Lenoir County

by . Among the musicians from Kinston, North Carolina who have created legacies in the world of music, one of the earliest to be recognized was the jazz composer and band leader J. Tim Brymn. Born in [...] (from North Carolina Arts Council.)

by Johnson, F. Roy. Tom Blunt (or Blount), a head chief and king of the North Carolina Tuscarora Indians, of obscure parentage, lived in the Upper Towns. During his time these numbered seven and formed one of three [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. Levi Branson, educator, Methodist minister, writer, editor, and publisher, was born and reared on a farm in Randolph County about five miles south of Asheboro. He was the second of nine children born [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. Bright, Simon by Charles R. Holloman, 1979 ca. 1702–ca. 1777 Simon Bright, colonial planter, county official, Anglican church leader, and militia officer, was the son of John Bright (ca. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. Bright, Simon by Charles R. Holloman, 1979; Revised November 2022. ca. 1757–1802 Simon Bright, Revolutionary War soldier, planter, county official, member of the convention that ratified the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. The grantee index of deeds (1746–1880) of old Johnston, old Dobbs, and early Lenoir counties indicates that in or about 1758 deeds from Simon Bright the elder were registered by his sons Simon and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. Richard Caswell, militia officer and governor of North Carolina, was born at Joppa, then a flourishing seaport and the county seat of Baltimore County, Md. His parents were Richard Caswell and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Becker, Donald E. Francis Child, Revolutionary War officer, was apparently living in New Bern in 1768, when he was witness to a will there. He entered McRee's company of the Sixth North Carolina Regiment of the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Flowers, John B., III. Hardy Bryan Croom, planter, politician, naturalist, and enslaver, was born at his father's estate in Lenoir County. He was the son of Major General William Croom and his first wife, Mary Bryan, a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Flowers, John B., III. William Croom, planter, politician, and militia officer, was born probably on his father's dwelling plantation on Lower Falling Creek in Dobbs (now Lenoir) County. His father, Major Croom, Sr., a son [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Kathryn Rachel Sarah Rebecca Speight Darden Davis, physician and legislator, who was usually known as Rachel Darden Davis, was born at Seven Springs, Wayne County, the daughter of Herbert W. and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cowper, Albert W. John Gilmer Dawson, lawyer and legislator, was born in Institute Township, Lenoir County, the son of John H. and Ann Daly Dawson. His grandparents were Thomas J. Dawson and Huldah Daniels. The [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Green, C. Sylvester. Joseph Dixon, congressman, was born in rural Greene County just across the county line from the town of Farmville in Pitt County. There apparently is no record of the names of his parents nor [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Martin, Katherine F. Harriet Laura Herring, social science researcher and student of socio-industrial relations in the South, was born in Kinston, the seventh and last child of William Isler Herring and his second wife, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Willard, George-Anne. William Herritage, lawyer and planter, served for thirty years as clerk of the General Assembly of North Carolina. His parents were Thomas Herritage (1658-1719) and Sarah Durbridge Herritage [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by York, Maury. Lovit Hines, merchant, the son of James Madison and Nancy Thompson Hines, was born in Wayne County but the next year the family moved to Lenoir Institute, Lenoir County. During the 1870–71 session, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Long, Joe O'Neal. Edmund Jones, soldier, attorney, and public servant, was born into a life of ease on his father's plantation, Clover Hill, situated about six miles north of Lenoir in Caldwell County. The family name [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Carroll, Grady L. E., Sr. Gerald Ray Jordan, Methodist clergyman, professor, and author, was born in Kinston. He was graduated from Trinity College (now Duke University) with highest honors and received the B.D. degree from [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Malone, E. T., Jr. Edmund Noah Joyner, Episcopal priest, missionary, soldier, poet, and newspaper editor, was born in the Marlboro community near Farmville in Pitt County, the son of Dr. Noah and Emily Adelaide [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Willard, George-Anne. James Yadkin Joyner, educator, farmer, and North Carolina superintendent of public instruction, was a member of the generation of gifted educational statesmen who led North Carolina in an educational [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. As a boy in Kinston, Halie Kelley delivered telegrams to what was one of the most notorious red light districts in America, Sugar Hill. Folks used to say it was the wildest place between New Orleans [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Shrader, Richard A. William Lenoir, soldier, justice of the peace, state legislator, and planter-entrepreneur, was born in Brunswick County, Va. The youngest of ten children of Thomas and Mourning Crawley Lenoir, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Thorp, John Mercer, Jr. Lewis, McDaniel by John Mercer Thorp, Jr., 1991 24 Feb. 1894–13 Aug. 1978 McDaniel Lewis, investment banker, civic leader, and supporter of various cultural and historical projects, was [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stephens, H. Kenneth, II. Richard Henry Lewis, educator and physician, was born in Edgecombe County, the son of Dr. John Wesley and Catherine Battle Lewis. He received his early schooling in the Edgecombe Academy and Lovejoy [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Gass, W. Conard. Manning, John Hall by W. Conard Gass, 1991 27 Sept. 1889–21 July 1963 John Hall Manning, lawyer and government official, was born in Durham County, the son of Julia Tate Cain [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)