CHAPTER IV.
BERTIE COUNTY.
Whitmill Hill, (born 12th February, 1743. Died 12th September, 1797,) was born in Bertie County, and the ancestor of a large and wealthy family in Eastern Carolina.
He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and was the early and earnest advocate of the rights of the Colonists in the Revolution, and served faithfully in all the legislative bodies--Provincial, State, and National--the devoted patriot and statesman.
He was a member of the Provincial Congress that met at Hillsboro, 20th August, 1775, and at Halifax, on 4th April, 1776, and elected to House of Commons from Martin County, in 1777; Senator, 1778-'79 and '80. He was Speaker of the Senate in 1778. In 1778 he was a delegate from North Carolina to the Continental Congress, and served until 1781.
He survived the perils of the Revolution, and was one of the ablest advocates of the Constitution of the United States in the Convention which met at Hillsboro in July, 1788, which rejected the Constitution by a vote of 184 to 84. He died at Hill's Ferry, Martin County, on 12th of September, 1797.
His letters to Governor Burke, while a member of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, 1780, have been preserved, (see Uni. Mag. x, No. 7, March, 1861,) and breathe the pure spirit of patriotism and valor. We regret that so little has been preserved of this patriotic statesman, whose character and whose services deserve the regard of posterity.
The name of Jonathan Tayloe is remembered with vencration and regard in Bertie County. One of this name is recorded as a freeholder in Bertie County far back in Colonial times, and one of the name yet lingers upon the scene of his long pilgrimage, though he was old enough to be a soldier under Lieutenant Gavin Hogg and Captain James Iredell, and marched in 1812 in defence of Norfolk. He was for a period of years a pillar of the Baptist Church, universally loved for his noble Christian qualities, and was for a long time the clerk of the county court.
David Stone, born February 17, 1770. Died 7th of October, 1818.
Among the distinguished names in the earlier history of North Carolina, is that of David Stone.
His father, Zedekiah Stone, came early to North Carolina from New England (Vermont, we have understood,) and having purchased lands from the Tuscarora Indians, settled in Bertie County and married Mrs. Elizabeth Hobson, (nee Shrivers,) of Martin County.
He lived at Hope, five miles from Windsor, and carried on mercantile and farming business.
He was a devoted and a ready friend to the cause of liberty and independence, and was a member of the Provincial Congress, at Halifax (1776) which formed our State Constitution.
He was, for many years, annually elected a Senator of the Legislature from Bertie, and was distinguished for his intelligence and shrewdness of character.
His son, David Stone, was born at Hope, 17th of February, 1770.
His early education was conducted by the best teachers that the country could afford, and he was diligent, laborious, and apt to learn.
After his academic studies were completed, young Stone was sent to Princeton College, where he graduated in 1788, with the first honors. Dr. Witherspoon, then the President of the College, often referred with approbation to his studious and exemplary conduct,
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