Biography

Englishman William Tryon was an infantry captain when we married into a widow’s money. A professional soldier from age 22, he fought in France during the Seven Year’s War. He used his connection to Lord Hillsborough through wife Margaret Wake to be named Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of North Carolina in 1764. Six months after arriving, he rose to the top job when the sitting governor died. Tryon often found himself caught in the middle of crises. When local Sons of Liberty were agitating against the Stamp Act, which put a tax on all paper in the colonies, he prevented the elected Provincial Assembly from meeting to take action against it. But he also offered to pay back the fees he was due from the Act. A few years later, he made some attempt to negotiate a solution with the Regulators who were protesting unfair government practices. However, Tryon did not address the unde