Anders Family
David Asbel Anders with
grandson Jim and wife
Tina Smith Anders Family

US GenWeb Project

Rufus and Florence Hall Owen Family in 1947
Rufus and Florence Hall Owen and children

US GenWeb Archives Project

 

Transylvania County, NC GenWeb Project
"Digging Into The Genealogy of Our Ancestors"

NC GenWeb

 

North Carolina Courthouse Fires

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The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. 
Not only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: 
marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. 
Even if they have been placed on microfilm, computers and film burn too. The most 
heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the 
hands of arsonists. However, not all records were lost.
Alleghany - 1932 (fire, record loss) 
Alexander - 1865 (civil war, record loss), 1967 (fire) 
Craven - 1712 (records destroyed by Indians) 
Anson - 1868 (fire) 
Ashe - 1865 (fire, records fragmented) 
Bladen - 1770 (fire), 1800 (fire), 1893 (fire) 
Brunswick - 1865 (civil war, record loss), 1957 (clerk's office fire) 
Buncombe - 1830 (fire), 1865 (fire) 
Burke - 1865 (civil war, record loss) 
Cabarrus - 1876 (fire) 
Cherokee - 1865 (fire), 1895 (fire), 1926 (fire) 
Chowan - 1848 (records destroyed by acting clerk) 
Clay - 1870 (fire, records destroyed) 
Craven - 1712 (records destroyed by Indians) 
Currituck - 1842 (fire) 
Davidson - 1866 (fire) 
Gaston - 1874 (fire) 
Greene - 1876 (fire) 
Guilford - 1781 (fire), 1872 (fire) 
Harnett - 1892 (fire), 1894 (fire) 
Haywood - 1932 (records destroyed in move to new courthouse) 
Hertford - 1830 (fire), 1822 (fire) 
Hyde - 1789 (fire), 1827 (fire) 
Iredell - 1854 (fire) 
Jackson - 1913 (records lost when county seat moved) 
Jones - 1862 (fire) 
Lenoir - 1878 (fire), 1880 (fire) 
Lincoln - 1797 (records may have been destroyed by fire in private home) 
Martin - 1862 (fire) 
Mitchell - 1907 (some records destroyed in move to new courthouse) 
Montgomery - 1835 (fire), 1840 (fire), 1886 (may have suffered record loss from courthouse fire. 
The clerk said that he saved the records but that they were "in a state of great confusion.") 
Moore - 1889 (fire) 
New Hanover - 1789, 1819 & 1840 (all 3 courthouse fires may have destroyed some records) 
Onslow - 1752 & 1755 (records destroyed by storm) 
Orange - 1781 (records destroyed when buried in woods to avoid capture or destruction by Cornwallis) 
Pitt - 1857 (fire) 
Rowan - 1865 (civil war, record loss) 
Rutherford - 1907 (fire) 
Sampson - 1921 (clerk's office fire) 
Swain - 1879 (fire) 
Wake - 1832 (register's office fire) 
Warren - 1935 (Some early County records may have been destroyed) 
Washington - 1962 (County records destroyed by bombardment in Civil War) 
Watauga - 1873 (fire) 
Wayne - 1781 (records may have been destroyed in courthouse fire) 
Information on this page is courtesy of  Diane Siniard. Diane is the coordinator for NCGenWeb's North Carolina Cemetery Project and Special Projects.