Orange County Indexed · Worked research guide
Land in the part of Orange that became Alamance
The same family or property can appear in different counties' records without moving. Use the changing-boundary map on the Orange County place page to identify the jurisdiction at the time of the record.
Features used in this guide: Maps · Historical records
Begin with a property near present-day Graham and ask where to look for county records from 1848 and from 1850. Use a modern location to orient yourself, then check historical land descriptions. The example concerns land near today's town, not a claim that the town existed in 1848; Graham was incorporated in 1851.
On the Orange County place page, go to The county's shape through time. Choose June 1, 1777, the outline in force until 1849, and then April 19, 1849, when Orange lost territory to the new Alamance County. The selected date shows Orange's outline then; the dashed lines are its other shapes. Keep the location you are researching in view as you compare them.
Alamance County was formed from Orange in 1849. Land near present-day Graham falls within the part that changed county. For this example, start with Orange for the 1848 county records and Alamance for 1850. If a location lies close to a boundary, consult the map's source, the Newberry Library's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, and the session laws cited under each date.
A deed, probate file, court case, church register, and newspaper are created by different bodies. The county map tells you which county to investigate, but not where every record is now kept. Ask the relevant records office or archive whether older books stayed with the parent county, were transferred, or have copies or indexes elsewhere.
A document made before a division may have been recorded afterward, and later files can cite older records. Keep both the document date and the recording date. Search names and property descriptions in both counties around the transition. For records from before Orange was created in 1752, investigate the county that covered the location then; Orange was formed from parts of Bladen, Granville, and Johnston.
For land in the part that became Alamance, an Orange County reference from 1848 and an Alamance reference from 1850 can concern the same place. The change in county name is evidence of a change of jurisdiction; it does not by itself establish that a family moved.
Record the location, the dates compared, the counties identified, and the map source. Take that note to the library or records office with the type of record you need. Do not use the boundary map as a substitute for a parcel survey or a historical deed description.
