Born on the level! Born on the square!
BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM MECKLENBURG POLK 1758-1834
Birth and Early Life in Charlotte

Thomas and Susanah Polk were considered the most important and respected citizens of the new community of Charlotte in their time. Their house on the Square was known as the only residential structure made of finished boards and not of logs. It was built on the northeast corner, next to the historic courthouse. Their neighbors were Waightstill Avery, Ezekiel Polk, Jeremiah McCafferty, Adam Alexander, John Wilson, William Patterson, James Jack, Robert Scott, David McKee, James Gardner, Winslow Moses Osborn, Richard Mason, William Davidson, Ephraim Brevard, William Elliott, Ochiltree Martin & Osborn, John Orr, William Hutcheson, William McCullen, Andrew Baxter, John Foard, Joseph Wishart, Aaron Huston, Patrick McDonald, Robert Harris, Hezekiah Alexander, Robert Barry, William Hooper, John Patterson, John Garrison, John Work, George Nickelson, John Kennedy, Easter Kennedy, Robert Stuart, James Kerr, John Springsteel, William McCullah, Adlai Osborn, Samuel Flenniken, Margaret Dempsey, Samuel McCombe, Mary Baldwin and William McAlwell.

In 1769, aware of his limited English education and unlimited ability to father children, Thomas Polk established an academy on property he owned near the Square of Charlotte. The nine Polk children were born at home, educated in his own unique school, then at Queen’s College, named to honor England’s Queen Charlotte with the hope of her support. The Queens University of today is unrelated. As the rebellion against England began, the six-foot-two 17-year-old William left his little town in April, 1775, to accept a commission as second lieutenant in his uncle Captain Ezekiel Polk’s Company of the Third South Carolina Mounted Infantry regiment under Colonel William Thompson—“Old Colonel Danger.” He was back in Charlotte the next month to witness his father reading the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence from the courthouse steps next to his home.

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Produced by the public relations committee of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Masons in North Carolina,
2921 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27628 MMVIII
Author/editor: Walter J. Klein wklein(at)carolina.rr.com