Orange County, North Carolina Genealogy

Guide to Orange County, North Carolina ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
Orange County is located in the north-central portion of North Carolina and was named for William V of Orange, the infant grandson of King George III of England.

County Courthouse
Orange County Courthouse 200 S Cameron St Hillsborough, NC 27278 Phone: 919-245-2675 Orange County Website Registrar of Deeds has birth and death records from 1913, marriage and land records from 1754, divorce records from 1869, probate records from 1756 and court records from 1865.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

History Timeline
Orange County was created out of parts of Bladen, Granville, and Johnston counties in 1752. At that time, it comprised a large section of the middle of the North Carolina colony, extending halfway from the Virginia line to the South Carolina line. It was named for the infant William V of Orange. His mother Anne, who was a daughter of King George II of England, was the dowager princess of the Dutch Republic.

At the time that the county was formed, there were 5 Native American tribes living in the area.

As other counties were created out of parts of Orange’s territory, these counties were created wholly out of Old Orange: Chatham (1771), Caswell (1777) and Person (created out of Caswell in 1791), and Alamance (1849). Other sections of the old county were combined with parts of other counties to create: Guilford (1771), which gave birth in turn to Randolph (1779) and Rockingham (1785); Wake (1771), Durham (1881), and Lee (1907). After all of this, Orange County was just a fraction of its original size.

Church Records

 * 1700-1970 - at FamilySearch — index

Baptist
 * Rocky River, near Siler City, N.C. Organized about 1757. Now located in Chatham.
 * South Country Line or Waters of Haw River. Constituted 1783.

Church of England
 * St. Matthew's Parish. Established 1752.

Presbyterian
 * Eno. Founded in 1755.
 * Hawfields. Founded about 1755. Now located in Alamance. Official website.

Genealogies

 * Clendenin - White, Jo White. "Clendenin of Orange County, North Carolina: An Exercise in Southern Genealogical Problem Solving," The Genealogist, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Fall 1985):186-190.
 * Thompson - Buchanan, Jane Gray. Thomas Thompson and Ann Finney of Colonial Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Lawrence, Closs, and John Thompson. Allied Lines of Finney, McAllister, Buchanan, and Hart. Oak Ridge, Tenn.: J.G. Buchanan, 1987..

Local Histories

 * The Age of Orange : political and intellectual leadership in North Carolina, 1752-1861

Military Records
Revolutionary War 
 * 1779-1782  at FamilySearch

Civil War 
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
 * 1885-1953  at FamilySearch


 * -1st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, usually known as the Bethel Regiment.
 * -1st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * -1st Brigade, North Carolina Reserves, Company I
 * -1st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company D
 * -1st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry,usually known as the Bethel Regiment, Company D
 * -1st Regiment, North Carolina Junior Reserves, Company I
 * -2nd Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry, Company K
 * -3rd Battalion, North Carolina Senior Reserves, Captain Mark Durham's Company
 * -3rd Regiment, North Carolina Artillery, 2nd Company G
 * -6th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * -6th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company B
 * -6th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company C
 * -11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
 * -11th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company G
 * -13th Battalion, North Carolina Infantry, Company A

World War I 
 * 1917-1919  at FamilySearch

World War II 
 * 1940-1948  at FamilySearch

Newspapers

 * UNC Black Student Movement Newspapers (1969-1981) (NC Digital Heritage Center)
 * North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project, North Carolina State Archives. Search full text newspapers published in Hillsboro.

Probate Records
Online Probate Records
 * 1660-1790 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1660-1790 at Ancestry $
 * 1663-1979  at FamilySearch
 * 1665-1998 North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998 at Ancestry $
 * 1735-1970  at FamilySearch
 * 1760-1800 North Carolina Will Abstracts 1760-1800 at Ancestry $
 * 1752-1946  at FamilySearch
 * Pre-1790  Pre-1790 Orange County, North Carolina Genealogy Wills (North Carolina State Archives)

School Records
Yearbooks 
 * UNC-Chapel Hill: 1890-1978
 * Orange County Students at NC colleges, yearbook index (NCGenWeb)

Tax Records

 * 1755 Tax Lists, Onslow County, 1755 (index) in NC Taxpayers vol. 2 at Ancestry $
 * 1755 Tax Lists, Orange County, 1755 (images) at North Carolina Digital Collections
 * 1755 Tax Lists, Orange County, 1755 (images) at FamilySearch
 * 1755 1755 Tax List of Orange Co., N.C., 1st tax list (transcript) at FamilySearch
 * 1755 1755 Tax List of Orange County, North Carolina (transcript) at FamilySearch
 * 1779 Tax Lists, Orange County, 1779 (index) in NC Taxpayers vol. 2 at Ancestry $
 * 1779 Tax Lists, Orange County, 1779 (images) at North Carolina Digital Collections

Vital Records

 * 1800-2000 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Birth

 * 1800-2000  at FamilySearch
 * 1866-1964  at FamilySearch
 * 1913-1922  at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage

 * 1741-2004 North Carolina, United States Marriages at FindMyPast
 * 1741-2004 North Carolina Marriage Index 1741-2004 at Ancestry $
 * 1759-1979  at FamilySearch
 * 1762-1979  at FamilySearch
 * 1763-1868  at FamilySearch

Death

 * 1898-1994  at FamilySearch
 * 1906-1930  at FamilySearch
 * 1908-2004 North Carolina Death Indexes 1908-2004 at Ancestry $
 * 1909-1975 North Carolina Death Certificates 1909-1975 at Ancestry $
 * 1931-1994  at FamilySearch

Divorce

 * 1926-1975  at FamilySearch
 * 1958-2004 North Carolina Divorce Index 1958-2004 at Ancestry $

Voter Registration

 * 1868-1898 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers
 * Durham North Carolina Family History Center

Societies

 * The Durham-Orange Genealogical Society of North Carolina PO Box 4703 Chapel Hill, NC 27515-4703 Website

Websites

 * NCGenWeb: Orange County - part of the USGenWeb Project
 * USGenWeb Orange County Archives - many additional genealogical records of all kinds
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.