In addressing issues and questions concerning the early Rowan families of: Alexander Osborne John Nesbit/Nisbet Maxwell Chambers John Campbell David Caldwell I believe the families of all the above were in Rowan County by ca. 1750, intermarried in several instances and continued to do so for several generations. I would appreciate response from listers, either by post to the list or email, [email protected], relative to what you may know about the spouses and children of any or all of the above. Alexander Osborne was probably the father of Col. Adlai Osborne and possibly of Rebecca Osborne who, about 1770, married Joseph Campbell of the 1805 Rowan will. Maxwell Chambers was probably the grandfather of the Maxwell Chambers who wrote a will, in 1854, at Salisbury. David Caldwell was possibly the father of Judge David F. Caldwell (who married Rebecca Nesbit) and Salisbury attorney A. H. Caldwell. John Nesbit was the father of another John Nesbit plus James, William and David Nesbit. In addition to various court records, deeds, marriage records, wills of Rowan County, University of NC Manuscripts Collections and other various sources not included but regarding these same folks, following are some gleanings... From: "Carolina Cradle": [CAPS are mine] "JOHN NESBIT (or NISBET) was born in 1705 in either Essex or Middlesex County, New Jersey. After reaching his majority, he went to Pennsylvania, probably in the company of ALEXANDER OSBORNE, and settled before March, 1736, on a branch of Pequea Creek in Lancaster County. The Nesbit family papers record his removal to North Carolina in 1750 although he may have travelled southward the previous year with his friend Osborne. The closeness of their association is reflected in the marriage of Nesbit's son, John, to Mary Osborne, daughter of Alexander." From: "The Rowan Resolves" At a meeting of the Committee [of Safety, Rowan County, North Carolina], August 8, 1774, the following resolves were unanimously agreed to: [followed by the seventeen resolves] Signed: [followed by 25 signatures, among whom were] MAXWELL CHAMBERS JOHN NESBIT From: "The James Sprunt Historical Publications, 1917, Published Under the Direction of The North Carolina Historical Society" In part-- By the year 1745 the Scotch-Irish had established themselves in the fertile and well-watered area between the Yadkin and the Catawba, and previous to 1750 their settlements were scattered throughout the region from Virginia to Georgia. The Scotch-Irish settled mainly in the country west of the Yadkin. Among these immigrants were the NESBITs, Allisons, Brandons, Luckeys, Lockes, McCullochs, Grahams, Cowans, Barrs, McKenzies, Andrews, OSBORNEs, Sharpes, Boones, MeLauchlins, and Halls. The Scotch-Irish have ever been known as a religious, brave, and liberty-loving people. Among other families from the British Isles who appeared in Rowan at an early date we find the names of Cathey, McCorkle, Morrison, Linville, Davidson, Reese, Hughes, Ramsay, Brevard, Winslow, Dickey, Braley, Moore, Emerson, Kerr, Rankin, Torrence, Templeton, Houston, Hackett, Rutherford, Lynn, Gibson, Frohock, Smith, Bryan, Little, Long, Steele, Bell, Macay, Miller, Blackburn, Craige, Stokes, CALDWELL, Dunn, Gillespie, and many others. And-- Despite the fact that no titles to land could be obtained after 1763 settlers continued to move into the Granville tract.... And-- Much discontent arose among the inhabitants, some dreading the expected reopening of the land offices because of the abuses of the agents, and others being displeased because they could not obtain title to the lands improved by their efforts. It was during this time that the Jersey Settlement on the east side of the Yadkin, some nine miles from Salisbury, was made by settlers from New Jersey. And-- [concerning Salisbury] The town commissioners were authorized to select and lay out a suitable place for a market and other public buildings. William Steele, John Dunn, MAXWELL CHAMBERS, John Lewis Beard, Thomas Frohock, William Temple Cole, Matthew Troy, Peter Rep, James Kerr, Alexander Martin, and Daniel Little were appointed town commissioners. They were to hold office for life. And-- The members in the Provincial Congresses were William Kennon (August, 1774), Hugh Montgomery, and Robert Rowan (August, 1775), and DAVID NISBET (April, 1776). And-- Before the Revolution, Salisbury was the judicial center of Western North Carolina... ... the court of pleas and quarter sessions met for the first time somewhere in the county in June, 1753. The justices who presided over the courts during the first year were Walter Carruth, Thomas Lovelatty, James Carter, John Brandon, Alexander Cathey, Thomas Cook, Thomas Potts, George Smith, Andrew Allison, John Hanby, ALEXANDER OSBORNE, James Tate, John Brevard, and Squire Boone... And-- The members of the Assembly and Provincial Congresses from Rowan were as follows: ASSEMBLY 1746 (47)-1754. James Carter and John Brandon 1754-1760. John Bravard and James Carter 1760. Hugh Waddell and John Frohock. 1761. John Frohock and ALEXANDER OSBORNE And-- At the same session [January 1771] the General Assembly recognized the urgent necessity of setting up new counties within the vast territory embraced by Rowan. A bill was passed establishing Guilford County and Unity Parish in the region lying between Salisbury and Hillsboro. Guilford, which was named for Francis North, Earl of Guilford, and father of Lord North, Prime Minister of George III during the Revolution, was composed of territory taken from Rowan and Orange. The portion taken from Rowan was that which now makes up the counties of Guilford, Rockingham, and Randolph. John Pryor, Edmund Fanning, Alexander Martin, Matthew Locke, John Dunn, Griffith Rutherford, and JOHN CAMPBELL were appointed a committee with authority to run the lines and contract with workmen for the building of the courthouse, prison, and stocks for Guilford County. And-- ...Thomas Frohock gave bond and qualified as clerk of the court for Salisbury District. In 1772 ADLAI OSBORNE, of Mecklenburg, was appointed to this position. And-- ...A typical term was that held in June, 1775, for Rowan, Anson, Mecklenburg, Tryon, Surry, and Guilford, the counties which then made up Salisbury District. Judge Alexander Martin, of Rowan, presided. ADLAI OSBORNE was appointed clerk, and Benjamin B. Boote took the oath as deputy attorney-general for the district. William Kennon's name appears in the records as a practicing lawyer. Many criminal cases were disposed of at this term..... And-- [concerning the Presbyterian "Dissenters"] There was a Presbyterian meeting house in eastern Rowan (now Guilford) before 1768. In that year Adam Mitchel conveyed an acre of land to John McKnight and William Anderson, "trustees for the Presbyterian congregation on the waters of North Buffalo." This congregation belonged to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. The deed shows that a "meeting house and a study house" had already been erected. The building designated as a "study house" was probably a school. The inferior court of Rowan licensed the North Buffalo meeting house soon afterwards. The church was situated near the present site of Greensboro. In 1764 the Rev. Henry Pattillo, a Presbyterian divine who labored in Orange, established a church called Alamance about seven miles from Greensboro. These two churches secured as their pastor Dr. DAVID CALDWELL, a Pennsylvanian by birth, and a graduate of Princeton. In 1766 he married Rachel, the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Craighead, of Sugar Creek Church, in Mecklenburg, and settled with his congregations of Buffalo and Alamance. Caldwell established a school in the neighborhood about 1767. This school obtained the name of the "Log College," and was the means of training a number of the foremost men of North Carolina. At a meeting of the Presbytery at Buffalo in March, 1770, DAVID CALDWELL, Hugh McAden, Joseph Alexander, Henry Pattillo, Hezekiah Balch, and James Criswell petitioned the Synod of Philadelphia and New York for the organization of a new presbytery, to be called Orange. Their petition was granted. And-- [concerning problems of the Church of England, Episcopalian] ...Mr. Drage's efforts to establish the parish on a legal and permanent foundation were less fruitful. At an election held Easter Monday, 1770, the Dissenters, having control of a majority of the votes, elected a vestry, all of whom were Dissenters and two of whom were elders. The vestry refused to qualify. The same procedure had been practiced in the preceding year. The voters declared that "their purpose in voting was not as to who should compose the vestry, but that there might be none." The members of the Church of England petitioned for a removal of their incapacity to vote for want of deeds, but the Assembly did not grant their request. Mr. Drage considered a petition of the Presbyterians praying that they might be relieved from paying towards the support of the parish minister and that their clergy might be permitted to perform marriages by the publication of banns as "an act directly leveled at the Constitution." In theory he was right. The mistake, however, was in striving to thrust an established church upon an unwilling and headstrong people. The contest between Drage and the Dissenters continued to grow warm. The unfortunate clergyman seems to have received no salary and to have been dependent upon a few fees and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts for his support. He found friends only in the Lutherans and in Governor Tryon. He informed Governor Martin, Tryon's successor, that the clerk of court [ADLAI OSBORNE?] encouraged the people who obtained marriage licenses to have the rites performed by the magistrates in preference to him, and concealed the number of licenses granted in order to deprive him of the fees to which the parish minister was entitled. By February, 1773, the Dissenters succeeded in expelling Drage by withholding his salary and thereby forcing him to leave the parish. No other clergyman of the English church appeared in Rowan before the Revolution..... [if those licenses are still "concealed", then no wonder I cannot find some of these marriages!] And-- [concerning early means of education] ...In 1760, Crowfield Academy was established on the headwaters of Rocky River, in the bounds of the Centre congregation, about two miles north of where Davidson College now stands. This was a classical school where many of the prominent men of Rowan and the near-by counties were educated. Among them were Colonel ADLAI OSBORNE, the Rev. Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, Dr. James Hall, and Dr. Ephriam Brevard. About the year 1767 Dr. DAVID CALDWELL founded his famous classical "Log College" on the headwaters of North Buffalo, near the present city of Greensboro. In 1773, G"ttfried Arndt arrived, and for several years instructed the German youth around Salisbury. The inhabitants of Western North Carolina before the Revolution were dependent upon the old field schools and a few classical academies, such as Caldwell's and Crowfield, for their education. Those who were able often completed their schooling at Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) under Dr. John Witherspoon." Thanks for your time and thought! Myrna Madigan Tuscola, IL 'hiding out in the weeds and woods of the wild and windy Illinois prairie"