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Dylan Ramsey Professor Raymond ENGL 1102 March 17,2014 Mr. Burns 200 years, that is how long members of my family have lived in or near the great town of Burnsville. Actually I have had family members that lived in Burnsville before it was ever even named after the one and only Otway Burns, hence the name "Burns"ville. Otway was born at Queens Creek in the town of Swansboro, North Carolina. Swansboro is located at the coast of North Carolina and has its own port which was a busy port in its time. When Otway was growing up he found himself at the port a lot and that started a love for boats and sailing at an early age. Naturally when Otway was old enough to get a job on a boat he jumped on the chance and it was not long until he became a sea merchant. Once he started sailing he would sail up and down the east coast delivering supplies to the ports located along the east coast ("Otwa~rns")' Otway received some financial support through his sailing and through a man named Edward Pasteur who was an investor in Otway's business. In the summer of 1812, Otway and Edward purchased a vessel called the Zephyr for eight thousand dollars. They christened the boat the Snap Drag0t'd whole assortment of hand weapons (Daughan ). armed it with eight cannons and a

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The Snap Dragon was a privateering ship, which when Otway obtained the proper paper work he was legal to sail the seas and attack any British ships that he would encounter. To run a privateering ship the owner and the captain had to obtain the proper paper work called the letter of mayue, which is a written permission slip by America to attack British war ships (Duliley). Otway was smart when it came to fighting the British ships. Otway and his crew disguised the ship as a merchant ship so they could sail up close to the British ships and attack them before they knew what has happened. Otway was able to capture one British war ship that was equipped with fourteen guns and Otway was able to sail away from a couple of bigger British war ships. He was able to gain many small captures over the next couple of years. Otway continued his privateering career until 1814 when he decided it was time to slow down and spend some time with his family. When Otway returned to Swansboro he found that his wife and son had left him to live witht?~ther family in Jones County. Otway decided to consume all his time with a new career, ship building. Otway started his own ship building company in Swansboro and also married again all at the same time. Since his privateering career left him with a good chunk of money he also decided to invest in most of the local businesses in Swansboro. In 1818 he built a ship named the Prometheus which is the first steam boat to ever be in the water and used successfully within North Carolina. The Prometheus ran up and down the Cape Fear River. Otway also built a number of other well-known ships such as the Warrior and the Brig Henry. Otway was invested in a good amount of small businesses and during the 1820 he also owned a store and taproom. He invested

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a salt company, co-owned a brick kilns company that was used to build Fort Macon, and Otway also owned a big variety of vessels. ~, 7

Since Otway was considered a wealthy business man during the 1820 so it was only normal that he would get involved in politics. In 1821 he ran and got a spot on the North Carolina House of Commons and he represented Carteret County. This was the start of his political career. He was then appointed commissioner of the local canals Neuse and Newport Rivers. After his term on the North Carolina House of Commons he was appointed to eleven terms in the legislator, seven terms in the House of Representatives, and four terms in the senate. He was finally given the duty of keeper of the Brant Island Shoal Light, this job was given to him by the president of the United
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States Mr. Andrew Jackson. Otway held this position until his death in August of 1850. ~ Otway Burns played such an important role throughout North Carolina that it only seemed fair that he would get remembered in some way that would contribute to the legacy he lived throughout his life. In World War II there was two battle ships named after him the USS Burns which was a (00-171) and the USS Burns (00-588), but by far
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the best way he has been honored was the seat of Yancey County was named after him, Burnsville. Burnsville was founded on March 6th of 1834 in honor of Mr. Otway Burns, although he never lived there when John Bailey surveyed the land he decided to honor Otway by naming the town after him. Shortly thereafter there was a statue place in the middle of the town square of Otway. The statue was given to the town by Otway's

grandson. On the statue there was a plaque that reads "He Guarded Well Our Seas, Let Our Mountains Honor Him".

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Works Cited ~urns." DLghan, V,",l:j Wikipedia. N.p., 28 Jan 2014. Web. 17 Mar 2014. George. 1812 . Th e N avys ' Wa'1 ~ Basicn Books ' 2011 . Pri rln t f().blfS~ I i:tl~ ?

Dudley, Wade. "War of 1812. . fV'~ . 'S warms of Privateers' ., ." A mencan History. n.d. n. page Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

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