Chatham County Historical Association - Useful Links for Chatham County Researchers

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Chatham County Historical Association

Preserving and sharing the history of Chatham County North Carolina

Useful Links for Chatham County Researchers

Chatham county links

Chatham County African-American Funeral Program Collection: This collection of nearly 1200 funeral programs documents the lives and deaths of several generations of African American Chatham County residents and provides a rich source of genealogical information and local history about African Americans in Chatham County and neighboring communities.http://www.digitalnc.org/exhibits/chatham-county-funeral-programs

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 Bridges: Historic and notable bridges of Chatham County, NC. https://bridgehunter.com/nc/chatham/

Chatham County Cemeteries and Grave Markers: Allen Dew hosts the site http://cemeterycensus.com, and in collaboration with CCHA, posts all of the cemetery and individual grave marker information that CCHA and others make available to him. 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 is 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.) https://www.chathamncrod.org/

Chatham County GIS: Chatham County’s GIS system can be useful to researchers who want to locate family land or cemeteries. https://gisservices.chathamcountync.gov/landinformation/

Chatham County History: An interesting collection of facts about Chatham County. https://www.carolana.com/NC/Counties/chatham_county_nc.html

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. https://www.chathamcountync.gov/government/departments-programs-i-z/library/adult-services/local-history-genealogy

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

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.ncpostalhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PostmarkCatalog_chatham_county-20230312.pdf

Central North Carolina Obituary Genealogies: From a collection of recent obituaries from Chatham and surrounding counties published in the Chatham News/Record from January 2012 through current issues, along with other sources, such as CCHA’s Cemetery Survey, a genealogy database of Chatham families has been constructed and can be accessed at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=chat001

Civil War Military units created with men from Chatham County: Includes NC State Troops assigned to CSA, NC Militia Units, and Home Guard Units. https://www.carolana.com/NC/Civil_War/civil_war_military_units_chatham_county_nc.html

Haw River Geological Field Guide: Landscapes play an important part in the settlement and development of any area. Phil Bradley, of the North Carolina Geological Survey, has produced a detailed geologic mapping of the Lower Haw River State Natural Area in Chatham County. http://hawriver.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Haw-River-Geology-Field-Guide.pdf

Silk Hope Ruritan Farm Heritage Park: The Silk Hope Farm Heritage 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/

Lynchings in Chatham County: Documents six lynchings that took place in Chatham County. https://lynching.web.unc.edu/the-people/the-chatham-county-lynchings/

History of Chatham County Sheriff’s Office: Former 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 2016 and highlights historical events during the sheriff’s tenure. https://sites.google.com/view/chathamcountysheriffnc/about-our-organization/CCSO-history

Pittsboro Siler City Convention and Visitors Bureau: 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.rootsweb.com/~pfwilson/history/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. https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/WalterDSilerHistoryofChathambyBrooks.pdf

Transcription of Richard B. Paschal’s 1860-1861 and 1863-1864 Diary Entries, Paschal’s diary entries record a terse summary of daily activities, mostly related to farming, and sometimes news of the war. Some entries provide a glimpse of how the Civil War affected Chatham County and accounts of Paschal overseeing the trade of enslaved people in Chatham County. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/235725

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

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.triangletrain.com/history/

Chatham County Superior Court Minute Docket 1839 to 1866: most entries note the Plaintiff, Defendant and the verdict, but not the specific charge. Nevertheless, the minute book gives a sense of events in the county and includes the names of many Chatham residents involved in civil and criminal cases, along with those serving as jurors. https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/ChathamSuperiorCourtRecords1839to1866.pdf

Business Ledger for Womack and Goodwin, Pittsboro 1832-1834: This business ledger for the general merchants Womack and Goodwin in Pittsboro, dates from 1832-1834. The ledger lists the firm's many customers and transactions during this period. If your ancestors lived in Pittsboro or near enough to trade there in 1832-1834, you may well find their names--and purchases—listed. https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/BusinessLedgerforWomackandGoodwin.pdf

Emmy Nominated documentary on the rebuilding of the Chatham County Courthouse and the history surrounding this iconic Pittsboro NC landmark. Directed by Michael Cusack O'Connell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRmEdhk8ik4

Haywood: Lost Town at the Headwaters of the Cape Fear by Dennis F. Daniels. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll6/id/2624

Chatham County Permanent Registration of Voters 1902-1908. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/chatham-county-permanent-registration-of-voters-1902-1908/1562335

North Carolina Links

North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project: A project of the NC State Archives. This group consists of microfilm copies of newspapers that, for the most part, are no longer being published. Information on Chatham and Chatham people can be found in historic Fayetteville, Salisbury, and Hillsboro papers. https://archives.ncdcr.gov/researchers/collections/newspapers

NC LIVE Historic Digital Newspaper Collection: Millions of pages of digitized North Carolina newspapers published in 1922 and earlier. A searchable resource accessible free to library card holders at NC LIVE member libraries. https://chathamhistory.org/Historic-Chatham-Newspapers

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. https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/research/genealogy-and-family-history/family-records

North Carolina State Archives: 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. https://archives.ncdcr.gov/

North Carolina Land Grant Images and Data: Searchable data plus 160,000 images for 216,000 land grants issued by the State of North Carolina from 1663 to 1960. https://nclandgrants.com/

North Carolina County Formation Maps: Several sites to help you sort out when and how counties were formed. https://www.mapofus.org/northcarolina/ https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ghl/genealogy/nc-county-formation

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! https://web.lib.unc.edu/nc-maps/

Graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1798-1863: A table showing name and county of residence. http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncgranville/other/graduates-unc.htm

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

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. https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/division-historical-resources/nc-highway-historical-marker-program

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

North Carolina Listings on the National Register of Historic Places: nominations of the state's approximately 2,850 National Register listings (not including archaeological listings). https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/division-historical-resources/nc-state-historic-preservation-office

NC State Historic Preservation Office GIS Web Service: Maps historic sites (excluding archaeological sites). Background layers include streets, aerial, and topo. https://nc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=79ea671ebdcc45639f0860257d5f5ed7

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

Colonial and State Records of North Carolina: This digitized, searchable series covers the earliest days of North Carolina's settlement by Europeans through the ratification of the United States Constitution, and includes transcribed and printed documents and materials from throughout the country and from several European repositories. http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/ Learn more. (A complete set of the bound copies of the records is available in the CCHA office.)

North Carolina Historic Sites: Describes 27 NC historic sites and a provides a calendar of events. Reenactments, living history, hikes, lectures, exhibits, tours and more. https://historicsites.nc.gov/

The History of North Carolina Century Farms: A 1989 North Carolina Department of Agriculture publication describing the history of farming in NC and listing owners of farms in continuous use for 100 years or more. Twenty Chatham County owners are listed and several owners provided brief histories of their farms for the publication. https://archive.org/stream/northcarolinacen1989gorm/northcarolinacen1989gorm_djvu.txt

Political Divergence: A Brief History of the North Carolina Farmers’ Alliance" (by Patrick Breshears, A paper for Dr. Dudley, HIST 5135), 2011. https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/bitstream/handle/10342/3797/Pat%20Breshears%20paper%20%28Dudley%29%20REV.docx?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Links to Historical Information for Adjacent Counties

Alamance Battleground: Official website of this North Carolina Historic site where, in 1771, backcountry farmers called Regulators (including many from Chatham) battled with Royal Governor William Tryon’s militia. https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/alamance-battleground

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/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. https://dogsnc.org/

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. https://harnett.libguides.com/research/localinfoandhistory

Moore County House in the Horseshoe: Official website of this North Carolina Historic site where colonists seeking independence were attacked by British loyalists in 1781. https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/house-horseshoe

Lee County North Carolina Local History and Genealogy Resources are available from the Lee County Libraries. Lee County was formed in 1907 from parts of Moore and Chatham Counties. https://library.leecountync.gov/history

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. https://www.orangenchistory.org/

Railroad House Historical Association, Lee County: Dedicated to preserving the heritage of Lee County through various community projects. http://www.railroadhouse.org/

Randolph County Genealogical Society: Many western Chatham families spanned the border between Chatham and Randolph Counties. https://randolphgenealogy.org/wp/

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. https://randolphlibrary.libguides.com/c.php?g=710731

Wake County Genealogical Society: Wake County shares a large portion of Chatham’s eastern border. http://www.wakecogen.org/

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

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Chatham County Historical Association

https://chathamhistory.org ~ history@chathamhistory.org ~ PO Box 93 ~ Pittsboro NC 27312 ~ 919-542-6222 ~

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