery, Lenoir - at BillionGraves
- Caldwell County cemeteries on FindAGrave
Census
For tips on accessing Caldwell County, North Carolina Genealogy census records online, see: North Carolina Census.
Church
Court
Caldwell County Courthouse
216 Main St NW
Lenoir, NC 28645
(828) 759-8403
Mailing Address:
PO Box 1376
Lenoir, NC 28645
Directories
- Lenoir City Directory - 1930/1931
Education
- Caldwell County college students - a name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in the county
- Davenport College: a few yearbooks between 1905-1932
Land
The Register of Deeds office is the primary custodian of permanent records for the county. We record a variety of real property documents including deeds, deeds of trust, mortgage cancellations, powers of attorney, maps and others. The Vital Records Division maintains Caldwell County birth records, death records, marriage licenses issued in Caldwell County, Military Discharges, and Notary records. Our online records search can be accessed from this site and contains all of our real estate indexes since the formation of the county and images of all of our real estate documents from the early 1900's forward. Indexes of all of our vital records can also be found there.
Caldwell County Register of Deeds
Caldwell County Registry of Deeds Records Search
Local Histories
- Caldwell County History - from the Caldwell County Government website
- Caldwell County Government
Maps
Migration
Early migration routes to and from Caldwell County for European settlers included:[3]
- Old Cherokee Path pre-historic
Military
Civil War
Civil War Confederate units - Brief history, counties where recruited, etc.
- -11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
- - 11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company B
:- 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company C
:- 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company F
:- 5th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Company I
:- 8th Battalion, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company C
Newspapers
Probate
The Caldwell County Clerk of the Court has probate records starting with 1830, if they have not been transferred to the North Carolina State Archives.
The Clerk of Superior Court is elected for four years and must be a resident of the county in which he or she is elected. Unlike clerks of court in other states, the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina has numerous judicial functions.
As judge of probate, the Clerk has exclusive original jurisdiction over matters relating to the probate of wills, and the administration of estates, including appointing personal representatives, auditing their accounting, and removing them from office if necessary. The Clerk also presides over many other legal matters including adoptions, incompetency proceedings, condemnation of private lands for public use, and foreclosures. The Clerk is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions of the district and superior court. In addition, the Clerk receives and disburses money collected each year from court fees and fines.
Clerk of Superior Court
(828) 759-8402
Ext. 8376
Caldwell County Courthouse
216 Main St NW
Lenoir, NC 28645
Mailing Address:
PO Box 1376
Lenoir, NC 28645
- 1827-1915 - Will Books A to B (1827-1915) have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.
Taxation
Vital Records
The Caldwell County Register of Deeds offers online access to indexes of their Vital Records.
Do a Records Search: Caldwell County Records Search
Marriages
- 1841-1956 - Caldwell County Marriage Books 1-8 Index 1841-1956 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.[4]
- 1878-1882 - Caldwell County marriage licenses, 1878-1882 - index available from NC State Library - Word format | PDF format
Societies and Libraries
- Caldwell County Public Library
- Caldwell Heritage Museum
- North Carolina Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 30815, Raleigh, NC 27622-0815
Family History Centers
Web Sites
- Caldwell County, NC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
- Caldwell County NCGenWeb - free genealogy resources; a site within the USGenWeb Project
- FamilySearch Catalog
- USGenWeb Archives-Caldwell County, NC
- NCpedia
References
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Caldwell County, North Carolina. Page 507 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 847-61. (FHL Book 973 D27e 2002) WorldCat entry., and William E. Myer, Indian Trails of the Southeast. (Nashville, Tenn.: Blue and Gray Press, 1971), 12-14, and the book's pocket map "The Trail System of the Southeastern United States in the early Colonial Period" (1923). (FHL Book 970.1 M992i) WorldCat entry.
- ↑ Genealogical Society of Utah, Parish and Vital Records List (July 1998). Microfiche. Digital version at https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/4/4d/Iginorthcarolinaa.pdf.
