Editing Caswell County, North Carolina (section)

====Colonial period====
In 1663 and 1665, [[Charles II of England]] granted the land that includes what is now North and [[South Carolina]] (named for his father, [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]) to eight of his noblemen, the [[Lords Proprietors]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Lords Proprietors|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/lords-proprietors#:~:text=The%20Lords%20Proprietors%20were%20the,restoration%20to%20the%20English%20throne.|access-date=March 2, 2022}}</ref> Caswell County was originally part of the [[land grant]] belonging to [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]].<ref name="auto6"/>

Caswell County was once part of the northern region of [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]], which was established in 1752.<ref name="CountyNamesake">{{Cite web |title=Orange County |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/geography/orange |access-date=April 12, 2025|website=NCpedia}}</ref> [[Thirteen Colonies|Colonial]] records show that land grants in the area now comprising Caswell County were issued as early as 1748. There were [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]], [[German Americans|German]], and [[English Americans|English]] [[human settlements|settlements]] along the [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan River]] and Hogans and Country Line creeks by 1751.<ref name="auto6"/>

The first recorded settlements occurred between 1750 and 1755, when eight to ten families migrated from within Orange County, as well as from [[Culpeper County|Culpeper]] and [[Spotsylvania County|Spotsylvania]] counties in Virginia.{{refn| [[George Washington]] was [[Culpeper County]]'s surveyor from 1749 to 1750.}}<ref name="auto0"/> The primary reason for resettlement was economic. They were searching for fertile land, which the lowlands of the Dan River and several creeks provided.<ref name="auto6">{{cite web|title=Caswell County: The First Century, 1777–1877 |url=http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/sartin_ruby_1972.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220013121/http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/sartin_ruby_1972.pdf |archive-date=December 20, 2019 |url-status=live|access-date=August 5, 2021}}{{Additional source needed|date=November 2022}}</ref>

The area grew rapidly after the initial settlements. Scotch-Irish and German families traversed the [[Great Wagon Road]], which was the main route for settlement in the region, and had come by way of Virginia and Pennsylvania. English and [[French Huguenot]] migrants came from settled areas of [[eastern North Carolina]], following the [[Trading Path|Great Trading Path]]. English colonists also came from Virginia using the same network of roads and trails.<ref name="auto14">{{cite web|title=History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina |url=https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/historic-preservation-office/survey-and-national-register/surveyreports/OrangeCountySurveyPubManuscript-1996.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812200030/https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/historic-preservation-office/survey-and-national-register/surveyreports/OrangeCountySurveyPubManuscript-1996.pdf |archive-date=August 12, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=August 12, 2021}}</ref>