Skip to content

Local figure

Irving E. Birdseye

Irving E. Birdseye became pastor of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church in 1947. During his pastorate the congregation raised the money to start its educational building in May 1948, finished it that November and dedicated it, free of debt, on October 30, 1949.

Source: Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd: History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 136

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Irving E. Birdseye. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Irving E. Birdseye’s life and work. Suggest a source.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Irving E. Birdseye begins as pastor of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church Irving Earl Birdseye of Syracuse, New York, a Union Theological Seminary graduate completing a master's degree in sociology at UNC, began his pastorate on November 2. He succeeded S. W. DuBose, pastor since December 1938, who preached his last sermon on August 31 and left to teach Bible at Davis and Elkins College. People: Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 30, 1947, p. 1
  2. Delegates meeting in Chapel Hill form the North Carolina World Peace Forum At the invitation of the Chapel Hill Community Club, fifty people representing forty state organizations and women's clubs met in Chapel Hill and formed the North Carolina World Peace Forum to build informed public opinion on international affairs. With Chancellor R. B. House as president it held a full-day session in Gerrard Hall on April 7, 1948. People: R. B. House, Guion Griffis Johnson, Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 15, 1948, p. 1
  3. Orange County's Fill a Ship with Friendship drive sends a ton of relief goods Under county chairman the Rev. Irving E. Birdseye, the Council of Churches' Fill a Ship with Friendship campaign gathered clothing, shoes, bedding and other supplies through the county's schools and house-to-house canvasses delayed by snow, and 2,000 pounds reached the Church World Service center at New Windsor, Maryland. People: Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 1, 1948, p. 1
  4. Hillsborough Presbyterian Church begins its educational building After gifts starting in 1943 and a December 1947 drive that reached half the cost, the church started work on its educational wing in May 1948 and finished it that November. People: Edwin M. Lynch, Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 136
  5. Orange County loads its boxcar of farm goods for the CROP Friendship Train Orange County finished loading its car of grain and farm products for overseas relief, more than 11,000 pounds gathered from the county's farms by church and school groups, along with $270 given through the churches. R. H. Claytor headed the county drive for the Christian Rural Overseas Program. People: R. H. Claytor, Robert L. Mohler, Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 23, 1948, p. 1
  6. Hillsborough Presbyterian Church dedicates its debt-free educational building Once the debt on the 1948 educational wing was paid, the church dedicated it in October 1949, under pastor Irving E. Birdseye. People: Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 136
  7. Orange County churches launch the CROP drive to send corn overseas A countywide meeting launched the Christian Rural Overseas Program in Orange County, naming the Revs. W. H. Rittenhouse Sr., I. E. Birdseye and C. S. Hubbard co-chairmen, Samuel Hughes treasurer and R. H. Mohler shipping clerk. Rural church canvassers began calling on farmers for corn to be gathered in December and shipped through church relief agencies to Europe and Asia. People: Irving E. Birdseye, Charles S. HubbardSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 24, 1949, p. 1
  8. Orange Presbytery meets at the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church for the first time in forty years Orange Presbytery met at the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church, for the first time in 40 years by the paper's count, adopted an executive council and a new manual of procedure, and elected commissioners to the General Assembly. Pastor Irving E. Birdseye led the communion service, and lunch was served in the church's new educational building. People: Paul JonesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 11, 1951, p. 1
  9. Five Orange County churches hold a joint day camp at Camp New Hope In place of their vacation church schools, the New Hope, Chapel Hill, Efland and Hillsboro Presbyterian churches and the Hillsboro Methodist Church ran a joint day camp at Camp New Hope, with study, handicrafts and recreation. The Rev. John E. Ensign and the Rev. Irving E. Birdseye directed it.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 17, 1951, p. 1
  10. Women of Hillsboro Presbyterian Church publish Selected Hillsboro Recipes The cookbook of more than 376 recipes, from family favorites such as syllabub and beaten biscuits to the Colonial Inn's orange rolls and the Schley Grange giblet gravy, came off the press in mid-May and sold for $2; each section opens with a sketch of a Presbyterian home or a public building in Hillsboro drawn by the pastor or church members. People: Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 22, 1952, p. 1
  11. Orange Presbytery refuses to let Irving Birdseye move to the Chapel Hill church while it is under investigation Meeting at Burlington on July 29, 1952, Orange Presbytery voted 20 to 13 to put off indefinitely the request of the Rev. Irving E. Birdseye of the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church to become associate pastor at Chapel Hill, holding that no permanent pastor should be called there until its judicial commission finished its inquiry. Two days earlier the Hillsboro congregation had voted, with regrets, to release him, and the Chapel Hill church was left to use supply preachers while its pastor, Charles M. Jones, was on leave. People: Charles M. Jones, Irving E. BirdseyeThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 31, 1952, p. 1
  12. Irving E. Birdseye leaves the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church for a new church in Greensboro Irving E. Birdseye told the Hillsboro session that he would accept a call to the Guilford Park Presbyterian Church, a new congregation in Greensboro, and the congregation was asked to release him at a meeting on February 1. The pulpit stayed empty until C. H. Reckard arrived in May. People: C. H. ReckardSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 22, 1953, p. 1
Show all 14 dated events
  1. The Rev. Robert C. Masterton retires as rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church The Rev. Robert C. Masterton retired on February 1, 1953, after more than ten years as rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, where he had come in 1942. The Hillsboro Ministerial Association held a farewell service for him and Mrs. Masterton, who moved to a new home in Chapel Hill on February 3. People: Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 5, 1953, p. 4
  2. The Hillsboro Presbyterian Church calls C. H. Reckard as its pastor The congregation voted unanimously to call the Rev. C. H. "Jack" Reckard of Huntsville, Tennessee, a 1951 graduate of Louisville Seminary, to the pulpit left empty when I. E. Birdseye went to Greensboro. Reckard accepted, arrived with his family on May 14 and was to be installed by Orange Presbytery on June 14. People: L. E. Beard, Irving E. BirdseyeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 23, 1953, p. 1

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Irving E. Birdseye, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Irving E. Birdseye Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Irving E. Birdseye

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use Irving E. Birdseye’s name without birth or death dates, so results may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

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