The Yadkin Valley of North Carolina
& the Austills that Settled There


A few settlers had ventured into the area west of the Yadkin River before 1747. The Earl of Granville, otherwise known as Lord Granville, one of the eight Lords Proprietor's of Carolina was considered the proprietor of this area of North Carolina.

Originally the county of Bladen, the Yadkin Valley became part of Anson County in 1748 & in 1753 it became part of Rowan County.

Sometime before 1752, a man named Morgan Bryan settled in the area around, and south of, the junction of the Yadkin River with the Deep Creek. Bryan was a Quaker; a member of the New Garden Quaker Meeting of Chester County, Penn. He and some other Quakers had moved into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia prior to moving to the Yadkin Valley. The trail called "The Great Wagon Road" or "The Old Carolina Road" passed thru the Bryan Settlement, about one mile south of the junction of the Deep Creek and the Yadkin River, at a place called the Shallow Ford.

Into this area, Squire Boone, father of Daniel Boone, moved into the southwest section of the settlement in about 1750. Squire Boone was born in Devonshire, England, and raised in Pennsylvania. They moved to the Yadkin Valley shortly after being ejected from the (Quaker) Exeter Monthly Meeting for refusing to publicly apologize for the marriage of (son) Israel Boone to a woman out of the Quaker Faith. Daniel Boone was born 2 Nov 1734 in Pennsylvania and probably lived in the Yadkin Valley for a short time, at least.

This is the area where Isaac Austill with son Major and family moved in about 1786. Isaac Austill bought 132 acres on the headwaters of Deep Creek at Fox Knobbs from Salathiel Martin on 6 Aug 1786.

The Austills lived in this area until about 1835-1840 when Major Sr. , Jr., William, and others moved to Warrick County, Indiana. Isaac, Austill, Jr. & his descendants (and probably some other Austills) remained in this area until at least 1850.

--some information for this page came from the book "Carolina Cradle" by Robert W. Ramsey, pub by Chapel Hill.

Anyone wishing to study the history of this area would find this book a valuable resource. It is well indexed and very thoroughly referenced; a very scholarly work! It is available from Frontier Press - Genealogical and Historical Books


Census Data for North Carolina:


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