Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. 1815
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough William Huntington opens his own silversmith business in Hillsborough

   Trained by his father, the engraver Roswell Huntington, William Huntington sets up his own Hillsborough shop, selling silver along with gravestones, flour and medicine and running a blacksmith shop.

3. 1825
   Protest or organizing · Orange County The Orange County Sunday School Union asks the Assembly to fund its schools

   The Orange County Sunday School Union petitioned the General Assembly for 25 cents a year per pupil for its 22 Sunday schools, which taught 800 to 1,000 children, many from poor families, to read. John Scott of Hillsborough presented it in the House of Commons, which turned it down.

4. 1834-1835
   Hillsborough John Wall Norwood becomes treasurer and then a ruling elder of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church

   In 1834 Norwood succeeded the silversmith William Huntington as treasurer of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church. In 1835 he was confirmed a ruling elder, a post he held until his death.

5. 1834-1836
   Hillsborough Lemuel Lynch and William Huntington work as partners in Hillsborough

   Back in Hillsborough by March 1834, the silversmith Lemuel Lynch went into a two-year partnership with William Huntington, in whose shop he had trained. Afterward he kept his shop alone, perhaps with help from his sons or apprentices.

6. 1834
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough Lemuel Lynch sets up as a silversmith and jeweler in Hillsborough

   Lemuel Lynch, who learned his trade from William Huntington and had kept shops in Greensboro and Concord, begins working in Hillsborough, where he stayed for the rest of his life.

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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.