Chatham County, North Carolina in 1771 from Orange County. It had been named in 1758 for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who served as British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768 and opposed harsh colonial policies. In 1907, parts of Chatham County and Moore County were combined to form Lee County. While not devoted to large plantations, the county was developed for small farms, where slave labor was integral to the owners' productivity and success. By 1860 one-third of the county population were African Americans, chiefly enslaved. George Moses Horton, Historic Poet Laureate of Chatham County, (1797?-1883) lived most of his life enslaved
Wilmot Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Lisburne Wilmot Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Lisburne Wilmot Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Lisburne (9 May 1755 – 6 May 1820), styled Hon. Wilmot Vaughan from 1766 to 1776 and Viscount Vaughan from 1776 to 1800, was a Welsh landowner and Irish peer. He was the son of Wilmot Vaughan, 4th Viscount Lisburne, later Earl of Lisburne, and his first wife Elizabeth Nightingale, who died of complications from his birth. He was educated at Eton College, and on 4 January 1773, he matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Unfortunately, he showed signs of insanity as early as 1778, and he was declared a