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J. Cheshire Webb

J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough was appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense in June 1917 and became the county's food administrator that September. He presided over the meetings that formed the county's Red Cross chapter, lent its workrooms, and chaired the July 1919 homecoming celebration for the county's returning soldiers.

Source: Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 44

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

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 29 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The White Brotherhood, a Ku Klux order, appears in Orange County The first Klan-type order to reach North Carolina, the White Brotherhood, set up camps including one at Hillsborough. Its Orange County chief was Colonel Joseph C. Webb, followed by Frederick N. Strudwick. People: Frederick N. Strudwick, J. Cheshire Webb Place: HillsboroughLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 116
  2. Thomas Blount Hill, longtime senior warden of St. Matthew's, dies at Hillsborough Thomas Blount Hill died at the Hillsborough home of his son-in-law Joseph C. Webb and was buried in St. Matthew's churchyard. A native of Halifax County, he had served St. Matthew's Episcopal Church for many years as lay reader and senior warden and as its delegate to the diocesan convention. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Thomas Blount Hill Place: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 1, 1888, p. 3
  3. James Webb Jr. & Bro. buy out C. M. Parks's Hillsborough business James Webb Jr. & Bro. bought C. M. Parks's entire business, his brick store, stock, goodwill and fixtures, in a deal thought to exceed $50,000, which the paper called the largest business transaction ever made in the county; Parks retired after 28 years in trade. People: James Webb Jr., J. Cheshire Webb, Charles M. Parks Place: C. M. Parks's brick store, Churton Street, HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 16, 1889, p. 3
  4. James Webb, a builder of the Eno Cotton Mills, dies at Hillsboro James Webb, merchant and manufacturer, died at his Hillsboro home on January 28, three days after returning from Texas for his health. With his brother Joseph C. Webb and A. J. Ruffin he had built the Eno Cotton Mills and a flour mill, and he was a director of the Raleigh and Neuse mills at Raleigh; he was buried at St. Matthew's on January 31. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Allen Jones Ruffin Place: Hillsborough; St. Matthew's Episcopal Church · Also named: James Webb · Also mentions: Eno Cotton MillsOrange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 4, 1904, p. 3
  5. H. W. and J. C. Webb take over the James Webb Jr. & Bro. store H. Winder Webb and J. Cheshire Webb bought the stock, trade and good will of James Webb Jr. & Bro. from the estates of its late partners and put up their own sign at the old stand on Churton Street. The old firm was dissolved except for collecting its debts, which John Cox Webb took in hand. People: James Webb Jr., H. Winder Webb Place: Webb store, Churton Street, Hillsborough · Also named: John Cox Webb · Also mentions: Churton StreetSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 21, 1904, p. 3
  6. Stockholders organize the Hillsboro Clay Manufacturing Company and elect Shepperd Strudwick president Stockholders of the Hillsboro Clay Manufacturing Company met and elected directors, who chose Shepperd Strudwick president and treasurer, A. J. Ruffin vice president and H. N. Brown Jr. secretary and general manager. Work on a brick plant a mile and a half east of town on the Southern Railway was to begin at once, on an authorized capital of $100,000 with $20,000 paid in. People: Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961), Allen Jones Ruffin, Paul C. Collins, J. Cheshire Webb, N. W. Brown Place: Office in the old Norwood building east of the court house; plant east of Hillsborough on the Southern Railway · Also named: H. N. Brown Jr.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 10, 1907, p. 2
  7. Typhoid cases appear in the Hillsborough mill villages Six to eight typhoid cases appeared among Hillsboro's roughly 2,500 people, most of them in the mill villages and five near one well. J. Cheshire Webb and Commercial Club secretary M. Lockhart wrote to the Durham Herald denying a report of an epidemic. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: Mill villages, West Hillsborough · Also named: M. LockhartSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 20, 1911, p. 5
  8. Hillsborough residents meet at the Session House library to organize a Red Cross chapter About thirty people met in the library at the old Session House on June 1, 1917, heard Sarah Cheshire of Raleigh explain Red Cross work with sample bandages, and joined the Red Cross. They chose J. C. Webb temporary chairman, Henrietta P. Collins secretary and Rev. T. M. Grant treasurer, and set a mass meeting for June 4. People: John W. Graham, Henrietta P. Collins, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Session House, Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas M. Grant, Sarah Cheshire, T. M. GrantSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 1
  9. A Red Cross mass meeting at the Hillsborough court house enrolls new members On the eve of draft registration, J. C. Webb presided over a mass meeting at the court house where Edward Bond of Edenton, a soldier back from the Mexican border, and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence spoke, and Frank Nash introduced Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh on the purpose of the Red Cross. Six young women then enrolled members. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Frank Nash, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Court House, Hillsborough · Also named: Edward Bond, Mrs. Palmer JermanSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 2
  10. J. Cheshire Webb is appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough was appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense, with M. C. S. Noble, C. H. Robertson, Shepperd Strudwick, S. W. Andrews, John P. Hughes and P. C. Collins as members. He led the council through the war and the 1919 homecoming. People: M. C. S. Noble, Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961), Paul C. Collins, Charles H. Robertson, Samuel Weldon Andrews Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John P. HughesSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 44
  11. Nurse Mrs. R. B. Hayes starts a surgical dressings class in the Hillsborough Red Cross room Mrs. R. B. Hayes, a registered nurse, began a class in surgical dressings that met Tuesday and Friday mornings in the Red Cross room, John Norwood's old law office east of the court house, which J. Cheshire Webb lent for as long as the Red Cross needed it. Notice of the classes went to Cedar Grove. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: John Norwood's old law office, east of the court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Mrs. R. B. Hayes, John NorwoodSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 4
  12. Black residents of Hillsborough organize a Red Cross auxiliary The Orange County Red Cross heard at its August 1, 1917 meeting that Hillsborough's Black residents had organized an auxiliary, which was ready for instruction in surgical dressings and already knitting in cotton. J. Cheshire Webb lent separate Red Cross rooms for white and Black workers. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 32
Show all 29 dated events
  1. J. Cheshire Webb is named Orange County's food administrator On September 20, 1917, State Food Administrator Henry A. Page appointed J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough food administrator for Orange County, with R. A. Eubanks as administrator for Chapel Hill. The record says no mill in the county broke a Food Administration rule. People: Eugene Cunningham Branson, Robert A. Eubanks, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Orange County · Also named: Henry A. PageSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 52
  2. Eugene C. Branson urges county teachers to back the food conservation drive At a court house meeting of teachers and school committeemen called by J. C. Webb, Branson explained why food conservation mattered, and Mrs. Isaac Manning described her work in the south end of the county. Forty-two teachers attended, and the meeting laid the plan to register every woman at her school house on October 27. People: Eugene Cunningham Branson, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Mrs. Isaac ManningSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 53
  3. Hillsborough men enlist in a Home Guard detachment of the state militia Answering Gov. Bickett's call, the Council of Defense chose 25 men on October 20, 1917, and they enlisted for the duration at the Hillsborough court house on October 22 and 24, electing Shepperd Strudwick first lieutenant. The county bought their uniforms, and they drilled twice a week until the influenza ban on meetings. People: Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961), J. Cheshire Webb, Thomas W. Bickett Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 58
  4. Orange County women sign the food pledge at their school houses On Saturday, October 27, 1917, committees at every school house in the county registered the women of the district and asked each to sign the Food Administration pledge. A house-to-house canvass of every housewife followed from October 29 to November 4. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Eugene Cunningham Branson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 53
  5. A Christmas membership drive signs the Orange County Red Cross's quota of 400 members J. Cheshire Webb led a membership drive in the week before Christmas 1917, run from an office in the Orange Trust Company room, and reported on January 5, 1918 that the chapter had reached its quota of 400 members. Half the drive's receipts stayed with the chapter and let it pay its bills. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Charles H. Robertson Place: Orange Trust Company, HillsboroughSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 9
  6. Farmers' Union delegates at Schley ask that no wheat be threshed before July 15 At J. Cheshire Webb's request, the county's Farmers' Union, in convention at Schley on March 30, 1918, resolved to favor a Food Administration rule that no threshing machine start before July 15, to protect crop cultivation. Webb issued the order, and only two farmers broke it; both paid to the Red Cross. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: SchleySearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 58
  7. The Council of Defense extends into township community councils At a court house meeting on June 15, 1918, J. Cheshire Webb organized community councils of defense for each of the seven townships, choosing the township over the school district as the unit. Their charge was to support every war activity without forming new organizations. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Eugene Cunningham Branson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 45
  8. Orange County holds a Fourth of July war rally on the UNC campus At the Governor's request the UNC Summer School invited the county to its July 4, 1918 celebration, and at least 3,000 people came for a parade, a flag raising and S. M. Gattis's address in Memorial Hall. The county Council of Defense met in Gerrard Hall, and Adolph Vermont's pageant on French-American friendship played in Battle's Park. People: M. C. S. Noble, J. Cheshire Webb, Samuel Mallett Gattis, Adolph Vermont Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Battle's Park, Gerrard Hall, Memorial HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 20
  9. A War Savings rally in Hillsborough welcomes home wounded volunteer Jim Cheshire On the night of Registration Day, September 12, 1918, a crowd packed the court house for a War Savings rally to hear two of Pershing's soldiers. One was Jim Cheshire, the first man to volunteer from the town and the first to come home, sent back wounded to train troops. That day 1,727 county men registered for the draft. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Samuel Mallett Gattis Place: Hillsborough · Also named: James Webb CheshireSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 60
  10. Orange County raises $2,075.84 for Armenian relief An Armenian Relief campaign led by Dr. E. C. Branson ran from February 21 to March 6, 1919, and raised $2,075.84. Much of it came through the county's white and Black schools; Nellie Russell led Hillsborough Township. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Eugene Cunningham Branson, John Simcox Holmes Place: Orange County · Also named: Nellie RussellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 73
  11. The Orange County Red Cross commits its women workers and $300 to the soldiers' homecoming At the request of the homecoming chairman, Robertson called the chapter's executive committee and workers to the court house, where they agreed to decorate the town and serve the soldiers' dinner on July 16. He named Mrs. W. L. Wall chairman of the dinner, and the committee voted $300 of its $399 balance toward the celebration. People: Charles H. Robertson, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Mrs. W. L. WallSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 17
  12. Hillsborough holds the county homecoming celebration for returned soldiers On July 16, 1919, about 15,000 people came to Hillsborough to welcome home Orange County's soldiers and sailors, with a parade, Gov. Bickett's address at the court house and a dinner for about a thousand guests in Cameron Park. J. Cheshire Webb chaired the celebration, and the county Red Cross voted $300 toward its cost, money the celebration fund turned out not to need. People: Frank Nash, Julian S. Carr, John W. Graham, J. Cheshire Webb, Samuel Mallett Gattis, Thomas W. Bickett Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Cameron ParkSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 112 · Also: State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History, Hillsborough chapter h
  13. J. Cheshire Webb becomes president of the Eno Cotton Mills Webb, a director of the Eno Cotton Mills since early manhood, was made president of the Hillsborough mill in 1921. He ran it until his death in 1932 and was also a director of the Rocky Mount Mills and the Bank of Orange. Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Bank of Orange, Eno Cotton MillsSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 15, 1932, p. 4
  14. Hillsborough's poultry show launches the Orange County Poultry Breeders' Association Exhibitors at the county poultry show in Cheshire Webb's warehouse in Hillsborough, which the Weekly called the first of its kind in Orange, formed the Orange County Poultry Breeders' Association, with George C. Wall of Hillsborough as president, W. H. Walker vice president and R. P. Harris acting secretary. Wall's Rhode Island Reds also won the sweepstakes among 66 fowls judged by a State College poultry expert, who then spoke on poultry raising in the courthouse. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: Cheshire Webb's storage warehouse and the court house, Hillsborough · Also named: George C. Wall, W. H. Walker, R. P. HarrisSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 28, 1924, p. 1
  15. J. Cheshire Webb takes options on the Hillsborough quarry farm that supplied stone for Duke Webb showed geologist Jasper L. Stuckey the old quarry near Hillsborough that had supplied flagstones, and at the request of Duke's business manager Frank Brown he took purchase options on the quarry farm, signed January 31, 1925. The land was bought under the option for Duke University on March 31. Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Jasper L. Stuckey, Frank BrownSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 31, 1947, p. 2
  16. Eno Cotton Mills stockholders approve a recapitalization On November 19, 1928, the directors and then all the stockholders of the Eno Cotton Mills near Hillsborough voted to reorganize the company's stock. Holders of common stock gave it up for 75 per cent of its par value in new shares, 4,383 shares of non-voting second preferred stock were authorized, and the common stock was cut to 3,755 shares. People: J. Cheshire Webb Place: Eno Cotton Mills, near HillsboroughThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 30, 1928, p. 4
  17. J. Cheshire Webb, president of the Eno Cotton Mills, dies in Hillsboro Webb, 52, a University man of 1901 who had run the James Webb, Jr., & Bro. store with his uncle H. Winder Webb and had headed the Eno Cotton Mills for eleven years, died early Wednesday of acute uremia, having worked at his mill office the day before. A junior warden of St. Matthew's, he had his funeral there on April 14, and his death dissolved the H. W. & J. C. Webb partnership. People: J. Cheshire Webb, H. Winder Webb Place: Hillsboro; St. Matthew's Church, Hillsboro · Also mentions: Eno Cotton MillsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 15, 1932, p. 5

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 6 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 J. Cheshire Webb, 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 The 1918 influenza pandemic in Orange County

Background reading on The 1918 influenza pandemic in Orange County. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss J. Cheshire Webb. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

A record of the war activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919

Cameron, Annie Sutton · 2002 · Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Annie Sutton Cameron compiled this account of Orange County's part in the First World War in 1919 as historian for the county's Council of Defense, at the request of its chairman J.S. Webb. It covers the Council and the Home Guard, drives for war bonds and overseas relief, Red Cross work, patriotic observances, the influenza epidemic and women's war work, with registers of the county's soldiers. Published online in 2002 by the UNC library in Documenting the American South's North Carolinians and the Great War.

L.R. Wilson presents student center as most fitting monument to Graham

Wilson, Louis Round, 1876-1979 · 1932 · General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina

Remarks by Louis Round Wilson at the dedication of Graham Memorial, the student center built at the University of North Carolina in memory of Edward Kidder Graham, printed in the February 1932 Alumni Review at Chapel Hill by the General Alumni Association. Topics include student unions in Chapel Hill, the buildings of the university and monuments to Graham.

UNC

Presentation Graham Memorial

Wilson, Louis Round, 1876-1979 · 1932

Louis Round Wilson's typescript of remarks presenting Graham Memorial, the student union at Chapel Hill named for Edward Kidder Graham, 1876 to 1918. A manuscript hand supplies the caption title and the date January 29, 1932. Topics include college buildings, monuments and student unions at the University of North Carolina. In the North Carolina Collection at UNC.

UNC

Edward Kidder Graham: Teacher and Interpreter of Modern Citizenship

Louis Round Wilson · 1920

Louis Round Wilson's memorial essay on Edward Kidder Graham, UNC president, from the University of North Carolina Magazine of February 1920.

The University of North Carolina Record. Edward Kidder Graham. [1919]

University of North Carolina (1793-1962) · 1919 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Speeches on Edward Kidder Graham, published by the University of North Carolina in January 1919 as bulletin number 162. Graham, president of the University from 1914, died in October 1918 during the influenza epidemic.

The University of North Carolina Record. Marvin Hendrix Stacy. [1919]

University of North Carolina (1793-1962) · 1919 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Addresses in memory of Marvin Hendrix Stacy, the University of North Carolina dean who died early in 1919, published at Chapel Hill in February 1919 as university bulletin number 163.

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A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina. 1917-1919

Cameron, Annie Sutton · 1917 · Transcript of the manuscript, UNC-Chapel Hill, Southern Historical Collection

Annie Sutton Cameron's record of wartime activity in Orange County from 1917 to 1919, presented as a transcript of the manuscript in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina. Topics include the Orange County Council of Defense, Red Cross work, savings bond drives, registers of soldiers, women's war work and influenza in the county.

A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina. 1917-1919

Cameron, Annie Sutton · 1917 · Transcript of the manuscript, UNC-Chapel Hill, Southern Historical Collection

Annie Sutton Cameron compiled a record of war activities in Orange County from 1917 to 1919, given here as a transcript of the manuscript in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. Subjects include the Orange County Council of Defense, Red Cross work, war savings bonds, registers of soldiers, influenza, and the war work of women.

Inauguration of Edward Kidder Graham, president of the University of North Carolina, Wednesday, April the twenty-first, MCMXV : programme and order of academic procession

University of North Carolina (1793-1962) · 1915 · University of North Carolina

The printed programme and order of academic procession for the inauguration of Edward Kidder Graham as president of the University of North Carolina on Wednesday, 21 April 1915, published by the university at Chapel Hill. It gives the order of the ceremony and the ranks of the procession.

UNC

Papers,

Newell, Leone Burns · 1913

Letters to Leone Burns Newell, a Charlotte physician, from Dr. William de Berniere MacNider, the University of North Carolina pharmacologist, beginning in 1913. The 83 items mix personal news with word of changes in the university's medical department and of the 1919 influenza epidemic in Chapel Hill.

Leonidas Polk Denmark Family Papers

Denmark, Leonidas Polk · 1861

Papers of the Denmark family, 1861 to 1966, gathered by Leonidas Polk Denmark (1892 to 1964), grandson of the farm leader Colonel Leonidas Lafayette Polk (1837 to 1892). They cover Polk's agricultural journalism, the Farmers' Alliance and Populist politics, the Civil War, World War I and the 1918 influenza. Hillsborough appears among the places.

Fred Pharr oral history interview, 1993 January 22

Pharr, Fred C., 1899-1996 · 1993

Fred 'Chuck' Pharr (1899 to 1996), interviewed 22 January 1993, remembers his student years at UNC Chapel Hill from 1918 to 1922: ROTC training, college football and its uniforms, dormitory life, courtship and the 1918 influenza epidemic. He also speaks of life in Charlotte and service in both world wars. About 18 minutes of audio.

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