Charles F. Deems

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 7 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1842–1848 Charles F. Deems joins the UNC faculty President David L. Swain brought Deems, a young Methodist preacher, onto the faculty in 1842 as adjunct professor of rhetoric and logic, to have a Methodist among the professors. He resigned in 1848 for Randolph-Macon College. People: David L. Swain Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Deems, Charles Force
2. 1840s Charles F. Deems preaches to Chapel Hill Methodists in the hall he names Bethesda While a professor, Deems preached to the village Methodists, at their invitation, in the upper story of Jesse Hargrave's store, a former Masonic lodge room he named Bethesda. After he left the university in 1848, ministers were regularly appointed to the Chapel Hill charge. People: Jesse Hargrave Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, Volume I
3. July 1853 Chapel Hill's Methodists dedicate their first church In July 1853 the Methodist congregation that became University Methodist Church dedicated its first building, at Rosemary and Henderson streets, paid for with about $5,000 that its pastor J. Milton Frost had raised around the state. The congregation had met since about 1840, with Charles F. Deems preaching in the 1840s and Frost stationed there from January 1851. People: Charles F. Deems Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: J. Milton Frost · Also mentions: Rosemary and Henderson streets, University Methodist ChurchSearch the index · University United Methodist Church, Chapel Hill: History · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952; The Daily Tar Heel, October 3, 1975, p. 1
4. December 19, 1859 University trustees elect Charles F. Deems professor of history and elocution Meeting on the evening of Monday, December 19, the university trustees elected the Rev. Charles F. Deems of Wilson professor of history and elocution, at the same session that chose the Rev. Andrew Hepburn of Virginia for rhetoric, logic and metaphysics. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Andrew HepburnSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, January 4, 1860, p. 2
5. June 2, 1864 The university graduates seven seniors at a thin wartime commencement The University of North Carolina held its 1864 commencement with seven graduates, the remnant of sixty-eight freshmen of 1860-61. The student body had fallen from seventy-three during the year to thirty-six at its end as young men left for the army, there were no outside addresses, and Governor Vance attended. People: Walter Clark, Charles F. Deems, Zebulon B. Vance Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 15, 1864, p. 2
6. June 6, 1877 Charles F. Deems preaches the commencement sermon and receives an honorary degree At the 1877 commencement, Deems, then pastor of the Church of the Strangers in New York, preached the baccalaureate sermon, and the university conferred on him the honorary Doctor of Laws. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, Volume II · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 13, 1877, p. 3
7. December 20, 1879 Charles F. Deems starts the Deems Fund for student loans Deems sent the university $300 to begin a fund lending both principal and interest to students on security, in memory of his son Theodore Disosway Deems, who was born in Chapel Hill and killed at Gettysburg. William H. Vanderbilt later added $10,000 through him. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Theodore Disosway Deems, William H. VanderbiltSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, Volume II