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
Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham, 1st Baroness Chatham (; 8 November 1720 – 9 April 1803), who was Baroness Chatham in her own right, was the wife of William Pitt (the Elder), 1st Earl of Chatham, who was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. The sister of George Grenville, who was Prime Minister from 1763 to 1765, she was also the mother of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and a niece of the noted Whig politician Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, who had served as her husband's mentor. Chatham and Elizabeth