USA > North Carolina > Craven County > New Bern > History of the Presbyterian church in New Bern, N.C. : with a resume? of early ecclesiastical affairs in eastern North Carolina, and a sketch of the early days of New Bern, N.C > Part 1
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EN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02068 3345
Gc 975.602 N36v Vass, Lachlan Cumming, 1831- 1896. History of the Presbyterian church in New Bern, N.C.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofpresbyt00vass_0
HISTORY
OF THE
MAY 7 1953
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN
NEW BERN, N. C.,
WITH
A RESUME OF EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA,
AND A
SKETCH OF THE EARLY DAYS OF NEW BERN, N. C.
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUIS CHEST BY REV. L. C. VASS, A. M., AUTHOR OF "AMUSEMENTS AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE."
48764
RICHMOND, VA .: WHITTET & SHEPPERSON, PRINTERS, 1001 MAIN STREET. 1886.
975.619/N1 K 2V
Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
COPYRIGHT, BY REV. L. C. VASS, 1886.
PORT HUYAL
-
CONTENTS.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT,
.
7
NORTH CAROLINA,
9
Settlement of Eastern North Carolina,
9
Testimony of John Lawson, 1708,
12
The Proprietary Government, .
15
Religious Aspect of the Colony,
15
Col. Byrd,
17
Quakers; Fox and Edmundson,
18 21
General Character, .
23
An Established Church, .
24
Presbyterian Influence,
Mecklenburg Declaration, 1775,
Hugh Williamson and others, .
Presbyterian Settlements,
36
Ministers Scarce,
The First Call : James Campbell,
Hugh McAden,
Duplin,
Robinson and Stanford,
Classical Schools,
Old Princeton College,
NEW BERY, .
Huguenots,
Claude Plilippe De Richebourg,
53
Christopher Emanuel De Graffenriedt, The Palatines, .
55
The Swiss,
58
.
·
Religious Liberty, .
.
30 32 33 35
Highlanders, ..
38 39 41 42 42 43 47 48 48 50
Their Ecclesiastical Character, and Reasons for Emigrat- ino to Carolina, -
4
CONTENTS.
De Graffenried's Letter, .
De Graffenried's Capture, and his Manuscript,
Founding of New Bern, .
Craven County,-its Name,.
'70
Other Immigrants, .
70 72
First Printing Press,
72
Revolutionary Privateers,
73
Education,
74 75
EARLIEST CHURCHES,
77
Episcopal,
77
Whitefield,
79
Methodists,
79
Baptists, .
81
Other Churches,
85
NEW BERN IN 1798,
86
Two Old Accounts, .
87
Watson's Journey, in 1777-'78,
88
TRYON's PALACE, .
90
NEW BERN IN 1818 AND 1819,
97
New Street,
98
Washington's Letter,
99
PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW BERN IN 1800-1817,
100
Benjamin H. Rice,
100
W. L. Turner, .
101
James K. Burch,
101
Subscription in 1808,
· 103
James Waddy Thompson,
104
Jonathan Otis Freeman, M. D.,
105
Organization, .
106 107
J. N. Campbell,
108
Palmy Days,
110 .
Churches,
113
First Meeting,
115
Lot Bought,
116
Foundation Laid,
116
Address, by Rev. J. Nicholson Campbell, .
. 117
·
The Thirteen, .
.
.
·
.
.
.
NI
.
.
New Bern Data.
Memorable Items,
5
CONTENTS.
Incidents,
121
Completion,
123
Dedication,
124
Sale of Pews,
.
125
Plan of Pews, .
127
Sketches of E. Hawes; R. Hay; J. Jones; S. N. Chester;
Eunice Hunt; J. C. Stanly,
127- 135
Description of the Church,
. 137
SUCCESSION OF PASTORS :
· 139
Lemuel Durant Hatch,
. 139
Michael Osborne,
· 143
Samuel Hurd, .
. 145
Drury Lacy, D. D., .
148
Moses Drury Hoge, .
154
1837 and 1838,
159
Daniel Stratton,
· 160
Roanoke Presbytery,
163
Thomas Fraser,
164
Thomas George Wall,
. 164
Moses T. Harris,
165
1861-1866,
. 166
LACHLAN CUMMING .VASS, A. M,, .
. 167
Repairs, .
. 167
Financial Work,
·
168
Membership, .
169
Spiritual Building, .
. 169
Systematic Benevolence, .
. 171
Olden Records,
172
Recent Records,
173
Financial Summary,
· 174
Personal Sketch,
176
Property Data,
179
Manse,
179
Session House,
· 179
Trustees,
· 180
Deacons, .
180
Recent Renovation,
180
SUNDRY MEMORANDA,
· 182
Sabbath School,
. 182
Ministers from the New Bern Church,
. 182
.
.
.
.
·
·
.
.
·
.
.
·
·
6
CONTENTS.
Ruling Elders and Deacons, 183
Organ,
.
.
183
. Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, 183
Ministers from Hanover Presbytery, 185 .
Growth of Presbyterianism in Eastern Carolina, . 185
CONCLUSION,
186
.
ADDENDA,
189
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
1. NEW BERN, Frontispiece
2. MARRIAGE LICENSE BY GOVERNOR TRYON, 1769, . 30
3. OLD PRINCETON COLLEGE, . · 47 ·
4. COMMUNION GATHERING IN OLDEN TIMES, · 80
5. TRYON'S PALACE, · 90
6. SEAL AND AUTOGRAPHS, 92
7. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 116
8. PLAN OF THE PEWS, WITH NAMES OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDERS, 126
· 9. REV. DRURY LACY, D. D., 148
10. REV. DANIEL STRATTON, 160
11. REV. LACHLAN C. VASS, £ 176 .
12. OPEN BIBLE, 181
13. EBENEZER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 183
,
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT.
O RANGE PRESBYTERY laid on me the preparation of the history of the Presbyterian Church in New Bern, N. C. All the Records of the Church were unfortunately lost in the evacuation of the city, 14th March, 1862. On 1st Jan- uary, 1827, all the Records of Orange Presbytery were consumed in the burning of the residence of Rev. John Witherspoon, the Stated Clerk, in Hillsboro, except one volume, containing its proceedings from 18th November, 1795, to 26th September, 1812. A committee, consisting of Rev. Messrs. Witherspoon, McPheeters, Jos. Caldwell, E. B. Currie, and Wm. Paisley, was appointed to recover, as far as possible, the history embraced in those burnt Minutes. They prepared a book of statistics, necessarily brief and unsatisfactory. My work has thus been very difficult. My search has been wide and laborious to gain any accurate data, and sometimes has utterly failed.
So it seems best to begin with a succinct resumé of the ec- clesiastical and religious status of Eastern North Carolina, and especially of Craven Precinct, from the earliest colonial set- tlement; and a brief history of New Bern itself, with the special design to discover any elements of Presbyterianism that may have existed hereabout in the past century, or in the open- ing of this century; and to understand the surroundings of the birth of the First Presbyterian Church in this ancient City of Elms by the sea. No minute or exhaustive investigation is
.
5
8
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT.
proposed, nor would it be appropriate here. But it is hoped that the review will be comprehensive and luminous.
I am greatly indebted for kind and sometimes laborious as- sistance given me by Rev. B. M. Smith, D. D., of Union The- ological Seminary, Va .; to the loved and lamented model Stated Clerk of Orange Presbytery, and of the Synod of North Carolina, Rev. Jacob Doll, and to his worthy successors, Rev. F. H. Johnston D. D., and Rev. W. S. Lacy; to the Rev. W. E. Schenck, D. D., the veteran Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia ; to the accomplished an- tiquarian of New Bern, Hon. J. D. Whitford ; to Rev. E. F. Rockwell, D. D., Col. R. M. Saunders, Secretary of State of North Carolina, and many other kind friends. Among the authorities upon which my statements are based are histories of North Carolina, by Lawson, Martin, Williamson, Hawks, Whee- ler, Caruthers, Sewell (or "Shocco") Jones, Wiley and Foote; Burnet's "History of His Own Time" (Edition of 1734); Hume's England; Gillies' Historical Collections of 1754; Byrd's Westover Manuscripts of 1728 to 1736; Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution; Bancroft's History of United States; Foote's Huguenots; Weiss's Huguenot Refugees; Maury's Memories of a Huguenot Family; Bernheim's Lutheran Church of North and South Carolina ; Rumple's Rowan County ; Miller's Bench and Bar of Georgia ; Duyckinck's Cy clopedia of American Literature; Craighead's Scotch and Irish Seeds ; McTyeire's Methodism ; Histories of Virginia, by Chas. Campbell and by J. W. Campbell, in 1813, with many fugitive articles in newspapers and pamphlets about New Bern. All this, old traditions, unpublished diaries, and other material I have used as best served my aim to get and give in- formation.
A
NORTH CAROLINA.
Its Settlers.
N ORTH CAROLINA was settled by men "of gentle tempers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and blood- shed." These noble pioneers were the freest of the free, some of them doubtless escaping severe restraints and unholy bru- talities; and in their new homes of balmy airs and virgin beanty, they diffused gentle charities as richly as the flowers on their smiling savannahs, while they grew strong and sang in the manly vigor of a muscular and benevolent independence. Many unjust slurs have been freely cast upon this province as the notorious refuge of the criminal, and the congenial asylum of the fugitive debtor, a veritable "Botany Bay," the welcom- ing " Arcadia" of universal and blooming wickedness. All this is gratuitous slander. Doubtless evil characters did some- times escape just vengeance for their law-breaking, by passing over the Carolina border. But some of these early colonists fled from ungodly assaults in Massachusetts and Virginia on their rights and liberties, while the majority were enterprising immigrants, seeking broader acres and larger fortunes, or ani- mated by the varied practical or romantic motives that sway the same class of persons to-day. In the "Westover Manuscripts" of 1728, the fun-loving, free-spoken, sometimes unjust, but not malicious author, Col. Wm. Byrd, talks about " the distemper of laziness" on the men who relied on the bounty of nature, and reaped the "Carolina felicity of having nothing to do." "The men, for their parts, just like the Indians, impose all the work upon the poor women. They make their wives rise out of their beds early in the morning, at the same time that they lie and snore, till the sun has risen one-third of his course, and
10
NORTH CAROLINA.
dispersed all the unwholesome damps. Then, after stretching and yawning for half an hour, they light their pipes, and under the protection of a cloud of smoke, venture out into the open air; though, if it happens to be never so little cold, they quickly return shivering to the chimney corner. When the weather is mild, they stand leaning with both their arms upon the corn-field fence, and gravely consider whether they had best go and take a small heat at the hoe; but generally find reasons to put it off until another time. Thus they loiter away their lives, like Solomon's sluggard, with their arms across, and at the winding up of the year scarcely have bread enough to eat. To speak the truth, it is a thorough aversion to labor that makes people file off to North Carolina, where plenty and a warm sun confirm them in their disposition to laziness for their whole lives." "Every one does what seems best in his own eyes." He charges the government of North Carolina with encourag- ing the unneighborly policy of sheltering "runaway slaves, debtors and criminals," and makes merry at the lack of all religion in these borderers. He forgets that, as to many of them, his survey is to determine whether they are in Virginia, Araby the blest, or in unsanctified Carolina!
But the planters of Albemarle were neither robbers, rebels nor fanatics, notwithstanding the rough assertions of Governor Spottswood, Colonel Byrd, and others. They were searchers for freedom of conscience, as well as quiet living and untram- meled political privileges; a home, where non-conformity was no dishonor, and a "meeting-house" as sacred a temple of God as the lordliest cathedral of the lordliest ecclesiastic. Bancroft says, " Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self-govern- ment, let them study the history of North Carolina; its in- habitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect sub- mission to a government imposed on them from abroad; the administration of the colony was firm, humane and tranquil, when they were left to take care of themselves. Any govern- ment but one of their own institution was oppressive." George Fox, the distinguished father of the Quakers, testifies that he found the people "generally tender and open," and had made
11
ITS SETTLERS.
among them "a little entrance for truth." Amid these sylvan scenes were growing in clearness and power those immortal principles which so sturdily stood forth from these peopled wastes in armed resistance to stamped paper in Wilmington, in the prompt capture of cannon before the governor's palace in New Bern, and in the formulated doctrines of the Mecklen- burg declaration.
In March, 1643, the Virginia Assembly forbade all teaching or preaching not "conformable to the orders and constitutions of the Church of England, and the laws therein established." Governor Berkley, in entire sympathy with the act, enforced it by proclamation. In his answer to inquiries of the commit- tee for the colonies, in June, 1671, he said, "We have forty- eight parishes, and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent would be better, if they would pray oftener and preach less; but as of all other commodities, so of this, the worst are sent us, and we have few that we can boast of, since the per- secution in Cromwell's tyranny drove divers worthy men hither. Yet I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best govern- ment." Doubtless from Nansemond, Va., where were many dissenters, there came individuals and squads as refugees and settlers, under the impulsion of adverse legislation .* But the earliest authentic date of any settlement is 1662. In this year, George Durant, who had probably been banished from Nanse- mond, in 1648, by Governor Berkley, secured a grant from the Yeopim Indians of the tongue of land on the north side of Albemarle Sound, between Little River and the Perquimons. It is still known as "Durant's Neck." He stands the oldest landholder in Albemarle. Mr. Durant is said to have been a Scotch Presbyterian elder, a godly man in his congregation.t Like a Scotchman, he brought his Geneva Bible with him; and
* J. W. Campbell's Hist. of Va., p. 256-'7.
t Chas. Campbell's Hist. of Va. ; Scotch and Irish Seeds, 267; Bancroft's U. S.
12
NORTH CAROLINA.
it is the first known to have been in Carolina, and is preserved as a precious relic in the Historical Society of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill.
In 1663, George Cathmaid came with his emigrants, and the growth began. Very soon the Cape Fear settlements were securely established. The country between Albemarle and Clarendon, on the Cape Fear River, was more slowly occupied, the first settlers being the French Protestant refugees, who were Calvinists from the colony on James River, Va., and who located in Pamlico, near Bath, in 1690. In 1707, another colony of Huguenots settled on the Neuse and Trent rivers, in Craven County.
Lawson's Testimony.
John Lawson wrote his history in 1708. He was Surveyor- General of North Carolina, and travelled extensively over both Carolinas. He describes the country with enthusiasm, as " A delicious country, being placed in that girdle of the world which affords wine, oil, fruit, grain and silk, with other rich commodities, besides a sweet air, moderate climate and fertile soil-these are blessings (under heaven's protection) that spin out the thread of life to its utmost extent, and crown our days with the sweets of health and plenty, which, when joined with content, renders the possessors the happiest race of men on earth." After speaking of the failure of Sir Walter Raleigh's settlements, he says, "A second settlement of this country was made about fifty years ago, in that part we now call Albemarl County, and chiefly in Chuwon precinct, by several substantial farmers from Virginia and other plantations, who, finding mild winters, and a fertile soil beyond expectation, producing every- thing that was planted to a prodigious increase, their cattle, horses, sheep and swine breeding very fast, and passing the winter without any assistance from the planter, so that every- thing seemed to come by nature, the husbandman living almost void of care, and free from those fatigues which are absolutely requisite in winter countries, for providing fodder and other necessaries; these encouragements induced them to stand their
.
13
LAWSON S TESTIMONY.
ground, although but a handful of people, seated at great dis- tances one from another, and amidst a vast number of Indians of different nations, who were then in Carolina. Neverthe- less, I say, the fame of this new discovered summer country spread through the neighboring colonies, and in a few years drew a considerable number of families thereto, who all found land enough to settle themselves in (had they been many thou- sands more), and that which was very good and commodiously seated, both for profit and pleasure. And indeed most of the plantations in Carolina enjoy a noble prospect of large and spacious rivers, pleasant savannahs and fine meadows, with their green liveries interwoven with beautiful flowers of most gorgeous colors, which the several seasons afford, hedged in with pleasant groves of the ever famous tulip tree, the stately laurels and bays, equalizing the oak in bigness and growth, myrtles, jessamines, woodbines, honeysuckles, and several other fragrant vines and evergreens, whose aspiring branches shadow and interweave themselves with the loftiest timbers, yielding a pleasant prospect, shade and smell, proper habitations for the sweet singing birds, that melodiously entertain such as travel through the woods of Carolina."
Lawson says that it was remarkable as a particular provi- dence of God, handed down from heaven to these people, so irregularly settled, that they "continued the most free from the insults and barbarities of the Indians of any colony that ever yet was seated in America. And what may well be looked upon for as great a miracle, this is a place where no malefac- tors are found deserving death, or even a prison for debtors, there being no more than two persons, as far as I have been able to learn, ever suffered as criminals, although it has been a settlement near sixty years-one of whom was a Turk that committed murder, the other an old woman, for witchcraft. These, 'tis true, were on the stage and acted many years before I knew the place." This does not seem to be a population of violent characters. These planters lived a free and easy life- were poor farmers, rejoicing in the exuberant and inexhausti- ble richness of the soil, yielding annually without any manur-
14
NORTH CAROLINA.
ing-were "kind and hospitable to all that come to visit them, there being very few housekeepers but what live nobly, and give away more provisions to coasters and guests who come to see them than they expend amongst their own families." "As for those women that do not expose themselves to the weather, they are often very fair, and generally as well-featured as you shall see anywhere, and have very brisk and charming eyes, which sets them off to advantage. They marry very young, some at thirteen or fourteen; and she that stays till twenty is reckoned a very indifferent character in that warm country. The women are very fruitful-most houses being full of little ones. . . Many of the women manage canoes with great
dexterity. They are ready to help their husbands in any ser- vile work, as planting, when the season of the weather requires expedition; pride seldom banishing good housewifery. The girls are not bred up to the wheel and sewing only, but the dairy and the affairs of the house they are very well acquainted withal, so that you shall see them, whilst very young, manage their business with a great deal of conduct and alacrity. The children of both sexes are very docile, and learn anything with a great deal of ease and method; and those that have the ad- vantages of education write very good hands, and prove good accountants, which is most coveted, and, indeed, most neces- sary in these parts. The young men are commonly of a bash- ful, sober behavior, few proving prodigals to consume what the industry of their parents has left them, but commonly improve it." The easy way of living in this new and plentiful country fostered negligence. Lawson writes, "The women are the most industrious sex in that place, and by their good house- wifery make a great deal of cloth of their own cotton, wool and flax, some of them keeping their families, though large, very decently appareled, both with linens and woollens, so that they have no occasion to run into the merchant's debt, or lay their money out in stores for clothing." The lands, too, were about one-fiftieth the price of those in Virginia and Maryland. So we are not surprised to read, "We have yearly abundance of strangers come among us, who chiefly strive to go southerly
15
RELIGIOUS CONDITION.
to settle, because there is a vast tract of rich land betwixt the place we are seated in and Cape Fear, and upon that river, and more southerly, which is inhabited by none but a few Indians, who are at this time well affected towards the English, and very desirous of their coming to live among them." . . . "And as there is a free exercise of all persuasions amongst Christians, the Lords Proprietors to encourage ministers of the Church of England have given free land towards the maintenance of a church, and especially for the parish of St. Thomas, in Pamp- ticough."* The advantages of this colony were, in Mr. Law- son's opinion, largely above those of any other in many im- portant respects; and this could not be so reported to Lord Craven, Palatine and the Lords Proprietors, concerning a pro- vince, whose inhabitants were generally, or to any considerable degree, constituted of fugitives from justice, or other disrepu- table and disorderly persons.
End of the Proprietary Government .- Religious Condition,
The proprietary government, after sixty-six years of blun- dering misrule, was closed by sale to the Crown in 1729. The population of the province was scattered and small, amounting, perhaps, to 13,000. Scarcely a school existed in the colony. In 1709, Rev. Mr. Gordon wrote, "The people, indeed, are ig- norant, there being few that can read, and fewer write, even of their Justices of Peace and vestrymen." His field had been Perquimons, Chowan and Pasquotank. There were two or three rude Episcopal churches, and a few Quaker meeting- houses, but not one clergyman living in 1729 in the "un- blessed " colony. On the Boundary Commission of 1728, there was a Virginia Chaplain, Rev. Peter Fontaine, an Episcopal minister,t appointed partly that people on the frontiers of North Carolina might get themselves and children baptized. "There
* Lawson's Hist. of Carolina, pp. 109, 127, 135, 143, 272, &c.
t An uncle of the author, removed four generations backwards. He was Rector of Westover Parish, Va.
16
NORTH CAROLINA.
were Quakers in the lower end of Nansemond," said Colonel Byrd, "for want of ministers to pilot the people a decenter way to heaven." So when the chaplain "rubbed us up with a seasonable sermon, this was quite a new thing to our brethren of North Carolina, who live in a climate where no clergyman can breath, any more than spiders in Ireland." "For want of men in holy orders, both the members of the council and jus- tices of the peace are empowered by the laws of that country to marry all those who will not take one another's word; but for the ceremony of christening their children, they trust that to chance. If a parson come in their way, they will crave a cast of his office, as they call it, else they are content their offspring should remain as arrant pagans as themselves. . They have the least superstition of any people living. They do not know Sunday from any other day, any more than Robinson Crusoe did, which would give them a great advantage were they given to be industrious. But they keep so many Sabbaths every week that their disregard of the seventh day has no manner of cruelty in it, either to servants or cattle."
The religious aspect of the colony is further shown by "our chaplain taking a turn to Edenton, to preach the Gospel to the infidels there, and christen their children. He was accom- panied thither by Mr. Little, one of the Carolina commis- sioners, who, to show his regard for the Church, offered to treat him on the road to a fricassee of rum. They fried half a dozen rashers of very fat bacon in a pint of run, both of which being dished up together, served the company at once both for meat and drink. Most of the rum they get in this country comes from New England, and is so bad and unwhole- some' that it is not unfrequently called kill-devil." In Eden- ton "there may be forty or fifty houses, most of them small, and built without expense. A citizen here is counted extrava- gant if he has ambition enough to aspire to a brick chimney. Justice itself is but indifferently lodged, the courthouse having much the air of a common tobacco house. I believe this is the only metropolis in the Christian or Mahometan world, where there is neither church, chapel, mosque, synagogue, or any
17
RELIGIOUS CONDITION.
other place of worship of any sect or religion whatsoever. What little devotion there may happen to be is much more private than their vices. The people seem easy without a min- ister, so long as they are exempted from paying him. Some- times 'the Society for Propagating the Gospel' has had the charity to send over missionaries to this country ; but unfortu- nately the priest has been too lewd for the people, or, which oftener happens, they too lewd for the priest. For these rea- sons these reverend gentlemen have always left their flocks as arrant heathen as they found them. This much, however, may be said for the inhabitants of Edenton, that not a soul has the least taint of hypocrisy or superstition, acting very frankly and above-board in all their excesses." Here Mr. Fontaine " preached in the courthouse, for want of a consecrated place, and made no less than nineteen of Father Hennepin's Chris- tians." At another place he says, "We christened two of our landlord's children, which might have remained infidels all their lives, had we not carried Christianity home to his own door. The truth of it is, our neighbors of North Carolina are not so zealous as to go much out of their way to procure this benefit for their children, otherwise, being so near Virginia, they might, without exceeding much trouble, make a journey to the next clergyman, upon so good an errand. And, indeed, should the neighboring ministers, once in two or three years, vouchsafe to take a turn among these Gentiles, to baptize them and their children, it would look a little apostolical, and they might hope to be requited for it hereafter, if that be not thought too long to turry for their reward." On the survey, Sommer- ton Chapel was thrown two miles over the Virginia line ; so Col. Byrd wrote, "There was now no place of public worship in the whole province of North Carolina." As was shown above, this was a mistake, though not far from the truth. These copious excerpts from a rare contemporaneous diary throw light on the spiritural condition of the province.
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