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Local figure

Charles Manly

Charles Manly (1795–1871), an 1814 graduate, served as a University of North Carolina trustee from 1821 to 1849 and from 1850 to 1868 and sat for years on the trustees' executive committee. Manly Residence Hall, completed in 1922, bears his name and his brother Matthias's. A lawyer and slaveholder, he was governor from 1849 to 1851.

Source: The Carolina Story: Charles Manly (1795-1871), and Matthias Manly and Manly Residence Hall

1795–1871 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

2 works about Charles Manly are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineThe University’s debts and the sale of its Tennessee lands, 1830–18371830–1837 · 11 events · With debts of about $37,500 and only some 82 paying students in 1830, the University's trustees refused the General Assembly's terms for help and sold property instead. The Assembly offered a $25,000 loan only as a lien on all University property, with the legislature free to take over the charter, and the trustees refused. They sold the Grammar School lot and, in 1833, their Bank of Newbern stock. In 1835 a new executive committee sent Treasurer Charles Manly to Tennessee, where 42,345 acres plus the 20,000 Smith acres went to Orme and Gifford of Boston. In 1837 the endowment went into Bank of the State shares, whose dividends, with tuition, made up the University's income until the Civil War. StorylineDividing Orange: the fight that made Alamance County, 1842–18511842–1851 · 16 events · From 1842 to 1849 Orange County fought over division and over a tax for a new courthouse that western voters saw as a move to fix the county seat and block division. In 1842 a meeting at the High Falls of Haw River resolved to keep petitioning for a central division, and voters rejected one. After the county court laid an $8,000 courthouse tax in 1844, meetings called the tax unjust, but voters rejected division again, by 292 votes. In 1849 a bill introduced by Giles Mebane created Alamance County west of a line nine miles west of Hillsborough, Orange voters approved it on April 19, and the new county's court first met on June 4.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 24 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. University trustees sell their Bank of Newbern stock at auction to pay bank debts On the board's order, the trustees' 211 shares in the Bank of Newbern were sold at public auction for $15,208.56, the buyers including John Snead of Newbern, Col. William Polk and Alfred Jones. The money went at once to the State Bank and the Bank of Newbern toward the university's debts to them. People: William Polk, Charles Manly Place: University of North Carolina (trustees' business) · Also named: John Snead, Alfred JonesSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), January 9, 1834, p. 1
  2. The university treasurer reports the trustees nearly clear of bank debt Treasurer Charles Manly reported that the State Bank had sued the trustees in Wake County court for the rest of its debt, that the judgment was paid with a loan from the Bank of the United States at Fayetteville, and that Tennessee land money received from Samuel Dickens in October 1833 had paid off that loan. The board still owed the Bank of Newbern $1,500, due in April 1834. People: Charles Manly, James Webb Place: University of North Carolina (trustees' business) · Also named: Samuel DickensSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), January 9, 1834, p. 1
  3. Trustees create an executive committee to run the university At Duncan Cameron's instance the board placed management in a seven-member executive committee including the governor, with the powers of the land, appointments and building committees and the right to change studies and dismiss faculty. The first members were Cameron, George E. Badger, William McPheeters, Charles Manly, Frederick Nash, William A. Graham and Governor Swain. People: Duncan Cameron, David L. Swain, Frederick Nash, William A. Graham, George E. Badger, Charles Manly, William McPheeters Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 399
  4. Trustees sell off the university's Tennessee lands On resolutions drafted by Duncan Cameron, the executive committee sent Charles Manly to Tennessee to close out the lands with agent Samuel Dickens, and 42,345 acres plus the 20,000 Smith acres went to Orme and Gifford of Boston for $56,345.83. Manly's report of November 21, 1835 counted assets of $171,658, which he reckoned would carry the university's yearly costs with a surplus. People: Duncan Cameron, David L. Swain, Charles Manly Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Samuel DickensSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 400
  5. Charles Manly gives the address before the alumni at commencement At the 1838 commencement in Chapel Hill, Charles Manly, secretary and treasurer of the university's trustees, gave the address before the alumni, an earnest plea for pride in the university. Congressman William B. Shepard gave the annual address. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William B. ShepardSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 438
  6. Seceders try to form a third literary society, the Delphian Members who had left the Dialectic Society, joined by one from the Philanthropic, asked the trustees on November 29, 1838 to recognize a Delphian Society and give it a third of the society rooms. In January 1839 the trustees found a third society inexpedient, and after a hearing at Chapel Hill and an appeal by Charles Manly the Delphians disbanded. People: Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 446
  7. Alumni gather at Chapel Hill and organize the university's Alumni Association Graduates meeting at commencement organized the Alumni Association with former governor Morehead in the chair. At the 1844 meeting they adopted a constitution and chose Morehead as the association's first president. People: John Motley Morehead, William A. Graham, Charles Phillips, William Horn Battle, Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 1 (1907), full text · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, October 13, 1983, p. 3
  8. Swain reports the Chapel of the Cross walls up to a plan by Thomas U. Walter Writing to Charles Manly, university president David L. Swain noted that the Episcopalians had raised the brick walls of their church and that it was planned by Walter of Philadelphia. The nomination treats this letter as the main evidence that architect Thomas U. Walter designed the chapel, which had long been credited to Richard Upjohn. People: David L. Swain, Charles Manly Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas U. WalterSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel of the Cross, National Register nomination (OR0005), p. 6
  9. Whigs hold a two-day mass meeting on the Alamance battleground Whigs from Orange, Wake and neighboring counties camped for two days on the ground of the 1771 Battle of Alamance, hearing George E. Badger, Henry K. Nash, Henry W. Miller, Charles Manly, Ralph Gorrell and others tie the Regulators' cause to their own. Michael Shoffner, who owned the land, declared that the ground should henceforth belong to the nation in memory of the battle, and on October 11 Hillsborough's Whigs met the returning Wake delegation with a procession and a supper at the Masonic Hall. People: George E. Badger, Charles Manly, William A. Graham, Henry Kollock Nash Place: Regulator battleground on Great Alamance Creek, Orange County (now Alamance County) · Also named: Henry W. Miller, Ralph Gorrell, Michael ShoffnerSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 17, 1844, p. 3
  10. The university awards Isaac J. Collier and Kendall B. Waitt the contract for the Old East and Old West additions On December 23, 1844, Collier and Waitt won the contract to build A. J. Davis's three-story brick additions to Old East and Old West, at $9,360. They subcontracted the masonry to Dabney Cosby; the next day trustee secretary Charles Manly asked that they hire his enslaved carpenters. People: Isaac J. Collier, Alexander Jackson Davis, Dabney Cosby, Charles Manly, Kendall B. Waitt Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · North Carolina Architects and Builders, NC State University Libraries: Collier, Isaac J. (b. ca. 1810)
  11. Dialectic and Philanthropic societies draw lots for the east and west buildings The trustees had the society presidents, William M. Howerton and Matt W. Ransom, cast lots before Governor Graham, President Swain and Charles Manly; the Philanthropic won the east side and the Dialectic the west, and South Building rooms facing north went to the Phis and those facing south to the Dis. The arrangement lasted until 1868. People: Matt W. Ransom, William A. Graham, David L. Swain, Charles Manly Place: Old East · Also named: William M. HowertonSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 513
  12. The legislature passed the act creating Alamance County from western Orange The General Assembly ratified an act on January 29, 1849, to lay off Alamance County from the part of Orange west of a line nine miles west of Hillsborough, if Orange voters approved. They voted for division 1,257 to 1,001 on April 19, and Governor Charles Manly proclaimed the act in force on April 24, 1849. People: Charles Manly Place: Alamance (then Orange)Hillsborough Recorder, May 2, 1849, p. 3 (DigitalNC): Governor Charles Manly's proclamation of April 24, 1849 on the division of Orange
Show all 23 dated events
  1. Governor Manly declares the Alamance County acts in force After the sheriff of Orange certified the division vote, Governor Charles Manly proclaimed that a majority had voted for division and that the act laying off Alamance County and its supplement, both ratified January 29, 1849, were in full force. People: Charles Manly Place: RaleighHillsborough Recorder, May 2, 1849, p. 3
  2. Democrats win the Orange and Alamance Senate seat and all four Commons seats In the state election, voters of Orange and Alamance, still voting together for the legislature, chose Capt. John Berry for the Senate and Cadwallader Jones Jr., Daniel A. Montgomery, Bartlett Durham and George Patterson for the Commons, all Democrats, over the Whig ticket headed by Chesley F. Faucett. The two counties also gave David S. Reid 1,855 votes for governor to Gov. Charles Manly's 1,634, reversing Manly's narrow lead there in 1848. People: John Berry, Charles Manly, Cadwallader Jones Place: Orange and Alamance counties · Also named: Daniel A. Montgomery, Bartlett Durham, George Patterson, Chesley F. FaucettSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 7, 1850, p. 3
  3. Trustees set up a system of county escheators Rather than surrender the university's right to escheated property, the trustees made the treasurer principal escheator and had him appoint a lawyer in each county to find escheated land and unclaimed estates, paid ten percent of what they recovered. Treasurer Charles Manly's salary was raised to $1,000 for the added work. People: David L. Swain, Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 622
  4. President Swain argues that the trustees' executive committee has no power to dismiss a professor Writing to trustee secretary Charles Manly, Swain read the charter to mean that only the full board could remove a professor, and only for misbehavior, inability or neglect of duty. He urged the committee to wait for the annual meeting and to charge Hedrick, if at all, with breaking university usage rather than with his opinions. People: David L. Swain, Charles Manly, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 30
  5. Hedrick reports 14 scientific students and 44 seniors in his chemistry courses Asking the trustees for a full hearing, Hedrick described his scientific course: 14 students had enrolled in it that session and 44 seniors had chosen his subjects in place of the regular course. He asked the board to move carefully over a school in which he had staked a great deal. People: Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, Charles Manly Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 34
  6. The university's Alumni Association elects Paul C. Cameron its president Called to order by Walter L. Steele of Richmond County, the Alumni Association elected Paul C. Cameron of Orange its president by acclamation. Governor Charles Manly conducted him to the chair, and Cameron formed the alumni into procession by year of graduation, from 1796, before they marched to their hall for business. People: Paul C. Cameron, Charles Manly, Francis L. Hawks Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Walter L. SteeleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Gazette, June 6, 1857, p. 2
  7. The university confers degrees on sixty-nine graduates After the annual report was read on commencement day, the university conferred degrees on sixty-nine members of the graduating class, the faculty giving each a bound Bible, and awarded master's degrees in course to about twenty earlier graduates. Governor Bragg and nine other trustees attended. People: Thomas Bragg, David L. Swain, William A. Graham, William Horn Battle, Charles Manly, Giles Mebane Place: Gerard Hall, University, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Gazette, June 6, 1857, p. 2
  8. The trustees' executive committee votes Elisha Mitchell's widow his salary and divides his duties Meeting in Raleigh after news of Elisha Mitchell's death, the trustees' executive committee voted his widow the rest of his half-year salary and the use of their house to the end of the year, and authorized President Swain to share out Mitchell's teaching and his duties as bursar among the faculty, appointing tutors if needed, for the session. People: Thomas Bragg, David L. Swain, Charles Manly Place: Executive Office, Raleigh, for the University at Chapel Hill · Also named: Maria North Mitchell, Elisha MitchellSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Gazette, July 25, 1857, p. 2
  9. Confederate War Department refuses to exempt underclassmen When the exemption Jefferson Davis had granted proved to cover only juniors and seniors, the trustees on March 5, 1864 had the petition sent to Secretary of War Seddon, showing that drafting the lower classes would add almost no soldiers. Seddon refused on March 10, and the students liable to conscription volunteered. People: Charles Manly Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Jefferson Davis, SeddonDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 733 · Also: Seddon's reply: Stephen B. Weeks, The University of North Carolina in the Civil War
  10. Trustees mortgage all university property to settle its debts Facing $103,000 of debt against worthless bank stock and Confederate securities, the trustees compromised with the Bank of North Carolina and other creditors at a quarter of the debt in gold, pledging all the university's property at Chapel Hill and its Buncombe County lands. The General Assembly also voted $7,000 for one year to pay the officers. People: Thomas Bragg, David L. Swain, Charles Manly, Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 755
  11. Swain protests his removal to Governor Holden Learning that the new Reconstruction trustees had declared his 1867 resignation final, David L. Swain wrote Governor William W. Holden, as chairman of the board, that no charge had been made against him and that a resignation accepted by a board that no longer existed could not be revived. He asked for reconsideration, but died later that month. People: David L. Swain, William W. Holden, Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 777

After their death in 1871

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

  1. Manly Residence Hall is completed and named for Charles and Matthias Manly Manly Residence Hall, finished in 1922, carries the names of Charles Manly, a trustee from 1821 to 1868 and governor from 1849 to 1851, and his brother Matthias Manly, a judge and trustee from 1874 to 1881. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Matthias E. ManlySearch the index · The Carolina Story: Charles Manly (1795-1871), and Matthias Manly and Manly Residence Hall

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Charles Manly, 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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Indexed works

Works about or by Charles Manly. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Letter: David Lowery Swain to Governor Charles Manly, August 15, 1862

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868 · 1862

Letter of 15 August 1862 from David L. Swain at Chapel Hill to Charles Manly about plans for the inauguration of the newly elected governor, Zebulon Vance. Two images. Swain, president of the university, had been governor himself, as had Manly, who served from 1849 to 1851.

Included because: Its title names this person.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

David L. Swain (1801-1868) Papers

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868 · 1763

Papers of David L. Swain, 1763 to 1895. A Buncombe County lawyer and legislator, Swain was governor from 1832 to 1835, president of the university at Chapel Hill from 1835 to 1867 and a founder of the North Carolina Historical Society. Letters come from business partners D. L. Barringer and Nicholas W. Woodfin and from relatives in Georgia, Texas and the navy. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.84.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

State Archives of NC

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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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