of writing the History of the State. He knew her resources; he was familiar with her early records; he had studied her interets; he had visited every section from the mountains to the seaboard; he knew personally every leading man of eminence or intelligence in the State. He had gathered material from every source, public and private, at home and abroad. He fully felt the importance and the necessity of a good history of the State. In a letter to General Joseph Graham, (20th July, 1821,) he says:

        "We want such a work, we neither know outsiders; nor are we known to others. We want pride; we want independence; we know nothing of our State and we care nothing about it."

        At his instance, the Legislature through Mr. Gallatin our Envoy in England caused the offices of the Board of Trade in the Rolls offices in London, to be explored, a rich mine never developed; he corresponded with Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison and other literary men of other states, and with the families of Govs. Burke, Caswell, Johnston, and with many revolutionary officers then living, as Generals Graham Lenoir, Col. Wm. Polk and others all of whom contributed their treasures of knowledge freely to him.

        The Legislature in 1826, upon his application, granted authority to him to raise by a lottery, a sum sufficient to carry out his patriotic intentions. But beyond publishing one or two chapters on the Indians, ill health and decayed fortune arrested this great enterprise; poverty and adversity clouded the evening of his days. He died at Hillsboro', February 3rd, 1832, and is buried in the Presbyterian grave yard, a few feet from the front door of the church. He left two sons, Dr. V. Moreau Murphey, of Macon, Mississippi, and Lieutenant P. U. Murphey of the Navy (since dead,) and several grand children, among whom Judge Archibald Murphey Aiken, who worthily sustains the high reputation of his illustrious patronomic and ancestor.

        We acknowledge our indebtedness for much of the material of this truthful memoir to the able address of Gov. W. A. Graham. (N. C. Uni. Mag. Aug., 1860.)

        William Norwood, born 1767 died 1840, one of the Judges of the Superior Courts of North Carolina, was a native of Orange county. He was elected a member of the Legislature from Hillsboro' in 1806, and re-elected in 1807.

        He was elected one of the Judges of the Superior Courts in 1820 and after serving with great acceptability for sixteen years, he resigned in 1836, on account of his ill health; he died in 1840.

        Dr. William Montgomery, born 1791, died 1844, long a resident, and a representative from this county, entered public life in 1824, as a Senator from Orange county in the Legislature, and served till 1834, when he was was elected a member of the 24th Congress (1835-'37) and continued to the 25th and 26th Congress, 1841 where he declined further public life. He was distinguished for the inflexibility of his political principles, and his fidelity to his party.

        Willie Person Mangum, born 1792, died Sept. 14th, 1861, a native and resident of this County was born in 1792, and educated at the University where he graduated in 1815, in the same class with John H. Bryan, Isaac Croom, Francis L. Hawks, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr. and others. He studied law, and became so distinguished in the profession that in 1819 at the early age of 28 he was elected one of the Judges of the Superior Courts. He had been the previous year, elected a member of the Legislature. In 1823 he was elected a member of the 28th Congress (1824) and re-elected to the next Congress, after 1826 he was again elected a Judge of the Superior Courts. In

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