Editing Hertford County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Hertford County is home of the [[Meherrin Indian Tribe]], descendants of [[indigenous people]] who had inhabited the region for many centuries. After decades of encroachment by English colonists, the Tribe moved south from Virginia, where they settled in 1706 on a reservation abandoned by the [[Chowanoke]]. This six-square-mile reservation was at Parker's Ferry near the mouth of the [[Meherrin River]]. It was confirmed by a treaty of 1726.<ref name="autogenerated2003">[http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/assets/documents/ED_Meherrin.pdf Brenda Linton and Leslie S. Stewart, ''Economic Development Assessment for the Meherrin Tribe'', University of North Carolina, Jul 2003, accessed 26 Oct 2009]</ref> However, they were not able to keep the reservation lands.{{cn|date=February 2025}} 

European explorers and surveyors visited the land in the late 1500s and 1600s.<ref>{{cite news| title = Hertford County's Formative Years Started in 16th Century| newspaper = The Herald| edition= milestone| page = 1| date = January 1, 1959| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020678/1959-01-01}}</ref> The first land grant to a white settler dates to 1703.<ref>{{cite news| title = Barfield—First Recorded Settler| newspaper = The Herald| edition= milestone| pages = 1, 6| date = January 1, 1959| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020678/1959-01-01}}</ref> Early settlers were of English, Scottish, Scotch-Irish, Irish, and French descent. They introduced a [[plantation system]] of agriculture.<ref name= gaither/> Between the eventual communities of Winton, Ahoskie, and Cofield, a community of nonwhite people arose in what would eventually be dubbed the Winton Triangle. The first recorded nonwhite landowner in the area dates to the 1740s.<ref name= fofaria/>

A new county was first proposed by Representative John Campbell of the North Carolina colonial legislature on December 12, 1758, when he presented the body with a petition from area residents who were frustrated by the distances they had to travel to attend court sessions.<ref>{{cite news| last = Moore| first = J. H.| title = History of Hertford County School System| newspaper = Hertford County Herald| page = 6A| date = August 17, 1939| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020677/1939-08-17/ed-1/seq-22/}}</ref><ref name= countyformation>{{cite news| title = The Story of County's Beginning| newspaper = The Herald| edition = milestone| pages = 1, [https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020678/1959-01-01/ed-1/seq-4/ 4]| date = January 1, 1959| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020678/1959-01-01/ed-1/seq-1/}}</ref> Representative Benjamin Wynns introduced another bill in 1759 following the presentation of a second petition and it was passed and ratified as law on December 19, 1759,<ref name= countyformation/> creating Hertford County from parts of [[Bertie County, North Carolina|Bertie County]], [[Chowan County, North Carolina|Chowan County]], and [[Northampton County, North Carolina|Northampton County]], effective May 1, 1760. It was named for [[Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford|Francis Seymour-Conway]], Marquess of Hertford.{{sfn|Corbitt|2000|p=122}} The county court convened at Cotton's Ferry until the town of Winton was incorporated upon land gifted by Wynns and designated the seat of government in 1766,<ref name= history>{{cite web| url = https://www.hertfordcountync.gov/community/history_and_location.php| title = History and Location| website = County of Hertford| publisher = Hertford County, North Carolina| access-date = January 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name= WHA17581860/> and a courthouse was subsequently constructed.<ref name= WHA17581860>{{cite web| url = https://sites.google.com/view/winton-historical-association/a-history-of-winton/early-history-1758-1860?authuser=0| title = Early History: 1758 - 1860| publisher = Winton Historical Association| access-date = January 28, 2025}}</ref> In 1764, the border between Hertford and Northampton was slightly altered.<ref name= countyformation/> In 1779, parts of Hertford County were combined with parts of Chowan County and [[Perquimans County, North Carolina|Perquimans County]] to form [[Gates County, North Carolina|Gates County]].{{sfn|Corbitt|2000|p=123}} In 1830 the original courthouse was burned,<ref name= WHA17581860/> but was subsequently rebuilt.<ref name= boone>{{cite news| last = Vann Boone| first = Louise| title = Winton Was First Incorporated Town In Hertford| newspaper = Hertford County Herald| pages = B1, [https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020677/1939-08-17/ed-1/seq-30/ B5]| date = August 17, 1939| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020677/1939-08-17/ed-1/seq-25/}}</ref> 

Hertford's economy prospered in the [[Antebellum South|Antebellum period]], underpinned by slavery-supported agriculture and the use of the Meherrin and Chowan rivers as trade routes to southern Virginia. [[Murfreesboro, North Carolina|Murfreesboro]] developed with the construction of several large homes funded by the prosperity. The [[Chowan Baptist Female Institute]] was also created in the county in 1841.<ref name= medlin>{{cite web| url = https://coastalreview.org/2022/03/the-small-mostly-rural-hertford-has-an-identity-all-its-own/| title = Small, rural Hertford County has an identity all its own| last = Medlin| first = Eric| date = March 24, 2022| website = Coastal Review| publisher = North Carolina Coastal Federation| access-date = February 5, 2025}}</ref> The [[1860 U.S. census]] recorded the county's population at 9,504 people, of whom 47 percent were enslaved and about 12 percent were free people of color.<ref name= fofaria>{{cite web| url = https://www.ednc.org/winton-triangle-cofield-ahoskie-nc-chowan-school-black-farm-entrepreneur-csbrown-hertford-history/| title = An 18th century NC community where free people of color thrived, and where a school still sparks hope| last = Fofaria| first = Rupen| date = March 29, 2021| website = EDNC| publisher = | access-date = January 26, 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Ruins of Winton, North Carolina.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins of Winton c. 1863]]
During the [[American Civil War]], North Carolina seceded from the United States and joined the [[Confederate States of America]].<ref name= gerard/> Men from Hertford County served in several [[Confederate States Army]] infantry and cavalry units.<ref name= WHAcivilwar/> Federal forces intervened in eastern North Carolina early in the conflict, and in February 1862 they [[Battle of Roanoke Island|captured]] [[Roanoke Island]],<ref name= gerard>{{cite news| last = Gerard| first = Phillip| title = Occupation of the East| newspaper = Our State| date = April 30, 2014| url = https://www.ourstate.com/occupation-east/| access-date = January 27, 2025}}</ref> exposing territory along the Chowan River vulnerable to further penetration.<ref name= WHAcivilwar>{{cite web| url = https://sites.google.com/view/winton-historical-association/a-history-of-winton/civil-war-1861-1865?authuser=0| title = Civil War: 1861 - 1865| publisher = Winton Historical Association| access-date = January 27, 2025}}</ref> Federal gunboats were subsequently dispatched up the river to destroy rail bridges north of Winton but were repulsed in an ambush by Confederate artillery.{{sfn|Grimsley|1995|p=60}} The following day federal troops landed at Winton and set most of its buildings ablaze,{{sfn|Grimsley|1995|pp=60–61}}<ref name= WHAcivilwar/> including the county courthouse,{{sfn|Harrell|2011|p=17}} leading to the loss of numerous official county records and documents.<ref name= fofaria/> 

After the war, Winton slowly rebuilt, with a new courthouse erected in 1870. The county's economy continued to be based in agriculture,<ref name= WHA18651880/> though it underwent changes. The abolition of slavery led to the adoption of a tenant farming system and increasing emphasis was placed on the cotton [[cash crop]], leading to a decline in subsistence farming. Peanuts cultivation was introduced in about 1880 and eventually overtook cotton production.<ref name= gaither>{{cite news| last = Gaither| first = E. W.| title = A Brief Outline of the History of Agriculture in Hertford County, N.C.| newspaper = Hertford County Herald| page = C1| date = August 17, 1939| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020677/1939-08-17/ed-1/seq-33/}}</ref> The local lumber and fishing industries grew in importance in the latter portion of the 19th century.<ref name= WHA18651880>{{cite web| url = https://sites.google.com/view/winton-historical-association/a-history-of-winton/rebuilding-winton-1865-1880?authuser=0| title = Rebuilding Winton: 1865 - 1880| publisher = Winton Historical Association| access-date = January 27, 2025}}</ref> In 1877, a small portion of Bertie was annexed to Hertford.<ref name= countyformation/> In 1884, the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] began construction on its [[Norfolk—Rocky Mount Line]], which traveled through the Hertford communities of Ahoskie, Cofield, and Tunis.<ref name= WHA18801930>{{cite web| url = https://sites.google.com/view/winton-historical-association/a-history-of-winton/rebuilding-winton-1880-1930?authuser=0| title = Rebuilding Winton: 1880 - 1930| publisher = Winton Historical Association| access-date = January 27, 2025}}</ref> The railroad fueled growth in Ahoskie, drawing industry and leading it to surpass Winton as the county's most economically significant town.<ref name= WHA19301970/><ref name= medlin/>

In 1907, Hertford County's boundary with Northampton County was further delineated by state law.<ref name= countyformation/> Damage to cotton crops by the [[boll weevil]] in the early 1900s led the county's agricultural sector to diversify into livestock as well as tobacco and the production of fruits and vegetables. In the 1950s, the county government invested in the construction of new facilities, including the erection of a new courthouse in 1956.<ref name= WHA19301970>{{cite web| url = https://sites.google.com/view/winton-historical-association/a-history-of-winton/1930-1970?authuser=0| title = 1930 - 1970| publisher = Winton Historical Association| access-date = January 27, 2025}}</ref>