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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,531 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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6 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,531 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–6.Back to highlights

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6 dated events
1795Revolution and early republic
  1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799
  2. A school begins to be kept at New Hope church

    Founding or opening · New Hope

    Thompson urged the congregation to take up schooling, and after his time the church generally kept a school for many years. His successor James H. Bowman is said to have taught school there while supplying the pulpit.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: New Hope Presbyterian Church

  3. New Hope builds a parsonage with a farm on the church tract

    Construction or physical change · New Hope

    At William F. Thompson's urging the congregation built a parsonage where William C. Claytor later lived and laid off much of Gilbert Strayhorn's two-hundred-acre gift as a farm to go with it.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: New Hope Presbyterian Church

  4. Orange Presbytery holds its earliest recorded meeting at New Hope

    Appointment, election or service · New Hope

    The oldest surviving Orange Presbytery minutes record a meeting at New Hope church, the first after Concord Presbytery was set off. James Bowman was moderator, William McGee was ordained with William F. Thompson, John Gillispie was licensed, and two candidates, Robert Foster and Robert Tate, sat part of their trials.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: New Hope Presbyterian Church

  5. William F. Thompson is ordained at New Hope as its first pastor

    Appointment, election or service · New Hope

    Thompson, said to be a native of Connecticut, was ordained at New Hope and apparently installed as its pastor at the same meeting, the first pastor the church had. Earlier ministers had served it as supplies alongside the Hawfields and Eno.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: New Hope Presbyterian Church

  6. William F. Thompson deeds a hundred acres of New Hope church land to John Strayhorn

    Property or economic transaction · New Hope

    As he was leaving, Thompson sold about a hundred acres of the church tract to Gilbert Strayhorn's son John, stating that Gilbert had conveyed the land to him. No such conveyance was ever seen or recorded, and Craig judged the deed a forgery; the land left the church's hands.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: New Hope Presbyterian Church

  7. William F. Thompson resigns as pastor of New Hope

    Closing or ending · Cross Roads church

    Thompson gave up the charge at a called meeting of Orange Presbytery at Cross Roads church and left the presbytery's bounds. In April 1802 the presbytery suspended him from the ministry for false charges he had made against it.

    People: William F. Thompson

    Subject: Cross Roads Presbyterian Church · New Hope Presbyterian Church

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026