Man Finds Pirate in Bath

A new book claims that Blackbeard wasn't English, but North Carolinian.

Kevin P. Duffus said his review of archives and genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard was probably Edward Beard, son of a landowner in Bath in Beaufort County.

With the help of genealogists, Duffus has found a descendant of one of Blackbeard's known crew members, Edward Salter. Under prodding by Duffus, state officials are investigating whether a skeleton kept for years in a state archaeology lab in Raleigh is that of Salter, who lived out his life near Bath.

The bones were recovered in 1986 from a crypt near the Pamlico River. If DNA tests show that the bones are Salter's, the identification would establish that at least one of Blackbeard's men had family roots in Bath. [Link]

A Carolina Conflation

North Carolina erected a marker in 1963 to recognize James Hunter—a militia leader who challenged corrupt tax collectors in the 1700s, and later became a state legislator. But amateur historian Warren Dixon has discovered that the militia leader and the legislator were two different men, both named James Hunter.

One led a band of backwoods men known as the Regulators into the 1771 Battle of Alamance - one of the first acts of rebellion against British rule in North Carolina.

The other was a member of the state Legislature from 1772-82 and a state auditor. He also fought at the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, according to the N.C. Genealogical Journal.

He is the one most likely to have been buried near the former marker.

"They ought to put a sign up for him," Dixon said. "He sounds more important than James Hunter the Regulator." [Link]