NORTH CAROLINA EVERETTS

History of Everetts in North Carolina

Everetts were among the earliest settlers of the proprietary colony of North Carolina, following its establishment in 1663. When tax-exempt land was made available, many settlers, searching for new and free land, including the Everetts, began to migrate from the southeastern counties of Virginia into eastern North Carolina. By 1675 nearly 4000 pioneers had followed the rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound, settling primarily in the areas of the Roanoke, Pamlico and Neuse Rivers, in the region first known as Albemarle County.

The earliest known Everett in North Carolina was NATHANIEL, who perhaps was the "Grandfather" (progenitor) of many of the successive generations of Everetts who migrated throughout the South (See reference for A. Register). He was living with his wife, MARY, in Morratock, by 1683, in the region that would become Chowan county. Also living in this Chowan Precinct, near Edenton, by 1700, were two THOMASES - probably father and son, possibly a brother to Nathaniel. This precinct encompassed most of the region from the northwestern corner of the Albemarle Sound southward and then eastward around the western end of the Sound. By 1712 an ALEXANDER was living in the Hyde Precinct south of the Sound.

NATHANIEL'S (1678-1749) and MARY'S family represents something of a dynasty of early Everetts in eastern North Carolina. He had three daughters, MARY, ELIZABETH, and SARAH who married respectively, a STUBBS, a BLOUNT, and a GERKIN. However, his only son, NATHANIEL, JR. (1707-1782) and his wife ELIZABETH had eleven children, including a NATHANIEL III and his wife ELIZABETH who had four children. This represents four generations of Everetts whose records place them in early Chowan and later Martin, Tyrrell, and Washington counties North Carolina.

Gradually the children of these families followed the opening of new land and moved further south. By 1729 a WILLIAM was in Bertie Precinct, and by 1734-37 JOHN, WILLIAM, and JAMES were in Edgecombe Precinct - all due west of the Albemarle Sound. Another NATHANIEL, probably a son of the THOMAS from Chowan Precinct, was in Onslow County by 1734. Early records suggest that these Onslow County Everetts changed the spelling of their name, for unknown reasons, to Averitt. Already in this coastal area near South Carolina, established in 1705 as Craven County, were two other Everetts - EDMON (1717) and THOMAS (1720).

Most of the early Everetts were planters and their lands were concentrated in the northwestern and southwestern areas surrounding the Albemarle Sound. While many of their children migrated through South Carolina, Georgia and into the early Mississippi Territory, many remained in this area and their records appear, particularly, in the counties of Tyrrell, Martin, Washington, and Bertie. In fact there remains a community named Everetts in present-day Martin County on Highway 64 west of Williamston.

The most comprehensive work on the North Carolina Everetts is Everett/Everitt Family: A Genealogical History, by Alvaretta Kenan Register. This traces the descendants of the early NATHANIEL Everett through his grandson, JOHN, who later settled in eastern Georgia. Ms. Register was a certified genealogist and, herself, a descendent of this family line. The book was first published in 1987 but is now available from the Statesboro Georgia public library where Ms. Register’s research papers are located.