USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 8
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
63
EXPLORATION OF THE CAPE FEAR
power they had so long wielded in governing the Common- wealth. Within a month Charles had landed, largely owing his restoration to Ashley Cooper's management and to Monk's resolute control of the hostile army ; to Clarendon's counsel, and to the fidelity of loyal friends, who never for- sook his cause.
The Cape Fear explored
While these events were stirring England to its very foun- 1661 dation, and, by the overthrow of the Independents, the sup- pression of the Republicans and the restoration of the monarchy, had prepared the way for a new exodus from the mother country, perhaps because of the favorable reports spread abroad concerning the summer land of the "new plantations," attention was drawn to Carolina as a desirable location for a new colony. From the north and the south alike now came explorers. Massachusetts had at different times projected colonies to the southward, and her vessels traded along the coast and up the Chesapeake, and after an exploration of the Cape Fear River, perhaps as early as 1661, an association was formed in Massachusetts to establish a plantation there, and the assistance of some Lon- don merchants was invoked with the expectation that they would supply the needed capital. But if New England was looking to a more temperate climate with a view to coloniza- tion, there were adventurers at Barbadoes who were likewise casting longing eyes to the shores of Florida, as they then usually called Carolina. Barbadoes had been settled by the English in 1625, and during the civil war many Royalists found refuge there, and a considerable number of prisoners taken in battle were transported thither, so that the popula- tion had become numerous, and some of the more active spirits were intent on bettering their fortunes in a new settle- mient. Captain William Hilton, with his vessel, the Adven- ture, was despatched by John Vassall and others from Barbadoes to explore the Carolina coast, and he had ascended
1660
64
BEGINNINGS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
1663
Letter of P. Colleton, August 12, 1663, C. R., 1, 39
New Englanders on Cape Fear
the Cape Fear and had made a favorable report of it. Shortly afterward the first of the proposed settlers from New England came to the Cape Fear, but perhaps because Hilton had made his exploration and their title would be disputed, without locating permanently they turned loose their cattle on the cape, and having deposited in a box a paper writing in which they sought to disparage that region, they returned home and spread evil reports of both the soil and the harbor. Some other vessels had followed them from New England, but these also returned without making a settlement.
Berkeley receives instructions about Carolina
C. R., I, 36 ct s/g.
While these movements looking to a settlement in Carolina were in progress, Sir William Berkeley was again governor of Virginia. That devoted loyalist had been removed from office when the Old Dominion yielded to the authority of Parliament in 1652, but after the abdication of Richard Cromwell and before the Restoration, he had been elected governor by the General Assembly, and was holding his office at the will of the Virginians when Charles regained his throne. The following year he visited England to pay his court to the restored monarch, returning to Virginia in November, 1662.
While in England he represented the situation of the settlers on Carolina, or Roanoke Sound, as it was sometimes called, who had purchased their lands and received deeds from Kilcocanen, and regarded themselves as beyond the borders of Virginia, and he received particular directions to ignore the Indian titles and to require the inhabitants who had settled there to take out patents from him under the Virginia laws. Pursuant to this authority, immediately on his return, in the autumn of 1662, Sir William announced that the inhabitants on Roanoke Sound should no longer hold under Indian titles, and he required all who had seated land in the "new plantations" to take out patents from him
65
PATENTS TO THE PIONEERS
and pay the usual quitrent. Patents were at once taken out by Thomas Relfe for lands on the south side of Pasquo- tank River adjoining Thomas Keele's land; and by Robert Peele for land on Pasquotank River; by John Harvey for land on Chowan River, and another patent for two hundred and fifty acres by John Harvey on the River Carolina adjoin- ing Roger Williams's land, Harvey having brought seven- teen persons into the colony ; by Captain John Jenkins, who had brought in fourteen persons, for seven hundred acres, being a neck bounded on the south by the River Carolina and on the north by Perquimans River and on the west by the great swamp that divides it from Thomas Jarvis's land ; and by George Catchmaid for fifteen hundred acres adjoining Captain Jenkins, who brought in thirty persons. Dr. Relfe had brought with him fifteen persons, and the others a greater or a less number.
Another patent was issued to George Catchmaid for Durant's Neck, including George Durant's land. Durant had induced Catchmaid to come and seat adjoining his premises, and when Berkeley's instructions were made known, Catch- maid undertook to obtain a patent for Durant as well as for himself, but instead of doing so, he took out one patent covering both premises. He thereafter executed an agree- ment to make a conveyance to Durant, which led to a law- suit, the record of which is full of historical interest.
Doubtless there were many other such patents issued to those who had purchased Indian titles: but these serve to preserve the names of some of the earlier settlers, and they show that they did not come empty-handed, but, as Lawson says, they were men of substance, each attended by a considerable retinute of servants. George Durant came to be one of the most influential inhabitants of . Albemarle.
George Catchmaid. Gent .. of Treslick, became the first speaker of the Assembly and his widow married Timothy Biggs, who afterward became one of the early Quakers and
1662
Early Settlers
C. R., 1, 59 et seq.
MSS. Office Sec. of State
-
:
66
BEGINNINGS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
1663
was the first surveyor of customs. John Jenkins became goy- ernor. as did John Harvey; Dr. Thomas Relfe attained the age of ninety, and has descendants still living in Albe- marle, and Thomas Jarvis was deputy governor, 1691-94. and there are Peeles also in that section, and many Battles in the State. A little later Roger Williams's executrix married Edward Haswell. There are two grants on record for land embraced in two of the above patents, one to Thomas Relfe, the other to John Harvey, adjoining the lands of Roger Williams, for which a grant was issued sixteen years later to John Varnham, being near Skinner's Point, formerly known as Moseley's Point.
Local names
It will be observed that in these patents issued before the end of September, 1663, by Governor Berkeley, the sound itself, once called Roanoke Sound, was designated as the Carolina River, its mouth being at the inlet. In London the Proprietors named it the Albemarle, saying that it had been the Chowan River, and Colleton Island was near its mouth ; while the Roanoke. the Chowan, Pasquotank and Perquimans rivers were already known by those names.
Grant of Colleton Island to Sir John Colleton, C. R., I, 54, 55, and the grants to Harvey and others, 59 et seq.
The only inlet mentioned at that time was Roanoke, in the vicinity of Colleton Island; but Ocracoke Inlet was then known to exist, and it was thought to be a bolder one than Roanoke. By that time the old Hatteras and Croatan inlets had closed : and a new breach had broken through the banks opposite the upper portion of Roanoke Island.
The Quakers
So far as the records show, the actual settlement began about 1659, about the time when New England and Virginia were frowning at the new sect, the Friends. then attracting attention because of their stubborn opposition to some of · the established usages of society and government. But that was a coincidence rather than cause and effect. At that time the number of Quakers in Virginia must have been very small. The Society of Friends was introduced into that colony by Elizabeth Harris, who arrived. in 1656, and,
67
REASONS FOR SETTLEMENT
remaining but a few months, returned to England the next year. In March, 1660, the General Assembly prohibited any Quaker from coming into the province, and that adverse legislation extended to the Albemarle region equally with the other portions of Virginia. Nor, indeed, did any Quakers come to Albemarle seeking refuge and a haven. Ten years after the settlement, Edmundson came from Vir- ginia to Carolina and reached the place he intended. Henry Phillips's house, by the Albemarle. "He and his wife," wrote Edmundson in his journal, "had been convinced of the truth in New England, and came here to live, and, not having seen a Friend for seven years before, wept for joy to see us." Up to 1672 Phillips and his wife were the only Quakers in Albemarle. On the other hand, it affirmatively appears that the settlement was brought about by the ordinary induce- ments of a favorable location, as Lawson expressly states ; and it may be that the Albemarle country offered some inducements in the way of security against the hostility of the Indians, whose depredations had checked the expansion of the colony on the James. The savages beyond Nansemond were not so numerous and were more gentle, and the great sounds afforded protection from the southward; while Fort Christiana, on the upper Meherrin, gave security from that quarter. There was, however, a breadth of some thirty miles intervening between the inhabited parts of Virginia and the Albemarle settlement where the Indians roamed at will.
The grant to the Lords Proprietors
Seeing that the time was ripe for colonizing Carolina, Governor Berkeley doubtless conceived the idea of secur- ing some advantage from it for himself and others who had suffered because of their loyalty to their sovereign. Appli- cation was made to the king for a grant of Carolina to Sir William, his brother, John Lord Berkeley, Sir John Colleton, then at the Barbadoes, who had spent £140,000 in the king's cause, and a number of other gentle-
16.3
Edmund- son's Jour- nal, 1671-72
68
BEGINNINGS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
1663
The Proprietors
men whose valuable services the king might well have rewarded by such a princely gift; and on March 24. 1663, the grant was secured. The grantees were per- sons of the highest consequence. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, the most illustrious of the king's friends, whose daughter had married the king's brother; General Monk, who, having restored the monarchy and placed Charles on the throne, had been created Duke of Albemarle; William Earl of Craven, a military officer of great merit, who had advanced large sums to Charles; Ashley Cooper, after- ward created Earl of Shaftesbury, who had led the Parlia- ment, as Monk had controlled the army; and Sir George Carteret, esteemed the best seaman of his day, who, like Colleton and the two Berkeleys, had ever been devoted to the fortunes of the Stuarts .*
Their powers
These grantees were constituted absolute Lords Pro- prietors of Carolina, with full powers of government such as appertained to the Palatine County of Durham, and to create dignities, the grant being similar to that of Sir Robert Heath, the only limitation being that the laws should not be repug- nant to the laws of England. Six weeks after the grant was issued the Lords Proprietors held their first meeting and formed a joint-stock company, and provided by general contribution for transporting colonists and for the payment of their expenses. But as soon as publicity was given to the issuing of this grant, its validity was questioned because the same territory had formerly been bestowed on Sir Robert Heath ; and Samuel Vassall claimed that he had an assign- ment from Sir Robert for the southern half of Carolina for a term of years not then expired, and Sir Robert Green- field's heirs claimed the other half; while the heirs of the Duke of Norfolk declared that Sir Robert took his grant originally in trust for their ancestor; and Maltravers, Earl of Arundell and Surrey, likewise set up an interest. There is some reason to believe that in 1639 a permanent settlement
*Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret also became the owners of New Jersey in 1664.
69
P.ITENT FOR CAROLANA ANNULLED
was attempted. William Hawley appeared in Virginia as governor of Carolina, and leave was granted by the Vir- ginia legislature that he might colonize it by carrying a hundred persons from Virginia, freemen, being single and disengaged from debt, and it was said that Arundell was at considerable expense in planting several parts of the country, but was prevented from accomplishing his design by the civil war breaking out in England. The assertion of a title older than the grant to the Lords Proprietors interfered with their contemplated arrangements, and at their instance the grant to Sir Robert Heath was annulled by the Privy Coun- cil ; but notwithstanding this proceeding, the title to Carolina years afterward was claimed by Dr. Coxe, who in a memorial to King William III traced his right through different conveyances, and who declared that he had explored and surveyed a large portion of the country, and his son, Daniel Coxe, published an account and map of the territory, which he still called Carolana.
William Drummond governor of Albemarle
As soon, however, as the title of the Proprietors was assured, in September following, they vested in Sir William Berkeley the power to appoint a governor for all that part of their province which lay on the northeast side of the River Chowan, now named by them the Albemarle River, the Proprietors being aware that settlements had been made in that territory. This, then, is the date of the first use of the name Albemarle in connection with Carolina. The Pro- prietors, in September, 1663, changed the name of "Chowan River," by which they meant "the waters of the sound as far as Roanoke Inlet," to Albemarle River, while the same expansive waters had also been called the Carolina River ; and earlier, the Roanoke River. The date when Governor Berkeley discontinued issuing patents for land in Albemarle in the name of the king under his instructions as governor of Virginia was apparently December 25, 1663: after that il:e patents for land there were issued under the direction
1663
Bancroft, 1, :30
Albemarle named, Sept., 1663
.
70
BEGINNINGS OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
C. R., I, 238
Drummond governor, Oct., 1664
C. R., 1, 93
1664 - of the Lords Proprietors as being in Carolina. The first patents, being under the Virginia law, reserved a rent of one farthing per acre, according to the Virginia custom; those issued after December 25. 1663, under the instructions of the Lords Proprietors, were at the greater rate of half penny per acre. But although Governor Berkeley had been issuing patents for the land on the Albemarle as subject to his authority as governor of Virginia, and as not being within the limits of Carolina, yet after the grant to himself and associates he seems to have refrained from asserting the claim of Virginia to the plantations on the Chowan and Pasquotank and to have allowed the Lords Proprietors to proceed as if that territory were within their domain. He visited the new settlement the following summer, and con- formably to their direction, appointed necessary officers and organized the government, and he either appointed William Drummond. a Scotchman, then a resident of Virginia, to be the governor, or recommended him for that post. The Lords Proprietors having speedily considered plans for the gov- ernment of their province, determined to form counties forty miles square, each of which was to have its own governor ; and they proposed to lay off such a county on the Chowan and to call it Albemarle. It is probable that in October, 1664, they gave effect to this purpose, and at that time made out and transmitted to Drummond his commission as governor of the county of Albemarle, for on January 7, 1665, they mentioned in a letter to him that they had previously sent him by Peter Carteret his commission as governor of Albe- marle County, but had by mistake stated that it was to con- tain forty square miles instead of being forty miles square ; and their plans seem to have contemplated that the term of office for the governor should be three years; and in October, 1667, a successor was appointed to Drummond. Later, one Nathaniel Batts was mentioned as having been governor of Roanoke, and he may have been appointed to that office by Governor Berkeley under the instructions of the Lords Proprietors, Roanoke Island not being within
7!
CAROLINA ENLARGED
1665
Alemarle County as originally laid off, and authority hav- ng been given to Berkeley to establish two separate gov- rnments, one for each division of territory.
The second grant
Probably it was in connection with the organization of the new government that attention was sharply drawn to the fact that the Albemarle settlement was not in Carolina, but was really within the boundaries of Virginia. The Lords Proprietors, becoming aware that the limits of Carolina just touched the northern shore of the sound and did not embrace the plantations that had been settled, hastened to apply to the king for an extension of their grant some thirty miles further northward, and on June 30, 1665, the king was pleased to make this addition to their possessions, and issued a second grant or charter, extending Carolina to 35 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, which has ever since been the dividing line between the two territories ; and also extending it two degrees further to the southward.
CHAPTER VII
SETTLEMENT ON THE CAPE FEAR
The settlement on the Cape Fear .- Hilton's explorations .- The New England Association .- The first settlement .- Sir John Yeamans, governor .-- Conditions at Charlestown .- Yeamans sails from Barba- does .- An Assembly at Cape Fear .- An Indian war .- Dissatisfaction. -- The Cape Fear River abandoned .- A new Charlestown on Ashley River .- Slavery in the colonies .- The Indian inhabitants
The settlement of the Cape Fear
The evil reports set afoot in 1662 by the New Englanders in regard to the Cape Fear soon reached Barbadoes, and the persons there who had in contemplation a settlement on that river thought it expedient, before proceeding further, to cause a more particular investigation to be made of that locality. Colonel Modyford and John Vassall, the chief promoters, again engaged the services of Hilton, who with Anthony Long and Peter Fabian, as representatives of the association, in August. 1663, set sail on the Adventure upon a new mission of discovery and particular exploration. They skirted the coast from September 29th to October 2d without finding an entrance, and when they were in the vicinity of Cape Fear a violent storm came up, and they were carried by the strong current of the Gulf Stream nearly up to Hatteras. Returning, they reached the outer roads of Cape Fear on October 12th, and then visited the cape, expecting to find the cattle left there by the New Englanders. But the cattle could not be found. Doubtless the Indians had feasted upon them. A fortnight later they entered the harbor, and finally came to anchor at the junction of what they called the Main River and Green River, where the town of Wilmington now is. They ascended in their boats the northeast branch, naming certain localities Turkey Quarter, Rocky Point, and Stag Park; and likewise the northwest branch, and Clarendon River, which they called
Hilton makes a second expedition
October, 1663
C. R., 1, 71
1662
73
HILTON EXPLORES THE CAPE FEAR
1663
Hilton ; and while they found much poor land and many pine barrens, and along the streams extensive marshes, on the whole they were pleased with the locality as being suit- able for a settlement. Indeed, no region is more attractive than the Cape Fear in autumn. The soft, moderate climate, the fine vegetation, the numerous flowers, the towering pines, were all calculated to impress the explorers most favorably. After a delightful experience of six weeks spent in explora- tion, they turned their backs and dropped down to Crane Island, about four leagues from the entrance of the harbor, where they purchased the river and the adjacent land from Wat Coosa, the king of the neighboring Indians, and his chief men, and established friendly relations with them. 'On December 4th they weighed anchor and turned their prow southward for Barbadoes, where they arrived after a perilous voyage of sixty days. In their report they strongly denounced the disparaging statement made by the New Eng- landers concerning the Cape Fear lands, and they gave a renewed impetus to the projected enterprise.
But while these steps were being taken at Barbadoes, the New England Association had not remained inactive. Still purposing to establish a colony on the Cape Fear, they sought the aid of London merchants to furnish means and supplies, and to secure settlers from England, and were taking measures to make the enterprise a success. Such was the situation when it became known that Carolina had been granted to the Lords Proprietors, and that terms of settle- ment and title must be obtained from them.
When this information was received, the London adven- C. R., 1, 36 turers who were associated with the New Englanders hastened to apply to the Lords Proprietors for the terms on which a settlement could be made, and obtained assurances of liberal treatment. The Proprietors, however, claimed the privilege of appointing the governor, and this was not satis- factory to the New Englanders, who had always enjoyed the right of choosing their own governors, and objected to any other mode of appointment. But this difference it
74
SETTLEMENT ON THE CAPE FEAR
1663
was hoped might be reconciled. Indeed. the Proprietors were eager to promote the settlement of their possessions, and were active and energetic in doing so, considering the pressing demands upon them of their high public em- ployment.
C. R., 1, 39
The declarations and proposals
C. R., 1, 43
Hardly had they entered upon their negotiations with the New Englanders, however, when on August 12th they received a communication from Barbadoes, signed by Colonel Thomas Modyford and Peter Colleton, who were cousins of the Duke of Albemarle, detailing the designs of the Barbadoes adventurers and applying for terms of settle- ment. With these two applications pending, the Proprietors, buoyant with the prospects, hastened to respond, and on August 25th they published their first declarations and pro- posals to all that will plant in Carolina. They authorized that the first settlement should be on Charles River, as Cape Fear River was then named; and announced that the col- onists were to make their own laws by their assembly- men, by and with the advice and consent of the governor and council. Freedom and liberty of conscience in all re- ligious and spiritual things were absolutely granted. They sought particularly to satisfy the New Englanders, who, being Independents, demanded the right of electing their governor and all other officers, by agreeing that the settlers, before embarking, should present to them the names of thirteen of the actual settlers, of whom one would be selected for governor, and six more for the council; and at the end of every three years the inhabitants should in like manner present thirteen persons from whom the governor and council should be selected.
But even this was not satisfactory to the London agents of the New Englanders, who insisted that the governor must be elected by the people. The Proprietors, however, disregarded this demand, and, hopeful of final acquiescence. sought to consolidate the different interests, and to have the adventurers or promoters at Barbadoes associate with them those in New England and such persons in London, the
75
CHARLESTOWN ON THE CAPE FEAR
Bermudas and other islands in the Caribbean Sea as could induced to engage in the enterprise.
1664
May 29, :664 Settlers from New England and Barbadoes
These efforts were in some measure successful. The con- thicting claims of New England and Barbadoes were recon- Hed, and an association, of which Henry Vassall was the Lindon agent, was formed to make the settlement. Vassall with much persistency continued negotiations for better terms, and finally secured concessions which he thought would be acceded to, and transmitted them to Barbadoes. The promoters at Barbadoes now applied themselves with stich diligence to the work of preparation that on May 29, 1664. the first instalment of colonists disembarked on the banks of the Cape Fear and established themselves at the mouth of the creek since known as Old Town Creek. and thither soon came accessions from New England, and the settlement was apparently on a permanent and solid basis. C. R., I, 156 The river as early as August, 1663, was called the Charles River, in honor of King Charles, and the new town was named Charlestown. Five months after this settlement, in October, 1664, at the time when the county of Albemarle was laid off, the county of Clarendon was established on the Cape Fear, and John Vassall was appointed surveyor and Robert Sanford register of that county. County of Clarendon
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.