Local figure
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.
Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.
Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 18 dated events in the chronology →
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 2 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.
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 reading on Hillsborough ratification convention, 1788. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss William McCauley. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
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.
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).
Elizabeth Henderson Cotten's papers, dated 1926 to 1964 with most falling between 1950 and 1964, run to 3,150 items across 7.5 linear feet in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 1650. The work describes a woman historian at work on Hillsborough, historic buildings, the Nash and Kollock School, Tryon Palace and New Bern, Saint John's Church at Williamsboro, and figures such as Virginia Dare.
Committee reports of the North Carolina House of Commons, December 1793 to January 1794, 91 images. They open with the memorial of John Taylor and the petition of William Taylor before the Committee of Privileges and Elections, and a rejected petition from Randolph County residents. Rivers and navigation, elections, lawyers, ferries and the University of North Carolina recur, with the Haw River among the waterways.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Reports of North Carolina Senate committees, December 1793 to January 1794, 91 images, on the militia bill, public bills, a petition from Blackledge, disease in Fayetteville and the work of a Committee of Emancipation. Quakers, sheriffs and Richard Dobbs Spaight figure in the papers, with Hillsborough among the places tied to them.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
House bills introduced on 22 December 1791 in the North Carolina General Assembly, 16 images: incorporating a fire company in Fayetteville, confirming James Iredell's revision of the state's laws, and amending an earlier act. Other matters include canals, river navigation, tolls, escheats and the University of North Carolina, which ties the papers to Chapel Hill.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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