Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. 1752
   Orange County John Patterson is named one of the first vestrymen of St. Matthew's Parish

   The act of the 1752 Assembly that created Orange County and the Parish of St. Matthew named John Patterson among the twelve vestrymen who were to serve until the first vestry election.

3. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

4. December 10, 1776
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Orange County votes again after the Halifax Congress voids its October return

   The Congress first upheld the sitting Orange members on November 21, then on November 28 ordered a new election run by named commissioners over as many as three days. Held December 10, it returned Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, Alexander Mebane, John Butler and John McCabe, who took their seats just before the state constitution was adopted.

5. December 18, 1776
   Law, policy or court · Halifax The new state constitution provides for public schools and a university

   Section 41 of the constitution adopted at Halifax, modeled on Pennsylvania's, told the legislature to establish schools and to promote learning in one or more universities. Orange's delegates voted on it, and it became the legal basis for chartering UNC.

6. May 1777
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough The Orange County court sits for the first time under the new state

   The May 1777 court recorded 22 justices commissioned by Governor Richard Caswell, and eleven took the state oath and their seats. It named Alexander Mebane Jr., son of the first sheriff, as the first sheriff under statehood and county treasurer, and appointed 33 road overseers.

7. September 12, 1781
   Hillsborough Colonel Alexander Mebane rides to warn John Butler after Fanning's raid on Hillsborough

   When David Fanning's Loyalists marched out of Hillsborough with Governor Thomas Burke and other prisoners, Alexander Mebane, a colonel in the local militia, rode to warn General John Butler, who then laid the ambush at Lindley's Mill.

8. 1782
   Statistic or record · Hillsborough Hillsborough collects meat for Greene's army and holds prisoners of war

   Alexander Mebane, commissioner of specific supplies for Orange, gathered more than 2,000 pounds of salt and fresh meat at Hillsborough for Greene's army in South Carolina. The town jail held British and Loyalist prisoners while exchanges were negotiated.

9. July 21, 1788
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough The convention appoints a committee of privileges and elections with three members from each district

   The convention set up a 27-member committee of privileges and elections, three from each district, which went on to rule on the disputed returns. Alexander Mebane of Orange County sat on it with Thomas Person, William R. Davie and James Iredell.

10. August 1, 1788
    Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Orange County's delegates vote against ratifying the Constitution before amendments

    In the 184 to 84 roll call that defeated Iredell's amendment to ratify, Alexander Mebane, William Mebane, William McCauley, Jonathan Lindley and William Shepperd of Orange all voted no, as did A. Tatom. The next day the same members voted to concur in the declaration of rights and amendments.

11. December 18, 1789
    Founding or opening · Fayetteville The university's trustees hold their first meeting, at Fayetteville

    Senate Speaker Charles Johnson chaired the meeting, and Alexander Mebane and James Hogg attended for Orange County. Davie and Hogg were charged with printing the two subscription papers, one under the charter's terms and one for outright gifts.

12. November and December 1790
    Law, policy or court · Hillsborough General Assembly orders a new district courthouse built at Hillsborough

    Alexander Mebane of Orange brought in the bill, and the act named William Watters, Absalom Tatom and Jeduthan Harper commissioners to raise a courthouse on the lot where the burned one had stood and to sell off its brick and remains. It was paid for by a poll and land tax on Orange and by lighter taxes on Wake, Chatham, Caswell, Granville and Randolph, the counties of the Hillsborough district.

13. November 5–9, 1792
    Founding or opening · Chapel Hill Willie Jones views New Hope Chapel Hill as a university commissioner and signs for the site

    Jones was one of six commissioners the trustees sent to fix the seat of the university. On November 5, 1792 he handed the commissioners Joel Lane's offer of 640 acres in Wake County; the commissioners then went on to view New Hope Chapel Hill in Orange County, where they took offers of 1,390 acres and about 798 pounds. Jones signed the report.

14. August 10, 1793
    Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill Commissioners mark out the sites of the university's buildings and grounds

    Davie, Alfred Moore, Alexander Mebane and Thomas Blount met on the Chapel Hill tract and fixed the building sites, with land set aside for offices, avenues and ornamental grounds.

15. October 12, 1793
    Property or economic transaction · Chapel Hill The first town lots in Chapel Hill are sold at auction

    After the Old East cornerstone was laid, the commissioners auctioned the village lots on the spot; 29 lots brought more than 1,500 pounds, and one was held back for the president's house.

16. December 1793
    Appointment, election or service · Orange County Alexander Mebane takes his seat as Orange County's first member of Congress

    Alexander Mebane of the Hawfields, a former Orange County sheriff, sits in the Third Congress, the first on the book's list of congressmen from Orange.

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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.