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Local figure

William George Randall

William George Randall walked from Burke County to Chapel Hill in the fall of 1880 to enter the university, where the Dialectic Society paid him as its librarian and he graduated with high standing in 1884. He became a portrait painter, and the university owns nine of his portraits.

Source: NCpedia: Randall, William George

1860–1905 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

1 indexed work is connected with this person.

William George Randall, drawing, 1894
William George Randall, drawing, 1894

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

William George Randall

Cobb, Collier, 1862-1934 · 1894 · Philanthropic and Dialectic Societies of the University of North Carolina

Collier Cobb's sketch of William George Randall, the North Carolina painter, printed at Chapel Hill in 1894 by the Philanthropic and Dialectic Societies and detached from the North Carolina University magazine for December of that year. Cobb signed the piece at the end. Randall was a North Carolina artist and university alumnus.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Randall, William George, 1860-1905.

UNC

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William George Randall walks from Burke County to Chapel Hill to enter the university Randall walked to Chapel Hill in the fall of 1880, was interviewed by President Kemp Battle and was helped by the Deems Fund. The Dialectic Society paid him as its librarian, the first year the post carried a salary. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · NCpedia: Randall, William George
  2. Randall speaks on North Carolina folklore at commencement Graduating with the class of 1884, Randall was class prophet at the Class Day exercises in the Chapel and gave the commencement speech 'North Carolina Folk Lore', which met with unusual applause. People: Samuel Mallett Gattis, James Lee LoveSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  3. The class of 1884 holds its Class Day with a song written by Cornelia Phillips Spencer In commencement week the class of 1884, with Love as president and Samuel M. Gattis as secretary, put on one of the university's early Class Day programs. W. G. Randall read a comic prophecy and Gattis a class history, and the class sang a song Spencer had written for it. People: James Lee Love, Samuel Mallett Gattis, William George RandallSearch the index · James Lee Love, Recollections (1920-1921), scan p. 213

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 1 with a known location.

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.

All places and the county map →

Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as William George Randall, 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.

Research sources

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Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William George Randall Library card 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
  • 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

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Books about William George Randall

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Searched with the Library of Congress heading Randall, William George, 1860-1905, which helps separate this person from others with the same name. The historical records searches look for the name as written, so they can turn up other people with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

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Picture: William George Randall, drawing, 1894. Public domain. Self-portrait drawing, published 1894; via Wikimedia Commons

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