Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Local figure

William T. Mattox

William T. Mattox was a minister of the Christian church who had led several congregations in eastern North Carolina. In July 1937 he became Orange County's superintendent of public welfare, as the department was reorganized under Social Security. When the county sold its outdated county home in 1941, he arranged places for its residents in private homes. He held the post until he died at his Chapel Hill home in May 1947.

Source: Documenting the American South: North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. Biennial Report of the North…

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

Research sources

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineSocial Security comes to Orange County, 1937–19381937–1938 · 12 events · The new state social security law brought Orange County its first old-age assistance checks in 1937, and a higher county tax rate to pay for them. The law required a full-time welfare superintendent in every county, and W. T. Mattox succeeded George H. Lawrence, who would not leave the University faculty. The new Board of Public Welfare, with C. A. McDade as a Black member, announced that old-age assistance would go only to those in need. The county budget added a welfare fund that included federal and state money, and in August the county delivered its first checks, to 29 people, and raised its tax rate 7 cents for the new payments, the Weekly reported.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 16 dated events in the chronology →

  1. W. T. Mattox is elected Orange County superintendent of public welfare The county commissioners and the new county board of public welfare chose W. T. Mattox, a graduate of Atlantic Christian College with a Vanderbilt master's degree, to succeed George H. Lawrence on July 1. The state's new Social Security law required every county to have a full-time superintendent with a college degree and welfare experience, which ruled out Lawrence, who kept his University post. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 25, 1937, p. 2
  2. The county welfare department is reorganized under Social Security A new three-member welfare board of O. L. Crabtree, Bruce Strowd and Charlie McDade, a Black member, took charge, and W. T. Mattox became superintendent in July 1937. The office moved to Hillsborough that year and kept a branch in Chapel Hill. People: Bruce Strowd, William T. Mattox Place: Hillsborough · Also named: O. L. Crabtree, Charlie McDadeSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 211 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 4, 1937, p. 5; Chapel Hill Weekly, June 25, 1937, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 16, 1937, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 1, 1937, p. 2
  3. Orange County makes its first Social Security assistance payments The county delivered its first checks under the new federal, state and county Social Security program to 29 people approved for July: 20 for old-age assistance, 7 for aid to dependent children and 2 for the blind. The Weekly reported that the recipients were about evenly divided between white and Black residents. People: William T. Mattox, Bruce Strowd, Gilbert W. Ray Place: County welfare office, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 6, 1937, p. 1
  4. The county welfare office moves to Hillsboro The Orange County welfare office was moved to Hillsboro at the same weekend that the first Social Security checks went out. People: William T. Mattox Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Orange County welfare officeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 6, 1937, p. 1
  5. Orange County's approved Social Security cases reach 121 The county board of public welfare approved 39 more applications, bringing the total to 121: 83 for old-age assistance (51 white and 32 Black), 36 for dependent children covering 110 children (15 white and 21 Black families), and 2 for the blind, one white and one Black. Superintendent W. T. Mattox said about 121 more applications were still waiting. People: William T. Mattox Place: County welfare office, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 1, 1937, p. 1
  6. Orange County enrolls 33 young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps The county welfare department enrolled 33 young men for CCC service, bringing Orange's enrollees to about 40, each sending $25 a month home to his family. The fall quota had been set at 24, 15 white and 9 Black, for jobless, unmarried men 17 to 24 from needy families. People: William T. Mattox Place: County welfare office, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 5, 1937, p. 1
  7. Welfare superintendent Mattox reports more than 400 Orange County families on public aid W. T. Mattox reported 146 approved Social Security cases, about 100 county residents on WPA projects earning some $2,500 a month, and public aid of all kinds reaching more than 400 families at about $5,200 a month, with 150 old-age applications still waiting. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 5, 1937, p. 1
  8. Orange County's welfare superintendent reports $3,650 a month in Social Security and relief aid W. T. Mattox reported to the county welfare board that his department carried 570 cases. Under the new Social Security program 217 people drew old-age assistance (about $10 a month each), 187 children got aid to dependent children ($1,041 a month) and 9 blind people got $130 a month; the county paid under a third of the total. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange County welfare office, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 8, 1938, p. 1
  9. Orange County's public welfare fund comes to $71,069 for the year The Weekly reported that Orange County's public welfare budget for the year was $30,213 from the county plus $40,856 from the federal and state governments, $71,069 in all. It paid old age assistance to 250 people (about $10 a month each), aid to about 200 dependent children ($5.50 a month) and aid to 8 blind people, while the county set aside only $3,000 for hospital care, which welfare superintendent W. T. Mattox called his hardest problem. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 25, 1939, p. 1
  10. WPA employment in Orange County falls to its lowest point County welfare director W. T. Mattox said fewer Orange County people were working for the WPA than at any time since it began, about 60 men and 35 women, as workers left for private jobs, for places opened by men gone into the Army, and for work on the new highway being built across the northern part of the county. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 27, 1941, p. 6
  11. The county home closes The poorhouse on the land bought in 1823 closed in 1941, since most of its residents now qualified for old age assistance and could live in boarding homes. The Weekly reported that the welfare superintendent, W. T. Mattox, placed the ten people living there on September 1 in private homes, some of them on old age assistance, and that the home and its farm were sold at auction on October 4, 1941 to Garl Forrest. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange County poorhouseSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 213 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 19, 1941, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 17, 1941, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 20, 1942, p. 4
  12. Orange County sells the county home and its farm at auction The county auctioned the old county home, its 241-acre farm, buildings, stock and tools, and a Forrest was the high bidder. Its last residents had been boarded with relatives and friends at county expense, which the welfare superintendent said cost less than half as much. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange County home, north of Efland · Also named: Carl ForrestSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 17, 1941, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 19, 1941, p. 3
Show all 16 dated events
  1. County welfare superintendent reports the hospital fund for the poor falls far short W. T. Mattox, county welfare superintendent, told the Weekly that the county's $3,000 hospital allotment came nowhere near the need, since Orange had no hospital and sent white patients to Watts and Duke hospitals and Black patients to Lincoln hospital in Durham, besides paying $17 a month for each tuberculosis patient at the state sanatorium. The county paid for hospital care for 109 people in 1941. People: William T. Mattox Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 6, 1942, p. 1
  2. Orange County's welfare superintendent reports a fifth of the county budget goes to welfare Speaking to the Chapel Hill Rotary Club, county welfare superintendent W. T. Mattox said 20 percent of the county budget went to public welfare, including $33,000 that year for 275 aged people and $13,000 for 80 families with dependent children, and that only six people in the county were on WPA work against 150 a year earlier, as war work had taken them off the rolls. People: William T. Mattox Place: Carolina Inn, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 28, 1942, p. 6
  3. County welfare superintendent W. T. Mattox dies William T. Mattox, 59, Orange County's superintendent of public welfare since 1937 and president of the state association of welfare superintendents, died, and his funeral was held at the Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder. A former teacher and ordained minister of the Christian church, he had completed his doctoral work at the University. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill Presbyterian ChurchSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 15, 1947, p. 4
  4. Annie Strowd becomes superintendent of public welfare Strowd succeeded Mrs. Jean Heer, who had followed W. T. Mattox after his death in 1947, and still held the post when the book was written. People: William T. Mattox, Annie Strowd Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Jean HeerSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 212

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 William T. Mattox, 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.

Background

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William T. Mattox 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 William T. Mattox

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use William T. Mattox’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.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
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