Robeson County, North Carolina Genealogy

United States

North Carolina

Robeson County

Guide to Robeson County, North Carolina ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

North Carolina Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Lumberton Organized: 1787 Parent County(s): Bladen Neighboring Counties Bladen  • Columbus  • Cumberland  • Dillon (SC)  • Hoke  • Horry (SC)  • Marlboro (SC)  • Scotland See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: NCGenWeb Project who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Description

Robeson County is located in the south-central portion of North Carolina and shares a border with South Carolina. It was named for Revolutionary War Colonel Thomas Robeson.

County Courthouse

Robeson County Courthouse
500 N Elm Street
PO Box 22
Lumberton, NC 28358
Phone: 919-671-3044
Robeson County Website

Register of Deeds has been recorded from 1913, marriage records from 1787, death records from 1915, brand land records from 1799.
Clerk Superior Court has divorce and court records from 1920 and probate records from 1868.

Robeson County, North Carolina Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1913	1787	1915	1920	1799	1868	1784
*Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1913. General compliance by 1920.

Record Loss

Many of the court records are missing. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Boundary Changes

1787 Robeson County was created from Bladen. County seat: Lumberton For animated maps illustrating North Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation North Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1664-1965) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Lumberton
Towns
Fairmont Lumber Bridge Marietta Maxton McDonald	Orrum Parkton Pembroke Proctorville Raynham	Red Springs Rennert Rowland St. Pauls
Unincorporated communities
Barnesville Bloomingdale	Five Forks	Red Banks
Census-designated places
Barker Ten Mile Elrod Prospect	Raemon Rex	Shannon Wakulla
Townships
Alfordsville Back Swamp Barnesville Britts Burnt Swamp East Howellsville Gaddy	Parkton Philadelphus Raft Swamp Rennert Saddletree Shannon Smiths	Smyrna Sterlings Thompson Union West Howellsville Whitehouse Wishart

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Robeson County, North Carolina online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com NCGenWeb NCGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project North Carolina Cemeteries Billion Graves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves FamilySearch Places
See North Carolina Cemeteries for more information

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	5,343	—
1800	6,839	28.0%
1810	7,528	10.1%
1820	8,204	9.0%
1830	9,433	15.0%
1840	10,370	9.9%
1850	12,826	23.7%
1860	15,489	20.8%
1870	16,262	5.0%
1880	23,880	46.8%
1890	31,483	31.8%
1900	40,371	28.2%
1910	51,945	28.7%
1920	54,674	5.3%
1930	66,512	21.7%
1940	76,860	15.6%
1950	87,769	14.2%
1960	89,102	1.5%
1970	84,842	−4.8%
1980	101,610	19.8%
1990	105,179	3.5%
2000	123,339	17.3%
2010	134,168	8.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church Records

• 1700-1970 - North Carolina, Church Records, 1700-1970 at FamilySearch — index

Baptist

• Ash Pole. Organized 1796.
• First Baptist Church, Lumberton, N.C.
• Saddle Tree Creek. Constituted by 1788. Lemuel Burkitt and Jesse Read, A Concise History of the Kehukee Baptist Association: From Its Original Rise Down to 1808 (1808), Chapter 16. Available online at Internet Archives.

Presbyterian

• History of the First Presbyterian Church, Maxton, NC, 1878-1958. (Eastern NC Digital Library)
• Yearbook and Directory of the Rowland Presbyterian Church, Rowland, N.C (Eastern NC Digital Library)

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

African Americans
Many free African American families moved to Robeson County from Virginia in the 1700s.

Genealogies

• [Lewis] Lewis, J.D. My Neck of the Woods: The Lewis Families of Southeastern North Carolina and Northeastern South Carolina. Little River, S.C.: J.D. Lewis, 2002.

Land and Property Records

• Misc County Deed Transcriptions (USGenWeb Archives)

Maps and Gazetteers

NC Robeson

• Maps of Robeson County (NC Maps collection)
• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records

Revolutionary War

• 1779-1782 North Carolina Revolutionary Pay Vouchers 1779-1782 at FamilySearch

Civil War

• 1861-1865 North Carolina, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch
• 1861-1865 North Carolina, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch
• 1861-1865 U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
• 1861-1865 U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
• 1885-1953 North Carolina, Confederate Soldiers and Widows Pension Applications, 1885-1953 at FamilySearch

Regiments. Men in Robeson County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Robeson County:

- 3rd Regiment, North Carolina Artillery, Company E

- 7th Battalion, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company C

- 8th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Captain Nathaniel McLean's Company

- 8th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Captain Neill McNeill's Company

- 12th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, 1st Company D

- 51st Regiment, North Carolina Militia Company F

World War I

• 1917-1919 North Carolina, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919 at FamilySearch

World War II

• 1940-1948 North Carolina, Discharge and Statement of Service Records, 1940-1948 at FamilySearch

Newspapers

• 1799-1893 Robeson County marriages. May be included throughout Carrie Broughton's 6-volume index of the Raleigh Register & State Gazette newspaper (1799-1893). Marriages are listed by year and PDF files are searchable. Available on the North Carolina Digital Collections website.
• Newspapers published in Robeson County. Listing of newspapers published in the county libraries that hold them. (Library of Congress)
• Misc. newspaper articles (USGenWeb Archives)
• Robeson County residents in the newspaper. Name listing of people from the county as located in misc. newspaper articles; time span varies. Articles indexed in the NC People in the Papers database. (NCGenWeb)

Obituaries

• Misc. Robeson County Obituaries (USGenWeb Archives)

Probate Records

Online Probate Records

• 1660-1790 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry $
• 1663-1979 North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979 at FamilySearch
• 1665-1998 North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998 at Ancestry $
• 1735-1970 North Carolina Probate Records 1735-1970 at FamilySearch
• 1760-1800 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1760-1800 at Ancestry $
• 1783-1966 Bonds and records (North Carolina), 1736-1957 at FamilySearch
• Pre-1790 Pre-1790 Robeson County, North Carolina Genealogy Wills (North Carolina State Archives)
• Miscellaneous Robeson County wills, transcriptions (USGenWeb Archives)

School Records

• Robeson County College Students. Name list of students at various NC colleges with identified hometowns in Robeson. Yearbook Index. (NCGenWeb)
• Flora McDonald College yearbooks from 1921-1961. (Internet Archive)
• Presbyterian Junior College yearbooks from the mid 1930s-1960s. (Internet Archive)
• UNC-Pembroke yearbooks from the 1940s to the 1980s. (Internet Archive)
• Flora Macdonald College, published by Ralph Walter Page, 1920.

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Vital Records

• 1800-2000 - North Carolina, Department of Archives and History, Index to Vital Records, 1800-2000 at FamilySearch — index and images
• Uncertified copies of vital records can be ordered for a small fee from the Durham County Register of Deeds.

Birth

• 1800-2000 North Carolina Birth Index 1800-2000 at FamilySearch
• 1866-1964 North Carolina Births and Christenings 1866-1964 at FamilySearch
• 1913-1922 North Carolina, Center for Health Statistics, Vital Records Unit, County Birth Records, 1913-1922 at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage

• 1741-2004 North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast
• 1741-2004 North Carolina Marriage Index 1741-2004 at Ancestry $
• 1759-1979 North Carolina Marriages 1759-1979 at FamilySearch
• 1762-1979 North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 at FamilySearch
• 1763-1868 North Carolina, Civil Marriages, 1763-1868 at FamilySearch
• 1850-1944 Robeson County Marriage Index 1850-1944 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch
• Robeson County Marriages (NCGenWeb)
• Misc. Robeson County Marriages (USGenWeb Archives)

Death

• 1898-1994 North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994 at FamilySearch
• 1906-1930 North Carolina Deaths 1906-1930 at FamilySearch
• 1908-2004 North Carolina Death Indexes 1908-2004 at Ancestry $
• 1909-1975 North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 at Ancestry $
• 1931-1994 North Carolina Deaths 1931-1994 at FamilySearch

Divorce

• 1926-1975 North Carolina, County Divorce Records, 1926-1975 at FamilySearch
• 1958-2004 North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry $

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Robeson County. For state-wide archival repositories, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Introduction to Family History Centers
• Pembroke North Carolina Family History Center

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Robeson County. For state-wide library facilities, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries.

Societies

Listed below are societies in Robeson County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see North Carolina Societies.

• Robeson County Historical and Genealogical Society
  PO Box 2292
  Lumberton, NC 28359
  Website
• Southeastern North Carolina Genealogical Society
  PO Box 468
  Chadbourn, NC 28431-0468
  Website

Websites

• Robeson County NCGenWeb
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.