LADD, FARMER, HELPED ESTABLISH COUNTY GOVERNMENT
By Robert Carroll

Constantine Ladd was a very prominent farmer, soldier and
politician who played a great part in establishing the county
government at Germantown when Stokes County was first created.
He was born in January 1753, son of Noble and Judith Dameron
Ladd. His first wife was named Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) and
they were the parents of two daughters, Judith and Bethenia. After
the death of his first wife, he married Mary McAnnally, daughter of
another prominent justice-of-the-peace, Charles McAnnally. Three
children were born to this union, Milton, Newton, and Mary R.
He served throughout the Revolutionary War as an active fighting
man and also as clerk for Captain Richard Goode's company.
In 1775, Constantine Ladd obtained a land grant from the State,
where the Indian Trail, later known as the Great Wagon Road, crossed
the Dan River. This area was also the home of Noble Ladd, Joseph
Ladd, William Ladd and Amos Ladd, all members of the same family. The
Dan River crossing was known as Ladd's Ford for many years until it
was permanently changed to Pine Hall. There was a Captain Ladd's
district, which later became Belews Creek tax district, and one of the
above named men, it could have been Constantine, was the captain in
charge of the military training.
He qualified as a justice of the peace at Richmond Courthouse
Feb. 4, 1788 and served as a member of the Court of Pleas and Quarters
eleven times during this year and again eleven times in 1789.
At the first official meeting in Stokes County held in the home
of Gray Bynum in Germanton in March 1790, he was named by Governor
Alexander Martin as one of the original J.P.s to keep the peace in
Stokes County. There were fourteen of these men who laid the
groundwork for a government in Stokes. The second day of this court
he was unanimously elected by the court as the first sheriff of the
county. He was reelected in 1791 and again for one term only in 1797.
In 1792, after serving two years as sheriff, he was a member of
the County Court two times, in 1793 chairman three times and member
five, 1794 chairman two and member ten, 1795 chairman two and member
two. Also during the years 1793, 94 and 95 he was the tax lister, a
very important job, in Capt. Banner's district. This district was
discontinued in 1797 but it was in the general area of Germanton. He
served as treasurer of the county from March 1796 to June 1797.
Judith Ladd, his oldest daughter, married John Banner and they
had two sons, Constantine L. and Charles L. Both of these men became
J.P.s and very active in county politics, Constantine L. serving as
sheriff in two separate terms, 1817 and again 1826 to 1829. The other
daughter by his first wife, Bethenia, married Benjamin Forsyth, a hero
of the War of 1812. Forsyth County was named for him.
He moved from his large farm on the Dan River after being elected
sheriff in 1790 to Germanton where he spent most of the remainder of
his life. He bought lots 25 and 26 in the town, one and one-quarter
acres just outside town and a small tract on the Salem Road leading
into town.
He died in 1801.

Submitted by Janet Newell, 1998.