Land Entries of Orange County, North Carolina, 1778-1795

Orange County was formed in 1752 from Bladen, Granville, and Johnston Counties. The best contemporary documentary evidence for an accurate location of these settlers when the county was created is the original Land Entry Book. It has better details than that to be found in the subsequent land grants. It was customary for the settler to describe the location of his plantation on some stream or head waters of some stream, or on some mountain. Each entry is dated. There were numerous transfers of entries before the issuance of a grant. Some are referred to in the entry, but generally the entry taker would mark through the name of the original entrant and insert the name of the one to whom it was transferred. Not only was the first name entered frequently marked out, but many times, it was erased and the next name written in its place. Many of the entries had as many as four names marked out and written in with no way of knowing whose name was the last one written. North Carolina started recording land transactions through the Land Entry System around March 1778. These 1,807 abstracts of entries to this old Entry Book will be of help to many whose ancestors either passed through or remained in Orange County. Albert Bruce Pruitt (1990), 2026, paper, index, 228 pp. ISBN: 9780944992302 117-NC248