North Carolina's county records, in the custody of the North Carolina State Archives, are valuable resources for genealogical research. Because the original and microfilmed records are arranged by county rather than by category or surname, researchers must know which county to investigate for each event in an ancestor's life (the county as it was then, not as it is now). Even though a family never moved, for example, the husband's 1742 purchase deed might be in Edgecombe, his 1759 will in Granville, his son's 1767 marriage in Bute, and his widow's 1780 estate file in Warren.

The chart below includes the formation date of each North Carolina county, the county/counties from which it was formed, and the numerical code assigned to its records by the North Carolina State Archives. An example of the use of this code number to denote the county is in Thorton W. Mitchell's North Carolina Wills: A Testator Index, 1665-1900.

Counties are listed by North Carolina State Archives's numerical code which is somewhat alphabetical. If the county name is in blue, clicking on it will link to a short history of the county and a state map that shows the county's location.

Counties are listed in numerical order as assigned by the North Carolina State Archives