USA > North Carolina > Stanly County > Albemarle > In ancient Albemarle > Part 4
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Finally, in a desperate attempt to elude his pursuit, Miss Eden bribed two of her father's slaves to row her across the creek in the dead of the night to Bath. Here she took refuge in the
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"Old Marsh House" with her friend, Mrs. Palmer, whose memorial tablet is now in St. Thomas Church at Bath, the oldest house of worship in the State.
Teach, infuriated at the lady's continued rejec- tion of his suit, put out to sea on one of his pirati- cal excursions. The prize he captured on this occasion was Miss Eden's lover, his hated rival. The story goes that Blackbeard cut off one of the hands of the unfortunate captive, threw his body into the sea, and enclosing the gruesome relic in a silver casket, as if it were some costly gift, sent it with many compliments to his lady love. When the unfortunate maiden opened the casket and saw the ghastly object she uttered a terrible shriek and swooned from horror; then, as was the fash- ion in the old romances, pined slowly away and died of a broken heart.
Now, at first blush, it seems that this interest- ing tale has enough corroborating evidences of its veracity to pass down to the coming ages as true history. A visitor to Bath can see for himself every one of the places mentioned in the story. The tablet in old St. Thomas Church testifies in many a high-sounding phrase the many virtues of Miss Eden's friend, Mrs. Margaret Palmer ; and the "Old Marsh House" is still standing, a well preserved and fascinating relic of the past, where
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the above lady is said to have sheltered her friend. We speak of facts as hard and stubborn things, but dates are as the nether millstone for hard- ness. And here are the rocks on which our lovely story shatters: Teach was captured and beheaded in 1718; Mrs. Palmer's tablet reports her to have been born in 1721, and the Marsh House was not built until 1744. The story is a beautiful instance of the way in which legends are made.
After so much that is traditional, a brief sketch of the pirate's life may not be amiss. According to Francis Xavier Martin's History of North Carolina, Edward Teach was born in Bristol, England. While quite young he took service on a privateer and fought many years for king and country with great boldness. In 1796 he joined one Horngold, one of a band of pirates who had their rendezvous in the Bahamas, taking refuge when pursued, in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina.
On his first cruise with the pirate, Teach cap- tured a sloop, of which Horngold gave him the command. He put forty guns on board, named the vessel "Queen Anne's Revenge," and started on a voyage to South America. Here Teach re- ceived news of the king's proclamation of pardon for all pirates who would surrender themselves. So, having collected much plunder, and wishing to
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secure it, he came to North Carolina. With twenty of his men he proceeded to Governor Eden's house, surrendered himself and received the king's pardon.
Soon after, Blackbeard married a young girl, his thirteenth wife, and settled down near Bath with the intention, apparently, of becoming a peaceable citizen; but his good resolutions were soon broken; "being good" did not appeal to the bold sea rover, and soon he was back again on the high seas, pursuing unchecked his career of plunder.
Finally, the people in desperation, finding Gov- ernor Eden either unable or unwilling to put an end to the pirate's depredations, appealed to Gov- ernor Spotswood, of Virginia, for aid, and the pirate was finally captured and beheaded by Lieu- tenant Maynard, whom Spotswood put in com- mand of the ship that went out to search for this terror of the seas.
Seen through the softening haze of two centu- ries, the figure of the redoubtable sea robber acquires a romantic interest, and it is not sur- prising that many good and highly respected citi- zens of eastern North Carolina number themselves quite complacently among the descendants of the bold buccaneer.
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CHAPTER VII
THE OLD BRICK HOUSE-A TRUE HISTORY OF THE HISTORIC DWELLING REPUTED TO BE THE HOME OF THE FAMOUS PIRATE
L OCAL tradition claims that the old brick house described in the foregoing chapter, was once a haunt of the famous pirate, Ed- ward Teach, or Blackbeard, as he was commonly called.
Wild legends of lawless revel and secret crime have grown up about the old building, until its time-stained walls seem steeped in the atmosphere of gloom and terror which the poet Hood has so graphically caught in his "Haunted House":
"But over all there hung a cloud of fear- A sense of mystery, the spirit daunted, And said as plain as whisper in the ear, 'The house is haunted.'"
It is said that the basement room of the Brick House served as a dungeon for prisoners taken in Teach's private raids and held for ransom.
There are darker stories, too, of deeds whose secret was known only to the hidden tunnel and unrevealing waters below.
But tradition has been busy with other occu- pants of the old house. It is said to have been in
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Ames
Mabel Mughs-
Photos
Place It
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"THE OLD BRICK HOUSE" ON PASQUOTANK RIVER
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colonial days the home of a branch of an ancient and noble English family.
To the care of these gentlefolk their kinsmen of old England were said to have entrusted a young and lovely girl in order to separate her from a lover, whose fortunes failed to satisfy the ambition of her proud and wealthy parents.
The lover followed his fair one across the seas, and entered in disguise among the guests assem- bled at the great ball which was given at the Brick House in honor of their recently arrived and charming guest. The young lady's brother, who had accompanied her to this country, penetrated the disguise of her lover.
"Words of high disdain and insult" passed be- tween the young men, a duel followed, and the lover fell, leaving on the floor dark stains which are said to remain to this day, in silent witness to the tragedy of long ago.
Many years after, in a closet of the old house, a faded pink satin slipper was found which tradi- tion naturally assigns to the fair but unhappy heroine of the old tale of love and death.
So much for tradition.
The story of Teach's occupation of the Old Brick House has not been received without ques- tion, but in default of more accurate knowledge, it has been accepted.
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Recently, certain facts have come to light con- cerning the ancient building which are briefly given below.
The information referred to was given by Mr. Joseph Sitterson, a prominent resident of Wil- liamston, North Carolina.
According to Mr. Sitterson, the Old Brick House was the property of his great grandmother, Nancy Murden. This lady was a descendant of Lord Murden, who in 1735 sent out an expedition in charge of his eldest son to make a settlement in the New World.
The party obtained, whether by grant or pur- chase is not known, the land on which the Old Brick House now stands. A sandy ridge extends into Camden County, and is known to this day as Murden's Ridge.
Young Murden had brought with him from England the brick and stone, the carved mantel and paneling, which entered into the construction of the new home he now proceeded to build.
It is thought that the house was intended to be entirely of brick; but the end walls of the massive chimneys having exhausted the supply, the build- ing was finished with wood. The house was planned with the greatest care for defense against the Indian raids; hence the sliding panels, and the roomy and secret spaces in which the family plate
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and jewels brought from the old country could be quickly concealed, in case of sudden attack.
With the same end in view, there were built in the basement, from the rich timber of the adjoin- ing woods, stalls of cedar, the narrow windows of which can still be seen. In these stalls the ponies were kept for fear of Indian raids.
It is believed that in the troubled times preced- ing the American Revolution, Lord Murden's son succeeded to his father's large estates and re- turned to England to claim his inheritance.
After the Revolution, his American lands were confiscated and became the property of the State.
Shortly after the war two brothers of the Mur- den family came to North Carolina, entered the old property and took charge of it.
These brothers married sisters, the Misses Saw- yer. In time the Old Brick House came into the possession of Nancy Murden, a descendant of one of the brothers Murden.
At her death she left the property as follows: One-third to Isaac Murden, one-third to Jerry Murden, one-third to Nancy Murden, her grand- children.
This will is recorded in the court-house at Eliza- beth City, North Carolina.
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CHAPTER VIII
"ELMWOOD," THE OLD SWANN HOMESTEAD IN PASQUOTANK COUNTY
O N A LOW bluff, overlooking the waters of the beautiful Pasquotank River, some five or six miles from Elizabeth City, there stood until a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War, an old colonial mansion known as "Elmwood," the home for many years of the historic Swann family, who were among the ear- liest settlers in our State, and played a prominent part in the colonial history of North Carolina.
Mrs. J. P. Overman, of Elizabeth City, whose father, the late Dr. William Pool, of Pasquotank County, spent his boyhood days at Elmwood, then the home of his father, has given the writer a de- scription of this historic house, as learned from her father: "The house was situated on the right- hand bank of the river, and was set some distance back from the road. It was built of brick brought from England, and was a large, handsome build- ing for those days. As I recall my father's de- scription of it, the house was two stories high; a spacious hall ran the full length of the house, both up-stairs and down; and in both the upper and lower story there were two large rooms on
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each side of the hall. A broad, massive stairway led from the lower hall to the one above. The house stood high from the ground, the porch was small for the size of the building, and the windows were high and narrow. The ceilings of the rooms on the first floor had heavy, carved beams of cedar that ran the length of the house. On the left of the house as you approached from the river road, stretched a dense woods, abounding in deer, and in those days these animals would venture near the homes of men, and feed in the fields."
The great planters in those early days in North Carolina, spent their working hours looking after the affairs of their estates, settling the disputes of their tenants, and attending with their fellow- landed neighbors the sessions of the General As- sembly, and of the courts. Their pleasures were much the same as those of their kinsmen across the sea in merry England-fox-hunting, feasting and dancing; though to these amusements of the old country were added the more exciting deer chase, and the far more dangerous pastime of a bear hunt, when bruin's presence near the home- stead became too evident for comfort. Often the wild screams of the fierce American panther would call the planters forth into the dark forests at their doors, and then it must be a hunt to the death, for until that cry was stilled, every house
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within the shadow of the forest was endangered. Among the homes of the planters in the ancient counties of Pasquotank, Currituck, Perquimans and Chowan, Elmwood was noted for the hospi- tality of its earliest owners, the Swanns; and the long list of prominent families who afterwards lived within its walls, kept alive the old traditions of hospitality.
On many a clear, crisp autumn day, the lawn in front of the mansion would be filled with gentry on horseback, dressed after the fashion of their "neighbors" across the sea in hunting coats of pink, ready for a hunt after the wily fox. The master of the hounds, William Swann himself, would give the signal for the eager creatures to be unloosed, the bugle would sound, and the cry "off and away" echo over the fields, and the chase would be on. A pretty run would reynard give his pursuers, and often the shades of evening would be falling ere the hunters would return to Elmwood, a tired, bedraggled and hungry group. Then at the hospitable board the day's adventures would be related, and after the dinner a merry dance would close the day.
At Christmas, invitations would be issued to the families of the gentry in the nearest counties, to attend a great ball at Elmwood. The old house would be filled from garret to cellar, and the hos-
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pitable homes of nearby friends would open to take in the overflow of guests. Dames and maidens coy, clad in the quaint and picturesque colonial costume, with powdered hair and patches, in richly brocaded gowns and satin slippers, made stately courtesy to gay dandies and jovial squires arrayed in coats of many colors, broidered vests, knee breeches and silken hose, brilliant buckles at knee and on slippers, their long hair worn ring- leted and curled, or tied in queues. In stately meas- ure the graceful minuet would open the ball. Then the gayer strains of the old Virginia reel would cause even the dignified dame or sober squire to relax; and in laughter and merry-making the hours would speed, till the gradual paling of the stars and a flush in the east would warn the merry dancers that "the night was far spent, and the day was at hand."
Such are the tales still told in our county of the olden days at Elmwood-tales handed down from father to son, and preserved in the memories of the old inhabitants of Pasquotank. And all such memories should be preserved and recorded ere those who hold them dear have passed away, and with them, the traditions that picture to a genera- tion all too heedless of the past, the life of these, our pioneer forefathers.
From this old home more distinguished men
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have gone forth than probably from any other home in North Carolina.
The Hon. J. Bryan Grimes in an address made before the State Historical Society at Raleigh in 1909, gives a long list of eminent Carolinians who have called Elmwood their home. Among them were Colonel Thomas Swann and Colonel William Swann, both in colonial days Speakers of the Assembly; three members of the family by the name of Samuel Swann, and John Swann, mem- bers of Congress. Here lived Fred Blount, son of Colonel John Blount, an intimate friend of Gov- ernor Tryon. William Shephard, a prominent Federalist, for some years made Elmwood his home. The Rev. Solomon Pool, President of the University of North Carolina, and his brother, John Pool, United States Senator from North Carolina, both spent their boyhood days in this ancient mansion. And, as Colonel Grimes' re- searches into the history of this old home have made known, and as he relates in his speech on "The Importance of Memorials," "At Elmwood lived, and with it were identified, ten Speakers of the Assembly, five Congressmen, one United States Senator, one President of the State University, and one candidate for Governor."
One of the Samuel Swanns who resided at Elm- wood was the brave young surveyor, who, with
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his comrades, Irvine and Mayo, was the first to plunge into the tangled depths of the Dismal Swamp, when the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia was established.
Before the War between the States had been de- clared, the old house was burned to the ground ; and since then the estate has been cut into smaller farms, and the family burying-ground has been desecrated by treasure-seekers, who in their mad greed for gold have not hesitated to disturb the bones of the sacred dead.
Just when or how the old home was burned, no one is able to tell. Whatever the circumstances of the destruction of this fine old building, the loss sustained by the county, and by the State, is irre- parable.
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CHAPTER IX
PASQUOTANK IN COLONIAL WARS
1 HE earliest wars in which the pioneers of North Carolina took part were those fought between the first comers into the State and the Indians. As Pasquotank was one of the earliest of the counties to be settled, we might naturally expect that county to have taken an active part in those encounters. The fact, how- ever, that the great majority of her early settlers were Friends, or Quakers, as they are more com- monly called, prevented Pasquotank from sharing as extensively as she otherwise might have done in the fight for existence that the pioneers in Caro- lina were compelled to maintain; for one of the most rigid rules of the Quaker Church is that its members must not take up arms against their fellow men, no matter what the provocation may be.
However, a search through the Colonial Records reveals the fact that our county has given a fair quota of men and money whenever the domestic or foreign troubles of colony, state or nation, needed her aid.
The first encounter between our sturdy Anglo- Saxon forefathers and the red man of the forest
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occurred in 1666, two years after William Drum- mond took up the reins of government in Albe- marle. After this trouble little is recorded, nor is Pasquotank nor any of her precincts mentioned in reference to the Indian War. But as the ma- jority of the settlers in North Carolina then lived along the shores of Little River and the Pasquo- tank, we may feel sure that the men of this county were prominent in subduing their savage foes, who, as Captain Ashe records, "were so speedily conquered that the war left no mark upon the infant settlement."
From then until the terrible days of the Tusca- rora Massacre of 1711, the county, and Albemarle as a whole, rested from serious warfare; but these years can hardly be termed peaceful ones for the settlers in this region. The Culpeper Re- bellion, the dissatisfaction caused by the tyranni- cal and illicit deeds of Seth Sothel, the disturbance caused by Captain Bibbs, who claimed the office of governor in defiance of Ludwell, whom the Lords had appointed to rule over Carolina, and the Cary troubles, all combined to keep the whole Albemarle district in a state of confusion and disorder for many years.
But all of these quarrelings and brawlings were hushed and forgotten when in September, 1711, the awful tragedy of the Tuscarora Massacre oc-
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curred. Though the settlers south of Albemarle Sound, in the vicinity of Bath and New Bern, and on Roanoke Island, suffered most during those days of horror, yet from the letters of the Rev. Rainsford and of Colonel Pollock, written during these anxious days, we learn that the planters north of the sound came in for their share of the horrors of an Indian uprising that swept away a large proportion of the inhabitants of the colony, and left the southern counties almost depopulated.
Though nearly paralyzed by the blow that had fallen upon the colony, which, in spite of difficul- ties, had been steadily growing and prospering, the officers of the government as soon as possible began to take steps to punish the Tuscaroras and their allies for the unspeakable atrocities commit- ted by them during the awful days of the massa- cre, and also to devise means for conquering the savage foes who were still pursuing their bloody work. All the able-bodied men in the State were called upon to take part in the warfare against the Indians. But so few were left alive to carry on the struggle, that Governor Hyde was compelled to call upon the Governor of South Carolina and of Virginia to come to his aid in saving the colony from utter extinction. South Carolina responded nobly and generously. Virginia, for various rea- sons, sent but little aid to her afflicted sister col-
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ony. For two long years the war continued, until at last the Indians were conquered, the surviving hostile Tuscaroras left the State, and peace was restored to the impoverished and sorely tried colony.
During the bloody struggle, Pasquotank, which, with the other northern counties suffered but little in comparison with the counties south of the Albe- marle, had sent what help she could to those upon whom the horrors of the war had fallen most heavily. In the Colonial Records this entry of services rendered by Pasquotank is found in a letter sent by Lieutenant Woodhouse and Thomas Johnson to certain "Gentlemen, Friends, and Neighbors," dated October 3, 1712. "Captain Nor- ton, as I was informed by Mrs. Knight, sailed last week from Pasquotank in Major Reed's sloop, with 30 or 40 men, provisions, and two barrels of gunpowder and ten barrels, I think, of shot." The destination of ship, men and cargo was Bath, the scene of the most disastrous of the Indian out- breaks.
In an extract from a "Book of the Orders and Judgments and Decrees of the Hon. Edward Hyde, Esq., President of the Council," mentioned in Dr. Hawk's History of North Carolina, we find the fol- lowing entry : "Ordered that Capt. Edward Allard shall depart with his sloop "Core Sound Mer-
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chant" to Pasquotank River, and there take from on board the "Return," Mr. Charles Worth Glover, so much corn as will load his sloop, give to Mr. Glover a receipt for the same, and that he em- brace the first fair wind and weather to go to Bath County and there apply himself to the Hon. John Barnewell, Esq., and follow such instructions as he shall receive from him."
Again, in a letter from the Rev. Giles Rains- forth to "Jno. Chamberlain, Esq.," written from "Chowan in North Carolina July 25, 1712," fur- ther mention is made of Pasquotank's part in the Tuscarora War: "Col. Boyde was the other day sent out with a party against the Indians, but was unfortunately shot through the head and few of his men came home, but shared his fate and fell sacrifices to the same common misfortune."
It has been charged against Pasquotank that her citizens did not respond to the call for volun- teers to take part in the Tuscarora War; and it is true that the Quakers in the county did enjoin upon their brethren that they should not bear arms in this or any other disturbance. It is also true that a number of the citizens in the county did obey this injunction; and when the war was over we find that certain members of the Friends' meeting were brought to trial by the courts "for not going out in ye Indian Wars."
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But enough instances have been recorded to show that our county did take an active part in break- ing the power of the Tuscaroras and in driving them from the State.
In 1715, when South Carolina in her turn under- went the horrors of an Indian war, and appealed to North Carolina for aid, we find that men from Pasquotank joined with other forces from the colony in response to this appeal. Captain John Pailin and Captain John Norton, both of Pasquo- tank, are ordered "to draw out their companies and go to the assistance of South Carolina in the Yamassie War." And furthermore the command reads: "If men refuse, each captain is ordered to draft ten men who have small families or none, and to put them under Captain Hastins." That drafting was not resorted to, and that the men went willingly to the aid of their brethren in South Carolina, who rendered the northern colony such generous assistance in the Tuscarora War, is proved by the fact that fifty men were raised by the two captains, and cheerfully marched to the front along with the bands of militia from the neighboring counties.
So in these earliest trials of the military courage of her citizens, the county proved that she could and would take a worthy part.
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CHAPTER X PASQUOTANK IN COLONIAL WARS-"THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR"
A FTER the war with the Tuscaroras was over, and most of that powerful tribe had left the State, going to New York and becoming the sixth of the tribes there called "The Six Nations," for many years there were no pitched battles between the red men and the set- tlers in North Carolina.
But the troubles with the Indians did not end with the Tuscarora War; for though a treaty was made in 1713 with Tom Blount, king of the Tuscaroras, who remained in the State, whereby the Indians bound themselves to keep the peace, yet, as late as 1718 the colonists were still putting troops in the field to "catch or kill the enemy In- dians." Indeed the settlers in Albemarle suffered as much from the Indians after the Tuscaroras left the State as they did during the days of the Indian massacre of 1711, and of the open warfare that followed.
In 1714 another Indian outbreak occurred, and the alarm was so great that many of the settlers in the Albemarle region determined to flee to Vir- ginia, where the government seemed better able to
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protect its citizens than were the officials of North Carolina.
To prevent such an immigration from the col- ony, Governor Eden, who had succeeded Edward Hyde, issued a proclamation forbidding the people to leave the colony; and Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, gave orders to arrest any Carolinians who should flee into his colony without a passport from duly authorized officials in Carolina.
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