USA > North Carolina > Notes on colonial North Carolina, 1700-1750 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Gc 975.6 G88n 1686627
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
-
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02400 7830
1
Gc
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/notesoncolonialn00grim_0
NOTES
ON
COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750
WRITTEN FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET By JD BRYAN GRIMES
REPRINTED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OCTOBER, 1905
NOTES
ON
1686627 COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750
WRITTEN FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET By J. BRYAN GRIMES
REPRINTED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OCTOBER, 1905
This article first appeared in the North Carolina Booklet and, as it contains valuable historical information, which has not been heretofore published and is not easily accessible to the people of the State, it is deemed advisable by the His- torical Commission to publish it in separate form for distri- bution, especially to libraries and students of North Carolina history.
W. J. PEELE, Chairman N. C. Historical Commission.
October 5, 1905.
"Some Notes on Colonial North Carolina, 1700-1750" was written at the request of the editors of the North Caro- lina Booklet and is a hastily prepared sketch of certain phases of the life of our people in that period of our history which i- least known and most misrepresented.
Space would not admit of an article of sufficient length to give a satisfactory or comprehensive view of Colonial con- ditions in Eastern North Carolina, but enough is written, sustained by the record, to show that our painters have clouded rather than illumined the canvas in making the picture of the early Carolinian. From notes and material at hand it is possible that later a better considered and more extended sketch of Colonial North Carolina will be written.
J. BRYAN GRIMES. October 5, 1905.
REFERENCES WITH ABBREVIATIONS.
Hawks' History of North Carolina. Hawks Brickell's Natural History of North Carolina,
(Edition of 1735), Brickell
Lawson's History of Carolina (Edition of 1709), Lawson
Martin's History of North Carolina. Martin Colonial Records of North Carolina, C. R.
Saunders' Prefatory Notes to Colonial Records
of North Carolina, S. P. N. Bancroft's History of the United States,
(Edition of 1856). Ban.
Statutes at Large of Great Britain (Edition of 1763),
Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina, Carr. Coll. Chalmers' Introduction to the History of the
Revolt of the American Colonies. Chalmers Holmes' Annals of America, Holmes' Annals Lossings' Field Book of the Revolution ( Edition of 1852), . Lossing
Laws of North Carolina, Record of Grants, Original Papers, Wills, Inventories, Maps, etc., in the Secretary of State's Office.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
BY J. BRYAN GRIMES.
In writing of Colonial North Carolina I can not do a bet- ter service than to present bare facts with sources of infor- mation rather than give an expression of my views and con- clusions as to social conditions in our province before 1750. Before the middle of the eighteenth century we had no press and the world heard of us only from the print of the out- sider who, from jealousy, ignorance or prejudice, did not do us justice. Having no historian of our own in Colonial times, our writers have relied as an authority upon Chalmers, whose every chapter was a continued vituperation or misrepresenta- tion of our State. George Chalmers was born in Scotland, in 1742, and "emigrated to Maryland where he practiced law for ten years, till the troubles of the Revolution began, and then he returned to England." He was a bitter loyalist who had no patience with the spirit of American indepen- dence. The first of his historical works was published in 1781 during the Revolutionary War.
Of our history Col. Saunders says : "The first search made in London for information in regard to North Caro- lina affairs was doubtless that made by the historian George Chalmers, who, in 1780, published his Political Annals of the Present United Colonies, the fruit of his labors in the British Record Office to which the official position he held gave him access. This volume has been the standard au- thority with all later Carolina historians. Its general ac- curacy as to matters of fact is by no means perfect, and Mr.
6
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Chalmers' bitter prejudices as a loyalist render his conclu- sions utterly unreliable.
At a later date the historian Williamson, who desired copies of certain papers in London relating to Carolina, hoped that Mr. Chalmers would furnish him therewith or assist him in obtaining them. Mr. Chalmers would do neither and threatened to interfere if application should be made to the head of the proper department."
Let us glance at some of the writings of this "standard authority with all later North Carolina historians" and com- pare them with the pages of Bancroft.
Of this colony just before the Culpeper rebellion Chalmers says :
"Originally a sprout from Virginia, the unprosperous plantation of North Carolina naturally produced the same unpleasant fruits, during that boisterous season. Alteration of system, no less than change of governors had long pre- vented the revolt of a colony, which, in 1675, contained only four thousand inhabitants, who derived, unhappily, no bene- fit from the coercion of laws or the influences of religion." a
Of this same period Bancroft says :
"The government had for about a year been left in what Royalists called 'Ill order and worse hands.' That is, it had been a government of the people themselves, favoring popular liberty, even to the protection of the friends of Colonial In- dependence." b
Chalmers writes again :
"North Carolina enjoyed unusual quiet for some time after the expulsion of Sothell, because continued anarchy often prompts a desire for fixed repose. * * *
The most inconsiderable community of North Carolina has never relinquished the flattering gratifications of self-rule, even when they were inconvenient. Having refused to join in
a Chal., p. 166.
b Ban., Vol. 2, p. 157.
----
-
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 7
legislation with their Southern neighbors, the inhabitants were delivered over to their discontents; having denied sub- mission to the Deputy-Governor sent them from Charleston, the proprietaries seem in despair to have relinquished them to their own management, in 1695, without inquiring for seven years after, whether they prospered or declined." a
In contrast to the above Bancroft writes :
"Here was a double grief to the proprietaries; the rapacity of Sothell was a breach of trust; the judgment of the Assembly an ominous usurpation. * * The planters of North Carolina recovered tranquility so soon as they escaped the misrule from abroad, and sure of am- nesty, esteemed themselves the happiest people on earth. They loved the pure air and clear skies of their ‘summer land.' "> * *
"The planters of Albemarle were men who had been led to the choice of their residence from a hatred of restraint, and had lost themselves among the woods in search of inde- pendence. Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self- government, let them study the history of North Carolina ; its inhabitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission to a government imposed on them from abroad; the administration of the colony was firm, humane and tran- quil when they were left to take care of themselves. Any government, but one of their own institution, was oppres- sive. *
* North Carolina was settled by the freest of the free; by men to whom the restraints of other colonies were too severe. But the settlers were gentle in their temp- ers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and blood-shed. * * Freedom, entire freedom, was enjoyed without anxiety as without guarantees : the charities of life were scat- tered at their feet, like the flowers in their meadows; and the spirit of humanity maintained its influence in the Ar-
a Chalmers, pp. 264, 399.
S
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
cadia, as Royalist writers will have it, of 'rogues and rebels' in the paradise of Quakers." a
After a half page of sneers at North Carolina to cover a period of her history, he, Chalmers, ends a chapter thus :
"And this wretched province was continually branded as the general receptacle of the fugitive, the smuggler and the pirate; as a community, destitute of religion to meliorate the heart, or of laws to direct the purpose of the will. * In North Carolina disorder is said to have continued its natural progress from the epoch of its settlement to the ac- cession of George the Second. Destitute of the kindly in- fluences of religion and of law, the planters acquired peculiar habits from acting a singular part amidst perpetual tumult.
* Owing to his usual inattention, the Duke of New- * * castle sent Burrington, a man still more weak and corrupt, and intemperate than his predecessor to rule such a people during such a season. * * In April, 1733, Johnston. a domestic of Lord Wilmington, was appointed his succes- sor, a man of sufficient knowledge and prudence, but whose experience degenerated a little into cunning.
* * And during the year 1749 North Carolina was found to 'be a little better than an asylum for fugitives since it was desti- tute of any regular government.' Such are the unpleasant incidents which occupy the story of an inconsiderable set- tlement, that gradually filled with people as the law offered protection to the vagabond, as every one lived without con- trol, and all enjoyed in security what a trivial labor had gained." b
While the North Carolina patriots were blazing the way for American independence, and a year or two before their armed resistance to Great Britain, this man Chalmers, who for a century was accepted as authority on our Colonial his- tory, dismisses us from history in these words :
"The story of this tumultous settlement is from this period filled with nothing but the play of parties, the wailings of imbecility and the complaint of recrimination." c
a Ban .. Vol. 2, pp. 158, 164, 165.
b Chalmers, Vol. 2. pp. 81, 163, 164, 165 and 197.
c Chal., Vol. 2. p. 361.
9
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
In the earliest time of our colonization, because we gave protection to the defeated patriot followers of Bacon, Gov. Berkeley in his murderous wrath slandered and maligned us.
In the settlement of our northern boundary line, because we could not be outwitted or cajoled, Col. Byrd ridiculed us, and the people who were esteemed as Virginians, when they were found to reside on the south of the boundary line, were aspersed as North Carolinians.
When North Carolina spent her blood and treasure in the defence of other colonies especially Virginia, in the war against the French and Indians on the Ohio, Sparks, writing of the Commander-in-Chief, James Innes, and his Carolin- ians, gravely and seriously remarks: "But, aside from the incompetency of this officer, he was an inhabitant of North Carolina, and, as such, unacceptable to the Virginia troops" a *
:: * * *:
"Ill fares it with a State whose history is written by others than her own sons !"
For a century and a half no native Carolinian attempted to tell the story of his people-we had neither pen nor type to speak for us. Printing was introduced into North Caro- lina by James Davis in 1749. Previous to that time our printing was done in London, in Virginia and at Charleston.
The first newspaper we had was in 1764-The North Car- olina Magazine and Universal Intelligencer, published by James Davis, "on a demi-sheet in quarto pages, but it was
a The Writings of Washington. Vol. 2. p. 262 note.
* NOTE .- Col. Byrd, in spite of his ridicule of our people. seemed to think well of our soil and climate. as he wrote Gov. Burrington in 1731: "It must be owned North Carolina is a very happy country where people may live with the least labor that they can in any part of the world." C. R .. Vol. 3. p. 194.
In 1733 he secured twenty thousand acres of land in North Caro- lina on the Virginia line of which he writes as "the Land of Eden." Gen. Jas. D. Glenn and Hon. R. B. Glenn now own three thousand acres of this same tract-Gov. Glenn informs me that a beech tree. one of the original corners of the Byrd survey is still standing with the initials of Col. Byrd cut thereon. This tree is one of the corners of the Glenn estate, and is now fenced and carefully protected from depredations.
10 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
filled with long extracts from the works of theological writers, or selections from British magazines." a
Our first newspaper controversy of which I find record was in 1732, when Gov. George Burrington published a procla- mation in Timothy's Southern Gazette in regard to our southern boundary line, and Gov. Johnston replied with a counter proclamation, setting forth South Carolina's claim in the same issue." b
"The second newspaper in North Carolina was called the North Carolina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. It was printed at Wilmington, by Andrew Stewart, a Scotchman, and contained intelligence of current events. The first num- ber was published in September, 1764. The Cape Fear Mer- cury was established by Adam Boyd in October, 1767. Boyd was a zealous patriot, and was an active member of the Com- mittee of Safety of Wilmington." c
In the space of an article of this nature it will be impos- sible to attempt a portrayal of conditions in North Carolina in the colonial period, so I will give some notes on North Carolina before the middle of the eighteenth century, when, with the fall of the fortunes of the house of Stuart, that great immigration set in that brought many thousands of Scot- land's best people to us. This immigration made North Carolina second in growth and development to no province
a Lossing.
b Saunders, P. N., Vol. 5, 36; C. R., Vol. 5, 373.
c Lossing.
* NOTE .- The first newspaper in America was at Boston in 1704 called the Boston News-Letter, a weekly gazette by Bartholomew Green ; Holmes' Annals. Vol. 1, p. 400, and until 1719 this was the only paper printed in the British North American Colonies. Printing was first introduced into Virginia by William Parks in 1726. Holmes' Annals, Vol. 1. p. 539. The first paper published in Virginia was issued "at Williamsburg in 1736, a sheet about twelve inches by six in size. It was printed weekly by William Parks, at fifteen shillings per annum. No other paper was published in Virginia until the Stamp Act excitement in 1765-6." Lossing. A printing house was opened in Charleston by Eleazer Phillips, in 1730, who died the fol- lowing year. Thomas Whitemarsh arrived soon after with a press and began the publication of a newspaper, the first printed in the Carolinas. Holmes' Annals.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 11
in America. It is unfortunate that we had no contemporary chronicler to draw a true picture of the social and industrial conditions of those times-the home-life of our people.
The absence of cities, which are usually the literary cen- ters, and want of known depositories where records could be collected and preserved, has permitted the destruction of most of the literature, papers and personal correspondence of our early colonial times. This absence is accounted for by an historian as follows:
"Nor are the towns of any considerable note. This last - circumstance is owing to the vast commodiousness of water carriage, which everywhere presents itself to the plantations of private planters, and scarcity of handicraft." a
Such papers and records as have been preserved throw more light upon the public and political questions of the day than upon the personal, social and industrial life of the early Carolinian. Probably the richest sources from which to gather information of the social life of that day are the wills and inventories filed in the office of the Secretary of State. This is a field of exploration that will yet bring out much truth and make a fair presentation of our social con- ditions of which we will not be ashamed. North Carolina authors have relied for the picture of the home-life of our people largely upon the writers in other colonies, who have denied us justice, and in some cases seemed to feel it neces- sary to bolster the glories of their own colonies by disparag- ing North Carolina and making comparison therewith.
I do not intend to exaggerate the virtues and excellencies of our colonists, but will try to give a brief view of our province, relying on the cotemporary records, and wherever possible, quote the words of the writers which paint her just as she was. "warts and all."
It is admitted that the physical conditions of a country largely determine the character, industry and habits of its
a Holmes' Annals, Vol. 2, p. 117.
12 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
people. Under the second charter of Charles II, Carolina embraced over a million square miles. It included all the land on the American Continent between 29 and 36 degrees 30 minutes North latitude. The northern boundary line be- came the line of the famous Missouri Compromise. After the separation of North Carolina and South Carolina, the northern colony was confined to the territory between 34 degrees and 36.30 N. latitude. This is the choicest belt of the temperate zone. The greatest nations of the earth have been the product of this latitude. In this paper we will have reference only to that part of North Carolina lying on the seaboard and watered by the Chowan, Roanoke, Pamlico, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers, being the only part that was settled during the period under consideration. The coastal plain region of North Carolina lies in "the same parallel of latitude as the central Mediterranean basin, that climatically most favored region of the globe." a
Dr. Emmons says "middle and Eastern North Carolina cor- respond to middle and Southern France, and Western North Carolina to Northern France and Belgium-all the climates of Italy from Palermo to Milan and Venice are represented."
The soil of Eastern North Carolina in variety and fer- tility is unsurpassed, ranging from the black or sandy loam to the most retentive clays-our rich swamp soils show "a greater capacity for endurance than the prairie soils of Illi- nois." b
For agricultural and stock-raising advantages, the climatic and soil conditions in tide-water North Carolina are un- equalled. With a mean temperature of 61 degrees Fahren- heit, and a precipitation of 55 inches, everything can be raised that can be grown in the North temperate zone. So varied are her agricultural products that North Carolina is the only State that fills every divisional column of the cen-
a North Carolina and its Resources.
b Dr. Emmons.
-----
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 13
sus reports. One viewing the State with a critic's eye must exclaim with Hon. W. D. Kelly, of Pennsylvania, "North Carolina is the fairest portion of God's earth on which my feet have ever rested." a
In Barlowe's account of his first voyage to North Carolina he says: "The soil is the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and wholesome of all the world."
Robert Horne, writing in 1664 of the Cape Fear Country, says : b
"Is there therefore any younger brother who is born of gentle blood and whose spirit is elevated above the common sort, and yet the hard usage of our country hath not allowed a suitable fortune ? He will not surely be afraid to leave his native soil to advance his fortunes equal to his blood and spirit, and so he will avoid those unlawful ways too many of our young gentlemen take to maintain themselves accord- ing to their high education, having but small estates ; here, with a few. servants and a small stock, a great estate may be raised, although his birth has not entitled him to any of the land of his ancestors, yet his industry may supply him so as to make him the head of as famous a family. Such as are here tormented with much care how to gain a comfort- able livelihood, or that with their labor can hardly get a suitable subsistence, shall do well to go to this place, where any man whatever, that is but willing to take moderate pains, may be assured of a most comfortable subsistence, and be in a way to raise his fortunes far beyond what he could ever hope for in England. Let no man be troubled at the thought of being a servant four or five years, for I can assure you that many men give money with their children to serve seven years, to take more pains and fare nothing so well as the servants on this plantation will do. Then it is to be con- sidered that so soon as he is out of his time he has land and
a North Carolina and its Resources.
h Hawks. Vol. 2. p. 41.
14 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
tools, and clothes given him, and is in a way of advance- ment. Therefore all artificers-as carpenters, wheelwrights, joiners, coopers, bricklayers, smiths, or diligent husbandmen and laborers, that are willing to advance their fortunes, and live in a most pleasant, healthful and fruitful country, where artificers are of high esteem, and used with all civility and courtesy imaginable may take notice."
Lawson tells us that in 1700 an extensive traveller assured him that Carolina was the best country he could go to.
In writing of North Carolina Lawson says :
"A second Settlement of this Country was made about fifty Years ago, in that part we now call Albemarl-Country, and chiefly in Chuwon Precinct, by several substantial Planters from Virginia and other Plantations; Who, finding mild Winters and 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 Winters without any Assistance from the Planter; so that everything seemed to come by Nature, the Husbandman liv- ing almost void of Care, and free from those fatigues which are absolutely requisite in Winter-Countries. * * Nevertheless, I say, the Fame of this new-discovered summer country spread thro' 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 there been many Thousand more), and that which was very good and commodiously seated, both for Profit and Pleasure. And, indeed, most of the Plantations in Carolina, naturally enjoy a noble Prospect of large and spacious Rivers, pleasant Savannas and fine meadows." * * *
"The Planters possessing all these Blessings and the Pro- duce of great Quantities of Wheat and Indian Corn, in which this Country is very fruitful as likewise in Beef, Pork, Tal- low, Hides, Deer-Skins and Furs; For these Commodities the New-England-Men and Bermudians visited Carolina in their
-
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 15
Barks and Sloops, and carry'd out what they made, bringing them in Exchange Rum, Sugar, Salt, Molasses and some wearing Apparel, tho' the last at very extravagant prices." ** "The inhabitants of Carolina, thro' the richness of the Soil live an easy and pleasant life. * * * The country in general affords pleasant Seats, the Land (except in some few places) being dry and high banks, parcell'd out into most convenient Necks (by the Creeks), easy to be fenced in for securing their Stocks to more strict Boun- daries whereby, with a small trouble of fencing, almost every Man may enjoy, to himself, an entire Plantation, or rather Park." * * * "As the land is very fruitful, so are the Planters hospitable to all that come to visit them ; there being very few housekeepers but what live very nobly and give array more Provisions to Coasters and Guests who come to see them, than they expend among their own Families." a
"Carolina was settled under the auspices of the wealthiest and most influential nobility, and its fundamental laws were framed with forethought by the most sagacious politician and the most profound philosopher of England." Later, "the colonists repudiated the Constitutions of Carolina," adopting only those parts most suited to their needs. b
The early settlers of North Carolina were English, from Virginia, New England and Old England and Barbadoes ; French Huguenots and German Palatines. The English set- tled in Albemarle and Bath counties ; the French on Pamlico, Neuse and Trent Rivers in Bath, and the Germans on Neuse and Trent. The Barbadians who first settled at Cape Fear did not follow Yeamans to South Carolina. They went up to the Albemarle settlement and to Nansemond County, in Virginia, in part, and in part to Boston. In this fact is to be found an easy explanation of the increase at this time in Albemarle both from New England and from Barbadoes. c
a Lawson. pp. 63. 64.
b Bancroft, Vol. 2, p. 128.
c S. P. N., Vol. 1, p. 10.
16 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Those in New England kept up their relations with their kinsmen in North Carolina. The New Eng- land skipper and trader practically controlled the com- merce of this province by exchanging their manufactures for our produce. There was increasing immigration from New England to North Carolina which continued until the Civil War of 1S61.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.