McDowell County
Welcome to the official McDowell County NCGenWeb Project website. My name is Stephanie, and I am the county coordinator for this website. If you have any questions, problems, or if you have anything to contribute, please email me.
I recently found an old disk with one of the first versions of this site on it. If you are interested in seeing what you missed, or in remembering how it was, feel free to take a look. WARNING! It has not been changed from it's original form and I'm certain that almost all the links to anything outside this site are broken. Clicking the link will open the site in a new window, just close the window to return here.
History and formation of McDowell County:
McDowell was formed in 1842 from Rutherford and Burke Counties. It was named in honor of Colonel Joseph McDowell, an officer of the Revolution. It is situated in the west central part of North Carolina, bounded by Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Henderson, Mitchell, Rutherford, and Yancey counties. The court was ordered to be held at the home of Jonathan L. Carson until the county seat could be established. The act also named commissioners to select a site as near the center of the county as possible, acquire land, lay out a town by the name of Marion, and erect a courthouse and louer en loi Pinel a ses parents. Marion is the county seat.
The formation of McDowell County:
This map shows North Carolina as it existed in 1841 before the creation of McDowell County. Note the size and position of McDowell's parent counties, Burke (Bur) and Rutherford (Ru).
This map shows McDowell (McD) County in 1842 after its creation from Burke (Bur) and Rutherford (Ru) counties.
This map shows McDowell (McD) County in 1844 after it gained more territory from Rutherford(Ru) County. This is the shape of McDowell County today.
These maps were supplied through the generosity of Gold Bug Historic Maps & Software. Visit their website for historic map reproductions, downloadable maps, product info & demos, links to US and Canadian Geographic Servers and other interesting sites.
The Carson House
Carson House Schedule:
May 1 - October 31
Open Daily 10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Admission:
$3.00 for Adults
$1.50 for Children
Family history books in the Carson House library:
| Adkinson of Mississippi | Alexander and Neals | Alexander and Davidson | Descent of the Scottish Alexanders | Banning (4 books) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asbury | Biggerstaff | Blanton | Brackett | Burgin (2 books) |
| Birds | Bradley | Burchfield | Blanton | Biddix |
| Boone | Bowman | Brown | Brandon | Burgin |
| Brooks | Brock | Blakey | Byrd | Carsons of Rutherford |
| Carson, Wm. | Carson, Col. John Family | Carsons of Burke | Carson, James M. | Carson, Rachael Rebecca |
| Carson, Ritter | Carter, Thomas D. | Cathey Family | Clarke, James | Cuthbertson & Allied Families |
| Carson | Samuel P. Carsons | Carson, Martin, Bailey, Neal | Casper Cable | Camp-Kemp |
| Chapman | Crawford | Copeland, Bostick, Patton, & Allied Families | Fincannons, Cannon, Voncannons, Vuncannons, and Related Families | Crockett |
| Daves | Dale, Samuel | Davidson, Samuel John | Dobson | Dysart |
| DuBose | Duffy | Davidson, John | Duncan | Dillinghams |
| John Caughey (1747-1826) | Middlesex, VA Daniel Descendants | Elliot | Erwin | Elliot |
| Finch, Adam | Finley's of Wilkes Co. NC | Forney lineage | Frisbee, Frisbie, Frisby | Fleming |
| Frisbee, Frisbie (several) | Edward Frisbie of Branford vol. 1 & 2 | Patric Gracy | Gracey/Woody | The Gray Family |
| Greenlee | James Greenlee of VA | James Greenlee of Lancaster County PA | Hemphill-McEntire-Greelee | James Greenlee of Tennessee |
| Grant | Gilkey Family | Gillespie, Henry | Greenlee, Grace | Greenlee, Edward |
| Greenlee, Mason | Gracey, Patrick | Greenlee, James McClelland | Griggs, E. | Griggs, John Family |
| Gudger, William | Gray Family | Gracey, Patrick | Harris | Haney-Mosteller |
| Hemphills in North Carolina | Hassard | Hopper | Higgins | Hallyburton |
| Haney, Lewis | Hanna Family | Harris, Isham | Harris Family and Allied Families | Hart, Walter |
| Hensley, James A. | Hicks Family | Hopper-Killian | Huston (Patten and Ray) | Hunter, M.H. |
| Hemphill-McEntire | Hendrix Family of Carter County, Tennessee | Hopper | Killiam | Hoffman |
| Irvine, Jones, Brown | Kern | Knox | Kanipe | Locke |
| Lunon, Cabiness, Elliott, Finch | Logan | Lunsford | Lytle | Ledbetter |
| Lentz | London | Logan | McCoy | McDaniel |
| McDowell | McCleskey | Murphy, Conley, Henline | McFalls | McKey |
| Moody | Morrison | Massengills | Massengales | Moore |
| McCurry | McGalliad | McKinney | Mosteller | Mackey |
| Mashburn | Marlowe | Moffitt | Marlowe | McCurry |
| McIntyre | McKinney | McCleskey | McKoy | Moore |
| Morgan, Pendergrass, Carter, Haynes, Patton | Mosteller | Morrison | Noblitt | Neal |
| Owenby | Patillo, Patullo | Patton | Payne | Perkins |
| Plyler | Poteat | Pyatt | Patton | Rickets |
| Rust | Rowe | Renfro | Ritter | Shelby |
| Stepp | Simmons | Stepp, Stapp | Sevier | Stacy |
| Swofford | Van Buren | Tate | Taylor | Whitson |
| White | Walton | Webb | Weibner | Wilkerson |
| Williams | Wilson | Yancey | York | Watson |
| Weaver | Whitson |
Cemeteries of McDowell County
To my knowledge, these are the only McDowell County cemeteries that have been indexed and made available online. If you know of any others that I should add a link to, please e-mail me and I will list them here. The cemeteries listed here have NOT been done by me. These are only LINKS to another site. One cemetery listed below is stored on this site. I do not live in McDowell County. If you have a question or a problem about one of the cemeteries listed here, please contact the person listed on those pages. They will probably be able to help you more than I could.
- Arrowood Family Cemetery
- Bethel Baptist Church
- Bradley Family Cemetery
- Chapel Hill Cemetery
- Cowen Cemetery
- Cross Mill Cemetery
- Drucilla Presbyterian Cemetery
- Dysartsville Baptist Cemetery
- East Marion Cemetery
- Ebenezer United Methodist Cemetery
- English Family Cemetery
- Epps Family Cemetery
- Gardin-Haney Cemetery
- Glenwood Cemetery
- Glenwood Independent Baptist Cemetery
- Halltown Cemetery
- Hicks Chapel Baptist Church, part one
- Hicks Chapel Baptist Church, part two
- Lawing-Davis Cemetery
- Macedonia Cemetery
- Mount Pleasant Baptist Church Cemetery
- Nealsville Church of God Cemetery
- Nebo Cemetery
- Old Brackett Town Cemetery
- Pine Cove Cemetery
- Pinnacle Methodist Cemetery
- Proctor Cemetery
- Providence United Methodist Cemetery
- Sprouse Cemetery
- Sugar Hill Baptist Cemetery
- Trinity Methodist Cemetery
- Vein Mountain Baptist Church
Be a hero, do a cemetery survey! Here is a list of cemeteries people have requested:
- Bethlehem Cemetery (across the street from Bethlehem Baptist Church near Old Fort.)
- McDowell Memorial Park Cemetery
If there is a cemetery that is not listed here, and you would like to have it surveyed or if you would like to volunteer to survey a cemetery on the "wish list", please email me.
Preserving Cemetery Data: The North Carolina Cemetery Survey and Protective Legislation
McDowell County Deeds
Deeds available online:
Deed of Conveyance, Sept 1845, from John Davis, Thomas Davis, Salathial Davis, Marrida Davis, David Davis, Mary Davis, David Dalton, Ruth Dalton, Joseph Souther, Sarah Souther, John England, Jane England to Pattrick Davis