About Vance County, North Carolina

That a new county is hereby laid off and established to be formed out of portions of Warren, Franklin and Granville counties, and bounded as follows; Begin at a point on the south bank of Tar river in Granville county, just opposite the point where the dividing line between Fishing Creek and Kittrell’s townships strikes said river; thence down said river to a point in Franklin county opposite the place where King’s creek empties into said river; thence across said river north twenty-three and one-half degrees east to a pine tree near the old Moss house; thence due east to a rock on the road leading from Duke’s store to Nat. Macon’s place, about half-way between the Alston and the old Perry places; thence down said
road to Duke’s store; thence in a direct line to the point where the Millford road crosses the Warren and Franklin counties’ line; thence in a direct line to Coley’s X roads in Warren county; thence in a direct line to the point where Nutbush creek crosses the Virginia and North Carolina state line; thence along said State line to Big Island creek; thence up said creek to the line between Townesville and Sassafras Fork townships; thence along the boundary line between said townships, and between Henderson and Oxford townships, and Kittrell and Fishing Creek townships, south to the beginning.
The act changing the boundary line between the counties of Vance and Franklin was passed in 1909.

The earliest inhabitants of the area were the Occaneechi Indians. The first white explorer of the region was John Lederer, a German physician, and his Native American guide, Jackzetavon, in 1670. The later settlers who followed were of German, Scotch-Irish, and English ancestry. Henderson, the county seat, was incorporated in 1841 and named for Leonard Henderson, chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1833. Other communities in the county include Middleburg, Gillburg, Gill, Williamsboro, Greystone, and Epsom. Kerr Lake State Recreation Area brings thousands of visitors to Vance County for boating, waterskiing, and fishing. Other notable physical features of the county include the Tar River, Roland Pond, and Island, Anderson, and Tabbs Creeks.

According to the 1955 book, Zeb's Black Baby, by Samuel Thomas Peace Sr., "The formation of Vance County was accomplished largely as a political expediency. It was in 1881 when Blacks in large numbers were voting solidly Republican. Granville and Franklin Counties were nip and tuck, Democratic or Republican. From the Democratic standpoint, Warren County was hopelessly Republican. But by taking from Granville, Franklin and Warren, those sections that were heavily Republican and out of these sections forming the new county of Vance, the Democratic party could lose Vance to the Republicans and save Granville and Franklin for the Democrats (see gerrymandering). [U.S.] Senator [Zebulon Baird] Vance was a Democrat. He took kindly to this move and thanked the [North Carolina] Legislature for honoring him with naming the new county after him. At the same time Vance showed his humor by always referring to Vance County as 'Zeb's Black Baby.' " In the 1890 Census, Vance County was more than 63 percent African American.¹

©2009 to present by Deloris Williams, and/or individual contributors, for the NCGenWeb Project. You are free to use records on this site for your own personal research.  Any republication or reposting is expressly forbidden without the written consent of the owner.   Last updated 11/20/2021

Top