Key local figure

Thomas Ruffin

Ruffin entered the bar at Hillsborough in 1808 and served on the University of North Carolina's Board of Trustees from 1813 to 1831 and from 1842 to 1868. On the state supreme court he wrote State v. Mann, holding that the power of the master must be absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect.

Source: UNC, Names in Brick and Stone: Ruffin Residence Hall

1787–1870 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

13 works about Thomas Ruffin are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineSt. Matthew's Parish and Hillsborough's old church, 1752–18241752–1824 · 26 events · From 1752 St. Matthew's Parish was Orange County's established Anglican church, with chapels at New Hope and St. Mary's and, from about 1768, a church in Hillsborough. Its rector, George Micklejohn, preached to Tryon's troops in 1768 and stayed loyal to the Crown in 1776. Its church served as an army hospital, an academy and the meeting place of the 1788 convention, and in 1797 the Assembly ordered the ruinous building sold. Episcopal worship came back through St. Jude's and St. Mary's in 1818 and 1819, and in 1824 the reorganized parish left the old lot to the Presbyterians. StorylineHillsborough’s courthouse, jail, pillory and stocks, 1752–18371752–1837 · 43 events · From 1752 to 1837 the county and the Assembly built, lost and rebuilt Hillsborough's courthouse and jail. Until a frame courthouse was ready in December 1756 the court met in private homes, and in 1757 the sheriff was ordered to provide stocks, a pillory and a whipping post. The second county jail burned, a fire in March 1790 took the courthouse, and that year the Assembly ordered a new one where the burned one had stood. Henry Harris, a Black man jailed as a runaway because he could not prove his freedom, was charged with setting fire to the county jail. John Berry completed a two-story stone jail, set at no more than $4,000, in 1837. 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. StorylineThe Revill family and the county court, 1790–18331790–1833 · 14 events · Across three generations the county court bound out the children of the Revill family, a free family of color, to masters as apprentices. Between 1790 and 1803 it bound Revill children to Robert Neil, Andrew Brooks, William F. Strudwick, Jesse Rice and William Cain; Charity was bound before she was three. In 1812 it bound Charity's daughter Susannah, fifteen months old, to Robert Eaton. When Eaton sold his claim on her in 1826, she won a writ of habeas corpus, and Judge Thomas Ruffin ruled the sale void, holding that an apprentice could not be sold without the court's leave. The bindings went on into 1833. StorylineOrange County and the 1835 constitutional convention, 1822–18351822–1835 · 11 events · Reforming the state constitution threatened Hillsborough's borough seat, the town's own member in the House of Commons, yet Orange pressed for reform. Toasts at Hillsborough in 1822 and 1823 said the constitution needed mending, and in 1823 a county meeting named four delegates, Thomas Ruffin among them, to a reform meeting at Raleigh; voters elected all four. In April 1835 Orange voted 1,648 to 111 for a convention, and Hillsborough itself voted 228 to 23 in favor. Candidates were pressed on the 32nd article, the religious test for office. At Raleigh, James S. Smith moved to abolish borough seats entirely and lost 61 to 67, but Hillsborough lost its member. Orange voters approved the amendments that November. StorylineInternal improvements and the 1833 Hillsborough railroad convention, 1828–18371828–1837 · 16 events · From 1828 Orange County leaders pressed for river navigation and, above all, a central railroad through the state. That year James Mebane brought a flour boat down the Haw from Murphey's Mills, and a meeting with Joseph Caldwell giving the address urged a central railroad. The 1833 convention at Hillsborough chose Thomas Ruffin president, called for a Roanoke and Yadkin Rail Road and adopted Willie P. Mangum's report that the state should pay two-fifths of any work for which private citizens secured three-fifths. By August 1834 every Orange candidate for the Assembly had declared for the central railroad, and in 1837 Cadwallader Jones of Hillsborough was named to the Board of Internal Improvement.

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StorylineThe University’s debts and the sale of its Tennessee lands, 1830–18371830–1837 · 11 events · With debts of about $37,500 and only some 82 paying students in 1830, the University's trustees refused the General Assembly's terms for help and sold property instead. The Assembly offered a $25,000 loan only as a lien on all University property, with the legislature free to take over the charter, and the trustees refused. They sold the Grammar School lot and, in 1833, their Bank of Newbern stock. In 1835 a new executive committee sent Treasurer Charles Manly to Tennessee, where 42,345 acres plus the 20,000 Smith acres went to Orme and Gifford of Boston. In 1837 the endowment went into Bank of the State shares, whose dividends, with tuition, made up the University's income until the Civil War.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 56 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

1808 Thomas Ruffin qualifies to practice law and settles at Hillsborough Ruffin finished his legal studies under Archibald D. Murphey in Rockingham County and qualified to practice law in 1808. He moved to Hillsborough on June 9, 1809, and built his practice there; William A. Graham later read law with him. People: Archibald D. Murphey, William A. Graham Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Thomas Ruffin 1787-1870 (G-11) · Also: J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, ed., The Papers of Thomas Ruffin, vol. 1
August 1, 1811 William Kirkland gives four enslaved people to Thomas and Anne Ruffin Out of affection for his son-in-law Thomas Ruffin and his daughter Anne, William Kirkland of Ayr Mount conveyed to Ruffin a woman named Juley, her two children, John and an infant, and a young girl, all of them already in the Ruffins' household. The deed was proved at the Orange County court that August. People: William Kirkland, Thomas Ruffin, Anne Kirkland Ruffin Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Ayr MountOrange County Register of Deeds: Deed Book 13, pp. 574-575 (deed image) · Also: Orange County Register of Deeds: sales of enslaved people, 1761-1867; Orange County Indexed: the record of Deed Book 13/574, with everyone named in it; Mark Chilton’s abstract of Deed Book 13/574, in Orange County Indexed’s historic deeds
1813, 1815 and 1816 Thomas Ruffin represents Hillsborough in the House of Commons Ruffin sat for the town of Hillsborough in the North Carolina House of Commons in 1813, 1815 and 1816, until he was elected a Superior Court judge at the age of twenty-nine. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Thomas Ruffin 1787-1870 (G-11)
1813–1831 and 1842–1868 Thomas Ruffin serves on the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees Ruffin served on the university's Board of Trustees from 1813 to 1831 and again from 1842 to 1868. The residence hall completed in 1922 was named for him and for his son Thomas Ruffin Jr. Place: Chapel HillIn the index: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · UNC, Names in Brick and Stone: Ruffin Residence Hall
May Term 1813 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
May Term 1815 The court names a committee to confer with the adjoining counties on copying the register's books Having received the report on the state of the register's records, the court appointed Thomas Ruffin, Thomas Clancy and John Street a committee to correspond with the courts of the adjoining counties about transcribing certain books in the register's office named in the report, and to report at the next term. People: Thomas Ruffin Place: Register's office, Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas Clancy, John StreetSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1815
1816 Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough is chosen Speaker of the House of Commons Ruffin, sitting for the borough of Hillsborough, was elected Speaker in the 1816 session, his last in the legislature before he became a superior court judge. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 91
May Term 1817 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
about 1818 Thomas Ruffin's law office is built beside his Hillsborough house A one-room frame law office with a rubble stone chimney was built for Thomas Ruffin, later chief justice of North Carolina, near his house on what became the Burnside lawn. It still stands on its original site. Place: Thomas Ruffin Law Office, 201 South Cameron Street, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 25
May 29, 1823 An Orange County meeting declares the state constitution defective and names four delegates for the reform convention Delegates from the county's militia captains' districts met at the Hillsborough court house, resolved that the state constitution was defective and ought to be amended, and endorsed the Raleigh convention movement. They recommended Thomas Ruffin, Willie P. Mangum, James S. Smith and Michael Holt as Orange's delegates to the November meeting at Raleigh and asked the sheriff to open a poll for delegates at the next election. People: Thomas Ruffin, Willie P. Mangum, James Strudwick Smith, Duncan Cameron Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Michael HoltSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 11, 1823, p. 3
August 1823 Orange County voters elect Ruffin, Holt, Mangum and Smith delegates to the reform convention At the August election Orange County voters chose Thomas Ruffin, Michael Holt, Willie P. Mangum and James S. Smith as the county's delegates to the November convention meeting at Raleigh on amending the state constitution. The sheriff also took a separate vote for and against a convention. People: Thomas Ruffin, Willie P. Mangum, James Strudwick Smith Place: Orange County · Also named: Michael HoltSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 10, 1823, p. 3
1824 Faculty and Orange County trustees expel two students who attacked professors Two students, drunk from the village grog shop and armed with a club and a pistol, went out after members of the faculty and assaulted two of them. The trustees living in Orange County were called to sit with the faculty, and the two were expelled. People: Elisha Mitchell, Duncan Cameron, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb, Francis L. Hawks Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 298

Show all 47 dated events

1824 The new St. Matthew's vestry decides not to claim the old parish church from the Presbyterians When St. Matthew's was organized, some vestrymen proposed asserting the parish's colonial title to the old church lot at Churton and Tryon, then used by the Presbyterians. Thomas Ruffin argued that pressing the claim would set neighbors against each other and offered his own land for a new church and churchyard instead. People: Thomas Ruffin Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough (old church lot at Churton and Tryon streets)Search the index · Joseph Blount Cheshire, An Historical Address Delivered in Saint Matthew's Church, Hillsboro, N.C. (1925), scan p. 25
1824 Thomas Ruffin gives the land for St. Matthew's Church Thomas Ruffin donated the hill on the east side of town where St. Matthew's church and churchyard stand, as a thank offering tied to his courtship of Anne Kirkland there. He offered the land in 1824, when the new vestry chose not to claim the old church lot; the formal deed followed on April 10, 1854. Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Joseph Blount Cheshire, An Historical Address Delivered in Saint Matthew's Church, Hillsboro, N.C. (1925), scan p. 25 · Also: Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962
1824 William A. Graham graduates among the four honor students of his class Graham, named among the best scholars at every examination from December 1821 on, graduated in 1824 as one of four honor students in a class of thirty-four and gave the classical oration at commencement. He then read law with Thomas Ruffin in Hillsborough. People: William A. Graham, Thomas Ruffin Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Internet Archive: Max R. Williams, "The Education of William A. Graham", North Carolina Historical Review 40 (1963), p. 11
1824 William A. Graham settles in Hillsborough to study law with Thomas Ruffin Fresh from the university, Graham settled in Hillsborough in 1824 to study law with Ruffin, a path many later graduates followed into the county seat's law offices. People: William A. Graham, Thomas Ruffin Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NC Historic Preservation Office: Richard L. Mattson, History and Architecture of Orange County (1996), p. 13
August 23, 1824 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
1825 Thomas Ruffin's law students at Hillsborough hold a weekly moot court In 1825 William A. Graham, then reading law under Thomas Ruffin, wrote to his teacher, who was away, that the law class had set up a moot court that met every week. Graham thought it would be of value if properly attended to. People: William A. Graham Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Internet Archive: Fannie Memory Farmer, "Legal Education in North Carolina, 1820-1860", North Carolina Historical Review 28 (1951), p. 276
July 15, 1825 The governor and council appoint Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough a Superior Court judge The governor and council of state appointed Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough a judge of the Superior Court in place of George E. Badger, who had resigned. People: George E. Badger Place: Hillsborough (appointment made in Raleigh)Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 20, 1825, p. 3
May 1826 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
November 27, 1826 Judge Thomas Ruffin frees Susan Revels from a sale that would have taken her out of the county Superior Court judge Thomas Ruffin, hearing a writ of habeas corpus at his office in Orange County, ruled void Robert Eaton's sale of his claim on Susan (Suky) Revels, a free girl of color about sixteen, to Shadrack Lambert of Guilford County, and ordered Shadrack and his brother Lovick Lambert to release her. Her petition of 24 November, brought through her next friend Thomas J. Faddis, said she had lived with Eaton since infancy under a claimed indenture that was not valid, that he had sold her on the night of 23 November, and that the Lamberts held her and meant to carry her to Guilford and perhaps into slavery. The Lamberts answered that Eaton owed Shadrack a debt and that John Taylor, a Hillsborough lawyer, had told them the transfer was lawful and then drew up the assignment. Ruffin found no lawful indenture shown and held that a master could not sell or assign an apprentice without the county court's leave, least of all to send a free person of color out of the county; she remained subject to being bound out according to law. People: Thomas Ruffin Place: Orange County (Judge Ruffin's office) · Also named: Charity Revels, Robert Eaton, Shadrack Lambert, Lovick Lambert, Thomas J. Faddis, John TaylorMark Chilton, Freedom Bound: Apprenticeship, Racism & Liberation in Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
March 1828 William A. Graham establishes a law practice in Hillsborough Graham read law with Thomas Ruffin of Orange County and, having taken his county and superior court licences, had established a practice among the Hillsborough bar by March 1828. He kept a law practice until his death and in time owned three plantations worked by enslaved people. People: William A. Graham, Thomas Ruffin Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Graham, William Alexander
September 8, 1828 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
1829 Thomas Ruffin issues the State v. Mann decision Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough, newly seated on the North Carolina Supreme Court, wrote the opinion in State v. Mann, overturning the conviction of John Mann of Edenton for shooting Lydia, an enslaved woman he had hired, as she fled a whipping. Ruffin held that a master's power must be absolute, and abolitionists later cited the ruling widely. People: Thomas Ruffin, Lydia Place: Countywide · Also named: John MannAfrican American Intellectual History Society, Black Perspectives: Sally Greene, State v. Mann: Lydia's Journey (February 23, 2022)
late November 1829 The legislature elects Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough to the Supreme Court The General Assembly elected Thomas Ruffin a judge of the state Supreme Court in place of the late Judge Taylor, choosing him over John D. Toomer on the third ballot. Place: General Assembly, RaleighSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, December 2, 1829, p. 3
June 21 to July 19, 1830 Trustees meet in emergency session over the university's debts With debts of about $37,500 and only some 82 paying students, a special meeting of trustees at Chapel Hill on June 21, 1830 called the whole board to Raleigh on July 19. There a committee under James Iredell reported on the finances, and the board adopted a memorial drawn by Thomas Ruffin asking the General Assembly for relief. People: Joseph Caldwell, Willie P. Mangum, Thomas Ruffin, William Gaston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: James IredellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 326
1832 Giles Mebane asks to read law under Thomas Ruffin In 1832 Giles Mebane wrote to Thomas Ruffin that he understood Ruffin had all the students he could take, but asked to spend half his time under Ruffin's direction, or at least to borrow books from his library and be examined. Mebane did receive his legal education under Ruffin. People: Giles Mebane, Thomas Ruffin Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Internet Archive: Fannie Memory Farmer, "Legal Education in North Carolina, 1820-1860", North Carolina Historical Review 28 (1951), p. 275
1833 Thomas Ruffin becomes Chief Justice of North Carolina Ruffin, elected an associate justice in 1829 after putting the state bank back in order, became Chief Justice in 1833 and held the post until he retired to his farm in 1852. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 91
August 27, 1833 Orange County railroad meeting names fifteen delegates to the Hillsborough convention A meeting at the Hillsborough court house, with James Mebane in the chair and Dennis Heartt as secretary, heard Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, Willie P. Mangum and Hugh Waddell and named fifteen Orange delegates to the internal improvement convention called for Hillsborough in September. The speakers rejected the Raleigh convention's view that state money should go only to works that begin and end inside the state. People: James Mebane, Dennis Heartt, Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, Willie P. Mangum, Hugh Waddell Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), September 3, 1833, p. 2
September 9 to 11, 1833 Internal improvement convention meets at Hillsborough and elects Thomas Ruffin president Delegates from Orange, Granville, Person, Caswell, Wake, Warren, Rowan, Guilford and Cumberland met at Hillsborough on September 9 to promote a railroad from the Roanoke into the western counties. They chose Judge Thomas Ruffin president over Governor David L. Swain by 26 votes to 16, named Walker Anderson and Sandy Harris secretaries, sat in the Presbyterian church, and adjourned on September 11. People: David L. Swain, Walker Anderson, James Webb, Thomas Ruffin Place: Presbyterian church, Hillsborough · Also named: Sandy HarrisSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), September 10, 1833, p. 3
late June 1834 The university makes Thomas Ruffin, George E. Badger and Bishop Ives Doctors of Laws At its 1834 commencement the University of North Carolina conferred the LL.D. on Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, George E. Badger and Bishop Levi S. Ives, the D.D. on the Rev. Andrew Syme of Petersburg, Virginia, and the master's degree on six alumni. People: Thomas Ruffin, George E. Badger Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Levi S. Ives, Andrew SymeSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 9, 1834, p. 3
July 25, 1834 The Supreme Court orders a new trial in Jackson v. the Commissioners of Hillsborough On July 25, 1834, Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin delivered the state Supreme Court's opinion in the ejectment suit of Den on the demise of Jackson against the Commissioners of Hillsborough, an appeal from Orange County, reversing the judgment below and granting a new trial. People: Thomas Ruffin Place: Supreme Court, Raleigh (appeal from Orange County)Search the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), August 2, 1834, p. 3
1835 Paul C. Cameron builds Burnside on the foundation of Thomas Ruffin's old house Paul Cameron built the town house he named Burnside on South Cameron Street, on the stone foundation of his father-in-law Thomas Ruffin's earlier house. Enslaved workers from Cameron's Fairntosh plantation built it under his master carpenter Jack, and John Berry laid the brick. People: Paul C. Cameron, John Berry, Thomas Ruffin Place: Burnside, 201 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough · Also named: Paul Cameron, JackSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 24 · Also: NCpedia, Berry, John
April 25, 1835 A Red Mountain meeting nominates Thomas Ruffin and Frederick Nash for the constitutional convention Citizens of eastern Orange met at Red Mountain and nominated Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin and Judge Frederick Nash as the county's delegates to the constitutional convention, after Senator Willie P. Mangum, also nominated, asked to be excused because men deep in party politics should not revise the constitution. People: Willie P. Mangum, Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, Harrison Parker Place: Red Mountain, eastern Orange County (now Durham County)Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 1, 1835, p. 3
May 21, 1835 Orange County sends physicians William Montgomery and James S. Smith to the 1835 convention Ten men were put forward at meetings around the county, and the voters chose two physicians, William Montgomery and James S. Smith. Each sided with the majority that abolished borough seats, which cost Hillsborough its own member in the House of Commons. People: James Strudwick Smith, Thomas Ruffin, Frederick Nash, William Montgomery Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 86 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, May 29, 1835, p. 3
May 6 to 21, 1852 Students protest faculty veto of a sub-marshal When the faculty barred the chief marshal's nominee under a new rule against irregular students representing the university, 183 students voted resolutions that the marshals should refuse to serve. They withdrew the resolutions on May 21, the chief marshal resigned, and the 1852 commencement went on without marshals. People: Thomas Ruffin Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 630
April 10, 1854 Thomas Ruffin deeds St. Matthew's Church the land he had given by word around 1820 Thomas Ruffin's deed of April 10, 1854 formally conveyed 1 1/3 acres to St. Matthew's Church, land he had given verbally around 1820. The tract was later enlarged for the church, parish house and walled cemetery. Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 210 St. Mary's Road, HillsboroughSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 210 St. Mary's Road, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
about 1857 Thomas Ruffin buys a West Tryon Street house for his widowed daughter Catherine Roulhac About 1857 Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin bought the house at 143 West Tryon Street, built around 1840, for his widowed daughter Catherine Ruffin Roulhac, who named it Laburnum Cottage. After her death in 1880 it passed to her daughter Annie Roulhac and then to the Hamilton family, whose children included the historian J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton. Place: Roulhac-Hamilton House (Laburnum Cottage), 143 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough · Also named: Catherine Ruffin Roulhac, Annie Roulhac, J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton · Also mentions: West Tryon StreetSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 177 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 14, 1883, p. 3
July 8-9, 1858 North Carolina Railroad stockholders hold their ninth annual meeting in the Masonic Hall at Hillsborough The stockholders of the North Carolina Railroad Company met in the Masonic Hall at Hillsborough on July 8, 1858, with Thomas Webb of Hillsborough among the secretaries and Thomas Ruffin voting the state's stock as proxy. Before adjourning the next day they re-elected Charles F. Fisher president, chose the private directors and passed resolutions on the company's finances. People: Thomas Webb, Thomas Ruffin, William A. Graham Place: Masonic Hall, Hillsborough · Also named: Charles F. FisherSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 14, 1858, p. 2
1861 Thomas Ruffin, speaking at Hillsborough, says North Carolina must fight After the failure of the Washington Peace Conference, to which he had gone as a North Carolina commissioner, Thomas Ruffin changed his views. Speaking at Hillsborough, he said North Carolina must "Fight! Fight! Fight!" People: Thomas Ruffin Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 23 (1946), p. 462
1865 Thomas Ruffin buys the Hillsborough house he called Little Hawfields The house on East Orange Street, built about 1821 and enlarged in the 1830s, was sold to Thomas Ruffin in 1865. He named it Little Hawfields. The Town of Hillsborough acquired the property in 1972 and made it the Town Hall. Place: Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac HouseSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 101 E. Orange Street (Ruffin-Roulhac House) · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ruffin-Roulhac House, National Register nomination; Open Orange: Ruffin-Roulhac House
May 1865 Paul Cameron complains that Jesse Ruffin is raising freedpeople's hopes of land In May 1865, weeks after the Confederate surrender near Durham, Paul Cameron wrote to his father-in-law Thomas Ruffin that the judge's longtime coachman Jesse had stirred the freedpeople on his place to hope for a freehold in the land they worked, and asked that his name not be linked with Jesse's. People: Paul C. Cameron, Thomas Ruffin, Jesse Ruffin Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Paul CameronBurwell 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. 32
Inscribed December 5, 1865 Bricks at the Coachman's Quarters carry the date Dec 5, '65 Two bricks in a small outbuilding near the Burnside stable in Hillsborough carry the hand-cut inscription 'Dec 5, '65', found during the building's restoration after 2003. The owners and descendants connect it to Jesse Ruffin, a coachman once enslaved by Thomas Ruffin. According to family tradition he cut the date to mark the day after the General Assembly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally ended slavery. People: Thomas Ruffin, Jesse Ruffin Place: Coachman's Quarters, South Cameron Street, HillsboroughNews of Orange County: 13th amendment commemorated through local coachman's story
Early 1866 Thomas and Anne Ruffin move from the Haw River plantation to Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin and his wife Anne left their Haw River plantation early in 1866 and moved to Hillsborough, where he had bought the house he called Little Hawfields the year before. People: Anne Kirkland Ruffin, Thomas Ruffin Place: Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac HouseSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Thomas Ruffin Papers, 1753-1898, 1.7. 1866-1878
May 1, 1866 Jesse and Rebecca Ruffin register the marriage they made in 1828 Jesse Ruffin, coachman to Judge Thomas Ruffin, and Rebecca, who had kept the keys of the Norwood household across the Eno, had married in 1828 while enslaved to different families. They recorded the marriage with the Freedmen's Bureau and later bought a farm. People: Jesse Ruffin, Thomas 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. 29
November 1866 Thomas Ruffin buys six lots next to his Hillsborough house from Pride Jones Thomas Ruffin bought lots 177, 178, 179, 204, 205 and 206, which adjoined the house he had acquired the year before, from Pride Jones. People: Pride Jones Place: Ruffin-Roulhac House, Churton and Orange streets, HillsboroughSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ruffin-Roulhac House, National Register nomination (OR0017), p. 4
January 15, 1870 Thomas Ruffin dies at his Hillsborough home Ruffin died in the northeast room of the house on January 15, 1870, and his widow Anne inherited the estate. He was buried at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough, on ground he had given for the church, where he had served on the vestry. Place: Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac House · Also mentions: St. Matthew's ChurchSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 101 E. Orange Street (Ruffin-Roulhac House) · Also: ncpedia.org; Open Orange: Ruffin-Roulhac House

After their death in 1870

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

1875 Anne Ruffin dies and Little Hawfields passes to her heirs Anne Kirkland Ruffin, who had inherited the Hillsborough house on Thomas Ruffin's death in 1870, died in 1875. The estate passed to her children and a grandchild. People: Anne Kirkland Ruffin, Thomas Ruffin Place: Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac HouseSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 101 E. Orange Street (Ruffin-Roulhac House) · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ruffin-Roulhac House, National Register nomination; Open Orange: Ruffin-Roulhac House
January 2, 1886 Hillsborough men incorporate the Orange County Tobacco Association to buy and sell leaf tobacco Fifteen men, among them the merchants Charles M. Parks, David C. Parks and Harry L. Parish, John W. Graham and E. H. Pogue, filed articles with the Orange County Superior Court clerk incorporating the association, with $2,000 in capital in fifty-dollar shares. The same week the paper reported a heavy break at the opening sale of Hillsborough's tobacco warehouse. People: Charles M. Parks, David C. Parks, Harry L. Parish, Edward Atkins Rosemond, Thomas Ruffin, John W. Graham, James A. Cheek, Augustus Washington Graham, E. H. Pogue Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 9, 1886, p. 3 ("Notice of Incorporation")
by June 2, 1891 Tablets to Mangum, Saunders, Ruffin, Cameron and Polk are put up in Memorial Hall Memorial tablets to Dr. A. W. Mangum, Col. William L. Saunders, Judge Ruffin, Paul C. Cameron and Col. Polk of the Revolution were set in place in Memorial Hall in time for commencement. People: William L. Saunders, Thomas Ruffin, Paul C. Cameron, Adolphus Williamson Mangum Place: Memorial Hall, University, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hillian, June 2, 1891, p. 3
May 29, 1897 Anne Ruffin Cameron, widow of Paul C. Cameron, dies in Hillsborough Anne Cameron, widow of Paul C. Cameron and daughter of Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, died at her home in Hillsborough. Her funeral was held at St. Matthew's Church the next day, with her grandsons as pallbearers, and she was buried in the churchyard beside her husband. People: Thomas Ruffin, Paul C. Cameron Place: Her residence, Hillsborough; St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough · Also named: Anne Ruffin Cameron, Anne Cameron · Also mentions: St. Matthew's ChurchSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 3, 1897, p. 3
August 24, 1924 St. Matthew's Church celebrates the hundredth anniversary of its organization On Sunday, August 24, 1924, the parish marked a century since its 1824 organization, with Bishop Joseph B. Cheshire, the rector W. D. Benton and Archdeacon Bethea at the services before a large crowd. Bishop Cheshire reviewed the parish history, and the Weekly, following him, called 1824 a reorganization of a colonial parish. Speakers included Samuel S. Nash of Tarboro, and two great-great-granddaughters of Thomas Ruffin, who gave the site, were confirmed at the evening service. People: Thomas Ruffin, Joseph Blount Cheshire Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Hillsborough · Also named: William D. Benton, Samuel S. NashSearch the index · Pauline O. Lloyd and Allen A. Lloyd, History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C., ca. 1766-1962 (1963), scan p. 71 · Also: The News (Chapel Hill), September 4, 1924, p. 5; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 28, 1924, p. 1
1938 The state approves highway markers for Francis Nash's home site and Thomas Ruffin's grave in Hillsborough The state's historical highway marker program, whose legends were passed on by a panel of college historians, approved markers for the site of the home of Francis Nash and for the grave of Thomas Ruffin, both in Hillsborough. People: Francis Nash, Thomas Ruffin Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 15 (1938), p. 337
March 5, 1951 School board moves to condemn the Ruffin-Roulhac land for a Hillsboro school The county Board of Education decided on March 5 to start condemnation proceedings, if needed, to get the Roulhac property at the north end of Churton Street, long known as the Ruffin property after Judge Thomas Ruffin, for a new elementary school. A committee had picked it the fall before, and owner W. S. Roulhac of Mount Vernon, N.Y., had ignored every letter about a sale. People: Archie Royal Davis Place: Ruffin-Roulhac property, north end of Churton Street, Hillsborough · Also named: W. S. Roulhac · Also mentions: Churton StreetSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 8, 1951, p. 1
July 29, 2020 UNC trustees vote to remove Josephus Daniels’s name from the student stores building On July 29, 2020 the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees voted 11 to 2 to remove four names from campus buildings, among them Josephus Daniels. The Daniels Building became UNC Student Stores, and the names of Charles Brantley Aycock, Julian Shakespeare Carr and Thomas Ruffin Sr. were removed at the same meeting. People: Josephus Daniels, Thomas Ruffin, Julian S. Carr, Charles B. Aycock Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Daniels Building, UNC Student StoresSearch the index · UNC-Chapel Hill: BOT votes to remove names from buildings
March 8, 2021 Hillsborough renames Thomas Ruffin Street as Lydia Lane The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to rename the street for Lydia, the enslaved woman shot by John Mann in the case Thomas Ruffin decided. All twelve households on the street had petitioned for a new name and had first proposed Hope Lane; Commissioner Mark Bell suggested using Lydia's name, and Commissioner Kathleen Ferguson made the motion to approve. People: Lydia, Thomas Ruffin Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Mark Bell, Kathleen Ferguson, John MannSearch the index · Chapelboro, 97.9 The Hill WCHL: Hillsborough Approves Removal of Thomas Ruffin From Street Name

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Thomas Ruffin, 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.

William A. Graham 6 entries, including Thomas Ruffin qualifies to practice law and settles at Hillsborough (1808)
Willie P. Mangum 5 entries, including An Orange County meeting declares the state constitution defective and names four delegates for the reform convention (May 29, 1823)
Frederick Nash 4 entries, including The court names Thomas Ruffin and three others to draft rules for the patrols (May Term 1813)
James Strudwick Smith 4 entries, including An Orange County meeting declares the state constitution defective and names four delegates for the reform convention (May 29, 1823)
William Norwood 4 entries, including The court names Thomas Ruffin and three others to draft rules for the patrols (May Term 1813)
Francis L. Hawks 3 entries, including Faculty and Orange County trustees expel two students who attacked professors (1824)
James Webb 3 entries, including The court orders the bar and jury boxes in the courthouse rebuilt (May Term 1817)
Jesse Ruffin 3 entries, including Paul Cameron complains that Jesse Ruffin is raising freedpeople's hopes of land (May 1865)
Anne Kirkland Ruffin 2 entries, including William Kirkland gives four enslaved people to Thomas and Anne Ruffin (August 1, 1811)
Duncan Cameron 2 entries, including An Orange County meeting declares the state constitution defective and names four delegates for the reform convention (May 29, 1823)
George E. Badger 2 entries, including The governor and council appoint Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough a Superior Court judge (July 15, 1825)
Paul C. Cameron 2 entries, including Paul C. Cameron builds Burnside on the foundation of Thomas Ruffin's old house (1835)

Show 19 more

William Mercer Green 2 entries, including Hillsborough Episcopalians organize St. Matthew's Church (August 23, 1824)
Archibald D. Murphey 1 entry: Thomas Ruffin qualifies to practice law and settles at Hillsborough (1808)
David L. Swain 1 entry: Internal improvement convention meets at Hillsborough and elects Thomas Ruffin president (September 9 to 11, 1833)
Dennis Heartt 1 entry: Orange County railroad meeting names fifteen delegates to the Hillsborough convention (August 27, 1833)
Elisha Mitchell 1 entry: Faculty and Orange County trustees expel two students who attacked professors (1824)
Giles Mebane 1 entry: Giles Mebane asks to read law under Thomas Ruffin (1832)
Harrison Parker 1 entry: A Red Mountain meeting nominates Thomas Ruffin and Frederick Nash for the constitutional convention (April 25, 1835)
Hugh Waddell 1 entry: Orange County railroad meeting names fifteen delegates to the Hillsborough convention (August 27, 1833)
James Mebane 1 entry: Orange County railroad meeting names fifteen delegates to the Hillsborough convention (August 27, 1833)
John Berry 1 entry: Paul C. Cameron builds Burnside on the foundation of Thomas Ruffin's old house (1835)
John Stark Ravenscroft 1 entry: The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina holds its convention in Hillsborough for the first time (May 1826)
Joseph Caldwell 1 entry: Trustees meet in emergency session over the university's debts (June 21 to July 19, 1830)
Lydia 1 entry: Thomas Ruffin issues the State v. Mann decision (1829)
Pride Jones 1 entry: Thomas Ruffin buys six lots next to his Hillsborough house from Pride Jones (November 1866)
Thomas Webb 1 entry: North Carolina Railroad stockholders hold their ninth annual meeting in the Masonic Hall at Hillsborough (July 8-9, 1858)
Walker Anderson 1 entry: Internal improvement convention meets at Hillsborough and elects Thomas Ruffin president (September 9 to 11, 1833)
William Gaston 1 entry: Trustees meet in emergency session over the university's debts (June 21 to July 19, 1830)
William Kirkland 1 entry: William Kirkland gives four enslaved people to Thomas and Anne Ruffin (August 1, 1811)
William Montgomery 1 entry: Orange County sends physicians William Montgomery and James S. Smith to the 1835 convention (May 21, 1835)

Indexed works

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

Judge Thomas Ruffin and the Shadows of Southern History

Sally Greene · 2011

Sally Greene on how Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin has been remembered, from his statue at the North Carolina Court of Appeals to his rulings on slavery.