The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-04-08
SHARED IN REVOLT ION
Her Famous Old Schools and Church
Congregations Described.
FIRST ORGANIZED PRESBYTERIAkISM
One Of the Fairest Portions Of North Carolina.
interesting Stories Of the Great Men
the County Has Produced in
All Lines of Effort.

Duplin county at the first. 1749, touch
ed the borders of New Hanover, Bladen.
! Cumberland, Johnston, Craven and Ons
low. The eastern part of Johnston be
came Dobbs county in 1853 and the
western part of Dobbs became Wayne,
1873. Jones county on the eastern Dor
der of Duplin was formed from Craven
1779. Until 1884 Duplin included what is
now Sampson county and in this paper
the old name will be used to cover the
whole territory. 1t was one Of the fair
est portions Of North Carolina. Large
streams which flowed through every
part Of it indicated fertile lands and at
forded cheap and easy transportation
for the timber and nava stores which
were then the chief articles of com
merce. The Indians were excellent
Judges of a location which furnished
materials for easy and luxurious living,
and their chief settlement was near the
present town Of kenansVille A large
mcund in which they buried their dead
long stood about a mile from the court
house, indicating at once their owner
ship and their good sense. The public
highway ran from Wilmington to
Smithfield, dividing the county into
! nearly equal sections. The courthouse
stood on this road about the centre of
the unit Four miles north OF the
courthouse the road forked, the right
leading to Dobbs courthouse which
stood two miles across and up the
| river from whitehall. The foundations
of the old building may still be seen on
the plantation of James Whitfield, Esq.
Into this beautiful region there came,
singly or in groups, men who by taste
and experience We're prepared to make
! the most and the best of it. They We're
from different quarters, but the largest
and most influential body of them came
from Maryland. The mention of a few
families will make this appear: Clark,
Wright, Beck, Houston, Hollingsworth,
Hines Gin Maryland written also
Kinds. Hynes, Hyndes), Darden (writ-
ten Durding in Maryland to this day.,
King, Hobbs. Kinnear (written in
Maryland Conier), Rutledge, Carr,
Dixon, Kirby CKerby), Sutherland,
Gibson (Gleeson, Glessen), Bowden,
Willard, Meredith, Howard, Blackman,
Cooper Hynson Winders (Winters),
Ballard, Cook, Fennell (Fennile, Fin
nell, FenniD, Murray, Chason (Ches-
tom, Bell, Carroll, Hicks, Torrance
CTarrance) Thompson, Dunn. I think,
though Am not sure, that Bunting,
Holmes and Sampson came from New
England to Maryland and thence to North
Carolina and Duplin county.
1t will be Of interest to glance at the
history of some Of these families. They
came from good homes on the eastern
shore of Maryland which had been set
tied since 1851. bringing With them some
wealth, considerable intelligence and a
certain degree of familiarity with the
best social and domestic life of the time.
The DiXOns were men of force and
speedily obtained recognition and place.
One of them was the first clerk Of the
county. Many years later one of the
descendants, James Dixon, long held the
sare office. Robert and James We're
several times elected to the Legislature.
Joseph Dixon was a membe of Con-
gress and left a sum of money, large
for those times, 20 educate the poor
children Of the county OF the Kings
two We're Of the Legislature
ard one. William r., was a member of
Congress in this State, senate from
Alabama, and Vice-President. Daniel
Gibson was for twenty years in one or
other branch Of the Legislature. OF the
Wrights Thomas was for a number of
years sheriff, while David and William
were several times members of the
Legislature. Thomas Hicks was a mem
Der of the Convention of 1874 and 1915,
also Of the Legislature Of 177S. He died
soon afterwards. Andrew and Daniel
Thompson came to Duplin before 1888.
In that year the former married Ann
Hickc op6 on hor }oa4h 100 ,,.criod
her sister, Lucretia. Daniel Thompson
married Miss Legate, of Brunswick.
These brothers were from Berlin, Md.
OF their descendants Thomas was muir
dered by Tories near Clinton, Jacob was
captured in the battle of Camden and
carried to Charleston, never to be heard
from afterwards: James did service in
the Revolution and was often elected
to the Legislature after the war. he
Clarks We're among the earlier settlers.
They We're people of wealth and also Of
refined taste and elegant culture. One
of them built, about two miles north Of
Faison, what is a fine specimen of the
best class Of colonial homes. IT S vet
starCing and after more than a hun
dred years is still, with few exceptions
the best house in the county. The lawn.
the garden. the flowers, the street On
which stood the negro cabins We're
greatly superior to those which one usu-
ally finds in new settlements Another
Of the Clarks builded a similar house
one mile west of Faison. 1t was burn
ed by the Federal soldiers in the spring
of 1860. Still another residence Of SINH
lar style was owned by Samuel Dunn.
His education had been completed in
Dl1h1in and litorot,ro x-oc -,
from the cares of business. His library
would be considered a good one even in
these times of abundant and cheap
books. He came, 1886, from Kent coun-
ty, where his family had been a rather
prominent one for moro than q bI,r1r,1