Craven County NcArchives Biographies.....Brinson, Samuel Mitchell 1870 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 2, 2008, 7:11 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) SAMUEL MITCHELL BRINSON SAMUEL MITCHELL BRINSON, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Craven County, North Carolina, was born in New Bern, in that State, March 20, 1870. His parents were William George Brinson and Kitty Chestnut Brinson. The Brinson family came to this country from the north of Ireland, where they emigrated from England in Cromwell's time. In a careful survey of the records of Craven County we find that the name Brinson is associated with the early history of that section, a land grant having been issued to Casin Brinson at a Council held at New Bern, March 21, 1747, for two hundred acres of land in Currituck County. In the Militia returns of 1754-1757, we see the name of Cassin Brison in the list of Field Officers of the Regiment of Craven. The names of Matthew Brinson, Adam Brinson, and George Brinson appear in Captain Shackelford's Company, Onslow County, 1754-1755. The patriotism of the Brinson family is shown in the record of Hilary Brinson, private soldier in the Revolutionary War. That Samuel Mitchell Brinson's ancestors insisted upon freedom of religious thought is evidenced by the fact that in the early Colonial days a Brinson forbear refused to subscribe to all of the articles of the Established Church, and in consequence of his loyalty to his religious convictions, was punished as a "dissenter." It is on account of the stand of men of his kind that the United States is recognized to-day as the home of religious liberty. Through his paternal grandmother, Samuel Mitchell Brinson is not less interestingly connected. She was a descendant of Franz Louis Michel, a Swiss gentleman, who, with Baron Christoph Von Graffenried, brought the Swiss and Germans to Carolina and founded the town of New Bern in the year 1710. Previous to this time there lived in that portion of Germany, situated on both sides of the River Rhine, known as the Palatinate, a people who had suffered great tribulations. As Germany had been the battlefield of Europe for many years, the Palatinate, bordering on France and Germany, had been the Province most subjected to the ravages of war. It is small wonder that these border people, inhabitants of Switzerland and Germany, who faced a poverty that had existed for years, owing to the devastation of their property by war, should be in a state of great unrest. And added to their destitute condition was the political oppression of the times and the knowledge of the religious persecution of their forefathers. The Swiss Palatines, moved by a great hope of relief from the then existing conditions, sent Franz Louis Michel, a former citizen of Berne, Switzerland, and a brave and intelligent gentleman, to seek for them a new home in America. John Lawson. the historian, was a friend of Mr. Michel. In Lawson's Journal, page 206, he has the following in reference to Franz Louis Michel's commission. "This gentleman has been employed by the Canton of Berne to find out a tract of land in the English America, where that Republick might settle some of their people; which proposal, I believe, is now in a fair way towards a conclusion between her Majesty of Great Britain and that Canton. "Which must needs be of great advantage to both; and as for ourselves, I believe, no Man that is in his Wits, and understands the Situation and Affair of America, but will allow, nothing can be of more security and Advantage to the Crown and subjects of Great Britain, than to have our Frontiers secured by a Warlike People, and our Friends as the Switzers are; especially when we have more Indians than we can civilize, and so many Christian Enemies lying on the back of us, that we do not know how long or short a time it may be before they visit us." As the Berne Canton requested to be allowed to hold whatever lands they should buy independently of either the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, or the Governor of Virginia, their request could not be granted, and nothing definite was accomplished by Franz Louis Michel at this time. An independent colonization project was started, however, and in 170S Mr. Michel, who up to that time had been living in London, had returned to Berne. He persuaded Baron Christoph Von Graffenried, a Swiss nobleman, to embark for the New World. Christoph Von Graffenried was to go to America, following Mr. Michel's directions and maps, and find silver ore, which he and Mr. Michel should mine, and accordingly Christoph Von Graffenried departed for London. In that city he became acquainted with John Lawson, who had been in Carolina eight years and had taken a journey from Charleston, South Carolina, to a point near the present site of New Bern. Lawson confirmed Mr. Michel's report about the existence of ore, and Christoph Von Graffenried made every preparation for his departure. Now, there were living in London at this time hundreds of German Palatines, who had come to England on account of proffered assistance by Queen Anne. Baron Christoph Von Graffenried persuaded some six hundred of these German Palatines to try their fortunes with Mr. Michel's Swiss emigrants, who were preparing to go to America. Contracts were drawn up, and on April 28,1709, Franz Louis Michel was at Craven House, submitting a petition to His Grace, the Duke of Beaufort, both on his own behalf and on that of the Palatines. Mr. Michel having reported favorably on a site between the rivers Neuse and Trent, the combined company embarked for their new home. The town thus founded by Franz Louis Michel and Baron Christoph Von Graffenried was called New Bern, after the Swiss capital of Berne. As a tribute to Franz Louis Michel's wise selection of a favorable site, emigrants poured in, and by the middle of the century the Royal Governors made New Bern their Capital. It was here that the magnificent Colonial mansion, which surpassed any structure of its kind in the Americas, was erected for Governor Tryon. And in this old town, the history of which teems with references to his ancestors, and their doings in Colonial and later days, the subject of this sketch, Samuel Mitchell Brinson, spent his boyhood years. His early education was obtained in the New Bern graded schools. After finishing high school he attended Wake Forest College, graduating from this institution with the A. B. degree. He read law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1895. For several years Mr. Brinson devoted himself to the practice of law; but as his ideal of service to his fellow men is to develop the best type of education, he is now lending his energies and talents with single-minded earnestness to the duties of Superintendent of Public Instruction. He has served as Past Grand Regent of the Royal Arcanum, of North Carolina, and at present is Supreme Guide, Royal Arcanum. He is actively engaged in church work, and for years has served as Deacon in the First Baptist Church, at New Bern. Mr. Brinson married at Salisbury, North Carolina, January 16, 1901, Ruth Martin Scales, daughter of Major Nathaniel Eldridge Scales and Minnie Lord Scales. Mrs. Brinson was born at Knoxville, Tennessee, March 28, 1878. Of this marriage one child, Mary Steele Brinson, has been born. She is fourteen years of age and is a student in the New Bern graded school. This child, through her mother, is a direct lineal descendant of the Revolutionary patriot, Elizabeth Maxwell Steele, who in the winter of 1781 presented to General Greene—then stopping at her home in Salisbury, North Carolina—the bag of gold to help the patriot army, which was then in great need. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. 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