r
ILESTONE
EDETHO
AN INSTITUTION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE SINCE 1909
Hertford County 1759-1959
The Herald 1909-1959
8 Pages—This Section
Ahoskie, N. C.
Milestone Year—1959
To Hertford County on Its 200th Birthday:
The Herald Presents a Milestone Year Edition
This is Milestone Year for Hertford County.
This is Milestone Year for The Herald:
Two hundred years ago, the General Assembly of the colony of North Coro-
lino passed an act (reproduced below) establishing the County of Hertford.
Fifty years ago. a community newspaper started its publication in the
county.
For the past half-century, the county and the newspaper have grown to
gether. '
This year, 1959, both county and newspaper are observing a milestone in
their history. For Hertford County, it is the year in which its people can look
back on 200 years—and more—of life and growth. For the newspaper, it is
Hams nf Norflf Carnlttta, If59
CHAPTER IV.
An Act for Erecting Part of the Countiesof Chowan, Bertie, and
Northampton, into a County and Parish.
i. WHEREAS the large Extent of the Counties of Chowan, Bertie and Northatnpton, ren
ders it grievous and burthensome to many of the Inhabitants thereof to attend the Courts of
Justice, and other Public Meetings appointed therein: For Remedy whereof, /
II. BE IT ENACTED, by the Governor, CounciS, and Assembly, and by the Autftority of the
same. That from and after the First Day of May npt the said Counties be divided as follows,
tc-v/it; Beginning ;n Bertie County, at the first hi'jljh Land on the North West Sif!|c cf Mare^ ^
Branch, on Chowan River Pocoson; running thence by a direct Line to Thomas Outlcjiw's Planta
tion, near Stoney Creek; thence by a direct Line to Northampton County Line, at'the Planta
tion whereon James Rutland formerly lived; then along Northampton County Line/to the Head
of Beaver Dam Swamp; thence by a direct line to the Eastermost Part of Kerby's Creek; thence
down the Cieek to Meherrin River; then up Meherrin River to the Virginia Line; thence Easter
ly along the Virginia Line to Bennet's Creek; then down Bennet's Creek to Chowan River;
then across the River to the Mouth of said Mare Branch, and up the Branch to the Beginning:
And gIj that Part of the said Counties included within the said Bounds be thenceforth erected
into a distinct County and Parish, and called and known by the Name of Hertford County, and
Parish of St. Barnabas.
11^ AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid, That John Edwards,
John Brown, and John Baker, Esquires, be appointed Commissioners; and they or any Two
of them ore hereby impowered and directed to run the said dividing Lines between the soid
Counties, agreeable to the Directions in this Act before mentioned, and to return a fair Plan
thereof to the Court of the said County of Hertford.
IV. AND FOR THE DUE Administration of Justice, Be it Enacted by the Authority afore
said, That after the aforesaid First Day of May, a Court for the said County of Hertford be
constantly held by the Justices thereof at Cotton's Ferry, on the South Side of Chowan River,
upon the Fourth Tuesdays in May, August, November and February, in each and every Year,
as by the Laws of this Province is provided, and shall be by Commission to the Justices of the
said County directed.
V. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, by the Authority aforesaid. That from and ofter
the passing of this Act all that Part of the Parish of North West as shall lie to the Westward of
the aforesaid Counties of Bertie and Hertford, shall be added to, and united and consolidated
with the Parish of St. George in the said County of Northampton, and shall remain one entire
Parish and be coiled and known by the Name the Parish of St. George.
VI. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, by the Authority aforesaid, that nothing herein
contained shall be construed to debar the Sheriffs of the Counties of Chowan, Bertie, and
Northampton, as they respectively now stand undivided, to make Distress for any Levies, Fees
or other Dues, that shall be Due from the Inhabitants of the said Counties on the said First
Day of May, in the same Manner os by Law the said Sheriffs might or could have done if the
said Counties had remained undivided; and the said Levies, Fees and other Dues, shall be
collected and accounted for in the same Manner as if this Act had never been made; any
Thing herein contained, to the contrary, notwithstanding.
VH. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, by the Authority aforesaid. That all Sums of Money
which sliQil be owing due, and belonging to the said Parish of North West, at the passing of
this Act, sha I be paid and satisfied to the Vestry of the Parish of St. George; and the said
Parish of St. George shall stand chargeable to every Person ,and Persons whatsoever for all
Demands they may respectively have on the said Parish of North West, at the Time aforesaid.
Vill. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, by the Authority aforesaid. That after the said
First Day of May, the said County of Hertford shall be, continue, and remain Part of the Dis
trict of Edenton: And the Sheriff of the said County of Hertford shall, from Time to Time,
account for, and pay to the Pubiic Treasurer of the Northern District for the Time being, all
Public Levies by him collected or wherewith he shall stand chargeable, in the same Manner
and under the like Pains and Penalties, as other Sheriffs.
IX. PROVIDED ALWAYS, That nothing herein contained shall be construed, deemed or
taken, to alter or derogate from the Rights and Royal prerogative of his Majesty, his Heirs and
Successors, of granting Letters of Incorporation to the said County, and/or ordering, appoint
ing, and directing the Election of a Member or Members to represent them in Assembly, and
cf granting Markets and Fairs to be kept and held in the said County; but that the said Right
and Prerogative shall and may at all Times hereafter, be exercised therein by his Majesty, his
Heirs or Successors, in as full and ample Manner to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever, as
if this Act had never been made.
another year of striving to live up to its proud motto:"An Institution of Com
munity Service Since 1909."
This Milestone Edition of The Herald is an effort to commemorate and ob
serve these twin birthdays.
In it, renders will find a collection of orticles felling of the achievements,
of the trials, of the memories, of post times. In it also, con be found o record
of present-day life in Hertford County, the story of o modern people making
o modern-day contribution fo the economic, social, educotionol, and recreo-
ficnol life of eastern North Corolino.
The Herald proudly presents its Milestone Edition, joining Hertford Coun
ty people in observing the 200th anniversary of our county, at the some time
celebrating this newspaper's own birthday.
Hertford County: 200 Years Ago:
The Story of County s Beginning...
Hertford County’s .formation
came cibout a.s a natural result of
the growth of population beyond
the Chowan River into the big pre
cinct of Bertie.
Bertie’s formation in 1722 had
signaled a migration westward.
Within ten years, the precinct was
the mpst populated in the colony.
In 1^42, Northampton County had
beenriormed, comprising the ivest-
achrwof the Bertie precinct:
’ Wig the area no.’fth o."
'iiiver that wa.i t{> be-
Ahuun^ Nec_k sectjion of
vva.) tj> b
Njj^^Car
■n years later. Caro-
, hi.d grown to a la,"^ cjDlony.
with it.>; Piedn ont bccrylning heavi
ly •.■>r''xilated with settiiers mov ng
dov/n from Pennsylva a.
T-uring this period, a struggle
between the newly-grown Piedmont
and. the older eastern counties de
veloped. Westerners claimed they
Were not getting representation in
che colonial assembly. When rep
resentation was granted, often as
not, the eastern - dominated As
sembly would also form anew
county in the east, thus assuring
continued representation • in favor
of the east in the legislative
group.
This may have had something to
do with the formation of Hertford,
i/) 1759" 1959
CatMT^ ...
HERALD
carvec: a.. was from three ex
isting counti'rs.
Tra/el Difliculty
But, according to the historical
record, it \as the difficulty to
travel to the Bertie, Northampton
or Chowan county seat which
caused a great number of people
in the area to want a new county,
with a mo;.* convenient court site.
At that time, the Bertie court
was still at Saint Johns. Northamp
ton cour;ho,use was located at pres
ent-day Jackson. Chowan court
house vas at Edenton.
Thus it was that inhabitants of
the areas farthest from the three
court centers in 1758 petitioned the
Gfeneral Assembly that a new
county be formed.
The original petition, signed by
many wellknown Hertford nanyes,
is in the State Department o f
Archives and History.
John Campbell, a member of the
Assembly from Bertie, presented
the petition to the House of Com
mons on December 12, 1758.
It included names of people from
the upper corner of Chowan (now
Gates), many from along Meherrin'
River in Northampton, and some
from the area around soon-to-be
Winton.
A year later, despite the fact
that another petition, signed by an
almost equal number, had been
presented to the Assembly oppos
ing the formation of a new county,
the bill to set up Hertford was in
troduced.
Benjamin Wynns, member of a
family which had been in Hertford
area since the early years of the
18th century, introduced the bill.
Wynns was a colonial Assembly-
man from Bertie.
Wynns introduced the bill in the
Assembly upon order after another
petition had been introduced.
See COUNTY. Page 4
A Newspaper's Life History:
The Herald: 1909 Saw If Start.
(As Hertford celebrates its
200th anniversary The Herald
is observing a milestone, too.
The newspaper is 50 years old
this year. The senior owner and
30 - year employee of The
Herald in this article, tells, in
personal terms, of the story of
The Herald, "An Institution of
Community Service since
1909.")
By J. Mayon Parker, Printer
This piece about printing and
newspapering in Hertford County^ •
will be as much autobiographical
as historical.
Others may delve into the rec
ords and make researches find
■v-rite of the dim past, I am going's
to vtril? about the lively record of
the pa?t fifty years and history of
The Herald since it was establish
ed in the brhsh young sawmill
town ot Ahoskie fifty years ago.
Of T>ie Herald’s first year of
existenci-> i have no recollection.
It was ivst established in 1909,
fifty yeaVg ago, with the name of
Ahoskie Patriot by two enter
prising young men. Their names
were James White and D. E.
Greene, it was purely a com
mercial ■'venture, devoted princi
pally to advertising. It carried
little local news and had no edi
torial pui-pose. The paper had no
printing plant and the printing
was done by Raleigh and Norfolk
printers.
Without editorial purpose or a
stable, ptiid subscription list, the
Ahoskie 'Patriot of 1909 was little
moi-e than the unsolicited and
uninviter^ circulars that today
cram the mail boxes of rural
residents on the rural mail routes.
And it was as ineffective for sus
tained results for its advertisers
as are such advertising circulars
today. Its publication was sus
pended by the Patriot’s promot
ers after several months, the
cream having been skimmed off
the new milk of the advertising
pail,
But there came to Ahoskie
about this lime a newspaper man
with purpose. His name was W.
G. Smith. He came to Ahoskie as
a buyer for the Imperial Tobac
co Co. on the newly established
tobacco market at Ahoskie. But
he had likewise had newspaper
experience in his home communi
ty of Wilson. Moving to Ahoskie
in early 1910 to make his home,
he saw opportunity to serve the
potentialities* for growth and
higher civic standards in the self-
conscious young town that had
sprung up here alongside the
Ahoskie Swamp and where the
newly-built Atlantic Coa.st Line
Railroad crossed the old Halifax
wagon road from up-state North
Carolina and Virginia to the Al
bemarle country and the coast.
The new town of Ahoskie was
vigorous and uninhibited. It was
challenging the position of the
older communities with their tra
ditions rooted in the manners
and customs and business meth
ods of a vanishing era—^the agri
cultural and business pattern of
See HERALD, Page 2
FORMER HERALD OFFICE—This Railroad Street building, now the rear end of several Main
Street firrris. The building served until the 1920’s as quarters for Ahoskie’s young newspaper. It
rattled not only with the business of printing eq uipment, biat with the quaking of many trains
which thundered by on the busy tracks (in foreground).