John Wesley Carr

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 18 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1843 John Wesley Carr buys his mother-in-law's Franklin Street house Carr married Elizabeth, daughter of Martha Bullock, in 1839; the couple moved in with her in 1841, and in 1843 he bought Martha Bullock's house. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Martha Bullock, Elizabeth Bullock CarrSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 75
2. January 2, 1843 Matthew McCauley Jr.'s assignee in bankruptcy sells his land and six enslaved people to John W. Carr After McCauley was declared bankrupt, his assignee conveyed to John W. Carr 450 acres then held by McCauley's mother, Martha McCauley, next to Ilai W. Nunn; 160 acres next to W. H. Merritt; and six enslaved people, Abram, Patsey, Ben, Sarah, Isaac and Charity. People: Matthew McCauley Jr., John Wesley Carr Place: Orange County · Also named: Martha McCauleySearch the index · Orange County Register of Deeds: sales of enslaved people, 1761-1867 (abstract of Deed Book 30, p. 239) · Also: Orange County Indexed: the record of Deed Book 30/239, with everyone named in it; Mark Chilton’s abstract of Deed Book 30/239, in Orange County Indexed’s historic deeds
3. October 12, 1845 Julian Shakespeare Carr, later Carrboro's namesake, is born in Chapel Hill Julian S. Carr was born in Chapel Hill on October 12, 1845, the son of the Franklin Street merchant John Wesley Carr, and later studied at the university. He built tobacco, banking and textile fortunes in Durham, and his Durham Hosiery Mills went on to own both Carrboro mills; the town took his name in 1913. People: Julian S. Carr, John Wesley Carr Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetUNC Wilson Library, Southern Historical Collection: Julian Shakespeare Carr Papers (#00141), biographical note · Also: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro Inventory
4. 1846 University sells the Franklin and Columbia street oak grove to John W. Carr The trustees conveyed to the merchant John W. Carr, for $300, the oak grove at the northwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets where villagers gathered to hear candidates speak. It was one of several sales of university land to villagers in the middle 1840s. People: John Wesley Carr Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin and Columbia streetsSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 611
5. 24 February 1846 Two Chapel Hill justices ask the county court to hold Lucy Truelove's case until the child's parentage is clearer Justices J. W. Carr and Samuel S. Claytor, who had examined Lucy Truelove in January when she named William B. Vanderford, a Chapel Hill blacksmith, as the father of her newborn, wrote that some townspeople doubted whether the child's father was a white man or a man of color, and recommended that the court suspend action until time showed. People: John Wesley Carr Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Lucy Truelove, William B. Vanderford, Samuel S. ClaytorSearch the index · Mark Chilton, Natural Child: Legitimacy, Sexuality and Shame in the Court Records of Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
6. 1847 John Wesley Carr builds a home and store at Franklin and Columbia Carr built his house west of the middle of Lot #7 and a store on its southeast corner at Columbia Street. The store burned partly in the January 1862 fire but stayed in business, and the maps show Carr's general merchandise there through 1868. People: John Wesley Carr Place: Carr house and store, Lot #7, Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Columbia StreetSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 81
7. February 1852 John W. Carr sits as a justice of the county court Carr was one of five justices holding the February 1852 term of the Orange County court, which elected a Board of Superintendents of Common Schools and set the county tax. People: John U. Kirkland, William Nelson, Harrison Parker, John J. Freeland Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 181
8. May 23, 1854 Orange's Whig and Democratic conventions agree to put the liquor question to the voters A joint committee of the Whig and Democratic conventions agreed, and both conventions adopted, that their nominees would follow the majority of Orange voters on liquor legislation, that the question would be decided by ballots for and against at the August election with the sheriff opening polls for it, and that nominees would not treat voters. People: Edmund Strudwick, John Wesley Carr Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 31, 1854, p. 3
9. after 1855 Chapel Hill merchants, John W. Carr among them, agree not to sell to minor students on credit After the state's new laws on student contracts were sent to them, most of the village merchants pledged not to sell on credit to students under age without written leave from a parent or guardian, for eighteen months and subject to the faculty's approval. John W. Carr was one of nine signers. People: Andrew Mickle Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 647
10. January 17, 1862 Fire destroys Robert Loder's clothing store Robert Loder's store near Franklin and Columbia burned on Friday, January 17, 1862, with a large stock of soldiers' clothing, and the fire crossed Columbia Street to John Wesley Carr's store before it was put out. People: John Wesley Carr Place: Loder's clothing store, Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert Loder · Also mentions: Columbia StreetBernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 107 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, January 22, 1862, p. 3
11. June 27, 1868 The Court of Wardens of the Poor holds its last meeting The seven-member wardens' court, which had run poor relief and the county poorhouse, met for the last time before the new board of county commissioners took over its work. People: Lemuel Lynch, John Wesley Carr, James C. Turrentine, Nelson Parrish Hall Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 188
12. August 5, 1869 Orange County holds its first township elections Voters in each township chose magistrates, a clerk, a constable and school committeemen for the first time. In Chapel Hill Township 540 of 565 registered voters cast ballots. People: Jones Watson, Andrew Mickle, John Wesley Carr, Merritt Cheek, John R. Hutchins Place: Chapel Hill TownshipSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 196