43-44, A good part of the time of the first Court was taken up in registering the marks and brands which the citizens had invented to distinguish their cattle and other livestock; and the changes are rung on “crops,” “half-crops,” “slits,” and “swallow-forks,” in the “off” and “near” ear, and other quaint devices for marking. The cattle that were to be identified by the marks and brands registered in the Rowan Court, ranged over the meadows and prairies of the Yadkin, the Catawba, the Deep, the Saxapahaw, and the Dan Rivers. Constables were also appointed whose beats lay as much as a hundred miles from the seat of justice. These old “records” of the Rowan Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, for 1753-54-55-56, are full of interest to anyone who will take the trouble to decipher them. For instance, here is a list of constables and their beats for 1753. Preston Goforth for the South Fork of the Catawba. (This was for the region from Hickory to Lincoln.) John McGuire, south side of the Yadkin. John Attaway (?) for Dan River. John Robinson for south side of Yadkin, “from the mouth of Grant’s Creek to the ford of the same; thence across to the Trading Path; thence along said Path as far as Coldwater; thence with his Lordship’s line.” This shows that the Trading Path ran to the point where Coldwater Creek runs from Rowan into Cabarrus. “John Nesbit had his beat from James Cathey s Creek to the Western Path, as far as the fork of said Path. James Howard from Cathey’s Creek to Third Creek, and as far as the Division Ridge between the two settlements. Benjamin Winslow, as far as the Catawba River, and along the King’s line and Lamb’s Mill, and down as far as William McKnight’s. John Doller on Abbott’s Creek, as far as the Western Path. David Stewart on the north side of Yadkin, from Muddy Creek and upward. William Fisher for the district included in the Forks of Yadkin. James Watkins from the Orange line as far as Beaver Island Creek, on Dan River. James Hampton from Beaver Island Creek and upwards” (i. e., higher up the Dan). These names of men and local 44 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY ities show the extent of the jurisdiction of the Rowan Court, stretching from the Orange line and Dan River to the King’s line, and as far west as the south fork of the Catawba, northwest of Lincolnton. 155, Lewis Beard married Susan, the daughter of John Dunn, Esq., of Salisbury. Of their children, Mary married Major Moses A. Locke, for many years president of the bank in Salisbury. The grandchildren of Major Locke still reside at the Bridge place, near the river. Christine, another daughter of Lewis Beard, married Charles Fisher, Esq., a lawyer of Salisbury. From 1818 until his death in 1849, for nearly forty years, Charles Fisher was a leading man in Rowan County in public affairs, serving often in the State Legislature, and several times20in the United States Congress. His son, Col. Charles F. Fisher, was a leading man. He volunteered at the beginning of the late war, and fell in the first battle of Manassas, courageously fighting in front of his regiment. Another child of Lewis and Susan Beard, was Major John Beard, who died about five years ago at his home in Tallahassee, Fla.