USA > North Carolina > Rowan County > A history of Rowan County, North Carolina > Part 5
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Then again we always speak of "Main Street," forgetful or ignorant of the fact that the old deeds always speak of it as Corbin Street. It was named after Francis Corbin, Granville's attorney. It is not surprising, perhaps, that the older citizens should dis- like to call the street after this grasping attorney who extorted illegal and exorbitant fees from the people, and who was once mobbed at Edenton for his extor- tion. Our modern town authorities have also taken the liberty of altering the spelling of James Innes' name, and we now see every day staring down upon the passerby, "Inniss Street." The signature of James Innes may now be seen in the Register's office to hundreds of deeds, and it is invariably written "Innes."
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
There were probably few private residences in Salis- bury, and probably no inn, until 1755. In the fall of 1755, the Rev. Hugh McAden, a Presbyterian minister, on a missionary expedition, passed from the "Jersey Settlement" and over "Trading Ford" to James Alli- son's owning land, about four or five miles south of Salisbury on Crane Creek, but he made no call at Salis- bury. Perhaps he followed the Trading Path, and so traveled up between the two branches of Crane Creek. Perhaps Mr. Sloan, from whose house in the "Jer- seys" he came, knew of no Presbyterian family in the little village, and could not encourage him with the hope of congenial entertainment. At all events, duty or inclination led him to pass on to James Allison's, and from Mr. Allison's to John Brandon's, living on the west side of the plantation now owned by C. H. Mckenzie, Esq. Thence he journeyed to Thyatira, to Coddle Creek, to Center, to Rocky River, to Sugar Creek, and on to the western part of South Carolina.
CHAPTER VII
EARLY SETTLERS IN SALISBURY
We have already mentioned James Alexander, who died here in 1754, as one of the first settlers in Salis- bury. We have also mentioned the names of those who were licensed to keep ordinaries or taverns, in 1755-56, as John Ryle, John Louis Beard, Peter Ar- rand, Jacob Franck, Archibald Craige, James Bower, Thomas Bashford, and Robert Gillespie. Bashford and Gillespie seem to have been in copartnership, and bought up a number of lots in the town, evidently with the view of holding them until the growth of the town should enhance their value. In 1757 they purchased lots Nos. 3, II, and 12 in the great "East Square," from Carter and Foster, trustees of the Township. These lots contained one hundred and forty-four square poles each, and on one of them they estab- lished a village inn.
Before leaving these early settlers, the reader must have a special introduction to a few of them who played a more conspicuous part in public affairs. The first of these is a sturdy German, by way of Pennsyl- vania, not yet naturalized. His name is
JOHN LOUIS BEARD
While he lingered in Pennsylvania, Mr. Beard was married to Miss Christina Snapp, of that Province.
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Coming to Salisbury, he was naturalized in 1755. While many of the German settlers, unacquainted with the English language, and therefore incapable of taking part in public affairs, were content to remain several years as liens, and whose names therefore seldom appear on the public records, Mr. Beard, with a vigor that characterized his after life, immediately assumed his place as an active and energetic citizen. He did not at first settle within the corporate limits of the town, but opened up a farm on Crane Creek, near the Bringle's Ferry Road. He afterwards owned the lot on which the courthouse now stands, and erected a large dwelling-house thereon. In 1768, Mr. Beard was bereaved of a beloved daughter, and having laid her in a grave on a lot of his own, he made, the same year, a title to said lot of one hundred and forty square poles to certain trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Salisbury. These trustees were "to erect and build thereon a church, for the only proper use and behoof of the said German Lutheran congregation forever." He also granted in the deed the use of the church to the "High Church of England, and to the Reformed Calvin ministers, at such time as the said Lutheran minister doth not want to perform divine service in it." The "Reformed Calvin ministers" were probably the "German Reformed," who were intimately associated with the Lutherans, often using the same building. This lot given by Mr. Beard is the one known as the "Lutheran graveyard," on which formerly stood the Lutheran church. It is now some- times called the "Salisbury Cemetery," and has been
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recently enclosed with a substantial brick wall by the united contributions of citizens of all denominations. Within its spacious enclosure and beneath its somber- hued cedars, sleeps the honored dust of multitudes of the once active and earnest citizens of Salisbury. Mr. Beard left a large family of sons and daughters, whose descendants are still among us.
Another early settler here, appearing at the session of the first Court, in June, 1753, was
JOHN DUNN, EsQ.
This gentleman was a native of Ireland, born at Waterford, and on his mother's side connected with the Erskine family. He was a younger brother, and was early sent to Oxford University, that he might prepare himself to carve out his own fortune. When he was about twenty years of age he left Oxford, and emigrated to America, landing in Charleston, S. C. After a brief residence there he came to Salisbury, where he spent the remainder of his life. He became in 1753 Clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Ses- sions, which office he held until he became a licensed lawyer in 1755. His residence in Salisbury was on the corner of Innes and Church Streets, on the lot now occupied by Mr. P. B. Meroney. After the style of those days, the house was built as close to the street as possible. Here the writer saw a freedman, a few days ago, throw up old pieces of old bricks, as he was digging out a place in which to plant a sycamore tree-doubtless the debris of John Dunn's family resi- dence, or perhaps the foundations of his law office.
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
There is also a deed on record, from Earl Granville to John Dunn, dated June 10, 1758, for four hundred and seventy acres of land on the south branch of Middle Crane Creek, adjoining the lands of John Brandon. He purchased lot No. 5, in the East Square, of Carter and Foster, in 1755. He was also the owner of a large tract of land, including Dunn's Mountain, where he made his home after the Revolutionary war.
WILLIAM TEMPLE COLES
was another of the early settlers in Salisbury. He was a native of Dublin, Ireland, and was related to the Temple family. In Salisbury he was the proprietor or keeper of a tavern, situated on the corner of Corbin and Innes Streets, where Kluttz's drug store now stands-the same property that Paul Barringer pur- chased from Magoune in 1768. He was a Freemason, as he records himself. His Will, still on file in the Register's office, is something of a curiosity. He be- queaths to his wife, Sarah, four lots in the town of Salisbury-her choice from all his Salisbury lots. He leaves to his son, William Temple Coles, Jr., "the whole town of Salisbury," as conveyed to him by Foster, a former trustee. His furniture he left to his daughter, Henrietta Coles. He bequeathed a half- acre of ground in the South Square of Salisbury for a burying-ground, one-half of it to the Freemasons, and one-half to the citizens. This lot lay where the North Carolina Railroad track now is, where the Bank Street bridge crosses the said road. It is remembered that when the "cut" for the road was made many human
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bones were exposed. By what means the right of the citizens and of the Freemasons to said lot passed away we know not. Neither do we know exactly what claims Mr. Coles had to the "whole town of Salisbury." And what became of William Temple Coles, Jr., or Henrietta Coles, or where the elder Coles was buried, are questions more easily asked than answered.
Though not permanent residents of the County of Rowan, the names of James Innes and Francis Corbin were very familiar in the days of the early settlement of Salisbury. These were Earl Granville's land agents, and had in their hands the whole disposal of the lands in the Earl's vast estate. Mosely and Holten were the first agents, and after them Childs and Cor- bin. Hillsboro was first called Childsburg, after one of these agents. Upon the removal of Childs, the agents were Corbin and Innes. These gentlemen had an office on the corner of Innes and Church Streets, where the fountain in Mr. R. J. Holmes' yard now is, in close proximity to John Dunn's law office. Francis Corbin was a citizen of Chowan, and resided a few miles from Edenton. He is represented as an extor- tioner, charging exorbitant fees for his official acts. At one time ten or fifteen men of Halifax County arrested him and compelled him to give a bond that he would produce his books and return all money re- ceived by him above his proper fees. Instead of doing this he commenced a suit against the rioters, and some of them were lodged in the Enfield gaol. But on the next day the prison doors were broken down, and the
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
prisoners liberated. Corbin then thought fit to dis- continue the suit and pay costs.
James Innes was a citizen of Wilmington and a baron of the Court of Exchequer there. He was associated with Corbin in the Salisbury land office, and one of the principal streets was named after him. But even more prominent among our people were two brothers, who probably came to this county along with Francis Corbin from Halifax or Edenton. Their names were
JOHN AND THOMAS FROHOCK
The name of JOHN FROHOCK, in beautiful round hand, appears as "Court Clerk" on the records as early as 1756; and for a number of years after the large volumes of land titles of various kinds are recorded in the same beautiful hand, and authenticated over his signature. Step by step he grew very wealthy, chiefly, it would appear, by entering and selling public lands. The books are largely filled by conveyances either to him or from him. In his Will, dated 1768, and proved in 1772, there are named thousands of acres of land in Rowan County, in the forks of the Yadkin, near Salis- bury, on Saxapahaw, on Tar River, and in Virginia, bequeathed by him to his two brothers, Thomas and William Frohock, besides thirty or forty slaves, one of which he liberated at death. He was once the owner of the lot on which the Watchman office and Craw- ford's hardware store now stands, and in a transfer of said lot between John Frohock and William Temple Coles, the street now called "Fisher Street" is called
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EARLY SETTLERS IN SALISBURY
"Temple Street." He mentions neither wife nor child in his Will, and it is presumed that he was not married. Besides the kindness shown in the education and liberation of his body servant, Absalom, he expressly enjoins that his debtors should not be oppressed or sued, but ample time given to them to pay their debts to his executors. His brother William does not ap- pear to have resided here, but had his home in Halifax, though one of his daughters married and settled in the vicinity of Salisbury.
THOMAS FROHOCK
resided on what has been known as the McCay place, and inherited the mill and the lands adjoining from his brother, John Frohock, who was probably the builder of the mill-certainly the owner of it, and of all the lands lying between the town and Grant's Creek.
Dr. Caruthers designates Thomas Frohock as a "bachelor," but the evidence of his Will is to the con- trary. His Will, in 1794, leaves his property to his son, Alexander Frohock, and to his daughter, Eliza- beth, who was married to Charles Hunt, a merchant of Salisbury. There are two or three items of his history of peculiar interest. The first is that he gave to the town that lot now known as the "English Graveyard," or "Oak Grove Cemetery," and the schoolhouse lot im- mediately in front. The oldest stone in this yard is that of Capt. Daniel Little, who died in 1775, and was laid peacefully to rest just as the stormy days of the Revolutionary war were coming on. In this place, it is said that some of Gates' soldiers, after the battle of.
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
Camden, wounded there, or worn out in their flight, were buried. And here were interred some of the British soldiers, who died in 1781 during the time that Cornwallis occupied Salisbury. The graveyard lay unenclosed until about fifty years ago, when William Gay, the father of the late Mrs. Mary Brown, left a legacy for the purpose of enclosing it. With the pro- ceeds, a wooden paling or plank fence was put around it, and renewed from time to time until, in 1855, the present substantial granite wall was erected by the voluntary contributions of the citizens of this town.
Another matter mentioned by Caruthers, in his Life of Caldwell (page 114), is that "Thomas Frohock in Salisbury, and Edmund Fanning in Hillsboro, were Clerks of the Superior Courts in their respective counties, and had become exceedingly obnoxious to the people by their extortions." "It is said that Frohock charged fifteen dollars for a marriage license; and the consequence was that some of the inhabitants on the headwaters of the Yadkin took a short cut. They took each other for better or for worse; and considered themselves as married without any further ceremony." In his last Will, Thomas Frohock enjoins upon his executors to pay all his just debts of under three years' standing, but to plead the "statute of limitation" upon all claims older than that, whenever they could.
A constant tradition represents that Thomas Fro- hock lies buried in an unmarked grave on the hillside, within two hundred yards of McCay's-once Fro- hock's-mill.
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EARLY SETTLERS IN SALISBURY
It is now one hundred years since these old citizens, Dunn, Beard, Coles, Corbin, Innes, John and Thomas Frohock, lived and acted their part in the ancient Township of Salisbury. Now their names are-never heard except as the antiquarian rummages among the dusty records of a bygone generation, or questions some old citizen whose memory is stored with the traditions of the past. The places that knew them once will know them no more forever.
CHAPTER VIII
CHARTER REGULATIONS
In modern days towns and cities rise like mushrooms along the lines of railways, or in the regions of the great West. But the growth of towns at the early set- tlement of this country was a much more gradual thing. The people did not originally come to this sec- tion with the view of making fortunes by trade, nor by the possession of lucrative offices, but to earn a living by the simpler process of cultivating the soil or by mechanical pursuits. They were not therefore disposed to congregate in towns, but to scatter far and wide, where the most fertile lands were to be found, where game was most abundant, or where they sup- posed they would enjoy the best health. For many years therefore the towns were composed of the public buildings, the residences of some of the county officials, a store or two, a hatter shop, a blacksmith shop, a tailor shop, and a few inns or ordinaries furnishing "entertainment for man or beast." "Hotel" was an unknown word among those people, who had not yet learned to disguise an English article under a French name. It required a half-century for the population to increase to five hundred; for it was about 1803 that Salisbury is represented as containing one hundred houses, and the custom is to estimate five inhabitants
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
to each house. And yet the little village at once be- came a point of importance as the place where the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, for the counties of Anson, Mecklenburg, and Rowan, were held.
The Court system of North Carolina adopted in 1746 (See Swan's Revisal, pp. 224-25), provided that the "Court of Chancery, and the Supreme or General Court," should be held in Newbern, where the Chan- · cery and other offices were to be located. Besides this Court, the Chief Justice was required, twice every year, to hold a "Court of Assize, Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery," in the towns of Edenton and Wilmington, and the couthouse in Edgecombe.
After the erection of Anson, Rowan, and Orange Counties, it appears that Salisbury was added as a fourth place for holding such Courts. At least the earliest records (dated 1755) in Rowan courthouse show that such a Court was held here. And as about twenty leaves or more are torn off from the first part of the record, it is probable that there were earlier Courts. In 1756, the Hon. Peter Henly presided at such a Court here, for Rowan, Anson, and Orange, with Charles Elliott, Esq., as Attorney-General. In 1758, the Hon. James Hasell, Chief Justice, presided. At the next Court, Marmaduke Jones, Esq., Associate Justice, presided, with Edmund Fanning, Esq., Attor- ney for the King, and John Frohock, Esq., Clerk. At this Court, Abner Nash, Esq., produced his license from Governor Dobbs to practice as a lawyer in the Province.
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CHARTER REGULATIONS
In 1762 "a Superior Court was held here, presided over by the Hon. Stephen Dewey, a Justice of the Superior Courts of Pleas and Grand Sessions." In 1763, Maurice Moore, Esq., Associate Judge, with Ed- mund Fanning, Esq., Attorney-General, and John Frohock, Clerk, officiated at a Court in Salisbury. These extracts and references reveal the fact that, soon after the organization of Rowan County, Salisbury became a center in the Court system of Western Car- olina, and to this, among other causes, is to be at- tributed the fact that she was the most prominent and populous town in the West. This prominence con- tinued until the modern railroad system superseded the Court system in influence, and fixing the centers of trade elsewhere built up other thriving and populous towns, which have outstripped Salisbury in the rapidity of their growth.
The Superior Courts were established by Act of the General Assembly at Newbern, in the year 1766, during the administration of Governor Tryon. The State was divided into six districts, viz .: Wilmington, New- bern, Edenton, Halifax, Hillsboro, and Salisbury dis- tricts, the latter embracing the counties above named. These Courts were presided over by a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, appointed by the Governor. The Clerks of these Courts were appointed by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice, by act of 1770, was to re- ceive a salary of six hundred pounds (£600), and also the sum of fifty pounds (£50) for each Court he attended, while the Associate Justices, by act of 1766, received forty-one pounds (£41) for each Court at-
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
tended; that is, about one hundred dollars, specie, for each Court; or, for the twelve Courts, twelve hundred dollars per annum. The salary of the Chief Justice would be about equal to thirty-three hundred dollars, in specie.
At its first establishment the little village of Salis- bury was not provided with a Charter or municipal government, nor for twelve or fifteen years after- wards. But in 1770 an Act was passed by the As- sembly for "Regulating the Town of Salisbury." The preamble states that Salisbury is a "healthy, pleasant situation, well watered, and convenient for inland trade." Even at that early day Frohock's-after- wards called McCay's-millpond was in existence, and no doubt the deadly miasma rose from its broad surface of nearly a square mile in area, for we learn that Mr. Frohock's residence on a hill on the south- east side of the pond, in later years called "The Cas- tle," was regarded as an unhealthful place, and many of his slaves died annually of the fever. But the pond was separated from Salisbury by a forest growth, whose leafy branches absorbed or dissipated the nox- ious exhalations, so that for many years, even up to the present century, the town was resorted to for health by people from the lower portions of the State. And it is a happy circumstance that, after standing for over a hundred years, its present owners generously consented to cut the huge embankment and drain off the festering waters. Thus for the last half-dozen years the city is restored to its ancient condition of healthfulness, and the people from a warmer climate
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CHARTER REGULATIONS
again begin to resort here, even in the summer time, without fear, especially those who desire to secure the benefit of the skill of our most excellent physicians.
THE COMMON
It was customary for the towns in England to have a "Common" or open tract of public land in their im- mediate vicinity, where the cattle might graze at will, where the children might play, and the gatherings of the citizens be held on extraordinary occasions. In accordance with this custom, the Act of the Assembly specifies a "Common" in connection with the town of Salisbury. Its precise locality has been difficult to determine, but the Act appears to describe it as lying "on each side of the Western Great Road leading through the frontiers of this Province." If this "West- ern Great Road" was the Beattie's Ford Road" of modern days, crossing Grant's Creek at the bridge near the head of McCay's pond, the said road ran through the westward of town, leaving Corbin Street with "Temple" or Fisher Street, running diagonally through the square occupied by the late Dr. Jos. W. Hall, and back of the residence of the late Judge Cald- well-now the residence of M. L. Holmes. The "Com- mon" on each side of this road would include the square now occupied by the grounds of the Presby- terian manse, and the spring that was anciently on it, as well as the spring at the head of the stream starting behind Paul Heilig's residence, and running through the grounds of the "National Cemetery." Persons still living remember when these grounds were unoc-
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
cupied and covered with small oaks and chinquapin bushes. In a plan of the town made about sixty years ago, now lying before the writer, these lots are marked as belonging to Troy, Chambers, Caldwell, Thomas Dixon, H. C. Jones, Dr. Polk, John Beard, Louis Beard, Lauman, Brown, Woodson, etc. These lots, originally constituting the Common, had probably been recently sold, perhaps as a financial enterprise to re- lieve the town of some unfortunate debt, or to carry out some promising scheme of internal improvement that was destined never to see light. It is a matter of profound astonishment that town corporations will part with grounds that would make desirable parks or breathing places, for a mere trifle, and condemn the citizens to live in a long, unbroken line of houses, un- relieved by shade, when they might so easily retain a Common or Park, where the inhabitants might resort at will in summer weather, and refresh themselves by breathing the pure air that comes whispering through the rustling leaves of the trees. It is really more difficult, in some of our larger towns, to escape from the dust and glare of the streets and painted houses into a pleasant and shady retreat, than it is in the great cities where the land is worth hundreds of dollars per square yard.
The Act provides that all the inhabitants of Salis- bury shall have free access to all natural springs and fountains, whether on private lots or on the Common, and that it was lawful for anyone to "cut and fell," and appropriate to his own use, any tree or trees stand- ing on the Town Common." That was before the
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CHARTER REGULATIONS
exquisite poem, beginning "Woodman, Spare that Tree," was composed, and the early inhabitants were more anxious to enjoy their liberties, and to have an open grazing place for their cattle, than to have a shady park for public resort.
It is worthy of notice that a strict "hog law" pre- vailed in the sylvan shades of the ancient borough of Salisbury. Cows were indeed a privileged class, and might roam at will over the streets and Common, but it was enacted that "no inhabitants of said town shall, on any pretense whatsoever, keep any hog or hogs, shoat or pigs, running at large within the corporate limits of said town, under a penalty of twenty shillings," while anyone had the right to "shoot, kill, or destroy" the offending pig at sight. As a protection against fire, every householder was required to keep a ladder, and two good leather buckets. Fast riding and fast driving incurred a penalty of five shillings for each offense. It further appears that the pioneer settlers were provided with a market-house for the mutual benefit of the buyer and seller.
Taking them all in all the municipal regulations of 1770 were good and wholesome, and in some par- ticulars might still stand as models.
The gentlemen who were authorized, as Town Com- missioners, to put these regulations into execution were prominent citizens, selected for their standing and their fitness for the high trust, and were generally the owners of a large real estate in the town. The list is as follows: William Steel, John Dunn, Maxwell Chambers, John Louis Beard, Thomas Frohock, Wm.
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