Local figure
Washington Duke farmed in Orange County, in the part that became Durham County in 1881, where he finished the house now called Duke Homestead in 1852 and turned from cotton to tobacco in 1859. Before the Civil War he bought an enslaved girl, Caroline, in 1855 and leased the labor of an enslaved man, Jim, in 1863.
Source: NC Historic Sites: Washington Duke the Farmer
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Washington Duke. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Washington Duke’s life and work.
Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.
Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 8 dated events in the chronology →
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 1 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.
People named in the same dated entries as Washington Duke, 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.
Background reading on Farm labor in rural Orange County. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss Washington Duke. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Billy, young son of the sharecropper Compton, takes down tobacco for grading and stripping in the strip house near Carr, September 1939. Marion Post Wolcott's Farm Security Administration photograph records child labor on a Black family's tobacco farm. One safety film negative.
The Comptons, African American sharecroppers near Carr, strip and grade their tobacco in September 1939. Their landlord, also Black, lived in Mebane. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration; one safety film negative.
Marion Post Wolcott photographed the sharecropper Compton and his wife stripping and grading tobacco near Carr in September 1939. Their landlord was a Black man living in Mebane, part of a prosperous African American farming settlement in northern Orange County. Farm Security Administration safety film negative, up to 3 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches.
A Black sharecropper and two wage hands shuck corn for their landlord, a white woman, on the road to Cedar Grove west of Highway 14. Marion Post Wolcott made the frame for the Farm Security Administration in September 1939, tied to her notes on the subregion for 28 September. One safety film negative.
A Black sharecropper and two wage hands shuck corn for their landlord, a white woman, on the road to Cedar Grove west of Highway 14. Marion Post Wolcott made the Farm Security Administration photograph, probably in September 1939. One 35 mm nitrate negative.
Untitled Marion Post Wolcott frame from September 1939 in the series on the Compton family, African American sharecroppers near Carr, stripping and grading tobacco with a Black landlord based in Mebane. Farm Security Administration safety film negative, up to 3 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches.
An African American sharecropper and two hired hands shuck corn for their landlord, a white woman, on the road to Cedar Grove west of Highway 14. This untitled frame is probably part of that September 1939 series by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. One safety film negative.
Cedar Grove, about September 1939: an untitled frame probably related to Marion Post Wolcott's Farm Security Administration picture of a Black sharecropper and two wage hands shucking corn for a white woman landlord, on the road west of Highway 14. One 35 mm nitrate negative.
Another untitled frame from Marion Post Wolcott's Cedar Grove photographs of about September 1939, probably related to her picture of a Black sharecropper and two wage hands shucking corn for their landlord, a white woman, west of Highway 14. Farm Security Administration; one 35 mm nitrate negative.
Corn shucking on the road to Cedar Grove, west of Highway 14, about September 1939. This untitled Marion Post Wolcott frame probably belongs with her picture of a Black sharecropper and two wage hands working for a white woman landlord. Farm Security Administration; one 35 mm nitrate negative.
Untitled Marion Post Wolcott negative, probably September 1939, possibly part of her series on the road to Cedar Grove showing a Black sharecropper and two wage hands shucking corn for a white woman landowner. Farm Security Administration; one 35 mm nitrate negative.
Corn shucking near Cedar Grove, about September 1939: an untitled Farm Security Administration frame by Marion Post Wolcott, possibly related to her photographs of a Black sharecropper and two hired hands working for a white landlady west of Highway 14. One 35 mm nitrate negative.
Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.
Robert F. Durden follows Washington Duke and his sons Benjamin N. and James B. Duke from 1865 to 1929, as the family moved from tobacco into textiles and electric power in the Piedmont Carolinas. Drawing on manuscripts not used before, he argues that the Duke Endowment of 1924 grew out of family giving begun in the 1890s and led by Ben Duke. Duke University Press published the book in 1975 and reissued it in 1987.
Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.
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