The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-09-13
HISTORY OF ROBSON.

the County-A Short Sketch Of
the First Settlement of Upper
Part of County.
To the Editor of The Robesonian:
| once thoughtlessly issued q
prospectus, proposing to write the
history OF Robson county, and
asked all who were interested tc
send me all the data in their pos
session bearing upon the subject.
The only response | got was from
the late William Mcmillan (Corn
Billy, showing that he was the
onl y public-spirited citizen then
living in the county. | soon found
out that When | made that an
nouncement | didn't realize the
seriousness of the undertaking,
and the utter impossibility of my
accomplishing such a task. But
all the same, fellow citizens, we
ought to have a history of this,
the largest and most progressive
county in the State. Such his
tory should be written, and must
be, and the man to do it is some
where in the county. Such a his
tory comes properly under the
jurisdiction Of the county COM
missioners, and ! hope to see the
question agitated until the work
is accomplished.
In order to start the ball in mo-
ton, | propose to give a short
but imperfect sketch of the first
settlement of the upper part of
this county.
In the earliest settlement of
upper Robson, which was then
a part of Bladen county, the tur-
bid Raft swamp presented quite
a barrier to the early Scotch emf
grants, but somehow or other old
John McPhaul made a crossing
and located somewhere in the vi
cinity of McPhaul's mills. Before
the Scotch invasion the county
was sparsely settled by Virgin
lans and emigrants from eastern
N. c., who were principally inter
ested in hunting and stock rails
ing. | have no data to go by but
such as | have picked up by the
highways and hedges as chance
presented itself. Some ten years
after the battle of Culloden, in
l755, the great immigrationmove-
ment set in from Scotland, which
principally settled the 5 counties
which radiated from Cross Creek,
now Fayetteville, as a center.
They were Cumberland, Robson,
Richmond, Moore and Bladen.
Among these was this same John
McPhaul, who came from one Of
the Hebridees. A widow lady
of the name of Ann Perkins, said
to have been of Indian extrac-
ton. had settled and built a mill
on Lowery sWamp-what a pity
Ann didn't give it an Indian name!
Old John, like most Scotchmen,
always had an eye to the main
chance, and being a widower,
and to even up things after his
drubbing at Culloden, married
the widow; and in order to have
things still more even, his son,
Capt. Neill McPhaul, of Tory no.
toriety, married Mollie, the pret-
ty daughter Of the widow. This
was the beginning of the Me-
Phaul dynasty in upper Robson.
Old John McPhaul was said to
have been the first Scotchman
that crossed over the Raft
swamp. When the Revolut:oaal J
war opened out they become prom
inent royalists; and McPhaul:
mills became the rallying point
for all royalists as we'll as for the
native Tories, who at that time
dominated that whole section
As between Tory marauders an(
Whig reprisals, this section wa
sorely pressed and this game wa
carried on until the Whig forces
under General Rutherford, came
down upon them and cleared ou
: the whole Tory crowd. This wa
a little before the close of tn
2 war.
= After peace and for a numbe
! of years afterwards, McPhaul'
4 mills became the general rendez
t vous for the Scotch in that par
e Of the county. Here they cele
f brated the 9Th Of January as Oh
t Christmas day, by the then ns
d tional game Of shinny tcalle
e golf now, horse racing, an
' whisky drinking. 1t was genuir
o Scotch Whiskey, made of barle
and brought from Scotland. A
S classes drank it, including tt
o clergy and there were good me
d in those days as we'll as nov
}, probably better.
McPhauls mills became a pror
Is inent meeting place for all occ
le sions, and very often for preac
TX ing purposes. Here many a elf
1T culty tnat originated in Scotlal
id was renewed, and whether or n
n they were finally settled is n
I'd known; but | think | know
Id s me that are still hanging fl
le, a this Gay.
if Had Scotland always been un
ed, instead of disrupted ir
feuds and misunderstanding
@. tween clans and neighboring d
tricts, she would be the domin
ne ing power in the British Isles
II day.
ms Snyder
ay Red Springs N c.
ion