USA > North Carolina > Craven County > New Bern > History of the Presbyterian church in New Bern, N.C. : with a resume? of early ecclesiastical affairs in eastern North Carolina, and a sketch of the early days of New Bern, N.C > Part 3
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B Y Virtue of the Power and Authority to Me Given, as Governor and Commander in Chief, in and over this Province, (Certificate having been made to Me, by Francis Nash, Clerk of Orange County Court, that the Bond as by Law required, hath been taken and filed by him in his Office) I DO hereby Allow, Admit, and Licence you, or any of you, to Celebrate and Solemnize the Rites of MATRIMONY between Poolt. Nait & Martha Monay, and to join them together, as Man and Wife, in Holy Matrimony.
GIVEN under my Hand and Seal at Hillsborough this 24th Day of Fuly in the Year of our Lord 1769 and in the /binth Year of his Maj- efty's Reign.
By His Excellency's Command, Je: Edwards, P.Sec:
NOTE .- The name of " John Hawks" should not appear on this document, with the Seal of Tryon above.
·
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AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH.
regularly renewed, and were even partially submitted to. How many churches, glebes and stipends were obtained in whole or in part, under this legislation, will, perhaps, never be known. Old records will disprove assertions that little was collected. Accidentally, I found the following record in the written min- utes of Craven County Court, June 20th, 1740 :
"it was ordered that John Bryan Esqr. receive the remaining part of the Levys laid for the church by the former vestry, and he gives Se- curetys, Col. Wilson and John Fonveille Jun'. in the sum of 500£ Procl money."
A similar entry is made at September court following. The amount received is not given ; nor can it be ascertained how long the levy was continued here; but probably for years, as the Episcopal Church was not completed until near 1750, and there was no rector until about 1754. Sometimes there was no Episcopal preacher in the whole colony. In 1725, there was only one for eleven parishes; there were only from seven to ten here altogether during the Proprietary period, and three of these did great harm to morals and religion; in 1764, there were only six to supply twenty-nine parishes, each embracing a whole county. From 1662 to 1775, only about fifty-two Epis- copal clergymen had ever been in North Carolina.
Hardships and injustice, and in a few cases, perhaps, bodily sufferings, were thus inflicted on dissenters. This was not done by ecclesiastical courts, but by civil, under the laws of England, or of the Colonial Legislature; illegal laws sometimes, but the fruit of churchly plans, desires and efforts. No spirit of perse- cution prevailed, but wrong ideas about the relation of Church and State, and true religious liberty. So, doubtless, the Colo- nial Establishment was always a mongrel affair, unsatisfactory to both churchmen and dissenters, and never complete.
Governors were instructed to maintain the ecclesiastical au- thority of the Bishop of London. Even a school-master was required to have his license from the Bishop of London to teach geography, arithmetic and writing; and only in 1769 or 1770 was the law repealed which forbade Presbyterian minisster to
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NORTH CAROLINA.
perform marriage ceremonies for members of their own flocks, though civil magistrates had been authorized so to do.
I have found an original marriage license, issued by Governor Tryon, and illustrating the change in the law; and give a copy of it on the opposite page.
In England, Americans were told that, in spite of all the Pres- byterian opposition, bishops would be settled in America. No wonder the people actually rejected the word " church" as odious, and substituted for it-as we shall see-the term "meeting- house," which is the consecrated name given by God himself to his tabernacle, where he promised to meet with his people. Of course, resistance was made to many of these regulations, and with success, by the dissenting majority. After the Revolu- tion, a portion of the property thus unjustly wrung out of the pockets of reluctant dissenters was, by appropriate legislation, rightly converted to public uses.
This seems to be an accurate general summary of facts about the "Colonial Established Church." It is not intended to cast any reproach whatever upon the Episcopal Church of this day by a recital of the sad story of so much trouble, but merely to body forth the color and temper of those early formative days. Episcopalians stand now on the same platform with Presbyte- rians, Methodists, Baptists, and other churches, in repudiating church establishments in the United States, condemning these colonial schemes, and defending the doctrine of religious liberty and equality.
Presbyterian Influence.
Nevertheless, Presbyterian influence increased steadily, and became powerful, if not dominant, in North Carolina. This was, indeed, chiefly through that section of the State with which we are not at present particularly concerned. In the East, Presbyterianism has had but few strong centres until recent times. But Sir Wm. Berkley, one of the proprietors, and the Governor of Virginia, in 1663, appointed William Drummond, an old-fashioned Scotch Presbyterian," "a man of prudence and
* Craighead's Scotch and Irish Seeds in America, pp. 267, 319 ; Maclean's History of Princeton College.
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PRESBYTERIAN INFLUENCE.
popularity, deeply imbued with the passion for popular lib- erty," to be the first Governor of Albemarle. Dr. Brickell, whose history was published in Dublin in 1737, and includes his observations on the province from 1730 to 1737, refers to the Presbyterians as an important element then. Dr. Hawks testi- fies that the Presbyterians in Albemarle, though not numerous, " had real religion amid those without God in the world." Their influence for good in every direction was most marked, and was combined with that of the Quakers in moulding the character of the infant State. Looking down on the other side of New Bern, along and East of the Cape Fear, we admire the uplift given to Carolina's fame by a healthy, robust, truth-lov- ing and liberty-loving Calvinistic faith.
Passing over some years, a few notable facts will signalize the sweep, dignity, and worth of this influence.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland was the cradle of American Presbyterianisın. Rev. Francis Makemie, from the Presbytery of Laggan, near Londonderry, Ireland, was the apostolic Bishop who presided over and guided its young life, about 1683, at Snow Hill, Maryland. He was a hero fresh from the dragon- ades of the loyal churchman and incarnate fiend, Claverhouse. When the first Presbytery, that of Philadelphia, was organized, in 1705, four of its ministers were from this Eastern Shore, Mr. Makemie being one. In 1743, Rev. William Robinson, who was of Quaker stock, though himself a Presbyterian and a man of distinguished ability, was preaching in North Carolina. A supplication was made to the Synod of Philadelphia, in 1744, from Carolina, showing their desolate condition, and petitioning for help. Rev. Samnel Davies, the future President of Prince- ton College, speaks, in 1751, of the fewness and savage igno- rance of the inhabitants as causing Mr. Robinson much hard- ship, and robbing his visit of much success. But, in 1755, several ministers having spent some time among them in mis- sionary labors, whereas there had been hardly any appearance of public worship, the tide was changing; congregations were growing, and eager zeal was manifested to be supplied with Gospel ministers. Continual appointments were made by the
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NORTH CAROLINA.
Synods, then the supreme judicatories of the Church, for preach- ing in the Carolinas; and in several instances, New Bern, Wil- mington, and Edenton are specially designated as objective points to be visited and cared for. Messrs. C. Spencer, Lewis, Bay, Caldwell, C. T. Smith, McWhorter, Chestnut, and many others, were assigned to this mission from year to year .*
On the Eno, a branch of the Neuse, a church was erected in 1736 on ground, the deed to which bears date 9th of George II. Out of Hanover Presbytery, which was constituted in 1758, and embraced North and South Carolina, was erected, in 1770, Orange Presbytery. Its seven original ministers were Hugh McAden, Henry Patillo, James Creswell, David Cald- well, Joseph Alexander, Hezekiah Balch, and Hezekiah James Balch. Mr. Patillo was a member of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina in 1775; was its Chaplain, and also the hon- ored Chairman of the body, in committee of the whole, in con- sidering arrangements for confederation. Mr. Caldwell was a member of the State Convention of 1776, which drew up the "Bill of Rights," and framed the constitution, and he was the reputed author of the Thirty-second Article, which declares, "That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of either the Old or New Testament, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office, or place of trust or profit, in the civil department within the State."
Mecklenburg Declaration, 1775.
This memorable document was drawn up by a convention in Charlotte, N. C. Its date, according to the best authorities, is 20th May, 1775. The town of Charlotte was pronounced by Lord Cornwallis "the hornet's nest of North Carolina." Bancroft says it was "the centre of the culture of that part of
* Gillies' Hist. Col., pp. 432, 506 ; Records of Presbyterian Church, 173, 263 ; Webster's History of Presbyterian Church, 209, 245, 574; Hodge's Constitutional History, Vol. ii., 288 ; Bancroft's United States History, ii., 172, 181, etc.
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HUGH WILLIAMSON AND OTHERS.
the province." Here was "Queen's Museum," the most cele- brated seminary of learning, except William and Mary, south of Princeton. Its able president, Rev. Dr. McWhorter, and Dr. E. Brevard, were both graduates of Princeton. A few days before the Convention met, a political meeting assem- bled in this Presbyterian College, and entertained some re- solutions, presented by Dr. Ephraim Brevard. These were read to the convention, and referred to a committee, consisting of Dr. Brevard, Mr. Kennon and Rev. H. J. Balch, for revision ; and when reported were adopted by a universal "aye," and constitute the immortal "Mecklenburg Declaration," of which Bancroft says, "The first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great Britain, came from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." It is remarkable that this famous convention was composed of one Presbyterian minister, Mr. Balch, nine Presbyterian ruling-elders, and other persons who were all somehow connected with the seven Presbyterian congregations in Mecklenburg County. Another memorable fact is that, as late as July, 1775, a petition to the King of Great Britain was signed by every member of Congress, praying in humble terms, as British subjects, for redress of grievances, and declaring, "We have not raised armies with the ambitious design of separating from Great Britain, and es- tablishing independent States." And on Nov. 16th, 1775, the bearer to England of this congressional document, Richard Penn, the grandson of the celebrated William Penn, and him- self an ex-governor, appeared before the House of Lords, and testified, that in his opinion "no design of independency had been formed by Congress." All honor to North Carolina for the pronounced and vigorous spirit of liberty that had long been growing within her borders, and had its congenial home in the bosoms of her sturdy Calvinistic settlers.
Hugh Williamson and Others.
Dr. Williamson was born of estimable, pious Scotch-Irish parents, in Pennsylvania, December 5, 1735. His mother, Mary Davison, of Derry, when a girl three years old, with her
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NORTH CAROLINA.
parents on their voyage to America, was captured by the North Carolina pirate, Blackbeard, or Teach. After being plundered, they were released. Hugh was taught by Rev. Francis Alison, a Presbyterian minister, and the best Latin scholar in America; graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and became a Licentiate in the Presbyterian Church. Ill health prevented his continuing to preach, or obtaining ordination. He then studied medicine in London, Edinburgh and Utrecht, and travelled extensively in Europe. It has been claimed that through him Dr. Benjamin Franklin obtained the famous Hutchinson correspondence, whose revelations of British false dealings precipitated the War of Independence. On hearing of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Williamson returned home, and the army medical staff having been organized, he awaited an opportunity of serving his country. While prac- tising medicine in Philadelphia, he served as a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of that city.
During the war, when on a mercantile voyage from Charles- ton, S. C., to Baltimore, his vessel had to run up to Edenton, N. C., to escape the English fleet in Chesapeake Bay. Dr. Williamson promptly offered his services to the Governor of this State. He came to New Bern to inoculate for the small- pox such persons as had not had the disease, and thus laid the foundation of that confidence soon shown him in North Caro- lina. He settled in Edenton. Governor Caswell, being as- signed as Major-General to the command of the North Caro- lina troops, ordered to the relief of Charleston, appointed Dr. Williamson chief of his medical staff, where he rendered essen- tial service. In the State Legislature and Congress he repre- sented his district with distinction; and in 1787, with Richard Dobbs Spaight and William Blouut, signed the Constitution of the United States. He was an eminent scholar in mathe- matics, astronomy, natural science, medicine and divinity ; ac- cording to Mr. Thomas Jefferson, "a very useful member of Congress, of acute mind, and a rich degree of erudition ;" a man of fine appearance, imposing elocution, lofty integrity, broad philanthropy, noble patriotism, and untarnished purity.
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PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS.
Though commencing his career in North Carolina as an entire stranger, all obstacles to his advancement speedily melted away. He was chosen to successive places of honor, trust and influ- ence, and he largely moulded public opinion and State policy. He wrote many valuable, practical, literary and philosophical papers; and in 1812, published in two volumes his History of North Carolina, a most important contemporary contribution. On May 22, 1819, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, while riding out with his niece in New York city, in the full vigor of his faculties, and crowned with worthy honors, he suddenly expired.
Samuel Spencer, one of the three judges of the Supreme Court; Alexander Martin, three times Governor of the State, and at his death Senator of the United States from North Caro- lina; Richard Caswell, Brigadier-General of New Bern District during the Revolution, Major-General of the North Carolina State Line, the first Governor of the State, and twice called to that high office by an admiring people; William Richardson Davie, the distinguished lawyer, accomplished orator, member of Congress, and Governor of his State,-these are a few specimens of the kind of men who were trained in the bosom and great principles of the Presbyterian Church of those early days, and were thereby fitted to wield controlling and beneficent power for liberty and virtue in this grand Commonwealth.
Of course, in signalizing these few illustrative facts, there is no intention of unduly exalting Presbyterian influence, and undervaluing the noble patriots and men of illustrious labors connected with other Christian bodies. Thanks are due to God for every one. But it is neither within my limits or scope of thought to trace out their histories here. It will be well if some one is stimulated so to do.
presbyterian Settlements.
These results were, however, the natural outgrowth of the scattered early Presbyterian pioneers, and of the repeated and large colonies of Scotch and Scotch-Irish, and other Presbyte- › rians that poured into the State before and soon after 1700.
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NORTH CAROLINA.
Notice some of these in the middle and Eastern sections. Al- ready the testimony of Dr. Hawks has been mentioned about their presence, high character, and wholesome settlement in the Albemarle domain. Before 1729, they were settled in numbers in Cumberland County, near the site of Fayetteville. The time of their advent is unknown. Henry McCulloh, from the North of Ireland, (a grand uncle of Judge James Iredell,) was secretary of the province of North Carolina, and had been appointed his Majesty's Surveyor-General, Inspector and Comp- troller of the revenue and grants of land. He speculated largely in the crown lands on the Clarendon or Cape Fear, Pedee and Neuse rivers, and was vitally interested in planting colonists on them, thereby to reap a fortune. The transactions of himself and son, Henry E. McCulloh, are said to have been very "crooked." However, about 1736, Henry McCulloh be- gan to fulfil the stipulations of his grant, by introducing a colony of Irish Presbyterians from Ulster into Bladen and Duplin counties, near us. The numbers swelled to three or four hundred, and he thus secured 64,400 acres of choice land, it is said, without paying a dollar. McCulloh's large fortune was reported to have been greatly embarrassed by furnishing transportation to these settlers. The descendants of this band are indicated by their family names in Duplin, New Hanover and Sampson counties. This is the oldest Pres- byterian settlement in the State, and their principal place of worship was "Goshen," from which the "Grove" congregation, whose church is three miles southeast of Duplin Courthouse, traces its origin. Another settlement, near Wilmington, on the northeast of Cape Fear, was the "Welch Tract," originally founded by Welch emigrants. Other families joined them, and together they formed another strong Presbyterian congre- gation .*
Highlanders.
The year 1745 was a dark era to Scotland. The bloody rout of Culloden was a fatal disaster, not only to all hopes of Charles Edward, but to Lovat and Kilmarnock, Tullibardine
* Williamson, ii. 62-65 ; Foote, 78 and 159 ; McRee's Life of Iredell, i. 7, 8.
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HIGHLANDERS.
and Balmerino, MacDonald of Glengary, and Cameron of Lo- chiel, with their thousands of brave but misguided clansmen. A harsh government, satiated with unjust trials, barbarities and bloody executions, exempted nineteen out of every twenty from trial and punishment-the doomed one to be decided by lot. Upon taking the oath of allegiance, the others were al- lowed to be transported to America. The "Coercion Bill" and " Disabling Act" were added, inflicting severe penalties on Highlanders wearing the national kilt, or found in possession of weapons of war. So the Cape Fear country became the happy Canaan for the oppressed of Scotland. Here the stern veterans of Preston-Pans, the stalwart broad-swordsmen of Lo- chiel, and the rugged Highlanders who swept over Culloden's fatal field like their mountain storms, were turned into quiet farmers, isolated by their uncouth Gaelic tongue, among the pines and the plains of Eastern Carolina, but in a land of freedom. Hector McNeill, Alexander Clark, and others, even "John Smith," had long lived here, and had doubtless sent home encouraging accounts of their welfare. In 1746 and 1747 many ship-loads of the refugees arrived in Wilmington. During the "rising" in Scotland, Neill McNeill, a native of Argyleshire, had been prospecting in America, and had ex- plored the Cape Fear section, and the neighborhood of Cross Creek, known then as Heart's Creek or the Bluff, afterwards Campbelton, and now Fayetteville. Tall and muscular, bold and daring, he entered land for himself and colonists, and in 1749 brought over about three hundred immigrants, who were placed in Brunswick, Bladen, Cumberland and Harnett Coun- ties. Baliol of Jura (one of the Hebrides Islands) ran a vessel yearly between Wilmington and Scotland, and regularly brought in additional Scotch immigrants .* These various colonists were reared almost within hail of classic Iona, the hallowed home of primitive Presbyterianism, under apostolic Columba, his coadjutors and godly successors. So they proved good seed from a worthy stock.
* Hume's England, viii. 347, etc. ; Foote, 125-131, 169, etc. ; Martin, ii. 46; Williamson, ii. 78; Centenary Sermon, by Neill Mckay, D. D .; and Historical Address by J. Banks, Esq., at Bluff Church, 1858.
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NORTH CAROLINA.
Ministers Scarce.
No clergymen were with these Scotch. This seems singu- lar, since they were thorough Presbyterians, and so well versed in their Bibles and the doctrines and usages of the Church, that a minister needed to be very careful in preaching to avoid their criticism. Rev. J. McLeod said "he would rather preach to the most polished and fashionable congregation in Edinburgh than to the little critical carls of Barbecue." But the manner of the forced exile, and the actual lack of preachers in the Highands, explain the anomaly. Few could preach in the Gaelic language; and these people spoke nothing else. When Rev. Hugh McAden was on his missionary tour in North and South Carolina in 1756, he states in his journal, that at Hector McNeill's he "preached to a number of Highlanders,-some of them scarcely knew one word that I said,-the poorest singers I ever heard in all my life." Neither did he find them all godly. Their spiritual destitution so affected him that, on his return to Pennsylvania, he induced Rev. James Campbell to go and reside amongst them. Mr. Campbell was born in Cam- belton, on the peninsula of Kintyre, Argyleshire, Scotland. About 1730, he was a licensed Presbyterian preacher, and landed in Philadelphia. He took charge of a congregation of Scotch emigrants, perhaps in Lancaster County, Penn., where Mr. McAden visited him, and was duly ordained. Yielding to the claims from Carolina, he removed thither in 1757, bought a plantation on the Cape Fear, opposite the Bluff Church, and a few miles from Fayetteville, and began to preach under the shadow of his own oaks, in the Gaelic language, in a most un- promising field. But the glad tidings spread. Great enthusi- asm was kindled throughout the Scotch settlement. He pro- claimed a crucified Saviour for the lost sinner with blessed re- sults; served several churches, and secured the erection of several "meeting-houses"; and ceased not his faithful labors, which knew no bounds but his strength, until, under the weight of more than three score and ten years, he fell on sleep in Je- sus, and was laid beside his dear wife, in the quiet of his own graveyard.
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THE CALL.
The Call.
The call for Mr. Campbell's services is in the shape of a con- tract (for there was no organized church yet), and appears in the Register's office, (Book A, page 349,) of the County Court of Cumberland. As the first recorded formal call for the pas- toral services of a Presbyterian minister in North Carolina, and in view of the light it throws on the times by its accompani- ments, it will be well to copy it:
" Know all men whom these presents do, or may concern, That we, whose names are underwritten, for and in considera- tion of the due and faithful ministry of the Gospel (according to the Doctrines and Discipline of the Church of that part of Great Britain called Scotland, by law established,) for some months past, and hereafter to be administered to us and other good people of our communion in the county of Cumberland, in the Province of North America, by the Rev. Mr. James Campbell, a well qualified minister of the principles of the said established church, and for divers good causes and considera- tions moving us thereto, have covenanted, promised, granted and agreed, and by these presents do each of us covenant, promise and agree to and with the said Mr. James Campbell to pay conjointly, or cause to be paid the sum of a hundred pounds in good and lawful money of North Carolina to the said Mr. James Campbell, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, to commence from the twenty-second day of June last, (providing the said Mr. James Campbell doth, as soon as his convenience permit, accept of our call, to be presented to him by Rev'd Presbytery of South Carolina, and be by them engaged to the solemn duty of a pastor for us,) and this to be paid to him, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns yearly, and every year during his faithful ministry with us. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this eighteenth day of October, in the year of His Majesty's reign XXXIInd and of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight.
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NORTH CAROLINA.
"Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of Arch'd Mc- Neill and Arch'd D. Clark.
"Signed, sealed and delivered before us.
" ARCHIBALD MCNEILL,
" ARCHIBALD CLARK,
" HECTOR MCNEILL, [Seal.]
"GILBERT CLARK, [Seal.]
"THOMAS GIBSON, [Seal.]
" ALEX. MCALISTER, [Seal.]
" MALCOM SMITH,
[Seal.]
" ARCHIBALD MCKAY, [Seal.]
"JNO. PATTERSON, [Seal.]
" DUSHEE SHAW, [Seal.]
"NEILL MCNEILL, [Seal.]
" ARCHIBALD BUIE, [Seal.]
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