Division 1. PRIVATE LAWS OF 1789, CHAPTER 30  

An Act for Establishing a Town on the Lands of Fergus Sloan, in Iredell County, and to Amend an Act for the Division of Rowan County.

(Private Laws of 1789, Chapter 30.)

Whereas it hath been represented to this General Assembly, that the lands of Fergus Sloan, agreed and fixed on by the commissioners appointed by the above recited act for the division of Rowan County, for the fixing on a place, and building a courthouse, prison and stocks in the said county of Iredell, is a pleasant and healthy situation, and the said Fergus Sloan having signified his consent to have fifty (50) acres of land, fixed on by the commissioners as aforesaid, laid off for a town; and at the request and desire of the inhabitants of the county of Iredell aforesaid, by the name of Statesville.

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that the said fifty (50) acres shall be laid off in half-acre lots and streets accordingly; and the same are hereby constituted and established a town by the name of Statesville.

II. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that George Davidson, Jeremiah Nelson, Joseph Sharp, John Nesbit and Christopher Huston, be and everyone of them be constituted commissioners and trustees, for designing, building and carrying on the said town; and they shall stand seized of an indefeasible estate in fee-simple in the said fifty (50) acres of land aforesaid, to and for the uses, intents and purposes hereby declared; and the said commissioners, or any three (3) of them, shall have full power and authority to meet as often as they shall think proper, to lay off said town as they shall think most convenient; and the said commissioners shall make and execute deeds in fee-simple to the respective purchaser or purchasers, for such price or prices as they or a majority can agree upon, relation being had to the respective properties of the several lots.

III. And be it enacted, that the respective purchasers of said lots, shall pay and satisfy the said commissioners for whatever sum or sums they may severally incur by purchasing lots from the said commissioners; and in case of neglect or refusal of any purchaser to pay the sum or sums that may be incurred as aforesaid, that then and in that case the commissioners, or a majority of them, may commence a suit or suits in their own names, and therein recover judgment with costs of the suit; and the said commissioners as soon as they shall receive the money by sales as aforesaid, shall pay to Fergus Sloan the sum of twelve (12) shillings per acre, for the said fifty (50) acres, in full satisfaction for the said land, and the residue, if any, shall be applied in defraying the expense in laying off said town.

IV. And be it enacted, that in the case of the death, refusal to act, or removal out of the county, of any of the commissioners, the survivor or survivors of them are hereby empowered from time to time, by instrument of writing under their hands, to appoint some other person, being a freeholder in said county of Iredell, in the place of him so dying, refusing to act, or removing as aforesaid; which commissioner or trustee shall have the same power and authorities as if he had been appointed by this act.

And whereas a clause was annexed to the above recited act for the division of Rowan County, authorizing the Justices of the Peace for said county of Rowan, who in the aforesaid division might fall within Iredell county, to exercise all the powers and authorities to which they were severally and otherwise entitled as Justices for Rowan: And whereas said clause by accident or other casualty never appeared to said act: and whereas the Justices of Rowan county falling into Iredell county as aforesaid, proceeded to exercise the powers and authorities supposed to be contained in the clause as aforementioned, from the fourth Monday in December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, until the fourth Monday in June, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, destitute of the authority supposed to be contained in the clause aforesaid, whereby trouble and inconveniency may arise to those who have had business done with or by the aforesaid Justices during that period: for remedy whereof.

V. Be it enacted, that all the proceedings of the aforesaid Justices, during the above period including two (2) courts in said county of Iredell, shall be deemed to have the same force and validity as if the aforesaid Justices had been invested with all the necessary powers and authorities as Justices of the Peace, any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.