Community Profile
Troutman, NC
Troutman is a town just north of Mooresville in Iredell County, North Carolina. It is the home of NASCAR driver Josh Richeson.
History
The Town of Troutman's roots go back to the 1750s, when immigrants from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland first arrived to take advantage of the abundant free land in North Carolina’s Piedmont region. They cleared farms, built cabins and barns, raised livestock, planted crops and traded furs. They made lives for themselves. One of the newcomers was eleven year old John Jacob Trautman (original spelling). In 1778, he and his mother moved from Rockwell (in Rowan County) after his father’s death.
Trautman instantly became a landowner; local historical records show that a deed for the purchase of 200 acres of land at the head of "Norrids Creek" (Norwoods Creek), just west of the present town of Troutman, was issued in the name of Jacob Troutman on April 1, 1778. More land was purchased in following years, sometimes hundreds of acres at a time. All totaled, Jacob Troutman is said to have held title to around two thousand acres, as he bought and sold land quite freely in the midst of his other duties. His tombstone epitaph describes him as “… a carpenter, hat maker, cooper, stockman, school teacher and Realtor.” More extensive history can be found at http://www.townoftroutman.org/page3.html
