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Hugh McAden

Hugh McAden, a Presbyterian licentiate on a year's mission through the Carolinas, preached to the settlement on the Eno on the second Sabbath of August 1755, lodging at John Anderson's, and two weeks later at the Hawfields. His journal is the first surviving record of a missionary's visit to either congregation.

Source: Documenting the American South: William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina (1846), p. 225

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

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Hugh McAden preaches to the Eno Presbyterian settlers On August 10, 1755 the missionary Hugh McAden preached at Eno to a Presbyterian community already settled near the river, southeast of present Cedar Grove; the congregation counts its beginning from these years. The settlers asked Hanover Presbytery for supply preachers in 1756, and by church tradition the congregation was formally organized during the Synod mission of 1764. People: Hugh McAdenSearch the index · Documenting the American South: William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina (1846), pp. 166, 225-226, quoting Hugh McAden's journal of 1755
  2. Presbyterians found Hawfields Church Hawfields Presbyterian Church was founded in the part of Orange County that is now eastern Alamance. Henry Pattillo later served as its pastor. People: Henry Pattillo, Hugh McAdenSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 294
  3. Hugh McAden preaches to the Eno and Hawfields settlements The traveling Presbyterian licentiate Hugh McAden preached to the Eno settlement on the second Sabbath of August 1755, lodging at John Anderson's house, and rode on to preach at the Hawfields on the fourth Sabbath. His journal is the earliest surviving description of either settlement. People: Hugh McAdenSearch the index · Documenting the American South: William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina
  4. Hugh McAden returns to preach at the Hawfields and on the Eno Heading home at the end of his year-long mission, McAden stopped again at John Anderson's on the Eno, preached at the Hawfields on Tuesday, April 27, 1756, and at Eno the next day, then rode on to the Hico settlement.Search the index · Documenting the American South: William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina (1846), p. 175
  5. Little River Presbyterian Church is organized Hugh McAden led the organization of Little River Presbyterian Church, with Henry Pattillo as its first pastor. People: Henry Pattillo, Hugh McAdenLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 295
  6. Presbyterian ministers, among them Henry Pattillo of Orange, write against the Regulation While Tryon toured Rowan and Mecklenburg to raise troops, Presbyterian ministers Hugh McAden, James Creswell, Henry Pattillo and David Caldwell sent him a letter of loyalty condemning the Regulators, and the pastors also wrote to the colony's Presbyterians telling them to keep out of the movement. The letter was read to the Rowan militia and helped raise volunteers for the march on Hillsborough. People: Henry Pattillo, David Caldwell, William Tryon, Hugh McAdenInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 176
  7. Orange Presbytery forms as North Carolina's first presbytery The pastors of the early Orange County Presbyterian churches and other ministers formed Orange Presbytery, the first presbytery in North Carolina. People: Henry Pattillo, David Caldwell, Hugh McAdenSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 294

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Hugh McAden, 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 on The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771

These works give background on The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771, the wider story this person is part of (176 works in all). Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Hillsborough and the Regulators

Cameron, Annie Sutton · 1964 · Orange County Historical Museum

Annie Sutton Cameron's short account of Hillsborough during the Regulator uprising of 1766 to 1771, when backcountry farmers protested colonial officials and courts and Hillsborough, as the seat of Orange County, stood at the center of the conflict. Published by the Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough in 1964, 36 pages with illustrations.

Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina

Troxler, Carole Watterson · 2011

Carole Watterson Troxler's history of the Regulator movement in Piedmont North Carolina, from land speculation and backcountry resentment through Herman Husband and the Sandy Creek network to the petitions, court proceedings and rioting in Hillsborough and Salisbury, the Battle of Alamance in 1771 and the movement's afterlife in the Revolution. An appendix compiles names in a Regulator context. Published by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources in 2011, 221 pages with illustrations, maps and an index.

Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North Carolina

Kars, Marjoleine · 2002 · University of North Carolina Press

Marjoleine Kars's history of the Regulator Rebellion of 1766 to 1771, the backcountry uprising against corrupt county officials that ended at the Battle of Alamance. Hillsborough, the Orange County seat, was a center of the Regulators' protests and the scene of their 1770 court riot. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2002, 286 pages with illustrations and maps.

Reviewed in The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2003).

The War of the Regulation and the Battle of Alamance, May 16, 1771

Powell, William S. · 1976 · State Dept. of Archives and History

William S. Powell's short account of the War of the Regulation and its end at the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771, when Governor Tryon's militia defeated the backcountry Regulators. The fighting took place in what was then Orange County, and Hillsborough, the county seat, had been the center of the Regulators' grievances and riots. Issued by the State Department of Archives and History, 32 pages with illustrations, facsimiles, a portrait and a folding map; this printing is dated 1976.

The Regulators in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1759-1776

Powell, William Stevens; Huhta, James K.; Farnham, Thomas J. · 1971 · State Dept. of Archives and History

Documentary history of the Regulator movement of 1766 to 1771, the backcountry protest against corrupt county officials that centered on Hillsborough and ended at the Battle of Alamance, compiled by William S. Powell, James K. Huhta and Thomas J. Farnham. The volume prints primary sources from 1759 to 1776. Published by the State Department of Archives and History in 1971, xxxix and 626 pages with illustrations.

Reviewed in The American Historical Review (1972), The Journal of Southern History (1972).

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Some Neglected History of North Carolina: Being an Account of the Revolution of the Regulators

Fitch, William Edward · 1905 · Neale Pub. Co.

William Edward Fitch's account of the Regulator movement and the Battle of Alamance of 1771, which his subtitle calls the first battle of the American Revolution, published by Neale in 1905 in a second edition. Hillsborough, the Orange County seat, was the scene of the Regulators' 1770 courthouse riot and of the hangings that followed Alamance. 307 pages with nine leaves of plates, folding maps and a portrait.

On the Important Duty of Subjection to the Civil Powers

Micklejohn, George · 1768

George Micklejohn's sermon on the duty of subjection to the civil powers, preached at Hillsborough in Orange County on Sunday, September 25, 1768, before Governor William Tryon and the troops he had raised against the Regulators. The full title calls the rising the late insurrection. Online reproduction of the original, 15 pages plus one unnumbered page.

The history of Maddock's Mill - Hillsborough, NC : including owners Thomas Hart, Rev. James Frazier, Jesse Benton, Catlett Campbell

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2022

History of Maddock's Mill at Hillsborough and of its owners Thomas Hart, Rev. James Frazier, Jesse Benton and Catlett Campbell. Stewart E. Dunaway published it in 2022 through Lulu, 174 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles, appending Benton and Hart family histories.

Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Dartmouth numbered 21-24, enclosing copies of legislation

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Governor Josiah Martin's numbered dispatches 21 through 24 to the Earl of Dartmouth, with copies of North Carolina legislation enclosed, reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office file CO 5/303 part 2. Subjects include finance and currency, debt and the courts, judges' wages, the council and assembly, voting and taxes, oaths, litigation, sheriffs, inheritance, prisoners, Irish settlers, customs, quitrents, land grants, surveying and mortgages. Names include Arthur Dobbs, William Dry, Willie Jones, John Rutherford and Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough.

Dispatches from William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough numbered 59-67, enclosing documents concerning the Regulators

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Numbered dispatches 59 through 67 from Governor William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough, with enclosures about the Regulators, whose protests broke into riot at Hillsborough in 1770. Reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office CO 5/302. The papers touch on the council and assembly, naval stores and trade, oaths, militia and provincial troops, judges, sheriffs and juries, voting, currency, Cherokee affairs, clergy, quitrents and land, and name officials such as Richard Caswell, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore and Hugh Waddell.

Letters and Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Hillsborough and the Lords Commissioners

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Dispatches from Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, to Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, the secretary of state for the colonies for whom the Orange County seat is named, and to the Lords Commissioners in London. Adam Matthew Digital reproduced the file, Colonial Office CO 5/303 part 1, in 2019. Topics include women, medicine and health, land grants, the courts and litigation, German and Protestant migration to the frontier, the Regulators, riot and treason, salt and alcohol imports, Spanish shipping and crime.

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