In 1780, while Lord Cornwallis was encamped in Charlotte, some of the British soldiery, on account of his well-known advocacy of independence, set fire to his law office, and destroyed it, with all his books and papers.  In 1781, he moved to Burke county, which he represented in the Commons in 1783-’84-’85 and ’93; and in the Senate in 1796.  He was held in high esteem by all who knew him, and died at an advanced age, in 1821.  At the time of his death he was the “Patriarch of the North Carolina Bar;” an exemplary Christian, a pure patriot, and of sterling integrity.  He left a son, the late Colonel Isaac T. Avery, who represented Burke county in the Commons in 1809 and 1810, and three daughters, one of whom married William W. Lenoir; another, Thomas Lenoir, and the remaining one, Mr. Poor, of Henderson county.

Rev. Hezekiah J. Balch was born at Deer Creek, Harford county, Md., in 1748.  He was said to be the brother of Col.  James Balch, of Maryland, and the uncle of the late distinguished Rev. Stephen B. Balch, D. D., of Georgetown, D. C. He graduated at Princeton in 1766, when not quite eighteen years old, in the class with Waightstill Avery, Luther Martin, of Maryland, Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, and others.  He came to North Carolina in 1769, as a missionary, being appointed for this work by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia.  Although ordained before the war, he served four years as Captain of a company in Maryland, under General Somerville.  Soon after this service, he removed to North Carolina, and settled on “Irish Buffalo Creek,” in Cabarrus county.  He was the first Pastor of Rocky River and Poplar Tent Churches, where he continued to faithfully labor in the cause of his Divine Master, until the time of his death.  Abundant in every good word and work, he took an active part in moulding the popular mind for the great struggle of the approaching Revolution.  He combined in his character, great enthusiasm with unflinching firmness.  He looked to the achievement of principles upon which a government of well-regulated law and liberty could be safely established, and which should be removed from its strong foundations no more forever.  Hence, he was a prominent actor in the Convention at Charlotte on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, which declared independence of the British crown.  But in the inscrutable ways of Providence, he did not live long enough to see the warmest wish of his heart gratified—­the independence of his country, for which he was ready, if necessary, to yield up his life in its achievement.  He died in the spring of 1776, in the midst of his usefulness, and his mortal remains repose in the old graveyard of Poplar Tent Church.

On the occasion of a railroad meeting at Poplar Tent Church in 1847, attention was called to the fact that no monument of any kind marked the grave of this eminent divine and patriot; whereupon, a voluntary subscription was immediately made, and the necessary funds promptly raised to build a suitable monument to his memory.  Fortunately, Abijah Alexander, then ninety years of age, was still living, a worthy citizen, and long a member of Poplar Tent Church, who was present at the burial of his beloved pastor, and who could point out the precise spot of sepulture, near the centre of the old graveyard.  The following is a copy of the inscription over his grave: