In 1747 Adam Sherrill and his 8 sons migrated from Pennsylvania and settled west of the Catawba River, and by July, 1749, John Beatty had also crossed the Catawba. Sherrill’s Ford and Beatty’s Ford were named for them, and another ford used by the original settlers was Island Ford. During the late 1740’s Andreas Killen, Robert Leeper, Jacob Forney, Pieter Heyl, and John Clark settled on creeks that today bear their names, and Henry Weidner settled on the headwaters of Clark’s Creek. The site of Weidner’s homeplace has changed little since 1750, and remnants of Beatty’s Ford and Tuckaseege roads, two of the earliest roads used by these and other early settlers, may still be seen. During the Revolution important battles were fought at Ramsour’s Mill on June 20, 1780, and Cowan’s Ford on Feb. 1, 1781. In 1784 the Tryon County Jail was located at the springhouse of Henry Dellinger, reflecting the customary use of privately owned buildings for public purposes during the Colonial and Early National periods. Andrew Loretz was the first minister of the German Reformed Church in western North Carolina, and his brick home, built in 1793, is one of the oldest west of the Catawba River. Open-hearth furnaces were established by Peter Forney, Alexander Brevard, Joseph Graham, and others between 1785 and 1800; the homeplaces of Brevard and Graham include sites of two of these furnaces, a third furnace built by Peter Forney still stands, and the Ore Bank, a chief source of iron ore, was nearby. Buried in Machpelah churchyard are Joseph Graham, a Revolutionary officer and leader of North Carolina troops in the Creek Indian War of 1811-12; Alexander Brevard, who served under Washington at White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, and Monmouth; and Robert H. Morrison, founder of Davidson College and father-in-law of D. H. Hill and Stonewall Jackson. One of the outstanding homes of the trans-Catawba region is Ingleside, built by Daniel M. Forney, son of Peter Forney and grandson of the pioneer Jacob Forney. Mount Welcome, another iron furnace built by Peter Forney, was the birthplace of Robert D. Johnston, one of five Confederate generals born in Lincoln County; the others were Robert F. Hoke, Stephen Dodson Ramseur, John H. Forney, and William H. Forney.