Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Local figure

William Norwood

William Norwood settled in Hillsborough before 1800, practiced law there and lived at Poplar Hill on the Eno River. He represented the borough of Hillsborough in the House of Commons in 1806 and 1807 and served as a superior court judge from 1820 to 1836. He is buried in the Hogg-Norwood plot in Hillsborough's Old Town Cemetery.

Source: NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)

1767–1842 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

2 works about William Norwood are indexed here, as is one work by Norwood.

Search these 2 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineNaming the father: bastardy bonds and support awards in the county court, 1784–18181784–1818 · 34 events · When a single woman in Orange County had a child, the bastardy law aimed to keep the child from becoming a charge on the county: the man she named as father gave a bond and could be ordered to pay support, called the usual allowance of £27 by 1796. From 1784 to 1818 the county court took these bonds, set awards, sent for men who resisted and let juries decide when a man denied it. Some women gave the bond themselves, mothers sued to collect, the court sometimes paid others to keep a child, and some named men married the mother within days. StorylineThe county patrol, 1787–18291787–1829 · 14 events · From 1787 the Orange County court named patrols to watch the movements of enslaved people: patrols for Hillsborough, for the county's districts and, in 1799, for the neighborhood of the University. From at least 1807 the patrols were paid with a tax on each Black poll, and committees of justices drafted rules for them in 1809 and 1813. The court also licensed some enslaved men to carry guns on their owners' land, on the motions of men such as Richard Bennehan and Duncan Cameron, and twice ordered patrollers to give back guns they had taken. In 1829 Chapel Hill's first town ordinance set up a town patrol, and the county was still levying its patrol tax on Black polls. StorylineZedekiah Husbands, from bound boy to master, 1813–18371813–1837 · 6 events · Bound out as an apprentice by the county court, Zedekiah Husbands became a millwright and had to fight that court for his nephew. The court bound him to Joseph Woody in 1813 and, now calling him a boy of color, to John Crawford in 1817. In 1833 it bound his nephew Daniel Burnett to John Jones; Husbands petitioned the Superior Court, Judge William Norwood halted the binding, and in 1834 the court bound Daniel to him. Jones later swore he had been told the court refused Husbands the boy because he was a man of color. Mark Chilton found Husbands one of very few people of color to own land in the county before the Civil War. StorylineThe Orange County Bible Society, 1822–18461822–1846 · 6 events · In 1828 the Orange County Bible Society resolved to supply every household in the county that had no Bible. Hillsborough people had formed the society on January 7, 1822 as an auxiliary of the American Bible Society. Early in 1828 a committee visited every Hillsborough family and found one household without a Bible, which it supplied within the hour; that summer the managers turned to the whole county and named Dennis Heartt agent to collect gifts. In October 1829 the society reported about a thousand families in the county without a Bible and resolved to supply them through paid agents. In September 1846 citizens organized a new county Bible society at Hillsborough under Giles Mebane. StorylineSt. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Hillsborough, 1823–18541823–1854 · 25 events · Hillsborough's Episcopalians built St. Matthew's on Thomas Ruffin's land after he argued against claiming the colonial parish's old church lot, then used by the Presbyterians. Organized on August 23, 1824 with William Mercer Green as first rector, the parish had John Berry and Samuel Hancock build its brick Gothic Revival church in 1825 and 1826 to William Nichols's design, and Bishop Ravenscroft consecrated it in 1826. Green married the parish register's first couple of color in 1831 and in 1833 baptized Job, enslaved by George W. B. Burgwyn, who as Job Berry later led Hillsborough's first Black congregation. A gallery for Black worshippers followed in 1835. Ruffin's deed formally conveyed the land in 1854.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 22 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Catherine Lytle names lawyer William Norwood as the father of her child Examined under the bastardy law on 13 December 1797, Catherine Lytle named William Norwood, described in the papers as a lawyer, as the father of her child. The compilation lists no bond, support order or court minute following the examination. People: William Norwood Place: Orange County · Also named: Catherine LytleSearch the index · Mark Chilton, Natural Child: Legitimacy, Sexuality and Shame in the Court Records of Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
  2. James Hogg sells Poplar Hill to his son-in-law William Norwood James Hogg, who had built the house later called Poplar Hill on an 1,100-acre tract on the south bank of the Eno, sells the estate in 1803 to his son-in-law William Norwood. It later became the home of John Wall Norwood. People: James Hogg, William Norwood Place: Poplar Hill, south bank of the Eno River (now 203 South Cameron Street), Hillsborough · Also named: John Wall NorwoodSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 203 South Cameron Street, Poplar Hill
  3. William Norwood gives $100 toward finishing South Building William Norwood of Hillsborough contributed $100 toward finishing South Building at the university. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
  4. William Norwood represents the borough of Hillsborough in the House of Commons Hillsborough lawyer William Norwood was elected to the House of Commons for the borough of Hillsborough in 1806 and reelected in 1807. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
  5. Lawyer William Norwood wins a support order for Sarah Ray At the May 1806 term, on the motion of Sarah Ray by her attorney William Norwood, the court ordered Moses Gwinn, charged as the reputed father of her child, to pay her £27 by installments. She had named Gwinn in March 1806. In August 1807, again on Norwood's motion, the court ordered David Herndon to pay Priscilla Wade £27 for her child. People: William Norwood Place: Orange County court, Hillsborough · Also named: Sarah Ray, Moses Gwinn, Priscilla Wade, David HerndonSearch the index · Mark Chilton, Natural Child: Legitimacy, Sexuality and Shame in the Court Records of Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
  6. The court names a committee to draft rules for the patrols The court appointed Samuel Benton, Abner B. Bruce, James Webb, Frederick Nash and William Norwood to draft rules and regulations for governing the patrols and to report at the next term. At the same term it again levied one shilling on each Black poll outside Hillsborough to pay the patrols and allowed forty shillings each to patrollers for the past year. People: James Webb, Frederick Nash, William Norwood Place: Orange County · Also named: Samuel Benton, Abner B. BruceMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1809
  7. The court names Thomas Ruffin and three others to draft rules for the patrols The court appointed Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, William Norwood and Catlet Campbell a committee to draft rules and regulations for the government of the patrols and to report at the next term. The same term it allowed thirty men pay as patrollers, to share the patrol money equally. People: Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, William Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Catlet CampbellMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1813
  8. William Norwood becomes a trustee of Hillsborough Academy William Norwood was a trustee of Hillsborough Academy by 1816 and chaired its board in 1826. Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Hillsborough AcademySearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
  9. The court orders the bar and jury boxes in the courthouse rebuilt The court appointed William Norwood, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb, Thomas Clancy and John Taylor Jr. a committee to alter the form of the bar, the jury boxes and a table in the courthouse and to contract for the work, to be paid by the treasurer of public buildings. People: William Norwood, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb Place: Hillsborough, the courthouse · Also named: Thomas Clancy, John Taylor Jr.Search the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1817
  10. William Norwood of Hillsborough is appointed a Superior Court judge The governor and council appointed William Norwood of Orange County a judge of the Superior Court in place of Archibald D. Murphey, who had resigned. Norwood was assigned the Wilmington circuit that fall. People: Archibald D. Murphey Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 23, 1820, p. 3
  11. The Orange County Agricultural Society is organized at Hillsborough A meeting at Hillsborough during superior court week organized an agricultural society for Orange County, with William Kirkland in the chair and John Taylor Jr. as secretary, adopted a constitution and offered premiums for the largest yields of corn, cotton, turnips and potatoes on reclaimed land; Duncan Cameron, James Mebane, William Norwood and Dr. James S. Smith formed its corresponding committee. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, James Mebane, William Norwood, James Strudwick Smith Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John Taylor Jr.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, March 27, 1822, p. 3
  12. The Orange Agricultural Society meets at Hillsborough and elects Duncan Cameron president The Orange Agricultural Society met in Hillsborough with a quorum, elected Duncan Cameron president, William Norwood first vice president, William Kirkland treasurer and John Taylor secretary, and named a corresponding committee. The meeting also took up claims for the premiums the society offered and voted money to several of them. People: Duncan Cameron, William Norwood, William Kirkland Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John TaylorSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 28, 1822, p. 3
Show all 22 dated events
  1. The Orange County Bible Society holds its first anniversary meeting The Auxiliary Bible Society of Orange County met at Hillsborough, heard its first annual report and re-elected Judge William Norwood president. The board reported that it had given out 110 of the 100 Bibles and 75 Testaments received from the American Bible Society in a county of 23,492 people, cut annual dues to one dollar, and moved future anniversaries to the first Monday in August. People: William Norwood, James Webb, Duncan Cameron, William Kirkland, James Mebane, William Huntington, John Witherspoon, Walker Anderson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 16, 1823, p. 3
  2. Francis L. Hawks is elected the first senior warden of St. Matthew's Church When Hillsborough's Episcopalians organized St. Matthew's parish in 1824, they elected Francis L. Hawks senior warden and William Norwood junior warden. Hawks and Emily Hawks are on the parish's first membership roll. People: Francis L. Hawks, William Norwood Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 71
  3. William Norwood is elected first junior warden of the reorganized St. Matthew's Church When St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Hillsborough was reorganized, William Norwood was elected its first junior warden. Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: St. Matthew's Episcopal ChurchSearch the index · NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
  4. Hillsborough Episcopalians organize St. Matthew's Church After decades without a resident minister, Hillsborough's Episcopalians organized a parish again and founded the present St. Matthew's on Thomas Ruffin's gift of land, with William Mercer Green as first rector. People: William Mercer Green, Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 69
  5. 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
  6. The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina holds its convention in Hillsborough for the first time Bishop John Stark Ravenscroft, eight clergy and lay delegates from ten parishes met in Hillsborough in May 1826, gathering in the newly finished St. Matthew's Church, which was consecrated on the Sunday of the session. St. Matthew's sent Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks and James S. Smith as its delegates. People: John Stark Ravenscroft, William Mercer Green, Thomas Ruffin, William Norwood, Francis L. Hawks, James Strudwick Smith Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Joseph W. Murphy, A Sermon-Sketch of the History of St. Matthew's Parish, Hillsboro, N.C. (1900), scan p. 25
  7. The Orange County Bible Society finds a thousand families without a Bible Meeting at Salem meeting house, the Orange County Bible Society elected William Norwood president and reported that its agents had found about a thousand families in the county without a Bible; it resolved to supply every one through paid agents the next spring and then to join the state society's drive. People: William Norwood, Frederick Nash, James Webb, James Mebane, John Witherspoon Place: Salem meeting house, Orange CountySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 28, 1829, p. 3
  8. Zedekiah Husbands petitions the Superior Court to stop his nephew Daniel Burnett's binding to John Jones Zedekiah Husbands, a millwright and machine builder, petitioned the Superior Court that his nephew Daniel Burnett, a free boy of color, had been bound by the county court at May Term to John Jones without his knowledge, after Daniel's master Thomas Woody left the state and placed the boy with him. Judge William Norwood issued writs the same day ordering Jones, the sheriff and the county officers to take no further action under the binding until the Superior Court ruled. People: William Norwood Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Daniel Burnett, Zedekiah Husbands, John Jones, Thomas WoodySearch the index · Mark Chilton, Freedom Bound: Apprenticeship, Racism & Liberation in Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
  9. Former Superior Court judge William Norwood dies near Hillsborough William Norwood, a retired judge of the state Superior Courts, died at his home near Hillsborough after a long illness, aged about 78. Place: His residence near HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, February 3, 1842, p. 3
  10. William Norwood's estate lists Rebecca Ruffin and her daughters When William Norwood died, the inventory of his estate named Rebecca, wife of Judge Ruffin's coachman Jesse, and two of their daughters, Nancy and Julia, among 57 enslaved people. People: William Norwood, Jesse Ruffin Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Rebecca RuffinBurwell 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. 31

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as William 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.

Show 7 more

Indexed works

Works about or by William Norwood. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By William Norwood

Kron Family Letters [Miscellaneous

Kron, F.J. (Francis Joseph), 1798-1883; Kron, Elizabeth; Kron, Adele, 1828-1910; Hawks, Francis L. (Francis Lister), 1798-1866; Hentz, Nicholas Marcellus, 1797-1856; Norwood, William, 1767-1856; Bragg, Thomas, 1810-1872; International Congress of Americanists; Blackmer, Luke · 1827

Kron family letters of Stanly County, 1827 to 1901: Dr. Francis Joseph Kron's correspondence with Francis L. Hawks, Nicholas Marcellus Hentz and Governor Thomas Bragg, and later letters from Adelaide and Elizabeth Kron written after his death. Among them is his letter declining an appointment as a trustee, and the University of North Carolina figures in the correspondence. Part of North Carolina Memory.

DPLA

About William Norwood

Hogg and Norwood family papers, 1815-1841.

1841

Seven items from the Hogg and Norwood families of Hillsborough, dated 1815 to 1841 and preserved as typed transcriptions whose originals have not been located, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 2258-z. Subjects include William Norwood and Robina Hogg Norwood, Scottish American family life in the town, and opinion abroad on the Napoleonic Wars.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Norwood, William, 1767-1842.

UNC

William Lytle papers, 1773-1841 (bulk 1773-1805).

Lytle, William, 1755-1829 · 1773

About 125 items from William Lytle, 1755 to 1829, dated 1773 to 1841 with the bulk before 1805, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 445-z. Topics include the North Carolina militia in the Revolution, land tenure in Tennessee, migration out of the southern states, and Cherokee relations with government in the eighteenth century. Hillsborough history is the Orange County link.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Norwood, William, 1767-1842.

UNC

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 5 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.

All places and the county map →

Records of enslaved people

10 records, 1802 to 1837, name William Norwood as a party to the sale, gift, trust or other transfer of enslaved people. Each record lists the people named in it, with their ages and family ties.

Search all records of enslaved people in Orange County →

Deeds

28 deeds, 1796 to 1836, in the county’s deed books name William Norwood as a party, from Mark Chilton’s published abstracts. Each links to the deed-book page at the Register of Deeds.

Show all 28 deeds

Search every historic deed →

Wills

4 wills and papers in the county’s will books name William Norwood, from Ruth Herndon Shields’s abstracts. Each shows the role and the year.

Search the wills →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William Norwood Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about William Norwood

Books by William Norwood

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Norwood, William, 1767-1842. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

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

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

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

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
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