It is often helpful in our genealogical research to know a little about the geography and history of the area that we are researching. I will try to briefly summarize some early history of Orange County, NC. The source of my information is "Orange County - 1752-1952" edited by Hugh Lefler and Paul Wager, published in 1953. There were few white families in the 1740's in the area that was to become Orange County. But, by 1751 Governor Gabriel JOHNSTON reported that settlers were flocking in, mostly from PA. At the time it was formed Orange County had an estimated population of 4,000. By 1767 it had the largest population of any county in NC. The migration along the "Great Wagon Road" from PA through Shenandoah valley to Carolina was made up largely of Scotch-Irish and German immigrants. "Scotch-Irish" is the term used in the reference book. German refers to the area that was later to become Germany. The most distinctly Scotch-Irish settlement in the county was Eno, abut 7 miles north of Hillsborough. They also settled in the area east of the Haw river adn in the Little river and New Hope creek sections. The Scotch-Irish in what is now Guilford County organized Buffalo Presbyterian Church in 1756. Information on Germans and others will follow. -- Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list See my Ancestors at - http://www.trailerpark.com/tango/lrnoah Gedcoms are at - http://members.tripod.com/~lrnoah ALBRIGHT, ALEXANDER, ASKINS, BELK, CLAPP, COURTNEY, CROSSWELL, FOUST, KELLER, MIXON, MOSER, NEASE, NOAH, PILKINGTON, SHARP, WATSON, WOODHAM, WYATT & more, mainly in NC and SC ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list County Coordinator Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange