Where to find the records
- Chatham County official website
Hours, addresses and phone numbers for the register of deeds and the clerk of superior court, and any online record search the county offers.
- The register of deeds
Deeds from the county's beginning, marriage licenses from 1868, and copies of births and deaths from 1913, when statewide registration began.
- The clerk of superior court
Wills, estates and court records from 1868 on.
- The State Archives of North Carolina
Many of each county's older records, in the original or on microfilm: wills, estate papers, county court minutes, marriage bonds (1741–1868) and tax lists. Search its catalog by county name.
- State Archives of North Carolina: DOC catalogfree
Search for "Chatham County" to find the county's original records and microfilm at the State Archives in Raleigh.
- FamilySearch Catalogfree
Search by place for "North Carolina, Chatham" to find filmed and digitized records, many viewable free online with a FamilySearch account.
Offices change their hours and access rules; call before you visit.
Boundaries and parent counties
Formed from: Orange County
Check the parent county for earlier records: Orange County
Later formed partly from Chatham County: Lee County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1771, search the parent county. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows each boundary change.
Research tip
Before 1868, North Carolina's county court (the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions) proved wills and deeds and handled estates, guardians and roads. Its minutes are one of the best places to find an ancestor, even when other records are lost.