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Local figure

William Cain Sr.

William Cain owned Pleasant Grove, a plantation beside the Indian Trading Path in Orange County, from 1779 until his death in 1834, and by 1800 was the county's largest landowner with 4,417 acres. He enslaved 30 people in 1800 and 95 by 1830, ran a mill on the Little River, and was a justice of the peace.

Source: Open Durham: Pleasant Grove / Hardscrabble Plantation

Also found in catalogs as William Cain.

1743–1834 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

1 indexed work is connected with this person.

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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.

Willie Person Mangum papers,

Mangum, Willie Person,; Mangum, Arthur,; Mangum, Charity Alston Cain

Personal and political papers of Willie Person Mangum, the Whig senator from Orange County, together with papers of Arthur Mangum and Charity Alston Cain Mangum. Correspondents include Daniel Webster, William A. Graham, David L. Swain, John Chavis and Abraham Lincoln, and other topics include plantations at Hillsborough, the estate called Walnut Hill, state politics, agriculture and education.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: Cain, William, Sr., 1743-1834 -- Correspondence.

Library of Congress

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William Cain acquires the Pleasant Grove plantation on the Trading Path William Cain acquired the Orange County property later called Pleasant Grove, beside the old Indian Trading Path, and held it until his death in 1834.Search the index · Open Durham: Pleasant Grove / Hardscrabble Plantation
  2. Hillsborough builders add a Federal-style house at Cain's Pleasant Grove The Cains commissioned the Hillsborough builders Martin Palmer and Samuel Hopkins to build a second, Federal-style house about ten feet from the original 1775 Georgian house at Pleasant Grove.Search the index · Open Durham: Pleasant Grove / Hardscrabble Plantation
  3. William Courtney mortgages a man named Africa to William Cain William Courtney of Orange County pledged an enslaved man known as Africa to William Cain as security for 200 pounds, the bill of sale to be void if Courtney repaid the debt with interest by the following February 28. People: William Cain Sr.Orange County Deed Book 7, p. 321 (Register of Deeds images read 2026-10-01); abstract in the Register of Deeds' slave records
  4. William Cain is the largest landowner in Orange County, enslaving 30 people By 1800 William Cain owned 4,417 acres, the most of any landowner in Orange County, and enslaved 30 people at Pleasant Grove, a number he increased to 95 by 1830.Search the index · Open Durham: Pleasant Grove / Hardscrabble Plantation
  5. Hillsborough Academy reopens for boys and girls under Andrew Flinn The academy's trustees announced that it had reopened on a larger plan for youth of both sexes under the Rev. Andrew Flinn, teaching Latin, Greek, English, mathematics and bookkeeping. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, William Cain Sr., Walter AlvesInternet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915)

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 them all.

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 William Cain Sr., 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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Books about William Cain Sr.

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