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Local figure

John Wall Norwood

John Wall Norwood (1803–1885) practiced law in Hillsborough and lived at Poplar Hill, his family's estate on the Eno River, which he restored in the 1840s. A ruling elder of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church from 1835 until his death, he represented Orange County in the General Assembly from 1856 to 1858 and was elected state senator in 1872.

Source: NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall

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

Browse all 478 works on Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 Research sources View background reading ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

StorylineHillsborough Presbyterian Church, 1815–18371815–1837 · 12 events · The first pastor of Hillsborough's Presbyterian church strained relations with his congregation by advocating religious education, Sunday schools and preaching for enslaved people. The brick church on West Tryon Street was built with money from a lottery the state authorized, and in September 1816 Mary W. Burke, eight others and the Rev. John Knox Witherspoon organized the church. In 1823 the session admonished two members for trading in enslaved people without punishing them. Witherspoon ended seventeen years as pastor in 1833. In 1834 six enslaved women were baptized, and in 1835 Robert Burwell began a thirteen-year pastorate; the church bought a manse, and a Sessions House was built for the Sunday school.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 48 dated events in the chronology →

  1. John Wall Norwood builds Over-the-River across the Eno from Hillsborough John Wall Norwood and his wife built a two-story, center-hall house south of the Eno opposite the town. It became known as Over-the-River and later as the Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House. People: John Wall Norwood Place: Over-the-River (Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House), 210 US 70A, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 198
  2. The Orange County Sunday School Union asks the Assembly to fund its schools The Orange County Sunday School Union petitioned the General Assembly for 25 cents a year per pupil for its 22 Sunday schools, which taught 800 to 1,000 children, many from poor families, to read. John Scott of Hillsborough presented it in the House of Commons, which turned it down. People: James Webb, William Kirkland, William Norwood, John Knox Witherspoon, Dennis Heartt, John Wall Norwood, William Huntington Place: Orange County · Also named: John ScottSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), pp. 131-132
  3. Orange citizens resolve to stop candidates from treating voters with liquor A meeting of Orange County citizens at the court house, with Dr. James S. Smith in the chair, declared that candidates' custom of treating voters with liquor was injurious to morality. It asked each militia captain to call his company together to choose two delegates to a convention at Hillsborough during the next county court to devise a plan against the practice. A first meeting on May 24 under Gen. Jehu Byrd had called it. People: James Strudwick Smith, John Wall Norwood Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Jehu ByrdSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 25, 1825, p. 3 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 15, 1825, p. 3
  4. Hillsborough celebrates Independence Day with a procession, an oration and a dinner Hillsborough celebrated the Fourth at the Presbyterian church, where Abraham Rencher read the Declaration of Independence, John W. Norwood gave the oration and the Rev. Mr. Witherspoon opened and closed with prayer. A large party dined in the afternoon and drank toasts, and in the evening the town's old field piece, used at public rejoicings for half a century, burst when overloaded, injuring no one. People: John Wall Norwood, John Witherspoon Place: Presbyterian church, Hillsborough · Also named: Abraham RencherSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 6, 1825, p. 3
  5. The Orange County Sunday School Society reports nineteen schools across the county At its annual meeting the Orange County Sunday School Society chose Dr. James Webb president and heard its second annual report, which listed nineteen schools in connection with the society, from Hillsborough, Eno, Bethlehem and Cross Roads to Haw River, Mountain Creek and Chapel Hill. The managers said a lack of suitable teachers had kept them from meeting the county's needs. People: James Webb, John Witherspoon, John Wall Norwood Place: Presbyterian church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 14, 1825, p. 3
  6. The Orange bar meets at the court house to mourn Bartlett Yancey After the day's court adjourned, the lawyers of the Orange bar met at the court house in Hillsborough with Judge Thomas Ruffin in the chair to honor Bartlett Yancey of Caswell, the former congressman and Speaker of the state Senate. On Frederick Nash's motion they resolved to wear mourning for three months. People: Thomas Ruffin, John Wall Norwood, Frederick Nash Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Bartlett YanceySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 10, 1828, p. 3
  7. John Wall Norwood becomes treasurer and then a ruling elder of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church In 1834 Norwood succeeded the silversmith William Huntington as treasurer of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church. In 1835 he was confirmed a ruling elder, a post he held until his death. People: William Huntington Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Hillsborough Presbyterian ChurchSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall
  8. John Norwood begins forty-eight years as clerk of the Hillsborough Presbyterian session John Norwood kept the session records from 1836 to 1884, one of the two longest terms in the church's history. People: John Wall Norwood Place: Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, Hillsborough · Also named: John NorwoodSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 137
  9. John Wall Norwood restores Poplar Hill Following his father's death in 1842, Norwood restored Poplar Hill, the Hogg and Norwood family home on the Eno, from the house to its lawns and gardens. Old roses were brought from Wilmington and new beds and hedges laid out. Place: Poplar HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall
  10. Hillsborough citizens adopt an address urging voters to reject a central division of Orange County A meeting of Hillsborough citizens chaired by Thomas Clancy adopted an address 'To the Voters of Orange County' written by a committee of six Democrats and seven Whigs. It argued that a central division would still leave western voters across the Haw River from a court house, would double county taxes and require new court houses, jails, poorhouses, bridges and roads, and would cost the eastern half a senator. People: James Webb, James Strudwick Smith, Edmund Strudwick, John Wall Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas ClancyHillsborough Recorder, July 28, 1842, p. 3
  11. A Norwood and Tillinghast debt settlement prices enslaved people by name To pay what was owed the Bank of Cape Fear, a settlement between J. W. Norwood and Samuel Tillinghast valued an estate at $15,433 by listing each enslaved person, among them Eliza and Manley, with a price. People: John Wall Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Samuel TillinghastBurwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 7
  12. Andrew M. Steel is convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of his mother At the fall superior court, Judge Manly presiding, Andrew M. Steel was tried for murder in the death of his mother, Nancy Steel, whom he had shot on April 19. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter, and he was sentenced to be branded and imprisoned for twelve months. People: Hugh Waddell, William A. Graham, John Wall Norwood, Cadwallader Jones Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Andrew M. SteelSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 21, 1843, p. 3
Show all 48 dated events
  1. Orange Presbytery votes to move Caldwell Institute to Hillsborough Orange Presbytery chose Hillsborough over Yanceyville and Oxford as the new seat of its Caldwell Institute, and a town meeting chaired by Dennis Heartt welcomed the school and pledged the town's support. The trustees named Rev. John A. Bingham professor of Latin. People: Dennis Heartt, James Webb Jr., John Wall Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John A. Bingham · Also mentions: Caldwell InstituteHillsborough Recorder, June 19, 1845, p. 3
  2. James Webb Jr. and his wife buy Over-the-River from the Norwoods and enlarge it John Wall Norwood and his wife sold Over-the-River to James Webb Jr. and his wife, who added to the two-story wing. In 1936 the house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. James Webb Cheshire. People: John Wall Norwood, James Webb Jr. Place: Over-the-River (Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House), 210 US 70A, Hillsborough · Also named: James Webb CheshireSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 198
  3. Orange County railroad meeting backs a central route through Orange and Guilford A county meeting at the Hillsborough court house, chaired by Dr. Edmund Strudwick, adopted William A. Graham's resolutions that the central railroad should run through Orange and Guilford, pledged enough subscriptions to grade the road through the county, and named ten delegates to the Salisbury railroad convention in June. Graham and Giles Mebane spoke. People: William A. Graham, Edmund Strudwick, Giles Mebane, Dennis Heartt, David L. Swain, Cadwallader Jones, John Wall Norwood, John U. Kirkland, James Patterson Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 21, 1849, p. 3
  4. Lawyer Priestley H. Mangum dies at Hillsborough Priestley H. Mangum, the oldest member of the Orange bar, county solicitor and a former member of the House of Commons for Orange, died at his home near Hillsborough after a brief illness. The Orange bar met at the court house during the November term to adopt resolutions in his memory. People: John Wall Norwood, Hugh Waddell, Thomas Webb Place: Mangum residence, near Hillsborough · Also named: Priestley H. MangumSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 18, 1850, p. 3
  5. The Orange County Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts is organized Farmers and mechanics meeting at the courthouse in Hillsborough on Tuesday of August court, August 23, 1853, organized the Orange County Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts under a subscription agreement circulated that summer, with Paul C. Cameron as president, James C. Turrentine as treasurer and Edwin A. Heartt as secretary. The legislature had lately voted aid to such county societies. People: Paul C. Cameron, John Wall Norwood, James C. Turrentine Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Edwin A. HearttSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 24, 1853, p. 3
  6. Joseph Brockwell's murder case is moved to Chatham and ends in a manslaughter verdict Orange Superior Court moved the murder case against Joseph Brockwell, charged with killing James Davis at Chapel Hill in March, to Chatham County on the prisoner's plea that he could not get a fair trial in Orange. At Chatham Superior Court the next week he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be branded and imprisoned six months. People: Hugh Waddell, John Wall Norwood, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, Josiah Turner Jr. Place: Court house, Hillsborough; trial at Pittsborough · Also named: Joseph Brockwell, James DavisSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 27, 1854, p. 2
  7. Orange County holds its first agricultural fair at Hillsborough The Orange County agricultural society held its first annual fair over two days, with 81 entries and 190 articles in the stock and mechanical departments and 180 in Floral Hall. Prizes went to castings from Allen Brown's Eagle Foundry, cloth from the Alpha Woolen Mills, local ploughs, carriages by A. C. Murdock and Hurdle & Hurdle, saddles and leather, and Paul C. Cameron gave a two-hour address on the second day. People: Paul C. Cameron, John Wall Norwood, A. C. Murdock Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Allen BrownSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 1, 1854, p. 2
  8. Orange County citizens meet at Hillsborough to raise aid for Norfolk and Portsmouth yellow fever sufferers A meeting of Orange citizens chaired by William A. Graham, with Paul C. Cameron as secretary, adopted Josiah Turner Jr.'s resolutions for a collection and named a committee of sixteen to solicit money and provisions for yellow fever sufferers in Norfolk and Portsmouth. The Episcopal and Presbyterian churches in Hillsborough had already taken up collections of $159 and $46 on Sunday, September 9, and sent them on. People: William A. Graham, Paul C. Cameron, Josiah Turner Jr., Thomas Webb, John Wall Norwood Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 19, 1855, p. 2
  9. The Orange County agricultural society holds its second annual fair at Hillsborough The Orange County Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, the Mechanic Arts and Manufactures held its second annual fair in the court house and on the fair grounds at Hillsborough, and John W. Norwood gave the annual address on the second day. Premiums went to C. C. Tinnin for the best corn, 13 barrels and 3 bushels from about an acre, to J. N. Craig for wheat, and to William H. Brown and Alexander Dickson for flour, among others. People: John Wall Norwood, William H. Brown, Alexander Dickson Place: Court house and fair grounds, Hillsborough · Also named: C. C. Tinnin, J. N. CraigSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 31, 1855, p. 2
  10. Orange County elects John Wall Norwood to the General Assembly Norwood entered public life in 1856 when Orange County elected him a representative in the General Assembly, where he served until 1858. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall
  11. The Orange County Agricultural Society buys fair grounds near the railroad depot By March 12 the Orange County Agricultural Society had bought a site for its annual fair near the railroad depot at Hillsborough, on ground just south of the railroad in the Thompson field. Its committee asked for bids by April 1 to put up a building there, and on June 10 the executive committee ordered subscriptions collected for the house and for enclosing the grounds. People: John Wall Norwood, James C. Turrentine, Alexander Dickson, Pride Jones Place: South of the railroad in the Thompson field, near the depot, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 12, 1856, p. 2
  12. Logs laid across the railroad west of Hillsborough strike the passenger train On Wednesday, April 23, the engineer of the eastbound passenger train found logs laid across the North Carolina Railroad about six miles west of Hillsborough and struck them before he could stop, though little damage was done. Two men named Turner who were seen nearby ran, were caught and were jailed in Raleigh, but on May 2 they were brought to Hillsborough on a writ of habeas corpus and discharged for want of evidence. People: Frederick Nash, John Wall Norwood Place: North Carolina Railroad, about six miles west of HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, April 30, 1856, p. 2
  13. John W. Norwood puts the neighborhood's first Hussey reaper to work In mid-June John W. Norwood began cutting wheat near Hillsborough with a Hussey reaper bought from agents at Norfolk, the first such machine used in the neighborhood. He reported that it cut about fifty acres cleanly over smooth and rough ground alike, and that the enslaved men who worked it had learned it from the printed directions. Place: Hillsborough neighborhoodSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 25, 1856, p. 2
  14. Orange County Agricultural Society holds its third fair near Hillsborough At the society's third annual fair, on its grounds near Hillsborough, members elected Paul C. Cameron president and Thomas Webb secretary. Cameron, away in Alabama, had given the society a flag that flew from a pole more than eighty feet high. People: Thomas Webb, Paul C. Cameron, William A. Graham, John Wall Norwood, Josiah Turner Sr., Thomas Blount Hill Place: Orange County Agricultural Society grounds, near HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 5, 1856
  15. Pride Jones and John W. Norwood are elected to the House of Commons for Orange Orange County elected Democrats Pride Jones and John W. Norwood to the state House of Commons in the August 1858 election. People: Pride Jones, John Wall Norwood Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 1, 1858, p. 3 ("State Legislature")
  16. Orange Democrats meet at the court house and name delegates to the state convention A county meeting of Democrats in the Hillsborough court house, with Gen. Joseph Allison in the chair and Calvin E. Parish as secretary, adopted resolutions from a committee led by John W. Norwood warning that continued Northern aggression on Southern rights would end in disunion, and commended Governor Ellis for re-election. It named a long list of delegates, among them Paul C. Cameron, Cadwallader Jones and Pride Jones, to the state Democratic convention at Raleigh on March 8, and Norwood then spoke for two hours. People: Calvin E. Parish, John Wall Norwood, John U. Kirkland, Paul C. Cameron, Pride Jones, Joseph Allison Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Cadwallader JonesSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 7, 1860, p. 2
  17. Orange Democrats nominate Pride Jones, John W. Norwood and William F. Strowd The Democratic county convention met at the Masonic Hall on Tuesday afternoon of May court and nominated Pride Jones for the state senate and John W. Norwood and William F. Strowd for the House of Commons. Precinct meetings in Sandy Field and eastern Orange had chosen delegates in the preceding weeks. People: Pride Jones, John Wall Norwood, William F. Strowd Place: Masonic Hall, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 30, 1860, p. 3
  18. Hillsborough Academy trustees seek a new school as Tew's cadets move out The trustees of the Hillsborough Male Academy, John W. Norwood president, announced that Col. Tew was about to move his military school from the academy buildings to his own new establishment, and invited classical teachers to propose schools for the vacant academy by July 10. People: John Wall Norwood, Charles Courtenay Tew Place: Hillsborough Academy, HillsboroughHillsborough Recorder, June 6, 1860, p. 3
  19. An Orange County mass meeting at the courthouse takes up the crisis of the Union Called by William A. Graham, Paul C. Cameron, Cadwallader Jones, John W. Norwood and other men of both parties, a meeting of Orange County people at the Hillsborough courthouse on Saturday, December 15, directed that a committee be appointed to draft resolutions on the state of the Union and adjourned to December 22. People: William A. Graham, Paul C. Cameron, Cadwallader Jones, John Wall Norwood, Pride Jones, Dennis Heartt, William H. Brown, Henry Kollock Nash Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, December 19, 1860, p. 3
  20. Sidney Smith speaks for a state convention at an Orange County mass meeting in Hillsborough At an adjourned mass meeting of Orange County citizens in the Hillsborough courthouse after Lincoln's election, with William H. Brown in the chair, William A. Graham's committee reported resolutions on the crisis. John W. Norwood moved to ask the legislature to call a state convention; Capt. Berry opposed it, Sidney Smith spoke for it, and the amendment was rejected before the committee's resolutions passed. People: James Sidney Smith, William A. Graham, John Wall Norwood, Dennis Heartt, William H. Brown Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Sidney Smith · Also mentions: Hillsborough courthouseSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, January 2, 1861, p. 2 (Mass Meeting in Hillsborough) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 19, 1860, p. 3
  21. John Wall Norwood and Paul C. Cameron run relief for Orange County soldiers' families Through the Civil War, Norwood and Paul C. Cameron oversaw aid to the families of Orange County men in the army, working out of Norwood's law office. At its May 1863 term the county court named Norwood one of three committee men for the Hillsborough district to say who should receive aid from the soldiers' fund. In August 1864 an appeal in the Recorder from the county's agents for soldiers' families said they had bought and given out more than six thousand bushels of corn and could get no more, and that between 1,500 and 2,000 county men had gone to fight. People: Paul C. Cameron Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 10, 1863, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, August 31, 1864, p. 2
  22. Former Senator Willie P. Mangum dies at his home near Red Mountain Willie P. Mangum, who had represented Orange in the legislature, sat as a superior court judge and served North Carolina in both houses of Congress, including as president of the Senate, died at his home near Red Mountain on September 7 after several years of illness. Members of the bar attending the fall term of Orange Superior Court met with J. W. Norwood presiding and adopted resolutions in his memory. People: Willie P. Mangum, John Wall Norwood, Thomas Webb Place: His home near Red Mountain, Orange County (now Durham County) · Also mentions: Red MountainSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 11, 1861, p. 3
  23. County commissioners call for builders of a new bridge over the Eno at Hillsborough In a notice dated March 4, 1863, commissioners William H. Brown and J. W. Norwood announced they would let the building of a bridge over the Eno at Hillsborough to contract at the courthouse on Saturday, March 14. The plan was on view at the county court clerk's office. People: John Wall Norwood, William H. Brown Place: Eno River bridge, south edge of HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 11, 1863, p. 3
  24. A county meeting at Hillsborough condemns bread riots and buys corn and bacon for the needy Days after some women of the Cane Creek neighborhood west of town asked about seizing food from farmers who were asking fifty dollars a barrel for flour, a public meeting of Orange citizens at Hillsborough, chaired by magistrate of police A. C. Murdock with former governor William A. Graham explaining its object, heard reports of want from across the county, condemned violence and disorder by women or anyone else, and resolved that the legislature's appropriation and the county court's fund were enough to relieve soldiers' families and the needy if put to better use. It named a committee including William J. Bingham, Freeman Walker and J. W. Norwood, which within days had bought corn and bacon for distribution. People: A. C. Murdock, William A. Graham, Ellison Goodloe Mangum, William Bingham (1835-1873), John Wall Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Freeman WalkerHillsborough Recorder, April 22, 1863, p. 2
  25. The county court sets up commissioners to direct the Soldiers' Fund At its May term the Orange County court ordered that three commissioners in each taxable district appoint committeemen in every captain's district, who would decide which soldiers' families and other persons should receive aid from the county's Soldiers' Fund, and it named the commissioners for the Hillsborough, St. Mary's, St. Mark's, St. Thomas's, Caswell and Orange districts. People: John Wall Norwood, Matthew Atwater, Harrison Parker, Nelson Parrish Hall Place: Court house, HillsboroughHillsborough Recorder, June 10, 1863, p. 3
  26. The Orange Guards lose Alves Norwood near Petersburg, and Hillsborough buries him Alves Norwood, youngest son of John W. Norwood of Hillsborough, was killed with Company G of the 27th North Carolina, the Orange Guards, in the fighting east of Richmond, where six other men of the company were wounded. His body reached Hillsborough on Sunday, June 19, and was buried in the family ground before a large crowd. People: John Wall Norwood Place: Near Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia; Norwood family burying ground, Hillsborough · Also named: Alves NorwoodHillsborough Recorder, June 22, 1864, p. 2
  27. Sixty-eight Orange magistrates pledge a tenth of their grain to soldiers' families at schedule prices The Orange County court, with sixty-eight magistrates present, resolved unanimously that each would sell a tenth of his wheat and corn crop at government schedule prices to destitute soldiers' families, called on all farmers to do the same, and the citizens in the courthouse pledged likewise. County agents P. C. Cameron and J. W. Norwood reported they had bought and given out more than 6,000 bushels since the previous fall but could buy no more with wheat at $25 a bushel. People: Paul C. Cameron, John Wall Norwood Place: Court house, HillsboroughHillsborough Recorder, August 31, 1864, p. 2
  28. John Wall Norwood buys the brick law office facing the courthouse Attorney Richard Ashe sold the one-room brick law office on Court Street, facing the Orange County Courthouse, to John Wall Norwood for $400. The office, already shown on an 1839 map, is now called the Norwood Law Office. People: John Wall Norwood Place: 135 Court Street, Hillsborough · Also named: Richard Ashe · Also mentions: Orange County CourthouseSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (National Register, 2014), pdf page 60
  29. Josiah Turner Jr. dismisses a freedman at a Conservative rally for belonging to the Union League At an adjourned Conservative meeting at the Hillsborough courthouse, chaired by John W. Norwood and moved into the open air by the crowd, Josiah Turner Jr. announced that he had dismissed Solomon, a freedman in his service, because Solomon belonged to the Union League, defying the new state law against discharging workers to sway their votes. William A. Graham and others spoke, and the meeting named twenty-five delegates to a district convention. Testifying under oath before a Senate committee in February 1871, Turner said he had declared in a speech at Hillsborough that he would keep no freedman who did not vote with him, but swore he had never acted on it. People: Josiah Turner Jr., John Wall Norwood, William A. Graham Place: Court house square, Hillsborough · Also named: SolomonSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 19, 1868, p. 3 · Also: Turner testimony: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States
  30. J. W. Norwood of Hillsborough warns county farmers that their methods are ruining the land In an 1869 talk to Orange County farmers, Norwood said the county's fields were exhausted because growers added no organic matter, rotated nothing and let rain wash the soil away. He urged a new system before ruin set in. People: John Wall Norwood Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 229
  31. Hillsborough men ask Governor Holden to commission Pride Jones against the Klan On March 5, 1870 six Hillsborough men, among them J. W. Norwood, James Webb and Henry K. Nash, recommended to Governor Holden that Pride Jones be made a militia captain to put down night riding. Holden sent the commission on March 7 and Jones accepted on March 9. The raids soon stopped, and Jones resigned after four weeks. People: William W. Holden, Pride Jones, George Laws, John Wall Norwood, Henry Kollock Nash Place: Orange County · Also named: James WebbTrial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 2, pp. 1158-1164 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
  32. Orange County Klansmen agree to disband after Pride Jones carries the governor's offer Starting on March 8, 1870, when he rode eight miles into the country, Captain Pride Jones went to men he suspected of leading the Klan in Orange and told them, on Governor Holden's word passed through John W. Norwood, that past offenses would be overlooked if they disbanded. By his sworn account in June 1871, several said they were tired of it, the klans disbanded within about four weeks, and after four to six weeks he wrote Holden that the county was quiet. People: Pride Jones, John Wall Norwood, William W. Holden Place: Orange CountyU.S. Congress, Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, Testimony: North Carolina (1872), p. 1
  33. Orange County elects John Wall Norwood to the state Senate Norwood was elected state senator for Orange in 1872. His speech on the amnesty bill, given in the Senate on January 27, 1873, was printed as a pamphlet. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, John Wall
  34. Orange citizens meet at the courthouse to urge a constitutional convention A meeting of Orange County citizens at the courthouse in Hillsborough, chaired by John W. Norwood with John D. Cameron as secretary, adopted resolutions calling for a convention to revise the 1868 state constitution. Norwood cited the cost of the township system, and William A. Graham spoke at length for a convention. People: John Wall Norwood, William A. Graham Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: John D. CameronSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 11, 1874, p. 3
  35. President Battle tells the history of the university buildings on University Day On a dark, rainy University Day that kept the audience small, President Kemp P. Battle spoke on the history of the university buildings, from Old East and the Old Chapel to Gerrard Hall, Smith Hall and the 1850s buildings, and the choir sang the University Song by Cornelia Phillips Spencer. John W. Norwood, one of the last survivors of his college class, then praised the university for joining science and agriculture. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, John Wall Norwood, Cornelia Phillips Spencer Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Gerrard Hall, Smith HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, October 12, 1878, p. 2
  36. John Wall Norwood, an elder of the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church for half a century, dies John W. Norwood died in the summer of 1885, and his executors had letters testamentary by August 3. On September 6 the church session adopted a tribute recalling his more than fifty years of service to the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church and his generosity to it. People: W. F. Wilhelm Place: Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, Hillsborough · Also named: James Norwood, Margaret Y. NorwoodSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 12, 1885, p. 2

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 the 7 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.

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as John Wall Norwood, 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.

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Background on Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865

Background reading on Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss John Wall Norwood. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Sparrows' Nest of Letters

2011

Letters of the Sparrow family, including Thomas Sparrow and George Attmore Sparrow, gathered and published in 2011. The correspondence includes material associated with the Hillsboro' Military Academy, which opened in Hillsborough in 1859, and combines family and military history.

✓ Held at OCPL · 973.782 SPARROW NC Cardinal

Undaunted heart : the true story of a Southern belle & a Yankee general

Barile, Suzy · 2009

Suzy Barile's account of Eleanor Hope Swain, daughter of the University of North Carolina's president, and Smith D. Atkins, the Union general whose troops occupied Chapel Hill in April 1865; the two married later that year. Published by Eno in Hillsborough in 2009, 237 pages with illustrations and portraits.

UNC CH Historical Society Library of Congress

Soldiering for glory : the Civil War letters of Colonel Frank Schaller, twenty-second Mississippi Infantry

Schaller, Frank · 2007 · University of South Carolina Press

Civil War letters of Colonel Frank Schaller of the 22nd Mississippi Infantry, combining personal narrative with regimental history. Schaller was associated with the Hillsboro Military Academy in Hillsborough. Published by the University of South Carolina Press in 2007. 185 pages with six pages of plates and illustrations.

UNC Library of Congress

To prepare our sons for all the duties that may lie before them : the Hillsborough Military Academy and military education in antebellum North Carolina

Ross, Stephen A. (Stephen Anthony) · 2002

Stephen A. Ross's study of the Hillsborough Military Academy and military education in North Carolina before the Civil War, dated 2002. An article-length piece of 27 pages with illustrations and portraits.

UNC

Notice -- tax in kind ; Notice -- Confederate tax

2000 · Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Two Confederate tax notices of 1864 addressed to Orange County, one on the tax in kind and one on the Confederate tax, reproduced in an electronic edition by the university library at Chapel Hill in 2000 within the Documenting the American South collection The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865. The titles come from the captions, since the originals had no title page. Topics include property tax, tax assessment and tax collection in Orange County during the Civil War.

NC Cardinal UNC

The final fifteen days, excerpts from the "Narrative of military operations," by General Joseph Eggleston Johnston

1940 · General Johnston Headquarters House?

Folded leaflet issued at Hillsborough in 1940, printing excerpts from General Joseph E. Johnston's 'Narrative of military operations' on the final fifteen days of the Civil War in North Carolina, the period of his surrender negotiations with Sherman in April 1865. Its first page announces the opening of the restored house near Hillsborough that served as Johnston's headquarters that year. One sheet of four pages with illustrations.

UNC
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Son Of Carolina

Long, Augustus White · 1939 · Duke University Press

Augustus White Long's memoir of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina from 1865 to 1900, including higher education in the decades after the Civil War. Published by Duke University Press in 1939 in the series A segment of the American scene. 280 pages.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1940), The William and Mary Quarterly (1940), Journal of American History (1940).

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The University of North Carolina in the Civil War

Weeks, Stephen Beauregard · 1896 · Wm. Ellis Jones, Steam Book and Job Printer

Stephen Beauregard Weeks's address on the University of North Carolina in the Civil War, delivered at the centennial celebration of the institution's opening on June 5, 1895, and reprinted from volume 24 of the Southern Historical Society Papers. Printed in Richmond by Wm. Ellis Jones in 1896, 38 pages. It treats the university and the state in the war of 1861 to 1865 and the campus in the nineteenth century.

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The last ninety days of the war in North-Carolina

Spencer, Cornelia Phillips · 2005 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Cornelia Phillips Spencer's account of the closing weeks of the Civil War in North Carolina, reissued in 2005 as an electronic edition by the University Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. Topics include the 1865 campaigns, Sherman's march through the Carolinas, Stoneman's raid, and the history of Chapel Hill and the university in the nineteenth century, where Spencer, 1825 to 1908, spent her working life.

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A card to the voters of Orange County

Leathers, Jas. S. · 2000 · Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A campaign address printed in 1864 by Jas. S. Leathers, appealing to the voters of Orange County during the Civil War. The Confederate imprint belongs to the wartime politics of the county and the state. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill produced this electronic edition in 2000 for its Documenting the American South collection on the Southern homefront.

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Kimberly family papers

Kimberly, John, 1817-1882 · 2000 · Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Letters of the Kimberly family of Chapel Hill, written during the Civil War and issued in 2000 as an electronic edition in the Documenting the American South project of the university library, within its Southern Homefront collection. The sections cover the Union invasion, disease and death, the homefront and morale, with page images of the originals. Kristofer Ray transcribed and annotated the letters.

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Documenting the American South : primary resources for the study of Southern history, literature and culture.

1996 · Academic Affairs Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Documenting the American South, the digital library begun in 1996 by the UNC Chapel Hill Academic Affairs Library, gathers primary sources on the history, literature and culture of the South from colonial times into the early 1900s. Its collections include the first century of the University of North Carolina, antebellum student writings, oral histories, first-person narratives, Southern literature, 'North American Slave Narratives', the Civil War home front, the Black church in the South, the North Carolina experience and North Carolinians in the First World War.

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