State

The Nash Fa I I Among Ihe early member* of lliis famous family were a llev oliilionary (ieneral. a Governor anil a Chief Justice* of I lie Su¬ preme Court of Korlh Carolina. Little iiillsboro » famed in the early history of Carolina, •embalmed in the amber of song and story. And well she may be, for gtirring scenes have been enacted within her very pates: and her sons once led all Carolina in power and influence. Among the famous names which grace the annals of that famous town, then- was no name more dis¬ tinguished than that of Nash. Times have changed. Hack in Colonial days, local offices were held in higher esteem than they are to¬ day. Thus, at Hillsboro Col. Edmund Fanning, graduate of Yale and an LL.D. from that institution, a Colonel in the British army, did not consider that it derogated from his dignity to be register of deeds. Ami his extortionate charges while filling that office were largely res|»onsible for bringing on the war of the Regulators. They burned his house ami finally drove him from the province, but they did not cut olT his ears as has been rumored. General Francis Nash was a mem¬ ber of the Colonial Assembly and when Fanning was register of deeds, Nash was Clerk of the Court. In the Hillsboro Convention of 1775. he represented the borough of Hills¬ boro, one of his colleagues being Nathaniel Rochester, in whose honor the city of Rochester, New York, was named. Killed at Germantown Upon the outbreak of the Revolu¬ tion in 177ti. Nash was named ns Colonel of the first regiment of the Carolina line, and was later pro¬ moted to be brigadier of the Caro¬ lina line. As such lie commanded a brigade in Washington’s army in the battle of Germantown, where on October 4, 1777, his thigh was shattered by a cannon shot — a mortal wound. His remains were interred in the Mennonist Cemetery in Montgomery County, Pennsyl¬ vania, near the scene of the battle, and patriotic citizens of the town erected a monument at bis grave. North Carolina sustained other losses in ranking officers at German¬ town. Col. Edward Buncombe of By К. V. LAWRENCE Tyrrell ( for whom Bunmml*e County is named) was mortally wounded; Col. Henry Irwin of Edgecombe County, Captain Turner and Adju¬ tant I.ueas were killed. The last three, along with six private soldiers, were interred in a common grave near Germantown, ami Pennsylvania citizens tliero erected a monument over their grave oil which was graven: "One Cause: One Grave.” The memory of General Nash hns been preserved in numerous places over Carolina. Nash County and Nashville bear his name ; Nash Square in Raleigh; Nash Street in Wilson. The eitv of Nashville, Tennessee was also named in his honor. General N'nsh was a distinguished lawyer, but his renown as n lawyer has been somewhat obscured by his greater fame as a soldier. Governor Abner Nash Governor Aimer Nash *»f Craven (a brother of General Francis) was bred to the Bar, and served in nearly every position of public trust and responsibility during the Revolu¬ tionary era. lie was in the Provincial Congress in 1771: and was also on the Committee of Safety that same year, at a time when only the most trusted of public men were chosen to this committee. He served in the Hillsboro Convention of 1775, his brother General Francis being like¬ wise a memln-r of the same Conven¬ tion. He also saw some military service, and when the royal Governor Tryon marched against the Regula¬ tors and met them at the battle of Groat Alamance Crock. Nash was an officer in the royal army. After the Declaration of Inde- IN-ndencc and the formation of a State Government, he was in the Senate from Newborn in 1777, be¬ coming the first Speaker of the Senate; and in the following у «яг he served in the Commons. Upon the adoption of the State Constitution, Richard Caswell was elected as the first Governor of North Carolina as a sovereign Slate, but when Caswell 'a term was over, the second Governor was Abner N'nsh. In 1782 he repre¬ sented -lone* County in the Com¬ mons and was elected to Congress in 1782. He married the widow of Colonial Governor Arthur Dobbs. There was another lady who married three Governors, one or two from Virginin and one or two from North Carolina, and I think she holds the record. 1 cannot at the moment re¬ call the lady’s name hut I am sure Dr. Crittenden of the Historical Commission can tell you the three Governors whom she married, and also her maiden name. Governor Nash was a distinguished lawyer. He was of сопим- 1 in prob¬ ably the most famous lawsuit ever tried in Carolina. Bayard v. Single¬ ton. where Ihe Carolina court in the first reported ease sustained the power of the judiciary to declare an act of the legislature void a* un¬ constitutional. The Chief Justice Chief .lust ice Frederick Nash, a son of Governor Abner Nash, was bom at Xevrbem in 1781. lie repre¬ sented the Imrough several times in the Commons. He was elected ns Judge of the Superior Court in 1818, hut resigned after but a short serv¬ ice. He then moved to Hillsboro, where he represented that town in the Commons several term*. In 1836 he wa* again elected to the Superior Court bench, and while serving there was elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court. In 1852 ii|H>n the rmignation of the famous Thomas Ruffin as Chief Justice, Justice Nash became Chief Justice and passed a distinguished carver ii|hui that bench. It is ratln-r singular that two successive Chief Justice* should be chosen from Ihe town of Hillsboro; and it is also somewhat singular that Chief Justice Ruffin's son, Thomas the younger, should also have served U|M>n the State's highest bench. In my own day the outstanding representative of the N'nsh family was the scholarly Frank Nash, who (Continued on pagt Ihiriten) 3