Читать книгу The Market House of Fayetteville, North Carolina - Patricia Ann Leahy - Страница 4

The Market House is bound up with the history of Cumberland County and the Scottish people who settled there. The story begins in the British Isles with the question of the English monarchy.

“The Highland Scots were the only large group to come to North Carolina directly from their native land. As early as 1732 a few Scots had settled on the Upper Cape Fear and were enthusiastic about the ‘salubrious climate, fertile soil, and liberal government.”¹ In 1740 about three hundred and fifty Scots landed at Wilmington where they had planned to settle, however, tradition tells us that the people of Wilmington ridiculed the Scottish dress and custom so that they moved on. Under the leadership of Neil McNeil they settled in the present Fayetteville area. The assembly of 1740 wanted to promote immigration and led by Governor Johnston, who had come from Scotland himself, they made the new settlers tax exempt for a period of ten years. At the same time conditions in Scotland were worsening. Since the Act of Union in 1707 the Scots had done the best they could to keep from becoming a part of England. Prior to this act Parliament had passed the Settlement Act of 1701 which kept the House of Stuart (which was Scottish) from ruling England. All this was after the birth of the pretender, Bonnie Prince Charles, son of James II in 1688; The English House of Hanover was installed and the rule of George I began in 1715, during which time the Scottish revolted in an attempt to put James II back on the joint throne of England and Scotland. Despite all English efforts to control the Scots the unrest continued. Then, in 1745 Charles, the son of James II, seduced the Scottish people to aid him in his attempt to regain the throne of his fathers. April 16, 1746, the Scots were badly beaten by the Duke of Cumberland, who wrote on a playing card, the nine of diamonds,² “No Quarter, Cumberland Duke.” This order led to the death of some two thousand Scots, and the social institution around which their lives had revolved. They were forbidden to wear the costumes of their clans. As a result many of the estates fell into the hands of Englishmen who began to raise sheep on them. This disruption of the traditional agricultural system threw many of the Scots out of work and led to severe economic distress throughout Scotland.

A way out of this unpleasant situation was offered by the king. He urgently desired to be rid of the rebellious Scots and so offered them pardon if they would take an oath of allegiance and emigrate to the colonies. Their enthusiasm for the idea is found in a chorus to a dance hall song, “Going to seek a fortune in North Carolina.”³

And so the Scots came to an area of North Carolina then called Bladen County but ironically enough was to be renamed by the legislature of 1754 after the “Butcher Cumberland” as Cumberland County. In 1754 when Cumberland County was formed out of Bladen County the need for a courthouse was recognized and the first of the four courthouses was to be built.

“It was ordered that a courthouse be built at a place called Choeffenington, on the Pee Dee Road, the oldest road in the county. This was about one and a half miles east of present day Linden on the road leading to Dawson’s Ferry across the Cape Fear River. While the log courthouse was under construction, the first court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions was held in the home of Thomas Armstrong a few miles away.”⁴ At that time Cumberland County went as far north as Raleigh, and in the west, included the future state of Tennessee.

A community of Scots had been formed inland from the river. It was called Cross Creek which, “was so named because it was the result of the two creeks which meet in the valley between the western and eastern part of Grove Street, and which formerly parted almost at right angles though coming together again a short distance below.”⁵ This settlement was begun in 1749 when the Scots under the leadership of Neil McNeil left the Wilmington area. McNeil led between five and six hundred people up the Cape Fear and then inland from the river a few miles and so settled in what was to become Cross Creek.