Alexander Erwin remembered for service to Burke County

Alexander Erwin, Revolutionary soldier, public official, and legislator, was born in Bucks County, Penn., of Scots-Irish ancestry.

His parents, Nathaniel and Leah Julian Erwin, moved to Rowan (now Burke) County, shortly before the American Revolution and established their home at Cherryfield on the east side of Upper Creek.

During the Revolution, Erwin saw much guerrilla service with the Whig forces. As a lieutenant in Captain David Vance’s company, he fought against the loyalist militia under Maj. Patrick Ferguson in the crucial Battle of Kings Mountain on Oct. 7, 1780. He subsequently attained the rank of colonel in the Burke County militia.

Upon the organization of Burke County in June 1777, Erwin became the first clerk of the County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He held this office until 1793, when he resigned and was succeeded by his son, James Erwin, who acted as clerk until 1833. James Erwin, in turn, was followed in this post by his son, Joseph J. Erwin, who served until 1845. Altogether these men held the clerkship for a continuous period of 68 years.

In the legislature of 1781, Alexander Erwin’s name was placed in nomination for the office of delegate to the Continental Congress, but he failed to win the election. He was again prominently mentioned as a candidate for this post in 1784.

The General Assembly of 1781 named him one of the three district auditors for the counties of Burke, Lincoln, Rutherford, Sullivan, Washington, and Wilkes, vesting in these auditors “full power and authority finally to settle and adjust all claims against the state for militia pay and for articles which are or may be purchased for the use of the state.”

Upon the creation of Morgan District in 1782, Erwin was appointed one of the three auditors for the new district. He also became one of the original trustees of Morgan Academy, which was chartered in 1783 as the first institution of learning in Burke County.

When Morganton was incorporated in 1784, Erwin was one of the commissioners of “the said Town of Morgan” who were directed to build “a courthouse and a prison in the same for the District of Morgan.” Acting under this legislative authority, the commissioners laid out the town of Morganton.

In addition, Colonel Erwin was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons from Burke County in 1793–97 and 1804. He ended his public service as a justice of the Burke County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He was a member of the Quaker Meadows Presbyterian Church and the Masonic order, in which he was secretary of Rising Sun Lodge No. 38 at Morganton.

The Colonel Alexander Erwin Chapter was chartered on Sept. 12, 2015, as a chapter of the State of North Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

The Colonel Alexander Erwin Chapter is the 25th Chapter to be chartered in North Carolina and supports Burke, Caldwell, and McDowell counties.