Wilkes County Genealogy
- Formed 1778
- Parent county / earlier Surry
- County seat Wilkesboro
- Neighbors Surry, Yadkin, Iredell, Alexander, Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany
Photos & maps
What’s new
- Flagship hub (deepened): western Piedmont/mountain-edge parent for Ashe and highland problems.
- Formation 1778 from Surry — for pre-formation events, use the parent jurisdiction’s paper (not later Anson-only catalogs).
- Seat: Wilkesboro · Neighbors: Surry, Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga, Caldwell, Alexander, Yadkin, Iredell.
- Long-form topics below target SC-style essay depth (jurisdiction, FAN clubs, place-level work, full record stack).
- Methods: Start here · Master guide.
Wilkes County was formed in 1778 from Surry. The county seat is Wilkesboro. Neighboring counties include Surry, Yadkin, Iredell, Alexander, Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany.
This hub combines a modern research floor—record matrix, towns, repositories, news—with local history narrative. For events before the county’s formation year, open the parent jurisdiction that owned that year—not a later statewide vital series or Anson-only catalog.
Wilkes county was formed in 1777 from parts of Surry County and Washington District (now Washington County, Tennessee). The first session of the county court was held in John Brown's house near what is today Brown's Ford. The act creating the county became effective on February 15, 1778, and the county celebrates its anniversary as February 15. It was named for the English political radical John Wilkes, who lost his position as Lord Mayor of the City of London due to his support for the colonists during the American Revolution.
In 1799 the northern and western parts of Wilkes County became Ashe County. In 1841 parts of Wilkes County and Burke County were combined to form Caldwell County. In 1847 another part of Wilkes County was combined with parts of Caldwell County and Iredell County to become Alexander County. In 1849 additional parts of Wilkes County and Caldwell County were combined with parts of Ashe County and Yancey County to form Watauga County. Numerous boundary adjustments were made thereafter, but none resulted in new counties.
The County seat of Wilkes County is Wilkesboro. The Blue Ridge Parkway passes through Wilkes county. Wilkes County is also divided into the following townships: Antioch, Beaver Creek, Boomer, Brushy Mountains, Edwards, Elk Creek, Hays, Jobs Cabin, Lewis Fork, Lovelace, Moravian Falls, Mulberry, New Castle, North Wilkesboro, Rock Creek, Somers, Stanton, Traphill, Union, Walnut Grove, and Wilkesboro.
Wilkes County is a part of the Yadkin Valley Wine Growing area.
Among the famous residents of Wilkes County:
* Daniel Boone (1734-1820), the famed explorer and pioneer, lived in Wilkes County for several years, and married a Wilkes County native, before moving west to Kentucky.
* Benjamin Cleveland (1738-1806), was a distinguished colonel in the North Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War. He was one of the American commanders at the famous Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780.
* William Lenoir (1751-1839), the first President of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
* Montford Stokes (1762-1842), United States Senator and Governor of North Carolina from 1816 to 1832. In 1832 he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson to lead the Federal Indian Commission in what is now Oklahoma; he is believed to be the only veteran of the Revolutionary War buried in that state.
* Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874), the world-famous Siamese twins, who were a popular attraction in Asia, Europe, and North America in the nineteenth century, settled in Wilkes County in the 1850s and married two local sisters.
* George Allen Gilreath (1834-1863), a captain in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War; he commanded the regiment which advanced the farthest into enemy lines during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gilreath was killed in the assault.
* James B. Gordon (1822-1864), a general of cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.
* Tom Dula (Dooley) (1844-1868), a Confederate veteran of the Civil War who was tried and hanged shortly after the war for the murder of his fiancee, Laura Foster. Dula was the subject of a top-selling 1958 ballad by the Kingston Trio, entitled "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley".
* James Larkin Pearson (1879-1981), poet and newspaper publisher who served as North Carolina's official Poet Laureate from 1953 to 1981.
* Robert Byrd (1917-), the senior U.S. Senator from West Virginia since 1959. Byrd is the longest-serving Senator in American history.
* Junior Johnson (1931-), in the 1950s, Johnson became a legend in the rural South by consistently outrunning law-enforcement officials in auto chases while delivering homemade liquor (moonshine) to his customers. Johnson then became a champion NASCAR racer, winning 50 NASCAR races before his retirement.
* Benny Parsons (1941-2007), well-known NASCAR racer who won the 1973 NASCAR championship. After his retirement he became a popular racing analyst for the ESPN, NBC and TBS television networks.
* John Swofford (1948-), since 1997 the Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), one of the nation's premiere college sports conferences.
* Deneen Graham (1964-), the first black woman to be crowned Miss North Carolina (1983).
* Zach Galifianakis (1969-), a popular stand-up comedian who has appeared on such television shows as Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has also been a character actor in films such as Into the Wild and on several television series for the Comedy Central network, such as Reno 911.
Wilkes County is home to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival, Merlefest, the Shine to Wine Festival, the birth of the folk song "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley".
Source: Wikipedia.
In-depth topics
Towns & communities
History notes
Wilkes County (formed 1778 from Surry; seat Wilkesboro) is a research problem defined by western Piedmont/mountain-edge parent for Ashe and highland problems. Yadkin headwaters farm networks and later town density create dual systems. Parent Surry contexts matter for early mapping.
Depth here is not about listing more sections—it is about choosing the right jurisdiction and record class for the decade. Wrong-courthouse searches create the most “missing” ancestors. Always record the jurisdiction as named in the original deed, estate, tax list, or church book, then map it onto modern hubs.
Neighbor FAN clubs frequently spill into Surry, Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga, Caldwell, Alexander, Yadkin, Iredell. Heirs, bondsmen, burial neighbors, and mill co-workers often sit one county (or one state line) away. When a search goes cold, widen one decade and one jurisdiction at a time and write down negatives—they are data.
Wilkesboro and rural communities are different paper systems. Town decades after about 1880 often reward city directories, multi-denominational churches, and newspapers. Farm and mountain corridors still require land descriptions, small churches, and cemetery surveys that never appear in town books. Pin community first, then open the matching stack.
Use the record availability matrix on this hub as a planning tool—not a guarantee. Pair it with statewide methods: Start here, counties & formation, census, land, probate, church, and the Master NC research guide.
Session order that matches SC’s best county pages: (1) write person + event + year + place as written; (2) confirm formation/parent for that year; (3) rebuild every available census decade with neighbors; (4) abstract land and probate in the correct courthouse years; (5) church/cemetery substitutes for pre-vital generations; (6) newspapers/directories for later town moves; (7) military or specialized paths only when claimed; (8) parents/neighbors/border states with a written log. Statewide substitutes: State Archives of North Carolina · DigitalNC · NCGenWeb — Wilkes.
Record availability matrix
| Record type | Coverage | Years (approx.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal census | good | 1790–1950 | Federal schedules after formation; pre-1778 is Surry. Re-pin mountain households carefully. |
| Birth records | sparse | 1913– | Late civil; church books critical earlier. |
| Marriage records | partial | 1778– | County series after formation; earlier Surry/church. |
| Death records | partial | 1913– | Certificates denser after statewide registration; churchyards earlier. |
| Land & deeds | good | 1778– | Record-loss / thin-series note: Formed 1778 from Surry: mountain metes, ridge families, and later boundary adjustments. Continuity varies—test neighbors and Surry parent context. Post-1778 deeds; pre-formation Surry. Mountain metes need careful abstracting; ridge families spill across lines. |
| Probate & estates | good | 1778– | Record-loss / thin-series note: Formed 1778 from Surry: mountain metes, ridge families, and later boundary adjustments. Continuity varies—test neighbors and Surry parent context. Estates + guardian bonds high value; search neighbors when thin. |
| Church & parish | partial | varies | Church coverage varies by denomination and survival. Baptisms, membership, and burial registers often beat early civil vitals; check local societies and denominational archives. |
| Newspapers | varies | varies | Wilkesboro/North Wilkesboro papers—confirm DigitalNC runs before citing continuity. |
| Military | good | 1775– | Revolutionary through 20th-century service may generate pensions, CMSRs, militia notes, and wartime claims. Pair unit research with Wilkes place context and neighboring counties when companies recruited across lines. |
| Cemeteries | partial | varies | Published surveys, Find a Grave, churchyards, and family plots. Unmarked burials are common—use obituaries, church books, and land descriptions. |
| Court records | partial | 1778– | Common pleas, sessions, and other court series often begin near formation (1778); equity may sit with or near probate. Pre-1778 under Surry. Known disruption: No major fire on standard lists; Surry parent (1778); mountain parent for many daughters. |
| Tax lists | sparse | varies | Tax lists can substitute for missing census years and thin deed decades. Coverage is uneven by locality and year—check State Archives of North Carolina and published abstracts. |
Newspapers
Cemeteries & burial research
- Wilkesboro / historic cemeteries
- Wilkes County cemeteries (Find a Grave / surveys)
Societies & repositories
Vital records
North Carolina statewide vital registration expanded in the early 20th century. For many Wilkes County families you will rely on marriage bonds, church registers, Bible records, newspapers, delayed births, and probate—not only a modern certificate.
Research starting points
Courthouse & contacts
The county seat is Wilkesboro. Confirm current Register of Deeds, Clerk of Superior Court, and library hours before visiting—offices move and digital portals change.
Public library: Northwestern Regional Library / Wilkes
Record-loss / series note: Formed 1778 from Surry: mountain metes, ridge families, and later boundary adjustments. Continuity varies—test neighbors and Surry parent context.
If not found here, try…
- Formed 1778
- Parent / earlier jurisdiction Surry — check district-era records before this county existed (districts guide).
Neighboring counties (deeds, marriages, newspapers, and kin often cross the line):
Local history & events
- Hickory Ridge History Museum to celebrate Independence Day with several activities - The Daily Reflector
- New Bern's role in history highlighted through U.S. Colored Troops reenactment - WCTI
- Top 10 Civil War sites in Eastern North Carolina - New Bern Sun Journal
- Civil War plantation opens to tours Saturday - mydailyrecord.com
- Reenactors bring Revolutionary War history to life for July Fourth weekend - Watauga Democrat
- State History Museums, Including Kenly Site, To Standardize Hours - JoCo Report
Sources & further reading
- NCpedia — Wilkes County
- David Leroy Corbitt, The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663–1943
- William S. Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer
- State Archives of North Carolina
- DigitalNC — Wilkes County
- Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
- FamilySearch Wiki · NCGenWeb