This week was the start of a new subject. After hitting a dead end with the Margaret Lane Cemetery I got the go ahead from my supervisor to move back onto researching the African American History of Hillsborough. Instead of the overall approach that I was taking before, I have begun researching a specific aspect of the history in Hillsborough first and then once I am done with that subject I will move onto the next one.

I am starting with the Dickerson AME Chapel. The chapel was the third Orange county courthouse, and was purchased by the Reverend Elias Dodson Jr. I was able to look through the Ancestry.com documents to find a sizable amount of information on Elias Dodson, but there are enough Elias Dodson’s that it is difficult to sift through the information and come out with verifiable proof that this is indeed the correct Elias Dodson.

I also continued to expand on the research of the chapel itself. The changing owners of the building is fascinating. Dodson bought the courthouse and then moved it to another more central location in downtown. from there the chapel changed hands 4 times before becoming the AME chapel it is today in 1886. I have almost exhausted the resources that I have at my disposal for the Chapel so I will be moving onto other subjects this week. A local Hillsborough resident who is knowledgable about Elizabeth Keckly’s history will be coming in to talk to me on Monday and I think that will be beneficial to my research on her. I definitely need to take advantage of those people that already have all the information I need readily available in their head. I look forward to seeing what my research reveals this week.