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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 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

1 indexed work is connected with this person.

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Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

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.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Wilson, Alexander, 1799-1867.

UNC

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. 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.In the index: Hillsborough Academy, Hillsborough, N.C · NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Hillsborough Academy
  2. 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 WilsonDigitalNC: The Hillsborough Recorder, August 7, 1845, page 3
  3. 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.Search the index · NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Caldwell Institute

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 and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Research sources

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Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Alexander Wilson Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • 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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Historical records and collections

Searched with the Library of Congress heading Wilson, Alexander, 1799-1867, which helps separate this person from others with the same name. The historical records searches look for the name as written, so they can turn up other people with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

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