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Local figure

David Gaston Worth

David Gaston Worth, an honor graduate of the University of North Carolina in 1853 and son of Governor Jonathan Worth, was a trustee and benefactor of the university and founded its Worth Prize in Philosophy. A Wilmington commission merchant, he died in November 1897, and the university held a memorial service for him in Gerrard Hall.

Source: Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 550

1 work about David Gaston Worth is indexed here.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 4 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Alumni build the university's first gymnasium off university land After the dancing ban, a chartered Gymnasium Association sold $10 shares to alumni and built a hall 110 by 45 feet on its own land, rented to the university for exercise and used for the 1885 commencement ball. The building later became Commons Hall, the student dining hall. People: Julian S. Carr, Robert Bingham, Isaac Hall Manning, Richard H. Lewis, David Gaston Worth Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 313
  2. David G. Worth pays to refit Gerrard Hall with numbered chairs David G. Worth of Wilmington gave $500 toward remodeling the university chapel, Gerrard Hall, where chairs replaced the old benches. Each student was given a numbered seat so monitors could report absences from morning prayers. Place: Gerrard HallSearch the index · NCpedia: Worth, David Gaston (Leora Hiatt McEachern, 1996)
  3. Alumni pledge money for an Alumni Hall at the centennial banquet At the banquet marking a hundred years since the university opened, alumni and classes pledged gifts toward an Alumni Hall, led by Julian S. Carr with $3,000 and Thomas M. Holt with $1,000. The building, modeled on the Boston Public Library, had its cornerstone laid in 1898. People: Julian S. Carr, Marion Butler, David Gaston Worth, Bennehan Cameron Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas M. Holt · Also mentions: Alumni HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 523 · Also: The News and Observer (Raleigh), June 6, 1895, p. 1
  4. The university holds a memorial service for David Gaston Worth Five days after Worth died, the university held a memorial service for him in Gerrard Hall, with a prayer by the Rev. N. H. D. Wilson and talks by Dr. John Manning, Kemp P. Battle and President Edwin A. Alderman, who said a tablet in Memorial Hall would bear his name. People: John Manning, Kemp Plummer Battle, Edwin Anderson Alderman Place: Gerrard Hall · Also named: N. H. D. Wilson · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 550

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as David Gaston Worth, 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 David Gaston Worth. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

David Gaston Worth : a sketch of his life

Sykes, Robert H. (Robert Hiden), 1872-1950 · 1898 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Robert Hiden Sykes's biographical sketch of David Gaston Worth, 1831 to 1897, an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, signed at the end by the author and detached from the North Carolina University magazine, new series, volume 15, number 3, April 1898. Printed at Chapel Hill for the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Worth, David Gaston, 1831-1897.

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.

  • Gerrard Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
  • Alumni Building University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

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  • NC LIVE: prepared search for David Gaston Worth 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.
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