Courts have always dealt with crimes and disputes, but in the past they also handled much more routine items that can be of great interest to your genealogical research.   These include many functions now performed by other government offices such as proving deeds, probate, petitions, taxes, appointment of local officials, licenses, bastardy, manumission – the list goes on.  To complicate things, the type of courts and what areas they were responsible for has changed over time. This discussion will help you know what you can find along with how and where to find it. 

 

A North Carolina native, David is President and founder of NC Historical Records Online (NCHRO), with a mission to provide public online access to images of original records and other relevant information useful to researching North Carolina history and genealogy. He is the creator of NCHRO’s main project: the free website NC Land Grant Images and Data which contains searchable records for all 200,000+ land grants issued by North Carolina, along with close to a million images of original records.