This small quaint seaport has roots back to April 7, 1730 when Isaac and Jonathan Green Sr. purchased from Ebenezer Harker "a certain plantation and track of land containing by estimation 441 acres situate lying and being in ye Carterett in ye county of province of aforsaid being ye west side of ye mouth off White Oak River." By 1771 Theophilus Weeks started a town on his plantation, laying out a plat and selling lots. Formerly known as Bogue, Week's Point, The Wharf and New Town, the town was officially designated by the North Carolina General Assembly on May 6, 1783. Above photo (from North Carolina State Archives) courtesy Jack Dudley, as included in Swansboro - A Pictorial Tribute

Peter Bryant Smith House circa 1916

NATIONAL REGISTER of Historic Places: 115 Main Street – Hip-roofed four-square plan house with one-story front porch, aluminum siding. This was the second Onslow County house of Smith, who was associated with sawmills at Swansboro and Silverdale. NR

Peter Bryant Smith 1872-1949 was the son of George Washington Smith and Missouri Ann Haskins. G.W. Smith, possibly the son of George S. Smith 1806-1880, married Missouri Ann Haskins 1853-1926 in 1868. Missouri was the daughter of Timothy Haskins and Theresa Hewitt of Onslow County.

Children of George and Missouri: Georgia 1870-1961 married James Thomas Bartley; Edgar W. 1871-1934; Edward W., born 1871; Peter Bryant, born 1872; Etta E. 1878-1881; and Ramon B., born 1880.

G.W. Smith was born in 1850 and died before 1910. Missouri Haskin Smith’s 1926 death certificate recorded the fact that she was widowed, a resident of Swansboro and buried in Silverdale, North Carolina.

In the 1880 White Oak Township Census, recorded in the George W. Smith household were George W. 30 retail grocer, Missouri 28, Georgiana 12, Edgar 10, Peter Bryant 7 and one-year-old Etta Smith. Twenty years later, the 1900 Swansboro Census recorded George W. Smith 50, Missouri 47, Edward W. 28 and Ramon B. 19—foreman at fish company.

WWII REGISTRATION CARD
The 1910 Swansboro Township Census recorded the fact that farmer Peter Bryant Smith owned his home on Swansboro Road. In the household were Peter B. 37, Annie M. 34 and Missouri 58. The census noted Missouri as having given birth to six children, four of whom were living.

By 1920, Pete is noted as owning his home. His mother Missouri 67 was still in the household as well as wife Annie M. Smith.

Peter Bryant Smith - Death Certificate
By 1930 in Swansboro Village, Peter and Annie Smith owned their own home, valued at $2000. At that time, Peter was noted as a superintendent of a farm.

Peter Bryant Smith’s 1949 death certificate noted his address as Swansboro, occupation fisherman with a surviving spouse. He was buried in Jacksonville, North Carolina cemetery.


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