Orange County NC Website
~3; <br />~xttn~ ~Iuu~ ~i~snr~rttl ~u~eum <br />COLONIAL COURY SgVARE <br />HILLSBOROUGH, N. C. 27278 <br />O:~F.'~'GE COVI~'TY <br />"A seal is a design used for the purpose of showing authenticity" <br />from Thorndike-barnh~,rdt Comprehensive Dictionary--or from 4Yebster's <br />Dictionary,"a seal is used to ratify ar confirm". Therefore a seal <br />lifts a county or a family a bit above the ordinary and adds pres- <br />tige to its backcxour.d. <br />Orange Gounty as fortunate in having such authenticity set upon itl~' <br />D. L. Coxbitt, chairman of publications for the h.C., Archives and <br />Historyy in his book entitled "The Formation of Gounties in I~. C. <br />.M <br />1663-1943 (on pagej67) which was published 3.n 1950, says of Orange <br />County: " Orange eras formed in 172 from 3ohnston, Bladen, and <br />Granville. It was named to honor ~'Jilliam of the House of Orange in <br />tha nether:~ands who became King ~,'lilliam 111 of England." <br />The Orange County seal made official at the PJ`ay 1976 meeting of <br />the County Commissioners eras an object of research over a period <br />of time by T."rs. Clarence D. Jones of the Orange County Historical <br />ATUSeum board. Its authenticity was established first by the secre- <br />tary of reseaech of the ?:'illiamsburg Foundation. A description <br />t~~as given in the enclosed letter: <br />Further research at the I.C. Department of archives and I-Iistory and <br />at the UNC Library supported the fact that Grange County was in- <br />deed named for King Giilliam 111 of the house of Orange. An authen- <br />tic copy of his coat of arms was located in Boutell's Book of <br />Heraldry. <br />A professional heraldic artist leas commissioned by •¢he Orange County <br />Historical i~!useum to reproduce the coat-of-arms in color. This now <br />