About two weeks ago, a new semester began. American History I and II. Since a huge component of U.S. history includes us (i.e. Catawba County), especially when parallel events occur, I ask some first day questions about local history to see who knows anything about what went on here.
Question #1. What year was Catawba County formed?
Answer A: 1777
Answer B: 1802
Answer C: 1842
Answer D: 1902
Catawba became a county by seceding from the Lincoln, which itself was a seceded county from Tryon in 1779, after it seceded from Mecklenburg, which came from Anson County. So 1777 was too early. It really wasn’t until the northern half of Lincoln got tired of trekking to Lincolnton for court did the idea to separate come around, thanks largely to Nathaniel “Thanny” Wilson’s vow of revenge on ill treatment he received there. Since the last county to be created was Lee, down east in the early 20th century, 1902 would have been possible but late. So it’s down to B or C. So if your guessing, check the county seal.
Question #2. What city is the county seat?
Answer A: Hickory
Answer B: Catawba
Answer C: Conover
Answer D: Newton
Answer E: Longview
This one can be a bit tricky. In most counties, the most populous city is usually the county seat. But not Catawba, which would make Hickory a wrong answer. Catawba might also seem logical since it and the county have the same name. Too far east and not centrally located which is what folks wanted when they left Lincoln. The county seat was to be a planned city right smack dab in the middle of county. That would make Conover too far north and Longview too far west. Check your map on this one.
Photo: The county seal. Check it for clues.
Question #3. Which NASCAR driver is native to Catawba County?
Answer A: Richard Petty
Answer B: Dale Earnhardt
Answer C: Jeff Gordon
Answer D: Ned Jarrett
Answer E: Fireball Roberts
Most who get this do so from those city signs that say who the most famous people in town are. And since some mention Dale, the association with Ned makes it likely they pick him, which is right. I realize that some of the other names haven’t raced for quite a long time, making them boomer-era and thus ancient history choices. Also, I did not include others who were from Catawba County like Morgan Sheppard and Bobby Isaac,
Question #4. Before the Crawdads, what was the name of the most recent minor league baseball team in Catawba County?
Answer A: The Twins
Answer B: The Rebels
Answer C: The Crawfish
Answer D: The Hickory Nuts
Answer E: The Copperheads
Hickory Nuts? Would somebody actually name a team that? Or Copperheads? You can see I was looking for joke names which is a way I can talk about how to answer a multiple choice question. There are always some more ludicrous than others. Crawfish as a close relation to Crawdad gets. That choice elicits a few to select C, but it really becomes a choice between Rebels and Twins, which were both actual teams. The Rebels were in Hickory, the Newton-Conover Twins the other. The choice is tight. While the Rebels last season was 1960, the Twins were a farm team for the former Cleveland Indians in 1961.
How’d you do so far? More next week.
