GREENE COUNTY
By Th. Holliday[1]
Hawlanding 14th November 1810
Dear Sir
I herewith forward to you such information as I have been able to collect on the different Subjects requested in Your Letter of March last that was deemed of Sufficient importance to require notice Greene County[2]
Face of the Country &c.
The Land is not so level as to admit of much stagnated water, neither is there to be found many hills or rises that is of ilconveniance to agriculture; about one Sixth part of which is in a State of Cultivation, the balance is a forrest of pine oak hicory dogwood gum elm ash maple and &c interspersed with swamps Glades and rivulets, on Iselands and ridges near Swamps a dark rich soil is to be met with, the more higher Lands are considerably mixt with Sand. the price of Such as is Suitable for cultivation may be estimated at from four to ten dollars and such as is only fit for tar turpentine or timber from one to four dollars per acre
Productions &c
All most all kind of vegetable productions that are needed for domestick use are made in sufficiant quantitey for home consumption
Settlement &c
The first Settlements in Greene County was made About the date of
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. He was a member of the state Senate, 1782, 1784; House of Commons, 1790; House of Representatives of the United States Congress, 1791-1815, of which he was Speaker, 1801-1807; United States Senate, 1815-1828. After retiring from the Senate in 1828 he was president of the constitutional convention of 1835 and a Van Buren elector in 1836. He was a Republican of great national influence before the War of 1812; but the majority of his party shifted so far from his strict construction principles that in his later career his influence declined both in North Carolina and the nation. Biographical Congressional Directory, 841; W. E. Dodd, Life of Nathaniel Macon.
1 Thomas Holliday was one of the trustees of Greene Academy, incorporated in 1804. Laws of North Carolina, 1804, ch. 43.
2 In 1799 the name of Glasgow County was changed to Greene in honor of General Nathanael Greene. James Glasgow, Secretary of State from 1777 to 1798, for whom the county had been named in 1791, had recently became involved in land frauds and an attempt to destroy the records in burning the State House. Dobbs County, created from Johnston in 1758 and named in honor of Gov. Arthur Dobbs, had been divided into Glasgow and Lenoir in 1791. Thus Dobbs and Glasgow disappeared from the list of North Carolina county names. North Carolina Manual, 1913, 591, 618, 626, 678; S. A. Ashe, History of North Carolina, II, 152, 176. The act of 1791, establishing Glasgow (later Greene) County, directed that the county court be held at the house of Benjamin Sheppard at Snow Hill until James Glasgow, William Speight, William Ormond, William Harper, and John Pope should fix a place for building the court house, etc. James Glasgow, William Speight, William Ormond, Joshua Croom and Moses Westbrook were directed to contract for the building of a court house, prison, and stocks at the place selected. Laws of North Carolina, 1791, ch. 47.
1710 by emigrants from the North Countys of this State, Virginia and some few from Mereland from which time for several Years they continued to live in a most retched State of poverty possessing few if any of the comforts of Life “But from prudance and industry that never failing source of domestick happiness the inhabitance of Greene County have been well fed and well clothed for many years past, and at this time participates in many Luxurys of Life.
Navigable Streams &c
The only Navigable Stream in Greene County is great Contentny[3] a branch of Neuse, which rises in Nash County[4] and passes through Edgecombe and Greene Countys and falls in to Neuse about thirty miles above Newbern, and is navigable for flats of one hundred and fifty barrels burden as high as the upper part of Greene County at a freight to Newbern of from 25 to 40 cents per barrel
Articles of Exportation &c
Pork may be considered as the Staple article about one forth part of what is made to Spare is generally drove to Virginia the ballance is either made into bacon or barreled, and generally find a market in Newbern also corn, pees, cotton, flour wax, tallow tar turpentine and Staves are made to Spare and generally find amarket in Newbern
Welth &c
Greene County contains about 500 familys[5] and is about equal in Sise to eighteen miles Square which would be about 420 acres to each family, the everage welth would be about equal to $5000 but as in all other places welth is very disproportioned Some possessing fare more and Some a great deal less[6]
Buildings &c
The inhabitance Generally live in framed houses with chimneys of brick which are comfortable but seldom eligant Horses Cattle and Sheep are raised the two former a sufficiant for home demand and the latter might with proper attention
Manufactoreys
There is no manufactoreys that deserve the name except of the house hold Kind where the principal part of the clothing of each family is made
3 Contentnea Creek.
4 Contentnea Creek rises in Franklin County.
5 In 1810 the population of Greene County was 4,867 comprising 2,970 whites, 1,842 slaves, and 55 free negroes. In 1860, the population was 7,925, 824 whites, 3,947 slaves, and 154 free negroes. Ninth Census, I, 52-54.
6 Greene County tax and other records have been destroyed for the most part. In 1790, Dobbs County, which comprised what later became Greene, had 1,915 slaves in a total population of 6,893. There were a few large slaveholders: James Glasgow, 50; Benjamin Sheppard, 71; Jesse Cobb, 42; Bryan Whitfield, 58; John Heritage, 38. S. R., XXVI, 481-500.
Schools &c
The Greene Academy[7] is the only incorperated School which was incorperated in the Year 1804 but for want of adequate funds as well as the want of attention of the Trustees, the Institution is not promising, which is much to be lamented as the inhabitance Generally appear to be desireous of procuring for their childred a good English education which most of them have often discovered the want of them Selves[8]
Religion
Episcopalians, Babtists & Methodists the latter are the most numerous, the Babtists and Methodists have each three meeting houses within the County
With high respect I am Sir Your most Obd Th. Holliday
7 The legislature of 1804, in view of “liberal subscriptions” already made by citizens of Greene County, designated Hymick Hooker, Thomas Holliday, Jacob Lassiter, Lawrence Carr, John Harper, Silas Lassiter, Samuel Hooker, Francis Kilpatrick, Roderic Powell, Isaac Ward, and Hugh Harper as trustees of Greene Academy to be erected in an old field near Hooker's Bridge on Great Contentney. In 1807, Jacob Lassiter, secretary of the trustees, advertised for a “Principal Teacher.” He announced that the trustees were satisfied “at the progress of the Institution under their former Teacher, Mr. A. M. Rogers.” C. L. Coon, op. cit., 167; Laws of North Carolina, 1804, ch. 43.
8 The first Greene County graduate of the University was Octavius Wright Hooker, class of 1845. K. P. Battle, op. cit., 800.