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Local figure

Alexander Wilson

Wilson led the Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute when it moved from Greensboro to Hillsborough in 1845, and he stayed with the school until it closed in 1850. He then bought land in Alamance County, renamed it Melville, and ran his own school there for the last sixteen years of his life.

Source: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Wilson, Alexander

1799–1867 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

1 work about Alexander Wilson is 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.

StorylineThe Orange County Bible Society, 1822–18461822–1846 · 6 events · In 1828 the Orange County Bible Society resolved to supply every household in the county that had no Bible. Hillsborough people had formed the society on January 7, 1822 as an auxiliary of the American Bible Society. Early in 1828 a committee visited every Hillsborough family and found one household without a Bible, which it supplied within the hour; that summer the managers turned to the whole county and named Dennis Heartt agent to collect gifts. In October 1829 the society reported about a thousand families in the county without a Bible and resolved to supply them through paid agents. In September 1846 citizens organized a new county Bible society at Hillsborough under Giles Mebane. StorylineThe Caldwell Institute at Hillsborough, 1845–18511845–1851 · 9 events · Hillsborough won Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute in 1845 and kept it only five years. The presbytery chose the town over Yanceyville and Oxford, and a town meeting chaired by Dennis Heartt pledged the town's support. The institute opened that July under Alexander Wilson in the Hillsborough Academy building, absorbing the older school, and townspeople paid to repair and enlarge the building. Incorporated in 1847, it saw enrollment peak at 100 in 1848 and fall the next year, and the trustees voted in 1850 to discontinue it. Wilson and Ralph H. Graves then opened a classical school, and Benjamin R. Huske and Graves revived the Hillsborough Academy, which ran until 1858.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The university confers master of arts degrees at its 1836 commencement At the June commencement the university made master of arts five of its alumni, among them John Gray Bynum of Rutherfordton, Dr. William M. Crenshaw of Wake, J. E. Sawyer of Elizabeth City and James Grant of Chicago, and also conferred the degree on the Rev. Alexander Wilson of Greensborough. People: Alexander Wilson Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: John Gray Bynum, William M. Crenshaw, J. E. Sawyer, James GrantSearch the index · Columbian Repository (Chapel Hill), September 15, 1836, p. 3
  2. Hillsborough citizens pay to refit the academy building for the Caldwell Institute Townspeople paid for the repair and enlargement of the Hillsborough Academy building so that the Caldwell Institute could move in from Greensboro. The older school was absorbed into the institute under Alexander Wilson. Place: Hillsborough Academy, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Caldwell InstituteIn the index: Hillsborough Academy, Hillsborough, N.C · NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Hillsborough Academy
  3. Caldwell Institute reopens in Hillsborough after leaving Greensboro The Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute, founded at Greensboro, moved to Hillsborough and began its first session there on July 9, 1845, with Alexander Wilson as president. It used the Hillsborough Academy building and absorbed that school. People: Alexander Wilson Place: Hillsborough Academy, HillsboroughHillsborough Recorder, August 7, 1845, p. 3
  4. Citizens organize a new Orange County Bible Society Citizens met in the Presbyterian session house in Hillsborough, adopted a constitution for a county Bible society and elected Giles Mebane president, David L. Swain and others vice presidents, Stephen Moore treasurer and the Rev. Dr. Alexander Wilson secretary. People: Frederick Nash, Giles Mebane, David L. Swain, Stephen Moore, Alexander Wilson, Andrew Mickle Place: Presbyterian session house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 24, 1846, p. 3
  5. Caldwell Institute enrollment peaks at 100 in Hillsborough Under Alexander Wilson the school reached a peak enrollment of 100 students in 1848. Attendance fell back to 68 the next year, and in 1850 the trustees voted to discontinue it. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Caldwell Institute
  6. Hillsborough Academy is revived under Benjamin Huske and Ralph Graves After the Caldwell Institute closed, Alexander Wilson and Ralph H. Graves opened a classical school at Hillsborough on January 14, 1851. Wilson left for Burnt Shop in Alamance that spring, and on June 14 Benjamin R. Huske accepted the town's offer of the Academy building free of rent. With Graves he revived the Hillsborough Academy, which ran until 1858. People: Alexander Wilson Place: Hillsborough Academy, Hillsborough · Also named: Benjamin R. Huske, Ralph Henry Graves · Also mentions: Caldwell InstituteNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 25, 1850, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, June 25, 1851, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, January 29, 1851, p. 3

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Alexander Wilson, 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.

Indexed works

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

Heartt and Wilson family papers, 1802-1926.

1802

Heartt and Wilson family papers run from 1802 to 1926, 264 items in one linear foot in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 1373. Subjects include Alexander Wilson, 1799 to 1867, the Caldwell Institute, Presbyterian clergy and American sermons, and schools and teachers in nineteenth century North Carolina, with Hillsborough, Melville and Greensboro as the places and Irish Americans as a further subject.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Wilson, Alexander, 1799-1867.

UNC

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 them all.

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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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Alexander Wilson Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • 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

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