From A HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA CONTAINING SKETCHES OF PROMINENT FAMILIES AND DISTINGUISHED MEN WITH AN APPENDIX BY REV. JETHRO RUMPLE PUBLISHED BY J. J. BRUNER SALISBURY, N. C. 1881 Copyright DMK Heritage 2004 The following are excerpts from the above-mentioned book. Page 54 JOHN AND THOMAS FROHOCK The name of JOHN FROHOCK, in beautiful round hand, appears as “Court Clerk” on the records as early as 1756; and for a number of years after the large volumes of land titles of various kinds are recorded in the same beautiful band, and authenticated over his signature. Step by step he grew very wealthy, chiefly, it would appear, by entering and selling public lands. The books are largely filled by conveyances either to him or from him. In his Will, dated 1768, and proved in 1772, there are named thousands of acres of land in Rowan County, in the forks of the Yadkin, near Salisbury, on Saxapahaw, on Tar River, and in Virginia, bequeathed 1y him to his two brothers, Thomas and William Frohock, besides thirty or forty slaves, one of which he liberated at death. He was once the owner of the lot on which the Watchman office and Crawford’s hardware store now stands, and in a transfer of said lot between John Frohock and William Temple Coles, the street now called “Fisher Street” is called “Temple Street.” He mentions neither wife nor child in his Will, and it is presumed that he was not married.20Besides the kindness shown in the education and liberation of his body servant, Absalom, he expressly enjoins that his debtors should not be oppressed or sued, but ample time given to them to pay their debts to his executors. His brother William does not appear to have resided here, but had his home in Halifax, though one of his daughters married and settled in the vicinity of Salisbury. Page 58-59 At its first establishment the little village of Salisbury was not provided with a Charter or municipal government, nor for twelve or fifteen years afterwards. But in 1770 an Act was passed by the Assembly for “Regulating the Town of Salisbury.” The preamble states that Salisbury is a “healthy, pleasant situation, well watered, 59 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY and convenient for inland trade.” Even at that early day Frohock’s-afterwards called McCay’s-millpond was in existence, and no doubt the deadly miasma rose from its broad surface of nearly a square mile in area, for we learn that Mr. Frohock’s residence on a hill on the southeast side of the pond, in later Years called “the Castle,” was regarded as an unhealthful place, and many of his slaves died annually of the fever. But the pond was separated from Salisbury by a forest growth, whose leafy branches absorbed or dissipated the noxious exhalations, so that for many years, even up to the present century, the town was resorted to for health by people from the lower portio ns of the State. And it is a happy circumstance that, after standing for over a hundred years, its present owners generously consented to cut the huge embankment and drain off the festering waters. Thus for the last half-dozen years the city is restored to its ancient condition of healthfulness, and the people from a warmer climate again begin to resort here, even in the summer time, without fear, especially those who desire to secure the benefit of the skill of our most excellent physicians. Page 85 MAJOR JAMES SMITH Of the many and brave men associated with our American Revolution, very few figured more prominently, or did more for the cause of liberty in this section of our State than the subject of this sketch. The son of James Smith, who emigrated from Holland to New Jersey, he, with a colony of young married men, came to North Carolina some time before the Revolution and settled on the left bank of the Yadkin River, and made what is known as the Jersey Settlement in Davidson County, then Rowan. In stature he was over six feet tall, straight as an arrow and of a commanding appearance. He was by occupation a planter, and was possessed of means in addition to the land he owned, which he obtained by grant from McCullough. He had slaves, by whom he was much loved, for, though they were carried off south by the Tories, they in time made their escape and returned to their old home. James Smith served as Ensign, in 1776, under King George III. (See report of Command ant of Court of Public Claims, held at Newbern, N. C., on the sixth day of November, 1756), to wit: “James Smith, an Ensign in Rowan County, was allowed his claim of twelve pounds and nineteen shillings (L12/19), for ranging on the frontier as per account filed” (State Records, Vol. XXII, page 842). At a council held at Newbern, November 10, 1769, “a commission of Peace and Dedimus of Rowan County” was issued to James Smith. Page 106-109 “At a meeting of the committee, August 8, 1774, the following resolves were unanimously agreed to: ...Resolved, That the African slave trade is injurious to this colony, obstructs the population of it by free men, prevents manufacturers and other useful immigrants from Europe from settling among us, and occasions an annual increase of the balance of trade against the colonies... In the next place they firmly declared that no person had a right to levy taxes upon them except their own representatives in As 109 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY sembly. This was the pivot on which the whole matter turned. And to prevent the arbitrary imposition of taxes, they proposed an indissoluble union and association of all the American Colonies, and do all in their power towards securing this union, by appointing Deputies to a Provincial Congress and recommending those Deputies to secure the appointment of representatives to a Continental Congress. The other resolutions concerning luxury, home manufacture, the slave trade, and sympathy with Boston, are subordinate to the others. Page 188 Mr. [Maxwell] Chambers never entered into regular business again, but became a general trader, and attended to the management of his large estate. He was eminently successful in accumulating property, and at his death had amassed a fortune of nearly a half-million dollars. He made arrangements for the removal and liberation of all his slaves at his death, and these plans were faithfully carried out by his executors, and between thirty and forty slaves were sent to the Northwest, and started in life in their new home.