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Local figure

Josiah Martin

Josiah Martin, governor of North Carolina, wrote to the Earl of Hillsborough from Hillsborough on August 30, 1772, after a tour west into the Regulator country. He reported that the recent troubles had been provoked by extortion from attorneys, clerks and other officers, and that he had summoned the judges to Hillsborough to advise on the cases against the Regulators.

Source: Documenting the American South (Colonial and State Records): Letter from Josiah Martin to Wills Hill, Marquis of Downshire, August 30, 1772

1737–1786 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

73 indexed works are connected with this person.

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Josiah Martin, 1771
Josiah Martin, 1771

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

Narrow these works. Each link opens the search already limited to this person. Counts are indexed works, not copies on a shelf; a work can carry more than one period or place.

Material

Histories 8Letters & correspondence 4Historical sources 3

Period

Colonial era (to 1775) 418th century 6Revolution (1775–1783) 2

Place

Hillsborough 72North Carolina (statewide) 72Orange County 12Chapel Hill 2

Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Dartmouth numbered 21-24, enclosing copies of legislation

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Governor Josiah Martin's numbered dispatches 21 through 24 to the Earl of Dartmouth, with copies of North Carolina legislation enclosed, reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office file CO 5/303 part 2. Subjects include finance and currency, debt and the courts, judges' wages, the council and assembly, voting and taxes, oaths, litigation, sheriffs, inheritance, prisoners, Irish settlers, customs, quitrents, land grants, surveying and mortgages. Names include Arthur Dobbs, William Dry, Willie Jones, John Rutherford and Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Martin, Josiah.

NC Cardinal Duke NC State

Letters and Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Hillsborough and the Lords Commissioners

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Dispatches from Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, to Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, the secretary of state for the colonies for whom the Orange County seat is named, and to the Lords Commissioners in London. Adam Matthew Digital reproduced the file, Colonial Office CO 5/303 part 1, in 2019. Topics include women, medicine and health, land grants, the courts and litigation, German and Protestant migration to the frontier, the Regulators, riot and treason, salt and alcohol imports, Spanish shipping and crime.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Martin, Josiah.

NC Cardinal Duke NC State

Copy of The Journal of the Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, held at Hillsborough on the 20th of August, 1775

1775

The provincial congress of North Carolina met at Hillsborough on 20 August 1775, and this copy of its journal records the delegates and their proceedings as the colony moved toward war. Samuel Johnston, Richard Caswell, Samuel Spencer and Thomas Wade are among the men named, with delegates drawn from Anson, Rowan and other counties. The congress sat in Orange County. Reference CO 5/318.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Governor Martin's letter to the Earl of Dartmouth discussing resolutions made to pursue rebellious subjects in the provinces, pledging support and loyalty to other officials, and offering intelligence on the Continental Congress

1775

In 1775 Governor Josiah Martin wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth about resolutions to pursue rebellious subjects, pledged loyalty to other officials, and passed on intelligence about the Continental Congress. John Ashe, Farquhard Campbell and Thomas Gage are mentioned, with Fort Johnston and the Cape Fear among the places. Hillsborough is listed too, the town bearing the earl's title.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Governor Martin's letter to the Earl of Dartmouth whilst aboard the Cruiser Sloop of War, notifying him that communication with Charles Town is totally cut off and of increasing influence of revolutionary committees

1775

Writing in 1775 from aboard the sloop of war Cruiser, Governor Josiah Martin told the Earl of Dartmouth that communication with Charles Town was entirely cut off and that revolutionary committees were gaining ground. John Ashe, William Dry and John Rutherford are named, and the places include Fort Johnston, the Cape Fear and Hillsborough, the town named for the Earl of Hillsborough.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Samuel Johnston's letters to Governor Martin in reaction to his suspension from naval service following accusation of neglecting duties and committing crimes

1775

Letters Samuel Johnston of Edenton sent Governor Josiah Martin in 1775 after his suspension from naval service on accusations of neglected duties and crimes. The correspondence turns on administration, law and order, voting and impeachment, intelligence and the unrest of the opening Revolution. Hillsborough is among the North Carolina places the file names, and the papers sit in the secretary of state's correspondence.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State
Show 6 more

Copy of a bill for dividing this Province into six several districts and for establishing a superior court of Justice in each of the said districts

1774

Draft legislation from 1774 that would have split North Carolina into six judicial districts, each with its own superior court, naming Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Salisbury and Wilmington as the seats. The bill sets out court terms, fees, juries and the sheriff's duties. Hillsborough, the Orange County seat, is one of the six. Kept with Governor Josiah Martin's papers at CO 5/317.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Copy of an Act for dividing the North Carolina into several districts, and for establishing a Superior Court of Justice in each said district

1774

The act as passed in 1774 dividing North Carolina into judicial districts, with a superior court seated at Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Salisbury and Wilmington. Its clauses cover the appointment of judges, jury service, fines, oaths, debt and inheritance cases, prisoners and the wages of court officers. Hillsborough is the Orange County seat, which brings the county into the scheme. From CO 5/317.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Governor Martin's letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, communicating details of council journals and transcripts of bills for establishing superior and inferior courts

1774

Writing in 1774, Josiah Martin sent the Earl of Dartmouth details from the council journals and transcripts of bills for establishing superior and inferior courts. Topics include administration, oaths, taxes, currency, charters, petitions and land grants, with New Bern and Wilmington among the places. Orange County comes in only through the Earl of Hillsborough, the town's namesake.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Governor Martin's letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, urging a confrontation of members of assembly continually opposing official orders and ordering the election of a new assembly

1774

Josiah Martin urged the Earl of Dartmouth in 1774 to confront assembly members who kept opposing official orders, and to order the election of a new assembly. Prorogation and dissolution, sheriffs, journals, voting, debts and currency are mentioned, and New Bern is the place. Orange County enters through the Earl of Hillsborough, for whom the town was named.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Correspondence between Governor Martin and the Earl of Dartmouth, relative to improving public business and the resignation of John Bungwin

1773

Governor Josiah Martin wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth in 1773 about putting the province's public business in better order and about the resignation of John Bungwin from office, with appointments, customs, trade and the colony's finances in the same file. James Hasell and William Tryon are named. Orange County enters through the Earl of Hillsborough, whose title the county seat took.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Dartmouth, enclosing copies of petitions and legislation

1773

Dispatches of 1773 from Governor Josiah Martin to the Earl of Dartmouth, enclosing copies of petitions and acts. The topics range widely: dissenting clergy and marriage, courts and debt, land sales, a church building, indigo, prisons, bridges, epidemics and schooling. Charlotte, Salisbury, Halifax and Wilmington are among the places. The Orange County thread is the Earl of Hillsborough's name, which the town carries.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Martin, Josiah.

Duke NC State

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 8 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Outlawed Regulator leaders petition Governor Martin for pardon From hiding, some in South Carolina, Jeremiah Field, Ninian Bell Hamilton, Matthew Hamilton, James Hunter, Thomas Welborn, William Butler and John Fruit asked the new governor, Josiah Martin, for pardon. The Assembly asked mercy for all but Husband, Butler and Howell, but Martin waited because Tryon had left the matter to the Crown. People: Josiah Martin, James Hunter, William Butler (Regulator)Internet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 207
  2. At Governor Martin's urging, Edmund Fanning drops his riot damage suits After the matter was raised with Governor Martin in March 1772, he urged Fanning, by then surveyor general of New York, to drop his suits over the destruction of his Hillsborough property, and Fanning had them discontinued, leaving his 1,500 pound claim to the Assembly. The House refused to pay it in March 1773. People: Edmund Fanning, Josiah MartinColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 9, pp. 548-562: Minutes of the Lower House, February 27 to March 6, 1773
  3. Governor Josiah Martin complains about Orange County's roads On his time in the backcountry in 1772, Governor Martin wrote of how poor the roads in Orange were.Search the index · NC Historic Preservation Office: Richard L. Mattson, History and Architecture of Orange County (1996), p. 5
  4. Governor Josiah Martin spends the summer at Hillsborough Governor Martin dated his dispatches to London from Hillsborough through the summer of 1772, and in August the Rev. Charles E. Taylor wrote that the governor had gone up to Hillsborough to spend the summer.Search the index · Documenting the American South (Colonial and State Records): Letter from Charles Ebenezer Taylor to Daniel Burton, August 24, 1772
  5. Governor Martin and his council at Hillsborough forbid the export of wheat, rye and flour Told of a long drought and failing corn crops in the western parts of the province, the council sitting at Hillsborough advised an embargo, and Martin proclaimed a three-month ban on shipping wheat, rye or flour out of the province. People: Martin Howard, Samuel Strudwick, Alexander McCullochSearch the index · Documenting the American South (Colonial and State Records): Minutes of the North Carolina Governor's Council, August 25, 1772
  6. Governor Martin summons the judges to Hillsborough over the cases of the outlawed Regulators After Regulator leaders offered to surrender, Martin called the judges to Hillsborough and asked in writing whether their outlawry could be completed and whether they could still be tried. Writing from Hillsborough on August 30, he told London the troubles had been provoked by extortion from attorneys, clerks and other officers. People: Richard Henderson, Martin Howard, James HunterSearch the index · Documenting the American South (Colonial and State Records): Letter from Josiah Martin to Wills Hill, Marquis of Downshire, August 30, 1772
  7. Provincial Congress at Hillsborough orders Governor Martin's proclamation burnt by the hangman The congress read a proclamation Martin had issued on August 8 from HMS Cruizer in the Cape Fear, addressed to the "Provincial Convention of Hillsborough", and resolved unanimously that it was a seditious libel to be burnt by the common hangman.Search the index · Documenting the American South (Colonial and State Records): Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
  8. Michael Holt turns back from the Loyalist march and later takes the Whig oath Holt took a commission from Governor Martin and started for the Loyalist gathering at Cross Creek, but turned for home with some of his men. After his arrest he was permitted to take the Whig oath of allegiance, as James Hunter later was. People: James Hunter, Josiah MartinSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 44

Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Josiah Martin, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Josiah Martin Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Historical records and collections

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Picture: Josiah Martin, 1771. Public domain. Photograph by Jeremiah Meyer; www.bonhams.com; via Wikimedia Commons

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