Gutenberg.org appears to be providing some books for on-line reading free. The following URL should take you to the book I looked at where Rowan County was mentioned. What a tremendous growth was occurring here between 1746 and 1753. http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=565&pageno=15 Chapter II. The Cradle of Westward Expansion "In the year 1746 I was up in the country that is now Anson, Orange and Rowan Counties, there was not then above one hundred fighting men there is now at least three thousand for the most part Irish Protestants and Germans and dailey increasing.-- Matthew Rowan, President of the North Carolina Council, to the Board of Trade, June 28, 1753." j french