This month is the beginning of Surry County’s 250th birthday. Sort of.
There are few written records that remain from this area during Colonial Days so our understanding of what was actually happening here must be found or inferred from records in other regions of the state. Fortunately for us, some have been gathered by local historians Jesse Hollingsworth and Ruth Minnick and others over the years.
Here’s what we know about Surry’s beginnings:
In 1770 Surry County was the Wild West — an unsecured and unruly frontier populated by Scottish, German, and English fur trappers, traders, and farmers living uneasily with Native Americans. The so-called Cherokee War in 1758-’61, overlapped by the French and Indian War (1754-’63), had ground to a brutal end but the frontier was still dangerous.
Raids and kidnappings continued, though often carried out by white men disguised as Natives who kidnapped mostly women and children to take to other colonies illegally claiming they were indentured servants.
A growing number of settlers traveled down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania or on the Saura-Saponi Trail from the old Virginia and Maryland settlements. Colonial port cities were growing at unprecedented rates as Europeans fled famine, drought, and war in search of safer homes for their families. In the years leading up to the American Revolution Boston topped 16,000 people; New York City, 25,000; Philadelphia was the most populous city in the American Colonies with 38,000.
By comparison, Wilmington and New Bern in this state had fewer than 2,000 each and Charleston, South Carolina, 12,000.
Many groups such as the German Dunkards and Brethren, and English Quakers, followed the Moravians to the North Carolina backcountry seeking religious freedom, and good farms in community with the larger and better-organized group. They established mills and small manufacturing businesses across the migration routes and helped build and maintain fortified towns such as Bethabara.
Others came simply looking to be left alone. The Scots, sometimes called the Scots-Irish, were principal in that group, especially as the Highland Clearances began. The British forces shipped out individuals and whole families who’d supported the failed efforts to put Charles Stuart, often called “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” on the throne of England.
This region was part of the sprawling Rowan County, an area that would eventually be split to form more than 20 successive counties. Residents in the northern reaches of then-Rowan County began the process to create a separate county at least as early as 1769. The area, with its mild climate, protecting ridges, rich bottom land, sparkling mountain-fed rivers, and other natural resources also straddled some of the most traveled north-south trade routes.
Unfortunately, the request was far from a priority for the Colonial government as Carolinians reacted to taxes levied by Parliament. Regulators, North and South Carolinians who vehemently opposed the taxes, protested in increasingly violent actions to the point the General Assembly was dissolved in 1769 before the proposal could be considered.
A second attempt in 1770 was, at least, considered, but not acted upon before the body adjourned.
Finally, on January 26, 1771, Governor Tryon signed the bill creating Surry County. Law required the act to be published and announced in various public places for a period of three months before it was enacted on April 1 of that year.
There is some disagreement about the source of the name. Some say the county was named for Surrey, England, Tryon’s birthplace. Some say the county was named in honor of Lord Surry, a Parliamentarian who argued against the offending taxes. Still others say it is a bastardization of the name Europeans knew the early Native Americans by, Saura.
Regardless, the county was established as the nation hurtled toward the establishment of an even larger new governmental organization in 1776.
Through the coming months the county will celebrate 250 years of history and the people, families, businesses, and outside forces that have shaped the region we live in today. I hope you’ll come out and help commemorate all that has come before as we anticipate what comes next.
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Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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