William Saltar


William Saltar II was an American politician in North Carolina that represented Bladen County in the North Carolina [House of Representatives|North Carolina House of Burgesses] and at the first, second, and third North Carolina Provincial Congresses. He was a director, trustee, and commissioner of Elizabethtown and is buried there. During the American Revolutionary War, he was chosen as colonel of the Bladen County militia but declined it. His wife Sarah "Sallie" Saltar spied on a Tory camp led by John Slingsby under the pretense of selling eggs, eggs and socks, or baked goods, later reporting to Thomas Brown and Thomas Robeson Jr. before the Battle of Elizabethtown.

Biography

William Saltar II was born in 1732 and was the son of William Saltar.
Saltar was named as one of the five original directors and trustees of Elizabethtown, North Carolina, in the law enacted by Josiah Martin, the council, and the North Carolina House of Burgesses in 1773. Saltar was also named as one of the five commissioners. Saltar represented Bladen County at the First North Carolina Provincial Congress in 1774 alongside Walter Gibson.
He represented Bladen County at the Second North Carolina Provincial Congress and the North Carolina House of Burgesses in New Bern in April 1775 alongside James White. On July 20, 1775, Saltar was a visitor from Bladen County to a monthly meeting of the Safety Committee of the Town of Wilmington.
Saltar also represented Bladen County at the Third North Carolina Provincial Congress at Hillsborough in 1775 alongside Walter Gibson, Thomas Owen, Nathaniel Richardson, and Thomas Robeson Jr.
According to the testimony of Revolutionary War Pensioner John Darrach of Bladen County, William Saltar was chosen colonel of the militia with Thomas Robeson Jr. but Saltar declined and was given a verbal discharge from captain Maturin Colville to return to his home. Maturin Colville was a captain of the Bladen County Regiment of the North Carolina militia until he was discharged shortly after the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on the suspicion of being a Loyalist. The suspicions were correct and Colville became a colonel of the Loyalist militia of Bladen County. Colville was later captured and killed by Patriots.
Salter died in 1802.

Legacy

William Saltar II and his wife Sarah "Sallie" Saltar had one son that had heirs, Richard Saltar, and several daughters. During the Revolutionary War, his wife Sarah "Sallie" Saltar spied on the Tory camp led by John Slingsby under the pretense of selling eggs, eggs and socks, or baked goods, and afterwards reported to Thomas Brown and Thomas Robeson Jr. before the Battle of Elizabethtown. A monument to William Saltar II and his wife Sarah "Sallie" Saltar is located at the Elizabethtown Court House.
His estate was subject to at least one North Carolina Supreme Court case, Archibald McKay, Guardian, &c. v. William Hendon and Alexander McKay, Eliza McKay, and John McKay v. William Hendon, which settled an inheritance dispute between the surviving sibling and the half-siblings of his grandson through his son Richard, William James Saltar, who had no children.