The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-12
GREAT HISTORY
OF THE BINGHAMS
Has N; de Great Men of the Nation for Over a
Hundred Years.

Carol1n1anS may be justly proud ma.
interest our readers.
Its First Headmaster.
The founder and first headmastel
of the School was Rev. William Bling
ham, son of James Bingham, of Kill
more Parish, County Down, Ireland
which is still the home of the Bling
hams across the seas, among whom
the names William, Robert and Jane:
still prevail, the head of the family
the present Earl of Lucan, being
Robert Bingham.
Young William Bingham went tt
Scotland for education, entering the
University of Glasgow, according te
the records in the Office of the Regis
trar of the University, in 1774. He
Igraduated in 1888 with the highest
distinction, was licensed as Presby-
Iterian preacher, and soon thereafter
he began the work of the ministry in
his native county. Soon afterwards
his uncles, of whom there were Seve-
rial, became involved in one of the
many efforts for Irish independence
which preceded Emmett's Rebellion
and they had to seek safety in the
UNITED States after one of them had
been captured and put to death by
the English soldiers. One of the
uncles, settled in New York, is the
prOgenitor of the New York Bling
hams, and Binghamton in that State
is named for him. Another uncle
settled in Ohio and was the progeni-
tor of the Ohio Binghams, of whom
John A. Bingham is perhaps the most
distinguished, having been elected to
Congress from the Twenty-first Dis
trict of Ohio for several terms, hav-
| ing been chairman of the impeach-
ment trial of Andrew Johnson and
afterwards U. S. Minister to Japan.
Before leaving Ireland Rev. William
Bingham had made an engagement,
through a gentleman from the Cape
Fear region, who was travelling in
Ireland at the time, to take charge
of the Wilmington Academy, for
which purpose he set sail for Will
mington, North Carolina, in, 1889,
but landed in Wilmington, Delaware,
and by the time he reached Whining
ton, N c., his place had been filled.
Being a stranger in a strange land
and without employment, he was in
distress; but a Masonic sign, given in
taking drink of water, found
| ton of the principal some time after
wards he became principal of the
! Wilmington Academy The climate
of Wilmington being injurious to
him, and there being at that early
day, a, there is still, close cOnnec-
| ton between Wilmington and Pitts
boro, he moved to PittsbOro and be-
came First Headmaster of the Bing-
ham School in 1893. Some years
later he was called to the professor
ship of Ancient Languages in the new
| University of North Carolina and
acted as Chairman of the Faculty for
some time before Dr. Caldwell be-
came President, and his Oldest son,
William James Bingham, Second
IHeadmaster of the School, named for
the childs father and grandfather,
was born in the old Mitchell House
at the west side of the college campus.
Finding the boys who came to the
, University were too poorly prepared
for college to get the benefit of the
instruction, he resigned his profess
sorship, moved to Hillsboro, and
opened his private school again for
the special purpose of preparing boys
for the University, and for about 60
years more than two-tnirds of all
the first honor men in the University
were prepared by him and his sue
cessors. About 1910 he moved his
school to MT Repose,' ten miles
north of Hillsboro, where he taught
with great success until his death
in 1926.
Its Second Headmaster.
At the First Headmaster's death in
February, 1926, his eldest son, Will
liam James Bingham, who graduated
with first distinction at the Univer
sity in the class of 1925, was study
ing law with Judge Murphy and
came, at the earnest request of his
mother, to fill out the unexpired ses-
sion. At the end of the session the
senior class insisted on his remaining
another year and preparing them for
college and the same thing occurred
another year and another; and so
the prospectively brilliant lawyer and
politician became the teacher of a
private school, which he conducted
with such success as to have to refuse
800 pupils in a single year, as to
raise his tuition fees from $50 a
year to $3.50, and, despite all his
numerous charities, to become a man
of comparative wealth for those days
and to be called by the newspapers
of his day That Napoleon of School
Masters"
In 1916 he moved his school from
Hillsboro, as his father before him
had done, in order to educate his own
sons in the country, and limited his
pupils to 80, whom he selected from
the sons of more than 500 of his
former pupils and admirers. In 1857
his sons, William and Robert, who
had graduated with first distinction
from the University in the classes of
1856 and 1857, respectively, became
partners in the School When the
war between the sections broke out,
Robert Bingham, the Junior partner,
raised a company and Joined Lees
army and surrendered with the rem
nant of them among the 1892 armed
men at Appomattox Court House; but
his partnership in the School remain
ed unbroken during the whole time
of his absence.
For those who question the value