Skip to content

Local figure

William McCauley

William McCauley, an immigrant from the north of Ireland who lived in the Great Meadows a few miles west of Chapel Hill, gave 100 acres toward the university's site. He represented Orange County in the House of Commons for most of the Revolutionary War, in the state Senate from 1784 to 1788, and at the Hillsborough convention of 1788.

Source: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 76

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to William McCauley. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about William McCauley’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. John Hogan is appointed trustee for Orange County The county court named John Hogan trustee, the office later called county treasurer, under a bond of 1,500 pounds. The book dates the treasurer's office in Orange from 1778 to its abolition in 1948. People: Colonel John Hogan, William McCauleySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 176
  2. John Hogan sits as Orange County's state senator For the 1779 General Assembly, Colonel John Hogan was Orange County's senator, with Mark Patterson and William McCauley as its members in the House of Commons and Thomas Tulloch for the borough of Hillsborough. People: William McCauleySearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 72
  3. William Courtney serves as state senator for Orange County In 1780 William Courtney was Orange County's senator in the General Assembly, while William McCauley and Mark Patterson represented the county and Thomas Tulloch the town in the House of Commons. People: William McCauleySearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 88
  4. The county court names a jury to lay off a road from McCauley's mill to Hillsborough At the week-long August 1786 term, held by justices John Butler, William McCauley and William Ansley, the court named a jury to mark the best and most direct road from McCauley's mill to Hillsborough. The same term licensed three taverns and named tax collectors for all seven taxing districts. People: John Butler, William McCauleySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 178
  5. Orange County's delegates vote against ratifying the Constitution before amendments In the 184 to 84 roll call that defeated Iredell's amendment to ratify, Alexander Mebane, William Mebane, William McCauley, Jonathan Lindley and William Shepperd of Orange all voted no, as did A. Tatom. The next day the same members voted to concur in the declaration of rights and amendments. People: William McCauley, Alexander MebaneDocumenting the American South: Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Hillsborough, 1788, p. 278
  6. William McCauley serves as sheriff of Orange County Lefler and Wager's list of Orange County sheriffs gives William McCauley for 1789 to 1790, between John Nichols (1787) and John Sloss (1791 to 1793).Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 355
  7. Trustees fix the university at Chapel Hill and list its Orange County land donors Meeting on December 5, 1792, the trustees voted unanimously to place the university at New Hope Chapel Hill and recorded nine donors of Orange County land, among them Matthew McCauley (150 acres) and William McCauley (100 acres). Each donor could have one student educated free of tuition. People: Edmund Jones, Mark Morgan, Christopher Barbee, Colonel John Hogan, William McCauleySearch the index · UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Original Donors to the University and the Myth of Free Tuition

Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as William McCauley, 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 Hillsborough ratification convention, 1788

These works give background on Hillsborough ratification convention, 1788, the wider story this person is part of (21 works in all). Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

The Twelfth Lantern

Henderson, Nancy Wallace · 1990

Nancy Wallace Henderson's play, staged and filmed as a dramatic reenactment for the bicentennial of the 1788 convention at Hillsborough, where North Carolina's delegates met from July 21 to August 4 to consider the new federal Constitution and declined to ratify it without a bill of rights. The 1990 recording is a filmed performance on constitutional history and Hillsborough's part in it.

The Ratification of the Federal Constitution in North Carolina

Trenholme, Louise Irby · 1932 · Columbia University Press; P. S. King

Louise Irby Trenholme's study of how North Carolina came to ratify the United States Constitution, covering the Hillsborough convention of 1788, which declined to ratify, and the Fayetteville convention of 1789, which did. Published in 1932 by Columbia University Press as number 363 in its studies in the social sciences and also issued as her Columbia thesis. 282 pages with two folding maps and a bibliography.

Reviewed in Journal of American History (1932), Social Forces (1933).

Governor Samuel Johnston Correspondence: December 29, 1878-December 10, 1789, n.d.

Robertson, Elijah · 1789

Samuel Johnston's correspondence as governor, December 1787 to 10 December 1789, with undated items, in 109 images. Johnston presided over the 1789 convention at which North Carolina ratified the federal Constitution. Topics include commerce, tobacco, debts, enemy property and Indian wars. Elijah Robertson is among the correspondents, and Hillsborough and Orange County appear.

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

Governors' Papers: Samuel Johnston, Correspondence, April 1789

McDowell, Charles · 1789

Correspondence of Samuel Johnston, the state's sixth governor, for April 1789, the year he presided over the convention that ratified the federal Constitution. Charles McDowell is among the writers, and Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek affairs and the State of Franklin recur. Hillsborough is named. Fourteen images.

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

Governors' Papers: Samuel Johnston, Correspondence, January 1789

Philips, Etheldred · 1789

Samuel Johnston, governor of North Carolina from late 1787 to late 1789, received and wrote these letters in January 1789. Etheldred Philips is among the writers. Topics include the State of Franklin and the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek nations, and Hillsborough is named. Sixteen images.

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

Governors' Papers: Samuel Johnston, Correspondence, June 1789

Child, Francis · 1789

Governor Samuel Johnston's correspondence for June 1789, 14 images. Francis Child is among the writers, and George Washington, newly inaugurated as president, is named. Bertie County, Hillsborough, the State of Franklin and Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek matters also appear.

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

Show 6 more

Governors' Papers: Samuel Johnston, Correspondence, March 1789

Williamson, Hugh, 1735-1819 · 1789

Hugh Williamson, one of North Carolina's delegates in Congress, writes in these March 1789 letters of Governor Samuel Johnston. The 18 images also concern the State of Franklin and the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek nations, with Hillsborough among the places named.

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

Certificate of Election, North Carolina Convention of 1788

North Carolina. Convention (1788) · 1788

Certificates of election for delegates to the North Carolina convention of 1788, which met at Hillsborough to consider ratifying the federal Constitution. The group also takes in records of the 1787 federal convention and journals and ordinances of the Hillsborough and 1789 Fayetteville conventions. 57 images.

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

Committee of Election Reports, Dobbs County Election Returns Only, North Carolina Convention of 1788

North Carolina. Convention (1788) · 1788

Election returns from Dobbs County sent to the Committee of Election Reports of North Carolina's 1788 convention, which met at Hillsborough to consider ratifying the federal Constitution. 19 images.

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

Draft of Rules Committee Report, North Carolina Convention of 1788

North Carolina. Convention (1788) · 1788

Draft report of the rules committee of North Carolina's 1788 convention, which met at Hillsborough to consider the federal Constitution and adjourned without ratifying it. Part of the state's papers from the Hillsborough and Fayetteville ratification conventions of 1788 and 1789. Two images.

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

Future Meetings Ordinance, North Carolina Convention of 1788

North Carolina. Convention (1788) · 1788

Ordinance of the North Carolina Convention of 1788, which met at Hillsborough to consider the federal Constitution, fixing the place where future meetings would be held. Eight pages, part of the state's papers on the 1788 and 1789 ratification conventions at Hillsborough and Fayetteville.

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

Governors' Papers: Samuel Johnston, Correspondence, April 1788

Johnston, Samuel, 1733-1816 · 1788

Governor Samuel Johnston's letters from April 1788, a few months into his term. Frontier matters run through them: the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek nations, the breakaway State of Franklin, Joseph Martin, Alexander McGillivray and the Spanish envoy Diego de Gardoqui. Surry County and Hillsborough are named. Twenty-four images.

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

Search further

Search other library catalogs and digital collections for more about William McCauley.

Books about William McCauley

More catalogs that show where copies are

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Searched by name. The catalogs give no dates for this person, so results may include other people with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Research sources

Additional research sources

Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026