Chronology

The legislature authorizes the Durham North-Carolina Industrial Association

The General Assembly passed an act authorizing the formation of the Durham North-Carolina Industrial Association in Orange County, an early act of incorporation for the Durham's Station community (now Durham County).

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

Orange Superior Court convicts Catlett C. Tinnen of manslaughter

At the March term of Orange Superior Court, Catlett C. Tinnen was tried for murder after he fired out of his kitchen window at guests leaving a corn shucking that Dill Faucett, a freedman living on his place, had called, and a man was found shot. On testimony given entirely by freedpeople, the jury found him guilty of manslaughter, and Judge Warren fined him $250 rather than jail him.

James Phillips dies in the college chapel

On the morning of March 14, 1867, James Phillips went early to the college chapel to lead morning prayers and was found dead on the rostrum as the bell rang. He had taught at the university since 1826 and was buried in the Chapel Hill Cemetery.

Subject: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery · Gerrard Hall

An Orange County meeting at the courthouse resolves to submit to the Reconstruction Acts

A meeting of Orange County citizens at the Hillsborough courthouse, chaired by Thomas Wilson, resolved to bear the Reconstruction Acts while protesting them, thanked President Johnson for his vetoes and named a committee of five to memorialize Congress. Capt. John F. Lyon urged every man not disfranchised to register and vote, and Lieut. Porter of the army and the Freedmen's Bureau told the meeting he knew of no one in Orange persecuted for loyalty to the Union.

People: Josiah Turner Jr.

Hillsborough commissioners ban Sunday trading and offer rewards against housebreakers

The Hillsborough town commissioners passed an ordinance fining any merchant, liquor dealer or other person who sold goods on the Sabbath, except in real necessity, up to $10 for each offence. At the same meeting they offered rewards of $50 for convicting anyone who broke into a dwelling and $30 for other night break-ins.

People: Dennis Heartt

Chapel Hill farmers organize the Chapel Hill Agricultural Society

Citizens of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country met with Judge William H. Battle in the chair and organized the Chapel Hill Agricultural Society, to meet monthly, with George W. Purefoy as president and A. Mickle as treasurer. Dues were twenty-five cents a year, and members were to read essays and look into farm problems such as insects in young corn.

People: William Horn Battle

William A. Graham receives his presidential pardon

William A. Graham of Hillsborough, a former Confederate senator, received his pardon from President Andrew Johnson, lifting the cloud on his loyalty that had followed him since the war.

People: Andrew Johnson (Journey of Reconciliation)

A flood on the Eno sweeps away the Hillsborough bridge

A heavy rainstorm that began on Wednesday, August 14, broke into a downpour between one and two o'clock the next afternoon and raised the Eno at Hillsborough eighteen inches to two feet above any level in years. The flood carried off the bridge at the town, and the editor heard that every bridge on the river had gone, with mill dams and bottomland crops ruined.

Subject: Eno River road bridge, Hillsborough

Orange County's board of registration begins enrolling voters under the Reconstruction Acts

Under General Sickles's registration order, Orange's board of registration opened its sessions on August 16, 1867, sitting in turn at Cedar Grove and other stations and finishing with six days at Hillsborough, the last on September 3. Thomas Wilson chaired the board, which met again at Hillsborough on November 5 to revise the lists before the November convention election.

William A. Graham writes from Hillsborough against the convention call

In a public letter dated at Hillsborough on October 23, 1867, to J. A. Engelhard, former governor William A. Graham argued that the one specific object of the convention Congress required was to extend the vote to Black men without distinction. He urged North Carolinians to keep control of their own suffrage and to oppose the call.

Orange Conservatives nominate John W. Graham and Edwin M. Holt for the constitutional convention

A Conservative meeting at the court house in Hillsborough on November 2, 1867, seated a delegation of Black Conservatives from Durham and named a nominating committee of five white and five Black members from all parts of the county. The committee put forward Maj. John W. Graham and Dr. Edwin M. Holt as the party's candidates for the state convention.

People: John W. Graham

Orange delegate John W. Graham writes the convention's minority report on suffrage

John W. Graham, Orange County's delegate to the 1868 constitutional convention, wrote the minority report on the suffrage question that he and Plato Durham laid before the convention against the majority's plan. The Recorder reprinted it from the Raleigh Sentinel in April.

Orange Conservatives hold a county meeting at the courthouse and name an executive committee

A large Conservative meeting at the courthouse in Hillsborough, chaired by Capt. John Berry, heard William A. Graham speak for more than an hour and Josiah Turner Jr. after him. It adopted resolutions backing the state Conservative convention, calling for government by white men and opposing Black suffrage, and the chair named a county executive committee under the party's plan of organization.

People: John Berry · William A. Graham · Josiah Turner Jr. · Calvin E. Parish

Conservatives win every Orange County office in the first election under the 1868 constitution

In the three-day election on the new constitution, Orange County's Conservatives elected their entire county ticket. George Laws won the Superior Court clerkship by about 1,100 votes, John Turner the sheriff's office, Josiah Turner Jr. the state Senate seat by 863, and John Laws the register's office by about 1,500, while the county voted against the constitution by 850.

People: George Laws · Josiah Turner Jr.

Governor Holden appoints about forty temporary justices of the peace for Orange

Governor W. W. Holden named about forty men as justices of the peace for Orange County, among them Washington Duke and Wilson Caldwell, to serve until the townships set up under the new constitution could elect their own. The appointees were called to the courthouse in Hillsborough on July 25 to be qualified.

People: William W. Holden · Washington Duke · Wilson Swain Caldwell

David L. Swain dies after a buggy accident

Weeks after the Reconstruction board of trustees accepted his resignation, David L. Swain was thrown on August 11, 1868, from a buggy pulled by the horse General Sherman had given him. He seemed to be recovering but died on August 27 and was buried on August 29 in the garden of his Chapel Hill home; Charles Phillips preached his funeral sermon.

People: Charles Phillips

Josiah Turner Jr. dismisses a freedman at a Conservative rally for belonging to the Union League

At an adjourned Conservative meeting at the Hillsborough courthouse, chaired by John W. Norwood and moved into the open air by the crowd, Josiah Turner Jr. announced that he had dismissed Solomon, a freedman in his service, because Solomon belonged to the Union League, defying the new state law against discharging workers to sway their votes. William A. Graham and others spoke, and the meeting named twenty-five delegates to a district convention. Testifying under oath before a Senate committee in February 1871, Turner said he had declared in a speech at Hillsborough that he would keep no freedman who did not vote with him, but swore he had never acted on it.

People: John Wall Norwood · William A. Graham

An injunction charges four elected Orange commissioners with usurping office

An injunction was served on J. U. Kirkland, Robert F. Morris, Jones Watson and W. H. Patterson, four of the county commissioners chosen at the spring election, charging that they held office although the Fourteenth Amendment disqualified them, and summoning them to show cause at Greensborough on October 13. The Recorder called them the people's choice but expected them to be put out.

People: John U. Kirkland · Jones Watson

Hillsborough Baptists dedicate their new church during the state convention

The Baptists of Hillsborough dedicated their newly completed church, said to be one of the handsomest church buildings in the state, at a Sunday night service with a sermon by Rev. Thomas H. Pritchard, while the Baptist State Convention was holding its annual session in the building.

People: Thomas Henderson Pritchard

Orange elects John W. Graham to the Senate seat denied Josiah Turner Jr. and votes for Seymour

In a quiet election held under Governor Holden's writ to fill the Senate seat from which Josiah Turner Jr. had been excluded under the Fourteenth Amendment, Orange chose the Conservative John W. Graham by about 400 votes, and the Seymour and Blair electors carried the county by about the same margin. A county Conservative convention had nominated Graham on October 17, though a second Conservative candidate refused to withdraw.

People: Josiah Turner Jr. · William W. Holden

Judge Tourgee holds Orange's first superior court under the new constitution

The first superior court held in Orange under the 1868 constitution and the new code of procedure sat at Hillsborough a week late, with Judge Albion W. Tourgee presiding. About sixty state cases were on the docket; four Black defendants, two men and two women, were arraigned for the murder of one woman's husband and their trial was put off to the next term, and the grand jury presented the judges who had campaigned in the late election and all secret political societies. Tourgee left on Friday for the university trustees' meeting with only two civil cases tried.

Hillsborough elects A. C. Murdock magistrate of police

Hillsborough's town election chose A. C. Murdock as magistrate of police, with E. H. Pogue, D. C. Parks and Joseph Reece among the town commissioners.

People: A. C. Murdock · E. H. Pogue · David C. Parks

Dennis Heartt gives up the Hillsborough Recorder after nearly fifty years

In the Recorder of January 11, 1869, Dennis Heartt announced that his connection with the paper would end with that number, thirteen months short of fifty years after its first issue. An 1899 history of the paper says he sold it to Capt. C. N. B. Evans of the Milton Chronicle.

Subject: Hillsborough Recorder

Post office opens at Cedar Grove with John D. Corbin as postmaster

A post office was established at Cedar Grove on mail route 6308 between Hillsborough and Milton, with John D. Corbin as postmaster.

Alexander Pleasants wins Hillsborough Township clerk with Black votes

Alexander Pleasants, who had broken with the Conservative county convention of July 10, was nominated by Black voters and elected clerk of Hillsborough Township in the first township elections.

Frank Whitted, a Black candidate, is ruled not elected Hillsborough Township magistrate

Frank Whitted, a Black candidate thought to have won a Hillsborough Township magistrate's seat, was ruled short of the votes required, and the seat was filled by appointment; Whitted went to Raleigh to appeal to Governor Holden.

Hoax Ku Klux notices bring Black residents out in force at Chapel Hill

Boys at Chapel Hill posted mock notices that the Ku Klux would meet at the town pump at night; Black residents turned out in force to meet them, and no Klan appeared.

U.S. troops are quartered in a college building at Chapel Hill

Federal troops were quartered in one of the university buildings at Chapel Hill and took in ten students found out at night, which the paper said would drive students away.

Barkeeper M. V. Blalock is murdered and robbed in Hillsborough

M. V. Blalock, who kept a bar in Hillsborough, was murdered and robbed in the heart of the town on Christmas night; three Black men, Tom Young, Bob Gunn and Joe Lutterloh, were charged, and the same men were said to have burned a barn and Charles S. Cooley's cabinet shop to draw townspeople away. At a special term of Superior Court under Judge Tourgee in early February 1870, Lutterloh was acquitted on an alibi.

C. N. B. Evans closes the Milton Chronicle and joins the Recorder

C. N. B. Evans, who had closed his Milton Chronicle, became associate editor and publisher of the Hillsborough Recorder with his son, Capt. T. C. Evans.

Part of The Hillsborough Recorder begins publication, 1820 · 27 events

Subject: Hillsborough Recorder

Tom Young and Bob Gunn are hanged at Hillsborough for the Blalock murder

Tom Young and Bob Gunn were hanged at the Hillsborough jail for the murder of barkeeper M. V. Blalock, attended by the Rev. George E. Hunt; Young made a confession.

Subject: Orange County jail, Hillsborough

Dennis Heartt dies in Hillsborough

Dennis Heartt died at his home in Hillsborough on the morning of May 13, 1870, in his eighty-seventh year, and his funeral was held at the Presbyterian church the next day while the town's stores closed. The Recorder noted that Governor W. W. Holden, once his apprentice in the Recorder office, had him appointed Hillsborough postmaster after the war.

People: William W. Holden

Subject: Hillsborough Presbyterian Church

Orange Conservative convention nominates its 1870 county ticket

The Conservative county convention, reconvened at the courthouse with W. W. Guess in the chair, nominated William A. Graham for the state Senate, Frederick N. Strudwick and Mathew Atwater for the House, Andrew Mickle for sheriff and a full slate of county officers. Graham declined the Senate nomination two days later, and several other men came forward for the seat.

People: William A. Graham · Frederick N. Strudwick · Andrew Mickle

Great freshet sweeps away bridges and mill dams across Orange

A flood on the Eno, Little River and Flat River carried away bridges and mill dams, among them Thompson's, Berry's, Lyon's and Compton's dams on the Eno and all but one dam on Flat River, and ruined crops on the creek bottoms.

Durham citizens meet to mourn Robert E. Lee

A large meeting at Durham (now Durham County), with Col. D. C. Parrish in the chair and C. B. Gunn as secretary, adopted resolutions on the death of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Incendiaries burn Maj. Bedford Vaughn's tobacco factory near Stagville

Maj. Bedford Vaughn's tobacco factory near Stagville, in the lower edge of the county (now Durham County), was set afire with shingles piled under a shed holding boxes of worked tobacco; the incendiaries fled into the woods and fired at those who came to the fire.

Orange County Sheriff John Turner dies

John Turner, sheriff of Orange County, died in 1870; his executrix qualified to settle his estate in October.

Orange gives Manning a 711-vote majority in the special congressional election

In the special election to fill the late Robert B. Gilliam's seat in Congress, Orange County gave Manning, the Conservative candidate, an official majority of 711 over J. W. Holden.

Orange County voters reject a tax to pay off the county debt

Orange County voters decided against raising the tax to pay the county's debt of about $30,000, voting "no tax" by a majority of some 50 or 60.

Durham counts thirteen tobacco factories as H. A. Reams opens the Durham Tobacco Warehouse

Durham, now Durham County, was reported to have thirteen tobacco factories, and H. A. Reams set the opening sale of his Durham Tobacco Warehouse for May 18.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

W. T. Blackwell has rival tobacco maker Wright arrested at Hillsborough in the Durham brand dispute

Blackwell, the Durham smoking tobacco maker, had his rival Wright of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia, arrested by the sheriff at the Hillsborough depot in their quarrel over the Durham brand; Wright waited in town for bail.

The congressional Ku Klux committee reports F. N. Strudwick for failing to appear

F. N. Strudwick of Hillsborough was summoned in June 1871 to appear in Washington before the congressional committee investigating the Ku Klux. The joint congressional committee on the Ku Klux, meeting in Washington, reported F. N. Strudwick of Hillsborough and others who had been summoned but did not appear, asking the Senate to issue warrants for them as in contempt of Congress.

Part of The congressional Ku Klux hearings, 1871 · 22 events

People: Frederick N. Strudwick

"No Convention" tickets with a "Save the Homestead" picture are handed to Black voters in Hillsborough

Opponents of a state constitutional convention gave Black voters in Hillsborough "No Convention" tickets printed with a picture of a homestead and the words "Save the Homestead" at the convention election.

The state House rejects a New Hanover petition to expel F. Strudwick and two other members

The North Carolina House voted 57 to 35 to reject a petition from a Republican meeting in New Hanover County, presented by Representative Mabson, asking the expulsion of Lee M. McAfee, F. Strudwick of Orange and H. C. Jones; Strudwick denounced the charges and asked for an investigation.

John U. Kirkland is appointed a magistrate of Hillsborough township

When James B. McDade resigned as one of the township's magistrates, the board of trustees appointed John U. Kirkland to fill the vacancy, a choice the Recorder called admirable.

Professor F. P. Brewer of the University is appointed U.S. consul at Piraeus

F. P. Brewer of the University was appointed United States consul at Piraeus in Greece and was to leave for his post in a few days.

People: Fisk P. (Fisk Parsons) Brewer

Senator Graham of Orange introduces a charter for the Bank of Hillsboro

Senator Graham of Orange introduced a charter making Thomas B. Hill, C. M. Latimer, Thomas Webb, George Laws, D. C. Parks, J. Y. Whitted, P. C. Cameron, James Webb Jr. and others the Bank of Hillsboro, with capital up to $200,000.

People: Thomas Webb · George Laws · David C. Parks · Paul C. Cameron · James Webb Jr.

Daniel Latta of Orange swears he did not write the letter accusing F. N. Strudwick

Daniel Latta, a Black man of Orange County, swore before Commissioner Best in Raleigh that he never wrote or caused to be written the letter read in the House saying F. N. Strudwick, in disguise, had whipped him, and that no one had struck him since the surrender.

People: Frederick N. Strudwick

Five Orange men arrested on Judge Tourgee's order slip away from the officer

Five Orange men arrested on Judge Tourgee's order during the Alamance court slipped away from the officer one at a time; a report reached the judge that disguised men had taken them, which the paper denied.

People: Albion W. Tourgee

Aleck Hall, a Black omnibus driver, builds a new house on Tryon Street

Aleck Hall, a Black omnibus driver, built a new residence on Tryon Street in Hillsborough.

H. P. Jones ships two hundred cases of Tar Heel smoking tobacco from Hillsborough to Georgia

The Recorder reported that Jones had lately shipped two hundred cases of his Tar Heel brand smoking tobacco to Georgia and held orders for a hundred more.

The Plant newspaper is published at Durham

The Plant, a newspaper edited by a Mr. Green, was being published at Durham, now Durham County.

W. T. Blackwell's new tobacco warehouse at Durham fills to overflowing

Blackwell built at Durham, now Durham County, what the paper called the prettiest warehouse in the South, and a Durham letter of February 1872 reported it filled to overflowing.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

Webb & Roulhac buy the Thompson Mill to run their tobacco factory by water

Webb & Roulhac of Hillsborough bought the Thompson Mill for $600, intending to move their smoking tobacco factory there and run it by water.

J. Y. Whitted's tobacco is shown at the Vienna Exposition

J. Y. Whitted's Ambrosia chewing tobacco, made in Hillsborough, was shown at the Vienna Exposition through Professor Kerr, but the entries came too late to compete for premiums.

Town commissioners appoint John D. Wilbon mayor of Hillsborough

Hillsborough's town commissioners appointed John D. Wilbon magistrate of police, or mayor, to succeed J. B. McDade, who had resigned; on June 23 he issued an appeal asking citizens to clear sidewalks, abate nuisances and keep order under the town ordinances. He had resigned by December, and the commissioners left the office vacant for some weeks.

Orange Superior Court dismisses the assault case against W. W. Holden under the amnesty act

Judge Tourgee dismissed the indictment of former Governor W. W. Holden for the 1870 arrest of Josiah Turner Jr. by Lt. John Hunnicutt of the state troops, ruling it covered by the amnesty and pardon act of March 3, 1873; Turner, the prosecutor, was first denied an appeal and then granted one.

People: W. W. Holden · Josiah Turner Jr. · Albion W. Tourgee

The Blackwell v. Wright trademark case is moved from Orange to Alamance

On the defendant Wright's motion, the Orange Superior Court moved to Alamance County the original Blackwell v. Wright suit over the Durham Smoking Tobacco trademark, after his counsel said the real plaintiffs W. T. Blackwell, Julian S. Carr and Day had too much local influence.

People: Julian S. Carr

The Panic of 1873 keeps the Hillsborough and Durham tobacco warehouses closed

The financial panic kept the tobacco warehouses at Hillsborough, Durham, now Durham County, and Richmond and Danville from opening for the season; by mid-December a Durham warehouse was selling again at low prices.

The Eno Grange is organized at Cedar Grove

James Means of Concord organized the Eno Grange at Cedar Grove with thirty members and more applications, electing John K. Hughes master and Nathaniel L. Bain secretary, after a Hillsborough meeting drew too few farmers and a Durham meeting formed only a small club.

Webb, Roulhac & Cameron prepare to move their tobacco business from Hillsborough to Durham

The Hillsborough Recorder reported that the tobacco firm of Webb, Roulhac & Cameron was about to move to Durham, where it had been offered better terms. The paper said the town could ill spare them.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

University trustees declare the presidency vacant and order legal action against Solomon Pool

Meeting in Raleigh, the new university trustees heard W. L. Steele's report that Solomon Pool refused to give up the presidency and named William A. Graham, J. J. Davis and K. P. Battle to take legal action to settle the board's control. They declared the presidency and professorships vacant and told the treasurer to demand the seal, keys and records.

People: Solomon Pool · William A. Graham · Kemp Plummer Battle

Horner's school beats Bingham School at baseball in Hillsborough

The Independent baseball club of Horner & Graves's school beat the Boys in Gray club of Bingham School in a match on the Horner & Graves grounds at Hillsborough before a large crowd. The Independents had earlier lost a game to a Raleigh club.

Subject: Bingham School

Haywood Beverly and Lewis Jenkins run for Hillsborough town commissioner as Black Republicans

In the Hillsborough town election, Black Republicans Haywood Beverly, a tanner, and Lewis Jenkins ran for town commissioner. Both lost, and the board elected was Conservative except for H. N. Brown, who ran on both tickets.

Hillsborough Township votes against prohibition

In a township vote on prohibition or license, Hillsborough Township chose license, 339 votes to 156. The Hillsborough precinct voted 260 to 145 for license and Smith's precinct 79 to 11.

Orange Republicans nominate John C. Hogan and Washington Duke for the House

The Republican county convention at Hillsborough nominated John C. Hogan and Washington Duke for the state House and named no candidates for sheriff, clerk, treasurer or register. By July both had left the ticket, with I. R. Strayhorn and H. B. Guthrie in their places.

People: Colonel John Hogan · Washington Duke · Hugh B. Guthrie

The state Press Association's excursion visits Durham's tobacco factories

A special train carrying the North Carolina Press Association stopped at Durham, where S. F. Tomlinson welcomed the editors for the Board of Trade in the Reams & Walker warehouse and Maj. Englehard replied. The visitors saw brands of R. F. Morris & Co., R. T. Faucett, W. R. Hughes and Z. I. Lyon & Co. and toured the W. T. Blackwell plug factory.

Hillsborough's Black citizens celebrate the Fourth of July

Black residents of Hillsborough celebrated the Fourth of July, by the paper's account quietly and without any trouble. White residents did not take part, and no guns or firecrackers went off in the streets.

North Carolina Railroad stockholders meet at Hillsborough and accept the charter amendment

At their annual meeting at Hillsborough the North Carolina Railroad stockholders tabled W. R. Myers's motion to make Raleigh the permanent meeting place, then on the State's vote accepted the 1874 act amending the company charter so that it could issue bonds secured by a mortgage. Private stockholders including P. C. Cameron, Thomas Webb and William A. Graham opposed and entered a protest, and the new board elected W. A. Smith president.

People: Paul C. Cameron · Thomas Webb · William A. Graham

Subject: North Carolina Railroad

Governor Tod R. Caldwell dies at Hillsborough

Governor Tod R. Caldwell died at Hillsborough on July 11, 1874, while in town on official business. On Sunday a special train brought fifty or sixty men up from Raleigh, among them former governor W. W. Holden, Treasurer Jenkins, Attorney General Hargrove and Judge Reade, and a delegation of Hillsborough men was named to escort the remains.

Little River Township's school committee opens five public schools

The Little River Township school committee had set up five public schools covering nearly all its districts, one so crowded that an assistant teacher had to be hired. Local leaders were also planning a new academy near the site of the one that had burned.

Part of Building the public schools, 1868–1920 · 192 events

Orange County elects the whole Conservative ticket

In the August election Orange elected its whole Conservative ticket, with Thomas H. Hughes as sheriff, George Laws clerk, D. C. Parks treasurer, John Laws register, Dr. T. J. Wilson coroner and A. M. Leathers surveyor. The county gave Joseph J. Davis a majority of over 500 for Congress and favored John Kerr for judge over Thomas Ruffin.

People: George Laws · David C. Parks · John U. Kirkland · Jones Watson

A man named Perkins is jailed for taking the Philanthropic Society's books and Caldwell portrait

A man named Perkins, lately discharged from the penitentiary, was brought from Chapel Hill at the instance of citizens there and jailed at Hillsborough, charged with stealing books, carpeting and the portrait of Dr. Joseph Caldwell from the Philanthropic Society's rooms at the closed university. The portrait was badly damaged.

Subject: Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Orange County Granges form a county council of the Patrons of Husbandry

Delegates of Orange County Granges met at Hillsborough and organized a county council of the Patrons of Husbandry, electing John K. Hughes master, W. W. Guess overseer, S. H. Webb lecturer, Rev. J. B. Martin chaplain, A. W. Graham secretary and W. C. Claytor treasurer. Red Mountain, Little River, Pleasant Green, New Bethel, Durham, Chapel Hill and Eno Granges were represented.

Durham tobacco warehouses hold charity sales for the Oxford Orphan Asylum

Durham's tobacco warehouses held sales for the benefit of the Oxford Orphan Asylum. The Reams & Walker sale netted about $70, and E. J. Parrish set apart a day at his warehouse whose proceeds went to the asylum's agent.

Orange citizens meet at the courthouse to urge a constitutional convention

A meeting of Orange County citizens at the courthouse in Hillsborough, chaired by John W. Norwood with John D. Cameron as secretary, adopted resolutions calling for a convention to revise the 1868 state constitution. Norwood cited the cost of the township system, and William A. Graham spoke at length for a convention.

People: John Wall Norwood · William A. Graham

Orange Superior Court refuses to send the suit against the North Carolina Railroad lease to federal court

At the fall term of Orange Superior Court, Judge Kerr heard arguments in Caldwell's suit against the Richmond and Danville and North Carolina railroad companies over the lease of the North Carolina Railroad and the change of gauge. He refused the Richmond and Danville's motion to move the case to federal court and continued it to the next term.

People: William A. Graham · William N. H. (William Nathan Harrell) Smith · Samuel A. Ashe

Subject: North Carolina Railroad

Col. Charles Latimer, Hillsborough's leading man of business, dies

Col. Charles Latimer, past eighty, died at Hillsborough, where he had lived since about 1832 and was known as the town's chief man of business and adviser. He was buried in St. Matthew's churchyard on January 25 before a large gathering of townspeople.

Subject: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

The new Orange Warehouse opens for tobacco sales at the Hillsborough depot

John C. Van Hook and his partner Wilson opened the Orange Warehouse at the Hillsborough depot, a leaf-tobacco sales house run under the auspices of the Grangers, and held their first sales in its opening week. By May the house was trading as Van Hook, Jones & Co.

The legislature extends Durham's town limits and charters a bank there

The General Assembly granted Durham, then in Orange County and now Durham County, a charter for a bank and an extension of its town limits on the same day.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

A storm unroofs the university's New East building

A late-March storm tore the tin roof from the center of New East, over the library and the Philanthropic Society's hall, and felled one of the campus oaks. Andrew Mickle and villagers nailed down a temporary covering, and Paul C. Cameron, chairman of the repairs committee, came to Chapel Hill and arranged to reroof all the university buildings, giving the woodwork to carpenter Foster Utley.

People: Paul C. Cameron · Andrew Mickle

University trustees ask the legislature to pay the land-scrip interest so the university can reopen

Through a committee, the university's trustees memorialized the General Assembly to recognize the federal land-scrip fund, lost in worthless special tax bonds, as a valid state debt and to pay its interest of about $7,500 a year to the university, which would let classes resume on a small scale in July.

An Orange County meeting nominates William A. Graham and Josiah Turner Jr. for the constitutional convention

A county meeting at the courthouse in Hillsborough, called by the Conservative executive committee, named William A. Graham by acclamation as a delegate to the constitutional convention. After a dispute over voting by townships, a ballot gave Josiah Turner Jr. 141 votes to 93 for W. N. Patterson, and his nomination was made unanimous.

People: William A. Graham · Josiah Turner Jr. · William N. Patterson

Chapel Hill women circulate a plan for a home for poor and infirm women

A group of North Carolina women issued a circular from Chapel Hill proposing to raise a fund to buy a house and land as a home for poor and infirm women of the state, with a sum left over to invest. Replies went to Mrs. C. P. Spencer at Chapel Hill, with William H. Battle, William A. Graham, B. F. Moore and W. N. H. Smith as references.

People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer

Solomon Pool sues the university trustees for his salary

Solomon Pool, president of the university during its collapse, brought suit against the trustees for his salary since the institution broke down. The Raleigh News, quoted by the Recorder, predicted he would lose.

People: Solomon Pool

The Orange House in Hillsborough stops serving as a hotel after the Civil Rights Act

Proprietor L. L. Maxwell took down the Orange House's hotel sign and reopened it as a private boarding house, a move the Recorder put down to the federal Civil Rights Act of March 1875, which required inns to serve Black and white travelers alike.

Hillsborough elects John M. Blackwood magistrate of police on a mixed-party ticket

Hillsborough's town election passed off quietly and returned John M. Blackwood as magistrate of police, the town's mayor, with A. W. Graham, H. N. Brown, D. C. Parks, John Rosemond, David Anderson, John Cheek and John Jordan as commissioners. The ticket had been put forward as a compound one of Democrats and Republicans pledged to work for the town without party prejudice.

People: David C. Parks

The railroad agrees to build a depot at University Station to ship iron ore

Col. Buford of the railroad's lessees agreed, at General Hoke's request, to build a depot at University Station if neighbors supplied the ground and lumber. Its main business was to be shipping ore from Hoke's iron mine near Chapel Hill, which had sent 32 tons to Lincolnton for smelting and had 200 more tons ready.

Part of Railroads through Orange, 1849–1900 · 82 events

People: Robert F. Hoke

Subject: University Station

Chapel Hill rings its college and church bells for the new university faculty

When news reached Chapel Hill that the trustees had elected a faculty for the reopened university, the old college bell and the bells of the village's four churches rang together, as they had last done, muffled, for the death of David L. Swain.

The railroad's lessees change the North Carolina Railroad's gauge through Orange County

Gangs of laborers working at night relaid the North Carolina Railroad to the new gauge east of Greensboro, through Hillsborough and Durham, and by mid-June the change ran all the way to Goldsboro. The Recorder protested that the Virginia lessees had acted in defiance of a state law and a judge's order.

Part of Railroads through Orange, 1849–1900 · 82 events

Subject: North Carolina Railroad

Black residents of the Hillsborough area celebrate the Fourth of July

A large crowd of Black residents in holiday dress celebrated Independence Day on Saturday, July 3. The paper reported good order all day and said the gathering broke up in good time without any disturbance.

A new academy building is finished at Caldwell

A new academy at Caldwell, in Little River Township, was completed under the direction of Dr. J. L. Brower, its principal, and got its last coat of paint on Saturday, July 24. A correspondent described it as fitted for a high school and able to hold one hundred pupils, and by early August L. W. Hall was preparing to enlarge his house to board its students.

Hillsborough's Eno Bottom Rangers beat the Durham base ball club

The Eno Bottom Rangers of Hillsborough challenged the Durham base ball club and won the match game played at Durham, then in Orange County and now Durham County. The Durham players planned a return game, and a Raleigh nine challenged the Hillsborough club to meet them at Durham on July 27.

The Orange Guards reorganize at Hillsborough with Halcott P. Jones as captain

Old soldiers and other citizens met at the courthouse on Saturday, September 18, under Dr. Pride Jones to revive the Orange Guards, the Hillsborough company that had served in the 27th North Carolina Regiment. They readopted the company's constitution and by-laws of 1859, elected Halcott P. Jones captain with William N. Anderson, Sidney G. Strayhorn and A. W. Graham as lieutenants, and named committees to choose a uniform and procure arms.

People: Pride Jones

Hands strike at Blackwell's tobacco factory in Durham

The hands at Blackwell's tobacco factory in Durham, then in Orange County and now Durham County, struck work one morning about breakfast time and walked out. The firm went to Petersburg and brought back forty hands to take the strikers' places.

The Recorder moves its office to the southeast corner of the courthouse square

The Hillsborough Recorder moved its office to the southeast corner of the courthouse square in Hillsborough, skipping its issue of October 20 during the move.

Subject: Hillsborough Recorder

Hillsborough's tobacco market reopens at Webb's warehouse

E. H. Pogue & Co. reopened Webb's tobacco warehouse at Hillsborough after the town had gone nearly a year without a market, and the first sale filled the streets with wagons and sold about 15,000 pounds at prices equal to other markets. By late February the house reported selling more tobacco in January alone than the town had sold in all of the year before.

People: E. H. Pogue

Silas M. Link, longtime Orange County surveyor, dies at Durham

Capt. Silas M. Link, elected county surveyor early in life and holder of the office until a few years before, often called as a witness on boundaries in land suits, died on the night of January 24 at his son-in-law's home in Durham, aged 73.

Town commissioners choose A. W. Graham mayor of Hillsborough

After John M. Blackwood, elected mayor of Hillsborough the spring before, resigned, the town commissioners chose one of their own board, A. W. Graham, to fill the vacancy.

James H. Horner withdraws from the Hillsborough Military Academy

James H. Horner withdrew from the Hillsborough Military Academy, the boys' school he and Ralph H. Graves had brought from Oxford to the old academy buildings, a loss the Recorder later said gave the school a serious shock; Graves and his assistants kept it going, and new pupils were reported weekly.

Subject: Hillsborough Military Academy

Orange County is out of debt

Orange County paid off its debt by early February 1876, and the commissioners bought a safe to hold the surplus; the Recorder urged them to spend the money on roads and bridges instead, beginning with the road from Hillsborough to Cedar Grove.

The Durham Herald begins publication

A new weekly, the Herald, issued its first number at Durham by late March; by May the Recorder counted it the third paper then published in Orange County, alongside the Recorder and the Durham Tobacco Plant.

The old corner store on the courthouse square is torn down

Workmen pulled down the old frame store on the corner of the courthouse square; its weatherboards were hand-riven oak fastened with wrought nails, which the Recorder took to date from Revolutionary days. A large new building was framed on the site by June, and work on it resumed in December after a long halt.

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

The courthouse gets a belfry for its bell and freshly painted clock faces

Workmen built a belfry for the courthouse bell, which had been lying useless on the portico, and a Mr. Jones repainted the faded faces of the old town clock; Josiah Turner, the saddler, had kept the clock running since the previous May. The Recorder welcomed the care of the bell but called the belfry unsightly and badly placed on the court green.

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

Ralph H. Graves, principal of the Hillsborough Military Academy, dies

Ralph Henry Graves, principal of the Hillsborough Military Academy and a teacher for nearly forty years since graduating at Chapel Hill in 1837, died suddenly at Hillsborough in his sixtieth year, of what was thought a burst blood vessel in the brain; a Raleigh physician called in consultation arrived only two hours before his death.

Subject: Hillsborough Military Academy

Mayor Andrew C. Murdock of Hillsborough dies

Andrew C. Murdock, a Hillsborough magistrate and the town's mayor at his death, died of asthma on May 27 in his sixty-fourth year and was buried with Masonic honors. The probate judge appointed Lemuel Lynch magistrate in his place, and the town commissioners named Thomas Webb mayor.

People: Lemuel Lynch · Thomas Webb

D. H. Hamilton and Mr. Morson take charge of the Hillsborough Military Academy

After Ralph H. Graves's death, his assistants Maj. D. H. Hamilton, a South Carolina Military Academy graduate who had served with Col. Tew at the first Hillsborough Military Academy, and Mr. Morson, a University of Virginia graduate, carried the school through the session and opened its next session in early August.

Subject: Hillsborough Military Academy

George W. Swepson's murder trial is moved out of Orange

George W. Swepson, indicted in Alamance for killing Adolphus G. Moore and sent to Orange for trial, came up at the spring term at Hillsborough, where his lawyers swore that articles in the Recorder and the Raleigh News made a fair trial impossible there; the case went to Wake County, where a jury acquitted him on July 8.

The Durham Board of Trade calls a convention of the district's tobacco men

Citing the 'very unsatisfactory condition' of the tobacco trade, the Board of Trade of the town of Durham resolved to call all manufacturers and dealers of manufactured tobacco in the congressional district, peddlers included, to a convention at Raleigh, and invited the internal revenue commissioner and collectors to attend.

Orange County Republicans meet and come out against the constitutional amendments

A Republican county meeting at the courthouse, with H. B. Guthrie in the chair, resolved that the 1875 constitutional convention had been a fraud on the people and that its amendments, submitted to voters only as a whole, would do away with the township system, elected county government and the popular election of magistrates; it named a county executive committee but made no nominations.

People: Hugh B. Guthrie · James B. Mason

The Cedar Grove Methodist Church holds its centennial celebration

The Cedar Grove Methodist Church kept its centennial with three days of services led by the presiding elder of the district, assisted by visiting clergy, and drew large crowds from four counties.

Part of Cedar Grove and rural northern Orange · 201 events

Subject: Cedar Grove Methodist Church

H. B. Guthrie is put out of the Chapel Hill post office

The Post Office Department accepted a resignation from Chapel Hill postmaster H. B. Guthrie and commissioned a Kirkland in his place; Guthrie, chairman of the Orange County Republican executive committee, swore he had never resigned and that his name had been forged.

Subject: Chapel Hill Post Office and Peace and Justice Plaza

Hillsborough's town commissioners clear the old town cemetery

The town commissioners began reclaiming the long-neglected town cemetery, cutting out the weeds and briers so that the ground, with graves more than a century old, lay open for a plan of improvement.

The Orange County Grange hears Gen. D. H. Hill at Little River Church

Six to eight hundred people, many of them women, gathered at Little River Church north of Hillsborough, where Gen. D. H. Hill addressed the County Grange on agriculture and on the Grange as a defender of the farmer against middlemen; a dinner under the oaks followed, and the Grange met in council in its hall.

The university names W. H. Smith professor of natural history

The executive committee of the University elected Prof. W. H. Smith, late of the University of Alabama, to the chair of natural history, covering zoology, botany and geology.

County commissioners let the contract for a fence around the courthouse square

After months of complaint about the open courthouse grounds, roamed by hogs and cattle, the county commissioners let the contract for a fence around the square to the lowest bidder for $214.75; the new railing was up by mid-December, a neat job the Recorder said only wanted paint.

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

Orange County gives the Democrats a sweeping victory in the 1876 election

Orange polled more than 4,100 votes, some 800 more than at any earlier election, in a quiet contest that went to the Democratic ticket: Thomas J. Jarvis carried the county for lieutenant governor 2,420 to 1,669, Calvin E. Parish and John K. Hughes won its House seats, and John W. Graham beat Josiah Turner Jr., who had run against the party's nominee with Republican backing, for the state Senate. The county officers, among them Treasurer D. C. Parks and Register John Laws, won with about 2,700 votes each.

People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis · Calvin E. Parish · John W. Graham · Josiah Turner Jr. · David C. Parks

The university sets aside a hall for a museum and asks the state for specimens

President Kemp P. Battle announced that the University had secured a hall for a museum and asked friends of the institution to send animals, plants, minerals, ores and manufactured articles showing the resources of the state, with directions for collecting and preserving them prepared by the professor of natural history.

People: Kemp Plummer Battle

Pioneer dairyman Peter McConnell sells his farm to a Pennsylvania dairyman

Peter McConnell, the pioneer dairyman of the county, who had shown that dairying could pay on upland grasses, left with his family for a new home in Pennsylvania after selling his farm near Hillsborough to a Mr. Johnston of Pennsylvania, who arrived in December to carry on the dairy with larger capital.

Thomas J. Wilson, longtime county surveyor, dies at Little River

Thomas J. Wilson, for many years Orange's county surveyor and the senior deacon of Little River Church, died at his Little River home at about 79. Born in Pennsylvania in 1797, he had married a woman he met in Person County and settled on Little River; after giving up active surveying he was still often called in to settle disputed land lines.

Subject: Little River Presbyterian Church

The General Assembly elects Orange County's justices of the peace

Under the county government law of that session, the General Assembly elected Orange County's justices of the peace township by township, among them Hillsborough, Mangum, Durham, Cedar Grove and Bingham townships. A week after the list appeared, the choices were said to give general satisfaction, with complaints in a few townships that too many magistrates came from one section.

A post office opens at Caldwell Institute in northern Orange

A post office was established at Caldwell Institute on April 1, 1877, giving the neighborhood mail service. A later issue said the office was officially named Caldwell Institute and revived one that had existed there many years before the war.

Subject: Caldwell Institute

Kemp Battle addresses Orange County farmers at Chapel Hill

University president Kemp P. Battle spoke to the farmers of the county at Chapel Hill, repeating his winter address to the legislature and telling how neighboring families had given about 1,180 acres to win the university its site. The farmer turnout was small for want of notice, though students, ladies and village men filled the hall.

County commissioners repair and repaint the Orange County courthouse

Workmen began repairing the exterior of the Orange County courthouse for the county commissioners on April 11, 1877, after the court yard had been fenced and gated. Painters had finished the building by late May and gave the portico columns their last coat by late June, while the grand jury and the Recorder urged the commissioners to remodel the crowded courtroom next. By September the town had added a graveled walk around the yard, fenced since December 1876, and forbade hitching horses to the fence, since the yard was now an enclosed public square rather than a common.

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

Orange Superior Court quashes the libel indictment brought for Josiah Turner against the Raleigh News

At the spring term of Orange Superior Court under Judge Cox, the indictment against Walter Clark, John D. Cameron and the other owners and editors of the Raleigh Daily News for an alleged libel on Josiah Turner Jr. was quashed on motion of their counsel, John W. Graham and Thomas Ruffin Jr.

People: Josiah Turner Jr. · Walter Clark · John W. Graham

Hillsborough elects C. S. Cooley mayor and a new board of commissioners

Hillsborough's annual town election made C. S. Cooley mayor and chose David Anderson, A. W. Graham, Robert Faucett, Israel Turner, D. C. Parks and two others as commissioners. Party was not raised; all but one of those elected were Democrats, and an opposition candidate for mayor ran behind Cooley.

People: David C. Parks

Hillsborough voters refuse to sell the town's old academy and lot

At the town election Hillsborough voters turned down a proposal to sell the town-owned academy building and its lot, by a majority of three votes. The Recorder predicted the building would stand as an eyesore until it fell into ruin.

Subject: Hillsborough Academy

Fire destroys R. T. Faucett & Co.'s tobacco factory and Col. Parrish's carriage factory at Durham

A fire at Durham about five o'clock in the afternoon destroyed the tobacco factory of R. T. Faucett & Co., the carriage factory of Col. Parrish and five or six small buildings. It was thought to have started from the engine and caught the factory roof; most of the plug and smoking tobacco was saved, the machinery was lost, and the factory carried about $4,500 insurance.

A new plug tobacco factory gives Hillsborough four, beside H. P. Jones's smoking factory

A Mr. Brown opened a new factory in Hillsborough for making plug tobacco, bringing the town to four plug factories besides H. P. Jones's large smoking-tobacco factory. The town's tobacco warehouse stood empty, and the factories bought leaf mostly from Durham or privately.

Caldwell Institute holds its closing exercises, with an address by Braxton Craven

Caldwell Institute closed its session before a crowd of at least 800 people from Orange, Person, Caswell and Granville counties. Braxton Craven, president of Trinity College, spoke for about an hour on 'sowing wild oats' and on the need for education. Students gave declamations in the afternoon and a program of young ladies' compositions and music at night.

Subject: Caldwell Institute

Daniel G. Fowle addresses the university's literary societies on North Carolina during and since the war

Judge Daniel G. Fowle gave the commencement address to the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies in Gerrard Hall, titled 'North Carolina during and since the war', urging the students to defend liberty under law against the departures from it the state had seen in those years. The Historical Society met afterward under John Kerr and named a committee on resolutions honoring its late president, William Hooper.

Subject: Gerrard Hall · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Hillsborough's town commissioners take up moving the railroad into town

At their meeting on Wednesday, June 27, the Hillsborough town commissioners took up a proposal to change the North Carolina Railroad's route so that it would run into and through the town instead of passing it a mile off. By mid-August a committee they had appointed called a meeting of citizens to consider the plan.

Subject: North Carolina Railroad

Black residents keep the Fourth of July at Hillsborough with a gathering and a ball

Black residents observed the Fourth of July with a daytime gathering and a ball at night. The Recorder noted that good order marked the holiday.

The Methodist Hillsboro District Conference meets at Durham and forms a missionary society

The Methodist Hillsboro District Conference met in the Methodist church at Durham from July 25 to 28. It organized the Hillsboro District Conference Missionary Society, elected delegates to the Annual Conference, thanked the Presbyterians for the use of their churches, and chose Concord for its next meeting.

Governor Vance closes the first summer normal school at Chapel Hill

The university's first summer normal school ended with a week of closing events: lectures by George W. Graham and Paul C. Cameron, a concert in the college chapel, and closing exercises on Thursday, August 9, at which Governor Zebulon Vance gave the final address. The session had drawn 235 teachers from 44 counties.

People: Kemp Plummer Battle · Paul C. Cameron

Diphtheria spreads through the Flat River country

Diphtheria in an aggravated form spread through the Flat River country and neighboring Knap of Reeds in Granville County in August, and on Friday, August 24, five children between three and seven years old were buried. Families throughout the section were reported in alarm. By mid-September it had spread around University Station, where six or eight children were reported to have died in a short time.

Subject: University Station

Nancy Blackwell and her two children are murdered and their house burned near Durham

Before dawn on Sunday, August 26, a neighbor found the house of Nancy Blackwell, a Black woman, burning on the Hillsborough road about two miles west of Durham, with her body and those of her two small children inside. The coroner's jury found that she had been killed in the yard and the house set on fire; suspicion fell on a man who had lived with her, but a month later no arrest had been made, and the Recorder called it the worst crime in the county's history.

A Black camp meeting near Dimmock's Mill draws thousands

A Black camp meeting near Dimmock's Mill, two miles west of Hillsborough, closed on Tuesday, August 28, after drawing at least five thousand people. Extra trains brought crowds from both directions, with eighteen hundred tickets sold in Raleigh alone, and the paper singled out the preaching of a Black woman for her fluency and command of Scripture.

The Orange Guards make their first public parade in uniform

The Orange Guards, a Hillsborough volunteer company of state troops about fifty strong, received Springfield breech-loading rifles in mid-August 1877 and made their first public parade through the town on October 30, once uniforms were finished for about twenty-eight men. The company drilled again on November 15 before a crowd and still lacked a flag and musical instruments.

The county commissioners cut Orange County's tax rate

Meeting from August 6 to 25 to revise the tax lists, the county commissioners under chairman Jones Watson lowered the county tax below its former 42 cents, making the combined state and county rate 68 cents. The Recorder credited Watson with freeing the county from debt.

People: Jones Watson

Federal revenue officers raid illicit stills across Orange County

Revenue officers under General Gorman, with officers Larned and Moore, raided through the county in search of illicit stills, breaking up several distilling places but capturing only one still. On Friday, September 7, they also seized tobacco at the Hillsborough depot and at the store of George Laws Jr. as not properly stamped.

Professor Simonds begins teaching natural history at the university

The university opened its fall session with 123 students present on Saturday, September 8, and a new professor, Simonds, teaching geology, botany, zoology, physiology and entomology. He began collecting specimens for the university museum, which had just received a live alligator.

The register's abstract of the 1877 tax list counts 335,789 acres in Orange County

Register John Laws published an abstract of Orange County's 1877 tax list, counting 335,789 acres of land valued at $1,101,003 along with town lots, livestock and personal property, and a county and school tax of $12,402.04.

A street meeting at the Hillsborough court house calls for primary elections

On October 16, 1877, during Superior Court week, Josiah Turner Jr. held a public meeting in the street before the court house in Hillsborough that adopted his resolutions for choosing Democratic candidates by ballot: congressional nominees in primary meetings and a popular vote on the party's choice for United States senator. The Recorder denied that the meeting spoke for Orange's people, and Turner answered that hundreds took part, with R. Harris as chairman and W. Mangum as secretary.

People: Josiah Turner Jr.

Pogue's tobacco warehouse opens for sales in Hillsborough

Pogue's tobacco warehouse in Hillsborough held its opening sale on November 1, 1877, selling about 5,000 pounds of mostly poor new leaf while some planters took their tobacco back rather than accept the bids. The proprietors set sales four days a week and advised planters not to rush their tobacco to market before January, when better prices were expected.

The Baptist State Convention meets in Durham

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina assembled in Durham (now Durham County) on November 7, 1877. The Durham Tobacco Plant published a daily edition during the session and afterward a full report of the proceedings.

Durham Baptists raise a large brick church

A large brick Baptist church was going up in the center of Durham (now Durham County) in the fall of 1877, one of the few buildings then under way downtown while new houses spread through the suburbs. It was finished by December 1878, with a steeple about 140 feet high.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

Durham counts four tobacco sale warehouses and about fourteen factories

Durham (now Durham County) had four large tobacco sale warehouses holding sales four times a week and about fourteen factories by early November 1877, along with a smut-machine factory, sash and blind factories, steam sawmills, cotton gins and a factory making smoking-tobacco bags. Its railroad warehouse forwarded more freight than any station on the line that was not a transfer point.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

The year's heaviest freshet floods the Eno, Flat and Little rivers

The heaviest freshet of 1877 struck late in the week before November 28, after heavy rains. Water ran over the Hillsborough town bridge, which held, a small mill dam was damaged, the bottoms where the Eno, Flat and Little rivers meet lay under water like an inland sea, and mill dams on Flat River were reported gone. At their December meeting the county commissioners ordered new bridges built at Mangum's Mill in Mangum Township and over Flat River.

Hillsborough counts four plug tobacco factories and one smoking tobacco factory

Hillsborough had four plug tobacco factories and one smoking tobacco factory, led by J. Y. Whitted & Co., the oldest, and E. H. Pogue, the first to make tobacco in the town. Pogue had leased Webb's Warehouse and reopened it for the season, and the town's factories used nearly half a million pounds of leaf a year.

People: E. H. Pogue

Students revive the University Magazine

University students resumed publication of the University Magazine; its first number carried a portrait of William A. Graham and his sketch of Gen. Nathanael Greene, printed for the first time.

Orange Democrats nominate A. W. Graham for the Senate and Angier and Hutchins for the House

The county Democratic convention at the court house chose Augustus W. Graham for the state Senate on the second ballot and M. A. Angier of Durham and John R. Hutchins of Chapel Hill for the House over Josiah Turner, and named John Laws for register of deeds and David C. Parks for treasurer by acclamation.

People: David C. Parks

Orange magistrates rename two precincts and keep the county treasurer's office

Meeting at the court house, the county's magistrates named registrars for every precinct, set up a voting place in the new Lebanon Township, renamed Hall's Store precinct Caldwell and Douglass's precinct in Little River Township Jackson's, voted to keep the office of county treasurer, turned down an inferior court for Orange, and elected C. W. Johnson their chairman over M. A. Angier.

Democrats meet at Durham and nominate Frederick N. Strudwick for solicitor

The Democratic convention of the Fifth Judicial District met in Matthews Hall at Durham and nominated Frederick N. Strudwick of Hillsborough for solicitor after the other counties moved their votes from W. H. Jenkins of Granville.

People: Frederick N. Strudwick

Pennsylvania families settle near Hillsborough

Several Pennsylvania families arrived to settle in the Hillsborough area, with more expected, after buyers from Pennsylvania had looked over Orange lands that winter.

Work begins on a brick Methodist church at Durham

Work began on a new Methodist church at Durham, planned as a large Gothic brick building with a steeple 200 feet high; it was still going up in December.

Part of Durham’s rise while part of Orange, 1850s–1881 · 40 events

Orange sends Josiah Turner to the House and votes down A. W. Graham

In the state election Orange chose Josiah Turner, running independently against the Democratic ticket, and the Democrat M. A. Angier for the House, Turner leading Angier by more than 500 votes; the county voted against A. W. Graham for the Senate and John R. Hutchins for the House, the district's Senate seats went to Giles Mebane and George Williamson, and the Democratic county ticket was elected as nominated.

People: Josiah Turner Jr. · Giles Mebane

Orange magistrates elect a new board of county commissioners

The county's magistrates elected five county commissioners, keeping three including chairman Jones Watson and replacing W. T. Patterson and N. P. Hall with Joseph W. Latta and N. D. Bain; the new board was sworn in on December 2 and re-elected Watson chairman.

People: Jones Watson

Commissioners set the county tax at 26 cents, the lowest since the war

Meeting through most of August, the county commissioners fixed the county tax at 26 cents on the hundred dollars, the lowest rate since the war, and reported that Orange had paid off its county debt and owed nothing.

People: Jones Watson

Hillsborough raises money for yellow fever sufferers

A town meeting named a committee that collected money on the streets for yellow fever sufferers in the Mississippi Valley; St. Matthew's and the Presbyterian church took up collections, and Mayor H. K. Nash forwarded the town's gifts to the Howard Association of Memphis.

A Black Good Samaritans lodge parades at Hillsborough

Members of a lodge of the Independent Order of Good Samaritans, a Black benevolent society, marched from their hall through the principal streets behind the Silver Cornet Band of Raleigh and heard an address by a member that night.

Mrs. Swain gives her husband's papers to the Historical Society at the university

The widow of former university president David L. Swain turned over the documents in her husband's charge to the State Historical Society, and President Kemp Battle gave the collection a room at the university.

People: Kemp Plummer Battle

Tobacco manufacturing in Orange narrows to Hillsborough and Durham

Federal revenue laws had closed Orange's country tobacco factories, leaving manufacturing only in Hillsborough and Durham, where twenty or more factories worked, enough by the paper's count to make Orange fifth in the state.

Robert Boswell is convicted of the Blackwell murders and sentenced to hang

At the fall term of Superior Court a jury convicted Robert Boswell of murdering Nancy Blackwell, a widow living near the railroad a mile west of Durham whose house burned with her and two children inside in August 1877; he was sentenced to hang on November 22, but the governor reprieved him until February 1879 so he could testify in other cases. The case of Rebecca Lyon, charged as an accomplice, was continued.

People: James Augustus Graham

W. T. Blackwell and Julian S. Carr buy out a partner in W. T. Blackwell & Co.

William T. Blackwell and Julian S. Carr bought the interest of their third partner in the Durham smoking tobacco firm of W. T. Blackwell & Co., which went on under the same name.

The AME Church's annual conference meets at Hillsborough

An annual conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church met at Hillsborough for about a week under Bishop John M. Brown, with fifty-five ministers attending; services were held in the town's Black church, the Presbyterian and Methodist churches were lent for Sunday, and Bishop Brown preached to a white congregation in the Methodist church.

New county commissioners order an Eno bridge and call the justices to plan a new jail

At its first meeting the new board of commissioners ordered a bridge of oak timber on stone pillars built over the Eno at a mill crossing for no more than $475, ordered a room prepared for lunatics then held in the county jail, and called the justices of the peace to meet with it in January 1879 to consider building a new jail.

People: Jones Watson

Subject: Orange County jail, Hillsborough

A granite monument to William A. Graham is raised in the Presbyterian cemetery

A granite monument about twenty-one feet high was set up over William A. Graham's grave in the Presbyterian cemetery at Hillsborough, under the direction of John King of Raleigh assisted by Capt. Henry Richards of Hillsborough, carrying an inscription that lists Graham's offices.

The legislature names Orange County's justices of the peace by township

The General Assembly elected justices of the peace for each Orange township from its committee's list, reappointing most sitting magistrates except in the new Lebanon Township; the correspondent wrote that the committee had resolved to name no Black magistrates.