If you’re interested in genealogy records for eastern North Carolina counties, consider visiting the Special Collections Division at Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, which is just an hour-and-a-half drive east from Raleigh. The Special Collections Division is the home of Manuscripts and Rare Books, the North Carolina Collection (county history or family history books, printed materials, maps, census and county records on microfilm), ECU’s University Archives, and Digital Collections (digitized records from our manuscript collections, the North Carolina Collection, University Archives, and more). While most of our records have not been digitized, the content there will give you a sampling of what we have to offer. For information specific to our North Carolina Genealogy Resources, be sure to visit our Genealogy and Local History page.
The East Carolina Manuscript Collection has an abundance of family history-related sources, including church records documenting baptisms, memberships, and deaths; Bible records and genealogy notes from family collections; wills, land records, and estate settlements from family collections and lawyers’ papers; Civil War black Union soldier pension records for men enlisting in occupied Washington, N.C.; and the papers of genealogists, including Jeanette Cox St. Amand and Davis Lee McWhorter (Pitt County), Elizabeth Moore and Mary Louisa Dixon Jones (Craven County), Elizabeth Vann Moore (Edenton, Chowan County), Caroline Cunningham of Raleigh, Martha Mewborn Marble (Lenoir, Greene, Pitt, and Jones counties), and William L. Murphy (Greene, Lenoir, Duplin, Dobbs, Wayne, and Jones counties).
Some highlights from our collections include Bible records from the Thomas Sparrow Papers #1 related to Washington (Beaufort County), N.C., and materials from the Elias Carr Papers #160, including the Johnston/Carr Family Tree (Edgecombe County), a land deed from 1868, an estate document from 1874, letters of guardianship, a pension document, genealogical notes, and family histories.
Contributed by Martha Elmore, Special Collections, Joyner Library