Page 77 - Foy
P. 77
As mentioned, there are many books which have been written about the history
of Craven County. Two such books are Governor Tryon and His Palace by
Alonzo Thomas Dill and A History of New Bern and Craven County by Alan D.
Watson. In my search for information these two books were recommended to me
by the Craven County historical society.
A History of New Bern and Craven County makes reference to citizens named
FOY some five times in differing situations. I want to list those references
because later in this book we will be discussing those same FOYs, who are
among our early relatives.
On page 160 of A History of New Bern and Craven County the author is
discussing famous crimes in Craven County and how they were reported in local
news papers such as The Virginia Gazette. He mentions several cases involving
things like counterfeiting and theft.
This author writes, “Other major crimes included robbery, kidnaping, and
murder. The most celebrated case of armed robbery involved tavern keeper JOHN
FOY, who was divested of a large sum of money and other goods. FOY enlisted the
aid of Governor JOSIAH MARTIN and subsequently falsely implicated two men
in trying to identify the thieves.” This would have been in about 1775.
As you read in the previous chapter THOMAS FOY, whom our research
indicates was our ancestor, came from Maryland to Craven County and opened
an “ordinary inn”, which was also referred to as a tavern, in about 1754.
THOMAS FOY had a son named JOHN FOY who later took over the ordinary
inn from THOMAS as THOMAS had died.
On page 124 of A History of New Bern and Craven County the author mentions
another FOY, FREDERICK FOY. FREDERICK FOY is the name of another
of THOMAS FOY’s sons, however, as you will see, there are many FREDERICK
FOYs and we do not really know which one is being talked about here.
The author is writing about the development of the agricultural and commercial
economy in Craven County and how the construction of a substantial network
Ch. 7 Pg. 6
