Orange County, North Carolina: State Land Grants, 1778-1790. (Volume 1)

By: William D. Bennett, Pub. 1991 &1992, Reprinted 2018, Vol. #1, (Grants 1-500): 174 pages, Index, 8 1/2"x11" soft cover, ISBN #0-89308-968-0.

Orange County was formed in 1752 from Granville, Johnston and Bladen counties.  Orange County lay within the Granville Proprietary.  After John Earl Granville died, the land office closed in March 1763.  Between 1763 and 1777 it was not possible to gain title to vacant land because there was no one to grant it.  When the state opened its land office in 1777, entry takers were selected in the various counties; persons who swore allegiance to the State were then entitled to land at 50 shillings per 100 acres,  The entry taker recorded the amount of land, the nearest watercourses, natural boundaries, and adjoining property owners; if in three months no one made a claim for the land, the claimant took  a copy of the entry and warrant to the surveyor who then laid off and surveyed the tract., providing two copies of the plat.  Sworn chain carriers assisted the surveyors.  The paperwork was then forwarded to the Secretary of State, and grants were issued twice a year: in April and October.  The grantess had tweleve months to register the grant, or it became void.

     The authors have abstracted the grants to include: grant number, name of grantee, patent book citation, date of entry, date of issue, entry number, name of grantee, acreage with metes and bounds description, date of survey, name of surveyor and chain carriers, and a facsimile of the plat.