at King's Mountain, was born in the south eastern part of Lincoln
county (now Gaston) about 1755. His mother was first married to a Mr.
McKee in Pennsylvania, who afterwards removed to North Carolina and
settled in Mecklenburg county. By this marriage she had one son, James
McKee, a soldier of the revolution, and ancestor of the several
families of that name in the neighborhood of Armstrong's Ford, on the
South Fork of the Catawba. After McKee's death, his widow married Mr.
Chronicle, by whom she had an only son, William, who afterward
performed a magnanimous part in defence of his country's rights. The
site of the old family mansion is still pointed out by the oldest
inhabitants with feelings of lingering veneration. "There," they will
tell you, "is the spot where old Mr. Chronicle lived and his brave
son, William, was brought up." The universal testimony of all who knew
Major Chronicle represented him as the constant, never-tiring advocate
of liberty, and as exerting a powerful influence in spreading the
principles of freedom throughout the whole lower portion of old
Lincoln county. His jovial turn of mind and winning manners, by
gaining the good will of all, greatly assisted in making successful
his appeals to their patriotism, and promoting the cause of liberty in
which he had so zealously embarked.

Major Chronicle's first service was performed as Captain of a company
at Purysburg in South Carolina. Early in the fall of 1780, a regiment
was raised in Lincoln county, over which Col. William Graham was
appointed Colonel; Frederick Hambrite, Lieut. Colonel, and William
Chronicle, Major. It is well known that Col. Graham, on account of
severe sickness in his family, was not present at the battle of King's
Mountain. The immediate command of the regiment, assisted by Col.
Dickson of the county, was then gallantly assumed by these officers,
and nobly did they sustain themselves by word and example, in that
ever-memorable conflict. Major Chronicle was brave, perhaps to a
fault, energetic in his movements, self possessed in danger, and
deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty. His last words of
encouragement in leading a spirited charge against the enemy, were
"Come on my boys, never let it be said a Fork boy run," alluding to
South Fork, near which stream most of them resided.

This patriotic appeal was not given in vain. It nerved every man for
the contest. Onward his brave boys steadily moved forward, Major
Chronicle