North Carolina, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800s-current

General collection information

This index allows you to search for your ancestor by name in North Carolina newspapers that are available on Newspapers.com™ from the 1800s to the present. Not all newspapers from the state of North Carolina are included. Links to the newspaper article in which your ancestor's name was found are included in the index.

Using this collection

The index may include the following information:

Historic newspapers can offer a wealth of information to add to your family history. Newspapers publish birth, marriage, and death announcements that can provide the vital dates of your ancestor's life.

They also reported on important events and happenings in the local community. Newspapers covered everything from local sports teams, school and community events, to local politics and the stories of everyday people in the community. Even if your ancestor's name doesn't appear in a newspaper, you could discover what life was like in their community during the time they lived there by reading newspaper articles.

Newspapers also published articles about negative events and difficult topics. You may find articles that state that your ancestor was a victim of a crime, or that they committed a crime or was involved in a political scandal.

Collection in context

The newspapers that are included in this index were produced by journalists working throughout North Carolina. Newspapers are highly valuable primary historical sources, which contain the biases of the author. They also contain the terminology of the times and may include offensive or obsolete language. They typically provide the most depth and breadth of information that can be found about the community where they are published. Articles may show up across many sources and states if they were syndicated by groups like the Associated Press.

Newspapers in the United States were often published by political parties and mercantile enterprises until the 1830s, when entrepreneurs began publishing newspapers that they sold for a penny to mass audiences in large cities. The newspaper followed as the United States population grew and the country expanded west during the late 1800s. Between the 1850 and 1880 U.S. Censuses, the number of newspapers increased 350 percent, rising to more than 11,400 publications. From the late 1800s to the early 20th century, technology impacted newspaper production with faster presses, linotype machines that mechanized typesetting, and a process that allowed photographs to be printed.

North Carolina residents had their first newspaper more than a decade before the start of the American Revolutionary War. The North-Carolina Gazette was founded in 1751. By the start of the war in 1776, North Carolina had five newspapers.

The state's first daily newspaper, the Raleigh Register, transitioned from weekly to daily issues in 1850, and during the next decade North Carolina newspaper editors argued on both sides of the debate about secession, as slavery was considered a regional issue by many newspaper editors, limiting its discussion. During the American Civil War, many North Carolina newspapers suspended their operations, but the industry rebounded by the early 1870s. The North Carolina Press Association was founded in 1873, with 28 newspapers represented at its first convention.

During the 1890s, the state's newspaper editors were once again divided by the issue of racism. While some editor's supported the South's system of white supremacy, others began to advocate for civil rights for Blacks. In 1892, the Wilmington Daily Record was founded as a rare Black-owned daily newspaper, but its offices were destroyed during a race riot in 1898.

During the early 20th century, the North Carolina newspaper industry continued to expand, and the state's first Associated Press branch was opened in 1915.

Bibliography

Fogarty, Billie Stone. "Finding & Using Historic Newspapers in Genealogical Research." Family Search. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://familysearch.brightspotcdn.com/3c/40/c9155b33c17a4e80fda5e2264765/course-handout.pdf.

Mammen, Edwin H. "Part 1: North Carolina's First Newspapers." NCpedia. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://www.ncpedia.org/newspapers.

---. "Part 2: Political Affiliations of Nineteenth-Century Newspapers." NCpedia. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://www.ncpedia.org/newspapers-part-2-political.

---. "Part 3: An Expanding Press Champions Economic and Social Progress." NCpedia. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://www.ncpedia.org/newspapers-part-3-expanding-press.

---. "Part 4: Changing Technologies, New Voices, and the Trend toward Corporate Ownership." NCpedia. Accessed October 4, 2022. https://www.ncpedia.org/newspapers-part-4-changing.

The Family History Guide Blog. "Inside the Guide: Using Newspapers for Family History Research." Accessed October 4, 2022. https://www.thefhguide.com/blog/inside-the-guide-using-newspapers-for-family-history-research/.