Wayne

Genealogy Records Available to Members

  • Miscellaneous Records at North Carolina State Archives 1788 to 1936
  • List of Estates 1930 to 1968

Images of Wills, Inventories

  • 1782-1792
  • 1793-1795

The New Court House in Wayne County

Wayne County. Goldsboro. “The Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for Wayne county, convened on Monday last at Waynesboro at the old county seat. On Tuesday afternoon the court adjourned to meet the next day at Goldsboro, the county seat having been changed to that place, and occupied, for the first time, in the commodious Court-House which has been erected by the County,” Source: The North Carolina-Standard, Raleigh, North Carolina, 28 August 1850.

Names of Families in Wayne County Genealogy Records

Wayne County was established on November 2, 1779 from the western part of Dobbs County. It was named for “Mad Anthony” Wayne, a general in the American Revolutionary War. The first court was held in the home of Josiah Sasser during which occasion the justices were to decide on a place for all subsequent courts until a courthouse could be erected. By 1782 the commissioners were named. In 1787 an act was passed establishing Waynesborough on the west side of the Neuse River on the land of Doctor Andrew Bass where the courthouse now stands. In 1855 parts of Wayne County, Edgecombe County, Johnston County, and Nash County were combined to form Wilson County. The county seat is Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Genealogists: The History of the Region will Provide your Next Clues

Are you deep in a wallow-hole searching for your next clue as to where to find your ancestors? And more especially, it will answer the probing questions in your gut as to what these people were doing. For example, The Saponi and Tuscarora Indians occupied much of the area which later became known as Wayne County. As the Indians were driven West and counties were formed, English and Scotch-Irish families ventured into the region. The first county seat was established on the land of Andrew Bass and called Waynesborough. It is always a good idea to familiarize oneself with the creeks and rivers and those persons who settled there and witnessed deeds and other records. The fact that a family might not have recorded a deed at the local court house, does not mean that person did not exist. Indeed, a study of the first residents and the trails which they used to enter the region provide bountiful clues as to where to look next. 

How many old cemeteries with broken-down slate tombstones have you visited, and did you observe the shape of the soil to find graves hidden in the soil? Slate was a poor headstone. It broke and fell to the ground. I have found them buried under the soil in the woods, and stacked inside of old barns. An investigation of the surviving stones, ages of the deceased, and dates of death also provides an intriguing story. In those days, measles, typhoid fever and other ailments killed members of families and communities. The story is there! Pictured is the oldest known presbyterian cemetery in Waynesboro which is located on New Hope Road. A log church was once situated on a hillside near Fishersville about 1798. Some of the burials are of Revolutionary War Soldiers, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

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Biographies of Revolutionary War Soldiers