William Mearns was a resident of Chowan County, North Carolina who served as a local clerk of the court from 1748 to 1750. In 1752 he was the clerk for the local freeholders court, which heard cases involving enslaved people. Mearns moved to Currituck County, North Carolina by 1757, where he also worked as a court clerk through 1758. Mearns died in Chowan County in about 1771.