John Williams

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1768 Deputy attorney general John Williams signs the order jailing Herman Husband and William Butler Appointed deputy attorney general for the Hillsborough district in 1768, Williams signed the order that sent the Regulator leaders Husband and Butler to jail after the April disturbance in Hillsborough. NCpedia suggests this is why the rioters beat him in 1770. People: Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator) Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Williams, John (Marion M. Edmonds, 1996)
2. September 24–25, 1770 Regulators disrupt the Hillsborough Superior Court About 150 Regulators crowded the Hillsborough Superior Court, beat the lawyer John Williams, Edmund Fanning and others, and forced Judge Richard Henderson to adjourn; he fled that night. The next day the crowd tore down Fanning's house and wrote mocking judgments on the court docket. People: Herman Husband, Edmund Fanning, Richard Henderson, Alexander Martin, Thomas Hart, John Williams Place: HillsboroughColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 8, pp. 241-244: Letter from Richard Henderson to William Tryon, September 29, 1770
3. 1774 Richard Henderson forms the Louisa Company with Thomas Hart and other Orange men Richard Henderson organized the Louisa Company in 1774 to buy western lands, taking in Thomas and Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, Lancelot and William Johnston, John Luttrell and others. Reorganized as the Transylvania Company after its purchase from the Cherokees, its partners, among them James Hogg and David Hart, recorded their agreement in the Orange County deed books. People: Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams, William Johnston, James Hogg Place: Orange County · Also named: Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell, David HartSearch the index · Internet Archive: Durward T. Stokes, "Thomas Hart in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review 41 (1964), p. 329
4. August 1775 Orange County sends Thomas Hart, Thomas Burke and three others to the Third Provincial Congress Thomas Hart sat for Orange in the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough with Thomas Burke, John Kinchen, John Atkinson and John Williams. A 1961 article names Nathaniel Rochester as elected too, citing the Colonial Records; he may have sat for the town of Hillsborough. People: Thomas Hart, Thomas Burke, John Kinchen, John Williams Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John Atkinson, Nathaniel RochesterInternet Archive: Durward T. Stokes, "Thomas Hart in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review 41 (1964), p. 332 · Also: Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 38
5. September 1780 South Carolina's Governor John Rutledge takes refuge in Hillsborough After Camden the town filled with fugitives, and Rutledge, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Daniel Morgan were among those there. It was so crowded that Attorney General Iredell and Judge Williams, arriving for the October superior court, found beds only at Burke's house two miles out, and Rutledge moved into town to share a bed with John Penn of the Board of War. People: John Rutledge, James Iredell, John Penn, John Williams Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Daniel MorganSearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 79
6. February 1, 1782 Three of David Fanning's men are hanged at Hillsborough Seven captured raiders were tried before Judge John Williams, with Alfred Moore prosecuting and William R. Davie defending in his first case. Three were hanged despite Fanning's threats, and Burke commuted the other four sentences to a year in the Continental army. People: Thomas Burke, David Fanning, William Richardson Davie, Alfred Moore, John Williams Place: HillsboroughLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 61
7. December 1791 The Assembly lends the university trustees 5,000 pounds for its buildings Trustees meeting at New Bern named a committee to seek the loan, and Davie argued for it before the Commons. It passed 57 to 53 in the Commons and 28 to 21 in the Senate. People: Samuel Ashe, John Sitgreaves, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William Richardson Davie, John Williams Place: New BernLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 73
8. December 5, 1792 Trustees name John Williams to the committee that will build the university and lay off Chapel Hill On the day they fixed the university at New Hope Chapel Hill, the trustees appointed seven commissioners to erect its buildings and lay off an adjoining town of 24 two-acre and six four-acre lots. People: William Richardson Davie, Alfred Moore, Thomas Blount, Alexander Mebane, John Haywood Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 77
9. July 18, 1797 Trustees attend the university's July examination and praise its teachers Governor Benjamin Williams, Judge John Williams, James Hogg, Adlai Osborne, Willie Jones and Walter Alves attended the examination. Their report thanked the professors and tutors and said complaints against the steward had ended. People: Adlai Osborne, John Williams, Benjamin Williams, James Hogg, Willie Jones, Walter Alves Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 116
10. April 1799 Judge John Williams falls ill while holding court at Hillsborough Williams, on the superior court bench since 1779, became ill while presiding at Hillsborough. He died at Montpelier, his Granville County plantation, on October 10, 1799. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Williams, John (Marion M. Edmonds, 1996)