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Local figure

Lydia

Hillsborough's commissioners voted in March 2021 to rename Thomas Ruffin Street as Lydia Lane for Lydia, the enslaved woman whom John Mann shot and injured as she ran from punishment. Ruffin, a Hillsborough resident, ruled in her 1829 case that slave owners could not be criminally punished for battery on an enslaved person.

Source: Chapelboro, 97.9 The Hill WCHL: Hillsborough Approves Removal of Thomas Ruffin From Street Name

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Lydia. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Lydia’s life and work. Suggest a source.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 2 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Thomas Ruffin issues the State v. Mann decision Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough, newly seated on the North Carolina Supreme Court, wrote the opinion in State v. Mann, overturning the conviction of John Mann of Edenton for shooting Lydia, an enslaved woman he had hired, as she fled a whipping. Ruffin held that a master's power must be absolute, and abolitionists later cited the ruling widely. People: Thomas Ruffin, LydiaAfrican American Intellectual History Society, Black Perspectives: Sally Greene, State v. Mann: Lydia's Journey (February 23, 2022)
  2. Hillsborough renames Thomas Ruffin Street as Lydia Lane The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to rename the street for Lydia, the enslaved woman shot by John Mann in the case Thomas Ruffin decided. All twelve households on the street had petitioned for a new name and had first proposed Hope Lane; Commissioner Mark Bell suggested using Lydia's name, and Commissioner Kathleen Ferguson made the motion to approve. People: Thomas RuffinSearch the index · Chapelboro, 97.9 The Hill WCHL: Hillsborough Approves Removal of Thomas Ruffin From Street Name

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Lydia, 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.

Research sources

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.

Background

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Lydia Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Historical records and collections

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