Mary Ruffin Smith

Life and Orange County connections

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

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 11 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

1. 1834 James Strudwick Smith buys Harriet, aged fifteen, as Mary Ruffin Smith's maid James Strudwick Smith bought Harriet, fifteen years old by the deed, from William Kell of Orange County to be his daughter Mary Ruffin Smith's maid. The family then lived in Hillsborough and enslaved about thirty people at a time. People: James Strudwick Smith Place: Hillsborough · Also named: William Kell, HarrietSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
2. 1844 Harriet, enslaved by the Smith family in Hillsborough, gives birth to Cornelia after Sidney Smith rapes her Harriet, bought by James Strudwick Smith in 1834 as a maid for his daughter Mary Ruffin Smith, was raped by his son Sidney and gave birth to Cornelia in 1844, while the family's home was in Hillsborough. Cornelia's granddaughter Pauli Murray told the story in Proud Shoes. People: James Sidney Smith, James Strudwick Smith, Mary Ruffin Smith, Pauli Murray, Cornelia Smith Fitzgerald Place: Hillsborough · Also named: HarrietSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
3. 1845 James Strudwick Smith sells Harriet, Julius and Cornelia to Mary Ruffin Smith Shielding his property from creditors, James Strudwick Smith passed most of the family's holdings to his daughter Mary Ruffin Smith, including Harriet and her children Julius and Cornelia, whom he sold to her in 1845. Cornelia had been born in 1844 after Sidney Smith raped Harriet. People: James Strudwick Smith, Cornelia Smith Fitzgerald Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Sidney Smith, Harriet, JuliusSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
4. 1845-1847 The Smiths leave Hillsborough for Price Creek Plantation near Chapel Hill After Cornelia's birth the Smiths sold their Hillsborough house and moved to the more remote Price Creek Plantation, about 1,500 acres southwest of Chapel Hill, where building of the main house, Oakland, began in 1845. Harriet and her children moved with them. People: James Strudwick Smith Place: Price Creek Plantation · Also named: HarrietSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
5. December 7, 1852 James Strudwick Smith dies James Strudwick Smith died on December 7, 1852. His family lived out their lives at the Smith Level Road house outside Chapel Hill, and his daughter Mary Ruffin Smith later gave land to the University of North Carolina. People: James Strudwick Smith, Mary Ruffin Smith Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Smith Level RoadSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Smith, James Strudwick
6. August 8, 1869 Robert G. Fitzgerald marries Cornelia Smith of Chapel Hill Fitzgerald married Cornelia Smith, a niece of Mary Ruffin Smith, the Chapel Hill benefactor of the university. Their granddaughter Pauli Murray later told the family's story in Proud Shoes. People: Robert G. Fitzgerald, Pauli Murray, Mary Ruffin Smith, Cornelia Smith Fitzgerald Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Fitzgerald, Robert George (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
7. April 10, 1880 Mary R. Smith gives the Chapel of the Cross an organ The parish formally thanked Miss Mary R. Smith for her gift to the Chapel of the Cross of a fine and costly organ. Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · Archibald Henderson, The Church of the Atonement and the Chapel of the Cross at Chapel Hill (1938), scan p. 56
8. November 13, 1885 Mary Ruffin Smith dies and leaves the university a Chatham County plantation Smith, daughter of the Orange County doctor and congressman James S. Smith, left about 1,500 acres in Chatham County to the university to educate poor students, the Francis Jones Smith Fund. She left small bequests to people formerly enslaved in her household and most of her estate to the Episcopal Church, with Kemp Battle as executor. People: James Strudwick Smith, Kemp Plummer Battle, Mary Ruffin Smith Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 344 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 21, 1885, p. 3

After their death in 1885

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

1. 1888 A carved eagle lectern at the Chapel of the Cross memorializes Mary Ruffin Smith A lectern topped by a carved wooden eagle was placed in the Chapel of the Cross nave in memory of Mary Ruffin Smith, with an inscription on its base dated 1888. People: Mary Ruffin Smith Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel of the Cross, National Register nomination (OR0005), p. 2
2. 1889 The university offers Mary Ruffin Smith's Jones Grove tract for sale in lots A committee of Kemp P. Battle, John Manning and A. H. Merritt advertised for sale, in lots, the 1,500-acre Jones Grove tract just over the line in Chatham County that Mary Ruffin Smith had left the university. The sales took years and brought about $15,000, part of it later lent to start Chapel Hill's first electric plant. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, John Manning Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: A. H. MerrittSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
3. late April or early May 1902 Kemp P. Battle settles Mary Ruffin Smith's estate at Hillsborough Kemp P. Battle, an executor of Mary Ruffin Smith, settled her estate in full at Hillsborough after collecting more than $18,000; the residuary legatees, the two Episcopal dioceses of North Carolina, received about $6,500 each. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Mary Ruffin Smith Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 8, 1902, p. 2