Yancey County Genealogy
Yancey County was established in 1833 from parts of Buncombe County and parts of Burke County. Independent and sturdy Scottish, English, and Irish settlers of the Carolina frontier had crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and settled the Toe River Valley by the mid-1700’s. In the year 1796, one of the early land speculators, John Gray Blount, paid for 326,640 acres (1322 km²) of land, a portion of which later became Yancey County, N.C.
In December, 1833, the General Assembly established a new western county, named Yancey, from sections of Burke and Buncombe Counties. Yancey County was named in honor of one of North Carolina’s most distinguished statesmen, Bartlett Yancey, of Caswell County. As a U.S. Congressman (1813-1817) and as speaker of the N.C. Senate (1817-1827), he was instrumental in many accomplishments that benefited the state, including the creation of an education fund that was the beginning of the N.C. Public School System. He was an advocate of correcting the inequality in representation in the General Assembly by the creation of new western counties; but he died on August 30, 1828, over five years before the General Assembly created a new county named in his honor. In Yancey’s boundaries looms Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the Eastern U.S., at 6,684 feet (2037 m) above sea level.
On March 6, 1834, “Yellow Jacket” John Bailey conveyed 100 acres (0.4 km²) of land for the county seat. The town was named Burnsville in honor of Captain Otway Burns, who voted for the creation of the new western county when he was serving in the General Assembly. The grateful people named their county seat for Captain Burns, a naval hero in the War of 1812. A statue of Captain Burns stands on a 40 ton, Mount Airy granite pedestal in the center of the town’s public square, which was given the official name of “Bailey Square” by the Yancey County Board of Commissioners on September 1, 1930. The statue of Captain Burns was given to the county on July 5, 1909, by Walter Francis Burns, a grandson of the sea captain. The inscription reads:
Otway Burns – Born in Onslow County, North Carolina, 1777 – Died at Portsmouth, North Carolina, 1850. Sailor – Soldier – Statesman. North Carolina’s Foremost Son in the War of 1812-1815 – For Him, This Town Is Named – He Guarded Well Our Seas, Let Our Mountains Honor Him.
Yancey County is divided into the following townships: Brush Creek, Burnsville, Cane River, Crabtree, Egypt, Green Mountain, Jacks Creek, Pensacola, Price’s Creek, Ramseytown, and South Toe. Portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest are in Yancey County.
Source: Wikipedia.
Toe Valley Genealogical Society
491 Beaver Creek Road
Spruce Pine, NC 28777
(covers Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey Counties)
Yancey History Association
PO Box 1088
Burnsville, NC 28714
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Cape Fear Hero: Durwood Baggett – WECT-TV6
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Cape Fear Hero: Durwood Baggett
WECT-TV6 After serving in the Army, where he won a bronze star, he started working with the agricultural extension service in Yancey County where he stayed four … |
Check out which WNC roads are affected by construction, weather – Asheville Citizen-Times
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Check out which WNC roads are affected by construction, weather
Asheville Citizen-Times One lane of US 19 and US 19E will be closed at times from I-26 northeast of Mars Hill to Jack's Creek Road near Burnsville in Yancey County as part of … |
53-Year-Old Sexually Abused Relative – WYFF4.com
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53-Year-Old Sexually Abused Relative
WYFF4.com YANCEY COUNTY, NC — A 53-year-old was sentenced to prison Monday for a sexual offense involving a relative. Terry Holland was sentenced in Yancey County … |
NC man accused of murdering parents – TriCities.com
 TriCities.com |
NC man accused of murdering parents
TriCities.com Investigators believe a Yancey County, North Carolina couple found dead in their home on Friday were strangled … Man Faces Murder Charges In Parents' Deaths BURNSVILLE, NC — A Burnsville man has been charged with killing his parents. |
Mostly sunny, high near 46 today – Asheville Citizen-Times
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Mostly sunny, high near 46 today
Asheville Citizen-Times Yancey County schools are closed today, and Madison and Mitchell counties are on two-hour delays. Avery County schools are on a three-hour delay. … |
COLLEGE NEWS: 2 win Clariant scholarships – Asheville Citizen-Times
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COLLEGE NEWS: 2 win Clariant scholarships
Asheville Citizen-Times Kayla Vinson, of Yancey County, completed her GED at Mayland in 2001 at the top 6 percent of her graduating class. Vinson, who holds a 3.8 GPA in her … |
