Durward T. Stokes of Alamance Co. surveyed a number of abandoned or lost cemeteries - primarily in Alamance County, but moved around crossing into Orange, Chatham, and Randolph Counties. His manuscript was typed in 1979, but never published. His actual surveys occurred in 1958-9. This was fortunate, since a number of these locations are gone - and the old tombstones are not getting better (visually) with age. Therefore, I as editor, retyped his manuscript - and added historical remarks (where helpful), pictures I took in modern times, and a detailed index. Durward had some B&W pictures - which are included in this book as well.Lastly, there are two graveyards that I found, that Durward was not aware of - included with pictures and maps in an Appendix.

The work in hand records tombstone inscriptions in 150 cemeteries, thirty-three church cemeteries, and some half-dozen proprietary cemeteries, resulting in the enumeration of perhaps as many as three thousand Orange County inhabitants, giving dates of birth and death and frequently specifying family relationships. To keep the data within practical limits, the author recorded the inscriptions of persons who either died before 1900 or were born before 1850.