Orange County Indexed · Quick help
Ways to continue your search
No results means that this search did not find a match in the records being searched. It does not establish that the person, place, event, or source did not exist.
Features used in this guide: Search Indexed Records · Historical records · People
Begin with one distinctive name or place. In the historic deeds search, every word must appear in the abstract, so a long query can exclude a relevant record. Search a person's surname separately from a place name, then compare the results.
Search Hillsboro as well as Hillsborough, earlier business names, initials, and variant surnames. The deed and enslaved-people searches match close spellings and the start of a word, but not every variant: Faucett and Fossett need separate searches. Check whether Exact spelling is selected. In records naming enslaved people, a first name alone may be the form preserved.
Widen the date range or remove restrictions one at a time. Use Search Indexed Records for books, archives, and scholarship, and the separate deed and enslaved people searches for those records. A result in one part of the index may not appear in another.
Use a person or place page, a storyline, or the chronology. The historic deeds can be browsed by book, and the records naming enslaved people by decade. A newspaper search may miss words that you can read in the page image because automatic text recognition can misread older print. Check nearby issues when you have a date.
Check the holding institution's catalog or index, and consider which county covered the place at the record date. Catalog descriptions may name a family or collection rather than every person inside it. Some material survives only on paper or microfilm, and some records have not been indexed.
For example, a search for the Colonial Inn by its modern name can miss earlier material about the Orange Hotel. Record the searches and filters you tried, then ask OCPL's Local History Liaison about other names, sources, and ways to reach them. When you find something missing, send the Friends an addition or correction with a citation, using the contact form or the "Suggest a correction" link on chronology entries.
