had been erected,
and the Council, the Assembly and the Court were held at the homes of
those planters, whose houses were large enough to accommodate such
assemblies.

Local tradition tells us that the first court ever held in our State was
convened under a great beech still standing on Flatty Creek, an arm of
the broad Pasquotank, in Pasquotank County. But no records of this court
can be found, nor does tradition tell whether the judge and advocates,
plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses and jury assembled beneath the
branches of that ancient tree, still strong and sturdy, came in answer
to the call for the Palatine Court, the General Court, or the more
frequently assembled Precinct Court.

The first Albemarle Assembly in 1665, was also held out in the open, the
verdant foliage of another historic tree for roof, the soft moss for
carpet. But by 1670 the homes of the planters were being built of
sufficient size to accommodate these public meetings; and from that time
until Edenton was founded and became the seat of government, we find
these private homes being used for public gatherings.

Of Captain John Hecklefield himself, though his name appears very
frequently in the Colonial Records from 1702 until 1717, but little is
known. Of his ancestry nothing can be ascertained, nor do we know how or
when he came into Albemarle. It is not even certain that he owned the
home assigned as his, for no record of lands bought by him can be found
in the records of Perquimans County. But that he must have been a man of
high social standing and of great weight in the community is evident
from the fact that he was a deputy of the Lords Proprietors, and thus
became ex officio one of the seven Associate Justices of the General
Court. The fact also that his home was so often selected for the meeting
of the General Court, a body which in colonial days corresponded very
closely to our modern Supreme Court; that the Governor's Council of
which he, as a deputy for one of the Lords, was a member, and, that on
one occasion, the Albemarle Assembly was called to meet at his home,
fixes his standing in the community.

The first mention made of Captain Hecklefield is found in Vol. I of the
Colonial Records, where the following notice is inscribed: "At a General
Court held at ye house of Captain John Hecklefield in Little River, Oct.
27, 1702. Being present the Hon. Samuel Swann, Esq., the Hon. William
Glover, Esq., Jno. Hawkins, Esq."

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