Samuel Pike

• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via brother John Pike by SmartCopy: Jun 23 2015, 5:02:03 UTC

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Born about 1712; died before 1797

The following has been copied and pasted from the website link http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/wayne/bicen/number_10.txt

"Pikes Came To Wayne Late In 17th Century"

From Goldsboro "News-Argus" Sunday, July 20, 1975

Editor's note: This is another in a series of articles on Wayne County's history from 1700 to 1900 provided in conjunction with the American Revolution Bicentennial observance.

By Bonita Metz

The Pike Family that was to settle much of northern Wayne County & give its name to one of the county's communities, first arrived in North Carolina late in the 17th century.

Samuel Pike came to the colony from England in 1693 under the headright system. He settled in Pasquotank Precinct where he became a prominent member of the Society of Friends, familiarly known as the Quakers.

His son, who bore his name, was eventually to settle in the part of Dobbs County that later became Wayne County.

But Samuel Pike, Jr. was a wanderlust. He moved first to Virginia, then to the Cape Fear Region where he & his family were associated with the Carver's Creek Monthly Meeting in what is today Bladen County. Then in 1773, he moved his family to the Rich Square Monthly Meeting in Northampton County & finally, in 1777, he & his only son, Nathan, requested permission of the Quakers to move again, this time to the Great Contentnea Monthly Meeting located on Lower Falling Creek in Dobbs County, today part of Lenoir County.

This Contentnea Meeting was later moved to the northwestern Wayne County community of Nahunta where it became known as Nahunta Meeting. The group met in the home of Matthew Pike, one of the descendants of Nathan Pike, before finally building a meeting house on property donated by the Edgerton family.

When Samuel Pike, Jr. moved to Dobbs County, he settled on the south side of Nahunta Swamp on land which had been granted as early as 1763. The land,granted by the King of England, was said to have included as much as 2,500 to 3,000 acres. It was possibly one of the largest grants given in this county.

In 1785, Samuel & his third wife, Anne Ducely, deeded most of this land to Samuel's only son, Nathan.

Samuel's first wife, Sarah Overman Pike, bore him eight children & died while the family was in the Bladen County region in 1762.

The next year he married Tabitha Scott, who was herself a prominent Quaker & she & Samuel served as overseers of the Carver's Creek Monthly Meeting. She died in 1773 & Samuel married Anne Ducely at the Rich Square Meeting House.

Samuel Pike died before 1797 & his widow, Anne, moved to the Back Creek Monthly Meeting in Randolph County where she lived out the rest of her life.

Nathan Pike was a member of the militia during the Revolutionary War & probably saw service during 1781 when Lord Cornwallis' army marched through Wayne County. A number of rear guard actions were fought during that march as well as a skirmish at Peacock's Bridge over Nahunta Swamp. That bridge was near Pike Plantation.

On August 15, 1781, Nathan Pike married Rachel Maudlin at the Contentnea Meeting House. They were to become the parents of nine children.

Pike was a merchant as well as a planter & he operated a large tavern,"graciously built after the English style," which was located about three quarters of a mile east of the present town of Pikeville.

The tavern was located at a heavily traveled point where the New Bern & Fayetteville coach road crossed a north-south road.

Pike also operated a shop & a trading post on this site & his business served as the area mail drop. Mail was received & dispatched through Pike's shop by the regular coach runs.

Pike handled the mail & he also maintained stables for the exchange of stage horses. His tavern became a regular overnight stop for the stage.

That tavern & inn are believed to have been the beginning of the Pikeville community. The area was known then as Pike's Junction.

Although he was a shrewd businessman, Nathan Pike's Quaker upbringing forbade his owning slaves, so he depended upon the labor of a number of indigent children who were bound to him & of several persons taken from jail where they had been imprisioned for indebtedness.

From 1793 to 1835, Pike sold more than 2,000 acres of his holdings to the families whose names are still found in the Pikeville community. These included Applewhites, Garris', Perkins, Musgraves, Pates, Edgertons, Smiths,Hams & others.

Later in 1889, when the town of Pikeville was incorporated, it kept the name of its most prominent merchant whose charge of the mail had already caused the small rural post office to be named in his honor.

The descendants of Nathan Pike settled all across the northern end of Wayne County. Some made their homes in the Nahunta community to the west & others moved toward Eureka & the eastern part of the county.

Mark & Jonathan Pike, sons of Nathan, were wardens of the poor in Wayne County. They were appointed in 1833 & 1834, respectively. Jonathan was chairman in 1834 when the county's first poor house was built at Stoney Hill. The Quakers of Wayne County have always been in the vanguard of humanitarian causes.

Nathan Pike died in 1844 leaving a large estate & an established business name. His wife, Rachael, died in 1850. But their descendants still live & work in Wayne County.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 6 2020, 17:03:40 UTC