VISIT THE |
Until the 1730's the only people
living west of the Catawba River were native Americans. A few
hunters and traders who made contact with these Indians noted the
good lands and fast-flowing streams. By the 1740's men came down
the Great Wagon road from Pennsylvania and up the Broad River
from Charleston, SC.
The inhabitants of Gaston County numbered
something less than 8,000, twenty-five percent of them Negro
slaves and a small proportion Indians, local survivors of the
once great tribe of the Catawbas. There were no towns, hardly any
settlements. The crossroads store of Fred D. Hoffman and Moses
Rhyne, close to the place where Dutchman's Creek flowed into the
Catawba, had served as headquarters for the committee that had
fought so well for the establishment of Gaston County.
Gaston was formed in 1846 from Lincoln. It was named
in honor of William Gaston, a member of Congress and a Justice of
the Supreme Court of North Carolina. It is in the southwestern
section of the State and is bounded by the state of South
Carolina and Cleveland, Lincoln and Mecklenburg counties.
The court was ordered to be held at the home of
Jesse Holland until a courthouse could be erected. Commissioners
were named to select a site for the county seat as near the
center of the county as possible provided it was within two miles
of Long Creek Baptist Meeting House. They were to acquire land,
lay out a town by the name of Dallas, and erect a courthouse.
Dallas continued to be the county seat until 1909 when Gastonia
was, by popular vote, selected as the county seat.
Query Forum, Gaston County RootsWeb Forum Board.
Gaston County Resources , surnames, timeline, court, cemetery, census records, neighbors, interesting links, libraries, societies, maps, etc.
Welcome to Gaston County, The official Gaston County Government page that includes a visitor guide, regional map, calendar of events, and county government agencies.
In March and April, 1996, a group of
genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy
Database. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all
counties in Kentucky, where collected databases would be stored.
In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so
that even if an individual were found in more than one county,
they could be located in the index.
At the same time, volunteers were found who were
willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally
oversee the contents of the web page. The NCGenWeb Project is an
extension of the KYGenWeb Project. My name is Paul Buckley and
I'm the volunteer responsible for Gaston County. Please contact me if you have a link you think should be included, if
you would like to volunteer to do lookups or if you have
suggestions or comments.
Derick S. Hartshorn - ©2008
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