Lincoln County Public Library – A Little Gem

A Little Gem

The Charles R. Jonas Branch library, conveniently located in downtown Lincolnton, NC, has a large area containing all manner of books and computer terminals that can be used for in-house research purposes.  The Genealogy Room is staffed with knowledgeable and helpful professional staff to assist library patrons in their search for ancestors in the Lincoln County area.  In particular, hearty thanks go out to Ms. Jamie Setzer, a Library Assistant at the Charles R. Jonas branch who helped us find information on ancestral surnames such as: Rhyne, Clemmer, Hoffman, Best/Bost, Shelty/Sheltie, and other ancestors in my family line that were early settlers in North Carolina.  Many of their descendants have continued to reside in the area to this very day.

North Carolina Collection Local History & Genealogy

A prominent feature of the Library is its North Carolina Collection of Local History & Genealogy, located in the Genealogy Room.  The North Carolina Collection consist of non-circulating reference collections of historical and cultural materials that focus primarily on Lincoln Counties but include North Carolina as a whole, bordering areas, and general genealogical resources. 

North Carolina Collection holdings include:

• Books and Periodicals – focusing on the history and genealogy of the area and general genealogical resources.
• Lincoln Biography Index – online index to biographical material that is “buried” within books and magazines in that collection.
• Newspapers – The Lincoln Times-News and other Lincolnton newspapers are available on microfilm.
• Vertical Files – These files are primarily “family files” and the Library is always happy to receive more historical information on local families for these files.
• Cemetery Records–There is no complete cemetery survey, but they have guides for county cemeteries.
• Access to Online Resources (onsite):

1. Heritage Quest Online -a database with images of all the census population schedules for the whole country from 1790 through 1930. HQ also provides full-text copies of over 25,000 books on genealogy and local history and images of Revolutionary War pension files from the National Archives and more.
2. Ancestry Library Edition – includes the complete census from 1790 to 1930; other resources includes WWI draft registration records, city directories, passenger lists, birth and death records, and much more.
3. Microfilm – Microfilmed records of marriages, wills, deeds, court minutes, and land grants for Tryon, Lincoln, and Gaston Counties, along with other local materials including some church records (1).

The Lincoln Co. Library System is planning to launch a digitization project of resources within the Genealogy Room in the near future.  This will be a massive, lengthy and expensive effort, but well worth every penny if you love genealogy and family history.

1. Lincoln County Public Library, informatio accessed on May 17, 2019 at https://www.lincolncounty.org/index.aspx?NID=1009.