Monday, January 4, 2010

Regulators In The Family Tree...!


Here is a little more of the family history from my Mother's side of the family.

The main reason I'm putting this on here, is because it demonstrates a couple of things we should be aware of today!

First lesson, appointed government officials are always more evil to deal with than elected officials! PERIOD! Our present government is a prime example of how true this is...!

Second lesson...the people, the common people can affect the actions of most all officials, providing they protest or challenge those actions in large enough numbers!
This is a long post, but I feel that it's message is important enough to have you read!

In the 1750's and 1760's the Tidewater (coastal area) aristocracy of North Carolina owned numerous slaves who worked on their plantations, and were mostly English aristocracy descendants. During this time the Piedmont (hill area) was settled by people moving there from eastern North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. Many established small farms, usually without slaves; only a few were aristocrats.

The Lower House of the Provincial Assembly was composed of representatives elected by each county. As immigrants poured into the Piedmont, the Assembly was slow to establish new counties, and often when they were established, small new counties were established also in the Tidewater. This resulted in the back country settlers being under-represented in the Assembly By 1776 Orange County, in the Piedmont, contained a larger white population than the total in five Tidewater counties. The five Tidewater counties had a total of 25 votes in the Assembly and Orange County had two.

At the same time the Piedmont counties had a number of county officials, appointed by the Governor, who were abusive and corrupt. Since county officials were not paid salaries, they often kept all or part of the taxes, and charged exorbitant fees for deeds and other legal documents for which the farmers had to pay cash. In the Tidewater, citizens did not have to pay cash since they could give a mortgage on their goods in warehouses or property.

By 1765 the small farmers of the Piedmont began denouncing high taxes, rents, fees and the malpractice of county officials. Mass meetings were common by 1768, and in 1770 one body, meeting in protest, numbered about 3,700. As the movement momentum, more demands were made, and these were published as Regulator's Advertisements, hence the name Regulators!

James Emerson was one of the 109 signers of the Regulators Advertisement #9 published on or about April 30, 1768.

The Regulators became more outspoken in their demands and more settlers joined the group until Governor Tyron decided military action was necessary to restore order in the area and insure control by the provincial Government. The Governor took to the field with several units of the Militia, and on May 16, 1771 defeated the Regulators in the battle of Alamance. During the battle several Regulators were captured. The next day, May 17, 1771 James Few, one of the leaders of the Regulators, was hung on the battlefield.

After the Governor's return to Hillborough, the 12 captured Regulators were tried for treason.The trial lasted until June 18, 1771 when all twelve were found guilty. On June 19, 1771 six of the Regulators were hung on a small hill about 1/4 mile east of the county courthouse. Today the site is marked by a bronze tablet in a small area enclosed by an iron picket fence.

Because of the public reaction after the hangings, the Governor did not hang the other six; instead he suspended their sentences. James Emerson was notified officially of his pardon on August 1, 1772 at Hillsborough, North Carolina.


It's amazing to me that these folks could put a gathering of 3,700 to protest...considering the mode of transportation and communication of the day.

We struggle to get 1000 people to show up at a meeting to protest wrong-doing in government! These folks had 3,700 and all without the help of cell phones, the Internet, email and telephones! To me...that shows dedication!

Now, my friends, let's get some coffee and sit in the kitchen! I'll show you a few old pictures...OK?

13 comments:

Roy said...

Cool, we have a historical connection. My ggggggggreat Grandfather was Captain Benjamin Merrill who was one of the six that were hanged at Alamance. Its a fascinating story.

Momlady said...

Interesting history lesson. Isn't it a shame the disinterest today in what the government is doing to us. Would love to see old pictures. Have a good day.

Baby Sis said...

Bubba -
Thanks for the history lesson! I knew from my DAR application that James was one of the Regulators, but did not know what that meant. Shame on me! Shows how much I depend on my big brother to take care of things, in more ways than either of us cares to talk about.
Thanks for all you do---
Big Hugs!

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special One, Great info as always. You have some fantastic keepsakes from your family. Would love to see the pictures.
thank you for teaching me more about history.
Pass the pot please love sitting in the kitchen with you.

Kyddryn said...

Mmm...coffee and history, a fine way to start the day, Mister Hermit, sir!

The coffee's on at Casa de Crazy, the garden's coming on apace, and it's colder than...umm...never mind what. A good day for history lessons all around.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

Catman said...

Wow. That's some family history! Glad your ancestor was spared, if not, we may have had a very big empty place in the blogosphere today!

HermitJim said...

Hey Roy...
Hey, that's pretty cool! Funny how things work out, isn't it? I am starting to work on the family tree for my father's side of the family!

I'll have to stay in touch with you and take some pointers.

I appreciate you coming by today!


Hey Momlady...
I have to admit that I just recently became interested in the family tree and their involvement in politics before the Revolutionary War!

Forced myself to start studying again!

Thanks so much for coming by today!


Hey Sis...
I think I opened a can of worms when I started this tree research on Dad's side! I will be opened to any and all help I can get, for sure!

Thanks for the visit tody and for coming over this last weekend! I enjoyed it!


Hey JoJo...
Amazing what you can find out when you start diggibg, that's for sure!

Some day I'll post some of the old pictures I have access to!

Great to have you here for coffee in the kitchen!


Hey K...
It's cold here, so I can only imagine how cold it must be there in Georgia!

Good thing to have some garden plans in the works already! Won't be long before it's time to start planting...

I sure appreciate you coming over today!

HermitJim said...

Hey Catman...
Well, actually, this James was from my Mom's family tree, and I am just starting on my Dad's side now.

I probably would have still showed up, you just never know!

Pretty amazing numbers on the protest meetings, huh? Sort of puts us to shame!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!

darius said...

Thanks for the history lesson! I'm working on my family history now and it includes one small branch from the NC Tidewater area; all the rest were pioneers, ultimately crossing the mountains. I haven't found any politics discussed yet but the tree in new.

Mayberry said...

Cool! Guess we know where your "rebel streak" comes from, ha ha. As far as I know, my ancestors were a bunch of displaced Irish spud farmers who came here during the 'tater famine. Grandfolks on my Dad's side are gone now, and only Grandma left on my Mom's side. But I do know I had a great-uncle who was in the New Jersey mafia.....

HermitJim said...

Hey Darius...
It's kinds fun, isn't it? Never know what you might run across!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!


Hey Mayberry...
Always nice to know that I came by that rebel attitude honestly!

I can't wait to find out about Dad's side! Might be some surprises there!

Somewhere I seem to remember a tale of having a horse thief in the family!

Thanks, buddy, for coming by today!

DianeLynn said...

Very interesting as well as informative...I enjoyed it much. It still amazes me what I/we can learn about our history/past. As I researched my family, found out one ran with Pretty Boy Floyd as well as some taking on Poncho Villa cause my relatives were "coke" miners! Yep I am from what other family members refer to as the "black" side of the clan. :) LOL

HermitJim said...

Hey Diane...
You just never know what you are going to find! Like a treasure hunt!

We must study and learn from our past in order to insure a better future!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!