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Jefferson Morrow
Thomas Jefferson Morrow, a Black Orange County man in his early 40s, lived with his wife Lucinda and six children and had written to Governor Holden seeking protection for his son Nelson. On October 14, 1869, masked riders attacked his home, and he was found hanged from a tree about half a mile away.
Source: Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition: Those We Honor
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Jefferson Morrow. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Jefferson Morrow’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.
Life and Orange County connections
Storylines this person is part of, earliest first. Each has its own page.
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →
- Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched Early on August 7, 1869, about 100 disguised white men took Washington Morrow and his brother Nelson from the Hillsborough jail, where they were held on barn-burning charges, and shot Washington as they fled; he died of the wound. On October 14 a mob hanged their father, Thomas Jefferson Morrow, and their uncle, Daniel Morrow. People: Washington Morrow, Daniel Morrow, Jefferson MorrowJames Madison University, Memorializing Racial Terror: The Lynching of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Daniel Morrow
- Lucinda Morrow of Hillsborough testifies at Governor Holden's impeachment trial Called by Holden's defense, Lucinda Morrow, then living in Hillsborough, described disguised men breaking into her Cane Creek home in Orange County in the fall of 1869 and hanging her husband, Thomas Jefferson Morrow. Prosecution counsel William A. Graham objected to her evidence, and Augustus S. Merrimon argued it was irrelevant unless tied to Alamance County. People: William A. Graham, Jefferson MorrowInternet Archive: Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1871)
- Soil collection ceremony at the Orange County courthouse honors Cyrus Guy and four other 1869 lynching victims The Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition held a soil collection ceremony for Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, Daniel Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Cyrus Guy, all lynched in 1869. One jar for each man was to go to the Equal Justice Initiative's memorial collection in Montgomery, Alabama, and a second jar was to stay in Orange County. People: Daniel Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, James WilliamsSearch the index · Chapelboro: 'Do Not Forget Us': Soil Collection Ceremony Held for 5 Orange County Lynching Victims (May 1, 2023)
Places in this person’s story
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
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.
- Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough Public buildings and services · Hillsborough · 1 event here
- Orange County jail, Hillsborough Public buildings and services · Hillsborough · 1 event here
Named with them in the chronology
People named in the same dated entries as Jefferson Morrow, 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.
- Daniel Morrow 1 entry: Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched (August 7–October 14, 1869)
- Washington Morrow 1 entry: Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched (August 7–October 14, 1869)
- William A. Graham 1 entry: Lucinda Morrow of Hillsborough testifies at Governor Holden's impeachment trial (March 7, 1871)
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Search other library catalogs and digital collections for more about Jefferson Morrow.
Books about Jefferson Morrow
More catalogs that show where copies are
- Chapel Hill Public Library (opens in a new tab) Public library in Chapel Hill
- Durham County Library (opens in a new tab) Public library next door in Durham
- UNC Libraries (opens in a new tab) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Duke Libraries (opens in a new tab) Duke University, Durham
- NC Cardinal (opens in a new tab) The State Library of North Carolina and public libraries across the state
Photographs, papers, and newspapers
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Research sources
Ask locally 3
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
- Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition: those we honor Site steward Biographies of the people commemorated by the coalition’s markers
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection (OCPL) The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request form OCPL Local History Liaison The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
Additional research sources
Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.
- Background context: Marker: Lynching In America ⎯⎯⎯ The Lynching of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Daniel Morrow Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
- Background context: Equal Justice Initiative: Lynching in America, North Carolina Equal Justice Initiative Documented racial-terror lynchings by county, with the report behind the county’s 2022 resolution
- Read contemporary evidence: DigitalNC newspapers: 1 Orange County pages naming Jefferson Morrow DigitalNC Searchable pages from historic Orange County newspapers
- Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Jefferson Morrow NC LIVE An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
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