Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. June 2, 1861
   Publication, speech or performance · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Baptists hold a prayer meeting called by Jefferson Davis

   The Baptist church gathered for prayer in response to a proclamation by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a few weeks after North Carolina left the Union.

3. June 1, 1862
   Property or economic transaction · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Baptists give their church bell to the Orange Light Artillery

   Meeting in conference, the Baptist church voted to hand its bell to the Orange Light Artillery so it could be melted down for Confederate cannon. After the war the church bought a replacement, sold it as unsatisfactory, and bought the bell that still hung in the belfry in 1953.

4. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

5. opened October 28, 1868
   Publication, speech or performance · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough, Hillsborough The Baptist State Convention meets with the Hillsborough church

   The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina held its session with the Hillsborough Baptist church, and townspeople of every denomination boarded the delegates. Thomas Ruffin asked in particular to host the evangelist Elias Dodson.

6. May 22, 1869
   Law, policy or court · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough Arbitrators settle the builder's claim against the Hillsborough Baptist church

   The contractor sought $1,400 plus interest from 1862 for the last payment on the church's brickwork, which the congregation said departed from the contract. Arbitrators awarded him $1,107, leaving a debt the war-weakened church had to raise money to pay.

7. March 1870
   Property or economic transaction · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough Susan Washington Graham reports the Baptist church's building debt paid

   Susan Washington Graham, wife of former governor William A. Graham, told the church that the last of the debt on its building was settled. Much of the money came through her appeals by letter to friends after the church's building savings were lost in the war.

8. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

9. April 23, 1939
   Naming or commemoration · First Baptist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Baptists resolve to build a baptismal pool in honor of Charles E. Maddry

   After a week of preaching by Charles E. Maddry, then executive secretary of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, the deacons and trustees voted to build a baptismal pool named for him and to mark it with a plaque.

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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 4, 2026.