Robert C. Carpenter:
This area is the southern part of present Cleveland County.
It is possible but doubtful that it includes any of present Gaston County but
could include parts of Gaston around Kings Mountain and does include the
current city of Kings Mountain.
The district’s southern boundary is the South Carolina line.
The eastern boundary was Capt. Ferguson’s district which was in present southwestern
Gaston County moving from the South Carolina line north to Capt. Carpenter's
District in present northwestern Gaston County. The northern boundary was
Swan's Company which probably was south of Waco in present Cleveland County. The
boundaries coincide mostly with the twelfth Company of the 1790 Lincoln County
census.
Most taxables in this company were English speaking. Only a
few Germans can be surmised: Hass, Hamright (Hambright), and Luts (Lutz). Some
have suggested that the Harmon family in this district was German but no proof
has been discovered yet. Although Frederick Hambright was taxed for Lincoln
County acreage, he resided in York County, South Carolina. His land is said to
have been on the state line and this list indicates it was.
This tax return indicates moderate wealth in the district.
While about five or six taxables owned large amounts of land, most of these
district residents held moderate acreage. There were 54 black polls which
indicates higher slave ownership than in some tax districts.
Kathy Gunter Sullivan:
Although the captain’s name does not appear on the tax list,
he is known to be James Graham Beatty from the county court minute docket. At
October 1805 sessions, William Magness, William Winters, Adam Carruth, John
Graham, and Thomas Graham were appointed as patrols in Capt. James G. Beatty’s
company. In April 1806, Justice Abner McAfee was appointed to receive the
taxpayer’s information in Capt. Beatty’s company. In 1807 the captain may have
been John Weir. By April 1808, Gladden had been elected captain.
The residents were clustered in the lower southeastern
quadrant of present-day Cleveland County southeast of Shelby and adjoining the
South Carolina line. Bruce Pruitt’s series of
Abstracts of Lincoln County, North Carolina, Deeds was very useful
for identifying the physical location of these men. Residents’ land transactions reference the east side of Buffalo
Creek, Long Branch of Buffalo Creek, Solomon Beason’s Creek, and Kings Creek
among other waterways of the area.
George Falls and Robert Winters owned land in both Beatty’s
District and in Ferguson’s District, and are taxed in both districts.
Map Link to lower southeastern Cleveland County:
