Do you know of Chatham ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Chatham. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Chatham.

We found mention of Chatham as a post office (see Mentions and References below), but can't determine its location - other than being located somewhere in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

It's common that the post office is named the same as the community in which it's located (although that's not always case). In this case, we can't match this post office to any of the existing communities in our gazetteer.

From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1800 and closed in 1821.

This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.

Part of the difficulty in identifying whether a name is a post office or a community lies with how Post Offices were named. We've prepared an article with our understanding of how post offices were named: Naming of Post Offices.

Communities Also Named Chatham ...

We found 27 communities that share the name Chatham.

Within South Carolina, the name Chatham is unique.

Beyond South Carolina, we know of another 27 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 27 communities, 24 are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
  - Please visit our profile page for the Alaska community of Chatham.
- Connecticut
  - Tolland County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Connecticut community of Chatham [Tolland County].
- Delaware
  - New Castle County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Delaware community of Chatham [New Castle County].
- Florida
  - Monroe County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Chatham [Monroe County].
- Illinois
  - Cook County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Chatham [Cook County].
  - Sangamon County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Chatham [Sangamon County].
- Kentucky
  - Bracken County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Chatham [Bracken County].
- Louisiana
  - Jackson Parish
  - Please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Chatham [Jackson Parish].
- Maryland
  - Harford County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Chatham [Harford County].
  - Howard County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Chatham [Howard County].
  - Prince George's County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Chatham [Prince George's County].
- Massachusetts
  - Barnstable County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Massachusetts community of Chatham [Barnstable County].
- Michigan
  - Alger County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Chatham [Alger County].
- Minnesota
  - Kittson County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Chatham [Kittson County].
  - Wright County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Chatham [Wright County].
- Mississippi
  - Washington County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Chatham [Washington County].
- New Brunswick
  - Please visit our profile page for the New Brunswick community of Chatham.
- New Hampshire
  - Carroll County
  - Please visit our profile page for the New Hampshire community of Chatham [Carroll County].
- New Jersey
  - Morris County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Jersey community of Chatham [Morris County].
- New York
  - Columbia County
  - Please visit our profile page for the New York community of Chatham [Columbia County].
- Ohio
  - Licking County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Chatham [Licking County].
  - Medina County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Chatham [Medina County].
- Ontario
  - Please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Chatham.
- Pennsylvania
  - Chester County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Chatham [Chester County].
- Quebec
  - Please visit our profile page for the Quebec community of Chatham.
- Virginia
  - Pittsylvania County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Chatham [Pittsylvania County].
- Wyoming
  - Washakie County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Chatham [Washakie County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Chatham ...

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Chatham:

Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>

U.S. Post Offices (1803)
Printed by order of the Post Master General

More Orphans in Chesterfield County ...

Can you help?

As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Chesterfield County.

Footnotes ...

<1>

If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Chatham could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.

<2>

A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/