Gaston, North Carolina & York, South Carolina

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Carolina

Gaston county, North Carolina and York county, South Carolina are closely connected counties in the piedmont area of North and South Carolina.

Gaston County: Gaston County was created December 21, 1846. It was formed from Lincoln county, which included present Lincoln, Catawba, Gaston, and part of Cleveland. Lincoln county was formed from Tryon county, which was formed from Mecklenburg county, which was formed from Bladen county, which was formed from the New Hanover precinct of Bath County. Albemarle, Bath, and Clarendon counties were created in 1663 from a grant by Charles II of England.

Early settlers to the territory that is now Gaston were Scotch-Irish, German (Pennsylvania Dutch) and Scotch Highlanders, many who came through Virginia and Pennsylvania. The first settlements were along the course of the Catawba river and the South Fork of the Catawba. The earliest industry was farming and a liquor industry developed early as well, with distilleries stretched along the water courses. Next came saw mills, factories, and mining.

The earliest towns were Stanley, Dallas, McAdenville, and Lowell. Cherryville, Bessemer City, Gastonia (1877), Belmont, and Cramerton came later. The Southern Railway came through in 1873. In 1900 there was one telephone exchange and 64 telephones in the county.

Early churches: Goshen, near Belmont; Long Creek Baptist (1772), Dallas/Cherryville; Philadelphia Lutheran (1776), Dallas; Shiloh Camp Ground (1860), East Gastonia; Pisgah A.R.P., Crowders mountain/Gastonia.

When Gastonia was incorporated in 1877 (236 people in the limits), it was mostly forest and field and the railroad station was the town center. The majority of homes were small farm houses and there were a few stores. The few large landowners helped build the town. The largest landowner was John McKnitt Bradley (1772-1827), who had three sons and two daughters. Two other large blocks of land belonged to the Rhynes and the Wilsons. After this were William Holland, the Hanna's, O.W. Davis and the Craig's.

Belmont, second in size after Gastonia, began long before incorporation (1895) with descendants of a line of homesteading pioneers. Some started textile plants, including A.C. Lineberger, R.L. Stowe, and S.P. Stowe.

Pisgah Church, A.R.P., 3 miles west of Gastonia: Prior to 1793, Presbyterians worshipped at Goshen or Long Creek. Pisgah was first a small log house erected at the head of Crowders Creek on the south base of the pinnacle of Kings Mountain. Around 1797 it split into Bethany in South Carolina and Pisgah four miles east of Kings Mountain. The new Pisgah's first trustees were James Blackwood, John Falls, Thomas Blackwood, John Oates, James Falls, James Ferguson, Sam Blackwood, Thomas Dickson. ^[1]

From Annals of Lincoln County, North Carolina: John Beatty who crossed the Catawba in 1749 was the first white man to enter what would become Lincoln county. Other early settlers were Henry Weidner/Whitener, John Perkins, Adam Sherrill, the Robinsons. They were followed in the 1750s and later by families Forney, Johnston, Abernethy, McCorkle, McLean, Howard, Reid, Dickson, Munday, Thompson, Gabriel, and Wilkinson. Later still, Burton, Brevard, Graham, Fulenwider, Luckey, King, Cherry, Kincaid, Barclay, Brotherton, Lockman, Little, Cornelius, Shelton, Asbury, Nixon, Connor, Hager, Hutchison, Bell, Goodson, Ballard, Burch, Long, Proctor, Hayes, Paine, Lowe, Robinson, Rutledge, Moore, Chronicle, Hambright, Rankin, Jenkins, Henderson, Davenport.

Dutch pioneers from Pennsylvania included families Ramsour, Wilfong, Mull, Yoder, Schenck, Cansler, Hoke, Coon, Costner, Quickel, Shrum, Conrad, Rudisill, Finger, Seagle, Yount, Hoover, Killian, Loretz, Rhyne, Reinhardt, Lineberger, Hoffman, Carpenter, Miller, Friday, Rendleman, Shuford, Bandy, &c. ^[2]