The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1895-09-26
COUNTIES WHICH NAVE DISAPPEARED


A Isssressiss sksseA ef the veresssss
ssA CAass~s h North Csr~,iss-
Unlike States. which are sovereign
and inde.trucfible and which we're
creators Of the L mon. counties Are The
creatures OF the legislature and can De-
created, abolished or r~-~stahlished NJ
will. As starr have disappeared from
the quiet sky. so on our roll Of counties
names once shon~ which have disAp-
peAred forever
Like the lost oi~iad
seen no more S~lcv.
In lees the country on both sides Of
Albemarle sound WAS erected into Al
bemarie county, and that on the West
bank OF the Cape Fear into Clarendon
county. About ioso both side. OF Pam
leo river Was erected into Bath coun-
". These three. Albemarl-, Bath, and
Clarendon were thus the A. X. & OF
North Carolina history. In le.i. the
country North Of Alb-marl- sound Was
divided into Carteret, Berkeley and
Shaftesbury precincts In le>S Car
teret Was changed TO Currituck, Bcrk-
lev became Pa-qustxnk and Pcruui-
mons. and Shafresbury Was renamed
Chowan. In l133 another precinct
further South Was named tart~rrt.
which in l.as became the present Car
teret county. Bath county MAS divided
into Hyde, wickham, Pampticough
and Archdale precincts In l.ss when
the government Was transferred by
the Lords ProprIeiors Ia the Ming, the
precincts became counties, the names
of the last three above mentioned be-
ing changed, and the counties of Abe
marie. Bath and Clarendon being ahol-
ished. Thus As e-rly as 1879 three
counties had been abolished and the
names OF six precincts tembryonic
countless had been altered-a total Of
nine Since then seven county names
have disappeared as follows: Bladen
county was at first Pelham In l..s
Butte, named after the unpopular Earl
OF Butte. was abolished and it's territory
divided into two new counties named
after the patriots Franklin and War
rem. In the same year, the county
which bore the name Of the royal Gov
ernor Tryon was divided and the new
counties were named in honor of Gen
erals Lincoln and Rutherford. Each
OF these has since been sub-diy idrd.
Dobbs county, named after another
royal Governor, retained its name tilI
1891, after the revolution, when IL was
divided into Lenoir and Glasgow.
Johnston and Martin, though they also
bore the names Of royal Governors,
continue To do SO To this day, probably
because We had republican Governors
who were named Martin and Johnston.
Glasgow, named after the Secretary of
State, upon the discovery Of frauds
perpetrated by him against the State,
was changed To Greene in 1893. In
l7SS Cumberland county, named for
the bloody victor of Culloc.n, WAS
changed Ia Fayette county, but IL was
changed back To Cumberland tie next
year. In 1916 Polk county was created.
| In ISIS il was abolished. After seven
years it was again re-established in
1855. In the case of Mill vs. Williams,
33 n. c. Reports, the Supreme Court
affirmed the power of the Legislature
TO abolish any county at its pleasure.
Thus sixteen county names have dis
appeared, Carter..t, Berkeley, Shaftes-
bury, Pampticough, Wickh.m. Arch
dale, Albemarle, Bath, Clarendon, Pei
ham, Butte, Tryon, Fayette. Dobbs, Glas-
gov, and Polk. Carteret was after
ward bestowed on another county. and
Polk after an eclipse was re-esfab-
lished.
| As to merely verbal, or literal
changes, Duplin named after Niscount
Dupplin, has in the friction Of tn.
years lost one of its "p-s: Edgecomb..
named after the Earl of MI. EFgcuD,s
has materially changed its ortbo-
grapby: Forsyth which was named for
Col. Benjamin Forsythe, who fell in
Canada in 1874, has lost it, final -e- in
rolling down the years: and Cleveland
named for Col. Benjamin Cleayeland.
one of the heroes of Kings Mountain.
has by legislative enactment lost the
az
Among the numerous changes in the
names Of towns may be noted Will
mlngton, formerly Newton: Green
vile, once marlborough: Fayette-
vile, formerly Campbellton and Cross
creeks; Kingston, republicanized by
dropping the "g"; lIillsboro, at first
Childsboro: Company Shops now Bur-
lington: and Salisbury established as
CorbintOn, in honor Of the obnoxious
land agent of Lord Granville. Francis
COrbin. There have been MANY SINH
lar changes in the names Of other
towns.
Townships were first established i'm
this State i'm 1865, but already changes
in the names of these have been fire.
quent. Probably the most singular
has been in Halifax county, whose
classical chairman Of county commits
sioners dubbed the eight townships
first created, Etruria, Arcadia, DaI-
malta, Caledonia, Bucharia, Formosa.
Palmyra, and Rapides.. As a large
part of the newly created magistrates
were negroes, the effect was incon-
gruous. A succeeding Board OF Com
missioners, more prosaic, has changed
these names to Littleton, Weldon, Hal
flax, &c.
WALTER CLARK.