Orange County North Carolina Cemeteries Other NC County Cemeteries

All About The Cemetery Survey

--- WELCOME ---

This is the Internet Web edition of the Cemetery Survey of Orange County, North Carolina. It is brought to you by Cemetery Census.  We hope you will find it user-friendly and useful.  We will be adding "newly discovered" cemeteries and updating cemetery location and other information from time to time.

If you note any problems with using this data please advise Cemetery Census.

If in your use of the data you note any errors, missing entries for any cemetery, changes needed to any data entry, or older cemeteries, family burial grounds or individual gravesites not included in this survey that you have information or personal knowledge about, please write to Allen at this address:

Cemetery Census
3230 Walters Rd
Creedmoor, NC 27522-8641

Or contact us by Email at: Cemetery Census

Back to Cemetery Index

---

This web site Copyright (c) 1996-2008, Cemetery Census. All Rights Reserved
Reproduction, adaptation or alteration without prior written permission of Cemetery Census is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright laws.

Cemetery Census shall not be liable for errors contained in this material, or for incidental or consequential damage in connection with the data herein.
 

--- ATTENTION ---

You are invited and encouraged to read the following summary of the origin of this data and how it came to be here today.

We suggest that you read this summary at least once, probably before starting to use the data, as it contains important information that may bear on your research.

In 2003, a project was started to relocate and photograph the cemeteries. Since many of the original location descriptions were done before 1976, several of the cemeteries have not been rediscovered. See the following document for a list of "Lost" cemeteries.

 

THE CEMETERY SURVEY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Compiled under the direction of Mary Claire (Mrs. Alfred G.) Engstrom, Ph.D. (1906-1997)
in early 1970s

Mary Claire Engstrom examines a headstone in the Hicks Cemetery, August 6, 1975
Photo by Dr. Duncan Heron

"Orange County is an old and extremely populous county and perhaps no other county in North Carolina could have presented such a huge task of searching, identifying, and alphabetizing. It has been such an enormous and difficult job that we've called ourselves foolhardy a dozen times over - but we haven't stopped because this is literally the very last moment in Orange County history... when any such survey can be done."

Mary Claire Engstrom, c. 1976

WHAT IS THIS MATERIAL?

This cemetery survey consists of about 18,000 name record entries from over 250 church, municipal, trustee, and family cemeteries and individual burial sites in the current Orange County, North Carolina. The survey was prepared almost entirely in the 1970s, although a few entries were made in the mid-1980s when the information was being entered into data files. With the current presentation prepared in early 1996 some information on older cemeteries was updated and a few newly located cemeteries have been included. The database currently has over 18,300 entries as of April 2003.

The Orange County Planning Department has been collecting information on cemeteries for some years through the interest of Jean Bradley Anderson, currently a member of the Orange County Preservation Commission, and a number of these may be new finds. Also, the county tax mapping department occasionally gets information on a cemetery and they add its location to their maps.

With the increasing availability of digital photography and inexpensive high-quality handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers a project was begun in 2003 to photograph and define the location of the cemeteries. The hundreds of blue "PHOTO" graphics next to individual name entries which take the viewer to a high-quality gravestone photograph and the addition of "Coordinates" to many cemetery descriptions are largely a result of this effort. An added bonus is that many burials have been added to the cemetery lists with the addition of photos of gravestones placed subsequent to the 1970s survey. Please read more about this project at the end of this summary.

BACKGROUND OF THE SURVEY

This survey was compiled under the direction of Mary Claire (Mrs. Alfred G.) Engstrom. Mrs. Engstrom was for many years a member of the Historic Hillsborough Commission, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC and served as its chair from 1964-1966 and 1976-1983. She was a dedicated historical and genealogical researcher. While looking for cemetery records for Orange county in the late 1950s she saw that many of the sparse records available were from surveys conducted by untrained WPA employees in 1938 and 1940. When she assumed her position as chair of the commission she set out to improve this situation. The cemetery survey was one of her major accomplishments. Her papers for this period are housed in the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [collection 4684], and comprise some 10,000 items taking up almost 14 linear feet. She also left an extensive collection of slides and photographs, which are housed in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives at UNC under the title - "P50: Mary Claire Engstrom Collection." This collection includes two boxes of 35mm slides entitled: "Slides of churches, cemeteries, and graves." The cemetery survey files, consisting of two full file drawers of data, are archived in the Orange County Register of Deeds office in Hillsborough.

Occasional surveys by individuals over the years had provided a few lists of burials in various cemeteries. The WPA survey in the 1930s had identified some additional cemeteries. A card list of names from this survey is available in the North Carolina State Archives, and some of this material has been published by researchers. Under Mrs. Engstrom's guidance and with her husband's dedicated assistance ("...but none [helped] so much as my husband who spent many and many a hot day every summer reading tombstones for me..."), volunteers sought to identify and where possible locate all burial grounds in the present Orange County - black and white, old and new, obvious and obscure. They then surveyed them and determined something about their background and history where possible.

It is clear from Mrs. Engstrom's papers that she had intended to publish the material, but the immensity of that task and other responsibilities interfered with this goal. In the mid-1980s she provided the compiled information in the form of some 300 file folders to the Office of Register of Deeds of Orange County. There the major portion of it was entered into data format over a two and one-half year period. Printouts of the data have been available to researchers since 1988 at the vital records section of the office. The printout was in cemetery order by alphabetical surname, but did not have a master alphabetical index, so searching for a specific surname was difficult. By Mrs. Engstrom's desire the printout was not otherwise released for general use.

In 1994 at the urging of Mr. Thomas "Nat" Clark, a genealogy volunteer at the Orange County Library in Hillsborough, a copy was given to that library for use in their North Carolina Collection. This was primarily so that persons who were not able to use the materials at the government offices during the day would be able to do so at the library on evenings and weekends. In late 1995 the managers of Mrs. Engstrom's trust, at the request of Miss Betty June Hayes, Orange County Register of Deeds, granted authority to make the information available to other researchers. Allen Dew worked many hours and spent considerable money to convert that information to a database which stores the information and creates web displays that anyone with access to the Internet can readily use.

One aspect of the material that cannot be presented in any printout or data listing are the plats drawn for many of the cemeteries and/or the actual listings from the cemeteries showing the relationship of the positions of graves. The researcher needing more detailed information may request permission to consult the original cemetery survey files in the Register of Deeds office. Possibly additional valuable information will be found in the file folder for a specific cemetery.

There was also an effort under the direction of Dr. Charles H. Blake to prepare an "Orange County Historical Map" in connection with the 1976 bicentennial, and many cemetery locations were entered on the drafts of this map. A separate map index was also prepared to indicate the cemetery locations on the map. Unfortunately, the map was never produced. These drafts, in sections, are in box 9 of Mrs. Engstrom's papers in the collection, but they are difficult to use.

APPRECIATION - THE SURVEY GROUP

During several presentations in the 1970s Mrs. Engstrom mentioned those who had been the key workers on this project. The scripts from those presentations are in her papers, and it is fitting that those who made important contributions should be recognized.

In 1975 the cemetery survey committee consisted of: Dr. and Mrs. A. G. Engstrom, Miss Annie Cameron, Jerry (Mrs. Thomas S.) Kenion, Jean Bradley (Mrs. Carl) Anderson, and Beatrice B. (Mrs. George O.) Doak. Another earlier list of the survey group included Elizabeth Alexander, Hugh Conway Browning, William R. Chappell, Jack Evans, Onie Burns Evans, Virginia Cathey Forrest, William Johnston Hogan, and Becky Knowles in addition to the above names. Thanks were expressed to a great number of other persons who had contributed information and assistance to the project.

One volunteer deserving special mention is Beatrice Doak. Mrs. Engstrom wrote in the draft for one presentation: "And then in 1972 the Chapel Hill Historical Society most fortunately assigned Mrs. George O. Doak (Beatrice - Bea Doak) to work with me - and we have worked most profitably together ever since. It is entirely accurate to say that in particular the large group of family cemeteries in Orange County - hardest to find and hardest to survey - could not have been done without Mrs. Doak's help." Records show that in 1973 Bea Doak visited 59 cemeteries and in 1974 she surveyed 54. Continued surveys and rechecks from 1975 though March 1977 amounted to many more trips across Orange County. In a report dated August 20, 1977, Mrs. Engstrom noted: "The survey of Orange County cemeteries has been seriously hampered for many months by the illness, operation, and convalescence of Mrs. George O. Doak, one-half of the cemetery survey team. Since the survey is nearly completed, it has not seemed advisable to train another surveyor." Beatrice Doak died in early 1978; there was apparently little work done on the project after she fell ill, testimony to her importance in the effort.

APPRECIATION - THOSE WHO MADE THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE

Miss Betty June Hayes, Orange County Register of Deeds, was associated with this material from the beginning and has long recognized the need to make it more widely available. It was she who led the effort to get the information into data format. She mentions her staff, especially Betty Owens and LeAnn Turbyfill, who worked many hours over a several year period typing the data into the computer. Miss Hayes' enthusiastic assistance in working to release the material is greatly appreciated.

Virginia Forrest, a member of the survey team and for some years Deputy Register of Deeds in charge of the vital records section, was during her tenure an invaluable source of what cemetery list to search for a particular family name, since there was no alphabetical index. Joyce Harshaw, who followed her in that position, has insured the continuing availability of the material. Thanks is also due to Jane Sparks of the Data Processing Department of the Orange County government for facilitating the transfer of the data from the county computer system. Thanks to Allen Dew for doing all the conversion of the data to PC format.

Allen Dew, a computer professional, spent many hours resolving formatting problems in the data and preparing the database program that presents the information in a readily accessible manner.  Milton D. Forsyth, Jr. coordinated the acquisition of the material and performed certain manual editing tasks necessary to make the material easier to use, as well as to update certain aspects of it, especially locations.  A capability exists to add additional cemeteries and graves to the database in the future.  Cemetery Census has and continues to maintain the cemetery database.  Cemetery Census may be reached at: Cemetery Census   or by mail at Cemetery Census, 3230 Walters Rd, Creedmoor, NC 27522-8641
 
Allen had begun adding photographs and additional burial entries from the photographs to the survey in the late 1990s. In 2003 a project was started to make a special effort to relocate and photograph the cemeteries using new technology. Where there are individual gravestone pictures a blue graphic "PHOTO" is indicated before each name listed. The "PHOTO" graphic may be clicked to show a large, high resolution, digital picture. Persons who have visited cemeteries and generously provided photographs to this effort have been:

Ellen and Jim Kerley
Allen Dew
Milton Forsyth
Shirley Glasgow
Margaret Jones
Jacqueline Tilley Wilkerson

Milton Forsyth began in December 2004 to visit cemetery sites for the purpose of obtaining a Global Positioning System (GPS) location fix and, where needed, at least an overall photograph of the cemetery site. In all, through 2005 he visited about 140 sites, some of which had been seen only by hunters, loggers or casual wanderers since the survey of the 1970s. He used the Garmin eTrex Legend Personal Navigator GPS unit, which had a typical accuracy of from 15 to 40 feet, depending on reception. For a number of small family cemeteries and one older large cemetery in a wooded area he photographed with a digital camera all gravestones he could locate. He was able to bring up-to-date a number of locations which had been made obscure by land development and changes in roads since the 1970s. Where appropriate he revised the description of the cemetery - he discovered several cemeteries no longer existed.

Milton was joined in January 2006 by Margaret Jones of the Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Department, who had been for several years establishing a database of cemetery locations for the county. She had herself visited and photographed some of the sites and had contributed photos to the survey. Together they tracked down some of the more difficult-to-locate cemeteries, and from various sources learned of other cemeteries that had not been included in the original survey. A contributor to their effort was Heather Wagner of the Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Department. She was updating the Architectural Survey of Orange County and provided locations, information about, and photographs of cemeteries she encountered in her work. This entire project would not have been possible without the kind assistance of descendants, landowners, and interested local residents who provided access and directions to many of the locations and in some instances information about the cemeteries.

Since many of the original location descriptions were done before 1976, some of the cemeteries need to be "rediscovered" - some were never located even then. See the following document for a list of "Lost" cemeteries.
 

---------------- HAPPY SEARCHING! ----------------

--- UPDATES ---

1. 15 Feb 1996 - Added cemeteries 104 [cross-ref 112], 120, 128, 130, 140. [MDF]



2. 12 Jun 1996 - Rev. comments on Christopher Barbee Cemetery; updated Old Eno Cemetery text; entered coordinates for 15 cems; made minor corrections. [MDF]



3. 19 Aug 1997 - Added burials in Little River Presbyterian Church Cemetery (039) current through 1995 from provided list. Minor corrections to several other burials. [MDF]



4. 19 Aug 2000 - Added Scarlett Family Cemetery (300) [APD]



5. 10 Nov 2001 - Name correction to Mt. Zion Christian Church Cemetery. Additions and corrections to same. [APD]



6. 25 Mar 2002 - Additions and corrections posted. [APD]



7. 1 Mar 2003 - Cemetery 113 Couch Family (1888) photographs of complete cemetery added. [APD]



8. May 2003 - Cemetery 079, Hillsborough Memorial Cemetery, photographs of about 700 markers, and 053, New Sharon UM Church; photographs provided by Jacqueline Tilley Wilkerson and Ellen F. Kerley.
   Cemetery 043, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and Sparrow Family, a number of photographs provided by Milton Forsyth.
   Cemetery 162, Merritt Family, photographs of all gravestones provided by Milton Forsyth.
   Cemetery 045, Mt Hermon Baptist Church; photographs of all gravestones provided by Allen Dew. [APD]



9. August 2003 - Cemetery 009, Carr UM Church; 021, Eno Presbyterian Church; 022, Fairfield Presbyterian Church; 023, Five Forks Baptist Church; 024, Flat Rock AME Church; 042, Mt. Adar Baptist Church; photographs of gravestones provided by Ellen F. Kerley.



10. October 2003 - Added Cemetery 154, Unidentified Cemetery, Possibly Couch Family; survey and photographs by Milton Forsyth.



11. December 2003 - Cemetery 010, Cedar Grove UM Church; 017, Ebenezer Baptist Church; and 070, Walnut Grove UM Church; photographs of gravestones provided by Ellen F. Kerley.



12. January 2004 - Cemetery 063, Pleasant Grove UM Church, photographs of gravestones provided by Ellen F. Kerley.



13. March 2004 - Added Cemetery 160, Peace Family; survey and photographs by Milton Forsyth. Cemetery 019, Efland UM Church, photographs of gravestones provided by Ellen F. Kerley.



14. July 2004 - Cemetery 050, New Bethel UM Church, photographs of gravestones provided by Ellen and Jim Kerley.



15. October 2004 - Cemetery 195, Stanley-Denson Family; photographs of many gravestones provided by Betty Stanley Holbert of Bossier City, Louisiana.



16. December 2004-April 2005 - Revised location and/or status information or added burial(s) information for the following cemeteries was provided by Milton Forsyth: 001, 013, 014, 027, 028, 032, 035, 036, 045, 049, 057, 061, 062, 063, 064, 065, 075, 084, 090, 091, 092, 093, 096, 099, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109, 111, 113, 114, 116, 118, 119, 121, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 139, 146, 147, 148, 149, 157, 161, 163, 164, 169, 170, 172, 174, 177, 178, 179, 187, 191, 195, 202, 203, 209, 210, 214, 215, 220, 245, 275, 292. He provided coordinates and/or overall view photographs for the above and a number of other cemeteries, as well as approximately 330 individual gravestone photographs from some of the cemeteries listed above.



17. February 2005 - Corrected portion of Cemetery 015 entry that attributed the cemetery at the intersection of Damascus Church Road and Smith Level Road to the Damascus Church and stated that the Damascus Church cemetery was full, which is incorrect. Actually it is Cemetery 110, Cole-Womble Family, which had previously been unlocated and is now correctly placed. Thanks to Denise Currin of the Damascus Church for calling this to our attention.



18. July 2005 - Deleted the following cemetery listings, as the cemeteries are not in Orange County. All are documented in other county's records, as indicated: 140-Barbee, Christopher and William Family Cemetery [Durham Co.]; 248-Smith, Dr. James Strudwick Cemetery [Chatham Co.]; 269-Grier's Presbyterian Church Cemetery [Caswell County]; 270-Rose of Sharon Church Cemetery [Durham Co.]; 279-Jones Family Burials at Jones Grove (same cemetery as 248, above) [Chatham Co.]. Additionally, deleted 285-Sparrow Family Cemetery (cross-indexed to 043-Mt. Carmel Baptist Church) as it was a duplicate cross-index entry. These cemetery numbers will be reused.



19. August 2005 - Added Cemetery 140, Christopher Family, inital information by Milton Forsyth; Added Cemetery 190, Atwater Family; survey and photographs by Milton Forsyth.



20. September-November 2005 - Added Cemetery 205, McDade Family, survey and photographs by Ellen and Jim Kerley; added Cemetery 193, Green Riley Family Cemetery and Cemetery 197, Wilson Family Cemetery, survey and photographs by Milton Forsyth. Updated Cems 206, 180, 116 and deleted Cemetery 293 as person was buried in 116; changed entries in 064, Old Eno Quaker Cemetery for burials 60, 64, 66 and 68 based on information from Marge Thompson of Texas.



21. January-February 2006 - Added Cemetery 208, Strowd/Stroud, survey and photographs by Milton Forsyth; added Cemetery 216, Unidentified Cemetery - Former McAdams Property, survey and photographs by Margaret Jones and Milton Forsyth. Identified previously unlocated Cemetery 250 (Lights/Lyghts-Latta) as Clark Family Cemetery, with survey and photographs by Margaret Jones and Milton Forsyth, and deleted cross-referenced Cem 251 (Latta-Lights/Lyghts). Updated Cems 098, 117, 124, 138, 141, 152, 158, 188, 199, 200, 203, 288, 290. Burials from about 1989-2005 for Cemetery 034, Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, were added from church records provided by Josie Foushee Smith.



22. June 2006 - Deleted Cemetery 185 - Riggsbee (Sparrow) Family, off Clearwater Lake Rd, as was in Chatham County (#E16.1 - Joseph Jordan Riggsbee) and reassigned number. Deleted Cemetery 231 - Faucette's Mill Graves, which was a duplicate (for #102 - Bryant Graves - Faucette Mill) and reassigned number. Added new cemeteries 185, Unidentified Cemetery off Bethel-Hickory Grove Church Rd; 231, Daye Family Cemetry; 248, Crabtree, Joseph Family Cemetery; 251, Reeves, George Family Cemetery; 258, Cabe, William Slave Cemetery (removed data from #105); and 259, Walters, Victor Carl Family Cemetery. Updated or added photographs to cemeteries 005, 030, 051, 052, 068, 088, 090, 094, 102, 105, 115, 126, 127, 171, 184, 186, 195, 196, 198, 209, 215, 217, 219, 232, 276, 299. Photographs and information updates by Milton Forsyth and Margaret Jones.



23. January - February 2007 - Added Cemeteries 270, Carey, Jordan Family Cem; Cem 271, Hopson Family Cem; Cem 279, Walker Memory Garden; Cem 281, Hawfields Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Old); Cem 282, Unidentified Cemetery - Olive Creek Development; Cem 283, Unidentified Cemetery - West of Edmund Latta Rd. Deleted Cem 222 as Walker Graves was repeat of other burials at Cem 066, number reused. Substantially revised burial listings and added numerous photographs to Cem 082, Cresmont Memorial Park and Cem 084, Maplewood Cemetery; revised Cem 228, Unlocated Graves in Hillsborough - 1937 Survey. Deleted 1937 Survey-associated Hillsboro Cemetery - Black (Old) as Cem number 227; reused number 227 as Unlocated Cemetery - Silver Fox Lane. Photos added to cemeteries: 020, 052, 068, 069. Revised Cemeteries 025, 034, 115, 120, 205, 211, 212, 295, 296. Photographs and information from Milton Forsyth, Margaret Jones, and Heather Wagner.



24. March - April 2007 - Deleted 36 dual-reference cemetery numbers having no data (i. e. "Smith-Jones Cemetery, See Jones-Smith Cemetery for Data"). Deleted Cem 299, Sunnyside Cem (not identified or found; moved to "Lost Cemeteries" listing). These numbers to be reused for new cemeteries. This left 257 listed cemeteries, of which 234 had listed burials and 23 did not. Added Cemeteries 081, Riley-Terry Family Cem; Cem 087, Unidentified Cemetery - Woodgate Drive; Cem 089, Blackwood Family Cem; Cem 095, Hunter's Chapel AME Church Cem; Cem 097, Breeze Family Cem; Cem 112, Pettigrew-Rice Family Cem; Cem 168, Carden Family Cem; Cem 192, Sparrow Family Cem [Old]; Cem 222, Welcome Baptist Church Cem; Cem 223, Judea Reform Congregation Cem. Updated Cem 140, Christopher Family Cem (added all burials and gravestone photos); Cem 273, Tinnin Slave Cem (substantially revised).



25. May - July 2007 - Photographs by Ellen and Jim Kerley added for Cem 020, Eno Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Old); Cem 046, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Cem; Cem 058, Palmer's Grove UM Church Cem. Major revision of Cem 265, Garrett Family Cem; Added Cem 224, Pratt Family Cem. and Cem 225, Coleman Family Cem., by Margaret Jones and Milton Forsyth.



26. November - December 2007 - Added Cem 233, Berry, Robert Fam Cem, survey and photographs by Benjamin Berry Henderson; added Cem 234, Unidentified Cem off Wilkerson Rd; added Cem 235, Durham, Archibald Fam Cem. Updated Cem 110, Cole Fam Cem, survey and photographs by Gary Thompson; Cem 289, Couch Fam Cem, totally revised; Cem 156, Mason Farm Cem, rewritten and new photos by Milton Forsyth. Added photos to Cem 229, Old Chapel Hill Cem - White.



27. January - March 2008 - Located and updated Cem 125, Currie Fam Cem, renaming as Unidentified Cemetery - Former Craig and Currie Property; Cem 272, Strayhorn, Samuel Slave Cem; Cem 291, Reding, John Grave (formerly incorrectly identified as Joseph Redding grave). Updated Cem 211, Walker, Joe Family Cem. Added Cem 237, Craige, Isaac Fam Cem and Cem 238, Wade Temple Holiness Church Cem. Surveys and photographs by Margaret Jones and Milton Forsyth.

---

Last revised 3 April 2008