A friend and I were discussing a story in my novel Children of the Revolution. He
was surprised to learn that the story I wrote was based on fact and not fiction. My ancestors Robert and Margaret Mitchell purchased a North Carolina farm from Robert O’Donnell on October 2, 1762. Their son Adam Mitchell inherited 107 acres of the 560-acre farm from his father in 1775. The new courthouse of Guilford County established in 1771 was built next to the farmhouse. The Revolutionary Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1783, was fought in what is now Greensboro, North Carolina. The Mitchell’s cornfields became the burial ground for an estimated 1,842 casualties. Adam could never farm over the remains of the men that died there. He sold the land to John Hamilton on August 15, 1785, and moved his family to Washington County, Tennessee.
On May 1, 1797, John Hamilton the Registrar of Guilford County, insisted on
relinquishing the 107 acres back to Adam Mitchell. Hamilton paid a premium price
for land next to the courthouse. Twelve years later he gives it back to Adam
Mitchell free and clear.
John Hamilton to Adam Mitchell relinquishing of Deed Registration
I do hereby relinquish all Bargain Seal on purchase between Adam Mitchell and
myself in Consequences of the within Described Land and do hereby Revoke Taking
Desannul all & Singular the Right & Interrest that I Now have or ever had to the Title or Lands Contained therein by Virtue of Sd Title & this profane meaning of this Certificate is to Recover all Right & Title made to Me by Adam Mitchell in this Title to him and his heirs as although this Title had Never been Made Heretofo my intial and Seal this first Day of May 1797
J. Hamilton
Test John McMurry
Execution of the above Certificate was Ackd. in open Court
Let it be Recorded
Test J. Hamilton CC
No one living knows why! The more I researched this transaction, what I wrote
eleven years ago seems to be more fact than fiction. Whatever the reason, the
execution of this relinquishment secured the land to become part of the Guilford
Courthouse National Military Park in 1886. Learn more in Children of the
Revolution, book three in the Westward Sagas Series. www.westwardsagas.com
www.davidabowlesauthor.com