Dear Doug: I have very limited information on the Regulator Movement in North Carolina, but I will tell you what I know. Apparently the Royal Governors were not always fair or even watchful of the people who were working for them. Sometimes there were "laws" and taxes passed on Americans that the citizens felt were unfair. One example that comes to mind was a Mr. Frohock in NC was imposing about a $500 (I have also heard $50) fee for a marriage bond (I used dollars but it of course would have been in British pounds), an exorbitant fee for the times. The people rose up and opposed it and upon it coming to the attention of authorities (perhaps Tryon), it was dropped. There were other instances of such unfairness that caused various groups of able-bodied men to band together in different localities to oppose unfairness like this as a body, with force if necessary. They may have had a core group from the militia men who had formed groups in defense against Indians. I know that my own ancestor, Benjamin Merrill, was a Captain of the Rowan County Militia and at one point had 300 troops under him command. Gov. Tryon had been appointed Governor in the midst of the Stamp Act Controversy. The NC assembly was largely loyalist because the assembly was controlled by the representatives from the eastern part of NC and were largely loyal to the crown, while most of the people of NC lived in the western counties and they opposed the Stamp Act, which had caused the emergence of the Sons of Liberty. See an encyclopedia for information on the Stamp Act and the Sons of Liberty. The western of "back-country" citizens began holding meetings to voice their opposition to these new laws and injustices (courts were controlled by corrupt officials and Tryon). These citizens formed groups of men to oversee and regulate the conduct of the appointed officials, and thus the name Regulators came into existence. In 1768, the Regulators were formally organized, vowing not to pay the illegal taxes and fees. They merely wanted more honest and fairer administration of the county. Tryon demanded the disbanding of the Regulator groups (I think groups because there were probably pockets all over western NC), and he threatened to use troops against them. Protest meetings occurred, court proceedings were disrupted, and conflicts between Regulators and Royal troops became more frequent. This culminated with the Battle of Alamance and the trial and hanging of six Regulators as an example to the people. Captain Benjamin Merrill was one of those hanged after the battle in 1771, although he actually never made it to the battle in time to participate. His wife Jemima Smith Merrill and his children were forced to witness his hanging. The citizens of Mecklenburg reacted to this whole affair by issuing the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which pre-dated the US Declaration of Independence. By the way, there is some controversy about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, some speculating that it never actually was issued. I don't know the truth and have not researched this. I am prepared to be corrected on any of this, which is merely intended as a summary of events. Betty Pace - Norfolk, VA On Sat, 20 Mar 1999 19:27:56 -0500 "J. Douglas Park" <jdpark@acd.net> writes: >Betty: > >What exactly is a Regulator? I have an ancestor named Robert Thompson >the >Regulator. Robert, son Rev. John Thomson, is listed by many sources >as 'the >first man killed in defense of American colonies' (by Lord Tryon just >before >the Battle of Alamance.) [I don't want to start that 'first' argument >again >as its silly and it all depends when you start counting. I am >interested in >the 'Regulator' question.] > >Thanks > >Doug Park > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]