Alexander Mebane

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1752 John Patterson is named one of the first vestrymen of St. Matthew's Parish The act of the 1752 Assembly that created Orange County and the Parish of St. Matthew named John Patterson among the twelve vestrymen who were to serve until the first vestry election. People: Alexander Mebane, James Watson, Mark MorganSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 23: Acts of the General Assembly, March 31-April 15, 1752, ch. VI
2. December 10, 1776 Orange County votes again after the Halifax Congress voids its October return The Congress first upheld the sitting Orange members on November 21, then on November 28 ordered a new election run by named commissioners over as many as three days. Held December 10, it returned Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, Alexander Mebane, John Butler and John McCabe, who took their seats just before the state constitution was adopted. People: Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, John Butler, Richard Bennehan, Colonel John Hogan, Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 56
3. December 18, 1776 The new state constitution provides for public schools and a university Section 41 of the constitution adopted at Halifax, modeled on Pennsylvania's, told the legislature to establish schools and to promote learning in one or more universities. Orange's delegates voted on it, and it became the legal basis for chartering UNC. People: Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, John Butler, Alexander MebaneLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 68
4. May 1777 The Orange County court sits for the first time under the new state The May 1777 court recorded 22 justices commissioned by Governor Richard Caswell, and eleven took the state oath and their seats. It named Alexander Mebane Jr., son of the first sheriff, as the first sheriff under statehood and county treasurer, and appointed 33 road overseers. People: Richard Caswell, Nathaniel Rochester, John Butler, William Courtney, Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 173
5. September 12, 1781 Colonel Alexander Mebane rides to warn John Butler after Fanning's raid on Hillsborough When David Fanning's Loyalists marched out of Hillsborough with Governor Thomas Burke and other prisoners, Alexander Mebane, a colonel in the local militia, rode to warn General John Butler, who then laid the ambush at Lindley's Mill. People: John Butler, David Fanning, Thomas BurkeSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 60
6. 1782 Hillsborough collects meat for Greene's army and holds prisoners of war Alexander Mebane, commissioner of specific supplies for Orange, gathered more than 2,000 pounds of salt and fresh meat at Hillsborough for Greene's army in South Carolina. The town jail held British and Loyalist prisoners while exchanges were negotiated. People: Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 63
7. July 21, 1788 The convention appoints a committee of privileges and elections with three members from each district The convention set up a 27-member committee of privileges and elections, three from each district, which went on to rule on the disputed returns. Alexander Mebane of Orange County sat on it with Thomas Person, William R. Davie and James Iredell. People: Thomas Person, James Iredell, William Richardson Davie, Alexander MebaneDocumenting the American South: Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Hillsborough, 1788, p. 20
8. August 1, 1788 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
9. December 18, 1789 The university's trustees hold their first meeting, at Fayetteville Senate Speaker Charles Johnson chaired the meeting, and Alexander Mebane and James Hogg attended for Orange County. Davie and Hogg were charged with printing the two subscription papers, one under the charter's terms and one for outright gifts. People: James Hogg, William Richardson Davie, Alexander MebaneLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 72
10. November and December 1790 General Assembly orders a new district courthouse built at Hillsborough Alexander Mebane of Orange brought in the bill, and the act named William Watters, Absalom Tatom and Jeduthan Harper commissioners to raise a courthouse on the lot where the burned one had stood and to sell off its brick and remains. It was paid for by a poll and land tax on Orange and by lighter taxes on Wake, Chatham, Caswell, Granville and Randolph, the counties of the Hillsborough district. People: Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1790, Chapter XXVII
11. November 5–9, 1792 Willie Jones views New Hope Chapel Hill as a university commissioner and signs for the site Jones was one of six commissioners the trustees sent to fix the seat of the university. On November 5, 1792 he handed the commissioners Joel Lane's offer of 640 acres in Wake County; the commissioners then went on to view New Hope Chapel Hill in Orange County, where they took offers of 1,390 acres and about 798 pounds. Jones signed the report. People: James Hogg, David Stone, Joel Lane, Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Board of Trustees Minutes, December 3-13, 1792 [Containing Reports Regarding the Site of the University]
12. August 10, 1793 Commissioners mark out the sites of the university's buildings and grounds Davie, Alfred Moore, Alexander Mebane and Thomas Blount met on the Chapel Hill tract and fixed the building sites, with land set aside for offices, avenues and ornamental grounds. People: Thomas Blount, William Richardson Davie, Alexander Mebane, Alfred MooreSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 79
13. October 12, 1793 The first town lots in Chapel Hill are sold at auction After the Old East cornerstone was laid, the commissioners auctioned the village lots on the spot; 29 lots brought more than 1,500 pounds, and one was held back for the president's house. People: Thomas Blount, William Richardson Davie, Alexander Mebane, Alfred MooreLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 80
14. December 1793 Alexander Mebane takes his seat as Orange County's first member of Congress Alexander Mebane of the Hawfields, a former Orange County sheriff, sits in the Third Congress, the first on the book's list of congressmen from Orange. People: Alexander MebaneSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 360