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Local figure

Francis D. Winston

Francis D. Winston enrolled at the University of North Carolina when it reopened in 1875 and later served more than half a century as a university trustee, attending sixty-one consecutive commencements. A Bertie County lawyer, judge and lieutenant governor, he helped plan the white supremacy campaigns of 1898 and 1900.

Source: NCpedia: Winston, Francis Donnell (R. Neil Fulghum, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1996)

1 work about Francis D. Winston 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 University’s Carnegie library and Hill Music Hall, 1906–19301906–1930 · 12 events · Andrew Carnegie's gift, first offered in 1905 as $50,000 and later raised to $55,000, built the University a new library. Construction began in October 1906, after President Venable reported that the $50,000 endowment for the library had been raised, and the Grand Lodge of Masons laid the cornerstone at commencement on June 1, 1907. The building opened to students that fall and served as the main library until Wilson Library opened in 1929. The old library, remodeled with an auditorium and an organ, most of the cost given by the Hill family, was dedicated as the music building on November 14, 1930. In 1931 it was renamed for John Sprunt Hill.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 9 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Francis D. Winston is the first student to arrive for the reopening Battle names Francis Donnell Winston of Bertie County the first student on the Hill in 1875, arriving a day ahead of other entrants with his brother Robert and Charles Bond. Bond was the only student to enter the agricultural department on opening day, and Battle calls him the first student of the first college of agriculture in the state. People: Francis D. Winston, Robert W. Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles BondDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 94
  2. The university begins keeping Washington's Birthday as a holiday The reopened faculty set the precedent of a holiday on February 22, and the literary societies later chose a Washington orator for the day. At the first or second observance Francis D. Winston displayed a battered hatchet he claimed had felled the cherry tree. People: Francis D. Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 93
  3. Francis D. Winston gives up his place as an editor of the Chapel Hill Ledger Francis D. Winston announced in the Ledger that his college duties obliged him to leave the paper, and the remaining editor took charge alone, promising to keep up its literary standing and to work for education, agriculture and the general welfare. Place: Ledger office, Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, September 7, 1878, p. 2
  4. Cornelia Phillips Spencer edits the Chapel Hill Weekly Ledger For some months in 1879 Cornelia Phillips Spencer edited the Chapel Hill Weekly Ledger, with students R. P. Pell and Francis D. Winston as assistants. The book calls her the county's only woman editor; Charles B. Aycock took over from her. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Charles B. Aycock, Francis D. Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: R. P. PellSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), pp. 127-128 · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, April 26, 1879, p. 2
  5. Francis D. Winston becomes a trustee of the university Francis D. Winston of Bertie County, a member of the class of 1879, was elected a trustee of the university in 1887. Battle's list of trustees, compiled in 1912, shows him still on the board. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 789
  6. Masons lay the cornerstone of the Carnegie library On the Saturday of the 1907 commencement the Grand Lodge of Masons, led by Grand Master Francis D. Winston, laid the cornerstone of the new library built with Andrew Carnegie's gift. Construction had begun in October 1906. People: M. C. S. Noble, Eric A. Abernethy, Francis D. Winston, Andrew Carnegie Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 664
  7. Alumni pledge forty-one endowed scholarships At the 1909 alumni luncheon, classes and local alumni groups promised to endow forty-one scholarships of $1,000 each. Julian S. Carr gave five named for J. Johnston Pettigrew for sons of Confederate soldiers, and Edgar Love two named for Cornelia Phillips Spencer. People: Julian S. Carr, Francis Preston Venable, Francis D. Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Edgar LoveSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 689
  8. The university grants diplomas to students who left for the Confederate army The faculty and trustees voted to give A.B. diplomas to surviving students who had left their classes to join the Confederate army, and the war classes of 1861 to 1868 were called at the 1911 commencement. People: Edward K. Graham, Julian S. Carr, Walter Clark, Francis D. Winston, Edward Kidder Graham Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 717
  9. The university awards Francis D. Winston an honorary doctor of laws In 1920 the University of North Carolina gave Francis D. Winston, a member of the class of 1879 and a longtime trustee, an honorary LL.D. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Winston, Francis Donnell (R. Neil Fulghum, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1996) · Also: Durham Morning Herald, June 17, 1920, p. 1

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Francis D. Winston, 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 Francis D. Winston. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Robert W. Scott (1861-1929) Papers

Scott family · 1848

Papers of the family of Robert W. Scott, 1848 to 1963. Scott was an Alamance County legislator and farm leader and the father of Governor W. Kerr Scott. His letters of 1879 to 1921 go mostly to Lizzie J. Hughes, his fiancee and then wife, sent from home, from Houghton Farm in New York, where he studied experimental farming, and from travels. Hawfields, Cedar Grove and Hillsborough appear. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.200.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

State Archives of NC

Places in this person’s story

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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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