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Named event or history

The Burwell School and the Burwell household

Hillsborough’s girls’ school, 1837–1857, and the enslaved people who worked in the household, Elizabeth Keckly among them.

In briefAnna Burwell opened a school for girls in Hillsborough in 1837 that ran until the family moved to Charlotte in 1857. In the same household Elizabeth Hobbs, later Elizabeth Keckly, was enslaved from 1835, beaten at Anna Burwell’s urging and subjected to years of sexual coercion before being sent back to Virginia in 1842; she bought her freedom in 1855.

66 indexed works are connected with this event. 8 held at OCPL →

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The Burwell School, Churton Street, Hillsborough
The Burwell School, Churton Street, Hillsborough

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Narrow these works. Each link opens the search already limited to this event. Counts are indexed works, not copies on a shelf; a work can carry more than one period or place.

Material

Letters & correspondence 22Photographs & portraits 20Histories 14Biography 5Diaries 2other types 9

Period

19th century 9Civil War (1861–1865) 1Reconstruction (1865–1877) 120th century 1

Place

Hillsborough 64Orange County 46North Carolina (statewide) 31Chapel Hill 1

Anna Burwell and the business of being a Presbyterian minister's wife in North Carolina, 1835-1857

Hoffert, Sylvia D. · 2019 · Historical Research Office, Office of Archives and History

Sylvia D. Hoffert's article on Margaret Anna Burwell, 1810 to 1871, and the work of being a Presbyterian minister's wife in North Carolina from 1835 to 1857, the years of the female school she and her husband kept in Hillsborough. Pages 245 to 275 with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits, issued by the Office of Archives and History in Raleigh in 2019.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Burwell, M. A. (Margaret Anna), 1810-1871.

UNC

Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857

Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 2019

The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Mr. & Mrs. Burwell's Female School (Hillsborough, N.C.) -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 HISTORIC

The Elizabeth Keckley Reader

McKoy, Sheila Smith · 2016

A reader on Elizabeth Keckley edited by Sheila Smith McKoy, gathering criticism and interpretation of Behind the Scenes, Keckley's 1868 memoir of enslavement and of her years as Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. Keckley's enslavement included years in Hillsborough, which is the book's Orange County link. Published in 2016, 274 pages.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NCCU record: Behind the scenes (Keckley, Elizabeth).

✓ Held at OCPL · 973.709 ELIZABET Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL NCCU

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Chiaverini, Jennifer · 2013 · Dutton

Jennifer Chiaverini's historical novel about Elizabeth Keckley, the formerly enslaved dressmaker who sewed for Mary Todd Lincoln and became her friend in the White House years. Published by Dutton in 2013, 356 pages, in a large print edition. Topics include first ladies, women dressmakers and female friendship. Keckley's years in Hillsborough give the book its Orange County connection.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Keckley, Elizabeth, ca. 1818-1907 -- Fiction.

✓ Held at OCPL · LP F CHIAVERI NC Cardinal Durham Library of Congress

An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley

Rinaldi, Ann · 2007 · Harcourt

Ann Rinaldi's young adult novel about the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who was born into slavery and later worked in the Lincoln White House. It is fiction on both women, slavery and nineteenth-century United States history. Keckley's years as an enslaved young woman in Hillsborough are the Orange County link. Published by Harcourt in 2007, 241 pages.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907 -- Fiction.

NC Cardinal NCCU Durham Library of Congress

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave

Fleischner, Jennifer · 2003 · Broadway Books

Jennifer Fleischner's double biography of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who had been enslaved, including years in Hillsborough, before buying her freedom and becoming the First Lady's confidante. Published by Broadway Books in New York in 2003, 372 pages with illustrations and a map. Topics include enslaved women in Hillsborough and the United States, dressmakers and women's friendships in the nineteenth century.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907.

✓ Held at OCPL · 973.7 FLEISCHN NC Cardinal Library of Congress UNC
Show 6 more

Mary Lincoln's Dressmaker: Elizabeth Keckley's Remarkable Rise from Slave to White House Confidante

Rutberg, Becky · 1995 · Walker

Becky Rutberg's biography of Elizabeth Keckley, born into slavery in Virginia, who bought her freedom, became a dressmaker in Washington and served Mary Todd Lincoln as dressmaker and confidante. Written for young readers and published by Walker in 1995, 166 pages with illustrations. Keckley spent years in Hillsborough as an enslaved young woman, which is the Orange County link.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Durham record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907.

NC Cardinal Durham Library of Congress

The Book of Burwell Students

Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1979 · Historic Hillsborough Commission

Mary Claire Engstrom's biographical register of the young women who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough, subtitled lives of educated women in the antebellum South. The school was kept by Margaret Anna Burwell and her husband, and the book bears on women's education in nineteenth-century North Carolina. Published by the Historic Hillsborough Commission, 1979, 256 pages with illustrations and portraits.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Burwell School.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 371.82 ENG NC Cardinal UNC Durham

Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House

Keckley, Elizabeth · 1868

Elizabeth Keckley's memoir of 1868, thirty years in slavery and four years in the White House as dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln. Keckley spent part of her enslaved youth in Hillsborough, which ties the book to Orange County. This edition is the Oxford University Press reprint, with a portrait, 371 pages.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.

✓ Held at OCPL · BIO KECKLEY KEC NCCU Library of Congress UNC

Circular and catalogue of Mr. & Mrs. Burwell's Female School, Hillsboro', N.C. : term 1848-1851

1851 · Printed at the N.C. Inst. for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind

Circular and list of pupils of Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School in Hillsborough for the terms 1848 to 1851, printed in Raleigh in 1851 at the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. Eleven pages.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Mr. & Mrs. Burwell's Female School (Hillsborough, N.C.) -- Registers.

UNC

Lizzy, the Elizabeth Keckley Story

2023

A 2023 telling of the life of Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who bought her freedom and later sewed for Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House. Keckley is a local subject because she was enslaved for several years in Hillsborough as a young woman.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.

✓ Held at OCPL · F C GEORGI

Stitch by Stitch

Schofield-Morrison, Connie · 2021

Connie Schofield-Morrison's 2021 account of Elizabeth Keckley, who was born into slavery, learned to sew, purchased her freedom and became dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln. The Orange County tie is her years of enslavement in Hillsborough as a young woman.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.

✓ Held at OCPL · JBIO KECKLEY SCH

Search all 66 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this event. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled. Books marked Wider context cover the broader subject rather than this event itself.

  • Foundational · NC 371.82 ENG The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1979

    Mary Claire Engstrom's biographical register of the young women who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough, subtitled lives of educated women in the antebellum South. The school was kept by Margaret Anna Burwell and her husband, and the book bears on women's education in nineteenth-century North Carolina. Published by the Historic Hillsborough Commission, 1979, 256 pages with illustrations and portraits.

  • Foundational · NC 975.656 HISTORIC Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 2019

    The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.

  • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

    Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

Show 6 more

In the chronology

Episodes in this history, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Elizabeth Keckly in HillsboroughKeckly’s enslaved years in the Burwell household and her memoir’s testimony about them, including the abuse by schoolmaster William Bingham

Other dated events here: sixteen of 37, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 37 dated events in the chronology →

Earliest first. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.

16 dated events

  1. Tavern keeper William Adams builds the house that became the Burwell School

    Construction or physical change · Burwell School, 319 North Churton Street, Hillsborough

    William Adams, a Hillsborough tavern keeper and businessman, builds a two-story house with two rooms on each floor facing West Union Street in 1821. Those rooms survive as the south rooms of the Burwell School.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  2. Sarah Grove buys lots 152 and 153 for $800

    Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough

    Adams sold the two lots to Sarah Grove for $800, a rise that suggests he had built the first four-room house and its outbuildings. About eighteen months later she sold them to the attorney Nathaniel J. Palmer for $1,200.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

  3. Hillsborough Presbyterian Church buys the house as its manse

    Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough

    The church's trustees bought lots 152 and 153 in January 1836, renovated the house, and gave it to their minister, Robert Armistead Burwell, and his family, who had arrived from Virginia late the year before.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    People: Robert Armistead Burwell

    Subject: Hillsborough Presbyterian Church · Burwell School

  4. Burwell School for young women operates

    Hillsborough

    Robert and Margaret Anna Burwell operated their Hillsborough school for girls from 1837 to 1857.

    People: Margaret Anna Burwell · Robert Armistead Burwell · Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly

    Subject: Burwell School

  5. Anna Burwell opens a school for girls in Hillsborough

    Founding or opening · Burwell School, Hillsborough

    Anna Burwell advertised that she would open a female school in Hillsborough on July 17, 1837, teaching the usual English branches, with music available. She and her husband, the Rev. Robert Burwell, ran it in their home until 1857.

    People: Robert Armistead Burwell · Margaret Anna Burwell

    Subject: Burwell School

  6. A Female School House is built for the Burwells' school

    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough

    As the school grew, subscribers in town paid for a 36-by-20-foot schoolhouse north of the Burwell home, built by the carpenter George A. Faucette.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  7. Richard Mayo, a free cabinetmaker of color, buys three town lots

    Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough

    Richard Mayo paid $200 for three lots on Occoneechee Street between West Tryon and West Queen streets, and in 1849 gave them to Levi McCollum to settle a debt. His brother William later waited tables at the Burwell School.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  8. Smallpox at the Turner house sends students out of town

    Disaster or outbreak · Hillsborough

    Anna Burwell wrote that William Turner had caught smallpox from the clothes of a brother back from medical lectures in Philadelphia. Twenty or thirty students of the Institute left town, and both Burwell boarders went home, though no second case followed.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

  9. Robert Burwell pledges Mary Ann and her children against his building debts

    Slavery and freedom · Hillsborough

    A deed of trust set out Burwell's debts of $2,500 to the builder John Berry and $800 to the Presbyterian trustees, and offered as security the enslaved seamstress Mary Ann, her four children and any children born to her, and a girl named Ann.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    People: Robert Armistead Burwell · John Berry · Thomas Webb

  10. Elizabeth Keckly purchases freedom for herself and her son

    Slavery and freedom · St. Louis, Missouri; earlier Hillsborough connection

    Elizabeth Keckly purchased freedom for herself and her son in St. Louis, after earlier enslavement in Hillsborough.

    Part of Elizabeth Keckly in Hillsborough

    People: George Kirkland · Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly

  11. Aunt Fariby saves Jane from burning

    Life event · Hillsborough

    Jane, a young enslaved servant at the Burwell School, caught fire. Anna Burwell wrote that she would have burned to death but for Aunt Fariby, who saved her life.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  12. Fanny Burwell dies aboard the steamer Jamestown as her parents bring her home to Hillsborough

    Life event · Hillsborough

    Fanny Burwell had gone to New York to complete her music education, but fell ill with erysipelas in early March. Her mother went north to nurse her, and she died at dawn on the steamer Jamestown between New York and Norfolk with both parents beside her, in her eighteenth year; her body was brought home to Hillsborough for burial.

    People: Robert Armistead Burwell · Margaret Anna Burwell

  13. Burwell School closes as the Burwells move to Charlotte

    Closing or ending · Burwell School, Hillsborough

    The Burwells closed their Hillsborough school in 1857, the same year they took charge of a girls' school in Charlotte.

    People: Robert Armistead Burwell · Margaret Anna Burwell

    Subject: Burwell School

  14. The Collins women sell their shares of the Beehive to Dr. Thomas D. Warren

    Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough

    After the war the Collins relatives who had lived at the Beehive left Hillsborough, and the women sold their shares of the house to Dr. Thomas D. Warren, who had married Elizabeth Alethea Collins.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  15. Jule Gilmer Korner remodels the former Burwell School

    Construction or physical change · Burwell School, North Churton Street, Hillsborough

    In the 1890s the old Burwell School house was remodeled by Jule Gilmer Korner of Kernersville, who gave it a bracketed cornice, a sawnwork porch, a new hall stair and new mantels, including a marble one in the parlor. Several of the older mantels were lost in the work, which was done for an owner thought to be Mrs. Charles M. Parks.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

  16. The Burwell School opens to visitors

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    The restored house has been open to visitors every year since 1977.

    Part of Orange County’s nineteenth-century academies · 102 events

    Subject: Burwell School

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 2 with a known location.

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.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Background context 6

Background from selected state and local sources

Read contemporary evidence 4

Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time

Search beyond the index 4

Other catalogs, databases, and guides worth searching

Ask locally 5

Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further

Background reading at OCPL

Held in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection. Selected because their titles or catalog subjects provide wider historical context for this event; they may not discuss the Orange County event directly.

  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Less Time for Meddling: A History of Salem Academy and College, 1772-1866 Griffin, Frances · 1979

    Salem Academy, the Moravian school for girls at Salem, from its start in 1772 to 1866, in a history by Frances Griffin that takes in the Moravian community and the town of Salem, now part of Winston-Salem. John F. Blair published the 311 pages, with illustrations, a bibliography and an index, in 1979.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Salem Academy and College (Winston-Salem, N.C.); Moravian Church -- Education -- North Carolina -- History; Women -- Education -- North Carolina -- History OCPL call number: NC 373.756 GRI
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection A History of the Public Schools of North Carolina Noble, M. C. S. · 1930

    M. C. S. Noble, dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina, traces the state's public schools from colonial apprenticeship of orphans and chartered academies through the Literary Fund of 1825, the common school law of 1839, Calvin H. Wiley's superintendency, Reconstruction, and the graded schools and the white and Black normal schools of the late 1800s. Published at Chapel Hill in 1930; 463 pages with portraits and an index.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Education -- North Carolina -- History; Public schools -- North Carolina OCPL call number: NC 352 NOB

Search the Wall Collection for related books →

Related themes

Schools & Education →Slavery, Emancipation & Reconstruction →Women's Lives & History →Everyday Life & Traditions →Black Life & Civil Rights →

Picture: The Burwell School, Churton Street, Hillsborough. CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph by Warren LeMay; via Wikimedia Commons

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