USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1584 1783, Volume I > Part 19
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1753 to lay the foundations of the colony was Rev. Bernhard Adam Grube. The great obstacle of language, added to their position on the extreme frontier surrounded by the more ag- gressive Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, prevented the German churches from making any progress in North Carolina beyond the German settlements, so that they never became the force in the province to which their numbers and the character and intelligence of their membership might be thought to entitle them.
The last of the great Protestant denominations to seek a foothold in North Carolina, prior to the Revolution, was the Methodist Church. "The Methodist preacher came not to rep- resent and build up a denomination, because at that time he belonged only to a society in the Church of England, but his mission was to preachi the gospel to a lost and dying race." 9 The most eminent of this type of the early preachers of Meth- odism to visit North Carolina was Rev. George Whitfield who came to the colony as early as 1739. Writing from Bath in 1739 he said, "I am here, hunting in the woods, these ungospel- ized wilds, for sinners." Whitfield made several visits to North Carolina meeting always with a cordial reception from people, clergy and officials. When he preached at New Bern, in 1765, according to Rev. James Reed, who wrote eulogisti- cally of his sermon, people "came a great many miles to hear him;" while Governor Tryon declared that his sermon at Wilmington "would have done him honour had he delivered it at St. James' allowing some little alteration of circumstances between a discourse adapted for the Royal Chapel and the Court House at Wilmington." Whitfield, however, was still a communicant of the Church of England, and made no effort to establish a new organization. As early as 1760 there were people in the colony calling themselves Methodists, to whom the missionaries of the Established Church always refer with great bitterness; but Whitfield, during his visit in 1764, de- clared that they were improperly so called as they were fol- lowers neither of himself nor of John Wesley, and none except their followers were properly called Methodists. This view seems to be accepted by the best authorities on the history of Methodism.
The first Methodist preacher to come to North Carolina was Rev. Joseph Pilmoor who had been sent to America by John Wesley. Pilmoor came in 1772 and at Currituck Court-
9 Grissom : History of Methodism in North Carolina, Vol. I, p. 24.
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House, September 28, 1772, had "the honor of preaching the first Methodist sermon in the colony." On his tour through North Carolina he frequently preached in the chapels of the Established Church; and at Brunswick in January, 1773, he preached in St. Philip's Church to "a fine congregation." Pilmoor was followed by Rev. John Williams who, in 1773, organized the first Methodist Society in North Carolina. The following year he organized societies in "a six weeks circuit which extended from Petersburg (Va.) to the south over Roanoke River some distance into North Carolina." The early Methodist pioneers in North Carolina met with remark- able success. In 1775 as a result of their preaching a great revival swept over the northern section of the colony from Bute County eastward. A participant, writing about it, says : "My pen cannot describe the one-half of what I saw, heard, and felt. I might fill a volume on this subject, and then leave the greater part untold." As a result of this revival 683 new members in North Carolina were reported to the Fourth Con- ference which was held at Baltimore, May 21, 1776, and a North Carolina circuit was established with Edward Drom- goole, Francis Poythress, and Isham Tatum as preachers. As their field of labor was unlimited, they penetrated great portions of the colony, and laid firmly the foundations of Methodism in North Carolina.
By 1775 Churchmen were outnumbered by Dissenters who were a unit in opposition to the Establishment. Besides the principle of the Establishment itself, there were three features which accompanied it in North Carolina that were especially offensive to the dissenting denominations. They were the ap- plication of the principles of the Schism Act to North Caro- lina, the militia laws as they affected ministers of the Gospel, and the marriage law. Although the Schism Act had been repealed in England in 1719, Burrington was instructed to enforce it in North Carolina, and similar instructions were sent to his successors under the royal administration. The gov- ernor was to allow no person to come from England "to keep school" in North Carolina "without the license of the Lord Bishop of London," and to see that "no person now there or that shall come from other parts shall be admitted to keep school in North Carolina without your license first obtained." The militia laws exempted clergymen of the Established Church from militia duty, but not the ministers of any of the dissenting denominations until 1764 when exemption was ex- tended to Presbyterian clergymen who were "regularly called
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to any congregation." Both the Schism Act and the exemption features of the militia laws were offensive to Dissenters rather in what they implied than in their actual application. Only three instances are on record of efforts to enforce the former and while these are three too many, it should not be forgotten in estimating the importance of the Schism Act in our educa- tional history that they were the exceptions and not the rules. The militia laws, too, were too feebly enforced generally to work any hardship in practice on the dissenting clergy.
The case of the marriage law, however, was different. It was a real grievance against which the dissenting clergy justly protested. By an act of 1666 magistrates were permitted to perform the marriage ceremony. The vestry act of 1715 con- tinued this authority to magistrates in parishes where there were no ministers. In 1741 a special marriage law was passed which confined the right to perform the marriage ceremony to clergy of the Established Church, and where no such clergy- men were accessible to magistrates. This act chiefly affected the Presbyterians. It appears that in colonial times it was not the practice of Baptist ministers to perform the marriage ceremony. Quakers followed their own customs. The Meth- odists came too late to be much affected by the act. The Pres- byterian clergy protested against the injustice of it, refused to obey it, and performed the marriage ceremony without license or publication of the banns. By 1766 they had grown strong enough to secure a modification of the law. A new act was passed which legalized all marriages performed by Pres- byterian clergymen and permitting those who were "regu- larly called to any congregation" to perform the ceremony. But even this act fell far short of justice, for it required that all fees should be paid to the minister of the Established Church in the parish in which the marriage occurred unless he had refused to act. Bitter protests arose from all dissenting denominations and petitions especially from the Presbyterian congregations, poured in upon the Assembly. In 1770, there- fore, the Assembly passed an act granting relief to the Pres- byterian clergy only, but the king disallowed it. Relief finally came from the people themselves. One of the ordinances adopted by the Convention of 1776 provided "That all regular ministers of the Gospel of every Denomination having the Cure of Souls shall be empowered to celebrate Matrimony ac- cording to the rites and ceremonies of their respective churches."
The history of education is really a part of the history of
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religion in colonial North Carolina. Among Churchmen and Dissenters alike education was considered one of the func- tions of the church and most of the early teachers were either preachers or candidates for the ministry. The first attempts to establish schools in North Carolina were made under the patronage of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; its missionaries "brought with them the first parish or public libraries and its lay readers were the first teachers." Brickell whose work was published in 1737 says that the lack of ortho- dox clergymen in the colony was "generally supply'd by some School-masters, who read the Lithurgy, and then a Sermon out of Doctor Tillitson, or some good practical Divine, every Sunday. These are the most numerous, and are dispersed through the whole Province." After the purchase of the pro- prietary interests by the Crown an effort was made, as has already been pointed out, to confine the privilege of teaching to communicants of the Established Church, but fortunately without success. The most recent of the historians of educa- tion in North Carolina holds the opinion that in spite of the attempts to apply the Schism Act, "the intellectual and educa- tional life of the colony was somewhat encouraged and as- sisted" by the establishment of the Church, and there is ample evidence to sustain his view.1º The clergy of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel were the first missionaries of education to North Carolina, and their letters to the Society are filled with earnest and persistent appeals for teachers as well as for preachers.
There were probably schoolmasters in North Carolina prior to 1700, but the first professional teacher here of whom we have any record was Charles Griffin, a lay reader of the Estab- lished Church, who came from the West Indies in 1705 and opened a school in Pasquotank County. In 1708 his school was transferred to Rev. James Adams and Griffin removed to Chowan County where he opened a school. Governor William Glover bore testimony to Griffin's "industry" and "unblem- ished life." Even the Quakers patronized his school; indeed, his association with them was so intimate that he became "tainted" with their principles and finally joined their Soci- ety. For this reason, probably, he lost his school in Chowan County; at any rate Rev. William Gordon reported that in 1709 he "settled a schoolmaster [in Chowan], and gave some books for the use of the scholars, which the church-wardens
10 Knight: Public School Education in North Carolina, p. 5.
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were to see left for that use, in case the master should re- move." Another of the early colonial teachers whose name has come down to us was "one Mr. Mashburn who," wrote Rev. Giles Rainsford in 1712, "keeps a school at Sarum on the frontiers of Virginia between the two Governments. What children he has under his care can both write and read very distinctly and gave before me an account of the grounds and principles of the Christian religion that strangely surprised me to hear it." We have abundant evi- dence that there were other schoolmasters in North Carolina contemporaneously with Griffin and Mashburn but unfortu- nately their names are unknown.
Although teachers were scarce it would be an error to infer from that fact that the planters were either ignorant or illit- erate themselves, or indifferent to the education of their chil- dren. In 1716 Governor Eden was of the opinion that if the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel would furnish the teachers "the Inhabitants would willingly pay them the great- est part of their salaries." Evidence in support of his opinion is found in the provisions made by the planters in their wills for the education of their children. "I will," declared. Alex- ander Lillington, in 1697, "that my Executors carry on my Son, John, in his learnings as I have begun, and that All my Children be brought up in Learning, as conveniently can bee." Thomas Bell, in 1733, desired that the profits from his estate be devoted to the education of a niece and nephew, "in as handsome and good a matter as may be." It was Edward Salter's wish, in 1734, that his son should "have a thorough education to make him a compleat merchant, let the expense be what it will."
In infancy children were taught at home, or in the ele- mentary schools in North Carolina, but for their higher educa- tion they were sent to Virginia, New England, and to the Eng- lish and Scotch Universities. In 1730 George Durant directed that his son "should have as good Learing [learning] as can be had in this Government." Edward Moseley, in 1745, provided for the higher education of his children when it should become time for them to have "Other Education than is to be had from the Common Masters in this Province" adding, "for I would have my Children well Educated." Stephen Lee di- rected that his son be educated either in Philadelphia or Boston, while John Skinner provided for the education of his son in North Carolina, "or other parts." John Pfifer of Mecklenburg County wished his children "to have a reason-
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able Education and in particular my said son Paul to be put through a liberal Education and Colleged." When Gov- ernor Gabriel Johnston died, in 1752, he left a legacy to a nephew "now at school in Newhaven in the Colony of Connec- ticut."
In 1721 John Hecklefield desired that his son be educated "after the best thought manner this country will admit." There is ample evidence to show what was "the best thought manner" of education of that day. One of its outstanding fea- tures was religious instruction; boys and girls were trained in the teachings of Christianity. On the secular side emphasis was laid on practical or vocational education. William Standid desired his son to be taught "to read, rite, and cifer as far as the rule of three. " Joshua Porter directed his executor to "see yt my Son and Daughter may be Carefully learnt to read and write and Cypher, and yt they may be duly Educated." Spe- cific directions were often given for the education of boys in the professions, commerce, and the trades, and girls in household duties. Thus John Baptista Ashe, in 1734, says : "I will that my Slaves be kept at work on my lands, and that my Estate may be managed to the best advantage, so as my sons may have as liberal an Education as the profits thereof will afford; and in their Education I pray my Executors to observe this method: Let them be taught to read and write, and be introduced into the practical part of Arithmetick, not too hastily hurrying them to Latin or Grammar, but after they are pretty well versed in these let them be taught Latin and Greek. I propose this may be done in Virginia; After which let them learn French, perhaps Some French man at Santee will undertake this; when they are arrived to years of discretion Let them study the Mathematicks. To my Sons when they arrive at age I recommend the pursuit and study of Some profession or business (I could wish one to ye Law, the other to Merchandize,) in which Let them follow their own inclinations. I will that my daughter be taught to write and read and some feminine accomplishments which may render her agreable; And that she be not kept ignorant of what ap- pertains to a good house wife in the management of household affairs."
There were, of course, no free public schools, but the edu- cation of the poor, and especially of orphans was provided for in the apprenticeship system which the colonies inherited from England. Masters and guardians were required to give their wards the "rudiments of learning," and to teach them a
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trade or occupation. In 1695 the General Court of Albemarle County bound an orphan, "being left destitute," to Thomas Harvey, "the said Thomas Harvey to teach him to read;" and in 1698 another orphan was bound to Harvey and his heirs "they Ingagen to Learn him to Reed." The minutes of the court are full of such entries. The guardian, or master, was required to enter into bond for the faithful performance of his duty. There are also instances of legacies being left for the education of the poor. In 1710 John Bennett of Currituck directed "that forty Shillings be taken out of my whole Estate before any devesion be made to pay for ye Schooling of two poor Children for one whole year;" and that if he should fail of heirs, his estate "to remaine and bee for ye use and bennefitt of poor Children to pay for their Schooling and to remaine unto ye world's End." Since, however, there was no failure of heirs, the legacy never became available for educational pur- poses. Two more famous legacies to education were those of James Winwright of Carteret County, 1744, and James Innes of New Hanover, 1754. Winwright left the "yearly Rents and profits of all the Town land and Houses in Beaufort Town," after the death of his wife, to be used "for the encouragement of a Sober discreet Quallifyed Man to teach a School at least Reading Writing Vulgar and Decimal Arithmetick" in the town of Beaufort, and set aside £50 sterling "to be applyed for the Building and finishing of a Creditable House for a School and Dwelling house for the Master." Unfortunately so far as known no school was ever established on the Win- wright foundation. Better use was made of the Innes legacy. Colonel Innes left his plantation called Pleasant Point, "Two negero Young Woomen, One Negero Young Man and there Increase," a large number of hogs, cattle and horses, his books, and £100 sterling "For the Use of a Free School for the benefite of the Youth of North Carolina." The legacy did not become available for educational purposes until after the Revolution. In 1783 the Assembly chartered the Innes Acad- emy in Wilmington.
A marked impulse was given to education by the coming of the Scotch-Irish and Germans. In every community where they settled a church and a schoolhouse sprang up ahnost simultaneously with the settlement. The German schools were taught by teachers who came from Germany and in the German language. Among the Scotch-Irish the influence of Princeton College was strong. Many of their religious lead- ers, and such lay leaders as Alexander Martin, Waightstill Avery, Samuel Spencer, Ephraim Brevard, Adlai Osborne,
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and William R. Davie, were Princeton graduates. To the Scotch North Carolina owes the establishment of her first classical schools, the development of which was so marked a feature of the educational history of the State during the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1760, Rev. James Tate, a Presbyterian clergyman, opened at Wilmington Tate's Acad- emy, the first classical school in North Carolina. During the same year, Crowfield Academy, said to have been the begin- ning of Davidson College, was founded in Mecklenburg County. The most noted of this class of schools was Rev. David Caldwell's school, founded near the present site of Greensboro in 1767. For many years, this famous "log col- lege," with an average annual enrollment of between fifty and sixty students, was the most important institution of learning in North Carolina, serving, as has been said, "as an academy, a college, and a theological seminary."
It was in connection with the establishment of an insti- tution of higher learning, under the auspices of the Presby- terians, that occurred the most notable of the efforts to en- force the Schism Act in North Carolina. In January, 1771, the Assembly, acting upon the recommendation of Governor Tryon, incorporated at Charlotte a school for higher learning called Queen's College. It was designed to enable such of the youth of the colony who had "acquired at a Grammar School a competent knowledge of the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin Languages, to imbibe the principles of Science and virtue, and to obtain under learned, pious and exemplary teachers in a collegiate or academic mode of instruction a regular or finished education in order to qualify them for the service of their friends and Country." The college was authorized to confer degrees. For its endowment a tax was levied on all spirituous liquors sold in Mecklenburg County for ten years. Since its patronage and support would come chiefly from Presbyterians, all of the incorporators, except two, were of that faith, but to forestall anticipated opposition in England, the president was required to be a member of the Church of England. In return for the timely aid he had received from the Presbyterian clergy and laity alike in the War of the Regulation, Tryon earnestly urged the king's ap- proval of the act; but the Board of Trade, while commending the principle of religious toleration, questioned whether the king ought "to add Incouragement to toleration by giving the Royal Assent to an Establishment, which in its consequences, promises great and permanent Advantages to a sect of Dis-
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senters from the Established Church who have already ex- tended themselves over that Province in very considerable numbers." The Board, therefore, advised that the act be dis- allowed, and the king vetoed it April 22, 1772. A year passed, however, before his action was certified to the gov- ernor, Josiah Martin, who had succeeded Tryon, and in the meantime Queen's College had opened its doors to students. In spite of the royal disallowance, it continued its work with- out a charter until the king's approval to acts of the North Carolina legislature was no longer necessary. In 1777 the General Assembly granted another charter in which the insti- tution's name was changed from Queen's College to Liberty Hall.
Almost without exception these efforts to promote educa- tion were made by the church. Except its efforts through the Established Church, the colonial government did prac- tically nothing for education. Governor Gabriel Johnston and Governor Arthur Dobbs both urged upon the Assembly the im- portance and duty of making "provision for the education of youth," but the Assembly did nothing until 1745 when it passed an act for the erection of a schoolhouse at Edenton which, however, was never built. Bills for the establishment of free schools introduced in 1749 and in 1752 failed of pas- sage. Finally in 1754 the Assembly appropriated £6,000 for the purpose of building a school, but afterwards used the money for the support of the French and Indian War. In 1759, and again in 1764, Governor Dobbs petitioned the Board of Trade to permit an issue of paper money to replace this fund, and the Assembly, in 1759, requested that some of the money appropriated by Parliament to reimburse the colony for its expenditures in the war might be used for establishing free schools, but both requests were refused. The only legisla- tion that bore any practical results were acts passed in 1766 incorporating an academy at New Bern and in 1770 incorpora- ting an academy at Edenton. However, the agitation of these years in behalf of education had good results. Its fruit is seen in Section XLI of the Constitution of 1776, the foundation of our public school system of today, which provides: "That a school or schools be established by the Legislature, for the convenient Instruction of youth, with such Salaries to the Masters, paid by the Public as may enable them to instruct at low prices ; and all useful Learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more Universities."
Two other indications of the intellectual standards of the
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people were the extent and character of their libraries and the position of the press among them. The first libraries were brought to the colony by the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. They consisted chiefly of religious and doctrinal books, intended primarily for the in- struction of the people in the orthodox faith. About 1705, Rev. Thomas Bray established a free public library at Bath. The books were so carelessly kept that in 1715 the Assembly passed an act "for the more effectual preservation of the same." In 1728 Edward Moseley offered the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel a free public library for Edenton, but no evidence exists that his offer was accepted, and the books probably remained in his private library. James Innes left his library to the free school which he had endowed under his will. In the home of nearly every planter were to be found small libraries of good books. Their wills and inventories from early times show the existence of many such libraries numbering from 25 and 50 volumes to more than 500. Edward Moseley's library inventoried 400 volumes, Jeremiah Vail's 230, Dr. John Eustace's 292, Rev. James Reed's 266, James Milner's 621. There were many others similar to these. The library begun by Governor Gabriel Johnston and continued by his nephew Samuel Johnston at "Hayes" was probably the largest and most important library in the colony, con- taining more than 1,000 volumes. Most of the books in these libraries were treatises on theology, moral philosophy, law, history, and medicine and were in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Ger- man and French, as well as in English. In them were Xeno- phon, Homer, Ovid, Horace, Virgil, Sallust, Juvenal, Caesar, Puffendorf, Grotius, Coke, Blackstone, Montesquieu, Shakes- peare, Milton, Pope, Dryden, Gray, Voltaire, Bacon, Swift, Steele, Addison, Bunyan, Plutarch's "Lives," "The Complete Angler," Locke "On the Human Understanding," "Anti- dote Against Popery," "Tristram Shandy," "Tom Jones," "Letters of Abilard," Raleigh's "History of the World," The Spectator, The Tatler, The Annual Register, and many other similar works, all testifying to "a degree of culture not often believed to have existed in North Carolina in the eight- eenth century." 11
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