Research Information and Look-Up Volunteers Page

These are a list of places that do various kinds of look-ups for areas of North Carolina. To request a lookup from any of the below references, click on the name of the Owner or Researcher.  Please limit requests to no more than two at a time and be specific about what you need, so as to not to overwhelm the volunteers. As you can see, volunteers are needed.  If you own or have easy access to any kind of reference materials pertaining to Vance County genealogy or history, and you would be willing to do lookups or help researchers on a voluntary basis, please contact me on the link at the bottom of the page. Your efforts will certainly be appreciated.

Vance County Wills

Ancestral Tracks offers Lookup services for Vance Co.Wills 1923-1948. Please click link and contact for fees and services

Also see our Queries Page for messaging information, and our Links page for additional Resources

NEED PROFESSIONAL HELP?

Association of Professional Genealogists

Genealogy Freelancers

List of Genealogy Researchers on Cyndi's List

RESEARCHING INFORMATION

Are you new to researching and don't know how to get started? Check with our Basic Steps for Starting Genealogy Research pages

Do you need help in getting started in your African American Research? 

A Basic Guide to Start Researching Enslaved People

When doing your research, familiarize yourself with Copyright Laws

Visit our Queries Page for communicating through Public Forums

Obtaining Copies of Historical Documents

Note: all of these addresses & websites are posted on our Links page

The Vance County Register of Deeds has Land Records starting from 1849; Birth & Death Records starting from 1913, however a few Delayed Birth Certificates are much earlier and about 280 Death Certificates start from as early as 1909. Marriage Registersand Licenses exist starting from 1881.  Copies of the Marriage Register 1900-1929, A-K and Marriage Register 1881-1900 are on this website.  The Register of Deeds websites has an online search site for retrieving copies of land records starting from the inception of the County, with more records being added on a regular basis. 

The Vance County Clerk of Superior Court is judge of probate, and has exclusive original jurisdiction over matters relating to the probate of wills, and all things having to do with the administration of estates; the office also handles other legal matters including adoptions, incompetency proceedings, condemnation of private lands for public use, and foreclosures. They have copies of records starting from 1881.  We have an Index to Wills 1881-1916, and Index to Wills 1904-1916 on this website. We also have transcribed some of the County Wills

It is usually cheaper to order documents through the local County level, however, there are occasions where copies may be available only through the State Archives.

The North Carolina State Archives has copies of many Vance County records, most of them have been microfilmed, while others are housed in their many records collections and may only be accessed in their Search Room. A listing of what is available for Vance can be found in their online "Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives".If you've never ordered records from the Archives before, I suggest  you read our Contacting the State Archives page for guidance of what to expect. 

Family History Centers are located throughout the United States to help researchers by providing a number of genealogical resources including records on microfilm & microfiche, CDs, published reference sources for the area of interest, genealogies, histories, gazetteers, atlases & maps, etc. Some of the smaller centers require that you make an appointment since they have limited staff who are all volunteers. You may also want to check out some of their free online courses at their Getting Started in Genealogy videos.  You may want to  Click Here to locate a Family History Center in your area.

**Note: Most FHCs are currently closed due to COVID 19.**

Many of these records are also available for free online at FamilySearch in various records Collections. See the listings with links to them here

©2011 to present by Deloris Williams, and/or individual contributors, for the NCGenWeb Project.  This information is offered as a service to help guide researchers to North Carolina genealogy resources.  Last updated 09/10/2020

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