A Brief History
Even before what is now Martin
County was first visited by English explorers, it was inhabited by
Native Americans who were adept at satisfying their needs from the
richly supplied forests and streams. In 1774, Martin County was formed
from Tyrrell and Halifax Counties in the midst of one of the most
turbulent periods of American history. It was less than three years
after the Battle of Alamance near Hillsborough, between the "Regulators"
and North Carolina militia called up by Royalist Governor Tryon -
generally considered one of the first skirmishes of the American
Revolution -and only a few months before the first meeting of the North
Carolina Provincial Congress independent of royal authority in August,
1774.
Attempts to establish a new county for the territory which eventually
became Martin had been launched more than four years previously.
Residents of the area had been experiencing some difficulty and
considerable expense in attending to their affairs at the seats of
government for the two counties in which they were then living.
William Slade, a representative from the section in the Colonial House
of Commons, made several efforts to have the new county created from
upper Tyrrell and lower Halifax and co-sponsored a number of bills to
that effect during 1769, 1770 and 1771. He succeeded in getting the
bills passed by the lower chamber several times, but they evidently
failed to secure approval of the governor or council, as none of them
ever became law while he was in the General Assembly.
Some of this information was excerpted from the "Martin County History,
Volume l", which may be purchased at the Martin County Travel and
Tourism Office.