Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series

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Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be 
reproduced without permission. 

                      Wayne County Records                

"Our Heritage"
By Claude Moore

When what is now Wayne County was settled first in the 1740s, it was part
of Craven County. The land records prior to 1746 are in the Register of
Deeds office of Craven County.

This area became Johnston County in 1746 & the records are in the Johnston
County Courthouse in Smithfield for the years 1746-1758. In 1758 Dobbs
was created but only a few of these records have survived. 

The land grant records for the colony & the state are now preserved &
indexed in the Land Grant office under the supervision of the Secretary 
of State & are not in Archives & History.

Wayne County was created out of Dobbs County in 1779 & the last land deeds
are complete to the present & are located in the Register of Deeds office,
Wayne County Courthouse. They are cross indexed & the public is allowed
to use them.

They are handwritten from 1779 to 1914 & since that time, they are typed.
There are 27 file boxes of miscellaneous instruments which by this time
have been sent to Archives & History in Raleigh.

Records in the Register of Deeds office of Wayne County include the 
following: 

Chattel mortgages, crop liens, indexs to personal property, 1880-present; 
Entries to unclaimed land, 1785-1903; 
Plat books, 1914-present; 
Land divisions, 1875-1882;
Minutes of boards of commissioners, 1869-present; 
Record of official bonds in force, 1905-present; 
Tax list, 1827; 
Registration books, 1873-1925; 
Record of elections, 1878-1930; 
Marriage licenses, 1861-present; 
Vital statistics, births & deaths, 1913-present; 
& other minor records.

Records in the office of the Clerk of Court of Wayne County include the 
following:
 
Minutes docket of the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions, 1820-25, 1833-67; 
Appearance docket of Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions, 1845-68;
Trial & execution dockets of the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions; 
A variety of special proceedings, petitions, orders & decrees of the
  Supreme Court; 
Record of the Recorder's Court; 
Record of Wills, 1780-present; 
Administrator's bonds, 1861-96; 
Records of administrations, guardians & executors, estate papers, 1792-1906; 
Records of elections;
& a variety of other records which may be of interest to historians.

In the Sheriff's office, there is a record of all persons who have been
jailed from 1924 to the present.

In the office of the County Superintendent of Schools may be found the
minutes of the county board of education from 1914 to the present.

Archives & History in Raleigh has the following Wayne County records:

Original wills, 1776-1805; 
Wills & settlements of estates, 1782-1807; 
Some loose marriage bonds; 
Marriage licenses, 1851-1868; 
& miscellaneous papers dating from 1809 to 1839.

The records in the office of the Register of Deeds & the Clerk of Court are
in fireproof vaults. None of the Wayne County records were ever destroyed
by the fire. 

In March 1865, when the Union Army occupied Goldsboro & martial law was
declared, guards were placed at the Courthouse to prevent damage to county
records.

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Guy Potts <gpotts1@nc.rr.com>
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