Orange County

In the chronology

Storylines set here, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Other dated events here: twelve of 1,461, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 1,461 dated events in the chronology →

1. October 3, 1724 Herman Husband, the Regulators’ pamphleteer, was born Herman Husband was born in Cecil County, Maryland, to an Anglican family and later became a Quaker. He settled at Sandy Creek, then in Orange County and now in Randolph County, where he reprinted and circulated political pamphlets and became a leading voice of the protest against county officers.Search the index · Documenting the American South: John Spencer Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1894), "The Leaders"
2. May 16, 1771 Battle of Alamance Governor William Tryon's militia defeated the Regulators at Alamance. James Few, captured on the field, was hanged at Tryon's camp the next day. People: William Tryon, Herman Husband, Robert Palmer, James FewNCpedia
3. 1787–1820 Indian families from Virginia settle the Texas community in northern Orange County Charles Whitmore, Jesse Whitmore and Jacob Jeffries appear on the Orange County return used for the 1790 federal census, which was compiled from a tax list of 1787. Families of the same names had moved southwest from Greensville County in Virginia, and by 1820 the settlement later called Texas, or Pleasant Grove, was intact, with the Corn and Jeffries families holding tracts of several hundred acres.Excavating Occaneechi Town (UNC Press): Post-Revolutionary War
4. 1790 The county tax list counts 36 white polls and 82 taxable enslaved people in Hillsborough town Orange County's 1790 tax list returned 2,272 polls and 406,106 acres across its eight districts, with a separate list for Hillsborough town showing 36 white polls against 82 black polls. William Hooper was charged for 22 of them, John Taylor for 10 and Francis Childs for 5. People: William Hooper, Walter AlvesDocumenting the American South: List of taxpayers in Orange County in 1790
5. 1829 Thomas Ruffin issues the State v. Mann decision Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough, newly seated on the North Carolina Supreme Court, wrote the opinion in State v. Mann, overturning the conviction of John Mann of Edenton for shooting Lydia, an enslaved woman he had hired, as she fled a whipping. Ruffin held that a master's power must be absolute, and abolitionists later cited the ruling widely. People: Thomas Ruffin, LydiaAfrican American Intellectual History Society, Black Perspectives: Sally Greene, State v. Mann: Lydia's Journey (February 23, 2022)
6. August 7–October 14, 1869 Washington Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Daniel Morrow are lynched Early on August 7, 1869, about 100 disguised white men took Washington Morrow and his brother Nelson from the Hillsborough jail, where they were held on barn-burning charges, and shot Washington as they fled; he died of the wound. On October 14 a mob hanged their father, Thomas Jefferson Morrow, and their uncle, Daniel Morrow. People: Washington Morrow, Daniel Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Thomas Jefferson MorrowJames Madison University, Memorializing Racial Terror: The Lynching of Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Daniel Morrow
7. 1930–1940 Census counts tenants on about a third of Orange County farms Tenants operated 643 of 1,870 Orange County farms in 1930 (34.4 percent), 718 of 1,956 in 1935 (36.7 percent) and 687 of 2,043 in 1940 (33.6 percent). Of the 1940 tenants, 514 were share tenants and croppers.US Census of Agriculture 1940: North Carolina County Table II, farms by tenure of operator
8. August 1936 District health department holds midwife classes across Orange County Classes for midwives were held at Efland and Hillsboro and began for those in and near Chapel Hill at the health department offices, with attendance required before a permit to practice would be issued. Health officer W. P. Richardson said 17 percent of births in the county were attended by midwives, against 31 percent statewide.Search the index · DigitalNC: The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 21, 1936, page 5 (classes for midwives)
9. 1948 Hyconeechee Regional Library is established The three county library systems incorporated as one region to enlarge book collections, run a shared bookmobile and provide trained supervision. The regional board held its second meeting on September 13, 1948 at the Confederate Memorial Library in Hillsboro, with Sydney Green of Orange County as president and Mrs. Douglas Davis as regional librarian.DigitalNC: The News of Orange County, September 23, 1948, page 1
10. November 5, 1981 Friends of the Orange County Public Library is founded Residents organized the Friends of the Orange County Public Library on November 5, 1981, to raise money and advocate for a county library preparing to move into larger quarters in Hillsborough. The group incorporated on May 3, 1982, and the IRS recognized it as a 501(c)(3) charity in June 1983.ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Friends of the Orange County Public Library Inc
11. September 5–6, 1996 Hurricane Fran strikes Orange County Hurricane Fran came ashore on the night of September 5, 1996 and crossed to the Triangle overnight. In Chapel Hill winds topped 70 mph, falling trees caused about 29,000 power outages and UNC cancelled classes, and the Eno at Hillsborough hit a record flow. No one in Orange County was killed.Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): front page, September 9, 1996
12. Fiscal year 2006–2007 Refugees from Burma begin arriving in Orange County in larger numbers All 55 refugee direct arrivals recorded in Orange County in fiscal year 2006-2007 came from Burma. A second resettlement agency, the Triangle office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, opened.UNC Latino Migration Project: Building Integrated Communities in Chapel Hill, NC: Community Perspectives and Recommendations for Local Government (August 2018)

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