Orange County Indexed · Worked research guide
The Ruffin-Roulhac House in Hillsborough
A house may have several names, more than one building date, and a history that extends beyond the people whose names it carries. Use Orange County Indexed to find those connections, then follow the evidence to the records behind them.
Features used in this guide: Places · Maps · Historical records
For this example, ask: When was the oldest part of the Ruffin-Roulhac House built, and who owned it before Thomas Ruffin? For your own property, begin with its address, any older names, and the specific change you want to understand.
Open the site page for the Ruffin-Roulhac House, also called Little Hawfields. It places the house at 101 East Orange Street and gives its state historic survey number, OR0017. Record both. A surname alone can lead you to another house associated with the same family.
For another property, compare the map, street address, and survey record. Use current county GIS (linked under Research sources) to locate today's parcel, then use historical lot descriptions and maps to investigate earlier boundaries. A modern parcel is a starting point, not a complete ownership history.
Under Research sources, open the National Register files. The 1971 nomination says the oldest part "is thought to have been built about 1820"; the 2014 district documentation dates the original house, the three west bays, to about 1821. Both are estimates. Keep that qualification when taking notes or writing a summary.
A catalog title may preserve a different date. Under Indexed works, the page lists a 1992 leaflet with 1803 in its title. Treat that as another claim to investigate; a date in a title does not settle the construction question.
| Source | Date given | How to record it |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 nomination | About 1820 | Estimated date for the oldest part |
| 2014 district documentation | About 1821 | Later estimate for the original (west) part of the house |
| 1823 sale discussed in the nomination | March 1823 (deed dated 10 March) | The nomination reads the sale price as evidence that a house already stood there |
The 1971 nomination says Martin Hanks sold lot 181 to William H. Phillips in March 1823, and that Phillips sold the house to Francis Lister Hawks two years later. Those names, dates, and the lot number give you specific searches to try in the index's historic deeds, which hold Mark Chilton's abstracts of Deed Books 1 to 42 (1752 to 1874). A search for Martin Hanks finds the 1823 deed (ODB 20/329, dated 10 March 1823), and a search for William H Phillips finds his sale to Hawks in 1825 (ODB 21/437). A search for lot 181 turns up Hawks's sale to Frances C. P. Blount in 1830 (ODB 24/162) and her sale, as Frances C. P. Hill, to Thomas Ruffin in 1865 (ODB 37/385). The abstracts spell her first name Francis, a reminder to try variants.
Each deed page links to the deed book page at the Register of Deeds. Open it and record the book and page, the parties, the date, the lot description, and any mention of a building. Note separately the date a deed was made and the date it was recorded. The abstracts have not been checked against the originals, so read the page itself. If the search returns nothing, use the Register of Deeds indexes and try name variants. An empty search in the index does not establish that no deed exists.
Under Indexed works, the site page links to Historic American Buildings Survey photographs at the Library of Congress and, under Surveys and maps of the area, to historical maps of Hillsborough from 1863 and 1905. Compare the same location across dates, checking the map legend and photograph captions. Note which features are visible, which are described by a later author, and which remain uncertain.
At OCPL, the page's Start at OCPL section points to town histories, architectural surveys, and town-lot reference works. Use these to locate additional citations. A book listed there may not discuss this particular property; the page itself says so.
For now, the evidence supports this conclusion: The oldest part of the Ruffin-Roulhac House is dated about 1820 to 1821 in the National Register documentation. The 1971 nomination describes the March 1823 sale of the lot and reads its $650 price as evidence that a house already stood there. Establishing the precise construction year would require further evidence.
Keep the construction history, ownership history, and later alterations separate. Ownership of the land does not by itself establish who lived in the house, designed it, or built it.
Take the property names, survey number, lot number, deed citations, and unresolved date question to OCPL's Local History Liaison. Ask for help locating the town-lot histories or the deed references needed to test the construction date.
