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Local figure

William D. Paisley

William D. Paisley (1770–1857) was a Presbyterian minister and teacher who served the Hawfields and Cross Roads churches in western Orange County, now partly Alamance, from 1801 to 1818. In February 1801 he bought a 200-acre farm from James Davis, where he probably built the log house now called the Paisley-Rice Log House. He left in 1818 to head the Greensborough Academy.

Source: Documenting the American South: Johnson, Guion Griffis, 1900- 1989. Ante-Bellum North Carolina: A Social History: Electronic…

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to William D. Paisley. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about William D. Paisley’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William D. Paisley becomes pastor of the Hawfields and Cross Roads churches After serving the Union and Buffalo churches in Guilford County, Paisley took charge of the Hawfields and Cross Roads Presbyterian churches near present Mebane in 1801 and stayed until 1818. The Hawfields church historian credits him with organizing the first camp meeting in North Carolina there during the Great Revival. People: William D. PaisleySearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Paisley-Rice Log House, National Register nomination (OR0015), p. 5
  2. William D. Paisley buys the farm where the Paisley-Rice log house stands The Presbyterian minister William D. Paisley bought a 200-acre tract from James Davis in February 1801. Local tradition and the nomination hold that he built the dovetailed log house on this land in the early 1800s. People: William D. PaisleySearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Paisley-Rice Log House, National Register nomination (OR0015), p. 5
  3. William D. Paisley sells his Orange County farm to Elijah Pickard Paisley left the Hawfields in 1818 to head the Greensborough Academy and in September 1819 sold the log house farm to Elijah Pickard. The chain of title is unclear for some years after the sale. People: William D. PaisleySearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Paisley-Rice Log House, National Register nomination (OR0015), p. 5

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 the 2 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Research sources

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Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William D. Paisley Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • 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

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Books about William D. Paisley

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