On this day 232 years ago, the Town of Pittsboro was officially established!
On their FB page, the Chatham Historical Museum writes,
“Town of Pittsboro established! On January 6, 1787, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized nine commissioners to purchase one hundred acres and the Town of Pittsborough was formed as the seat of Chatham County. At the time of the founding of the town, a land survey was undertaken and a map with 125 lots was made. Although the original map has long since disappeared, a copy was made by county surveyor Rufus Clegg in 1889.”
Volume 24, chapter 81, of the Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1786 – 1787 reads, “An Act for Establishing a Town on the Lands late the Property of William Petty, adjoining Chatham Court-house, as laid off by the Trustees named in the Act of the last General Assembly, entitled, “An Act for establishing a town on the Lands of Mial Scurlock, deceased, in Chatham County,” for appointing Commissioners for the Regulation of the said Town, and repealing said Act.” and declares,
“I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the said lands so laid off by the trustees aforesaid agreeable to a plan thereof, be and is hereby established a town and town commons by the name of Pittsborough.”
According to the Act, the NC General Assembly appointed George Lucas, Joseph Stewart, Roger Griffith, Matthew Jones, Zachariah Harman, Patrick St. Lawrence, Nathan Stedman, James Massey and William Riddle as Commissioners.
Full text of the Act can be found online courtesy of the The Colonial and State Records of North Carolina digital collection, a project of the University of North Carolin at Chapel Hill.