USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 14
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
Henry Wilkinson governor
Although Albemarle was now in repose, the Crown con- tinued to complain of the seizure of the customs funds and the non-observance of the navigation acts. So the Pro- prietors agreed that steps should be taken to ascertain how much Miller's estate had been damaged and also promised that there should be an efficient government maintained in Albemarle ; and particularly that the customs laws should not be evaded.
In February, 1681, the Proprietors appointed Captain Henry Wilkinson, then in London, governor of Albemarle, and gave him instructions to choose, with the consent of the council, four able, judicious men who had not been
Albemarle to observe the laws
THE PROPRIETORS CONCILLITE
137
concerned in the late disorders, who with him should be a court to try all disputes growing out of these troubles ; and he was also directed to ascertain the damages suffered by the king's officers ; and in his instructions there was power conferred on the council to elect a governor should he die in office. Sir William Berkeley having died. the Proprietors directed Governor Wilkinson not to admit any deputies for that share, they claiming that as Berkeley had not conveyed it in his lifetime, it devolved to his associates, and they asserted that Sir William had never paid a penny toward the settlement of Carolina. Later, however, four of them- Albemarle, Craven. Carteret, and Colleton-purchased the right of Sir William's widow, then the wife of Colonel Philip Ludwell, paying him £300 for it, and had it conveyed to Thomas Amy in trust for them. In 1686 it appears that Thomas Archdale, a minor son of John Archdale, had the title to Lord John Berkeley's share ; Amy to Sir William's, and Sothel to Clarendon's: and Sir Peter Colleton was the Palatine. Wilkinson had been selected as governor because of his reputation for prudence, which led to a hope that he would be able to reconcile conflicting interests in Albemarle .*
The Proprietors, who were men of affairs, realized that the inhabitants of Albemarle had the purpose to manage their own concerns, and although they recognized the duty of protecting their officers and deputies who had striven to maintain their authority and to enforce the king's mandates, yet they considered it was best to pursue a conciliatory course rather than one of exasperation. Efforts were made to heal existing dissensions. An act of oblivion was passed, but with a saving clause in regard to the payment of the money that ought to have been collected for the king and to make satisfaction for the injuries sustained by Miller, whose prop- erty had been seized and destroyed ; and the Assembly levied a tax to repay the customs money they had seized and used to carry on the Revolution. On the governor and council
158
The devolu- tion of the shares
.
The moderate policy of the Proprietors
C. R., I, 328, 329
*Wilkinson on his appointment was created a cacique.
Fabri
1
138
HARVEY TO SOTHEL. 1679-89
7683
C. R., I, 283
the Proprietors urged moderation. "We hope," they said. "your own interest, as well as our injunction, will induce you to use your utmost endeavors to settle order among your- selves, without which you can never expect an increase of trade or strength. And these considerations ought so far to prevail that we shall not be constrained to use force to reduce the seditious to reason, since it is the good of the inhabitants we most desire and not the taking away of any man's life and estate."
Sothel arrives
C. R., I, 346
But little, however, had been done toward redressing the injuries of those who suffered in their estates during the Revolution when Wilkinson's administration suddenly closed. Seth Sothel, after a long detention by the Turks, had been ransomed, and after a sojourn in England, in 1683 he sailed for Albemarle and assumed the government. Blank depu- tations had been signed to be filled out by him with the names of persons unconcerned in former differences; and he was instructed, with the consent of the council, to appoint three discreet persons not concerned in the disorders to form a court to try all actions growing out of those disturbances. But instead, he appointed, according to the complaint of Timothy Biggs, the very persons who had injured that unpopular official, and Biggs alleged that he could obtain no redress.
Archdale visits Albemarle
C. R., I. 350, 351
John Archdale, one of the Proprietors, perhaps in right of his son, a man of education and of fine character, who, like Penn and other men of capacity, wealth, and social stand- ing, had accepted the faith of George Fox, was then in Albemarle, and Sothel was instructed to confer with him about making these appointments. He was also directed to establish a county court for Albemarle, and to appoint a sheriff who should hold the court as under the Fundamental Constitutions, a court of criminal jurisdiction. At that time, also, a receiver was appointed to collect the rents for the Proprietors, the governor himself having before that been
I39
NAMES OF PRECINCTS CHANGED
charged with the duty of collecting them. And among other changes that occurred about this time. 1684, the names of the precincts were changed to Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Chowan .* Even at that early date some complaint was made against Sothel that he engrossed to hiinself the perquisites of the secretary and other inferior officers : and Colonel Ludwell, who owned a plantation in C. R., I, Albemarle, complained that it was withheld from him by 351, 352 Sothel on the pretence that it was forfeited.
In 1686 Sothel was out of Albemarle, and John Archdale A view seems to have been conducting the administration. One situation of the of Archdale's letters gives a slight view of the colony at that time. "For the present," he writes, "we have not imme- Hawks, II, diate opportunities to send to England, by reason there is no 378 settled trade thither. .
. The country produces plenti- fully all things necessary for the life of man. . We
at present have peace with all nations of the Indians." The Tuscarora king was very desirous to cut off a nation of Indians called the Matchapungoes, which Archdale pre- vented, and he hoped that he would have the country at peace with all the Indians and with one another ; but the people were very fearful of falling into some troubles again should he leave them before the return of Sothel, and there- fore he was remaining beyond his intention.
It was about this time also that the Coranines, a bloody and barbarous tribe. were cut off by a neighboring nation, and that the Pamlico Indians fell victims to some dreadful plague, which opened the way for a settlement south of Albemarle Sound.
On the death of Charles II, in 1685, his successor, King James, at first made promises of protecting the charters of the colonists, but soon steps were taken to bring them more immediately under the control of the Crown. Proceedings were begun to annul most of the Proprietary grants. The Proprietors of Carolina wisely avoided any controversy, and
1684
MSS. Records Off. Sec. State
The charters threatened
*The precincts bore their old names in 1680.
140
HARVEY TO SOTHEL, 1679-89
Sothel becomes a tyrant
1688 - their charter was not disturbed. Sothel seems to have gov- erned acceptably to the people, although not observing his instructions, until after Archdale left for England. Then he entered on a career that has been described as infamous. Being a Proprietor, he assumed to be above the law. He seized upon the estates of some of the inhabitants without any process from the courts, and arbitrarily imprisoned some of the people. He used his authority to fill his purse, imprisoning men illegally and releasing them on the pay- ment of money.
C. R., I, 369
Thomas Pollock and George Durant became victims. Durant was charged with speaking words reflecting on him, was seized and thrown into prison, and as the price of hi- release Sothel exacted a bond for the payment of a sum of money, which not being paid, he seized on Durant's estate without process of law. That was more than Durant would stand. The point of endurance was passed. The revolution of 1688, by which the people of England had driven Kin_ James from the throne, doubtless had its influence in deter- mining the action in Albemarle. Durant and Pollock rose to right their wrongs. They seized the governor and confined him in a log prison ten feet square, intending to send him to England for trial. But Sothel sought to avoid that. He entreated them instead to submit his case to the General Assembly. This assented to, an Assembly was con- vened in 1689, and he was tried and convicted of many mean and despicable crimes, and of oppression, tyranny, extor- tion, and taking bribes. The solemn judgment passed on him was that he should abjure the country for twelve months and his government forever. On receiving information of these proceedings, the Proprietors, in December. 1689. sus- pended him from the office of governor and appointed Colonel Philip Ludwell to succeed him. On leaving Albe- marle Sothel went to Charleston and assumed the reins of government as a Proprietor, but fell into such courses there that he was deposed by the Proprietors and instructed to return to London.
Durant opposes him
Sothel impeached and expelled 1689 C. R., I, 362 Ludwell governor of North Carolina, 1689
CHAPTER XII
ADMINISTRATIONS OF LUDWELL, JARVIS, ARCHDALE, HARVEY AND WALKER, 1689-1704
Philip Ludwell, governor of North Carolina .- Gibbs's claim .- Thomas Jarvis appointed deputy .- Ludwell governor of all Caro- lina .- His instructions .- Changes in the system .- Conditions in Al- bemarle .- Proprietors prepare rent roll .- Ludwell gives effect to the Great Deed .- Thomas Harvey deputy-governor .- John Archdale governor of Carolina .- The arrival of the Huguenots .- Erection of Bath County .- The line between Carolina and Virginia in dispute .- Pirates harbor in all the colonies .- Parliament directs that gov- ernors should be approved by the king .- Henderson Walker gov- ernor .- Changes in Albemarle.
North Carolina: Ludwell governor
The inhabitants of Albemarle were now extending the 168g settlement to the west and south. The limits of the county had been defined by the sound and five miles beyond, and the time had come for an extension. The two settlements C. R., I, 357 at Charleston* and at Albemarle were spoken of as South Carolina and North Carolina. Albemarle was called North Carolina by the Virginia council in 1688, and in commission- ing Governor Ludwell, December 5, 1689,- the Proprietors C. R., 1, 360 appointed him "governor of that part of the province lying north and east of the Cape Fear." No longer was there to Albemarle gives place to North Carolina be a governor of Albemarle; but the province was divided into two governments, the one north and east of the Cape Fear and the other south and west of that river. Ludwell was the first governor of North Carolina. In his instructions he was authorized to appoint a deputy-governor, and he appointed Thomas Jarvis, who had been one of the first seaters, about 1659, to act as his deputy.
But the administration was disturbed by the claim of Cap- tain John Gibbs, of Currituck, who on June 2, 1690, issued a proclamation declaring Ludwell to be an impostor, and
C. R., I, 361
C R., I, 467 Gibbs claims the government
*Charlestown on the Ashley was incorporated as Charleston in 1783.
142
LUDIT'ELL TO WALKER, 1689-1704
C. R., I, 363
IEGO challenging any one who would maintain Ludwell's title to meet him in single combat, and promising to "fight him in this cause as long as my eyelids shall wag." He also with a body of armed men invaded Albemarle, and broke up the courts and seized two of the magistrates and carried them off. His claim to be governor perhaps grew out of an election by the council after the removal of Sothel by the Assembly, for he invited the new deputies appointed by the Proprietors to meet with him along with the other council- men chosen by the Assembly. His position was so strong that Governor Ludwell, who was in Virginia, represented to Gov- ernor Nicholson of that province the desirability of his inter- vention, and a month later Nicholson reported to the Crown officers at home that he had quieted the stirs in Carolina for the present. but that the people were mutinous, and how long they would remain quiet was uncertain. In the meantime. both Ludwell and Gibbs repaired to London to have the Proprietors determine their claims, and Gibbs lost his cause.
Thomas Jarvis deputy governor
MSS. Records Office Sec. State C. R., I, 373-380. 381
In the interim, between November, 1690, and Novem- ber, 1691, Thomas Jarvis was acting as governor by appoint- ment of Ludwell. In November, 1691, Craven, as Palatine, appointed Colonel Ludwell governor of all Carolina, with power to appoint a deputy-governor for North Carolina, and instructions were sent him not based on the Fundamental Constitutions, but "suitable to our charter from the Crown." The Fundamental Constitutions were largely abandoned. It was contemplated to have but a single parliament for the en- tire province, the representatives from Albemarle County meeting with those of the southern counties, such being the wording of the charter; but that being impracticable, the system of government in Albemarle was not thus altered.
Changes in the system
Theretofore a governor had been appointed by the Pro- prietors for the northern colony; now, however, the gov- ernor of Carolina was authorized to appoint a deputy-gov- ernor for the northern as well as for the southern colony.
143
THE TIVO CAROLINAS
Another change made under his instructions was that the Assembly no longer elected five commoners to sit in the coun- cil, but the council was to be composed merely of the gover- nor and deputies. The governor and council were to establish courts and appoint the judges to hold them, the council itself being a court of appeals and of chancery, and also a Pala- tine's Court. The former title had been the grand council, held by "the governor and lords deputies and the rest of the members of the council of state." A new court system was under these instructions established, and two of the council and some particular assistants were appointed to hold a gen- eral court ; while the precinct courts continued to be held by the justices and the sheriff of the precincts. Somewhat later a change was made in the general court, and justices were appointed and commissioned to hold that court, being sworn in by the governor.
In their public instructions the Proprietors preserved the C. R., I, 391 appearance of adhering to the Grand Model, but by private directions they allowed Governor Ludwell to ignore it in Influence of the Grand Model in North Carolina many particulars. In Albemarle the changes introduced in attempting to conform to it had been neither disagreeable to the people nor oppressive in their consequences. While in some measure the framework of the administration was based on the system, its more peculiar features were entirely ignored. It mattered little that the governor and council should be called the Palatine's Court ; that the grants should be issued in the name of the Palatine and the other Lords Proprietors, an innocent innovation that continued until the purchase by the Crown in 1729, and generally the people of Albemarle were content. In South Carolina the situation was different. There the Proprietors had spent a large amount of money in fostering the settlement, had, pursuant to their chartered powers, created landgraves and caciques, and efforts had been made to enforce some of the particular Influence of the Grand Model in South Carolina provisions of the Fundamental Constitutions that were seri- ously objected to by the inhabitants, whose dissensions and violent proceedings caused the Proprietors more trouble and
16,7 - -
New court system
144
LUDITELL TO WVALKER, 1689-1704
1693
anxiety by far than the alleged turbulence of Albemarle; and to smooth over matters, Ludwell was directed to con- sult the wishes of the inhabitants in conducting the govern- ment at Charleston.
Harvey, deputy- governor
Having authority to appoint a deputy for Albemarle, Ludwell at first continued Thomas Jarvis, and then ap- pointed Thomas Harvey. He was, however, much in Albe- marle himself, and while there acted as governor .*
Conditions in North Carolina
Little clash- ing with Proprietors
Character of the people
With Ludwell's administration a new era began in the North Carolina settlement. For more than a dozen years it now enjoyed undisturbed repose. Indeed, there had never been much clashing between the people and the Proprietors. In great measure the inhabitants governed themselves, the Proprietors being represented by some of the planters, whose interests were identified with those of the colony, while the governors were frequently selected from among the people. If there were any turbulent spirits, with the exception of Captain Gibbs. who asserted a claim to be governor and who lived very near the Virginia line, they manifested turbulence only on provocation. If occasionally a governor was deposed and imprisoned, it was because of offences and in vindication of freedom : and truly in tracing their story one finds remarkable illustrations of the sufficiency of their man- hood to solve the problems of government. Even in the most trying times government was never dissolved: and while the will of the people was enforced, anarchy did not supplant
MSS. Records Off. Sec. State
*Dr. Hawks, II. 495. mentions Alexander Lillington as acting as governor or president of the council. The author has not found that record. Jarvis was governor in November, 1690. and in November, 1691. Ludweil was present and acting as governor in November. 1603. and in April. 1694; Thomas Harvey in July. 1694; Ludwell in August; Harvey in September; John Archdale in July, 1695; and Thomas Harvey in April, 1696. In 1693 Alexander Lillington was "High Sheriff" of Albemarle County, and as such Governor Ludwell ordered him' in November. 1693. to make proc- lamation, that all persons in Albemarle could have their land under the Great Deed of 1668, which led to Ludwell's removal from office.
440
72
72
60
2
15
lubus tlant"
Black Hacer
Boxes
Carrot
Braf; c'
5
Sumerton
ALBEMARLE
9
A
COUNTY
5
Nên Inlet
Salmon C
Sounds P
Albemarle
Post
Tha Soud
C. Icar Rul Lat Brauch
Constante
2
C. Lookouty
n
CLARENDON
1
or
R Branch
COUNTY.
5
Charles Towne
Cape Fear
LEA'S NEW MAP OF CAROLINA, 1695
5
1.45
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE
law. If in 1677 the Revolutionists ran into excesses and, not content with seizing their enemies, destroyed their prop- erty, it was in a moment of exasperation. Order was quickly restored. Courts were organized and the machinery of gov- ernment at once established on a new basis. For the most part the inhabitants had no quarrels with the Proprietors ; but they did seek in every way to escape from the oppression incident to the enforcement of the trade regulations and custom laws.
The collection of the quit rents had from time to time been postponed, and the rent charged under the Great Deed was not onerous. But now perhaps the Proprietors were more intent on reimbursing themselves for their outlay, and the payment of quit rents became of interest. A rent roll of Albemarle prepared apparently about 1694 showed 146 planters, some of them with several plantations, the average holding being about 275 acres ; altogether, about 40,000 acres in farms, and probably a population of 4000.
Ludwell recognizes Great Deed
In November, 1693, Ludwell issued a proclamation to the effect that under the Great Deed lands in Albemarle were to be granted at the same rate as in Virginia, subject to quit rents of only a farthing an acre ; and he directed Alex- ander Lillington, the high sheriff of Albemarle County, to give notice thereof to the people of Perquimans. Fault was found with him for reserving that low rent, and for assent- ing to a new form of deed, that was considered to be in derogation of the rights of the Proprietors. He justified his action by declaring that it was in conformity with the Great Deed : but the Proprietors questioned the authenticity of that document, no copy of it having been retained in England, and they quickly revoked his commission. Still Ludwell continued to exercise the functions of governor in North Carolina during the years 1693 and 1694: and when he was not present Thomas Harvey was the deputy governor. To succeed Ludwell as governor of Carolina, Thomas
1693
MISS. Records at Edenton
MSS. Off. Sec. State
146
LUDIVELL TO WALKER, 1689-1704
1693 -
Smith,* a planter in South Carolina, was, in 1693, created a landgrave and appointed governor. He seems to have con- tinued Harvey in office, for the latter conducted the adminis- tration when no governor was present until his death, on July 3, 1699.
But Smith was hardly established in his government before he represented to the Proprietors that the dissensions in South Carolina were so great that no one could heal them except one of the Proprietors; and in August, 1694, John Archdale was prevailed on to come over as governor.
John Archdale governor
In the following June Archdale reached Albemarle, where a daughter, the wife of Emanuel Lowe, resided. While there he exercised the functions of governor. But after a short sojourn he passed on to Charleston, leaving Harvey in the administration. Because of the concessions made to Albe- marle in the Great Deed, Archdale was directed to limit that county strictly to the territory north of the sound and east of the Chowan, and a higher rent was to be exacted for land beyond those boundaries.
C. R., 1, 391
Huguenots, 1691
Already settlements had been made elsewhere, and the western shores of the Chowan were well occupied. In 1691 some of the Huguenots who had originally settled on the James River, being attracted by the warmer climate, came to Carolina and located on the Pamlico, where they pros- pered so satisfactorily that constant accessions were made to their numbers. Indeed, population was now extending itself rapidly to the southward.
C. R., I, 472 Archdale County
After Archdale became governor, the Pamlico region was called by the council Archdale County in his honor ; but at a Palatine's Court held on December 9, 1696, he being then in North Carolina, and presiding, an order was passed that inasmuch as several persons had seated themselves on Pam-
*It was about this time that a grant of 40,000 acres of land was issued to Smith, and located on the Cape Fear River. and perhaps it was then in contemplation to make a settlement on that river ; but if any were made, no evidence of it has been preserved.
147
ARCHDALE'S ADMINISTRATION
lico River, a writ of election was to issue to them as Pamlico Precinct, in Bath County, to choose two assemblymen. The change of name was made in compliment to John Lord Gran- ville, Earl of Bath, a Proprietor, who possessed the share originally belonging to the Duke of Albemarle, and who on the death of Craven, in 1699, became the Palatine. The pre- cinct of Pamlico was thus organized in 1696. Later Wick- ham Precinct was established on the south of Albemarle Sound, and before 1708 a third precinct was established south of Pamlico Sound, called Archdale.
From North Carolina Archdale returned to England, leav- Harvey deputy governor ing Harvey his deputy in North Carolina, and appointing Joseph Blake his deputy for South Carolina. Blake was a nephew of the great admiral, and had once before been deputy-governor at Charleston. His father, being a dissenter and fearful of persecution in England, had years before removed to South Carolina. A few years earlier the South Carolina Assembly had made a strong remonstrance against some of the provisions of the Fundamental Constitutions, and C. R., II, in 1691 and 1693 they had been annulled; but in 1698 the 852 Proprietors, after consultation with Major Daniel, reformed the Constitutions, reducing them to forty-one articles, elim- inating the provisions about leet men and leet courts, and making other changes, particularly with regard to courts, and they sent a copy of the amended Constitutions to Governor Blake by Colonel Daniel.
These Constitutions had been operative in North Carolina only in some particulars, and the changes now made in them were not of much interest to the inhabitants; but this amended copy seems to have been considered in the colony as taking the place of that originally sent over. The admin- istration in North Carolina was, however, in conformity with the instructions to the governors rather than in close adher- ence to the Fundamental Constitutions ; and the court system was modified under Archdale's government, and apparently other changes were made about the time this new copy of the Constitutions came over. Earlier, the general court had been
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.