Davie County

23 September 2009 | Roth, Marie

DAVIE COUNTY

Davie county

Davie was formed in 1836 from Rowan. It was named in honor of William Richardson Davie, a distinguished Revolutionary soldier, a member of the Federal Convention of 1787, Governor of North Carolina, special envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France, and one of the founders of the University of North Carolina. It is in the central section of the State and is bounded by Davidson, Rowan, Iredell, Yadkin, and Forsyth counties. The present land area is 265.18 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 41,240. Of that population, 36,100 were white, 2,593 were black or African American, 149 were American Indian, 239 were Asian, 6 were Pacific Islander and 1,458 were of a different race. Another 695 were reported to be of two or more races and 2,496 were Hispanic or Latino of any race. In 1837 the court was ordered to be held at Mocksville. Mocksville, incorporated in 1839, is the county seat.

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Davie County is in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin and is a part of the Piedmont region of the state.

Brief history of Davie County

by Marie Roth
Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society, 2011.

View: Davie Dossier map [PDF]

Davie County was previously known as the Forks of the Yadkin. The Yadkin River forms its northern and eastern boundaries, and the Lower Yadkin River forms its southern boundary. It was settled rapidly. The gently rolling, fertile, and well-watered land was attractive. It was near the Shallow Ford crossing of the Yadkin and contained well-traveled roads, including the Old Georgia Road. During the Revolutionary War, Cornwallis marched his soldiers across Davie on that road, and there were two battles near the crossing. Many of its citizens including the Boones, Bryans, Pearsons, Gaithers, and Clements were prominent in Rowan government until 1836. Daniel Boone lived here for a time, and his parents’ graves are marked here." (Davie County: A Brief History by James W. Wall, page xiii)

The Civil War had a strong impact on Davie County. There were 1,147 men from the county who served on the Confederate side. (Civil War Roster of Davie County, North Carolina by Mary Alice M. Hasty and Hazel M. Winfree). Previous to the war, a former resident of Davie County, Hinton Rowan Helper had written a book The Impending Crisis which had fanned the flames of secession and war.

Until about 1945, Davie was rural with a small-farm agricultural economy. Recent years have brought rapid growth in industry and a more diversified economy and social structure. Some of these industries have relocated or closed as typical of other counties in North Carolina. The biggest industry was the Erwin cotton mill in Cooleemee which closed in 1969. Additional information about the mill may be found at http://www.textileheritage.org/Cooleemee/cooleemee.htm.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society

North Carolina Digital Collections (Government & Heritage Library and NC State Archives)