Orange County Indexed
Orange County wills
Every will and paper recorded in the Orange County will books, 1752 to 1892: 2,189 records of who left what to whom. To 1850 each gives the family, executors and witnesses from Ruth Herndon Shields’s abstracts; after 1850, the testator and dates from Mark Chilton’s index.
How the search works
- Every word must appear in the record: the maker, family, executors, witnesses, people freed or sold, places, land and summary. Put a phrase in quotation marks ("Eno River") to find the words together.
- The search matches the start of a word (Faucet finds Faucette) and small spelling differences. The wills spell names many ways, and we keep every spelling as printed: a daughter may be Pyror where her father is Pryor.
- The year is the year the will was proved, or the year it was made when no probate is given.
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Browse by will book
- 1754–1833Original wills not recorded in the will books 19 records
- 1755–1759Wills known from Grimes 5 records
- 1750–1788Will Book A 247 records
- 1779–1795Will Book B 173 records
- 1789–1800Will Book C 112 records
- 1798–1830Will Book D 428 records
- 1816–1844Will Book E 346 records
- 1828–1850Will Book F 279 records
- 1851–1868Will Book G 265 records
- 1857–1892Will Book H 315 records
Where these records come from and their limits → · County court minutes
