Editing Wake County, North Carolina (section)

===18th century===
[[File:Margaret Wake Tryon.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Margaret Wake Tryon]]]]
Wake County was formed in 1770 from parts of [[Cumberland County, North Carolina|Cumberland County]], [[Johnston County, North Carolina|Johnston County]], and [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]]. The first courthouse was built at a village originally called Wake Courthouse, now known as Bloomsbury. In 1771, the first elections and court were held, and the first militia units were organized.

Wake County lost some of its territory through the formation of other counties. Parts were included in [[Franklin County, North Carolina|Franklin County]] in 1787, and in [[Durham County, North Carolina|Durham County]] in both 1881 and 1911.

During the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial]] period of North Carolina, the state capital was [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]]. For several years during and after the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], there was no capital, and the [[North Carolina General Assembly|General Assembly]] met in various locations. [[Fayetteville, North Carolina|Fayetteville]] was the state capital in 1786, 1789, 1790, and 1793, when Raleigh became the permanent state capital in 1794.<ref name="Manual">{{cite book |last1=Connor |first1=R.D.D. |title=A Manual of North Carolina |date=1913 |publisher=North Carolina Historical Commission |location=Raleigh |url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/NC_Manuals/NC_Manual_1913.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427161240/http://www.carolana.com/NC/NC_Manuals/NC_Manual_1913.pdf |archive-date=April 27, 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=April 27, 2019|page=453-}}</ref> In 1792, a commission was appointed to select a site to build a permanent state capital. The commission members favored land owned by Colonel John Hinton across the [[Neuse River]], but the night before the final vote, the committee adjourned to the [[Joel Lane House|home of Joel Lane]] for an evening of food and spirits. The next day, the vote went in Lane's favor.

Lane named Wake County in honor of [[Margaret Wake Tryon]], wife of colonial Governor [[William Tryon]].<ref>{{cite web|work=United States National Park Service|title=Joel Lane House|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/raleigh/lan.htm}}</ref> Raleigh was named after [[Sir Walter Raleigh]], and established in 1792 on {{convert|1000|acre|km2}} purchased from Lane. Raleigh had never set foot in North Carolina, but he had sponsored the establishment of the [[Roanoke Colony|first English colony in North America]] on North Carolina's [[Roanoke Island]] in 1585. The city of Raleigh became both the state capital and the new seat of Wake County.