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Bath County, North Carolina

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Date: 1696 to 1738
Location: Carolinamap
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Note: Taking the notion that the colony was considered to stretch westward indefinitely, then Bath County included Appalachia from its formation in 1696 to its abolishment in 1738.[1] However, it is doubtful that colonists settled that far west at the time, so the Appalachia Project does not consider Bath County to be a historic Appalachian county.[2]

Contents

History

Bath County was created from the territory south of Albemarle County in 1696. It was named for Sir John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath who was a cousin of the Duke of Albemarle, one of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of North Carolina. The county seat of Bath County was Bath Town, which is still in existence today as Bath, North Carolina's oldest town.

In 1738, Bath County, along with Albemarle County, were officially abolished & all precincts in both were designated as counties.

Precincts

There were 3 original precincts created in Bath county in about 1705: Pamtecough, Wickham, and Archdale. In 1712, however, the names of these precincts were changed: Pamtecough became Beaufort, Wickham became Hyde, and Archdale became Craven.

Two more precincts were later created from Craven: Carteret Precinct in 1722 and New Hanover in 1729. Then in 1734, Bladen Precinct and Onslow Precinct were created from New Hanover.

  • Bladen Precinct (later Bladen County after 1738): Named for Col. Martin Bladen. Precinct seat was Bladen Court House starting in 1734 (Bladen C.H. was renamed to Elizabeth in 1738).
  • Hyde Precinct (later Hyde County after 1738): Named for Edward Hyde, Governor of North Carolina. Original name was Wickham (sometimes spelled Wyckham) from 1705 to 1712; possibly derived from the manor Temple Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, the family home of North and South Carolina governor John Archdale. Did not have a precinct seat from 1705 to 1729. Seat was designated Hyde Court House in 1729, which was later renamed to Woodstock in 1738.
  • New Hanover Precinct (later New Hanover County after 1738): Named for the House of Hanover, the German royal family which was ruling Great Britain at that time. Precinct seat was Brunswick Town from 1729 until 1733, when it was changed to Newton until 1740.
  • Onslow Precinct (later Onslow County after 1738): Named for Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons 1728-1761. Did not have a seat from 1734 until 1744. In 1734, court was held at the courthouse on New River. Then in January 1735, court was held at the home of Joseph Howard, at Christian Heidleburg's home in July that same year, then back at Joseph Howard's home from later in 1735 until 1737. A new courthouse was built on the New River & court was held there starting in April 1737. Johnston was designated the precinct seat after the courthouse on New Rive burned down about 1744. From 1753 to 1757, after a hurricane destroyed the town of Johnston in 1752, court was held at the home of Jonathan Melton. Precinct seat was designated as Onslow Court House in 1757.

Maps

Resources

Links from Category: Bath County, North Carolina

Footnotes
  1. North Carolina County Formation Maps (accessed 24 July 2022).
  2. For project purposes, the most eastern North Carolina counties covering land in Appalachia were Anson (created in 1750) and Rowan (created from the northern half of Anson in 1753).




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