Chronology

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1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

2. 1871
   Life event · Hillsborough Joseph Blount Cheshire studies law under William K. Ruffin at Hillsborough

   Cheshire read law for several months under William K. Ruffin of Hillsborough, a son of Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin. He then worked three months in a Tarboro law office and was licensed in January 1872.

3. December 17, 1874
   Life event · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough Joseph Blount Cheshire marries Annie Huske Webb at St. Matthew's

   Joseph Blount Cheshire Jr., later Episcopal bishop of North Carolina, married Annie Huske Webb of Hillsborough at St. Matthew's Church.

4. 1878
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Joseph Blount Cheshire is assigned to the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill

   Ordered deacon at Tarboro on 21 April 1878, Cheshire was assigned by Bishop Thomas Atkinson to the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill at the request of university president Kemp P. Battle. He served his diaconate there under Robert Sutton, rector of the Pittsboro parish.

5. October 13, 1879
   Chapel Hill Baptist minister James P. Mason speaks at University Day

   At the 1879 University Day exercises, after President Kemp Battle's historical address, short talks were given by the Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, the Rev. James Pleasant Mason, the Methodist minister Mr. Heitman and several professors.

6. 30 May 1880
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Joseph Blount Cheshire is ordained priest two years after coming to Chapel Hill

   Cheshire was ordained priest on 30 May 1880 by Bishop Theodore B. Lyman in St. Paul's Church, Winston, two years after going to Chapel Hill. While based at the Chapel of the Cross he also organized a mission at Durham and built a church there named for St. Philip the Deacon.

7. Spring 1881
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Joseph Blount Cheshire leaves Chapel Hill to become rector at Charlotte

   In the spring of 1881 Cheshire accepted a call to St. Peter's Church in Charlotte, ending about three years at the Chapel of the Cross. He was elected bishop of North Carolina in 1893.

8. winter 1881
   Appointment, election or service · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough St. Matthew's vestry asks Joseph Blount Cheshire to be its rector

   The vestries of St. Matthew's and the Burlington church asked Joseph Blount Cheshire to take charge of their parishes. He would have come to his wife's home town, but Bishop Lyman wanted him to stay in Chapel Hill.

9. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

10. April 17, 1923
    Law, policy or court · President's office, UNC, Chapel Hill Church leaders spend a day with Chase and the faculty on teaching religion at the university

    Baptist, Presbyterian, Moravian, Episcopal and Methodist leaders met in President Chase's office with the faculty committee on educational policy. All favored nonsectarian Bible courses; after a day of argument over who would choose and pay the teachers, the churchmen agreed on courses taught off campus by teachers the denominations selected, with credit from the university.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.