Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. 1755
   Founding or opening · Hawfields (now Alamance County) Presbyterians found Hawfields Church

   Hawfields Presbyterian Church was founded in the part of Orange County that is now eastern Alamance. Henry Pattillo later served as its pastor.

3. August 1755
   Publication, speech or performance · Orange County Hugh McAden preaches to the Eno and Hawfields settlements

   The traveling Presbyterian licentiate Hugh McAden preached to the Eno settlement on the second Sabbath of August 1755, lodging at John Anderson's house, and rode on to preach at the Hawfields on the fourth Sabbath. His journal is the earliest surviving description of either settlement.

4. 1756 (traditional date)
   Founding or opening · New Hope New Hope Presbyterian Church traces its beginning to

   New Hope Presbyterian Church, south of Hillsborough on the road to Chapel Hill, counts 1756 as its founding year, when the Hawfields and Eno Presbyterians, with whom the New Hope families then worshiped, first asked Hanover Presbytery for preachers. Its early records burned in 1827; D. I. Craig judged it was formally organized later, most likely under Henry Pattillo after his 1765 call, and it first appears with its own minister in the 1795 Orange Presbytery minutes.

5. c. 1760
   Construction or physical change · New Hope New Hope congregation builds its first meetinghouse

   Settlers still attached to the Hawfields congregation built a rough first meetinghouse about five miles south of Hillsborough and a quarter mile east of the road to Chapel Hill. An octagonal log church on higher ground replaced it, which the church dates to 1775.

6. 1765-1774
   Orange County Henry Pattillo becomes pastor of the Hawfields, Eno and Little River churches

   Henry Pattillo moved to Orange County as pastor of the Hawfields, Eno and Little River Presbyterian churches and served them for nine years, becoming known as "Father Pattillo." He was the first regularly installed minister at Eno.

7. 1774
   Closing or ending · the Hawfields Henry Pattillo leaves the Hawfields and Eno churches

   Pattillo, who came to the Hawfields and Eno churches in 1765, left in 1774. The New Hope families still belonged to the Hawfields then, and Craig believed Pattillo had organized New Hope church in its first meetinghouse.

8. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

9. about 1775
   Appointment, election or service · New Hope John DeBow takes the Hawfields and Eno charge and preaches at New Hope

   DeBow, a young minister, succeeded Pattillo at the Hawfields and Eno about 1775 and preached at New Hope as he could. Craig calls him probably the first preacher with anything like a regular appointment there.

10. September 8, 1783
    Life event · the Hawfields John DeBow, minister to the Hawfields, Eno and New Hope people, dies

    DeBow died at 38 and was buried at Hawfields church. Craig was told he was the first person buried in the present Hawfields churchyard.

11. 1790
    Closing or ending · New Hope Jacob Lake ends his ministry to New Hope

    Lake followed DeBow and served New Hope with the Hawfields and Eno churches in the same way until 1790. He left Orange Presbytery in 1794 after about ten years in it.

12. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

13. 1801
    Appointment, election or service · Hawfields and Cross Roads Presbyterian churches, then western Orange County (now Alamance County) William D. Paisley becomes pastor of the Hawfields and Cross Roads churches

    After serving the Union and Buffalo churches in Guilford County, Paisley took charge of the Hawfields and Cross Roads Presbyterian churches near present Mebane in 1801 and stayed until 1818. The Hawfields church historian credits him with organizing the first camp meeting in North Carolina there during the Great Revival.

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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 1, 2026.