Local figure
Gilbert Strayhorn
Gilbert Strayhorn (about 1715–1803) was, with John Craig, an original founder of New Hope Presbyterian Church and one of its first ruling elders, from the church's organization about 1765. He died on February 6, 1803, at the age of 88.
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Gilbert Strayhorn. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Gilbert Strayhorn’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.
Life and Orange County connections
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →
- Gilbert Strayhorn comes to the Hawfields from Pennsylvania Gilbert Strayhorn, a Pennsylvania-born tailor of Scottish parentage, came to the Hawfields at about 25, went back north to marry Margaret Roan, and returned to a place about a mile south of the later Mebaneville. After two years there he moved into the New Hope bounds, where he became one of the church's founders. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 9
- Hawfields families move to New Hope Creek over doubts about their Granville titles When word spread through the Hawfields that the land titles got through Earl Granville's agents were not genuine, William Craige, Gilbert Strayhorn and other families left and took up land on the waters of New Hope. Family tradition held that the settlers named the stream for the 'new hopes' they found there. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 10
- Gilbert Strean takes the surname Strayhorn About the time he got the deeds for his New Hope lands, Gilbert Strean, or Streaughan, changed his name to Strayhorn, saying he had put a 'horn' to it to make it sound. His nephews Alexander, John and James, who came south later to find him, kept the name Strain. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 9
- Gilbert Strayhorn's grant on Prestwood Creek is entered Strayhorn's Prestwood Creek tract was one of many grants entered along the county's streams in its first years. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 15
- James Hunter's family takes refuge at Gilbert Strayhorn's house After James Hunter was outlawed and his house burned, the Hunter family fled to Gilbert Strayhorn's house in the New Hope settlement. There Strayhorn's nephew Alexander Strain met and married Hunter's daughter. People: James HunterSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 10
- Gilbert Strayhorn deeds two hundred acres to New Hope church Soon after Lake left, the aged Gilbert Strayhorn gave two hundred acres 'to the subscribers of the church and their successors.' Every New Hope church stood on this land, and seventy acres of it were still the congregation's in 1891. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 23
- Gilbert Strayhorn, a founder and first elder of New Hope church, dies Strayhorn died at 88 and was buried in the old New Hope graveyard, next to the church he had helped found on his own land. People: Gilbert StrayhornSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: D. I. Craig, Historical Sketch of New Hope Church in Orange County, N.C. (1891), p. 35
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 and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
- New Hope Presbyterian Church Churches and lodges · New Hope · 2 events here
Named with them in the chronology
People named in the same dated entries as Gilbert Strayhorn, 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.
- James Hunter 1 entry: James Hunter's family takes refuge at Gilbert Strayhorn's house (about 1771)
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Books about Gilbert Strayhorn
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- Chapel Hill Public Library (opens in a new tab) Public library in Chapel Hill
- Durham County Library (opens in a new tab) Public library next door in Durham
- UNC Libraries (opens in a new tab) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Duke Libraries (opens in a new tab) Duke University, Durham
- NC Cardinal (opens in a new tab) The State Library of North Carolina and public libraries across the state
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Research sources
Additional research sources
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- Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Gilbert Strayhorn NC LIVE 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
- Ask locally: Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection (OCPL) The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Ask locally: Local History Help Hours and request form OCPL Local History Liaison The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
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