State

Tryon County It was at one time one of the leading' counties in the state anil had a rather lively existence for teii years. Then it failed out of the picture and was divided into two other counties. tty EDGAR ABERXETIIY TRYON COUNTY was short lived. Established in 1769, it lost its identity just ten years later, being divided into Lincoln and Ruth¬ erford. Д short life, but while it lasted an eventful one. Tryon was created from the western portion of Mecklenburg, and named for William Tryon, who was royal governor of the state at the time. Its boundaries were rather indefinite, but as counties go today it was a whopper, including practically all the area south of Burke County and west of the Catawba, extending to the pres¬ ent Tennessee line. That is, in theory it extended that far to the west, but as a matter of fact at that date the area west of the Blue Ridge was held by the Cherokee nation, and con¬ tained no white settlers. Scattered Population For that matter, even the area east of the mountains was thinly settled. In 1746 Matthew Rowan estimated that there were no того than 100 fighting men in the entire western part of the state. Seven years later lie esti¬ mated their number at thirty times as many. By the time Tryon County came into being, the number had in¬ creased still further, but there was still plenty of elbow room. In 1779 there were only 1,226 men in the county subject to poll tax. Most of these early settlers were Germans, although there was a sub¬ stantial number of Scotch-Irish, as well as a sprinkling of English and other nationalities. The greater por¬ tion of these immigrants came to the state from Pennsylvania, following a well-defined route down through the Shenandoah Valley. This was their third migration for the Scottish people, who first left their native land to settle in Ulster in the north of Ireland. Forced out of here by commercial and religious discrimination on the part of the English, early in the 18th century they began to come to America by ship-loads. Many of them settled in Pennsyl¬ vania, where they hoped to find free¬ dom and happiness, but they were not so kindly received by the Friends, who seemed to have a feeling that these energetic immigrants might eventually push them out of their own province. Consequently, the more enterprising of the Scots loaded up their covered wagons and moved southward. In Tryon County they found fer¬ tile soil and plenty of room. They even found, in some places, prairies covered with luxuriant grass, ready for the plow without the toilsome labor of clearing away the forest. Some Disadvantages There were certain disadvantages, though; due to the proximity of the Cherokees, Indiun disturbances were frequent, and several stockades were erected for protection. Wild animals were plentiful, too; in 1774, bounties were paid on 49 wolf scalps in Tryon County. Tryon ’s first court was held in April of 1769, meeting at the home of Charles McLean. At this session Ezekiel Polk was clerk of the court. Mr. Polk was the grandfather of Pres. James Knox Polk. Tryon County never did have a courthouse, although a site was se¬ lected and a tax imposed to raise funds for the building. In the begin¬ ning, court sessions were held at va¬ rious homes over the county; after October 1774, in tho home of Chris¬ tian Mauney, near the site selected for the proposed courthouse. One room of Mr. Maimey’s home was used as n jail. This spot is about half-way between Bessemer City and Cherry- ville, near the present Tryon Consoli¬ dated School. Today a monument erected by the descendants of Chris¬ The tablet on Tryon Monument, which contains the names of the signers of the miscalled “Tryon Declaration of Independence.” tian Mauney and their friends marks the spot. By 1775 civil government had vir¬ tually come to an end in the state. The royal governor had fled, and no British authority remained. It was necessary for some form of govern¬ ment to be set up. The Third Pro¬ vincial Congress met in Ilillsboro August 20, 1775, aud instituted a sys¬ tem composed of a Provincial Coun¬ cil for the whole state, a District Committee of Safety for each district. There were six of these, together with town and county Committees of Safe¬ ly. In these committees rested the executive powers of the state; powers they did not hesitate to exercise vig¬ orously and stunmnrily. How the Committee Functioned The following letter from the Tryon Committee to the Safety Com¬ mittee of Rowan County will give you some idea of the work of these com¬ mittees, as well as an insight into the spelling in vogue at the time: “Gentlemen of the Commity of Rowan County: “With these we send you under gard Ambrous Mills one of the great¬ est enemys of our pese in Tryon county a companion of Robinson, and been lying out in the mounteus since before the South Carolina cam¬ paign ; has held a coraspondence with Carnron ; has acknowledged himself to have been in the Indian Nations, he seems simple but is subtile and insinu¬ ating and has had influnce enough to pradgudise not only his neighbours (Continued on роде twenty-seven) 7