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Local figure

George Laws

George Laws, born in Orange County, lived about 57 years in Hillsborough and served as deputy sheriff, clerk of the county court and, by 1871, clerk of the superior court and judge of probate. In February 1871 he told a U.S. Senate committee about Black men hanged in the county by disguised white men.

Source: U.S. Senate: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States by the Select Committee of the Senate (1871), testimony of George Laws, February 15, 1871, pp. 190-191 (Internet Archive)

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to George Laws. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about George Laws’ life and work.

Search works on Racial-terror lynchings in Orange County Research sources View background reading ↓

Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineThe congressional Ku Klux hearings, 1871January–September 1871 · 22 events · In 1871 two committees of Congress took sworn testimony on the Klan in North Carolina. Before the Senate select committee in January and February, Hillsborough constable W. G. Turrentine, clerk of court George Laws and editor Josiah Turner Jr. gave opposed accounts of the jail raid, hangings and whippings in Orange; before the Joint Select Committee that summer and fall, Dr. Pride Jones told of persuading the Orange Klan to disband in 1870, and William L. Saunders refused to answer.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. George Laws becomes a deputy sheriff of Orange County Laws, a carpenter as a young man, was a deputy sheriff in 1829. He later served as clerk of court for more than thirty years. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 333
  2. Fire destroys Dr. James S. Smith's stable in Hillsborough Early on the morning of November 5, 1834, fire destroyed Dr. James S. Smith's stable in Hillsborough and some hay; a wind blowing the other way saved his house. The paper judged it the work of an arsonist and noted that George Laws's stable in town had burned in the same way one or two weeks before while his family was away. People: James Strudwick Smith, George Laws Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 5, 1834, p. 3
  3. Hillsborough men form the Washington Temperance Society of Orange County Meeting at the court house, Hillsborough men organized a Washington Temperance Society on the total-abstinence pledge, adopted a constitution and elected Col. Henry Webb president. The drive followed talks in the village by John F. Carey of the Baltimore Washingtonians, and about half the adult men of Hillsborough signed the pledge. People: James C. Turrentine, William Bingham (1835-1873), George Laws, Lemuel Lynch, Walter A. Norwood, Stephen Moore Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Henry Webb, John F. CareySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 18, 1841, p. 3
  4. Hillsborough's town commissioners have the market house moved The town commissioners voted to move the market house from its old site and named George Laws, Stephen Moore and Richeson Nichols to let the job to the lowest bidder on January 9. In August the board paid John Jones for extra work on the market house. People: George Laws, Stephen Moore Place: Market House, Hillsborough · Also named: Richeson Nichols, John JonesSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, January 7, 1847, p. 3
  5. Hillsborough hires a paid town patrol and orders town property reassessed The Hillsborough commissioners ordered two men employed to patrol the town at no more than $50 a year each, to be commissioned by the magistrate of police on a committee's recommendation, and named Josiah Turner, Stephen Moore and a third man to reassess the value of real estate in town for taxation. People: Stephen Moore, George Laws Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Josiah TurnerSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 13, 1850, p. 3
  6. Hillsborough hires two paid patrollers and widens the patrol's powers The Hillsborough commissioners adopted a committee plan for a town patrol of two men, each paid at the rate of $50 a year and serving at the board's pleasure, passed an ordinance extending the patrol's powers with arrest fees charged to the persons arrested rather than the town, and had the magistrate of police appoint R. F. Pleasants and A. Murdock as the patrol. People: George Laws Place: Hillsborough · Also named: R. F. Pleasants, A. MurdockHillsborough Recorder, February 26, 1851, p. 3
  7. Hillsborough citizens meet to bring the railroad through town on the north side of the river A meeting at the court house, chaired by Magistrate of Police O. F. Long with E. A. Heartt as secretary, heard John U. Kirkland and others argue that the North Carolina Railroad should pass through the town on the north side of the river, and named a committee including Dr. Edmund Strudwick, Dr. W. A. Norwood, Dr. Pride Jones, George Laws and W. H. Brown to report how to secure that location. People: John U. Kirkland, Edmund Strudwick, Pride Jones, George Laws, William H. Brown Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: O. F. Long, E. A. Heartt, William A. Norwood, W. A. Norwood · Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 26, 1851, p. 3
  8. George Laws becomes clerk of the Orange County court Laws succeeded Joseph Allison as clerk of the county court of pleas and quarter sessions at Hillsborough. Under the 1868 constitution he became clerk of the superior court and judge of probate. People: Joseph Allison Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 357
  9. Hillsborough lays off its common in lots and names Hillsborough Avenue and Calvin Street The Hillsborough commissioners ordered the town common south of King Street laid off in lots, Margaret Lane extended to the western town line and a 99-foot street run from King Street to the railroad. They named the wide street Hillsborough Avenue and the street parallel with the depot Calvin Street, for Calvin Graves, whose casting vote as Speaker of the Senate had carried the North Carolina Railroad bill. People: Calvin Graves, Thomas Webb, William Nelson, George Laws, John J. Freeland Place: Town common, Hillsborough · Also mentions: North Carolina Railroad, Calvin Street, King Street, Margaret LaneSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 21, 1854, p. 3
  10. Hillsborough elects a Know Nothing slate in its town elections In the town election of February 3, 1855, Hillsborough voters chose a Nativist (American Party) ticket: Lemuel Lynch as magistrate of police and James C. Turrentine, Josiah Turner Sr., George Laws, Charles M. Latimer, Levin Carmichael, Joseph Reese and J. J. Freeland as commissioners. The same year the county's congressional vote went to the Know Nothing candidate. People: George Laws, Lemuel Lynch, James C. Turrentine, John J. Freeland Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Levin Carmichael, Charles M. Latimer, Josiah Turner Sr.Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 87 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, February 7, 1855, p. 2
  11. Hillsborough re-elects Josiah Turner Sr. a town commissioner In the town election Hillsborough chose Maj. James M. Palmer magistrate of police and elected Josiah Turner Sr., George Laws, James C. Turrentine, Lemuel Lynch, Levin Carmichael, Henry Richards and A. W. Hedgepeth commissioners. The board then re-elected Robert F. Pleasants town constable and John Laws treasurer. People: Josiah Turner Sr., James M. Palmer, George Laws, James C. Turrentine, Lemuel Lynch Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Levin Carmichael, Henry Richards, A. W. Hedgepeth, Robert F. Pleasants, John LawsSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, February 6, 1856, p. 2
  12. Hillsborough's commissioners organize the town patrol into weekly companies Meeting on the evening of Saturday, April 5, the Hillsborough commissioners ordered the town collector to give the magistrate of police a list of every citizen liable for patrol duty, the night watch kept over enslaved people. A committee of the magistrate and three commissioners was to form them into companies, one to be called out each week. People: James M. Palmer, George Laws, Lemuel Lynch Place: HillsboroughHillsborough Recorder, April 9, 1856, p. 3
Show all 29 dated events
  1. The Hillsborough Savings Institution elects its directors and opens for deposits The Hillsborough Savings Institution completed its organization by electing seven directors, who chose Thomas B. Hill president and Thomas Webb cashier. The bank set Friday as its discount day and opened daily from three to four o'clock in Webb's office. People: Thomas Webb, George Laws, James C. Turrentine, Josiah Turner Sr., Thomas Blount Hill Place: Thomas Webb's office, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 4, 1859, p. 2
  2. George Laws carries the Orange magistrates' petition for a jury court to Governor Holden With no courts open in the county after the Confederate surrender, the magistrates appointed by the provisional governor petitioned for a jury court twice a year. Laws carried the petition to Governor William W. Holden, who refused it. People: William W. Holden Place: Orange CountySearch the index · U.S. Senate: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States by the Select Committee of the Senate (1871), testimony of George Laws, February 15, 1871, pp. 190-191 (Internet Archive)
  3. A special county court at Hillsborough sets the state docket for trial Sitting in special session at the Hillsborough court house, the county court ordered notice that every case on the state docket would stand for trial at the regular Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions on the fourth Monday of November, as the county's courts took up business again under the provisional government. People: George Laws Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 1, 1865, p. 3
  4. Orange elects Graham to the state Senate and Phillips to the Commons Orange voters returned William A. Graham to the state Senate, Samuel F. Phillips to the House of Commons and George Laws as clerk of the county court, while also voting for governor and Congress and on the convention's ordinances against secession and slavery. People: William A. Graham, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, George Laws Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 15, 1865, p. 2
  5. George Laws chairs the stewards of the Hillsborough Methodist church In 1866, when Hillsborough Station took in Hillsborough, Cedar Grove, Walnut Grove, Lebanon and New Sharon, Laws was chairman of its Board of Stewards. As treasurer in 1867 he told members that if they wanted preaching they must pay for it. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 88
  6. Conservatives win every Orange County office in the first election under the 1868 constitution In the three-day election on the new constitution, Orange County's Conservatives elected their entire county ticket. George Laws won the Superior Court clerkship by about 1,100 votes, John Turner the sheriff's office, Josiah Turner Jr. the state Senate seat by 863, and John Laws the register's office by about 1,500, while the county voted against the constitution by 850. People: George Laws, Josiah Turner Jr. Place: Orange County · Also named: John Turner, John LawsSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, April 29, 1868, p. 2
  7. Orange County's first elected board of commissioners takes office Elected in April 1868 at the election that ratified the new constitution, five commissioners qualified at the courthouse and chose Lemuel Lynch chairman, replacing the old county court of justices. Within days the newly elected sheriff, treasurer, register of deeds and clerk of superior court gave their bonds. People: John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson, David C. Parks, George Laws, Lemuel Lynch, William N. Patterson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 193 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, April 29, 1868, p. 2
  8. Three barns burn on one night after a Black tenant family is evicted in southwestern Orange After William M. Jones had a Black tenant family turned out by a writ of possession, served by officer James F. Minor with Jesse W. Morrow helping, the barns of all three men, newly filled with wheat, burned within the same ten minutes one night after harvest, according to George Laws, clerk of the superior court, testifying before the Senate committee on February 15, 1871. Laws said evidence in his court showed Jeff Morrow, a Black man, had meant to have satisfaction after harvest, and that the disguised men who took two prisoners from the Hillsborough jail and hanged others acted over these burnings; constable W. G. Turrentine counted two barns, and said the one prisoner tried on the charge was acquitted. Two Alamance men who admitted White Brotherhood membership, W. S. Bradshaw and George S. Rogers, also described barns burned in one night in that neighborhood near the Alamance line, Rogers placing it in 1868, and Josiah Turner Jr. testified that the fires came just after harvest. People: George Laws Place: southwestern Orange County, near the Chatham and Alamance lines · Also named: William M. Jones, James F. Minor, Jesse W. Morrow, Jeff Morrow, Josiah Turner Jr., W. G. Turrentine · Also mentions: Hillsborough jailU.S. Senate, Select Committee, Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States (1871), p. 191
  9. Hillsborough men ask Governor Holden to commission Pride Jones against the Klan On March 5, 1870 six Hillsborough men, among them J. W. Norwood, James Webb and Henry K. Nash, recommended to Governor Holden that Pride Jones be made a militia captain to put down night riding. Holden sent the commission on March 7 and Jones accepted on March 9. The raids soon stopped, and Jones resigned after four weeks. People: William W. Holden, Pride Jones, George Laws, John Wall Norwood, Henry Kollock Nash Place: Orange County · Also named: James WebbTrial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 2, pp. 1158-1164 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
  10. Black voters keep a committee at the ballot box in the Orange County election At the August 1870 election in Orange County, which he called quiet and orderly, Black voters kept a committee at the ballot box to guard it and inspect the votes, according to the testimony of George Laws, Conservative clerk of the superior court, before the Senate committee on February 15, 1871. Laws gave it in answer to a question about intimidation among Black voters; he also said two or three Black Conservatives in Hillsborough had been much abused for their votes but held out, and that about twenty Black men there now voted Conservative. People: George Laws Place: Orange CountySearch the index · U.S. Senate, Select Committee, Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States (1871), p. 196
  11. Disguised men calling themselves Red Birds whip four people near Hillsborough Disguised men who called themselves Red Birds and dressed in red whipped two women and two young men of about twenty at a house about three miles from Hillsborough, tore off its roof, knocked down the chimney and set it on fire, according to the testimony of Hillsborough constable W. G. Turrentine before the Senate committee on January 31, 1871. Turrentine, who saw the wrecked house when he went to make arrests, said it was thought to have been aimed at a disorderly house. George Laws, testifying on February 15, described what seems to be the same affair five or six miles from town as neighborhood fathers breaking up a disorderly house, with the boys paddled and the roof torn off, and said it was not the Ku Klux. The one man arrested on Turrentine's warrant was discharged by a magistrate after his sister-in-law and a Dr. William Strudwick swore he had been too drunk that evening to sit his horse. People: George Laws Place: about three miles from Hillsborough, Orange County · Also named: W. G. Turrentine, William StrudwickSearch the index · U.S. Senate, Select Committee, Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States (1871), p. 44
  12. U.S. Senate committee hears Orange County testimony on Klan violence A Senate select committee created on January 19, 1871 took testimony in Washington on Klan violence in North Carolina. Orange County witnesses, including Hillsborough constable W. G. Turrentine, court clerk George Laws and editor Josiah Turner Jr., described the 1869 jail raid, hangings and whippings in the county. The committee reported on March 10, 1871. People: George Laws, Josiah Turner Jr. Place: Countywide · Also named: W. G. TurrentineU.S. Senate: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States by the Select Committee of the Senate, March 10, 1871 (Internet Archive)
  13. Clerk of court George Laws testifies on Orange County before the Senate committee George Laws of Hillsborough, clerk of the Orange superior court and judge of probate, testified before the Senate select committee in Washington on February 15, 1871. A Conservative, he described the jail raid and three hangings of Black men, said no one had been brought to justice for them because no evidence could be had, credited the Ku Klux with checking thefts by freedpeople after the war, and said the county had been quiet for eighteen months and that a Black man could get justice in its courts. The committee majority quoted him as proof that Klan crimes in Orange went unpunished. People: George Laws Place: Washington, D.C.U.S. Senate, Select Committee, Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States (1871), p. 190
  14. Senator Graham of Orange introduces a charter for the Bank of Hillsboro Senator Graham of Orange introduced a charter making Thomas B. Hill, C. M. Latimer, Thomas Webb, George Laws, D. C. Parks, J. Y. Whitted, P. C. Cameron, James Webb Jr. and others the Bank of Hillsboro, with capital up to $200,000. People: Thomas Webb, George Laws, David C. Parks, Paul C. Cameron, James Webb Jr., Thomas Blount Hill Place: Senate, Raleigh · Also named: C. M. Latimer, J. Y. WhittedSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, December 13, 1871, p. 3
  15. Orange County elects the whole Conservative ticket In the August election Orange elected its whole Conservative ticket, with Thomas H. Hughes as sheriff, George Laws clerk, D. C. Parks treasurer, John Laws register, Dr. T. J. Wilson coroner and A. M. Leathers surveyor. The county gave Joseph J. Davis a majority of over 500 for Congress and favored John Kerr for judge over Thomas Ruffin. People: George Laws, David C. Parks, John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson Place: Orange County · Also named: Thomas H. Hughes, John Laws, T. J. Wilson, A. M. Leathers, Joseph J. Davis, John Kerr, Thomas RuffinSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 12, 1874, p. 3
  16. Dr. Pride Jones is appointed clerk of Orange Superior Court after George Laws's death Judge John A. Gilmer appointed Dr. Pride Jones of Hillsborough clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County to fill the place of the late George Laws, and the county commissioners accepted his bond on May 28. People: Pride Jones, George Laws Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: John A. GilmerSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 28, 1881, p. 3
  17. George Laws dies in office as Orange County's clerk of superior court The Orange County Observer of May 14, 1881 reported the death of George Laws, who at the time was judge of probate and clerk of the superior court of Orange County after some fifty years in the county's service. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 14, 1881, p. 2 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 14, 1881, p. 3

After their death in 1881

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

  1. Dr. Pride Jones serves as Orange County clerk of superior court Dr. Pride Jones followed George Laws, clerk for thirty years, as clerk of the superior court of Orange County and held the office from 1883 to 1888, when Samuel M. Gattis succeeded him. People: Pride Jones, George Laws, Samuel Mallett Gattis Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 357

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 3 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.

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as George Laws, 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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Background on Racial-terror lynchings in Orange County

Background reading on Racial-terror lynchings in Orange County. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss George Laws. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Orange County, N.C. Road Records

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2008

Three volumes of historic Orange County road records compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway and self-published through Lulu.com in 2008, with maps. The documents, reproduced as facsimiles and sometimes transcribed, include petitions for new roads, requests for road upkeep, bridge records and papers explaining why roads were rerouted. Road petitions name the householders along a route. The third volume also gathers records connected with Cyrus Guy's lynching in Orange County in 1869.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 388.1 ORANGE NC Cardinal Durham

John H. Wheeler (1806-1882) Diaries and Papers

Wheeler, John H. · 1854

Diaries and papers of John Hill Wheeler of Hertford County, historian, legislator, state treasurer from 1843 to 1845 and minister to Nicaragua from 1854 to 1857. The diaries, a broken run from 1854 to 1882, follow his social and political life in Washington, D.C. University commencements at Chapel Hill and his work on North Carolina history also come up. State Archives of North Carolina, MfP.51.

State Archives of NC

Calvin J. Cowles (1821-1907) Papers

Cowles, Calvin J. (Calvin Josiah), 1821-1907 · 1817

Papers of Calvin J. Cowles, 1817 to 1885. A Wilkes County merchant, Cowles was a Unionist Whig and later a Republican, presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1868 and ran the United States Branch Mint at Charlotte from 1869 to 1884. Early letters involve his father and business partner Josiah of Surry County. Reconstruction, Governor W. W. Holden and Orange County come up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.111.

State Archives of NC

David L. Swain papers, 1807-1877 (bulk 1833-1868)

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868 · 1807

David L. Swain, 1801 to 1868, served as governor of North Carolina and then as president of the university at Chapel Hill. His papers span 1807 to 1877 with the bulk from 1833 to 1868. Subjects include Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Elisha Mitchell, W. W. Holden and Thomas Ruffin, and cover state politics, railroads, and records of enslaved people. Microfilm reels were made in 1949 and 1974.

UNC

William Andrew Jeffreys (1817-1845) and Family Papers

Jeffreys family · 1786

Papers of William Andrew Jeffreys, Franklin County lawyer and state senator, and his uncle Robert N. Jeffreys of Wake County, 1786 to 1883. They include grand jury indictments and road reports from 1839 to 1842, an 1844 plan for a literary, scientific and military academy in Raleigh, and family letters on plantations, slavery, politics and travel. Chapel Hill and the Hillsborough Military Academy come up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.66.

State Archives of NC

Crabtree Jones Papers

Jones family · 1771

Papers of the Jones family of Crabtree in Wake County, 1771 to 1940: planter and legislator Nathaniel Jones (died 1828), his son Kimbrough Jones (died 1866), Mary Warren Jones, and Kimbrough Jones Jr. and his wife Mary Green Jones. Topics include plantations and enslaved people, cotton, politics and the Civil War. Chapel Hill also comes up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.105.

State Archives of NC
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John Heritage Bryan (1798-1870) Collection

Bryan, John Heritage, 1798-1870 · 1716

Papers of John Heritage Bryan (1798 to 1870), New Bern lawyer, legislator and Whig congressman from 1825 to 1829, dating 1716 to 1907. His letters mostly follow social life in the towns and plantations of eastern North Carolina, chiefly New Bern and Raleigh, from the 1820s to the 1860s, and touch the university at Chapel Hill and the Hillsborough Academy.

State Archives of NC

Lynchings (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Undated newspaper clippings and photocopied articles on lynchings, gathered in the Chapel Hill History series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection.

CH Historical Society

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