Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Historic Kinston And Lenoir County "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Yesterday (Wednesday)I had chance to go to Kinston on business and while there I was inspired to write about this historic town and county. Kinston is now the county seat of Lenoir County which was formed from old Dobbs County in 1792. Dobbs County, named for Governor Arthur Dobbs (who was governor of North Carolina, 1752-1765) was formed from Johnston County which had been carved out of Craven in 1746. The western part of Dobbs County became Wayne County in 1779. Lenoir County was named for General William Lenoir (1751-1839), a native of Virginia who moved to Edgecombe County, N.C., and later to Wilkes County, N.C.; embraced the American cause in 1775; captain in the N.C. Militia; member of the Convention of 1788 and 1789 for considering ratification of the Constitution; and major general in the N.C. Militia. The first settler in the area of Kinston was Robert Atkins of Surry County, Virginia, who received a land grant in 1729, and his neighbors after 1738 were Lazarus Turner and John Gatlin William Herritage, an attorney, who acquired large holdings in the county in the 1750's. Dr. Francis Stringer came to the area in 1737 and began operating a ferry on the Neuse River two miles east of Kinston. Many settlers moved in from the Albemarle Sound region and from Virginia. In 1762 the town of Kingston was established and named for King George III. The principal streets were Shine, Wright, King, Caswell, Gordon, North, Blount (running perpendicular to the river) and Queen, McIlwean and Independence (parallel with the river). The letter "g" was dropped from the name of Kingston in 1784. The first trustees for the town were, Francis McIlwean, Richard Caswell, Simon Bright Jr. John Shine, and David Gordon. Richard Caswell Jr. (1729-1789) was Lenoir's most distinguished resident. He came the to the county in 1748 at the age of 19 and became a large land owner; legislator; member of Continental Congress; held offices in the army of the Revolution and leader at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge; first governor of the state (1776) and served three terms. Governor Caswell's grave is a state historic site and in the same park is located the remains of the Confederate "Ram Neuse". Tower Hill near Kinston was chosen by Governor Dobbs and the Assembly to be the capital of the colony in 1758 but the Crown never gave its approval of the site for several reasons. "Harmony Hall" is another historic site in Kinston, located directly across the street from the courthouse. It was built by Jesse Cobb in 1772, and later became the residence of James Glasgow, Secretary of State of North Carolina. It has been beautifully restored and is open to the public. During the War Between the States the first Battle of Kinston was fought on December 10, 1862, when the Confederate General George Evans with less than four thousand troops attempted to stop General Foster, the Union general, enroute to Goldsboro with twenty thousand troops. After the battle, the Union troops moved on to White Hall and to the railroad bridge south of Goldsboro. On March 8, 1865, another battle was fought in Lenoir near Kinston when the 40th N.C. Regiment of Confederate troops attempted to stop a Union army enroute to Goldsboro to join General Sherman who was due there on March 23, 1865. St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Kinston, organized in 1846, was the successor to an Anglican Church built in Kinston prior to 1762. The Baptist Church was organized in 1844. The Presbyterian church had its beginnings in the 1860's with a mission founded by the Reverend Lachlan C. Vass. The first General Baptist (later known as Free Will) Church in Dobbs County was founded at Stoney Creek in 1756, four miles north of Goldsboro. In 1762, a General Baptist Church was organized at Little Contentnea, and in 1770 a church was organized on South West Creek. The history of Lenoir is of much interest to Wayne County people because they were the same county (Craven-Johnston-Dobbs) throughout the colonial period. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 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