NC County Formation

Today North Carolina has 100 counties, although some of their names, boundaries and borders have changed over time from the formation of the colony's earliest counties in 1664 to the addition of the state's last two counties in 1911.  In fact, during North Carolina's history, several counties were created that later became defunct, renamed, or absorbed into other counties. And the state also created three counties in the 1780s and 1790s that are now part of Tennessee. 

A knowledge of the history of the state's county formation is invaluable knowledge for guiding historical research. Knowing when a county formed or ceased to exist can help guide the resources and collections researchers may want to consider.

A number of resources are available to help with North Carolina historical county research:

• The table below presents a list of all historical and current counties, including defunct counties, with the date of formation and parent counties. Click on the county name and you'll be directed to a page at NCpedia for that county. NCpedia county pages include a range of information about the history of the county with: links to biographies related to the county; currrent population and census demographic information; geographic and natural heritage information; and more.
• The table also indicates events (war, fire, natural disaster, unexplained loss) that have impacted the status of county records that remain today at the State Archives of North Carolina. See the column "County Record History, State Archives of NC". It can be assumed that columns without an entry have fairly complete documentary records at the State Archives. 

To learn more about the history of North Carolina's counties, visit these resources:

• History of North Carolina Counties
• Chronological listing of the formation of North Carolina counties
• Annotated legislative and legal history of North Carolina's counties
• Interactive timeline of the formation of North Carolina's counties
• Formation of Tennessee

District of Washington

On August 22, 1776, the inhabitants living along the Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky Rivers petitioned the Council of Safety saying that since they “are within the Bounds of this State” they wanted to be officially annexed to North Carolina, and wanted to be allowed to set up courts and to elect their representatives in the General Assembly.  This petition was favorably acted upon and their representatives took their seats in the Provincial Congress at Halifax on November 19, 1776.

North Carolina ceded its western lands to the United States in 1789; Congress accepted the lands in 1790 and created the Territory South of the River Ohio.

In 1796 Tennessee County gave its name to the new state of Tennessee. The new state thereupon divided the territory formerly occupied by Tennessee County into Montgomery and Robertson Counties.

Counties by Date

Looking for records from one of these counties?

Many extant records remain in the custody of the courthouse of the county in which they were created. Records of Tennessee County are filed with Montgomery County. The Tennessee State Library and Archives also holds many county records.