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Orange County Observer (Hillsborough): A Democratic weekly published in Hillsborough from 1880. It provides detailed local reporting, with partisan coverage of elections and race. Read issue by issue for this index, 1880–1909.Open the sourceAll sources
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Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
- 1880s
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C. M. Parks handles the first cotton bought and sold in Hillsborough
Merchant C. M. Parks bought and sold the first two bales of cotton ever traded in Hillsborough.
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The Orange County Observer begins publication at Hillsborough
Joseph A. Harris started the Orange County Observer at Hillsborough in October 1880 as its publisher and one of its editors, numbering it a new series of a paper established in 1878. The paper ran until about 1917.
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Orange Republicans endorse Henry N. Brown for the state House at court-house meetings
A crowded Republican meeting at the Hillsborough court house endorsed Henry N. Brown for the state House after the party's county nominating committee had declined to name candidates and advised Republicans to vote for independent Democrats. A second meeting on Monday night, October 18, argued the endorsement over again, with Green Webb and Haywood Beverly speaking for Brown and Anderson Hill against.
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Zebulon Vance opens the Orange County Democratic canvass at Durham
Senator Zebulon B. Vance gave the main speech when the Orange County Democratic canvass opened at Durham, then still part of Orange County. A procession led by the Durham band formed at the Grand Central Hotel and carried Vance, seated beside Paul C. Cameron, through the principal streets before Julian S. Carr took charge of him.
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Hillsborough bars burials in the old Presbyterian cemetery without a permit
The Hillsborough town commissioners passed an ordinance that no burials be made in the old Presbyterian cemetery without a special permit from the board, with a five-dollar fine for digging a grave there.
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Independents put up W. W. Allison, Josiah Turner and John Berry against the Democratic ticket
An independent ticket was put up in Orange County for the November election, with W. W. Allison of Cedar Grove for the state Senate and Josiah Turner of Hillsborough and John Berry of Little River for the House, plus a candidate for treasurer. Republicans had been advised to back independent Democrats rather than name their own men.
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W. L. Wright comes to Hillsborough as pastor of the Baptist church
The Hillsborough Baptist church called a new pastor, who arrived in late October 1880 to take charge of the pulpit. The Observer names him as the Rev. W. L. Wright, formerly of Montgomery County.
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William Payne, an aged Black Methodist preacher, dies at Hillsborough
William Payne, an aged Black Methodist preacher of Hillsborough and formerly the body servant of a judge, died suddenly at his home. The coroner, Dr. T. J. Wilson, and Drs. Strudwick and Cameron found that he died of natural causes, and the paper wrote that he left a good name.
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An epizootic sickens horses across the county
An outbreak of the epizootic, the contagious horse distemper, spread among horses throughout Orange County in November 1880, drawing general complaint from owners.
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Football becomes the rage among university students
Football was the leading game among university students at Chapel Hill in the fall of 1880. The college correspondent called it fine exercise and safer than shinny, the other popular game.
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Professor Dabney arrives at Chapel Hill to direct the state experiment station
Professor Charles W. Dabney arrived at Chapel Hill as director of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment and Fertilizer Control Station, then housed at the university.
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Work on the University Railroad stops for a time
Construction work on the State University Railroad near Chapel Hill came to a halt in mid-November 1880, for reasons the townspeople did not know.
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Newly elected county commissioners take office and re-elect Jones Watson chairman
The county commissioners elected in November, Jones Watson, John F. Lyon, N. D. Bain, J. W. Latta and D. F. Morrow, were sworn in at the Hillsborough court house and re-elected Watson chairman. They accepted the bonds of the newly elected officers, Sheriff John K. Hughes, Treasurer R. C. Tilley, Surveyor B. H. Bell, Coroner Dr. T. J. Wilson and Register of Deeds John Laws, and settled in full with the former treasurer, D. C. Parks.
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Cross ties go down along the University Railroad
All but 5,000 of the cross ties for the State University Railroad had been delivered and placed on the track by mid-December 1880. The rest were under contract for January delivery, and the iron was to be laid as soon as they arrived.
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Fire sweeps the business district of Durham
Fire broke out early on a Saturday morning in Styron & Co.'s dry goods store from a defective stove flue and burned about twenty stores and other buildings in Durham, then part of Orange County, with losses put at about $75,000. The chemical engine and the townspeople saved the depot and the rest of the business district, the tobacco firms lost nothing, and the Durham Light Infantry guarded property under Mayor Link.
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Hillsborough's commissioners protest the bill to divide Orange County
At their regular meeting the Hillsborough town commissioners resolved against Caleb R. Green's bill to cut Durham County out of Orange, protesting that the question had never been put before the people, and named a committee of about a hundred citizens headed by the mayor to go to Raleigh and memorialize the legislature against it.
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The North Carolina Educational Journal begins publication at Chapel Hill
The first number of The North Carolina Educational Journal appeared, edited by the Rev. J. F. Heitman of Chapel Hill at a subscription of $1 a year.
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The county commissioners form Rice's school district
The Orange County commissioners formed a new public school district named Rice's District and appointed Robert Carden, John H. Hodge and Robert Rice its school committeemen.
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The county commissioners open election precincts at Bragtown, Red Mountain and Toler's
The Orange County commissioners established new election precincts at Bragtown in Durham Township, at Red Mountain in Mangum Township and at Toler's in Cedar Grove Township.
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Governor Jarvis appoints Thomas Ruffin Jr. of Hillsborough to the state Supreme Court
Governor Jarvis appointed Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in place of Justice Dillard, who had resigned, and Ruffin accepted.
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Hillsborough replaces its old town pump
The town replaced the public pump that had served Hillsborough for about thirty years; J. A. Warner of Winston set the new pump in place.
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Chapel Hill Methodist women hold a festival to raise money for a new church
The women of the Chapel Hill Methodist Church held a festival, selling oysters, ice cream and confections, to raise money to build a new church; it brought in about fifty-seven dollars.
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The General Assembly passes the bill to cut Durham County from Orange and Wake
After the Senate had first postponed the Durham County bill indefinitely and then reconsidered, the bill passed its final Senate reading, leaving the division of Orange to a vote of the people of the affected parts of Orange and Wake in April.
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Thomas M. Kirkland becomes Chapel Hill's postmaster and moves the post office
Thomas M. Kirkland was appointed postmaster at Chapel Hill, and after he took charge the post office moved into the old Long & Norwood store building on Franklin Street.
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Little River Township votes down the no-fence law
In a fence-law election called by the county commissioners, Little River Township voters favoring the old fence system outvoted the no-fence (stock law) side by a large majority, keeping the open range.
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A public school for white children opens in Hillsborough
A public school for white children opened in Hillsborough with Miss Maggie Reese as teacher and about thirty pupils.
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W. J. Hayes opens a photograph gallery in Hillsborough
W. J. Hayes opened a photograph gallery in a room over Mrs. Mattie Taylor's millinery store in Hillsborough.
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Hillsborough's Eno Rangers play Hughes' school boys at baseball
Nine members of the Eno Rangers of Hillsborough played a game of baseball against nine boys of Hughes' school in Hillsborough, a game of about two hours that the paper praised for its good order; Thomas D. Turner captained the Rangers.
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Locke Craig's Chapel Hill boys' school takes up military drill
Locke Craig began military training at his boys' school in Chapel Hill, ordering uniforms and guns for the pupils, who were drilled meanwhile by university students with military-school training.
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Commissioner J. W. Latta resigns from the Orange board after the county is divided
J. W. Latta sent in his resignation from the Orange County board of commissioners, which the paper had expected because the division of the county left his seat vacant, and the board accepted it.
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Henry K. Nash is elected mayor of Hillsborough without opposition
In a quiet town election Henry K. Nash was elected mayor of Hillsborough without opposition, along with a board of town commissioners.
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The commissioners license three Hillsborough saloons on condition they close if prohibition passes
The county commissioners licensed James A. Cheek, Isrel Turner and William J. Hayes to retail spirits in Hillsborough for twelve months from May 1, on the understanding that they would close in October, without claiming back taxes, if the statewide prohibition law passed in the August vote.
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The county commissioners order a new road opened past Union Mills
On the petition of W. G. Stanford and others, the Orange County commissioners ordered a new public road opened leading by the Union Mills.
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Dr. W. R. Hughes, Cedar Grove physician, dies after a buggy accident
Dr. W. R. Hughes, an Orange-born physician who had practiced since before the war, served as a Confederate surgeon, practiced and dealt in tobacco at Durham, and for five years lived at Cedar Grove, died there a few days after being thrown from his buggy. He was a ruling elder of Little River Presbyterian Church and was buried at Eno Church.
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Dr. Pride Jones is appointed clerk of Orange Superior Court after George Laws's death
Judge John A. Gilmer appointed Dr. Pride Jones of Hillsborough clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County to fill the place of the late George Laws, and the county commissioners accepted his bond on May 28.
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George Laws dies in office as Orange County's clerk of superior court
The Orange County Observer of May 14, 1881 reported the death of George Laws, who at the time was judge of probate and clerk of the superior court of Orange County after some fifty years in the county's service.
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Hillsborough lays off its new cemetery in lots
The Hillsborough town authorities had the new cemetery laid off into lots and otherwise improved, with the lots to be offered for sale.
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Young men of Hillsborough organize a brass band
Young white men of Hillsborough organized a brass band, pledged to buy their own instruments, and appealed to the town for subscriptions to hire a teacher.
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Orange reassigns the parts of Durham and Patterson townships left outside Durham County
Meeting together, the Orange magistrates and county commissioners attached the parts of Patterson and Durham townships not taken into Durham County to Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Little River townships, according to whether they lay east of Chapel Hill Township, south of the Eno or north of it.
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The county commissioners open election precincts at Patterson's Mill and University Station
The Orange County commissioners established new election precincts at Robert Patterson's mill in Chapel Hill Township and at University Station in Hillsborough Township, and named registrars and inspectors for the August prohibition election.
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A. S. Merrimon and Lisbon Berry speak for prohibition at the courthouse
Former U.S. senator A. S. Merrimon spoke for two hours in favor of prohibition to a good crowd at the Hillsborough courthouse. After him two Black speakers, Rev. L. H. Hackney of Chapel Hill and Lisbon Berry of Hillsborough, also spoke for prohibition.
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A prohibition debate at the courthouse ends in fines
A night-time joint debate at the Hillsborough courthouse between two prohibition speakers and one opponent broke down into a quarrel. The men responsible, all Black, were tried before the mayor two days later and fined $1 and costs each.
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Prohibition supporters organize a county committee at the Hillsborough courthouse
Friends of prohibition met at the courthouse in Hillsborough to organize the county for the August 1881 prohibition vote. They named Rev. N. H. Cobb president, Joseph A. Harris secretary and every minister in the county, white and Black, a vice president, appointed committees for Hillsborough, Cedar Grove, Bingham, Little River and Chapel Hill, asked the county's women to form prohibition societies, and set an annual meeting for July 4.
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Track laying on the State University Railroad stalls for want of labor
Work laying rails on the State University Railroad was held up by a shortage of hands during the wheat harvest; the paper expected it to be pushed to completion once harvest was over.
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Hillsborough closes its stores for President Garfield's funeral
The town commissioners met on September 24 and called on merchants and other businessmen to honor President Garfield on the day of his funeral. On Monday, September 26, every place of business in Hillsborough closed and the churches held services from 2 to 4 p.m., St. Matthew's among them. Citizens had also met at the courthouse on a Thursday night and adopted resolutions of mourning.
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The State University Railroad reaches New Hope Creek
Track on the State University Railroad was completed to New Hope, with cars due to cross the New Hope bridge that week. The sills, roadbed repairs, culverts, cattle guards and trestles were finished to within two and a half miles of Chapel Hill, and more than fifty hands were at work.
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Treasurer R. C. Tilley resigns and Sheriff John K. Hughes is named county treasurer
The county commissioners settled accounts with Treasurer R. C. Tilley, who resigned his office effective December 6, 1881, and appointed Sheriff John K. Hughes to fill the vacancy.
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Eight prisoners break out of the Orange County jail at Hillsborough
Prisoners seized the jailer as he climbed to the iron cages on a Wednesday night, threw a blanket over his head, took his keys and freed eight men, all Durham County prisoners held at Hillsborough for safekeeping. Sheriff John K. Hughes offered rewards, two of the men were soon retaken, and Justice O. Hooker bound over Sam Faulkner, a white man accused of slipping the prisoners an iron pin, under a $100 bond.
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A. W. Graham, H. P. Jones and New York investors buy control of the Patterson gold mine
A. W. Graham, H. P. Jones, a Judge Pratt of New York and others bought a controlling interest in the Patterson gold mine, about twelve miles from Hillsborough. The same men also bought into mineral lands in Granville County.
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Hillsborough's town board adopts rules for the town cemeteries
The town commissioners adopted rules for Hillsborough's cemeteries. They created a superintendent, elected each June under a $100 bond, and a three-member Committee on Cemeteries; required a report of every burial with the person's name, age, sex and color; kept lot money in a separate fund for the grounds; and gave families until February 15, 1882 to pay for lots already used in the new cemetery or have the bodies moved.
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The county apportions the school fund at $1.10 a child, the most ever allowed
At their February meeting the Orange County commissioners apportioned one dollar and ten cents for each child of school age, which the Observer called the largest amount ever allowed in the county.
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Major H. P. Jones receives Hillsborough's first cablegram, a Liverpool order for Tar Heel tobacco
Major H. P. Jones received the first cablegram ever sent to Hillsborough, an order from Liverpool for 1,000 pounds of the Tar Heel smoking tobacco made at his factory. By April a second Liverpool order had come for 2,000 pounds, along with a standing order for 1,000 pounds a month.
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Hillsborough's Black baseball club, the Occoneechee Light Foots, beats a Durham club
The Occoneechee Light Foot Base Ball Club, made up of young Black men of Hillsborough, played a match game against a Black club in Durham and won.
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Hillsborough Republicans recommend Albert Haughawout, a Black man, for the state House
At the campaign's first political meeting, held at the court house, Hillsborough precinct Republicans chose Isaac R. Strayhorn chairman, named London A. Whitted, Strayhorn and Samuel Ellerson delegates to the county convention, and on Henry N. Brown's motion recommended Albert Haughawout, a Black man, as their candidate for the lower house of the legislature.
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A storm blows down the old Quaker church north of Hillsborough
A severe storm of hail, rain, thunder and lightning passed over Hillsborough and blew down the old Quaker church about three miles north of town, which the Observer thought had stood for more than a hundred years.
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Mary Berry is appointed postmistress at Hillsborough
Mrs. Mary Berry, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Strayhorn, who had both kept the office before her, received the appointment as Hillsborough's postmistress, with J. N. Craig as her assistant.
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The AME Sunday school convention of the Raleigh District meets in Hillsborough
The Sabbath School Convention of the Raleigh District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church met in Hillsborough for three days, and its exercises and addresses were warmly praised in town.
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Bingham School finishes new buildings after the spring fire
Less than three months after the fire, the rebuilt Bingham School stood nearly complete, with timber cut and sawed nearby. Thomas C. Oakley of Durham was the builder.
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Chapel Hill's mail moves to the University Railroad and its telegraph office opens
Mail began running regularly to and from Chapel Hill on the State University Railroad, which the item credited to Congressman W. R. Cox, and a telegraph office opened at Chapel Hill on two wires that made the town part of the main line.
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Samuel W. Hughes's school at Cedar Grove closes for his illness
The school Samuel W. Hughes had kept at Cedar Grove for more than forty years closed because of its principal's poor health. Hughes resigned as county superintendent of public instruction later that summer for the same reason.
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The justices and school board elect J. L. Currie county superintendent of public instruction
Meeting at the court house, the county's justices of the peace and board of education elected the Rev. James L. Currie, Presbyterian pastor at Chapel Hill, county superintendent of public instruction for two years from the first Monday in December. Currie accepted on August 9, calling the choice unexpected.
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Anderson Hill announces for the House as an Independent Prohibition candidate
Anderson Hill, a Black man, announced himself an Independent Prohibition candidate for the House of Representatives from Orange and Durham counties.
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Whooping cough spreads from Hillsborough through the county
Whooping cough, present in Hillsborough for some time, was reported spreading over the county.
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Orange Republicans endorse the Liberal coalition ticket
The Republican county convention at the court house approved the state party's endorsement of the Liberal ticket, recommended Isaac R. Strayhorn for the state Senate, endorsed James A. Cheek, a Liberal, for the House, Sheriff John K. Hughes for re-election and Ed. Rosemond for treasurer, and resolved to back only legislative candidates pledged to abolish the county government system and have magistrates, commissioners and school committeemen elected by the people.
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Caldwell Democrats organize a Bennett and Cox Club
Citizens around Caldwell organized a Bennett and Cox Club, electing L. W. Hall president and H. Y. Harris secretary, heard James A. Graham and C. E. Parrish speak, and agreed to meet every Wednesday night through the campaign.
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Orange Democrats nominate H. H. McKee for sheriff
A Democratic mass meeting at the court house, with Col. W. H. Jordan presiding, nominated H. H. McKee of Little River Township for sheriff by acclamation, filling the one blank on the party's county ticket two weeks before the election.
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Zebulon Vance speaks for three hours in the Hillsborough court house
Senator Zebulon B. Vance spoke for nearly three hours to a crowd that filled the court house despite bad weather, attacking the Liberal coalition and the Republicans.
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Orange and Durham send Democrat R. C. Strudwick and Liberal J. A. Cheek to the House
Orange and Durham counties split their two House seats: Democrat Robert C. Strudwick led with 2,128 votes, and James A. Cheek of Hillsborough, an anti-prohibition Liberal, beat Democrat Matthew Atwater by seven votes, 2,126 to 2,119. The sheriffs of the two counties compared the returns at Sheriff John K. Hughes's office on November 14.
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Republican Isaac R. Strayhorn and Democrat C. N. B. Evans win the district's Senate seats
In the 20th Senatorial District of Caswell, Person, Orange and Durham, Republican Isaac R. Strayhorn of Hillsborough led with 4,753 votes, and Democrat C. N. B. Evans took the second seat by seven votes over Democrat Duncan Cameron, 4,590 to 4,583. Orange gave Evans 1,112, Cameron 1,099, Strayhorn 1,089 and Republican N. T. Riggs 1,010.
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Fire destroys the late W. C. Minor's store in southwestern Orange
Fire of unknown cause destroyed the store house of the late W. C. Minor in the southwestern part of the county, with several hundred bushels of wheat and about $700 in goods.
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Bingham School reports its largest entering class
Bingham School's 1882 catalogue reported 258 students for the year and 96 new students in the session just ended, the most in the school's history, despite the May fire. The rebuilt buildings were gas-lit and had a large gymnasium, and hot and cold baths were promised by February 1.
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Hillsborough Baptists let the contract for a parsonage
The Baptist church at Hillsborough let the contract for a parsonage on its church lot, between John Cheek's house and the church, to A. J. Kivett of Durham, with work to begin at once.
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Henrietta M. Heartt, Dennis Heartt's daughter, dies in Hillsborough
Henrietta M. Heartt, second daughter of the late Hillsborough Recorder editor Dennis Heartt, died on the night of March 8. Her funeral was held at the Presbyterian church two days later, with the Rev. Mr. Williamson officiating.
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J. B. G. Roulhac, who kept a large Hillsborough store, dies at 34
J. B. G. Roulhac of Hillsborough died of pneumonia at Duncan Cameron's house in Durham County on March 11, about a month after leaving town in good health. His body was brought back on March 13 and his funeral was read at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church by the rector, J. W. Murphy, with John Huske assisting.
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A day-long snowstorm leaves a foot and more of snow on Hillsborough
Snow began falling on Hillsborough on Sunday afternoon, March 25, and kept on until the same hour Monday, leaving 12 to 18 inches on the ground. Many trees broke, the rear of Cooley's shop fell in, Corbin's ice house gave way and a brick-yard shed was wrecked.
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Dentist C. A. Rominger opens an office in Hillsborough's Berry building
Dr. C. A. Rominger, a dentist, arrived in Hillsborough and took the room in the Berry building formerly used by Dr. D. A. Robertson, saying he would make the town his home.
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A post office called Blackwood opens at Robson station on the University Railroad
A post office named Blackwood was established at Robson station on the University Railroad, halfway between University Station and Chapel Hill, with Morris King as postmaster.
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Chapel Hill elects John Manning and Professor Graves to its town board
Chapel Hill's town election chose John Manning, Professor Graves, John Ward and J. M. Cheek Jr. among its commissioners.
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Hillsborough elects George O. Corbin mayor
Hillsborough's town election passed quietly, choosing George O. Corbin as mayor and Wm. N. Anderson, James A. Cheek, James H. Hedgpeth, J. W. Hooker, John Rosemond, J. Y. Whitted and Isaac R. Strayhorn as commissioners. Many voters still wrote in the retiring mayor, Henry K. Nash, who was not a candidate.
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Charles White, merchant and postmaster at Bingham School, dies
Charles White, who kept the store and post office at Bingham School near Mebane, died on Thursday, May 24, 1883. The Observer called him successful in business; his widow, Mary E. White, qualified as executrix of his will.
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Court-appointed commissioners award damages to landowners along the University Railroad
Commissioners named by the Superior Court, C. W. Johnston, Wm. Barton and R. P. Hall, met and assessed what the State University Railroad owed for running through private land, allowing Holloway $100, Robert Strayhorn $75, Richard Fitzgerald $25 and Sarah Fitzgerald $70; the Fitzgeralds were Black landowners.
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The Methodist district conference meets at Cedar Grove, and Bishop Keener preaches in Orange
The Hillsboro District Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under presiding elder N. H. D. Wilson, met at Cedar Grove from June 28 and adjourned to meet next year at Chapel Hill. Bishop Keener, said to be the first Methodist bishop ever to preach in Orange County, preached at Cedar Grove and in the Hillsborough Methodist church, and more than 1,500 people gathered in the grove on Sunday, July 1.
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Fire destroys M. A. McCauley's mill on Morgan Creek west of Chapel Hill
Fire destroyed M. A. McCauley's mill on Morgan Creek, west of Chapel Hill, on June 29, 1883, together with the wheat and corn stored in it. The mill carried no insurance.
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The University Summer Normal School draws more than 300 teachers from 64 counties
The 1883 session of the State University Normal School at Chapel Hill enrolled well over 300 students from 64 counties. The Observer judged it the best session yet, for the quality of its students more than their number.
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Work begins on the Gray school and church for Black residents at Brownsville
With a gift from a Mrs. Gray of California, the American Missionary Association, represented by the Rev. Alfred Connet of McLeansville, began a church and school building for Black residents at Brownsville, about a mile west of Hillsborough, at the northeast corner of Haywood Beverly's tan-yard on Lattimore Street, and $400 of the roughly $600 needed was raised by August 28. A committee of Annie Richardson, Frank Harris and Walker Whitted collected the rest, and by December the building was nearly finished, with a dedication planned for January 6, 1884.
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Drought cuts crops around Chapel Hill to half a crop
A summer drought cut off the crops in the Chapel Hill section so badly that no more than half a crop was expected.
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Orange County's white teachers meet at Hillsborough to form a teachers' association
A meeting at the court house in Hillsborough took up the forming of a teachers' association for the white teachers of Orange County. Only about four teachers came, since little notice had been given, but they favored an association, read and discussed a constitution and agreed to meet again in Hillsborough; County Superintendent J. L. Currie invited the county board of education and the school committeemen to the next meeting.
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The Hillsboro Telephone Company puts up a line from the depot to Hooker's drug store
The Hillsboro Telephone Company, made up of A. W. Graham and a partner named Hooker, had a telephone line put up from the railroad depot to Hooker's drug store under the direction of T. C. Ellis. It was expected to be working by September 1 and then to serve the public at small charges.
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A new storehouse on Churton Street opens with Hayes's drug store and the Observer office
A new two-story storehouse on Churton Street, north of Jones's store, was made ready for use at the start of September 1883. W. A. Hayes moved his drug store into the ground floor, and the Orange County Observer moved its office and press to the second story, where it stayed for the rest of the year.
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Diphtheria kills about twenty-two people in western Orange County
A diphtheria outbreak in the Gravelly Hill section west of Hillsborough killed about twenty-two people in a few weeks, sixteen of them buried at Chestnut Ridge church, four at Hebron and two at Hawfields. One father, Thomas Riley, lost four children, cases reached the county poor house, and by early October the disease was reported to be dying out.
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Joseph G. Cooley succeeds Sterling Ruffin as railroad agent at Hillsborough
Sterling Ruffin resigned as the North Carolina Railroad's agent at Hillsborough effective October 1, 1883, and Joseph G. Cooley, a former Hillsborough man, took his place. Cooley signed the depot's train schedule for the rest of the year.
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An Orange jury convicts Tony Borland of manslaughter after a confused verdict
Tony Borland, a Black man tried at Hillsborough on removal from Durham County for killing Ellen Couch in Durham, was at first declared not guilty by the jury foreman on Sunday morning, October 7, 1883, until a poll showed the jury had agreed on manslaughter. Judge James C. MacRae, who rebuked the jury from the bench, sentenced him on October 10 to twenty years in the penitentiary.
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Thomas Ruffin Jr. leaves the Supreme Court and rejoins John W. Graham in law practice
After resigning from the North Carolina Supreme Court in September 1883, citing ill health and overwork, Judge Thomas Ruffin Jr. of Hillsborough went back into practice with Major John W. Graham, reviving their old firm of Graham & Ruffin. By early October the firm was defending Tony Borland in Orange Superior Court, and by December it advertised practice in Alamance, Caswell, Durham, Guilford, Rockingham, Person and Orange.
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Orange Presbytery makes Eno, Little River, Stony Creek and Grier's one field under James L. Currie
Meeting at Tarboro, Orange Presbytery formed a new pastoral field of the Stony Creek, Grier's, Eno and Little River churches with the Rev. James L. Currie as pastor. Currie, who had resigned the Chapel Hill church that summer, was to live near Fairfield.
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The Rev. A. Currie opens a school at Caldwell Institute with 21 pupils
The Rev. A. Currie opened a school at Caldwell Institute, his post office address, beginning with 21 pupils.
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Lizzie Witherspoon Lipscomb, long a Nash and Kollock school teacher, is buried at Hillsborough
Lizzie C. Witherspoon Lipscomb, for more than fifteen years a pupil and teacher at the Misses Nash and Miss Kollock's school and later music teacher at the Methodist Female Seminary in Durham, died in Philadelphia on January 19. Her body was brought to Hillsborough, and after services at the Presbyterian church she was buried beside her father in its churchyard.
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University students mark Washington's Birthday with an oration and field-day contests
A large crowd filled the Philanthropic Society hall to hear J. A. Bryan's Washington's Birthday oration, introduced by J. L. Love, and in the afternoon students held jumping, running, walking, three-legged and ball-throwing contests at the base ball ground, ending with a chase for a greased pig won by Patterson's boarding house.
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The late Professor C. D. Grandy leaves his library to the Philanthropic Society
The will of Professor C. D. Grandy of the university left his library, described as valuable, to the Philanthropic Society.
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The Hillsborough firm of Strayhorn & Parish is dissolved
The partners in the Hillsborough firm of Strayhorn & Parish dissolved it by mutual consent, directing that all debts owed the firm be paid to John Berry.
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Fire destroys the Valley Mills near Chapel Hill
The Valley Mills near Chapel Hill, once owned by Emerson, McDade & Co. and later by Wray & Holt, burned in what the correspondent judged the work of an incendiary, who appeared to have broken in through the cellar door and carried off goods first. The loss was about $4,000, with no insurance.
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J. L. Tomlinson is elected superintendent of the summer normal school at Chapel Hill
Professor J. L. Tomlinson of the Winston graded school was elected superintendent of the Chapel Hill Normal School for its 1884 session.
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Orange County justices agree to raise $400 for a county exhibit at the State Exposition
After hearing State Exposition president W. S. Primrose and A. W. Graham at the court house, the magistrates agreed to raise $400 for an Orange County exhibit at the Raleigh exposition that fall and named a committee, Graham among them, to gather it with a helper from each township. A letter writer signing himself Old Fogy argued the levy was unconstitutional, and others answered that no tax had yet been laid.
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Orange County's Black teachers petition the commissioners for a summer teachers' institute
Meeting at Hillsborough in larger numbers than ever before, the county's Black teachers adopted a petition asking the county commissioners to spend the money the law allowed on a teachers' institute for them that summer. The white association met the same day, discussed school committees, textbooks and a four-month term, and made university president K. P. Battle an honorary member.
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Orange County Republicans name state convention delegates, Lisbon Berry among them
The Republican county convention at Hillsborough named Isaac R. Strayhorn, T. J. Dodson, Lisbon Berry, a Black man, and James A. Cheek delegates to the state convention, asked the President to reappoint Thomas Kirkland postmaster at Chapel Hill, and heard two Black leaders, Alfred Holmes and Lewis Jenkins, speak for a no-fence law.
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Chapel Hill's base ball club beats Durham 15 to 12
In a match game played at Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill club beat the Durham club 15 to 12; the Observer's editor watched and reported perfect harmony on both sides.
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Hillsborough re-elects Mayor George C. Corbin and a seven-man town board
At the town election George C. Corbin was returned as mayor without opposition, receiving all but four of the votes cast, and seven commissioners were chosen, among them Jos. G. Cooley, Thomas Hedgpeth and W. N. Anderson. The new board organized the next night and chose its town officers.
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Workmen pull down the old tavern known as Cornwallis's headquarters
Workmen began tearing down the old tavern in Hillsborough that local tradition called Cornwallis's Headquarters, the house the British general was said to have occupied in 1781. The paper mourned the loss of a Revolutionary landmark.
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W. F. Wilhelm is installed pastor of the Hillsborough and Chapel Hill Presbyterian churches
The Rev. W. F. Wilhelm, called from Virginia by the two churches jointly, was installed at the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church on May 18, a week after a like service at Chapel Hill. H. T. Darnall of Durham charged the pastor, A. Currie charged the people, and Dr. Charles Phillips spoke for the Chapel Hill church.
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James Webb Jr. and Brother buy the Churton Street storehouse C. M. Parks had left
James Webb Jr. & Bro. bought from Maj. John W. Graham for $4,400 the Churton Street storehouse lately occupied by C. M. Parks, planning to repair it and move their own store into it. The paper took the price as proof that Hillsborough property still held its value.
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Justices and commissioners set the 1884 county tax at 37 1/2 cents
In joint session the magistrates and county commissioners levied the county tax for the year at 37 1/2 cents on each $100 of valuation.
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Orange County magistrates enlarge the board of commissioners from three to five
Meeting at the court house, the justices of the peace voted to raise the number of county commissioners from three to five and elected N. P. Hall, D. F. Morrow, J. F. Lyon, W. H. Anderson and Merritt Cheek for two years from December 1. In joint session with the Board of Education they re-elected the Rev. James L. Currie county school superintendent by acclamation.
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A Hillsborough doctor has the picnic grounds and paths on Occoneechee Mountain put in order
A Dr. Wilson raised money to fix up the picnic grounds near the mountain spring and the paths to Sofa Rock and the Panther's Den, so the town could reach them easily. The Orange County Observer thanked him for the people of Hillsboro.
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Black teachers of Orange County hold a teachers' institute at the court house
Seventeen Black teachers attended daily sessions of a county institute for Black teachers at the Hillsborough court house, conducted by the county superintendent, Rev. J. L. Currie, with W. V. Andrews assisting.
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Chapel Hill Democrats organize a Cleveland and Scales Club
After a mass meeting of Chapel Hill township Democrats chose delegates to the county convention, those present organized a Cleveland and Scales Club and enrolled 91 members.
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A building of Mrs. Charles White's used by Bingham School cadets as a mess burns
Early on Tuesday morning, August 19, 1884, fire destroyed a building owned by Mrs. Charles White that some Bingham School cadets used as a messing club. Its insurance had lapsed and the loss was put at about $1,000.
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Orange County Democrats nominate their legislative and county ticket
The Democratic county convention at the Hillsborough court house recommended A. W. Graham for the state Senate and nominated C. W. Johnston for the House, D. F. Morrow for sheriff, D. M. Laws for treasurer and Dr. A. C. Jordan for coroner, and renominated John Laws for register of deeds and James O. Webb for surveyor. Thomas Ruffin sent word that his health would not let him accept any nomination.
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Samuel B. Turrentine takes charge of the preparatory school at Union Academy
Samuel B. Turrentine, who had graduated from the University with distinction that June, arrived to take charge of the preparatory school at Union Academy in western Orange in place of its principal, Mr. Powell, whose health had failed.
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Orange Presbytery holds its fall session at Hillsborough
Orange Presbytery opened its 229th semiannual session at the Hillsborough Presbyterian church with a sermon by the retiring moderator, Rev. J. L. Currie, elected Rev. S. H. Chester moderator, and adjourned the next Tuesday after naming Henderson for its next meeting.
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Candidates for governor Scales and York debate at Hillsborough
Alfred M. Scales and Tyre York, the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, held a joint discussion at Hillsborough; afterward Congressman W. R. Cox announced for re-election and Josiah Turner and John Moring announced themselves as candidates for Congress.
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A fall drought dries up water and ruins the turnip crop around Hillsborough
A long hot, dry spell in the fall of 1884 made water scarce at Hillsborough, kept farmers around Chapel Hill from sowing small grain and left the turnip crop almost a total failure until rain returned in late October and November.
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Orange County Republicans nominate Enoch Sykes for the House
A Republican mass meeting at Hillsborough nominated Enoch Sykes for the House and a county ticket, with Rosemond for treasurer, to run as the Liberal and independent Republican ticket, as the party's county convention of August 30 had planned.
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Judge Phillips refuses to stop Orange County's payment to the State Exposition
James Riley had sued to restrain the Orange County magistrates and commissioners from paying county money to the State Exposition at Raleigh; Judge Phillips heard his motion for a restraining order at the fall term and denied it.
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Robert Bingham addresses the Orange County Teachers' Association
Major Robert Bingham of Bingham School gave an educational address to the Orange County Teachers' Association at the Hillsborough court house before a good audience of men and women.
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Orange County sends an exhibit and a large party to the State Exposition
On Orange County's day at the State Exposition in Raleigh a large party from Hillsborough visited the county's exhibit, which a committee named by the magistrates had gathered from local woods, crops, minerals, tobacco, needlework and portraits of Orange judges, with Allan Cameron in charge of it at Raleigh.
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A. J. Brockwell completes a grist mill near Chapel Hill
A. J. Brockwell finished a mill he had rebuilt near Chapel Hill on the site of the old Hudson mill and began grinding his neighbors' corn.
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Chapel Hill builds a guard house in the middle of the street
A guard house for holding offenders was being put up in the middle of the street opposite the Hargrove lot in Chapel Hill, while a local correspondent pressed for an end to illegal liquor sales in the village.
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Francis P. Venable marries Sallie Manning at the Chapel of the Cross
Professor Francis Preston Venable married Sallie Carlton Manning, daughter of John Manning, at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill.
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Orange County votes for Cleveland and Scales and re-elects Sheriff Hughes over the Democratic nominee
In the general election Orange County gave Cleveland 1,668 votes to Blaine's 1,064 and Scales 1,670 to York's 1,051, elected the Democratic legislative ticket and D. M. Laws as treasurer, and returned Sheriff John K. Hughes with 1,709 votes over the Democratic nominee, D. F. Morrow, who had 1,008.
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Black teachers meet as the Colored Teachers' Association of Orange County
Black teachers held an informal meeting of the Colored Teachers' Association of Orange County at Hillsborough and called another meeting for November 22, at which every Black teacher in the county was expected.
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Hillsborough holds a torchlight jubilee for the Democratic victory
Democrats from Orange and five neighboring counties celebrated the election of Cleveland and Scales at Hillsborough with a cannon salute, a torchlight procession led by the Durham Cornet Band from the depot to the court house square, burning rosin barrels and fireworks, and speeches with Paul C. Cameron presiding.
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Hillsborough's commissioners order new street bridges and new street trees
The Hillsborough town commissioners ordered new bridges laid where the old street bridges had worn out and new trees set out on the streets in place of dead ones, and asked the town constable to look after the town clock.
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The Methodist conference renames the Hillsboro District the Durham District
The North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, meeting at Wilmington, changed the name of its Hillsboro District to the Durham District.
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Bingham School organizes a volunteer company to compete at New Orleans
A volunteer company was organized at Bingham School to go to the World's Exposition at New Orleans in December and compete for the $3,000 prize offered to the best company.
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Someone tries to wreck a North Carolina Railroad train near University Station
Rails, iron and other obstructions were placed in a cattle guard on the North Carolina Railroad about a mile from University Station, and a material train was nearly wrecked at night.
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The university drops its preparatory classes in Latin and Greek
At the start of the 1885-86 year the University of North Carolina discontinued its preparatory classes in Latin and Greek, although the change shut out many poorly prepared students. Its catalogue for the year also announced four-year courses in the main subjects, more laboratory and field work, and graduate instruction in every department.
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Dr. Thomas J. Wilson and Dr. D. C. Parris form a medical partnership in Hillsborough
Dr. Thomas J. Wilson took Dr. D. C. Parris, newly come from South Carolina, into partnership for the practice of medicine in Hillsborough and Orange County. Parris made Hillsborough his home.
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A runaway freight train runs into the eastbound passenger train at University Station
A special freight that had got out of control on the down grade ran into the rear of the eastbound passenger train while it stood at University Station about ten at night, badly damaging the rear coach.
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Court officer Samuel H. Breeze dies
Samuel H. Breeze, for many years an officer of the Orange County court who took charge of the grand jury at nearly every session, died suddenly at his home six miles from Hillsborough in his seventy-second year.
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Senator Graham and Representative Johnston report to the voters at the court house
Reviving an old county custom, Senator Augustus W. Graham and Representative Charles W. Johnston addressed a large crowd at the court house on the Tuesday of spring court, giving an account of their work in the legislature. The crowd approved of them except on the fence law, on which it was divided.
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The legislature gives Orange County the Mecklenburg road law
The General Assembly put Orange County under the Mecklenburg road law, which required every able-bodied man from 18 to 45 to work four days a year on the roads or pay in their place, and let the commissioners and magistrates levy a road tax of seven to twenty cents on the hundred dollars. Each township's magistrates became road trustees and laid off the roads in sections.
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The legislature sets three one-week court terms a year for Orange County
A new state law gave Orange County three one-week terms of Superior Court a year, in March, August and November, with the spring term then pending still allowed two weeks.
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Hillsborough elects editor Joseph A. Harris mayor
Hillsborough voters chose Joseph A. Harris, editor of the Orange County Observer, as mayor, with A. W. Graham, James Webb Jr., W. H. Newman, George C. Corbin, W. E. Steward, J. W. Hooker and D. M. Laws as commissioners. The outgoing mayor, Corbin, had declined to run again.
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The county commissioners create Grover school district No. 38
Granting a petition, the commissioners laid out a new school district, No. 38, called Grover, running from A. Toler's creek on the Roxboro road by Hawkins' mill, Willie Roberts' ford, George Parker's mill and down the Eno past Compton's mill, and named Charles Wilson, Joseph Wright and W. A. Jordan its committeemen.
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Professor George T. Winston lectures on Herculaneum and Pompeii at the Masonic Hall
At the invitation of the Misses Nash and Miss Kollock, University professor George T. Winston gave his lecture on Herculaneum and Pompeii, places he had visited the year before, at the Masonic Hall in Hillsborough. Seats were free and a large audience came.
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Dr. Thomas J. Wilson leaves Hillsborough for Asheville
Dr. Thomas J. Wilson, long a leading physician of Hillsborough, left to practice in Asheville after his family had gone ahead on April 30. Dr. D. C. Parris took over his practice and office at the Wilson residence.
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County justices and commissioners levy a ten-cent road tax
At their annual June meeting the county justices and the Board of Commissioners levied a tax of ten cents on each $100 of property to work the roads under the new public road law. Taxpayers could pay it in cash to the sheriff or work it off on the roads under the district supervisors.
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Thirty-five Orange County veterans and widows apply for the new state pensions
Under the pension act of 1885, ten disabled Confederate soldiers and twenty-five widows had filed applications with the clerk of Superior Court, Pride Jones, by mid-June.
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Taylor & Parish dissolve their Hillsborough store partnership
F. H. Taylor and H. L. Parish dissolved the firm of Taylor & Parish by mutual consent. Parish kept the business at the old stand in the Berry Building and settled the firm's accounts.
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Rev. Wilson Atwater dies at his Orange County home
The Rev. Wilson Atwater died at his home in Orange County at the age of 87 years and 8 months. The notice described him as a man of plain honesty and piety from a large and long-respected family.
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Hillsborough's commissioners set the town tax and ban wagon camps on Churton and King streets
The town commissioners levied a tax of 20 cents on each $100 of real and personal property and 60 cents on each poll. They passed an ordinance fining anyone $5 for camping wagons or feeding horses on Churton and King streets, and town constable Devereux Turner withdrew his resignation.
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John Wall Norwood, an elder of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church for half a century, dies
John W. Norwood died in the summer of 1885, and his executors had letters testamentary by August 3. On September 6 the church session adopted a tribute recalling his more than fifty years of service to the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church and his generosity to it.
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Thomas D. Tinnin takes over the Hillsborough post office and moves it near the court house
Thomas D. Tinnin, named postmaster at Hillsborough in August, received his commission on September 2, and by September 12 the office had moved to a building north of the court house, with T. A. Faucette as assistant postmaster.
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County commissioners levy a tax to fence in the stock-law townships
The county commissioners levied a tax of 20 cents on each $100 of real estate in Hillsborough, Cedar Grove, Little River and Bingham townships to build the fence the new stock law required, and named Merritt Cheek and D. F. Morrow a committee with full power to have it put up.
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Dr. Thomas H. Turner of Little River Township dies
Dr. Thomas H. Turner died at his home in Little River Township. His body was brought to Hillsborough for a funeral at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, and he was buried in the churchyard.
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State Superintendent S. M. Finger addresses the Orange County Teachers' Association
At the invitation of the county Teachers' Association, State Superintendent of Public Instruction S. M. Finger gave a public address on the public schools at the court house. The teachers and pupils of the Nash and Kollock school, Professor Henry of the University and Miss Alice Heartt, who kept a school in town, were in the audience.
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The Chestnut Ridge camp meeting draws its largest crowd
A week-long camp meeting at Chestnut Ridge drew what longtime attenders called the largest crowd they had seen there. Rev. Mr. McCulloch preached at 11 o'clock and the pastor, Rev. Richard Michaux, at 2.
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D. C. Parks builds a two-story house on North Churton Street
D. C. Parks was having a two-story dwelling put up on Churton Street in the northern part of Hillsborough.
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Black Methodists and Baptists baptize dozens of converts in the Eno at Hillsborough
After two or three weeks of revival services at the Black Methodist church, where 30 or 40 people professed conversion, twelve converts were immersed in the Eno on the afternoon of October 25 and four more were baptized at the church that night. On November 1 twenty-four Black converts, many of them joining the Baptist church, were baptized in the Eno at Hillsborough.
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J. W. Hooker's new omnibus makes its first trip in Hillsborough
J. W. Hooker put a new omnibus into service at Hillsborough, and it made its first trip on October 29. The paper expected it to add greatly to the pleasure of a visit to the town.
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Professor Nelson B. Henry opens a teachers' institute for Orange County's white teachers
Professor Nelson B. Henry of the University opened a two-day institute for the county's white teachers at the Masonic Hall with a public lecture on education by the State on the evening of October 29. He had offered to teach methods in grammar, arithmetic, geography, reading and school management free of charge.
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W. L. Wright resigns the Hillsborough Baptist pulpit for Reidsville
The Hillsborough Baptist church accepted the resignation of its pastor, Rev. W. L. Wright, who had taken a call from the Baptist church at Reidsville. He preached at Hillsborough for the last time on October 11.
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Rev. Richard A. Patterson, a Baptist preacher of Bingham Township, dies
The Rev. R. A. Patterson, a Baptist preacher long in poor health, died at his home in Bingham Township. N. G. L., Thomas W. and Sidney C. Patterson qualified as executors of his will.
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Chapel Hill Township votes down the stock law
In an election the county commissioners had ordered on October 17, Chapel Hill Township voters rejected the stock law by 415 to 104, a majority of 311 for no stock law. The polls were at Chapel Hill, Cole's Store and Patterson's Mill, with Merritt Cheek as registrar at Chapel Hill.
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Commissioners order the stock-law fence built around Chapel Hill Township
Meeting to receive the election returns, the county commissioners declared the stock law in full force in Bingham, Cedar Grove, Hillsborough and Little River townships. They ordered everyone contracted to build the line fence around Chapel Hill Township to finish it without delay and kept D. F. Morrow and Merritt Cheek on as a committee to let further contracts.
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Dr. Thomas J. Wilson and E. S. Merritt open a drugstore in Chapel Hill
Dr. Thomas J. Wilson, who had moved from Hillsborough to Chapel Hill that fall, opened a new drugstore at Barbee's old stand with E. S. Merritt, a registered pharmacist. Wilson kept a private office in the store.
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Miss Heartt keeps a private primary school in Hillsborough, later with Mrs. Bragg
A small private school for young children run by Miss Heartt appears in the Hillsborough paper by June 1886. From 1890 she taught it with Mrs. Bragg, and the two advertised each August that they would resume classes, the last such notice found being for August 28, 1911.
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E. H. Pogue & Co. hold the opening sale at the Hillsboro Tobacco Warehouse
The Hillsboro Tobacco Warehouse, run by E. H. Pogue & Co., held its opening sale on Tuesday, January 5, 1886, and the Observer reported a heavy break with good prices. Three days earlier Pogue and fourteen other men had incorporated the Orange County Tobacco Association to buy and sell leaf tobacco.
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Harry L. Parish takes charge of the Hillsborough post office
Harry L. Parish took charge of the Hillsborough post office as postmaster, succeeding Thomas D. Tinnin, who had resigned. Congressman William R. Cox had recommended Parish for the place.
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Eagle Lodge No. 71 of Masons is revived at Hillsborough
Grand Master F. H. Busbee restored Eagle Lodge No. 71 of Masons at Hillsborough, which had stopped work in 1880, and its members elected and installed officers with C. E. Parish as worshipful master. The lodge dated from 1791 and had already lapsed and been restored once, in 1819.
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John Cheek and E. D. Cheek form a buggy and wagon works in Hillsborough
John Cheek and E. D. (Ernest) Cheek formed a partnership to build and repair buggies and wagons, carrying on the business at John Cheek's old stand in Hillsborough.
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Fire destroys Judge Thomas Ruffin's house in Hillsborough
Fire destroyed the home of Judge Thomas Ruffin about four in the afternoon while he was away at court in Greensboro. Neighbors, white and Black, saved much of the furniture and, helped by a northwest wind, all of the outbuildings; the house was not insured.
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A. A. Springs of Winston leases the old Pogue factory to make plug tobacco
A. A. Springs, a Winston tobacco manufacturer, leased the old Pogue factory in Hillsborough to make plug tobacco and bought the Dr. Wilson residence from Dr. D. C. Parris for his family. He moved to Hillsborough in April, had the factory repaired with L. C. H. Brown as manager, and in May opened a dry goods store on Churton Street.
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Fire destroys the Caldwell Institute building in Little River Township
A fire thought to have been set destroyed the Caldwell Institute building in Little River Township at night, together with about 4,000 pounds of tobacco stored in it by H. Y. Harris, the postmaster and merchant at Caldwell.
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Black Odd Fellows of Durham and Hillsborough parade through Hillsborough on Easter Monday
Black Odd Fellows from Durham and Hillsborough paraded through the streets of Hillsborough behind a Black brass band from Durham. In the afternoon a Mebane club beat a Hillsborough club at baseball 10 to 5, and at night a festival and ball were held in the Hillsboro Warehouse.
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D. C. Parks is elected a Hillsborough town commissioner
At a quiet town election Hillsborough chose George C. Corbin mayor and elected A. W. Graham, James Webb Jr., J. W. Hooker, William Anderson, D. M. Laws, D. C. Parks and William H. Newman commissioners.
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J. W. Hooker & Bro. hold the first sale at their new Central Warehouse
J. W. Hooker & Bro. held the first tobacco sale in their new Central Warehouse on Churton Street, just north of the Observer office, giving Hillsborough a second tobacco warehouse. White Brothers of Mebane had built the 50-by-150-foot house that spring.
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The Hillsboro Warehouse becomes Webb's Warehouse as Thomas D. Turner buys in
E. H. Pogue & Co. sold an interest in the Hillsboro Warehouse to Thomas D. Turner, and the tobacco house was renamed Webb's Warehouse under the firm of E. H. Pogue, Turner & Co.
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Orange magistrates cut the county board to three commissioners
Meeting at the court house, the county's justices of the peace reduced the board of county commissioners from five members to three and elected Matthew Atwater, Nelson P. Hall and E. C. Thompson to take office in December. In joint session with the commissioners they re-elected J. L. Currie superintendent of public instruction, set the county taxes and levied a road tax of seven cents on each $100 of property, payable in work on the roads or in cash.
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Superintendent Currie reports a teachers' institute in session for the county's white teachers
Currie wrote to the Orange County Observer that the institute for white teachers was in session with eighteen enrolled. Professor Henry and Mr. Shields of Chapel Hill taught methods of teaching by day, and a public lecture on education was given each night.
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County commissioners reroute the old Raleigh road by Mount Hermon church
On July 5 the county commissioners adopted a jury's report laying off a public road from the Raleigh road south of Mount Hermon church to the Durham road near the Oxford crossing. On August 2 they closed the old Raleigh road from W. A. Strayhorn's to the Chapel Hill road near University Station and made the Mount Hermon church road from Strayhorn's to the Durham road a public road.
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Webb's tobacco warehouse in Hillsborough changes hands
Webb's Warehouse, the Hillsborough leaf-tobacco sales house, changed hands and was to reopen under a new name with C. J. Pogue of Hillsborough and J. D. English of Danville, Virginia, as proprietors.
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Heavy rains send the Eno to a record height at Hillsborough
After heavy rain on August 10 and that night, the Eno at Hillsborough rose on the morning of August 11 to about eight inches above any level John Cheek, whose workshop stood near the bridge, had ever seen, and much damage to the corn crop was feared.
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Sutton & Strudwick open a hardware store on King Street
W. T. Sutton of Bertie County and W. W. Strudwick of Hillsborough opened a hardware, stove and farm-tool store in D. C. Parks's storehouse on King Street, a line of trade the town had lacked.
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White Brothers of Mebane begin rebuilding Judge Thomas Ruffin's burned house
Judge Thomas Ruffin let the contract to White Brothers of Mebane for a new dwelling on the site of his residence, which fire had destroyed the winter before, and by late September their carpenters were at work on it.
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Orange Democrats nominate their county ticket
The Democratic county convention at Hillsborough, with Matthew Atwater presiding, nominated John F. Lyon for the House, William Strain for sheriff, Pride Jones for clerk of court, John Laws for register of deeds, D. M. Laws for treasurer, A. C. Jordan for coroner and James O. Webb for surveyor, and named a new county executive committee.
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The university opens a free series of monthly popular lectures
Henry E. Shepherd's address on Sir Walter Raleigh opened the university's new series of popular lectures at Chapel Hill, which went on through the fall on the first Saturday evening of each month, free to all.
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Orange Republicans name James B. Mason for the Senate and back Cheek and Hughes
The Republican county convention at Hillsborough, chaired by James B. Mason, named Mason for the state Senate, endorsed James A. Cheek for the House and John K. Hughes for sheriff, nominated Wilson Brown for clerk and Thomas Roberts for treasurer, and recommended Isaac R. Strayhorn for solicitor.
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Twenty-nine converts are baptized in the Eno before a crowd of more than a thousand
Twenty-nine people were immersed in the Eno River above Dimmock's mill pond near Hillsborough, and more than a thousand people watched the baptizing.
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A union meeting of four denominations opens at Cedar Grove before about 2,000 people
A union religious meeting proposed by H. L. McDade and arranged by a committee from eight churches under Thomas H. Hughes opened at Cedar Grove with about 2,000 people and nine Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Christian ministers; W. S. Long preached the opening sermon.
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A. F. Hall opens a grocery in the Cheek building north of the court house
A. F. Hall, back in Hillsborough from Winston with his family, opened a grocery and notions store in the Cheek building just north of the court house.
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Postmaster H. L. Parish moves the Hillsborough post office into the Berry building
Postmaster H. L. Parish moved the Hillsborough post office into the Berry building, where he also kept his store.
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Orange voters elect the Democratic county ticket but send Republicans to the legislature
In the November 2 election Orange chose the Democratic county ticket except for sheriff, where the Republican-backed John K. Hughes beat William Strain by more than 1,100 votes. James A. Cheek and Oakley won the Orange-Durham House seats, Republicans James B. Mason and Harrison the Senate seats, and Isaac R. Strayhorn the solicitorship, while John W. Graham carried Orange by 238 votes but lost the Fourth District congressional race to John Nichols.
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The grand jury indicts five Black men in the killing of student Jacob Freeze
At the fall term of Orange Superior Court the grand jury returned true bills against Pat Brewer, William Linn, Frank Kirby, Jesse Harris and Wes. Merritt for the death of student Jacob A. Freeze at Chapel Hill. With Brewer and Linn at large and a State witness absent, the case against the three jailed men was continued to the next term, and Governor Scales posted a reward for Brewer.
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A jury acquits Ann Eliza Lawrence and John Crawford of poisoning her husband
At the fall term of Orange Superior Court, a jury out one hour found Ann Eliza Lawrence and John Crawford not guilty of poisoning Mrs. Lawrence's husband, a case held over from the August term. John W. Graham, James B. Mason and A. W. Graham defended them before Judge Henry G. Connor.
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A new rector, Rev. Mr. Clarke, takes charge of the Episcopal church at Chapel Hill
The Episcopal church at Chapel Hill received a new rector, Rev. Mr. Clarke, a graduate of the University of Virginia, who arrived in early November and preached his first two sermons there on November 7.
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A University Railroad engine jumps the track and carries away a trestle near Chapel Hill
On the night of December 14 the engine of a University Railroad train left the track near Chapel Hill and carried away a trestle; the fireman was badly scalded, others were bruised, and a car and the engine were wrecked.
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Fire destroys the old president's house on Christmas morning
The house Helen Hooper built, later home to Presidents Caldwell and Swain, burned the day after Professor Thomas Hume's family moved in. Fire spread from boxes and straw in an outbuilding, and Chapel Hill had no fire engine or ladder company to stop it.
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Robert F. Pleasants, once Hillsborough's jailer and town tax collector, dies
Robert Freeman Pleasants, a Hillsborough tailor who had kept the county jail in 1835 and served the town for years as tax collector and policeman, died at his son's house at about eighty. Eagle Lodge, where he had been Tyler for more than thirty years, buried him from the Presbyterian church the next day.
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James Lee Love builds a house on East Franklin Street for his wife, June Spencer
Professor James Lee Love built the one-story house at 410 East Franklin Street in 1887, on the lot of the old president's house that burned the Christmas before, for his wife June, the only daughter of Cornelia Phillips Spencer. It is known as the Spencer House after his mother-in-law.
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C. C. Newton accepts the pastorate of the Hillsborough Baptist church
The Rev. C. C. Newton accepted a call to the Baptist church at Hillsborough, agreeing to preach there on the fourth Sunday of each month, and gave his first two sermons as pastor on Sunday, January 30.
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