George KORNEGAY was the founder of the KORNEGAY family in America. His original name was Georg HORNIGH (also spelled GNAEGI". "Georg" was later anglicized to "George" and the original spelling of his German last name evolved in English through several phonetic variations to its present form, KORNEGAY. (add passage about Indian captivity) The Craven County Court Minutes of 1712 indicate that Georg was an orphan apprenticed to a Jacob MUELLER of Craven County. According to his own statement, he was one of a company of German Palatines who came to America with Baron Christophe von GRAFFENRIEDT in 1709-1710. An excerpt from a North Carolina history book reads "The first straggling settlements in North Carolina after the Clarendon Grant of 1663 were gradually broken up. While North Carolina was not a separate province until 1729, the country had been settled about the year 1710 by a colony of Swiss and Palatines from Germany who had fled from the north after a disastrous war with the indians, and seeking a retreat they settled in the Carolina, wilderness." They founded the town of New Berne in Craven County. From all accounts the Palatines were strong and sturdy people. The lands occupied by them on the Neuse and Trent rivers were, after several years, claimed and taken over by Colonel Thomas POLLACK, causing them considerable inconvenience and distress. They petitioned King George of England for relief and lands were granted to them by the Colonial Council. George KORNEGAY received several grants for land in Craven and Duplin Counties between the years 1736 and 1756. At a council meeting in 1742 he was permitted to prove his right for land and listed ten persons in family and six slaves. His land in Duplin County, described by metes and bounds, included the old Kornegay burying ground near Alum Springs and Kornegay's Bridge and for a time he lived there. He was a member of the Duplin Foot Militia in 1754 and 1755. He died in Craven County in NOV 1773 at about 72 years of age.  Extrapolating from his Will, George owned some 2190 acres of land. See George's will.