USEFUL LINKS FOR CHATHAM COUNTY RESEARCHERS

Chatham County Links

  • Chatham County Agricultural and Industrial Fair Association: The first Chatham County Colored Agricultural Fair was held in 1950, and the event has become has become treasured tradition for Chatham County. This site includes a brief history of the fair. http://www.chathamcountyncfair.com/
     

  • Chatham County Cemeteries and Gravemakers: Allen Dew hosts the site http://cemeterycensus.com , and in collaboration with CCHA, posts all of the cemetery information and individual gravemarker information that CCHA and others make available to him. The site is updated regularly and can be searched by cemetery name, or by the name of the individual burial. Send questions, corrections, additions, comments, or photographs for Chatham County cemeteries or burials to CCHA’s cemetery coordinator.  Chatham County Census: http://www.cemeterycensus.com/nc/chat/index.htm
     

  • The Chatham County Register of Deeds Office: The ROD is the repository of all Chatham County deeds and a fantastic source of information on landowners in the county. The ROD’s online system allows remote access to all registered Chatham County deeds—all the way back to 1771. The system allows you to view a digitized copy of the deed and to search by grantor or grantee. The ROD also keeps vital records (birth, death, and marriage.) http://www.chathamnc.org/Index.aspx?page=905
     

  • Chatham County GIS: The county’s GIS system can be useful to researchers who want to locate family land or cemeteries. http://www.chathamgis.com/
     

  • Chatham County Home Page: The official Chatham County, NC web site with links to various government, non-profit, and commercial sites in the county. http://www.chathamnc.org/
     

  • The Chatham County Library: The Chatham County Library website describes the resources of the local history and genealogy area of Chatham’s libraries. http://www.chathamnc.org/Index.aspx?page=299
     

  • Chatham County NCGenweb site: Lots of good information, original documents and links on this site for genealogists. http://www.ncgenweb.us/chatham/chatsite.htm
     

  • Death notices from 2009 published in the Chatham News/Chatham Record. http://www.thechathamnews.com/c_notices.htm  Older notices can be found in the newspaper archive of Chatham County newspapers available at the Chatham Community Library on microfiche.
     

  • Chatham County Post Offices: This delightful site details the 140 known post offices that have existed in Chatham County, along with known post masters. When available, postmarks are shown. http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/statepostalhistory/Chatham%20County.pdf
     

  • Silk Hope Ruritan Farm Heritage Park: The Silk Hope Farm Heritage Park features an extensive display of old fashioned farming buildings, operating antique farm equipment and old-time technology that cannot be rivaled anywhere. http://www.silkhopenc.org/
     

  • History of Chatham County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Webster and Deputy Mike Roberson read county documents that are more than a hundred years old, interviewed resident historians, spoke to past sheriffs and their immediate family members, spent hours on the internet, and even hiked through the woods of the county to find this information. The site provides a brief biography for each sheriff from 1771 through 2002 and highlights historical events during the sheriff’s tenure. http://www.chathamnc.org/Index.aspx?page=1048
     

  • Chatham County Travel & Tourism: The place to look if you are planning a visit to Chatham County, NC. Includes accommodations, dining, shopping and events calendar. http://visitpittsboro.com/

Links to Original Chatham County Documents and Histories

  • An address on the revolutionary history of Chatham County, N. C. (1894). Author: London, Henry Armand Publisher: Sanford, N.C., Cole Print. Co. An address delivered in Pittsboro on 4 July 1876. Available from Internet Archive. http://archive.org/details/addressonrevolut00lond
     

  • The Coal Glen Mining Disaster: A website created by Paul Wilson linking to a wealth of information on this disaster. Includes links to many original sources. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pfwilson/coal_glen.html
     

  • A History of Chatham County, North Carolina with Sketches of a Number of its Prominent Citizens, Published in The Chatham News, January – April 1932 and December, 1931, Marks 161st Anniversary of Chatham County, Published in The Chatham News, November 1931, by Walter D. Siler: Transcribed by Steve Brooks. http://www.ncgenweb.us/chatham/siler.htm
     

  • 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops: This website contains information about the 26th Regiment NC Troops, which included many Chatham men. http://www.26nc.org/
     

  • Siler City Farmer’s Alliance Store: This site includes a brief history of the store, which is believed to be the oldest of its kind still in operation. http://thefarmersalliance.com/
     

  • History of the New Hope Valley Railroad: The New Hope Valley Railroad (NHV) was organized in 1904 by W. Roscoe Bonsal, Samuel O. Bauersfeld, and Henry A. London. http://www.nhvry.org/history.htm

North Carolina Links

  • North Carolina Newspapers: Over 3 million pages of selected North Carolina newspapers have been microfilmed. Please check the site to see what is available. http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/reference/newspapers.html
     

  • North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project: A project of the NC State Archives. Only the oldest newspapers have been entered so far. You can search on any term that might appear in the text. Information on Chatham and Chatham people can be found in historic Fayetteville, Salisbury, and Hillsboro papers. http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/newspaper/index.html
     

  • North Carolina Family Records Collection: This project of the North Carolina State Archives and State Library have is a fantastic online collection of genealogical resources. It currently has over 1600 North Carolina Bible records, books, photographs, and manuscripts and is growing all of the
    time. http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/dimp/digital/ncfamilyrecords/.
     

  • North Carolina State Archives: The holdings of the NC State Archives consist of official records of state, county, and local governmental units, private collections, organization records, maps, pamphlets, sound recordings, photographs, motion picture film, and a small reference library. http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov
     

  • North Carolina County Formation Maps: A site to help you sort out when and how counties were formed. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/countyformations/northcarolinaformationmaps.html
     

  • North Carolina Maps Project at UNC-CH: This site includes every available map of North Carolina that the participating agencies could obtain. A real treasure! http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/ncmaps/about.html
     

  • NC LIVE: Did you know that thousands of primary source documents are available to anyone in North Carolina through NC LIVE, a gateway to selected subscription databases that can be accessed from any public library in the state, as well as from home? Call your library for a password. http://www.nclive.org/
     

  • Digital NC: - Digital versions of primary sources from cultural heritage institutions around North Carolina. Included in the collection is CCHA’s collection of African-American funeral programs. http://digitalnc.org
     

  • NC ECHO: (North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) – A doorway to special collections in North Carolina’s libraries, archives, museums, historic sites, and other cultural institutions. www.ncecho.org
     

  • State Library of North Carolina: The Government & Heritage Library includes an extensive genealogy collection. http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ 
     

  • Oral Histories of the American South: Click on a general topic on the left side of the screen or put in a search word, such as 'Bynum.' Chatham County oral histories are included. http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/index.html
     

  • Documenting the American South: A digital publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. http://docsouth.unc.edu/support/about/
     

  • North Carolina Historical Markers: You can search this site by county to find all of the historical markers in Chatham County. http://www.ncmarkers.com/Home.aspx
     

  • NC Office of Archives and History: State archives, government records, other historical services. Includes NC Map of Historic Sites. http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/
     

  • Duke University Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/
     

  • Civil War Traveler. Com: The North Carolina Civil War Trails program provides maps and guides to the Civil War in NC. http://www.civilwartraveler.com/EAST/NC/index.html

Links to Historical Information for Adjacent Counties

  • Alamance County Historical Museum: Alamance County is Chatham’s neighbor to the northwest. Part of southern Alamance was created from northern Chatham in 1897. http://www.alamancemuseum.org/portal/History.aspx
     

  • Durham-Orange Genealogical Society: Chatham County was formed from Orange County in 1770, so if you are researching early Chatham, you may want to check this web site. http://www.ncgenweb.us/dogsnc/
     

  • Harnett County Library Local History Room: The Local History Room at HCPL provides basic research materials historians and genealogists with an emphasis on Harnett County and the Cape Fear Valley. http://www.harnett.org/library/localhistory.htm
     

  • Lee County North Carolina Genealogical and Historical Society: Lee County was formed in 1907 from parts of Moore and Chatham Counties. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncleetp/lcghs.html
     

  • Moore County Historical Association: Moore County was Chatham’s southern neighbor until the formation of Lee County in 1907. Moore still shares Chatham’s southwest border. http://www.moorehistory.com/
     

  • Orange County Historical Museum: Collects and preserves historic artifacts and documents relevant to Hillsborough and Orange County history. http://www.orangenchistory.org/index.html
     

  • Railroad House Historical Association, Lee County: Dedicated to preserving the heritage of Lee County through various community projects. http://www.leecountync.gov/History/RailroadHouseHistoricalAssociation.aspx

  • Randolph County Genealogical Society: Many western Chatham families spanned the border between Chatham and Randolph Counties. http://randolphcountygenealogy.org/
     

  • Notes on the History of Randolph County: Winner of the 2009 NC Society of Historians’ Paul Green Award. http://randolphhistory.wordpress.com/
     

  • Randolph Room, Asheboro Public Library: The Randolph Room is located on the first floor of the Asheboro Public Library and includes a collection of items fundamental to the study of genealogy and local history for Randolph County. http://www.randolphlibrary.org/randolphroom.htm
     

  • Wake County Genealogical Society: Wake County shares a large portion of Chatham’s eastern border. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncwcgs/
     

  • Wake County Historical Association: Formed to help preserve the history of Wake County and to educate people on the important events that happened in Wake and surrounding counties. http://wakehistory.com/index.asp

 

 
   

 

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