Christopher Barbee

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

1. 1779 Christopher Barbee buys his brother Francis's share of their father's land grant east of Chapel Hill Christopher Barbee buys from his brother Francis the western half of the 585-acre grant their father William Barbee took up in 1753, which included the hilltop later called The Mountain. Barbee made his plantation there, and a stone foundation at Meadowmont is thought to be his house. People: Christopher Barbee Place: The Mountain (now Meadowmont), east of Chapel Hill · Also named: Francis Barbee, William BarbeeSearch the index · UNC Research Laboratories of Anthropology: I. Randolph Daniel Jr., A Preliminary Archaeological Survey and Assessment of the Meadowmont Property, Technical Report No. 23 (1996), p. 2
2. December 5, 1792 Trustees fix the university at Chapel Hill and list its Orange County land donors Meeting on December 5, 1792, the trustees voted unanimously to place the university at New Hope Chapel Hill and recorded nine donors of Orange County land, among them Matthew McCauley (150 acres) and William McCauley (100 acres). Each donor could have one student educated free of tuition. People: Matthew McCauley, Mark Morgan, Christopher Barbee, Colonel John Hogan, William McCauley Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Original Donors to the University and the Myth of Free Tuition
3. August Term 1794 The court orders a road laid off from the east end of Franklin Street in the University village On a memorial from John Haywood and Alexander Mebane, two of the University's trustees, the court summoned fifteen men, among them Matthew McCauley, James Patterson, Christopher Barbee and Samuel Hopkins, to lay off a road from the east end of Franklin Street in the village of the University, by the easiest and most direct way, into the road then leading down Chapel Hill. People: John Haywood, Alexander Mebane, Matthew McCauley, Christopher Barbee, Samuel Hopkins Place: East end of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: James Patterson · Also mentions: Franklin StreetMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: August Term 1794
4. May 27, 1795 to February Term 1798 The county court proves a run of deeds to and from the University's trustees From May 1795 the county court proved or acknowledged deeds between the University's trustees and others so they could be registered: from the trustees to John Dannel (May 1795); from Dannel to the trustees and from William Shepperd, attorney for the trustees, to James Stockard (August 1796); to Daniel Booth, Richard Bennehan and Walter Alves (November 1796); to John Carrington (May 1797); to Nathaniel Harris and Joseph Holmes (August 1797); to John Caldwell (November 1797); and to Christopher Barbee and William Hayes (February 1798). Several were proved on the handwriting of William Watters, a witness who had died. People: Richard Bennehan, Walter Alves, Christopher Barbee Place: Chapel Hill (University lands) · Also named: John Dannel, James Stockard, Daniel Booth, John Carrington, Nathaniel Harris, Joseph Holmes, John Caldwell, William Hayes, William Shepperd, William WattersMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1795
5. February Term 1802 The court orders a bridge over New Hope Creek on the road from the University to Raleigh The court ordered a bridge built over New Hope Creek on the road from the University to Raleigh. It named Robert Campbell, John Taylor Jr., Pleasant Henderson, John Bragg and Christopher Barbee, or any three, to contract for it and to take a 500-pound bond from the builder to keep the bridge in repair for seven years from its acceptance. People: Pleasant Henderson, Christopher Barbee Place: New Hope Creek, on the road from the University to Raleigh · Also named: Robert Campbell, John Taylor Jr., John BraggSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1802
6. between 1814 and 1818 Christopher Barbee opens a blacksmith shop on Franklin Street Christopher Barbee, the university's largest land donor, rented the southwest corner of Matthew McCauley's Lot #8 for a smithy with a 33-foot front on the street. He bought the corner in 1824, and William D. Kirksey was advertising as the village blacksmith by 1833. People: Christopher Barbee Place: Barbee's blacksmith shop, Lot #8, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: William D. Kirksey, Matthew McCauleySearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 45
7. 1831 Christopher Barbee turns over his home tract and blacksmith shop to his son William In 1831 Christopher Barbee sold his son William the village blacksmith property and the tract where he lived, with all adjacent land. He died the next year, and his will left William more land on Morgan Creek and Bolin Creek. People: William Barbee Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bolin CreekSearch the index · UNC Research Laboratories of Anthropology: I. Randolph Daniel Jr., A Preliminary Archaeological Survey and Assessment of the Meadowmont Property, Technical Report No. 23 (1996), p. 3

After their death in 1832

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

1. 1833 William D. Kirksey advertises as the village blacksmith After Christopher Barbee's death, his corner blacksmith shop passed through his son William, and by 1833 William D. Kirksey was advertising as Chapel Hill's blacksmith. Maps show Kirksey's shop on the corner through 1843. People: Christopher Barbee Place: Blacksmith shop, Lot #8 corner, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: William D. KirkseySearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 63
2. by June 1885 A Memorial Hall tablet names the eleven donors of the university's land The trustees placed a tablet in Memorial Hall naming the eleven Orange County landowners whose gifts of land settled the university and the village at Chapel Hill. Cameron called them the sturdy Orange farmers who fixed the seat of the institution. People: Christopher Barbee, Edmund Jones, Matthew McCauley, William McCauley, Mark Morgan Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 15
3. by November 4, 1898 The Kenans sell the Columbia Street corner lot that Christopher Barbee bought at the 1793 lot sale The Kenan family sold its lot at the corner of Columbia Street in Chapel Hill to a buyer the News names as Mr. H. H., the rest of the name being lost in the scan. Kemp P. Battle told the paper it was the last lot from the university's October 12, 1793 auction still held by the family of its first buyer, Christopher Barbee, whose line ran through William Barbee and the Hargraves to the Kenans. People: Christopher Barbee, Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Corner of Columbia Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Columbia StreetSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 4, 1898, p. 1