New Hanover County Genealogy
- Formed 1729
- Parent county / earlier Craven
- County seat Wilmington
- Neighbors Brunswick, Pender, Onslow
Photos & maps
What’s new
- Flagship hub: port-city methods—directories and churches before rural-only searches.
- Neighbors: Brunswick · Pender · Bladen · Onslow.
- Corridor: Cape Fear cross-county map.
New Hanover County was formed in 1729 from Craven. The county seat is Wilmington. Neighboring counties include Brunswick, Pender, Onslow.
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.
The county was formed in 1729 as New Hanover Precinct of Bath County, from Craven Precinct. It was named for the House of Hanover, which was then ruling Great Britain.
In 1734 parts of New Hanover Precinct became Bladen Precinct and Onslow Precinct. With the abolition of Bath County in 1739, all of its constituent precincts became counties.
In 1750 the northern part of New Hanover County became Duplin County. In 1764 another part of New Hanover County was combined with part of Bladen County to form Brunswick County. Finally, in 1875 the separation of northern New Hanover County to form Pender County reduced it to its present dimensions. Some of the closing battles of the American Civil War happened in the county with the Second Battle of Fort Fisher (the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy) and the Battle of Wilmington. The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 and its establishment of Jim Crow laws closes out the 19th-Century with civil rights conditions which would last until the African-American Civil Rights Movement through the second half of the 20th century, three generations later.
The county seat of New Hanover County is Wilmington. New Hanover county is divided into the following townships: Cape Fear, Federal Point, Harnett, Masonboro, and Wilmington.
Source: Wikipedia.
One of the notable sites in New Hanover County is Poplar Grove Plantation. It was built in 1850.
In-depth topics
Towns & communities
History notes
New Hanover County (colonial Lower Cape Fear; seat Wilmington) is the port engine of southeastern North Carolina. Wilmington research rewards town sources—directories, newspapers, churches, and cemeteries—alongside county land and probate. Port commerce, free Black communities, and military posts create dense 19th–20th century trails that rural-only methods miss.
Neighbor and parent thinking still applies: events spill into Brunswick, Pender, and wider Cape Fear corridors (Bladen, Cumberland). Beach and suburban growth can mask older neighborhood names; always pin the community and decade before ordering records.
African American research is especially rich when combining 1870+ census clusters, church books, burial societies, newspapers, and plantation/probate context where available. Do not skip Wilmington city sources for households that never appear in rural deed indexes.
Corridor reading: Cape Fear corridor. Sister-site coastal SC when trails jump: Horry County, SC.
Wilmington’s port economy concentrates free and enslaved labor histories, mercantile credit networks, and multi-denominational churches in a way rural-only methods miss. Beach and suburban renaming in the 20th century can hide older neighborhood labels—always capture the place name as written in the source, then map it.
Session order: pin community (city ward vs rural New Hanover vs beach) → census → directory/church/newspaper for urban decades → land/probate → military/federal substitutes → Brunswick/Pender edges. Corridor: Cape Fear.
Record availability matrix
| Record type | Coverage | Years (approx.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal census | good | 1790–1950 | Federal schedules with port wards and coastal boundary awareness. Parent notes only for pre-formation research—not a blanket on every census row. |
| Birth records | sparse | 1913– | Church and port-city sources strong substitutes; civil late. Delayed births and directories for Wilmington decades. |
| Marriage records | partial | 1741– | Early church/bond/newspaper; civil improves later. Confirm event-year county vs modern suburb. |
| Death records | partial | 1913– | Certificates denser after statewide registration; port newspapers and church burial earlier. |
| Land & deeds | good | 1729– | Record-loss / thin-series note: Colonial port county (Wilmington): wartime disruption and coastal boundary shifts matter more than a single fire story. Brunswick and Pender splits pull later people off New Hanover labels. Early coastal deed series important; grants/plats may predate modern books at State Archives. Check Brunswick/Pender after their formation for later purchases on former New Hanover ground. |
| Probate & estates | good | 1729– | Record-loss / thin-series note: Colonial port county (Wilmington): wartime disruption and coastal boundary shifts matter more than a single fire story. Brunswick and Pender splits pull later people off New Hanover labels. Port/plantation estates; pair with newspaper legal notices. Abstract enslavers’ estates for free Black and formerly enslaved FAN work. |
| Church & parish | good | varies | Church coverage can be unusually rich (colonial Albemarle, Moravian Wachovia, Quaker, older coastal congregations) when books survive—check local societies and denominational archives. |
| Newspapers | varies | varies | Wilmington papers with strong coastal runs—verify DigitalNC/Chronicling America years before citing continuity. Larger regional titles also carry notices. |
| Military | good | 1775– | Revolutionary through 20th-century service may generate pensions, CMSRs, militia notes, and wartime claims. Pair unit research with New Hanover 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 | 1729– | Common pleas, sessions, and other court series often begin near formation (1729); equity may sit with or near probate. Pre-1729 under Craven. Known disruption: 1789, 1819, 1840 courthouse fires (possible partial losses). |
| 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
- Wilmington Star-News lineage
- DigitalNC holdings — all New Hanover titles
- Africo-American Presbyterian
- Carolina fruit and truckers journal. (Wilmington, N.C.) 18??-19??
- Neighborhood news. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1920-19??
- Our rights. (Wilmington, N.C.) 18??-18??
- The Sunday morning mail. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1884-18??
- The banner-enterprise. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1883-18??
- The Carolina enterprise. (Goldsboro, N.C.) 188?-1883
- The Cape Fear. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1876-18??
- The Cape Fear herald. (Wilmington [N.C.]) 1802-18??
- The Cape-Fear mercury
- The Cape-Fear recorder
- The daily dispatch
- Wilmington daily dispatch
- The daily journal
- The daily record. (Wilmington, N.C.) 189?-1???
- Wilmington record. (Wilmington, N.C.) 189?-1???
- The daily review
- The evening review
- The Wilmington herald
- The herald of the union
- The Daily Wilmington herald. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1865-18??
- The evening post
- The helper : of the Baptist churches of Wilmington and Eastern Association. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1900-19??
- The independent. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1905-19??
- The Liberalist, and Wilmington reporter. (Wilmington, N.C.) 182?-18??
- The new era. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1896-1???
- The new South. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1882-18??
- The North-Carolina gazette
- North-Carolina gazette ; and Wilmington weekly post-boy. ([Wilmington, N.C.]) 1764-176?
- Wilmington advertiser, and merchants' and farmers' gazette
- Wilmington advertiser
- The People's press, and Wilmington advertiser
- The people's press
- The sunny South. (Elmira, N.Y. & Wilmington, N.C.) 1876-18??
- The commercial
- The tri-weekly commercial. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1850-18??
- The True Republican, or American Whig. (Wilmington, (N.C.)) 1809-1810
- Saturday record. ([Wilmington, N.C.]) 1915-192?
- The union labor record. (Wilmington, N.C.) 192?-19??
- The weekly star
- The Carolina farmer and morning star
- The Wilmington centinel, and general advertiser
- The Wilmington chronicle: and North-Carolina weekly advertiser
- The Wilmington chronicle: North Carolina weekly advertiser
- The daily herald
- The Wilmington daily herald. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1861-18??
- The Wilmington Democrat. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1877-18??
- The evening dispatch
- The Wilmington dispatch. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1916-19??
- The Wilmington gazette
- Hall's Wilmington gazette
- Wilmington gazette, commercial and political
- The Wilmington herald. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1851-18??
- The Wilmington herald (Wilmington, N.C.) 1894-1???
- Goldsboro messenger
- Weekly transcript and messenger. (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1874-189?
- Carolina messenger
- The weekly messenger. (Wilmington, N.C.) 189?-1897
- The semi-weekly messenger
- The Wilmington messenger
- The Wilmington post
- Wilmington daily post
- The post
- The weekly post. (Wilmington, N.C.) 1872-187?
- The post. (Wilmington, N.C.) 187?-1875
- The Wilmington sun. (Wilmington, N.C.) 187?-1879
- UNCW today : news from UNC by the sea
- The seahawk
- Weekly commercial
- Wilmington weekly chronicle
- Wilmington chronicle
- Wilmington journal
- The Wilmington journal
- The Wilmington morning star
- The morning star
Cemeteries & burial research
- Oakdale Cemetery
- Pine Forest / urban Wilmington churchyards
- New Hanover County cemeteries (Find a Grave / surveys)
Societies & repositories
Vital records
North Carolina statewide vital registration expanded in the early 20th century. For many New Hanover 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 Wilmington. Confirm current Register of Deeds, Clerk of Superior Court, and library hours before visiting—offices move and digital portals change.
Public library: New Hanover County Public Library
Record-loss / series note: Colonial port county (Wilmington): wartime disruption and coastal boundary shifts matter more than a single fire story. Brunswick and Pender splits pull later people off New Hanover labels.
If not found here, try…
- Formed 1729
- Parent / earlier jurisdiction Craven — check district-era records before this county existed (districts guide).
Neighboring counties (deeds, marriages, newspapers, and kin often cross the line):
What to do next
Local history & events
Sources & further reading
- NCpedia — New Hanover 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 — New Hanover County
- Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
- FamilySearch Wiki · NCGenWeb