A BRIEF HISTORY OF STANLY COUNTY
On January 11, 1841, a new county was founded in North Carolinas Piedmont region Stanly County. Created out of the western portion of Montgomery County, Stanly Countys eastern borders were determined by the Yadkin and Pee Dee Rivers. The names of Stanly Countys first Justices of the Peace remain prominent among Stanly County citizens today William Swaringen, chairman, Edmund Lilly, Eldridge Parker, Henry Davis, Joshua Hearne, Jacob Austin, Richmond Snuggs, James Allen, John Stone, Francis Kron, John Miller, Daniel Palmer, Thomas Rowland, Mathias Moose, and John Furr. The County Court elected D. Hearne, Clerk of Court; S.P. Morton, Register of Deeds; and Eben Hearne, High Sheriff. The Hearne family donated 51 acres of land to establish Albemarle, the new county seat. The County Commissioners accepted the deeded property, and a section of what had been the great Hearne plantation became the heart of the new town.
