USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 23
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
The patent, as well as the report of these officers to Sir Walter Raleigh, is recorded in Hakluyt's Voyages, (vol. iii. p. 301.) This land was Roanoake Island, in Currituck County. For extracts from said report, see Currituck County.
" They were the first, that ever burst Into that silent sea."+
In Oct., 1749, a furious storm destroyed Beacon Island, near Ocracoke Inlet.t
The United States have a fort at Beaufort, called Fort Macon, and a light-house on Cape Look-out.
Population, 3,572 whites ; 290 free negroes ; 2,187 slaves ; and 5,174 federal population.
Products, 2,133 bushels of wheat ; 32,674 bushels of corn ; 4,283 pounds of cotton ; 3,755 pounds of wool; $41,200 value of vessels owned ; and 15,347 barrels of turpentine.
The chief inlet of our State is on the northern point of this county, Ocracoke Inlet, through which all vessels navigating the Albemarle Country must pass. It is obstructed by a bar of sand, over which vessels drawing more than twelve feet water must be lightened. This is a great drawback to the commerce of North Carolina.
* Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 92.
t Coleridge. # Williamson, vol. ii. p. 64.
74
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Near it is Teach's Hole,* which preserves the name of a noted pirate, in the days of Governor Eden, whose career and fate are already recorded, and with whose name tradition still associates heaps of buried treasures.
In the Assembly of freemen that first assembled in North Carolina, without the consent and independent of the English Crown, which met at Newbern, August 25th, 1774, WM. THOMPSON, appeared for Carteret.
In the Assembly at Newbern, in April, 1775, WILLIAM THOMPSON and SOLO- MON SHEPPARD.
In the Assembly at Hillsboro', in August, 1775, JOHN EASON, WM. THOMP- SON, BRICE WILLIAMS, SOLOMON SHEPPARD and ENOCH WARD.
In the Assembly at Halifax, on Nov. 12th, 1776, which formed our consti- tution, appeared for Carteret, SOLOMON SHEPPARD, BRICE WILLIAMS, WM. BORDEN, JOHN EASTON and THOMAS CHADWICK.
In the organization of the Continental troops by the State Congress, in August, 1775, for Carteret County, William Thompson was Colonel; Solo- mon Shepard, Lieutenant-Colonel; Thomas Chadwick, Major; and Malachi Bell, Second Major.
In 1809, the seat of Jacob Henry, one of the members from this county, was vacated on the ground that " he denied the divine authority of the New Testament."
This was the first time in the history of the State that this question had been made, which underwent in the Convention which reformed the Consti- tution in 1835, so able and searching investigation. Mr. Henry, in an able speech, said to be the production of Chief Justice Taylor, defended his rights, and he was aided by the luminous efforts of Judge Gaston.
Speech of Mr. Jacob Henry.
"I certainly, Mr. Speaker, know not the design of the Declaration of Rights made by the people of this State in the year 1776, if it was not to conse- crate certain great and fundamental rights and principles which even the Constitution cannot impair; for the 44th section of the latter instrument declares that the Declaration of Rights ought never to be violated, on any pretence whatever; if there is any apparent difference between the two in- struments, they ought, if possible, to be reconciled; but if there is a final repugnance between them, the Declaration of Rights must be considered paramount; for I believe it is to the Constitution, as the Constitution is to law ; it controls and directs it absolutely and conclusively. If, then, a belief in the Protestant religion is required by the Constitution, to qualify a man for a seat in this house, and such qualification is dispensed with by the De- claration of Rights, the provision of the Constitution must be altogether in- operative; as the language of the Bill of Rights is, "that all men have a natural and inalienable right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD according to the dic- tates of their own consciences." It is undoubtedly a natural right, and when it is declared to be an inalienable one by the people in their sovereign and original capacity, any attempt to alienate either by the Constitution or by law, must be vain and fruitless.
" It is difficult to conceive how such a provision crept into the Constitution, unless it is from the difficulty the human mind feels in suddenly emancipating itself from fetters by which it has long been enchained: and how adverse it is to the feelings and manners of the people of the present day every gentle- man may satisfy himself by glancing at the religious belief of the persons who fill the various offices in this State: there are Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists, Mennonists, Baptists, Trinitarians, and Unitarians. But, as far as my observation extends, there are fewer Protestants, in the strict sense of the word, used by the Constitution, than of any other persuasion ; for I sup-
Vol. i. p. 31.
75
CARTERET COUNTY.
pose that they meant by it, the Protestant religion as established by the law in England. For other persuasions we see houses of worship in almost every part of the State, but very few of the Protestant; so few, that indeed I fear that the people of this State would for some time remain unrepresented in this House, if that clause of the Constitution is supposed to be in force. So far from believing in the Thirty-nine Articles, I will venture to assert that a majority of the people never have read them.
" If a man should hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, I do not hesitate to pronounce that he should be ex- cluded from the public councils of the same; aad I trust if I know myself, no one would be more ready to aid and assist than myself. But I should really be at a loss to specify any known religious principles which are thus dangerous. It is surely a question between a man and his Maker, and re- quires more than human attributes to pronounce which of the numerous sects prevailing in the world is most acceptable to the Deity. If a man ful- fils" the duties of that religion, which his education or his conscience has pointed to him as the true one, no person, I hold, in this our land of liberty, has a right to arraign him at the bar of any inquisition : and the day, I trust, has long passed, when principles merely speculative were propagated by force ; when the sincere and pious were made victims, and the light-minded bribed into hypocrites.
"The purest homage man could render to the Almighty was in the sacrifice of his passions and the performance of his duties. That the ruler of the uni- verse would receive with equal benignity the various offerings of man's ado- ration, if they proceeded from the heart. Governments only concern the actions and conduct of man, and not his speculative notions. Who among us feels himself so exalted above his fellows as to have a right to dictate to them any mode of belief? Shall this free country set an example of perse- cution, which even the returning reason of enslaved Europe would not sub- mit to ? Will you bind the conscience in chains, and fasten conviction upon the mind in spite of the conclusions of reason and of those ties and habitudes which are blended with every pulsation of the heart? Are you prepared to plunge at once from the sublime heights of moral legislation into the dark and gloomy caverns of superstitious ignorance? Will you drive from your shores and from the shelter of your constitution, all who do not lay their oblations on the same altar, observe the same ritual, and subscribe to the same dogmas? If so, which, among the various sects into which we are divided, shall be the favored one ?
"I should insult the understanding of this House to suppose it possible that they could ever assent to such absurdities; for all know that persecution in all its shapes and modifications, is contrary to the genius of our govern- ment and the spirit of our laws, and that it can never produce any other effect than to render men hypocrites or martyrs.
"When Charles V., Emperor of Germany, tired of the cares of government, resigned his crown to his son, he retired to a monastery, where he amused the evening of his life in regulating the movements of watches, endeavoring to make a number keep the same time; but, not being able to make any two go exactly alike, it led him to reflect upon the folly and crimes he had com- mitted, in attempting the impossibility of making men think alike !!
"Nothing is more easily demonstrated than that the conduct alone is the subject of human laws, and that man ought to suffer civil disqualification for what he does, and not for what he thinks. The mind can receive laws only from Him, of whose Divine essence it is a portion; He alone can punish dis- obedience; for who else can know its movements, or estimate their merits ? The religion I profess, inculcates every duty which man owes to his fellow men; it enjoins upon its votaries the practice of every virtue, and the detest- ation of every vice ; it teaches them to hope for the favor of heaven exactly in proportion as their lives have been directed by just, honorable, and bene- ficent maxims. This, then, gentlemen, is my creed; it was impressed upon my infant mind ; it has been the director of my youth, the monitor of my manhood, and will, I trust, be the consolation of my old age. At any rate,
76
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure that you cannot see anything in this Religion, to de- prive me of my seat in this house. So far as relates to my life and conduct, the examination of these I submit with cheerfulness to your candid and liberal construction. What may be the religion of him who made this ob- jection against me, or whether he has any religion or not I am unable to say. I have never considered it my duty to pry into the belief of other members of this house. If their actions are upright and conduct just, the rest is for their own consideration, not for mine. I do not seek to make converts to my faith, whatever it may be esteemed in the eyes of my officious friend, nor do I exclude any one from my esteem or friendship, because he and I differ in that respect. The same charity, therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect, will be extended to myself, because in all things that relate to the State and to the duties of civil life, I am bound by the same obligations with my fellow- citizens, nor does any man subscribe more sincerely than myself to the maxim, "whatever ye would that men should do unto you do ye so even unto them, for such is the law and the prophets."
The members of the Legislature from Carteret are as follows :---
Years. Senators.
Members of the House of Commons.
1778. John Easton,
Sol. Shepard.
1783. John Easton,
Enoch Ward, Eli West.
1785. John Easton,
Enoch Ward, Eli West.
1786. . John Easton,
Eli West, John Fulford.
1787. John Easton,
1788. Joseph Hill,
1791. Malachi Bell,
1792.
David Ward,
John Fulford, A. Jones. Adam Gaskins, William Russell.
1794.
D. Ward,
1795.
D. Ward,
James Wallace, Wm. Russell.
1796.
John Fulford,
James Wallace, Aden Jones.
1797.
John Fulford,
Asa Bishop, Newell Bell.
1800. Newell Bell,
Elijah Piggot, John McKairn.
1801. Asa Bishop,
Elijah Piggot, John McKairn.
1802. William Fisher,
1803.
W. Fisher,
Samuel Easton, John Robards.
1805. Nathaniel Pinkham,
Thomas Russell, John Robards. T. Russell, J. Robards.
1806.
N. Pinkham,
1807. N. Pinkham,
1808.
Elijah Piggot,
1809. Belcher Fuller,
1810. B. Fuller,
John Robards, N. Pinkham.
1811. B. Fuller,
J. Robards, Abraham Piggot.
1812. B. Fuller,
J. Robards, Nathaniel Pinkham.
1813. B. Fuller,
J. Robards, Nathaniel Pinkham.
1814.
A. Wilson,
J. Robards, H. Hill. .
1815.
Lebbeus Hunter,
Hatch Hill, John Robards.
1816. John Robards,
Whittington Davis, Elijah Piggot.
1817. George H. Dudley,
John Mayo, N. Pinkham.
1818. Whittington Davis, Nat. Pinkham, Isaac Hellen.
1819. Andrew Wilson, Jr., Isaac Hellen, N. Pinkham.
1821.
Whittington Davis, “
W. D. Styron, Otway Burns. Otway Burns, Isaac Hellen.
1822. W. Davis,
1823. W. Davis,
Isaac Hellen, Edw'd H. Bell.
1824.
W. Davis,
Otway Burns, Wm. H. Borden.
1825. W. Davis,
Otway Burns, Wm. H. Borden. Edw'd H. Bell, Otway Burns.
1827.
Nathan Fuller,
David W. Borden, Otway Burns.
1828. Otway Burns,
1829. Otway Burns,
.
Eli West, John Fulford.
John Fulford, Wm. Shepard.
1793. D. Ward,
A. Gaskins, Wm. Russell.
A. Gaskins, Wm. Russell.
Elijah Piggot, Samuel Easton. Samuel Easton, Thomas Harriss.
1804. Asa Bishop,
T. Russell, John Robards.
Jacob Henry, John Robards.
Jacob Henry, John Robards.
1826. W. Davis,
J. S. W. Hellen, David W. Borden. J. S. W. Hellen, David W. Borden,
-
77
CASWELL COUNTY.
Years. Senators.
Members of the House of Commons.
1830. David W. Borden,
Thomas Marshall, John F. Jones.
1831. Otway Burns,
John F. Jones, J. W. Hunt.
1832. Thomas Marshall,
Otway Burns, D. W. Borden.
1833. Otway Burns,
Samuel Leffers, David Whitehurst.
1834. Otway Burns,
James Manny, Elijah S. Bell.
James W. Hunt, Thomas Marshall.
(Under the new Constitution, Carteret and Jones form one Senatorial district - the 20th).
1836. Jas. W. Bryan,
Thomas Marshall.
1838. Enoch Foy,
Elijah S. Bell.
' 1840.
Isaac Hellen,
Elijah Whitehurst.
1842. Jas. W. Howard,
Thomas Marshall.
1844. Isaac Hellen,
E. Whitehurst.
1846. James W. Howard,
Jennings Piggot.
1848. E. S. Bell,
Jennings Piggot.
1850. M. F. Arendell,
Jennings Piggot.
CHAPTER XV.
CASWELL COUNTY.
Date of formation, origin of name, situation and boundaries-Yanceyville, capital-Population and products-Climate and soil-Distinguished citizens -Marmaduke Williams, Bartlett Yancey, R. M. Saunders, Bedford Brown, and others, members of the General Assembly.
CASWELL COUNTY was erected in 1777, out of Orange County.
It derives its name from Richard Caswell, the first Governor under the Constitution, whose life, services, and death, have already received a full notice .*
The heathen philosophers endeavored to write their Mythology on the heavens, beyond the pages of history, by naming the planets and stars after their divinities and heroes, indulging the hope that as long as their radiant effulgence existed, these names would be known to all time, and venerated in all ages.'
· So has North Carolina preserved in perpetual memory the name of one of her purest patriots and devoted sons. His name is worthy of such a country. His example is left to urge us to follow his acts of honor and patriotism. '
" And by his light Shall every gallant youth with ardor move, To do brave deeds."
Caswell County is situated in the north-western part of North Carolina, and forms a beautiful compact square, having the Virginia
Vol. i.
1835. James W. Bryan,
78
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
1
line on the north; Person County on the east; Alamance and Orange on the south ; and Rockingham County on the west.
Its capital is Yanceyville, named in compliment to BARTLETT YANCEY (whose services are herein recorded), and distant from Raleigh 66 miles.
Population, 7,081 whites ; 7,770 slaves ; 418 free negroes ; 12,161 federal population.
Products, 78,682 bushels of wheat ; 121,885 bushels of oats ; 2,800 bushels of rye ; 509,480 bushels of corn ; 3,665,842 pounds of tobacco ; 82,649 pounds of cotton ; 8,524 pounds of wool.
Its climate is salubrious, and its lands fertile. Its revolutionary history is connected with Orange.
Few counties can present citizens whose services are entitled to more respect, and whose devotion to the welfare of the State, was, more sincere than Caswell.
Many of her sons have gone to other States, Mississippi, Ala- bama, and elsewhere, and whose talents have been shown and vir- tues acknowledged by their adopted country by elevating them to high and distinguished positions.
MARMADUKE WILLIAMS was one of these. He was born in Caswell County on the 6th of April 1772, married Mrs. Agnes Harris, whose maiden name was Payne.
In 1802 elected to the State Senate, and the next year elected to Con- gress to succeed his brother, Robert Williams, who was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, Governor of Mississippi. He remained in Congress until 1809. In 1810 he removed to Alabama, Tuscaloosa County, and was a delegate from that county to the convention which formed the Constitution.
In 1832 elected a Judge of Tuscaloosa County. He died on the 29th of Oct. 1850.
The county seat of Caswell is Yanceyville ; and this is associated, too, with the name of BARTLETT YANCEY. His character was one of which his county and State may well be proud, and which deserves to be' cherished by every citizen. Though many of us who have associated with and known this dis- tinguished individual, and therefore are too near the Colossus to admire its, perfect proportions, yet he was a man "worthy of Rome in Rome's best days." Raised by his own energies and exertions to a rank high among his fellow-men, with a mind if not naturally overpowering, yet cultivated by edu- cation, with a person and manners, "to win golden opinions from all sorts of men," his name well deserves to be embalmed by the capital of the county in which he lived, by the people whom he served, and among whom he died. The regard of his native State has carried this feeling still farther, and named one of the most beautiful of her trans-montane counties after this distin- guished patriot. It will be for some pen more intimately acquainted with his private life, to give to his country the early account of this worthy citizen. The writer of this only knew him in the later periods of his public career. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, and was for a time, it is believed, a tutor in that institution. His first appearance in politics was in 1813, as member of Congress, where he served four years. In 1817 he was Senator from Caswell County, and he succeeded, as Speaker of that body, Hon. John Branch, when the latter was elected governor. From that period until his death, in 1828, he was a member of the Senate, and Speaker with little or no intermission. Such was his unbounded popularity, that a manu- script sketch of this gentleman by Mr. McQueen states that when a candidate for Congress, he received every vote but one in Caswell County ! As a law- yer, he had few equals and no superiors. But it was chiefly while presiding as Speaker, for a series of years, of a body that was graced by many of the
?
79
CASWELL COUNTY.
proudest intellectual ornaments of the State, and agitated by some of the most important questions of the day, that the superiority of Mr. Yancey consisted. Early was this talent so developed that while a member of the House of Re- presentatives in Congress, the Speaker (Mr. Clay), as will appear by refer- ence to the Journals, often supplied his place by the substitution of Mr. Yancey ; and he did not suffer by comparison with that distinguished gen- tleman, who, as a Speaker, still stands unrivalled. Combining with great energy and quickness, an astuteness of mind, his bland and elegant manners render him peculiarly fitted for this station. The duties of this position necessarily excluded him from an active participation in discussions on the floor. But whenever occasion called for it, the Senate resolved itself into a. committee of the whole, and his splendid ability, his cogent reasoning and thrilling eloquence were ever ready for his country's welfare. He was a most energetic and powerful debater. Blessed with a manly person, an ob- servant and active mind, a well-regulated and harmonious voice, there was a resistless impetuosity and vehemence in his efforts that bore down like an avalanche every opposition. The present Supreme Court system, the order and regularity of the Treasury and Comptroller's departments of the State, the various acts regulating the Internal Improvement of the State, and many other public measures, received an impulse and support from him that secured their success. His death, which occurred while elected a mem- ber of.the Senate (in 1828), so unexpected, caused a sensation throughout the whole State which, even at this distant day, is painfully remembered. All eyes had been turned to him as the appropriate successor to Gov. Branch in the Senate of the United States. Of such a son, Caswell may well be proud.
Hon. JACOB THOMPSON, at present a member of Congress from the State of Mississippi, is a native son of Caswell.
He was educated at our University, and graduated in 1831, and for a time was a tutor in the institution.
In 1839, he was elected to Congress from his adopted State, and has continued ever since. Although his talents and services are devoted to another State, North Carolina and Caswell are proud of her son.
Hon. BEDFORD BROWN was born in Caswell, in 1795. His first appearance in public life, was in the year 1815, as member of the House of Commons, from Caswell. His colleague was Hon. R. M. Saunders, in the Commons ; both distingnished in after life, and competitors for same political honors. Mr. Brown entered public life at an interesting and eventful period of our country's history. The war with Great Britain that our country was then engaged in, divided parties in angry and acrimonious collision. Mr. Brown took a prominent stand for the administration and the war, and at this early age evinced that prominent trait in his character, of indomitable firmness and unconquerable tenacity to his principles.
He served many years in both Houses . of the General Assembly, and in 1829, was elected to the Senate of the United States by one. vote. He served in this exalted position with so much satisfaction, at a most excited period of public affairs, that he was again elected to this important office, which he resigned under instructions from the General Assembly.
In 1842, he was again a member of the General Assembly, as Senator from Caswell, and was a candidate for the Senate of the United States. After an animated and angry contest, which terminated in the election of Mr. Hay- wood, Mr. Brown withdrew from public life. IIe removed to Missouri, then. returned to North Carolina, and is now at or near Baltimore, in Maryland, superintending the education of his children.
To the same session of the General Assembly in which Mr. Brown first ap- peared (1815), Hon. ROMULUS MITCHELL SAUNDERS Was elected. Mr. Saunders has been ever since on the stage of public action.
He was born in Caswell County, in March, 1791 ; son of William Saunders, an officer of the Revolution. He was educated at Hyco and Caswell Academy, and was two years at the University. Studied law with Hon. Hugh Lawson
80
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
White, of Tennessee, and was licensed to practice in that State in 1812. He returned to North Carolina, and was elected to the House of Commons in 1815, to 1820, and was Speaker of the House in 1819 and 1820.
In 1821, he was elected member of Congress, and served until 1827.
The demands of a young and rising family requiring his attention to his profession, he was not a candidate for re-election, but turned his whole time and attention to his profession.
In 1828, he was elected Attorney-General of the State.
· In 1833, he was appointed by the President one of the Board of Commis- sioners to decide and allot the amounts due citizens of the United States for injuries by France, as settled by Treaty of 4th of July, 1831.
Here it was the fortune of the Author of these sketches to be associated with General Saunders on this commission, and it cannot be improper to record . the facts of the manner in which these important duties were discharged.
This was a most important commission. The amount to be distributed, as secured by treaty, was twenty-five millions of francs ; it was to be distributed among thousands of claimants. Hon. Geo. W. Campbell, of Tennessee, late member of Congress, Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia, and Secretary of Treasury, and Hon. John K. Kane, now U. S. Judge of Pennsylvania, were his colleagues.
The first legal talents of the nation appeared before this Board as Advo- cates ;' among them were Daniel Webster, Chancellor Kent, Francis Key, and David B. Ogden. Such were the patient and laborious habits of General. Saunders, the acumen of his intellect and the clearness of his decisions, that he won for himself the respect and esteem of all in this arduous duty.
In 1835, he was elected by the Legislature Judge of the Superior Courts, which he resigned in 1840, on being nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor. The heat and ardor of this political campaign will be long remembered. Judge Saunders shared the fortunes and fate of his party, and was defeated by John M. Morehead, Esq. 4
In 1841, he was again elected to' Congress, and he served until 1845.
In 1846, he was appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to Spain, where he remained until 1850, when he was recalled at his own request. He was the second person in North Carolina (General William R. Davie being the first) who ever received such a distinguished mark of high honor at the. hands of the Federal Government.
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.