THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Kitcrnl
»*
MCMd-flaM mailer. June 1. 1033. at Hie Portoffif* at Knlt-ich, North
Carolina, under the
Лс«
of March 3.
1Я79.
Vol. IX. No. 15 _ September 13, 1941
Johnston County
It’s the mother and grandmother
of about a dozen other counties
and holds the distinction of be¬
ing one of the best agricultural
counties in the state.
Ry CARL GOERCn
YOU'VK heard of the I own of
Garner — do you know how it
pot its name?
Garner is really in Wake County
but many years ago there were quite
a number of Garners living in John¬
ston County -the county wo want t<>
tell you about this week. Some of the
more hardy souls in this family de¬
cided to move out to Tennessee, and
they did.
Л
number of years later they
made up their minds to move still fur¬
ther west, so they went to Texas, set¬
tling down in the Rio Grande valley.
Former Vice President John
Ханое
Garner is a descendant of the original
Garners in Johnston County and the
town of Garner was named for some
of his folks.
Formed in 1746
It’s an old county, having been
formed in 1746 from part of Craven.
And just look at the list of counties
that were formed from Johnston:
The first was Orange, formed in
1752 from ports of Bladen and John¬
ston. Then fame Dobbs, in 1758.
Out of Dobbs came Wayne. Lenoir,
Glasgow and Greene. ( Dobbs and
Glasgow no longer exist.) From
Orange fame Caswell, Person. Ala¬
mance, Durham, Chatham and Lee.
Wake was out from Johnston in I77f>.
So you see, Johnston County has
quite a long list of descendants.
Incidentally, you may think that it
took a lot of research work to obtain
all that information, hut it really
didn’t. Sometime ago Mr. D. L. Cor¬
bitt, <if the State Historical Commis¬
sion. drew up a chart on a piece of pa¬
per 11 inches long and 8 inches wide.
It contains a graph showing the ori¬
gin of each county, when it was
formed, how it originated and what
counties were cut off from it. It’s just
about as simple and as complete a
thing as we've ever soon. If you want
one of these graphs, you can get it by
writing Mr. Corbitt in Raleigh. He
chargee 50 cents for each one and
they’re certainly worth it. We've
found them invaluable in digging up
information about the various coun¬
ties in the state.
Before Doblts County was cut off.
the county seat was down at I .a
Grange, which is now in Lenoir
County. Then it was moved to a place
about one mile southeast of the town
of Clayton, where a wooden court¬
house was erected. The outstanding
event that happened there was the trial
and execution of a Negro woman who
was found guilty of having poisoned
her master. She was publicly burned
at the stake. When Wake County was
formed, the county seat was moved to
Smitlilicld. where it has been ever
since. For six years tin* courthouse
was located on the site now occupied
by tin* Ford garage. Then, under a
legislative act during the session of
1777, it was moved to its present loca¬
tion.
This monument stands over the
burial place of some 300 Confederate
soldiers at the Bentonvillc Battle¬
ground. They were all buried in one-
long trench.
There were two men living in
Johnston County at that time by the
name of John Smith. John Smith, J r..
was the man who laid off the town <<f
Suiithfield, and it win iiann-d for him.
And don 't think that lie gave away tin-
laud either, as some people seem t"
believe. He subdivided the property
and sold the lots at a good profit.
In Colonial days the town was t In-
head of navigation on the Neusc
River.
The town’s most cherished tradition
is that it missed l-dng the capital of
North Carolina by just ont vott
Whether that is actually true <»r not
is uncertain, but it is a fact that tin-
state legislature met in Suiithfield in
t
