Nisbet, John

1738–1817

John Nisbet, general merchant, Patriot, and state legislator, was born in New Jersey, one of six children of John and Sarah Nisbet. In 1750 his parents moved from New Jersey to that part of Rowan County that later became Iredell.

Nisbet was a member of the Rowan County Committee of Safety in 1774. Fifteen years later he became the first member of the state senate from Iredell County, serving in 1789 and 1790. Nisbet also was a delegate to the Fayetteville convention of 1789 that approved the U.S. Constitution for the state. In 1790 he was one of the commissioners chosen to lay out the town of Statesville as the seat of the new county of Iredell.

After operating a general store in Salisbury, he opened one at his plantation four miles northwest of Statesville. He later had a store in Statesville, but when it burned he did not replace it.

Nisbet married Mary Osborne, the daughter of Colonel Alexander Osborne, and they became the parents of eight children: James, Nancy, Sarah, Elizabeth, Alexander, John, Milus, and Jane. The mercantile interests of the family continued through three generations.