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Local figure

Robert Bingham

Robert Bingham (1838–1927), born in Hillsborough, taught at his father's school at the Oaks from 1857, served as a Confederate captain, and from 1873 headed the Bingham School at Mebane, moving it to Asheville in 1891. He campaigned for public schools, including free schools for Black children as early as 1870, while supporting segregation.

Source: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert

1838–1927 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

7 works about Robert Bingham are indexed here, as are 2 works by Bingham.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
Robert Bingham, portrait plate, 1907
Robert Bingham, portrait plate, 1907

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineThe Bingham School at Mebane after the 1890 fire, 1890–19131890–1913 · 12 events · After fire destroyed the Bingham School's academy building near Mebane on December 24, 1890, and Robert Bingham moved his school to Asheville in 1891, the old grounds became home to a school backed by William Bingham's family, which ended in court over the Bingham name. Orange Presbytery leased them for a Presbyterian High School opening in 1893, with William Bingham's widow paying most of its costs, by the 1905 catalogue's account. In 1897 Preston Lewis Gray, married to William Bingham's daughter, took over and called it the William Bingham School. Robert Bingham sought an injunction, but in April 1898 Judge W. A. Hoke ruled that the family could call their school the Bingham School.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 28 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. The Rev. William Bingham teaches ancient languages at the university The Rev. William Bingham, founder of the Bingham School, served as the university's professor of ancient languages in 1800. His son William J. Bingham and grandsons William and Robert Bingham all later graduated with first distinction. People: Robert Bingham Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: William Bingham · Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · Robert Bingham, The Fifty Years between 1857 and 1907, and Beyond (1907), scan p. 7
  2. Ten senior orators, John W. Graham and the valedictorian speak on commencement day On commencement day ten seniors spoke in Gerard Hall between pieces by the band, among them J. L. A. Webb with the Latin salutatory, Robert Bingham of Orange on the teacher and Charles A. Mitchell of Chapel Hill on Dr. Kane. In the afternoon Joseph Venable gave a French oration, John W. Graham of Hillsborough spoke on 'Action rules the world', and a senior named Wharton of Guilford gave the valedictory. People: Robert Bingham, John W. Graham Place: Gerard Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. L. A. Webb, Charles A. Mitchell, Joseph VenableSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Gazette, June 6, 1857, p. 2
  3. Robert Bingham becomes a partner in his father's school at the Oaks After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1857, Robert Bingham was admitted in July as junior partner in his father's school at the Oaks, which took the firm name W. J. Bingham and Sons. His brother William was also a partner. People: William Bingham (1835-1873), William James Bingham Place: Orange County, the OaksSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  4. Robert Bingham goes to war with an Orange County militia company Robert Bingham, a member of an Orange County militia company, enlisted in state service with his fellow members on March 8, 1862, and on March 25 was elected captain of Company G, Forty-fourth North Carolina Infantry. He was captured in June 1863 and held in Union prisons until he was exchanged in 1864. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  5. William Bingham takes over the family school at the Oaks and incorporates it With his brother Robert in the army and his father in declining health, William Bingham was running the school at the Oaks by 1864. That year he incorporated it as the Bingham School, a military and classical academy, and in December moved it to Mebaneville. People: William Bingham (1835-1873), William James Bingham, Robert Bingham Place: The Oaks, Orange County · Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · NC DNCR: Bingham School (G-39), highway marker essay
  6. Bingham School moves from the Oaks to Mebaneville William Bingham and Robert Bingham, sons of William James Bingham, moved the school, late in 1864 or in 1865, to a site east of Mebane's Station on the North Carolina Railroad, after the legislature incorporated it in 1864 as a military and classical academy. The highway marker's 1865 may be when classes began at the new site. People: Robert Bingham, William Bingham (1835-1873), William James Bingham Place: Mebane, Orange County · Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bingham School (G-39)
  7. Agent Whittemore makes a planter divide a crop with two freedmen after two former Confederate officers vouch for them In his first case, agent Charles B. Whittemore heard two freedmen's claims to shares of a crop raised on a planter's farm about twelve miles from Hillsborough. Robert Bingham and Maj. William B. Lynch, who told him they had been Confederate officers with no love for Yankees, came with the freedmen and said they were faithful and industrious men about to be robbed of their dues. Whittemore ordered the crop held, on March 24 awarded one freedman 920 sticks of tobacco and 50 bushels of corn, and on April 17 sent Deputy Sheriff J. M. Blackwood to weigh and divide the rest. People: Robert Bingham, W. B. (William Bingham) Lynch Place: Orange County, about twelve miles from Hillsborough · Also named: Charles B. Whittemore, J. M. BlackwoodFreedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Letters Sent, Vol. 130, July 1867–Dec. 1868, transcription p. 77
  8. The Bureau agent orders a Mebaneville landowner to pay Jordan White for railroad cordwood On April 24, 1868, Whittemore settled Jordan White's complaint against Addison E. Wilson, on whose land near the North Carolina Railroad White had cleared ground and cut wood, by ordering Wilson to pay him for 22 cords and a dollar a cord on 27 more and to let him stay and work his part of the place until November 1. Wilson asked for a new hearing on April 27, and Benjamin F. Mebane, William Bingham and Robert Bingham signed a statement that the custom of giving the wood to whoever cleared the land did not hold along the railroad, where wood had a cash value. White wrote to Gen. Nelson A. Miles on June 10 that the ruling had been turned against him at a hearing he was not called to; the case went to Lt. Thomas H. Hay and was closed on October 30 with a $7.50 judgment from a justice of the peace. People: Benjamin Franklin Mebane, William Bingham (1835-1873), Robert Bingham Place: Mebaneville, Orange County · Also named: Charles B. Whittemore, Jordan White, Addison E. Wilson, Thomas H. HayFreedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Records Relating to Cases Tried & Destitute Freedmen, Part 1, transcription p. 84
  9. Robert Bingham takes charge of the Bingham School near Mebane When his brother William died in 1873, Robert Bingham became headmaster of the Bingham School, which had moved from the Oaks to Mebane. In May 1879 he bought out his cousin William B. Lynch's interest and became sole proprietor. People: William Bingham (1835-1873), W. B. (William Bingham) Lynch Place: Orange County, Bingham School near MebaneSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  10. State educational convention calls for reviving the university A convention called by the State Board of Education, with B. F. Moore presiding, resolved that the university should be revived as soon as practicable. It added that the revival was impossible except on a basis impartial between denominations and political parties, after Braxton Craven, Thomas H. Pritchard and A. W. Mangum argued over church representation. People: Robert Bingham, Adolphus Williamson Mangum, Thomas Henderson Pritchard, Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Braxton CravenDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 45
  11. Robert W. Winston wins the Mangum Medal for oratory at commencement On commencement day eight seniors gave orations, and the gold medal for oratory given by the daughters of Willie P. Mangum went to Robert W. Winston of Windsor. Governor Jarvis delivered the diplomas, and other medals went to L. Patterson for Latin, C. D. McIver and another student for Greek, and A. S. Grandy for the Bingham prize. People: Robert W. Winston, Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Robert Bingham Place: University Chapel, Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles D. McIver, Willie P. MangumSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 7, 1879, p. 2
  12. Bingham School opens its fall session with more boys than ever Bingham School near Mebaneville opened its fall session with more boys in attendance than ever before, under Major Robert Bingham and Captains Sharpe, Willis and Noble. Boys pledged at the start of each session not to drink. People: Robert Bingham Place: Bingham School, Mebaneville (Orange County side)The Chapel Hill Ledger, October 11, 1879, p. 2
Show all 26 dated events
  1. Fire destroys the Bingham School buildings near Mebaneville A fire that started in a cadet's quarters about 9:30 in the morning burned the barracks, office and library, the academy hall, the infirmary and the mess hall. About 175 cadets were in barracks, no one was hurt, and the loss was put at about $30,000. People: Robert Bingham Place: Bingham School, Mebaneville (Orange County side)DigitalNC: The News and Observer, May 2, 1882, p. 3
  2. 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. People: Robert Bingham Place: Bingham School, Mebaneville (Orange County side) · Also named: Thomas C. OakleyOrange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 29, 1882, p. 2
  3. 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. People: Robert Bingham Place: Bingham School, Mebaneville (Orange County side)Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), December 23, 1882, p. 2
  4. 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. Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 18, 1884, p. 3
  5. Alumni build the university's first gymnasium off university land After the dancing ban, a chartered Gymnasium Association sold $10 shares to alumni and built a hall 110 by 45 feet on its own land, rented to the university for exercise and used for the 1885 commencement ball. The building later became Commons Hall, the student dining hall. People: Julian S. Carr, Robert Bingham, Isaac Hall Manning, Richard H. Lewis, David Gaston Worth Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 313
  6. Oaks citizens back a projected Durham-to-Charlotte railroad and name delegates A meeting of citizens at Oaks voted unanimously for the projected railroad from Durham by way of Oaks and Asheboro to Charlotte. It named seven delegates to the railroad meeting called at Charlotte for March 15. People: Robert Bingham, Thomas J. Oldham Place: Oaks, Bingham TownshipHillsboro Recorder, March 1, 1888, p. 2
  7. County justices vote $250 toward Col. George W. Tate's map of Orange County After Maj. Robert Bingham and C. E. Parish spoke for it, the justices of the peace voted $250 to Col. George W. Tate toward a proposed county map, with only two votes against. People: Robert Bingham, Calvin E. Parish, George W. Tate Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 7, 1890, p. 3
  8. Bingham School leaves Orange County for Asheville After fire destroyed the academic buildings and dormitories at the Mebane campus in December 1890, Robert Bingham moved the school to Asheville in 1891. A Presbyterian High School then used the old grounds at Mebane, paid for mostly by Col. William Bingham's widow; his son Herbert became its principal in 1896, and in 1897 her son-in-law Preston Lewis Gray took it over and named it the William Bingham School. People: Robert Bingham, William Bingham (1835-1873) Place: Mebane, Orange County · Also named: Herbert Bingham, Preston Lewis Gray · Also mentions: William Bingham SchoolNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bingham School (G-39) · Also: The Bingham School Catalogue, 1905-1906, scan p. 16
  9. A Presbyterian high school takes over the old Bingham School grounds near Mebane After Robert Bingham moved the Bingham School to Asheville in 1891, Orange Presbytery leased the old grounds at Mebane in October 1892, elected trustees and a principal, and named the Rev. E. C. Murray principal of a Presbyterian High School that was to open January 1, 1893. The 1905 catalogue of the later Bingham School says William Bingham's widow paid most of its costs. Church control ended in 1897. People: Robert Bingham, William Bingham (1835-1873) Place: Presbyterian High School, old Bingham School grounds, Mebane · Also named: Mrs. William BinghamThe Bingham School Catalogue, 1905-1906, scan p. 16 · Also: DigitalNC newspaper, June 7, 1895, p. 1; Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 29, 1892, p. 3; Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 26, 1892, p. 3
  10. Preston Lewis Gray takes charge of the Mebane school and renames it the William Bingham School In 1897 the church gave up the Presbyterian High School at Mebane, and Preston Lewis Gray, a Virginia lawyer married to William Bingham's daughter, became its principal. By July he was calling it the William Bingham School, a name Robert Bingham of the Bingham School at Asheville sought an injunction against in 1898. Gray was still running it on the old grounds in 1905. People: Robert Bingham Place: William Bingham School, Mebane · Also named: Preston Lewis Gray, William BinghamThe Bingham School Catalogue, 1905-1906, scan p. 16 · Also: The News and Observer (Raleigh), June 25, 1897, p. 5
  11. Robert Bingham sues to keep Preston Gray from using the Bingham School name at Mebane Maj. Robert Bingham, superintendent of the Bingham School at Asheville, sued out an injunction before Judge W. A. Hoke to stop Preston L. Gray from calling the former Presbyterian High School at Mebane the William Bingham School, saying the name invaded his school's charter. Gray claimed his was the true Bingham School. People: Robert Bingham Place: William Bingham School, Mebane · Also named: Preston L. Gray, W. A. HokeOrange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 31, 1898, p. 2
  12. Judge Hoke rules that the Mebane school may keep the Bingham School name Judge Hoke dissolved the injunction Col. Robert Bingham had sought and ruled that Preston Lewis Gray and the widow and children of Col. William Bingham were entitled to call their school the Bingham School. Col. Bingham was left free to use the name as well. People: Robert Bingham Place: William Bingham School, Mebane · Also named: Preston Lewis Gray, William BinghamOrange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 7, 1898, p. 3
  13. Robert Bingham speaks for the class of 1857 at its fiftieth anniversary Col. Robert Bingham, headmaster of the Bingham School and youngest survivor of the class of 1857, gave the class address at commencement fifty years after its graduation. He compared the university of 1853 with that of 1907, defended secession as lawful, attacked Reconstruction and Black political power, and urged students to take a national rather than sectional outlook. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · Robert Bingham, The Fifty Years between 1857 and 1907, and Beyond (1907), scan p. 7
  14. Alumni set up a General Assembly and plan an alumni monthly On May 29, 1911, the alumni adopted a plan for a General Assembly of delegates from local associations, a Council of fifteen, and a magazine to be called the University of North Carolina Alumni Monthly. W. H. Swift went out as field manager to organize local groups. People: Robert Bingham, William Stanly Bernard, James Yadkin Joyner Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: W. H. SwiftSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 726

After their death in 1927

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

  1. The university names Bingham Hall for Robert Bingham In 1929 the university named Bingham Hall on its Chapel Hill campus for Robert Bingham, class of 1857, an alumnus who often spoke at campus events and helped reopen the university in 1875. People: Robert Worth Bingham Place: Chapel Hill, Bingham HallSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  2. A memorial tablet for Robert Bingham is installed in Memorial Hall A memorial tablet in Robert Bingham's name was installed in the university's Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill on October 12, 1939. Place: Chapel Hill, Memorial HallSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Robert Bingham, 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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Indexed works

Works about or by Robert Bingham. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By Robert Bingham

Special circular : Bingham School ... May 31st, 1879.

Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927 · 1879 · R. Bingham

Single-sheet circular that Robert Bingham issued for the Bingham School on May 31, 1879, measuring 27 by 21 cm and printed at Mebane. W. B. Lynch is named with Bingham and the school, which stood in Orange County.

UNC

The fifty years between 1857 and 1907, and beyond : an address at the University of North Carolina, June 3, 1907, on the fiftieth anniversary of the graduation of the class of 1857

Bingham, Robert · 1907 · The University of North Carolina

Robert Bingham's address at the University of North Carolina on June 3, 1907, marking fifty years since the graduation of the class of 1857 and looking over the half century that followed. Twelve pages, printed at Chapel Hill by the university. At least three separate printings of the speech are known. This copy has a cancel on page 4 covering three lines of text.

Duke UNC

About Robert Bingham

Memorial Hall : its tablets and memories : acceptance of tablets memorializing Col. Robert Bingham, Ambassador Robert Worth Bingham and Senator Matt W. Ransom

Winston, Robert W. (Robert Watson), 1860-1944 · 1939

Robert W. Winston's 1939 address on Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina and the memorial tablets set in its walls, given when tablets honoring Colonel Robert Bingham, Ambassador Robert Worth Bingham and Senator Matt W. Ransom were accepted. Printed at Chapel Hill, it records how those tablets came to be placed in the hall.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927.

UNC

Bingham School, established in 1793, Mebaneville, N.C., Maj. Robert Bingham, Sup't. : ... The 166th session opens January 10th, 1877.

Bingham School (Orange County, N.C.) · 1876

Broadside advertising the Bingham School at Mebaneville, announcing that its 166th session would open on 10 January 1877 under Major Robert Bingham as superintendent, with a fuller circular available on request. The school, founded in 1793, was an Orange County secondary school. A single sheet measuring 28 by 21 centimeters, printed in 1876.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Duke

State

1946

March 1946 number of The State (2 March, volume 13, number 40). Orange County appears through the Bingham School and its head Robert Bingham, and the issue also covers Sequoyah and the Cherokee syllabary, the long life of Civil War soldier Alden G. Howell, road history and the Coast Guard.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927.

NC Digital Collections

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

Bingham Military School volumes, 1872-1876; 1890-1919.

Bingham Military School (Asheville, N.C.) · 1872

Two volumes from the Bingham Military School at Asheville, covering 1872 to 1876 and 1890 to 1919, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. The volumes concern the earlier Bingham School in Orange County, Robert Bingham, 1838 to 1927, debating societies and the history of schools in North Carolina.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927.

UNC

Worth family papers,

Worth (Family) · 1844

Worth family papers, about 694 items beginning in 1844: letters, business papers and other material on family affairs, opposition to secession, North Carolina politics, fertilizer and textile businesses, Zebulon B. Vance, and federal patronage early in Woodrow Wilson's administration. Correspondents and subjects include Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Edwin A. Alderman, George T. Winston, Josephus Daniels and Robert Bingham of the Bingham School, with UNC students among them.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Duke

Thomas and Mary Bingham Lynch Papers,

Lynch, Thomas · 1794

About 600 family letters of Thomas Lynch, a Presbyterian minister in the Orange Presbytery, and his wife Mary Bingham Lynch, with dates beginning in 1794. There is material on their son W. B. Lynch, who ran an academy at High Point, and on Major Robert Bingham, head of the Bingham School in Orange County. Topics also include Lemuel Lynch and silversmith and jewelry work. At Duke's Rubenstein Library.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927.

Duke

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 4 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

  • Bingham School Schools and academies · Mebane · 13 events here
  • Gerrard Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
  • Bingham Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • Memorial Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • North Carolina Railroad Public buildings and services · Hillsborough · 1 event here

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Picture: Robert Bingham, portrait plate, 1907. Public domain. Samuel A. Ashe, ed., Biographical History of North Carolina, vol. VI (1907); via the Internet Archive

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