Chapel Hill in Orange County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Thomas Lloyd

Community Leader - Legislator - Soldier - Town Builder

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, September 13, 2025

1. Thomas Lloyd Marker

Inscription. Born in Pennsylvania about 1736. Served in Virginia Provincial Forces against Indians. Vestryman of the Parish-Church Warden. Chairman County Court. Major Orange County Militia. Member North Carolina Assembly, 1760-1768. Instrumental in establishing Hillsboro as Borough Town. Major-General in Colonial Army 1768. Died in 1792.

Erected by Thomas Lloyd Memorial Association on October 6, 1937
J.R. Lloyd, President
J.T. Lloyd, Vice President
Herbert Lloyd, Secretary
P.C. Lloyd, Treasurer

Historians
Eugene S. Sugg
Mrs. T.W. Lloyd
F. Cleveland Gardner
Lueco Lloyd
Archibald Henderson

Erected 1937 by Thomas Lloyd Memorial Association.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Patriots & Patriotism • War, French and Indian • War, US Revolutionary. A significant historical year for this entry is 1792.

Location. 35° 56.724′ N, 79° 6.565′ W. Marker is in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in Orange County. It is at the intersection of Stony Hill Road and Hillsborough Road, on the right when traveling east on Stony Hill Road. Marker is near a gravel pull-off 50 ft west of Hillsborough

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

Rd. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Chapel Hill NC 27516, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Piedmont

and in the Research Triangle.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Carrboro “Truth Plaque” (approx. 2.9 miles away); Harriet M. Berry (approx. 3.2 miles away); Elizabeth Cotten (approx. 3.3 miles away); Matthew McCauley (approx. 3.3 miles away); Hargraves (approx. 3.4 miles away); Navy B-1 Band (approx. 3½ miles away); The Chapel Hill Nine (approx. 3.6 miles away); Journey of Reconciliation (approx. 3.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chapel Hill.

Regarding Thomas Lloyd. This

Thomas Lloyd Monument image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, September 13, 2025

2. Thomas Lloyd Monument

marker conflates two Thomas Lloyds. In 1962, Robert Bruce Cooke of Durham concluded that Thomas Lloyd of Orange County and Thomas Lloyd of New Hanover County had been mistakenly telescoped in brief biographies. The Thomas Lloyd the marker intends to honor was born in 1710 in Prince George County, Virginia (now Brunswick County), not Pennsylvania (the New Hanover County Thomas Lloyd was the Pennsylvanian). He moved to Orange County, North Carolina, where this marker is located ca. 1752-53. A man of moderate education and wealth, Thomas Lloyd became prominent in Orange County politics and was appointed to the militia as a Captain in 1755. In 1757 he became a justice for the peace, and sat thereafter as chairman on inferior courts with regularity. From 1761-68 he was one of Orange County's two representatives int he Provincial Assembly at New Bern. He was indeed instrumental in establishing Hillsborough, was a vestryman of St. Matthew's Parish, and was promoted to become a Major in the Orange County Militia. The marker is correct in those statements. Where the marker is decisively in error is ascribing his birth to Pennsylvania, his birth

Photographed by Evan Dwyer, September 13, 2025

3. Thomas Lloyd Monument

Stony Hill Road runs to the left, view facing east from Hillsborough Road (Old NC 86)

year to 1736, and his service against Native Americans - these statements all describe Thomas Lloyd of New Hanover, instead.

An additional error is in assigning Thomas Lloyd a Colonial Army Generalship. Thomas Lloyd was actually a Loyalist - he was one of "The Courthouse Ring" that the Regulators opposed, and was loyal to Edmund Fanning and Governor William Tryon. He actively participated in suppressing Regulator activity, was one of the men who failed to meet the Regulators in good faith at Maddock's Mill in 1766, and then in 1768 issued an arrest warrant for Regulator leader Herman Husband. That same year, he crossed paths with Thomas Lloyd of New Hanover - both men were at Governor Tryon's "Council of War" in Hillsborough on 22 September, likely resulting in the two centuries of confusion thereafter. In 1770, Lloyd escaped the vigilante punishment doled out to Edmund Fanning, then became Coroner in 1772, and High Sherriff in 1774-5. While he was the only member of the Courthouse Ring to remain in Hillsborough during the American Revolution, he took no part and was absent from public life throughout despite his neighbors - and at

Paid Advertisement

least one son-in-law - being active Patriots. After the Revolution he conveyed key pieces of his property, including both land and slaves, to his sons-in-law who leased them back to him the same day; this was a fairly common technique used by loyalists to avoid having their property confiscated as a consequence of their support for the crown.

Also see . . . Lloyd (or Loyd, Loyde), Thomas. NCpedia website entry (Submitted on October 16, 2025.)

Credits. This page was last revised on December 25, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 14, 2025, by Evan Dwyer of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 133 times since then and 67 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 14, 2025, by Evan Dwyer of Richmond, Virginia. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.