Hillsborough in Orange County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
William Churton
Photographed By Michael Buckner, March 5, 2022
1. William Churton Marker
Erected 2017 by North Carolina Office of Archives and History. (Marker Number G-136.)
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Exploration. A significant historical year for this entry is 1749.
Location. 36° 4.303′ N, 79° 5.963′ W. Marker is in Hillsborough, North Carolina, in Orange County. Marker is on South Churton Street, 0.1 miles north of Business U.S. 70, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 229 S Churton St, Hillsborough NC 27278, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Occaneechi (within shouting distance of this marker); James Hogg (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); Billy Strayhorn (approx. 0.2 miles away); North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati (approx. 0.2 miles away); a different marker also named William Churton (approx. 0.2 miles away); Edmund Fanning (approx. 0.2 miles away); Regulators Hanged (approx. ¼ mile away); Thomas Burke (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hillsborough.
Also see . . . William Churton.
William Churton, pioneer(Submitted on May 15, 2023, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina.)surveyor and cartographer for the Granville District, colonial official of Childsburgh (Hillsborough) and Orange County, and member for Orange in the colonial legislature, came from England to America in the 1740s as a surveyor attached to the Granville Land Office in Edenton. His English background is unknown, but it seems probable that he was a Londoner with family roots in Gloucestershire.
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Churton undertook a second arduous survey of mountainous western lands between August 1752 and January 1753, when he accompanied Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenburg and a party of Moravians to the "Blue Mountains" to survey tracts totaling 98,925 acres. The Spangenburg Diary and later Moravian records provide numerous brief personal glimpses of Churton, whom Spangenburg characterized as "certainly a reasonable man" and "excessively scrupulous" in his surveying practices. For the next fifteen years, until his death, the Moravians maintained a warm friendship with their "Good Companion . . . the Surveyor Mr. Churton."
Credits. This page was last revised on May 20, 2023. It was originally submitted on May 15, 2023, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 58 times since then and 7 times this year. Photo 1. submitted on May 15, 2023, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
