Orange County History Guide: Genealogy
People & Families of Orange County
The books listed here provide general information about people and life in Orange County. The links below will redirect you to the UNC Libraries online catalog. This list is by no means comprehensive. To find histories of other Orange County families, search the catalog for the family name.
- Chapel Hill Biographies: Newspaper and Magazine Articles on People in Chapel Hill and the Triangle AreaCall Number: C971.68 C46c6Publication Date: 2003A five volume collection of unpublished photocopies of newspaper clippings and other ephemera devoted to people in Chapel Hill, collected and donated to the Collection by Stewart Pearson. The entries are arranged alphabetically by name of subject and there is no index or table of contents.
- The Kirklands of Ayr Mount byCall Number: C971.68 A54kPublication Date: 1991This is a biography of a prominent Hillsborough family from the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.
- Piedmont Plantation: The Bennehan-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina byCall Number: C971.32 A54pPublication Date: 1985This is a biography of an important family with connections to Durham and Chapel Hill by a notable local historian.
- An Orange County Childhood byCall Number: CB M119mPublication Date: 1983A memoir about life on a farm in Caldwell, an Orange County community, in the early twentieth century. Includes information on housekeeping, food, school, farming and other topics related to everyday life in this part of the state during that era.
- When Chapel Hill Was a Village byCall Number: C971.68 L89wPublication Date: 1976A book of short vignettes about life in Chapel Hill in the early twentieth century.
Orange County Land & Vital Records
Although the North Carolina Collection does not have primary source materials, many of the early records for Orange County have been published. The most comprehensive of these publications are listed below.
- Death and Marriage Notices from the Hillsborough Recorder, Published 1820-1879, Hillsborough, North Carolina and the Hillsboro Recorder, Published 1887-1888 byCall Number: C929 M252dPublication Date: 1997Inventory of death and marriage notices published in Hillsborough, arranged by year. Only available in the Reading Room.
- Land Grant Records of North Carolina byCall Number: C929 B155LPublication Date: 1990Volume 1 of this series provides abstracts of Orange County land grants from 1752 until 1885, listed alphabetically by name of grantee and indexed by location in county.
- Old Chapel Hill Cemetery: Directory and InventoryCall Number: C971.68 C46oPublication Date: 1990Inventory of people buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. Also available in the Reading Room.
- Orange County Records byCall Number: C971.68 O63bPublication Date: 1987This nineteen volume set of Orange County record abstracts provides fairly detailed information about economic exchanges in Orange County through the early nineteenth century. Includes, but is not limited to, land grants and purchases. See the library catalog for details about the contents of each of the volumes.
- Marriages of Orange County, North Carolina, 1779-1868 byCall Number: C971.68 H72mPublication Date: 1983Book listing abstracts of all the marriage bonds issued in Orange County from 1779 until 1868 alphabetically by groom. Also includes an index of brides and bondsmen.
Connect with us
