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Local figure

Samuel Ashe

Ashe was one of the trustees who met in December 1792 and ratified the commissioners' unanimous choice of New Hope Chapel Hill, in Orange County, as the seat of the University of North Carolina. He was named to the committee to prepare an ordinance carrying the commissioners' report into effect.

Source: Documenting the American South: Board of Trustees Minutes, December 3-13, 1792

1725–1813 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

9 indexed works are connected with this person.

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present

Ashe, Samuel A. · 1905 · C.L. Van Noppen

Samuel A. Ashe's eight volume set of North Carolina biographies, published by C.L. Van Noppen from 1905 and running from the colonial period forward. The sketches take in governors, judges and public men, among them William Tryon, Frederick Nash, Richard Henderson and Matt W. Ransom. Genealogists use the set as a name source for families across the state, Orange County included.

Why this is here: Listed as its creator.

John H. Wheeler (1806-1882) Diaries and Papers

Wheeler, John H. · 1854

Diaries and papers of John Hill Wheeler of Hertford County, historian, legislator, state treasurer from 1843 to 1845 and minister to Nicaragua from 1854 to 1857. The diaries, a broken run from 1854 to 1882, follow his social and political life in Washington, D.C. University commencements at Chapel Hill and his work on North Carolina history also come up. State Archives of North Carolina, MfP.51.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

David Paton (1802-1882) Papers

Paton, David, 1801-1882 · 1834

David Paton, the Scottish architect who supervised building of the State Capitol in Raleigh, is the subject of these letters and papers, 1834 to 1940. Letters of 1834 to 1840 from the architect Ithiel Town discuss the rebuilding commissioners and the changes Paton proposed to Town's design. Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the university also appear. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.158.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

Governors' Papers: Samuel Ashe, Correspondence, April 1798

Jones, Edward, 1762-1841 · 1798

Samuel Ashe, North Carolina's ninth governor and earlier a Wilmington lawyer who served the Crown before siding with the Revolution, sent and received these letters in April 1798. Edward Jones is among the writers, and Hillsborough appears among the places concerned. Thirty images.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Land Survey and North Carolina Land Grant to John Walker

1797

North Carolina land grant number 479, conveying 595 acres in Orange County to John Walker, with the survey of the tract. The papers are dated 27 January to 5 December 1797, and the names of Governors Alexander Martin and Samuel Ashe are attached to them.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

Session of December 1793-January 1794: Petitions (Miscellaneous)

North Carolina. General Assembly · 1793

Miscellaneous petitions to the North Carolina General Assembly, December 1793 to January 1794, 140 images, from Obediah Binge, John Turner, William Dudley, John Stoss, William Blair and residents of Stokes County, among many others. They concern fishing and dams, gristmills, prisoners, sheriffs, gambling and tax relief in counties from Currituck to Burke.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

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Joint Papers: Material sent for perusal

North Carolina. General Assembly · 1783

Material sent to the North Carolina General Assembly for perusal in 1783, 16 images. Richard Caswell, Abner Nash and Samuel Ashe appear, and the papers touch on admiralty, the courts, public debt and the Continental Congress.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Senate Joint Resolutions: February 8-9

North Carolina. General Assembly · 1781

Senate joint resolutions of 8 and 9 February 1781, 24 images, on tax gatherers in counties without treasurers, a rejected resolution for Samuel Ashe, a rejected allowance for corn supplied to the army, and an order sending Brigadier General John Butler to raise some or all of the Hillsborough District militia.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Hillsborough District: Minute Docket Superior Court Part 1, 1768-1788

United States. District Court (North Carolina: Hillsborough District) · 1768

Minute docket, part 1, of the Superior Court for the Hillsborough District, 1768 to 1788, spanning the late colonial court and the state courts set up after the 1776 constitution. Cases involve debt, estates, theft, horse stealing, murder, treason and slavery, and names include William Tryon, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore and Richard Caswell. 234 images.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Ashe, Samuel, 1725-1813.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Provincial Congress at Hillsborough elects a Provincial Council to govern between sessions On September 9, 1775, the Congress at Hillsborough elected a thirteen-member Provincial Council to direct the army and militia during its recess: Samuel Johnston for the province at large and two members for each of the six districts, among them Abner Nash and James Coor for New Bern and Thomas Person and John Kinchen for Hillsborough. People: Samuel Johnston, Samuel Ashe, Willie Jones, Waightstill Avery, Thomas Person, Cornelius Harnett, John Kinchen, Samuel SpencerSearch the index · Colonial and State Records of North Carolina: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, Aug 20 to Sep 10, 1775 (vol. 10, pp. 164–220)
  2. The superior court sits at Hillsborough for the first time in five years Judges Samuel Ashe and James Iredell opened the March 1778 term in the old courthouse, with Waightstill Avery prosecuting and John Henderson of Granville as grand jury foreman. The district court had not sat since September 1772, when the quarrel between Governor Martin and the Assembly over the court law shut the courts. People: Samuel Ashe, James Iredell, Waightstill AverySearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 69
  3. The Assembly lends the university trustees 5,000 pounds for its buildings Trustees meeting at New Bern named a committee to seek the loan, and Davie argued for it before the Commons. It passed 57 to 53 in the Commons and 28 to 21 in the Senate. People: Samuel Ashe, John Sitgreaves, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William Richardson Davie, John WilliamsLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 73
  4. A trustee committee under Samuel McCorkle reports the university's first plan of studies Named at New Bern on December 4, 1792, the committee proposed teaching languages with English first, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, botany, agriculture and architecture, and buying scientific apparatus. A newspaper notice of December 12 inviting teachers for this course drew no applicants. People: David Stone, Samuel Ashe, Hugh Williamson, Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, Alfred MooreDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 48
  5. Trustees forbid students to visit village taverns without leave and allow dancing lessons Meeting at the July examinations, the board barred tavern visits without a professor's permission and gave the preparatory teachers authority over all students. The same meeting let students attend dancing schools with faculty consent. People: Samuel Ashe, William Richardson DavieSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 103
  6. David Gillespie receives the earliest document resembling a university diploma Leaving to help Andrew Ellicott fix the southern boundary of the United States, Gillespie was given a certificate of his studies signed by professors Charles W. Harris and Samuel Holmes and teacher William Richards. Governor Samuel Ashe attached a certificate under the state seal. People: Samuel Ashe, Charles Wilson HarrisSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 77

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Samuel Ashe, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Samuel Ashe Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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