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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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8 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–8.Back to highlights

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8 dated events
1768Colonial and Regulator years
  1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774
  2. William Johnston and James Thackston go into business as Hillsborough merchants

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    Johnston, a Scottish merchant of means related to the Johnston governors, came to Hillsborough and formed a partnership with James Thackston. Their store stood at the southwest corner of King and Churton streets.

  3. William Johnston offers Richard Bennehan a partnership in the Little River Store

    Snow Hill

    William Johnston offered Richard Bennehan a one-third partnership in the Little River Store on his Snowhill plantation near Hillsborough. Bennehan moved to North Carolina in late 1768 or early 1769 to manage it.

    People: William Johnston

  4. Hillsborough officials and merchants pledge to defend one another after the riot

    Protest or organizing · Hillsborough

    Just after the September 1770 riot, Francis Nash, Edmund Fanning, Alexander Martin, Thomas Henderson, Jesse Benton, William Johnston, Adlai Osborne and others formed an association for mutual aid and protection. Many members lived too far apart to help one another in a sudden emergency.

    Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 90 events

    People: Francis Nash · Edmund Fanning · Alexander Martin · Jesse Benton · William Johnston · Adlai Osborne

  5. Hillsborough's leading men write to Governor Tryon for protection after the riot

    Protest or organizing · Hillsborough

    James Watson, Francis Nash, Thomas Hart, Robert Lytle, William Johnston, James Thackston and James Monro wrote from Hillsborough describing the Regulators' insolence at the superior court, said they stood hourly in danger of their lives and estates, and asked Tryon to adopt whatever measures he judged proper.

    Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 90 events

    People: Francis Nash · Thomas Hart · William Johnston

  6. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799
  7. William Johnston produces gunpowder, lead and flints at Snow Hill

    Snow Hill

    During the Revolution Hillsborough merchant William Johnston apparently produced gunpowder, lead and rifle flints at his Snow Hill plantation northeast of the town.

  8. The Provincial Congress forms the Hillsborough District and its committee of safety

    Law, policy or court · Hillsborough

    The Congress grouped Orange, Granville, Chatham and Wake counties into a Hillsborough District with a thirteen-member committee of safety; John Atkinson, John Butler and William Johnston sat for Orange. Thomas Person and John Kinchen represented the district on the Provincial Council.

    People: John Butler · William Johnston · Thomas Person

  9. Orange magistrates tender the state oath across the county

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    The county court named two magistrates in each district to offer the oath to people suspected of disloyalty, and they returned lists of those who took and refused it to the May 1778 term. At that term James Hogg, William Johnston and Samuel Strudwick were cited again, and those who still declined were given sixty days to leave.

    People: James Hogg · William Johnston

  10. General Assembly charters an academy near Hillsborough named Science Hall

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    Meeting at Halifax, the General Assembly passed an act to establish an academy in the neighborhood of Hillsborough, naming William Hooper, Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, James Hogg and others as trustees. The act named the school Science Hall and gave its trustees the same powers as those of Liberty Hall in Mecklenburg County.

    People: Alexander Martin · Nathaniel Rochester · Thomas Hart · James Hogg · Thomas Burke · William Hooper · William Johnston

    Subject: Hillsborough Academy

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

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.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026