Bertie COUNTY NC History - Court House Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Neil Baker" http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/bertie.htm The following is an excerpt from the historical account of the history of the Bertie County Courthouse as published in the… WINDSOR PUBLIC LEDGER OCTOBER 5, 1887 THE CORNERSTONE The morning of Saturday, October 1, say one the largest crowds in Windsor ever before gathered together. The occasion was laying of the corner stone of a new court house. The stone was laid by the Masons with imposing ceremonies, Mr. C. H. Robinson, G.M. of the State delivering the dedication address, and Hon. F. D. Winston the commemorative oration. Mr. Winston’s speech was grand and sublime. The Edenton Silver Cornet Band furnished the music for the occasion. After the ceremonies their was a public dinner and all who wished could partake. The immense crowd seemed to enjoy themselves and all left feeling glad they came. We will publish at length in our next issue the speeches of Mr. C. H. Robinson, G. M., of the State and Hon. F. D. Winston, together with interesting articles appertaining to the day. WINDSOR PUBLIC LEDGER OCTOBER 12, 1887 COURT HOUSE CELEBRATION 1774, This I imply from the fact that at that meeting of the court and as preparatory to holding court in another place, the justices ordered “That the Clerk of the court set up advertisements at all the convenient places in the county giving notices that the County Court House, Goal and lot of land on which the same stands is to be sold at a public vendue the Monday before the next court. And likewise the public warehouse on Cashie river”. So important an event as the removal of the seat of government at this day would create great excitement, but it seems not to have caused a ripple in the breast of the staid colonial justiciars for the court record is silent on that point. From the records the first court held at Windsor was at August Term 1774 and no removal from this place has ever been made. It seems that the jail at Wolfingdon was used after the court was moved to Windsor for at August Term 1774 the Sheriff was ordered “to repair the jail until a new one was built at Windsor” The first court held in this place was in a house belonging to William Williams ancestor of our townsman Dr. E. W. Pugh. From the best information I can gather it was the house now occupied by Mrs. Wm. S. Gray. I have heard my uncle Tayloe say that that house was at one time a place for holding the courts of the county. The next court place was at the house of Mr. Samuel Milburn which was a hotel---a long building, part two story, which occupied the lot where Thomas Gilliam, Esq. now lives. Our esteemed and venerable fellow citizen, Mr. L. S. Webb recollects the house well, when it was torn down and replaced by James Reid’s saddle shop. It was afterward the residence of the late Burrell Russell. I cannot ascertain the date when work was begun on the old court house. I infer it was 1775, one year after the courts were held in Windsor for I find of record of that date a deed from Samuel Milburn to the Commissioners an Trustees for half an acre of land for the purpose of erecting a court house, clerk’s office, jail, stocks and pillory for the county of Bertie. Thomas Rhodes, grandfather of Mr. Jonathan S. Tayloe and great grandfather of L. S. Webb, was the contractor. Mr. Tayloe told me that the walls were completed to the top of the windows at the breaking out of the Revolutionary war when work was suspended. It was completed in 1788, for in that year a tax of “14 pence on the poll and every one hundred pounds of town property was leqied to pay the debt due Thomas Rhodes for building the court house.” The county rapidly grew in wealth and population and the volume of judicial business increased. More court accommodations were needed and in 1822 two wings were added by Elisha Rhodes, and the building was then completed as you have been accustomed to see it. For a year or two past the subject of a new court house has been discussed in a casual way, but nothing definite was done until December of last year when the Commissioners ordered a bill to be drawn authorizing them to proceed with the work. At the January meeting of this year the bill was agreed upon and on the 17th day of January, as your Senator in the General Assembly, I had the honor to introduce the bill and have it passed without alteration or amendment. The work was let out June 1887 and the old building you see has disappeared. In brief fellow citizens I have given you the history of the old building and the new. Many hallowed memories clustered around our old court house. I challenge any county to produce a more honorable record for integrity and efficiency than borne by the officers who have presided in our country---the Johnstons, Cherrys, Whitmels, Hills, Lewis Thompson, Jonathan S. Tayloe, the Grays, Standleys, Jacocks, L. S. Webb, and him, who but so lately passed from us, the efficient clerk, the gentleman, the generous friend, the charitable neighbor, Wm. P. Gurley, dying as he lived with decency and in order. The lawyers who have practiced in our old court house have been known and honored for their strict integrity, sagacious counsel, great wisdom and peerless eloquence. Their honored names make a jeweled crown befitting the brow of any land. But they have all gone to the undiscovered country and nothing remains but their actions which blossom in the dust that years scatter on their tombs. Iredell, Moore, Barker, Stone, Wm. Cherry, James Allen, W. W. Cherry, Gavin Hogg, Reynolds, David Outlaw, Winston, Jos. B. Cherry, Garrett, Jordan, and Bird. Break dead silence in which their spirits rest, and let us feel again the touch of their vanished hands and the sound of their stilled voices. If ever the hosts of the immortal bless the scenes of earth, come mighty dwellers from the spirit land and breathe a benison on the work of this hour. It is not alone in the peaceful walks of life, but also in the tented field our country has reaped undying fame by the daring of her sons. From the time gallant Whitmel fell in the Revolution and received a soldiers grave with intrepid Nash at Germantown.