HUGH QUINN & MARTIN ROBERTS & MICHAEL BORDERS CEMETERY This cemetery is situated in Cleveland County, N.C. in No. 3 Township, being 4 miles south of Shelby. It lies south of the Bill Hogue old farm and ¾ mile south of the Hardin Cemetery, being in a triangular shape and having 5 large sweet gum trees standing thereon. Owner of Cemetery: The late Roy Wilson Number of marked graves: 8 Before 1914: 8 After 1914: None Unmarked graves: 25 Earliest marked grave: Jane Hardin, d. Oct. 12, 1825 Condition: Grown up in weeds and grass apparently abandoned. However, it has not been molested by the plow. Date of survey: June 22, 1939 [Workers: None listed] Inscriptions: Quinn, Martin D. Oct. 17, 1842 Aged: 39 years Quinn, Unicy D. May 13, 1843 Aged: 35 years Borders, Sousan D. Mar. 10, 1870 in the 85th year of her age Borders, Michael D. Nov. 22, 1849 in the 68th year of his age "He was a regular member of the Baptist Church 37 years." Quinn, Hugh D. April 1, 1840 in the 77th year of his age Roberts, Martin, hero of 76 who d. Oct. 30, 1834 Aged: 76 years, 5 months, 5 days. "E R" (On field stone) Hardin, Jane D. Oct. 12, 1825 Aged: 17 years, 2 months About 200 yards west of this cemetery some 40 or 50 slaves are buried, but no markers. Reported by P. Cleveland Gardner, Cleveland County Historian. Data by P. Cleveland Gardner, County Historian: Logan in his history of Kings Mountain and Broad River Baptist Associations, page 497, gives a rather lengthy sketch of Hugh Quinn, in which he states that Hugh Quinn was married to Mrs. Fannie Allison, nee Miss Fannie Carruth, and for several years lived on east side of Main Broad River in what is now Cleveland County, N.C., then known as Quinn's Ferry, but now as Ellis' Ferry. Logan says that after 1827 Hugh Quinn emigrated to the state of Georgia. Logan further states that Hugh Quinn was a son of Peter Quinn, who, with Abraham Collins (being loyalists) was entrusted with a dispatch from Maj. Patrick Ferguson, then at Charlotte, N.C., to send him succor, which they failed to deliver in time t prevent his destruction at Kings Mountain on Oct. 7, 1780. Logan also states that Hugh Quinn was probably born 4 or 5 years after the battle of Kings Mountain. However the marker at his grave shows that Hugh Quinn was born in 1763, some 17 years before said battle, and was old enough to have been actual service in the Rev. War, and to have been a brother of said Peter Quinn! However; Hugh Quinn, according to history, must have been an outstanding citizen in many respects as the following data will show. ERWINSVILLE was made a Post Office, May 8, 1813, and Hugh Quinn appointed Postmaster. Also, the following men served this Post Office as Postmaster: Samuel Julin, Jan. 29, 1828 Francis Young, Dec. 30, 1835 Lawrence H. Logan, June 17, 1837 The Office was discontinued Sept. 25, 1839 and re-established May 27, 1840, and James D. Butler appointed Postmaster, followed by Charles Ellis on Jan. 30, 1841. With organization of Cleveland County Jan. 11, 1841 this office fell into Cleveland County. Later the Office fell into South Carolina. SWANGSTOWN-This Post Office was created Nov. 4, 1831, with Martin Quinn as Postmaster. The following men served this office as Postmaster: James Roberts, Nov. 14, 1838 A. R. Hamesley, Feb. 26, 1841, at which time Cleveland County was organized and the office fell into Cleveland. Rufus Roberts se4rved as Postmaster until office was discontinued Dec. 11, 1866. The office was established later with Rufus Roberts as Postmaster. In an interview with J. Augustus Hardin by the writer April 22, 1939, who age is about 80, states that Rufus Roberts was Postmaster at "Swaings" (Swangstown), now called Patterson Springs. Griffin's History of Old Tryon and Rutherford Counties, page 164, state: At the July, 1813, term of court, Hurh [Hugh] Quinn was appointed an overseer to clear out Broad River from mouth of First Broad River to the S.C., line; also, the general assembly of 1820 appropriated $5,000 for improving the navigation of Broad River from the S.C. line to Twitty's Ford in Rutherford County. Griffin states, age page 166, that in Oct. 1818, the court appointed Hugh Quinn and Theodoric Birchett as inspectors of tobacco pro-term, for the town of Irvinsville, until Jan. court, 1891 [should this read 1819?]. And, at page 167, he states that in Jan. 1819, the court appointed Hugh Quinn, Samuel S. Ross, and William Porter Commissioners of the town of Irvinsville in the room and place of William (Col.) Graham, resigned, and Joseph Camp and William McBrayer deceased. And at the same court Quinn and Birchett were again appointed inspectors of tobacco for the town of Irvinsville. It is stated at page 168, that in 1819, Hugh Quinn was appointed one of the 6 wardens of the Poor. On page 169, it is stated that in Jan., 1825, Hugh Quinn resigned as Commissioner for the Town of Irvinsville. History further shows that Hugh Quinn was one of 5 men appointed as County Ranger for Rutherford County from 1819 to 1841, which record and fact shows that Hugh Quinn did not leave the state as stated by Logan and settled in Georgia. Sherrill, in his Annals of Lincoln County, pages 187 and 188, state that in Aug. 17, 1833, Hugh Quinn preached at Smyrna until Olivet Baptist Church was organized, etc. Also that Hugh Quinn preached in the Town of Lincolnton and other nearby points from 1825 to 1835, when he moved to Georgia! The fact that Hugh Quinn acted as Ranger of Rutherford County from 1819 to 1841, date of his death, would indicate that he did not leave the county. The Quinns were early settlers of old Tryon County. Sherrill further states, page 28, that Francis Quinn, Geo. Blanton, William Graham, Frederick, Geo. Black, Thomas Espey, and others, were Justices of the Peace in Tryon County between 1769 and 1778. [There is a comma after Frederick; is the name Frederick George Black or was a surname omitted?] Griffin states, page 8, that at first session of Tryon County Court held in april, 1769, John Quinn, Samuel Spenser, James Forsyth, and Waightstill Avery, took the oaths as Attorneys of practice in the county court. And on page 10, it is said that Francis Quinn presented his Commission as a lieutenant in the Tryon Militia at the January term, 1771. Sherrill, page 106, says that on July 24, 1833, a "Henry Clay Meeting" was held at Pleasant Retreat Academy in Lincolnton, and that Hugh Quinn was one of the six men appointed as a Correspondence Committee, etc. MARTIN ROBERTS-It is stated by Griffin, page 99, that Martin Roberts was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, private in 5th Va. Regiment, Continental Line, under command of Col. Josiah Parker, in December 1776. Martin Roberts applied for pension in Rutherford County, N.C., in 1825. State Records of N.C., No. 22, page 82, list Martin Roberts, Forage Master, and a Pensioner of the Revolutionary War. ------------------------------ State Records of N.C., Vol. 11, pages 250 to 254: The survey between N.C. & S.C., threw a great many citizens into S.C., who held land grants from N.C., and the State of S.C., required this land to be reentered, etc. Consequently, under date of May 15, 1775, 168 land owners signed a petition addressed to the King's Council asking that they be allowed to hold under their former grants. Among those signing were: Hugh Quinn James Patterson Henry Wright David Allen John Young James Wood Robt. Moore Robt. Patterson Robt. Patterson, Jr. David Byers Nubery Stockton James Wilson John Chambers James Smith Richard Price Jacob Garner Examination of these petitioners will show that they resided along the State Line from Mecklenburg County to Tryon Mountain, now Polk County. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This cemetery is among the many Cleveland cemeteries included on the Cleveland Count WPA Cemeteries CD, copyrighted 2008, by Ann K. Propst and Derick S. Hartshorn. All listings and cemeteries listings were made prior to 1940 and represent the contions of that time. All information has been donated to the NCGenWeb Project but retains copyright protection by the authors. It may be referenced and briefly exerpted under the universal fair use doctrine. For a copy of the complete Cleveland County WPA Cemetery Survey, see http://www.hartshorn.us/CWPA.htm