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Last updated: June 21. 2006 5:49PM
IN HISTORY
Beginnings of familiar people, places
The short story is that Brunswick County (formed in 1764) was named after Brunswick Town (incorporated in 1745). Of course, the town had to be named after something, too.
And in this case, the reasoning stems from North Carolina’s colonial past, to honor King George I of England (1660-1727) who was a native of Brunswick, Germany. England’s first Hanoverian king was a tough character. He married his cousin, but then 12 years later divorced her due to infidelity. Then he had her locked up in a castle until her death 32 years later. He was an unpopular king because of how he treated his wife, but also because he never learned English and it was widely known that his two German mistresses were greedy.
Pender County: A Southern leader
Pender County, as you can probably guess, is named after a man who lived in North Carolina. But that’s as close as he gets to this county.
William Dorsey Pender was from Edgecombe County and a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. When the Civil War broke out, Pender resigned his commission to join the Confederate Army, becoming major general in 1863 at age 29.
According to Civil War High Commands, by John and David Eicher, Robert E. Lee wrote a letter to Jefferson Davis, stating: “Pender is an excellent officer, attentive, industrious and brave; has been conspicuous in every battle, and, I believe, wounded in almost all of them.”
Gettysburg would end his streak of good luck, though. A shell fragment pierced his leg in battle, shattering the bone. The leg was amputated, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. He died July 18. When a new county was formed from New Hanover County in 1875, Pender became immortalized.
New Hanover County: an honor bestowed
Consider it a royal county.
New Hanover County was formed in 1729 from Craven County and named in honor of the royal family of England, who at that time were members of the House of Hanover.
The Hanoverians came to power in difficult times. The first of their kings, George I, was 52nd in line to the throne but the nearest Protestant. In an age when Protestants and Catholics didn’t care much for each other, this was a recipe for problems.
Surprisingly, though, the Hanoverian period was fairly stable.
This is probably because Hanoverian kings seemed to live forever (from 1714 through 1837 there were only five monarchs).
George III, a Hanoverian king, still holds the record for longest reigning king in British history, and Queen Victoria became the longest reigning monarch in British history.
And they weren’t just sitting around on thrones all day.
Even though Britannia lost the colonies, by the end of the Hanoverian period, the British Empire covered a third of the earth.
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