Noah Tyson, Sr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NORTH CAROLINA. DAR Ancestor # A117792   

"On August 14, 1797, Moses Tyson, "Planter of Pitt County" gave his son Noah Tyson 12 acres on the south side of the Tar River, 'being part of the land I now live on.' The land was on the north side of Hardees Run and the east side of Reedy Branch, running with the various courses of Reedy Branch to the main swamp. This acreage on Reedy Branch was part of 240 acres which Moses Tyson bought from Richard Barrow March 8, 1755, who received the land as a grant January 31, 1755 from Francis Corbin Esq., agnet for the Earl of Granville. The stream known as Hardees Run in the 1700's appears to be the stream that runs northward through Greenville and runs besides the Tyson/Forbes Cemetery on the grounds of the Greenville Country Club."

From page 26, Tyson and May Genealogy

"In 1775, at the age of 18, Noah Tyson like many of his other relatives joined the Pitt County Committee of Safety during the time of the American Revolution. The Pitt County Committee..., like others across the State, raised militia, provided for arms and the relieg of the poor. They tried people for offenses, routed out Tories and appointed patrolers to regulate the slaves. The also took interest in and controlled the educational and religious aspects of the county.

Noah Tyson appears to have had a strong religious upbringing and was to become a noted local Baptist minister. In 1796, he was minister to the Great Swamp Church in Pitt County, which was received into membership in the Kehukee Baptist Association. In Hassell's history of hte Church of God, he mentions that the Great Swamp Church, 4 miles north of Greenville, was a branch of the Flat Swamp Church, which was dismissed in 1795 and took the name Great Swamp. Rev. Noah Tyson, a member of the church at Red Banks, was called to minister. He was described as 'a man under bodily affliction and yet he did not neglect his families.'

The Bible used by Rev. Noah Tyson was once in the household of his great grandson, Dr. B. T. Cox, in which could be found a record of the funeral sermons Rev. Tyson preached in nine years. ... The aggregate is 757 which seems to be a very high number, but it is probably due to the lack of preachers in the area than the frequency of deaths.

Noah Tyson was also a large landowner and operated a water saw and gristmill on Hardees Run. Robert Forbes who married one of Noah Tyson's daughters eventually bought the mill form the heirs of Noah Tyson and it stood until 1927 when it was known as Forbes Mill Pond. The mill was situated on the Greenville Country Club, near the old Tyson/Forbes Cemetery.

...The religious background of Noah Tyson is apparent in the naming of his first three children, as the Bible says 'the sons of Noah, that went forth of ark, were Shem, and Hama, and Japeth.' "