Richard Caswell

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 18 dated events in the chronology →

1. September 9, 1752 The Orange County court holds its first session at John Gray's house Eight justices of the peace held the county's first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions at John Gray's house near the Eno River, with Alexander Mebane as sheriff and Richard Caswell as clerk. They named fifteen road commissioners and several constables and laid a poll tax of one shilling on each tithable. People: John Patterson, John Gray, Richard Caswell Place: John Gray's house, near the Eno River · Also named: Alexander Mebane · Also mentions: Eno RiverLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 19
2. 1753 Richard Caswell serves as the first clerk of the Orange County court Caswell, a deputy clerk in Johnston County, became the first clerk of the court of the newly formed Orange County. He held the post only briefly and resigned on being appointed high sheriff of Johnston. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Caswell, Richard
3. 1754 Clerk Richard Caswell reports the county's tithables Caswell's return for 1754 counted 950 white taxable polls and 50 Black ones, 35 men and 15 women. At a shilling a poll, the county's share of the provincial tax came to no more than 50 pounds. People: Richard Caswell Place: Orange CountyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 172
4. 1754 and 1755 William Craig and Richard Caswell take up land in the New Hope area William Craig took Granville grants on New Hope Creek on September 6, 1754 (475 acres on Batts Creek) and March 13, 1755 (280 acres on Richland Fork), in the section of eastern Orange where Scotch-Irish families were settling. Richard Caswell held 640 acres at the forks of New Hope Creek by June 1756, when he sold them to William Blackwood. Place: New Hope Creek · Also named: William Craig, William BlackwoodSearch the index · Wandering through the NC Piedmont: Recovered Colonial Deeds of Orange (abstracts of the Register of Orange, State Archives of North Carolina) · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
5. 1755 to 1763 James Watson succeeds Richard Caswell as clerk of the Orange County court Watson, one of the town's first residents, was the second clerk of the county court from 1755 to 1763. He was named register of the county in 1772 and was reappointed under the state government shortly before his death. People: Richard Caswell, James Watson Place: HillsboroughNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 6
6. August or September 1775 The Provincial Congress names Caswell, Moore and Pattillo to win over former Regulators The congress at Hillsborough agreed to protect former Regulators who broke the oath of allegiance forced on them after Alamance, and appointed Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore and Henry Pattillo to persuade them to join the American cause. William L. Saunders later remarked on the irony, since Pattillo had joined in denouncing the Regulators in 1768. People: Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore, Henry Pattillo, William L. Saunders Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: Durward T. Stokes, "Henry Pattillo in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review 44 (1967), p. 384
7. August 23, 1775 Congress at Hillsborough appoints a committee to address the inhabitants of the province The same day the congress named Maurice Moore, William Hooper, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell and Joseph Hewes to prepare an address to the inhabitants of North Carolina, stating the controversy with Great Britain in plain language and calling on them to unite in defence of American liberty. Doctor Burke was added to the committee on August 24. People: Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore, Robert Howe Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
8. August 23, 1775 Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a Committee of Secrecy to procure arms On August 23, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough resolved that its president, Mr. Harnett, Mr. Caswell, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Nash, Mr. Willie Jones and Mr. Young be a Committee of Secrecy for procuring arms and ammunition. The committee was to report what sums of money would be needed for the purpose. People: Joseph Hewes, Richard Caswell, Willie Jones, Cornelius Harnett Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
9. August 23, 1775 Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a committee to confer with inhabitants who had scruples about the American cause The congress sitting at Hillsborough appointed thirteen of its members, among them Memucan Hunt of Granville County, to confer with inhabitants of the province who held religious or political scruples. They were directed to use argument and persuasion to bring those inhabitants into support of the American cause. People: Memucan Hunt, Thomas Burke, Richard Caswell, John Penn, Thomas Person, Henry Pattillo Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
10. September 2, 1775 Congress at Hillsborough appoints Hooper, Hewes and Caswell to the Continental Congress Meeting at Hillsborough on September 2, 1775, the congress thanked William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell for their service as the province's delegates at the last Continental Congress and appointed the three delegates for a further year, each to be paid five hundred pounds proclamation money. People: Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, Richard Caswell Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
11. September 7, 1775 Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District Meeting at Hillsborough, the Congress appointed Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District and Richard Caswell treasurer for the Southern District, giving them the powers the colony's treasurers had held under a 1773 act of Assembly. People: Samuel Johnston, Richard Caswell Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Colonial and State Records of North Carolina: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, Aug 20 to Sep 10, 1775 (vol. 10, pp. 164–220)
12. September 7, 1775 The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough appoints John Penn to the Continental Congress Richard Caswell told the congress at Hillsborough that his new duties as treasurer for the Southern District and as a signer of the public bills of credit left him unable to serve in the Continental Congress. The congress resolved the same day that John Penn take his place beside William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, with the same powers and allowance. People: John Penn, Joseph Hewes, Richard Caswell Place: Hillsborough · Also named: William HooperSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775