Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. June 1841
   Appointment, election or service · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough Moses Ashley Curtis becomes rector of St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough

   Curtis, an Episcopal priest who had taught at the church school in Raleigh, accepted a call to St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough in June 1841. He did his botanical and fungus research from the town while serving the parish.

3. 1847
   Appointment, election or service · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough Moses Ashley Curtis leaves St. Matthew's for Society Hill, South Carolina

   Rector and botanist Moses Ashley Curtis moved from Hillsborough to Society Hill, South Carolina, ending his first period at St. Matthew's.

4. February 1857
   Appointment, election or service · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough Moses Ashley Curtis returns to St. Matthew's in Hillsborough

   After about ten years at Society Hill, S.C., Curtis came back to St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough in February 1857, and stayed until his death in 1872; he was buried in the churchyard.

5. July 1858
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough Charles Tew chooses a site west of Hillsborough for a military academy

   In late July 1858 Charles C. Tew, with Moses A. Curtis and A. S. Galliard, searched Hillsborough for a school site and settled on a 40-acre tract about a mile and a half west of town near the new North Carolina Railroad. They engaged the Columbia architect John A. Kay, and local builders John Berry and Henry Richards built the barracks and commandant's house.

6. November 25, 1859
   Naming or commemoration · St. Mary's Chapel Bishop Atkinson consecrates St. Mary's Chapel

   The St. Mary's Chapel building in eastern Orange County was consecrated by Bishop Atkinson with the Rev. Dr. Curtis taking part.

7. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

8. April 10, 1872
   Life event · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough St. Matthew's rector Moses Ashley Curtis dies

   Moses Ashley Curtis, rector of St. Matthew's for twenty-one years and a botanist of international standing, died at 64. The font and a south window in the church are his memorials.

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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.