George Washington Duke

1820 - Born in Durham County, North Carolina on the 18th of December.

1842 - On the 9th of August, he married Mary Caroline Clinton.

1852 - After Mary Duke's death at age twenty-two, he married Artelia Romey on the 9th of December.

1863-1865 - He served in the Confederate Navy (against his will; he was opposed to slavery American Civil War.

1874 - He sold his rural home and moved to the city of Durham, where he began his tobacco business.

1880 - Dukes were residing in Durham, and Washington was living with his son James and two sister in laws.
 

1881 - Duke Sons and Company was established as a tobacco manufacturer and was soon a marketer of pre-rolled cigarettes.

1892 - The institution opened its new campus with he and son Benjamin as its principal benefactors.

1896 - He gifted the college with $100,000 on the condition that it open its doors to women.

1905 - Died on the 8th of May.

1924 - Trinity College was renamed in honor of Duke, becoming Duke University.