On May 16, 1771, they packed the ranks at the Battle of Alamance, considered by some historians to be the first true action of the Revolution, a full four years before Bunker Hill.Ĭornwallis took him prisoner and his troops destroyed all buildings but the main house. He led a company of men assigned to protect citizens across the region, served as justice of the peace and was a signatory to the creation of Rowan County.īut as the injustices of a remote and cruel British government mounted, he and many other Jersey settlers sided with the fledgling Patriots. Jonathan Hunt fought with the British forces in the French and Indian War and rose to the rank of colonel, a moniker he was known by the rest of his life. William Tryon seemed to ignore their interests. Given their history with greedy proprietors and a corrupt government willing to invalidate legal deeds, it is little wonder that Hunt, Smith and the others were hyper-vigilant when North Carolina Colonial Gov. It was known as the Jersey Settlement and was something of a hotbed for the Regulator Movement in the days leading up to the American Revolution. They, and many other Hopewell residents, would continue the court battles for a while but eventually left, traveling down the Great Wagon Road to the Shenandoah with the storied frontiersman Morgan Bryan.Īround 1745, they left Virginia and settled in a swath of land between Lexington, Salisbury, and Mocksville with many others who’d been cheated out of their land in New Jersey. The ruling was met with acts of unrest and violence with at least one instance of two men being taken to the woods where they were tarred and feathered.Īmong the wronged landowners taking their own justice that night were Jonathan Hunt and his brother-in-law, Thomas Smith. The courts sided with the wealthy, well connected, Anglican Coxe. Landowners took their case to the colony’s supreme court, to no avail. This didn’t sit well, as one might imagine. The area was settled by Quakers and Presbyterians who cleared the land, planted crops, and built farms and villages.Īfter his death in 1731, his son and heir declared the land of Hopewell Township, just north of Trenton, was still his and everyone would either have to buy the land properly from him or leave - leave the homes they and their fathers had improved over decades. He never set foot in the colonies, but he grew rich from the land speculation and governance of the residents who paid for the land and paid taxes. He was one of many proprietors of New Jersey but he owned so much land that in 1685 he declared himself governor of the colony.
Daniel Coxe, physician to the English royal household, bought thousands of acres of wilderness in western New Jersey.
The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History has the cookbook in the gift shop.īefore John Hancock put quill to parchment, before shots fired at Bunker Hill were heard round the world, before all that tea was dumped in Boston Harbor, there was the Coxe Affair.ĭr. Pictured on the cover of the local DAR chapter’s cookbook, it served as both school and Methodist chapel for years before the chapter organized its refurbishment and move to its current location on Church Street where it houses the town’s museum. Richard Gwyn built the town’s first school in 1850. The Daughters of the American Revolution, the DAR, with one of the most rigorously researched genealogical archives, can help researchers find and verify those connections. Many families across Surry and surrounding counties can follow their lineage to Patriots who supported the war effort with material goods as well as military service. Advances in digital document preservation have made researching this pivotal moment in American history much easier in recent years, allowing the museum to significantly expand its exhibits. The Southern Campaign of the American Revolution was vicious as people fought to defend their homes and families not only from the British Regulars and Hessian mercenaries, but from Tory neighbors. Operated as a toll bridge, the fee was five cents. When Elkin’s 210-foot covered bridge (visible in the lower left of the postcard) was built in 1872 it was said to be the longest wooden suspension bridge in the world. The Yadkin, however, often posed an insurmountable barrier. Jonesville and Elkin have always been linked through family, business, and educational ties.
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