|
In a letter of Governor Tryon of date December 12th, 1768, he describes
Tryon County as "forty-five miles in breadth due north and south and eighty
miles due east and west it having been found to be that distance from the
Catawba River to the western frontier line which was run last year between
the Cherokee hunting grounds and this Province." The site for the public
buildings was not fixed until 1774. As there was no court-house the courts
during this time were held at private residences that happened to be
convenient and suitable for the purpose.
The Tryon records begin with these words: "North Carolina, Tryon County.
Pursuant to Act of Assembly of the Province aforesaid bearing date the fifth
of December, 1768, in the ninth year of his Majesty's reign, for dividing
Mecklenburg into two distinct counties by the name of Mecklenburg County and
Tryon County and for other purposes in the said Act mentioned." His
Majesty's commission under the great seal of the Province appointing certain
justices to keep the peace for the county of Tryon is read.
Ezekiel Polk, Clerk, John Tagert, Sheriff, and Alexander Martin, Attorney
for the Crown, produce commissions and take oaths of office. Waightsill
Avery produces license of attorney and takes oath of office.
The court records, beginning at April sessions, 1769, are in the
handwriting of Ezekiel Polk , the first clerk, who lived near King's
Mountain. Ezekiel Polk removed to Mecklenburg County, and afterwards became
famous through his grandson, James K. Polk, President of the United States.
The Tryon Courts were styled the "County Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions." In this court deeds and wills were probated, estates settled,
land entries recorded, guardians appointed, orphans apprenticed, highways
opened, overseers appointed, and many other matters attended to. There were
grand and petit juries and an "attorney for the crown."
These courts convened quarterly and continued without material change
until the adoption of the constitution of 1868.
The Courts of Oyer and Terminer, corresponding to our Superior Courts,
were District Courts, several counties comprising one district. Tryon county
was in Salisbury District and each county appointed its quota of jurors to
attend the Salisbury Court. In 1782 the Salisbury District was divided, and
Lincoln and other western counties were declared a separate district by the
name of Morgan, where the judges of the Superior Courts shall sit twice
every year and hold a Superior Court of law. Lincoln County remained in the
Morgan District, the courts being held at Morgan town, until 1806, when a
Superior Court was established in each county of the State to be held twice
every year.
The Tryon Court was organized at Charles McLean's and the Quarter
Sessions for the years 1769, 1770, and 1771, were held at his house. He
lived in the southern part of what is now Gaston county, on the headwaters
of Crowder's Creek, near Crowder's Mountain. Charles McLean was an early,
active, and zealous friend of liberty. At January Sessions of 1770 he
produced his Excellency's commission appointing him captain in the Tryon
Regiment of Foot, and took the oath of office. In 1774 he was one of his
Majesty's justices, and chairman of the committee appointed to select a
permanent site for the court-house of Tryon county. He was a delegate from
Tryon county to the Provincial Congress at Halifax, 4th April, 1776; also
representing Tryon county in Assembly during the years 1777 and 1778.
Between sessions, as colonel of the Tryon Regiment, he was actively engaged
against western Tories.
The criminal docket of Tryon is marked "Crown Docket," and the
indictments are now brought in the name of the "King" or "Rex," as we now
use "State." The minutes of a few cases tried at the first term will serve
to show the administration of justice: "The King v. John Doe. Petty larceny.
Jury empaneled finds the defendant guilty of the charge against him.
Judgement by the Court that the defendant be detained in the Sheriff's
custody till the costs of this prosecution be paid, and that at the hour of
one o'clock of this day the said defendant on his bare back at the public
whipping post receive thirty-nine lashes well laid on. "Rex v. Thomas
Pullham. Profane swearing. Submitted and fined five shillings." "The King v.
John Case. Sabbath breaking. Defendant pleads guilty, fined ten shillings
and the cost." "The King v. John Carson. Neglect of the King's highway.
Submitted and fined one shilling and sixpence." Letters testamentary granted
Nicholas Welsh on the estate of John Welsh, deceased. William Wilson,
appointed overseer of the road from the South Fork to Charles Town in that
part of King's Mountain and Ezekiel Polk's and the head of Fishing Creek.
The road orders extend to the "temporary line between So. and No.,
Carolina." At October Sessions the claims against Tryon County for the year
1769, include a charter, twenty pounds expenses in sending the charter,
eight pounds; Charles McLean, to two courts held at his house, five pounds;
other items swell the amount to seventy-one pounds, sixteen shillings, and
ten pence; and a tax of three shillings and two pence was levied on each of
the 1221 taxable persons in Tryon county to meet the same.
At July Term, 1770, "Thomas Camel came into court and proved that the
lower part of his ear was bit off in a fight with Steven Jones, and was not
taken off by sentence of law; certified by whom it may concern." At a later
term, "James Kelly comes into open Court of his own free will and in the
presence of said court did acknowledge that in a quarrel between him and a
certain Leonard Sailor on the evening of the 2nd day of June, 1773, he did
bite off the upper part of the left ear of him, the said Leonard Sailor, who
prays that the same be recorded in the minutes of the said court." This
confession gave James Kelly such standing in the esteem of his Majesty's
Justices that at the same term it was ordered by the Court that James Kelly
serve as constable in the room of George Trout and that he swear in before
Thomas Espy, Esq." From the court entries biting off ears was a popular way
of fighting, but whole ears were at least an outward sign of honesty.
An old parchment, yellowed with age, labeled "Charter of Tryon County,"
encased in a frame, with great wax seal appended hangs on the court-house
walls. It is addressed in the name of his Majesty, "George the Third by the
Grace of God of Great Brittain, France, and Ireland, King Defender of the
Faith, and so forth, To All and Singular our Faithful Subjects, Greeting,"
and is officially attested by "our trusty and well-beloved William Tryon,
our Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief." at Wilmington, 26th
June, 1769. It authorized Tryon County to elect and send two representatives
to sit and vote in the House of Assembly.
The quarter Session of 1771 issued ROYAL LAND GRANT Number 3187 to Samuel SARRATT.
March 4, 1770
ROYAL LAND SURVEY; No: 3195
HIS EXCELLENCY JOSIAH MARTIN, ESQ;
[This is typed as shown on the orginial ..prs]
His Majefty's Captain-General, and Governor in Chief, in
and over the faid Province.
To the S U R V E Y O R - G E N E R A L,
Greeting: You are forthwith to admeafure and lay out, caufe
to be admeafured and laid out unto: Samuel Sarratt, Jr. A Plantation,
containing 200 Acres of Land, in the County of Tyron County:
Located on the West Side of the Broad River .. Joining
the river bank... joining the course of thr said river (A Point) near
the mouth of a Branch....
Obferving his Majefty's Inftructions for running out Lands:
Two juft and fair Plans whereof, with a proper Certificate annexed
to each, you are to return into the Secretary's Office, within twelve
Months from Date hereof. And if the Warantee fhall not, with in Eighteen
Months from Date hereof, take out a Patent for faid Lands, this Warrant,
and all Proceedings thereon, fhall be Void; and of no Force; and the
faid Land fhall be deemed vacant, and free to be taken up by any other
Perfon.
GIVEN at Tyron County under my Hand,
the 4th Day of March, Annoque Domini 1770
Josiah Martin { Seal }
By his Excellencys Command, Fenner per Sec
|
November 14, 1771
ROYAL LAND GRANT - No. 3187
NORTH CAROLINA, fi
GEORGE, the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great- Britain,
France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all to whom
thefe Prefents fhall come, Greeting: KNOW YE, That We, for and in
Cnfideration of the Rent and Duties herein referved, have Given and
Granted, and by this Prefents, for Us, Our Heirs and Succffors, DO
Give and Grant, unto Samuel Sarratt, Jr.
A Tract of Land, containing
200 Acres, lying and being in the County of Tyron, in our Province
of North Carolina.
...Located on the West Side of the Broad River.. Joining
the river bank... joining the course of thr said river
(A Point) near the mouth of a Branch....
As by the Plat hereunto annexed doth appear; together with
all Woods, Waters, Mines, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances, to the
faid Land belonging or appertaining (one Half of all Gold and Silver
Mines excepted) to hold him the said Samuel Sarratt, Jr. Heirs
and Affigns, for ever, as of our Manor of Eaft- Greenwich, in our
County of Kent, in fee and common Socrage, by Fealty only; YIELDING
AND PAYING UNTO US, our Heirs and Succeffors, for ever, the yearly
Rent of FOUR SHILLINGS, Proclamation Money, for every Hundred Acres
hereby granted; to be paid unto us, our Heirs and Succeffors, on the
Second Day of Fetruary in each Year, at fuch Places in our faid
Province as our Governor for the Time being, with the Advise and Confent
of our Council, fall think fit to direct and appoint. Provided always,
That in Cafe the said Samuel Sarrett, Jr. Heirs and Affigns, fall
not, within Three Years from the Date hereof, dear and cultivate,
according to the Proporation of Three Acres for every Hundred; and
alfo, that if a Minute or Docket of thefe our Letters Patent fhall
not be entered in the Office of our Auditor General, for the Time
being, in our faid Province, within Six Months from the Date hereof;
that then, and in either of the faid Cafes, thefe our Letters Patent
fhall be void and of none Effect.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We have
caufed the Seal of our faid Province to be hereunto affixed. Witnefs
our trufty and well beloved JOSIAH MARTIN, Efg; Captain General,
Governor, and Commander in Chief, in and over our faid Privince,
this 14th Day of November in the 57th Year of our Reign, Annoque
Domini One Thoufand Seven Hundred and Seventy One.
By His Excellencym,
Signed by Josiah Martin
|
The Quarter Sessions of 1772 were held at Christian Reinhardt's. The site
of his house is now in the northern corporate limits of the town of
Lincolnton, on the Ramsour Battle Ground. The Tories were encamped around
his house, and after the battle it was used as a hospital. His house was
built of heavy hewn logs, with a basement and stone foundation, that served
some of the purposes of a fort both during the Indian Troubles and the
Revolution. Some evidence of its strength is furnished by this item from the
record of July Sessions, 1783: "Ordered by the Court that Christian
Reinhardt's loft be the public gaol of said county until the end of next
court, October Term, 1783."
The courts of 1773 and 1774 were held at Christopher Carpenter's. He
lived in the Beaver Dam section. There were some half-dozen Carpenters among
the pioneers. Their signatures to all early deeds and wills are written in
the German, Zimmerman.
The commissioners appointed by Act of Assembly to select the place
whereon to erect and build the court-house, prison and stocks of Tryon
County, on 26th July, 1774, reported their selection of the place "called
the crossroads on Christopher Mauney's land, between the heads of Long
Creek, Muddy Creek, and Beaver Dam Creek in the county aforesaid as most
central and convenient for the purpose aforesaid." The county court
adjourned to meet at the "house of Christy Mauney or the cross-roads in his
land." The site of the old Tryon court-house is eight miles south-west of
Lincolnton, in Gaston County. October Sessions, 1774, were held at the house
of Christian Mauney, and a room in his dwelling was used as a jail.
The old county of Lincoln, with its fine farms and beautiful homes,
dotted with towns and villages, and musical with the hum of machinery, the
pioneers found a wild, luxuriant with native flora, the habitat of the red
man and wild animals. There were herds of fleet-footed deer; there were
clumsy brown bears and fierce wild cats and panthers; there were droves of
buffalo, and countless beavers building their dams on the creeks. The early
settlers waged a relentless war on these animals and set a bounty on many of
their scalps. The scalps on which a price was set were the wolf, panther,
wild cat, and such other as preyed on domestic animals. For killing a grown
wolf the price was one pound; a young wolf ten shillings; a wild cat five
shillings. The claims filed in court were for "scalp tickets." As late as
October Sessions, 1774, there were audited in favor of individuals
forty-nine "wolf scalp tickets." We still retain Indian, Beaver Dam, and
Buffalo Creeks, Bear Ford, Wolf Gulch, and Buffalo Mountain, Buffalo Shoals,
and the Indian names Catawba and Tuckaseegee, memorials of these primeval days.
In Tryon County there were many loyal subjects of the king, and there was
likewise a gallant band of patriots who as early as August, 1775, adopted
and signed the following bold declaration:
"The unprecedented, barbarous and bloody actions committed by British
troops on our American brethren near Boston, on 19th April and 20th of May
last, together with the hostile operations and treacherous designs now
carrying on, by the tools of ministerial vengeance, for the subjugation of
all British America, suggest to us the painful necessity of having recourse
to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights,
against all invasions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up
arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our
country whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our
Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this engagement we
will continue in for the preservation of those rights and liberties which
the principals of our Constitution and the laws of God, nature and nations
have made it our duty to defend. We therefore, the subscribers, freeholders
and inhabitants of Tryon County, do hereby faithfully unite ourselves under
the most solemn ties of religion, honor and love to our county, firmly to
resist force by force, and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take
place between Great Brittain and America on Constitutional principals, which
we most ardently desire,and do firmly agree to hold all such persons as
inimical to the liberties of America who shall refuse to sign this
association. (Signed) John Walker, Charles McLean, Andrew Neel, Thomas
Beatty, James Coburn, Frederick Hambright, Andrew Hampton, Benjamin Hardin,
George Paris, William Graham, Robt. Alexander, David Jenkins, Thomas Espey,
Perrygreen Mackness, James McAfee, William Thompson, Jacob Forney, Davis
Whiteside, John Beeman, John Morris, Joseph Harden, John Robison, James
McIntyre, Valentine Mauney, George Black, Jas. Logan, Jas. Baird, Christian
Carpenter, Abel Beatty, Joab Turner, Jonathan Price, Jas. Miller, John
Dellinger, Peter Sides, William Whiteside, Geo. Dellinger, Samuel Carpenter,
Jacob Mauney, Jun., John Wells, Jacob Costner, Robert Hulclip, James
Buchanan, Moses Moore, Joseph Kuykendall, Adam Simms, Richard Waffer, Samuel
Smith, Joseph Neel, Samuel Loftin.
In 1777 an act was passed establishing State courts, providing that all
suits and indictments instituted and fines imposed "in the name or the use
of the King of Great Brittain, when this territory was under his government,
and owed allegiance to him, and all breaches on penal statues directed to be
prosecuted in the name of the king shall be prosecuted and proceeded in the
name of the State." This act terminated the "Crown Docket." and the King or
Rex as prosecutor. The "State Docket" begins at October Sessions 1777.
The change of government from royal to state in Tryon County was
consummated without a jar. The last Tryon court was held January, 1779.
During this year Tryon is blotted from the list of counties and War of the
Revolution is in progress. Lincoln County became the scene of many thrilling
Revolutionary events.
By: Debbie Fowler
 <---
micajah@mindspring.com
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 22:02:05 -0500
Her Source:
This from the History of Lincoln County by Alfred Nixon, 1910. He tells of
the formation of the courts of Tryon County.
Bibilography
History of Old Tryon & Rutherford County, North Carolina 1730-1936
By Clarence W. Griffin. Asheville: Miller Print Co. 1937. XV 640 pages
(Reprint: Spartanburg, SC.; Reprint 1982, xv, 640pages, with 41page index.)
Annals of Lincoln County, North Carolina
Lincoln County History Through the years 1749 to 1937.
By: William L. Sherrill.
Charlotte; Observer Print House, 19377, 536 pages.
(Reprint Baltimore; Regional Publishing Co., 1972.
|
Old Tyron Co., NC.
was created in 1768.
County seat was in town of Tryon, located between present-day Cherryville
and Bessemer City in Gaston Co. Upon dissolution, land and court records were
turned over to Lincoln Co. which at that time occupied area now divided between
Lincoln and Gaston counties. Tyron Co. was discontinued in 1779.
Tryon Co. NC included all or parts of
These records are part of the "Genealogy Computer Package" *** PC-PROFILE *** Volume - II.
Sarratt/Sarrett/Surratt Family Profile©
Compiled and self Published in Oct. 31, 1989 by Paul R. Sarrett, Jr. with
the assistance of my late mother
Paul R. Sarrett, Jr., President of SFA© 
Jan 05, 2011;