Useful Books
For genealogy research in Alleghany County, NC, and vicinity.
- Alleghany
- Ashe
- Surry
- Wilkes
- Grayson
- Regional Interest
- State Records
- Family Histories
- Publishers
- Used Booksellers
Genealogy books often go out of print. If the book you are looking for is not currently available, periodically check for used copies on sites like Amazon.com, Fetchbook, and eBay. Many books in the public domain can be downloaded from Google Books. The subscription site Ancestry.com has digitized hundreds of family and local history books. Genealogy books can often be found at regional libraries and local historical societies. Finally, the LDS Library has thousands of genealogy books on microfilm. Check with your local LDS Family History Center for assistance.
Alleghany County, NC
- Alleghany County Records in the LDS Card Catalogue. For information about using these resources, contact your local LDS Family History Center.
- Alleghany County Heritage, by the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society.
- Alleghany County Cemeteries Through 1986, by the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society.
- Baptist Obituary Abstracts from Alleghany, Ashe, Surry, Wilkes, and Grayson Counties (3 volumes) by Mountain Heritage.
- Marriages of Alleghany County, North Carolina, 1849-1900, by G.H. Latham (Heritage Books, 1993).
- Mountain Mourning, by Cyrus Stoneman (2007). The real story of Daniel Crouse and the Unionists of Alleghany County, North Carolina.
- More books are available from the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society, mailing address: P.O. Box 817 Sparta, NC 28675. You can also order some of these books from The Sparta Store.
Ashe County, NC
- Ashe County Records in the LDS Card Catalogue. For information about using these resources, contact your local LDS Family History Center.
- Ashe County, NC, Marriages, 1800-1900, by Elizabeth Caulder. Order from the Ashe County Historical Society (1994).
- Ashe County, NC, Marriage Records, 1819-1871, by Francis T. Ingmire (Iberian Pub. Co., 1993).
- Ashe County, North Carolina (Images of America Series), by John Houck, et. al. (Arcadia Publishing, 2000).
- Ashe County's Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South, by Martin Crawford (Univ. of Virginia, 2001).
- Ashe County: A History, by Arthur Lloyd Fletcher (1963), reprinted by McFarland & Co., 2006.
- Baptist Obituary Abstracts from Alleghany, Ashe, Surry, Wilkes, and Grayson Counties (3 volumes) by Mountain Heritage.
- Heritage of Ashe County, NC, Vol. I, by the Ashe County Historical Society (1984).
- Heritage of Ashe County, NC, Vol. II, by the Ashe County Historical Society (1988).
- More books are available from the Ashe County Historical Society, mailing address: P.O. Box 1361, Jefferson, NC 28640, email info@ashehistoricalsociety.org
Surry County, NC
- Surry County Records in the LDS Card Catalogue. For information about using these resources, contact your local LDS Family History Center.
- Baptist Obituary Abstracts from Alleghany, Ashe, Surry, Wilkes, and Grayson Counties (3 volumes) by Mountain Heritage.
- Fisher's River (North Carolina) Scenes and Characters, by Hardin E. Taliaferro (1859).
- Heritage of Surry County, NC, Vol. I, by the Surry County Genealogical Association (1983).
- Heritage of Surry County, NC, Vol. II, by the Surry County Genealogical Association (1994).
- History of Surry County, or, Annals of Northwest North Carolina, by J.G. Hollingsworth (1935), reprinted by Southern Hist. Press, 2002.
- History of Surry County, or, Annals of Northwest North Carolina, by J.G. Hollingsworth (CD version).
- Surry County, NC, Court Minutes, 1768-1789, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1985). Currently available from Southern Historical Press.
- Surry County, NC, Deed Books A, B, and C, 1768-1789, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1981). Currently available from Southern Historical Press.
- Surry County, NC, Deed Books D, E, and F, 1779-1797, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1981).
- Surry County, North Carolina (Images of America Series), by Caroline Boyles, et. al. (Arcadia Publishing, 2000).
- Surry County, NC, Marriages, 1779-1868, by Brent H. Holcomb (Gen. Pub. Co., 2001).
- Surry County, NC, Wills, 1771-1827, by Joe White Linn (Clearfield Co., 1992).
- More books are available from the Surry County Genealogical Association, mailing address: Surry County Genealogical Association, P.O. Box 997, Dobson, NC 27017
Wilkes County, NC
- Wilkes County Records in the LDS Card Catalogue. For information about using these resources, contact your local LDS Family History Center.
- Baptist Obituary Abstracts from Alleghany, Ashe, Surry, Wilkes, and Grayson Counties (3 volumes) by Mountain Heritage.
- Heritage of Wilkes County, Vol. I, by Wilkes Genealogical Society (1982).
- Heritage of Wilkes County, Vol. II, by Wilkes Genealogical Society (1990).
- Historical Sketches of Wilkes County, North Carolina, by John Crouch (1902).
- Marriages of Wilkes County, NC, 1778-1868 by Brent Holcomb (Clearfield Co., 1988).
- Wilkes County, NC, Court Minutes, 1778-1788, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989).
- Wilkes County, NC, Court Minutes, 1789-1797, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989). Currently available from Southern Historical Press.
- Wilkes County, NC, Deed Book A-1, B-1, C-1, 1778-1803, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989).
- Wilkes County, NC, Deed Book D, F-1, G-H, 1795-1815, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989).
- Wilkes County, NC, Land Entry Book, 1778-1781, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989). Currently available from Southern Historical Press.
- Wilkes County, NC, Will Abstracts, 1778-1811, by W.O. Absher (So. Hist. Press, 1989).
- Wilkes County Cemetery Surveys. Write to George & Joyce McNeil, 1128 Winkler Mill Road, Wilkesboro, NC 28697.
- More books are available from the Wilkes Genealogical Society -- mailing address: Wilkes Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 1629, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659
Grayson County, VA
- NEW!! Those Who Sleep Here: Grayson County, Virginia Cemeteries (2009). Order from the Grayson County, VA, Heritage Foundation.
- Grayson County Records in the LDS Card Catalogue. For information about using these resources, contact your local LDS Family History Center.
- Annals of Southwest Virginia: 1769-1800, Vol. 2, by Lewis Preston Summers (Overmountain Press, 1992). This digital edition includes partial text of Vol. 2, including early records of Washington Co., VA (parent county of Grayson).
- Baptist Obituary Abstracts from Alleghany, Ashe, Surry, Wilkes, and Grayson Counties (3 volumes) by Mountain Heritage.
- "Before the Gates of the Wilderness Road: the Settlement of Southwestern Virginia" by Judge Lyman Chalkey, published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 30 (Jan. 1922), p.183.
- Footprints in the Sands of Time: A History of Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina, by A.B. Cox (1912).
- Grayson County, Virginia Marriage Records 1853-1898, by Ginger Ballard (2005).
- Grayson County, Virginia Marriage Records 1899-1909, by Ginger Ballard (2004).
- Grayson Co., VA, Will Book 1 (1796-1839), by James L. Douthat.
- History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870, by Lewis Preston Summers (Overmountain Press, 1989).
- Pioneer Settlers of Grayson County, Virginia, by Benjamin Floyd Nuckolls (1914).
- More books are available from the Grayson County, Virginia Heritage Foundation, mailing address: P.O. Box 679, Independence, VA 24348
- More books are available from Southwest Virginia Books.
- More books are available from Kegley Books.
Regional Interest
- Adventures of a Conscript, by W.H. Younce (1899). The memoirs of a Unionist from Ashe County, NC, who was drafted into the Confederate army.
- Annals of Southwest Virginia: 1769-1800, Vols. 1 & 2, by Lewis Preston Summers (Overmountain Press, 1992). Journals of early explorers; military lists; land surveys and marriages; briefs of deeds and wills; and the court minutes of Botetourt, Fincastle, Montgomery, Washington, and Wythe counties. Also available from Archive CD Books.
- Annals of Southwest Virginia: 1769-1800, Vol. 2, by Lewis Preston Summers (Overmountain Press, 1992). This digital edition includes partial text of Vol. 2.
- Artisans in the North Carolina Backcountry, by Johanna Miller Lewis (Univ. Press of KY, 1995). Detailed and entertaining account of the early settlement and history of northwestern North Carolina.
- "Before the Gates of the Wilderness Road: the Settlement of Southwestern Virginia" by Judge Lyman Chalkey, published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 30 (Jan. 1922), p.183.
- Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762, by Robert W. Ramsey (Univ. of NC Press, 1987). Fantastic history of the early settlers who lived between the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers of North Carolina.
- The Conquest of the Old Southwest, by Archibald Henderson (1920).
- The Draper Papers
- Documentary History of Dunmore's War 1774, by R.G. Thwaites (Wis. Hist. Soc., 1905). Vol. I of "The Draper Papers."
- The Revolution on the Upper Ohio (1775-1777), by R.G. Thwaits, ed. (Wis. Hist. Soc., 1905, reprinted by Clearfield Co., 2006). Vol. 2 of the "Draper Papers". (Digital edition not currently available.)
- Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio (1777-1778), by R.G. Thwaits, ed. (Wis. Hist. Soc., 1905). Vol. 3 of the "Draper Papers".
- Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio (1778-1779), by L.P. Kellogg, ed. (Wis. Hist. Soc., 1916). Vol. 4 of the "Draper Papers".
- Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio (1779-1781), by L.P. Kellogg, ed. (Wis. Hist. Soc., 1917). Vol. 5 of the "Draper Papers".
- Footprints in the Sands of Time: A History of Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina, by Dr. A.B. Cox (1912). Brimming with genealogical information about the inhabitants of Grayson Co., VA, and Ashe and Alleghany County, NC.
- The Heart of Confederate Appalachia, by John C. Inscoe (Univ. of NC Press, 2005). "A definitive history of western North Carolina in the Civil War."
- History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870, by Lewis Preston Summers (Overmountain Press, 1989).
- History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia, 1748-1920, by William Cecil Pendleton (W.C. Hill, 1920).
- The Life and Adventures of Wilburn Waters, by Charles B. Coale (1878). "The Famous Hunter and Trapper of White Top Mountain Embracing Early History of Southwestern Virginia Sufferings of the Pioneers, etc., etc."
- Memoirs of Grassy Creek: Growing Up in the Mountains on the Virginia-North Carolina Line, by Zetta Barker Hamby (McFarland & Co., 1997). "Editors have preserved the charm of her manuscript and included her pen-and-ink illustrations of farmstead artifacts."
- North Carolina Genealogical Society Quarterly Journal (1975-2000). 25 years of this award-winning journal are available on a fully searchable CD. Order from the North Carolina Genealogical Society.
- On Horseback: A Tour in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, by Charles Dudley Warner (1888). Travel notes from a tour made in the mid-1880s in the central Appalachian mountains.
- The People of the New River: Oral Histories from the Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga Counties of North Carolina, by Leland & Mary Cooper (McFarland & Co., 2001). "Tells the story of the New River through its people."
- The Roots of Appalachian Christianity, by Elder John Sparks (Univ. Press of KY, 2001). Fascinating history of Appalachia, including western North Carolina, emphasizing the religious movements that shaped Appalachian culture.
- Sketches of Western North Carolina: Historical and Biographical, by Cyrus L. Hunter (1877). Histories of several western NC counties including Burke and Wilkes, and biographies of notable persons.
- Western North Carolina: A History from 1730 to 1913, by John Preston Arthur (1914). Colonial days, Daniel Boone, the Revolution, county histories, manners and customs, extraordinary events, preachers, duels, railroads, flora and fauna, the Civil War period.
North Carolina Biographical, Colonial, and State Records
Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, digital edition (all 26 volumes) -- from the Documenting the American South website (Univ. of NC). Fully searchable.
The following volumes of North Carolina history and records are currently available on Google Books:
- Abstract of North Carolina Wills (Grimes Abstracts)
- Biographical History Vol. II
- Biographical History Vol. III
- Biographical History Vol. IV
- Biographical History Vol. V
- Biographical History Vol. VI
- Biographical History Vol. VII
- Colonial Records Vol. II (1713 to 1728)
- Colonial Records Vol. III (1728 to 1734)
- Colonial Records Vol. VIII (1769 to 1771)
- State Records Vol. XIV (Laws 1777-1788)
- State Records Vol. XV (1780-1781)
- State Records Vol. XX (1785-1788)
- State Records Vol. XXII (Misc.)
- State Records Vol. XXIII (Laws 1715-1776)
- State Records Vol. XXIV (Laws 1777-1788)
- State Records Vol. XXV (Laws 1789-1790)
- State Records Vol. XXVI (Census 1790)
- Index Vol. II (F-L)
- Index Vol. III (M-R)
Families/Surnames
Authors: please contact me to add your book to this list! (Book should be relevant to genealogy research in Alleghany, Ashe, Wilkes, or Surry County, NC, or Grayson County, VA.)
- The Anders and Andrews Families of Orange, Ashe, and Alleghany Counties in N.C., and Grayson County, Virginia, by Clifford Rector (self-published). LDS Call No. 929.273 An22r. Copies available from the Alleghany County Historical-Genealogical Society (1983), P.O. Box 817 Sparta, NC 28675.
- Billings Families of North Carolina and Virginia, by Naomi B. Gordon (self-published, 1991). LDS Call No. 929.273 B496gr.
- Appalachia Crossroads: The Caudill Family, by Clayton R. Caudill (Gateway Press, 1977). LDS Call Nos. 929.273 C31cc.
- Descendants of Henderson Cheek of Alleghany Co., NC, by Williemay Cheek (unpublished). LDS call no. 929.273 A1 no. 3682.
- The Cheek Family Chronicles, by Jeffrey Williams (Kinfolk Research Press, 2004).
- The Family of Granville H. Cox, 1822-1888, of Early Ashe County, North Carolina and Atchison County, Missouri, by Karl T. Jaeckel (self-published, 1980). LDS Call No. 929.273 C839j. Contact author: KTJaeckel@aol.com
- Our Cox Family and Allied Lines of Grayson County, Virginia, by Alice Cox Phipps (self-published, 1988).
- The Cox Family In America, by Rev. Henry Miller Cox (1912).
- Genealogy and history of some of the descendants of Linville Higgins and Juda Kirby of Alleghany County, North Carolina, by Fred J. Gray (1943). LDS on microfilm.
- Hoppers, Moxley, Toliver and Related Families, by Lorene Sturgill Moxley (Hunter Pub. Co., 1985). LDS call no. 929.273 H778s.
- The Family History of Simon Granser Marshall, Sr. 1791-1877 whose family came to America in 1729 and settled in Surry County, NC in 1743, by G. Payne Marshall (Harrison Mountain Press, 2002). Contact author: gpaynetn@aol.com
- The Phillips Family: Our History, Our Heritage, by Shirley Phillips Friel (self-published, 1988). LDS Call No. 929.273 P544s.
- Reminiscences, by Columbus Phipps (1922). The Phipps family of Grayson Co., VA.
- The Stampers: Looking Back, by Sadie Stamper Greer (self-published, 1999).
- Stamper Footprints: Eleven Generations, by Betty Stamper Latham (Heritage Books, 1995). LDS Call No. 929.273 St23L.
- The Family of Moses Woodruff: Descendants and Relatives, by Delwood S. Jackson (self-published, 1988). LDS Call No. 929.273 W86j.
- The Woodruffs of New Jersey by Francis Eben Woodruff (NY: Grafton Press, 1909).
- The Woodruff Chronicles, Vols. 1 & 2, by Ceylon Newton Woodruff (Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1967, 1971). Early history of the Woodruff family from Canterbury, England, to Essex Co., New Jersey. Volume 1 is available on CD from Archive CD Books.
Publishers
- Antient Press. Abstracts of Virginia county records, especially Tidewater and northern VA.
- Archive CD Books. Hard-to-find and out-of-print books on CD including British and American genealogy books and family histories. Really cool site!
- DMK Heritage. County histories, old books and records on CD, mostly VA, TN, SC, NC, KY.
- Ericson Books. Southern genealogy, especially Texas, but also carries books on the Carolinas and Virginia.
- Genealogical.com. The website of Genealogy Publishing Company and Clearfield Company, the world's largest publishers of genealogy reference books.
- Genealogy.com. Primarily an on-line subscription service, but also sells books and CD data collections.
- Genealogy Shoppe. Genealogy binders and charts; census images on CD.
- Han-Ack Publishing. Genealogy and history books on CD. Very reasonable prices.
- Heritage Books. Wide variety of source materials and family histories.
- Higginson Book Company. Source materials, local histories, maps, and genealogies. High-quality reprints of out-of-print and limited-edition genealogy books.
- Kegley Books. Many original books and abstracts of records for Wythe, Montgomery, Grayson and surrounding counties in southwest VA.
- Kinfolk Research Press. Genealogy research and publishing.
- Latter Day Saints. They have many source materials, CD's, and research products for sale, including their popular pedigree charts, research logs and family group sheets, how-to manuals, software products and databases.
- Library of Virginia. They publish a wide variety of books on Virginia genealogy and history, many available nowhere else. For a complete list of their publications, go to the website and click on "Order Publications Online."
- Lulu.com. Self-published books printed on demand. Many titles of interest to genealogists.
- Mountain Press. Mostly Southern and Midwestern genealogy & history.
- New Papyrus. Source records and genealogical reference materials for VA, NC, and other Southern states.
- North Carolina Genealogy Society. They have many interesting publications including 25 years of the NCGS Journal on CD.
- North Carolina Historical Publications. The publication division of the NC Archives. They mainly focus on historical works, but many books would be of interest to genealogists. They also sell high-quality reproductions of historic documents and maps.
- Parish Chest. If you are thinking of expanding your genealogical research to England, this is an excellent source of books (many on CD), family histories and data CD's. Also has some American books and records.
- Pioneer Publishing Co. Southeastern states, especially Mississippi.
- SK Publications. Specializes in census records and census indexes on CD for the individual consumer.
- South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research. They sell a variety of books relevant to South Carolina genealogy.
- Southern Historical Press. Large catalogue of books focusing on Southern genealogy.
- Southwest Virginia Books. Southwest VA records including Grayson & Carroll Co., VA.
- University of North Carolina Press. Publishes many interesting books about North Carolina history.