USA > North Carolina > Lives of the bishops of North Carolina from the establishment of the episcopate in that state down to the division of the diocese > Part 2
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* Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. I., page S5S.
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tinue for some time with these people by reason of their luke- warmness and indifferency to our own constitution ; but, by con- stant catechizing and teaching they are becoming tolerable pro- ficients in the knowledge of the Gospel." * How long the re- doubtable Mr. Rainsford continued the above warfare of doc- trine we are not informed; nor can we speak in detail of the numerous other missionaries sent to Carolina by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Of the character of two of these (Daniel Brett and John Urmstone) it is a case of "least said, soonest mended." In the way of re- sults, probably the greatest work done in the colonial period was by the Reverend Clement Hall, a native of England who was reared in North Carolina. He went back to England for holy orders and returned to North Carolina about the end of the year 1744 or early in 1745. He officiated at Edenton, and held services in the court-house before the completion of Saint Paul's Church. In the spring of 1752 he wrote that, though sick a part of the time, he had, during his ministry of seven or eight years, traveled 14,000 miles, delivered 675 sermons, baptized about 5,783 white children and 243 negro children-also ad- ministering adult baptism to 57 white persons and 112 negroes, and that he had sometimes administered the Holy Communion to as many as 300 persons in one journey, besides visiting the sick, etc.t Another indefatigable worker for the cause of Christ was the Reverend Alexander Stewart. He was a graduate of Dublin College, and held the degree of Master of Arts from that institution. He came to North Carolina in 1754 as chaplain to Governor Arthur Dobbs. Later he was placed in charge of Saint Thomas's Church, in the town of Bath; but his labors extended far beyond the limits of that parish. He gathered into the Church's fold white people, Indians and negroes, in- fants and adults. Often, when it was desired by his converts,
* Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. II., p. 153.
t Ibid, Vol. IV., p. 1315.
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he had occasion to avail himself of rubrical authority on that point and perform the office of baptism by immersion .* One of his parishioners was Nathaniel Blount, who later entered the ministry and to whom we shall have occasion to refer here- after as the last survivor of the colonial clergy in North Carolina.
In a memorial from the Lord Bishop of London to the Lords of the Treasury, in 1721, it was said: "The Bishop of London was by King Charles II intrusted with providing and sending ministers to the colonies and islands in America, and was [later] directed by King William to apply to the Treasury for £20 to each missionary to defray his passage." Schoolmasters of the Church of England were aided in like manner. A list of those who drew the cost of their passage to America, between 1690 and 1811, has been compiled by Gerald Fothergill, and was pub- lished in London (1904) under the title A List of Emigrant Ministers to America, 1690-1811. This valuable little work contains the names of quite a number of missionaries to North Carolina, with the dates when they received their passage money, as follows: James Adams, 1707; John Barnett, 1765; John Blacknall, 1725; John Blair, 1703; Peter Blin, 1769; Nathaniel Blount, 1773; [Daniel] Brett, 1700; Robert Briggs, 1768; Thomas Burges, 1741; Henry John Burges, 1768; Nicholas Christian, 1773; James Cosgrove, 1766; John Cramp, 1767; Charles Crupples [Cupples ], 1766; Robert Cuming, 1748-1749 ; Theodorus Swaine Drage, 1769; Daniel Earle [Earl], 1756; William Fanning, 1764; Samuel Fishe [Fiske?], 1766; Heze- kiah Ford, 1776; John Garzia, 1724; William Gordon, 1707; Clement Hall, 1744; William Hawson, 1756; Richard Hewitt, 1724; Francis Johnston, 1768; Walter Jones, 1724; Edward Jones, 1769; James Macartney, 1768; John M'Dowell, 1753; William Maury (school-master), 1723; George Micklejohn, 1766; William Miller, 1765; James Moir, 1739; Thomas New- man, 1701; Charles Pettigrew, 1775; John Lott Phillips, 1776;
* Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. VI., pp. 315-316.
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William Pow, 1748-1749; Giles Rainsford, 1716; John Reid, 1745; John Rowan, 1747; Alexander Stewart, 1753; Charles Edward Taylor, 1771; Samuel Thomas, 1702; William Toale, 1762; John Urmstons [Urmstone], 1722; Whinston [Winston ?], 1709; John Wills, 1769; and Charles Woodmason, 1766. In the above list, Mr. Rainsford is credited to Maryland, Mr. Urmstone to Virginia, Mr. Garzia to Virginia, and Mr. Woodmason to South Carolina, though they are all known to have labored (for a while at least) in North Carolina; on the other hand, a few of those who are credited to North Carolina, in this list, went to other colonies. Some of these missionaries had gone from North Carolina to England for ordination, and the above-mentioned amount of twenty pounds was paid to cover the cost of their return to America. Among these were Henry John Burges, Francis Johnston, Peter Blin, Edward Jones, Nathaniel Blount and Charles Pettigrew. There may have been others also. One of these, Henry John Burges, was a son of another clergyman, the Reverend Thomas Burges, who was stationed for many years in Edgecombe County, North Caro- lina. In the Colonial Records of North Carolina may be found a great deal of information (letters, etc.) concerning many of the above missionaries and their associates in the ministry.
Though the law creating them has been lost, it is known that several parishes of the Church of England were erected in North Carolina in 1701. These, so far as can be learned, were: Cur- rituck Parish in Currituck Precinct, Saint John's Parish in Pasquotank Precinct, Berkeley Parish in Perquimans Precinct, Saint Paul's Parish (now of the town of Edenton) in Chowan Precinct, and Saint Thomas's Parish (now of the town of Bath) in Pamlico Precinct .* During ten or twelve years following several new parishes were added. At the session of the Colonial Assembly of 1715 (the first legislature of whose enactments we
* This precinct should not be confused with the present county of Pamlico, which was not erected till 1872. Bath is now in Beaufort County.
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have any record), the province was divided into nine parishes, by chapter VIII of its laws, as follows: Eastern Parish of Chowan Precinct, South-west Parish of Chowan Precinct, Per- quimans Parish, South-west Parish of Pasquotank Precinct, North-east Parish of Pasquotank Precinct, Currituck Parish, Saint Thomas's Parish, Hyde Parish and Craven Parish. The names of those who were vestrymen of these nine parishes in 1715 are still preserved .* All earlier church records in North Carolina are lost, with the exception of those belonging to Saint Paul's Church, in Edenton, which begin in 1701. Between the year 1715 and the War of the Revolution numerous other colo- nial parishes were added to those in the list above given.t
The Colonial Assembly of North Carolina legally recognized the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church, and passed an act, chapter XIII of the Laws of 1755, authorizing the erection of the parish of Dobbs by members of that communion, on the tract of land called Wachovia (now in Forsyth County) which had been settled by these Moravians. A few years earlier, on May 12, 1749, the British Parliament had also passed an act (22 George, II, chapter XXX) giving legal recognition to the Unitas Fratrum, and referring to that religious body as "an ancient Protestant Episcopal Church which has been counte- nanced and relieved by the Kings of England." This parlia- mentary action was taken upon a unanimous recommendation by the Bench of Bishops. Later on in the present volume it will be seen that there has always been fraternization between Bishops of the Episcopal Church and of the Moravian Church in North Carolina. Of the erection of the above-mentioned parish of Dobbs in North Carolina, during the colonial period, the Moravian historian, Reverend John H. Clewell, in his ITis- tory of Wachovia, says : "In 1755 the legislature was petitioned
* Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. II., pp. 208-209; State Records of North Carolina, Vol. XXIII., pp. 6-S.
t For list of Colonial parishes, see "parishes." on p. 709, in index, Vol. XXV. of State Records of North Carolina. In same index the different parishes are classed under their own heads.
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to constitute Wachovia a separate parish. This petition was granted. Benzien and Stauber were the representatives from Wachovia to present the petition. Jacob and Herman Lash waited on the Governor in New Bern, in December, and received official notice that the bill was a law. The representatives of the Bethabara congregation were graciously received by Gov- ernor Dobbs. In April, 1756, the Act of Assembly was com- municated to the congregation by Rauch and Angel. By this act twenty men were created freeholders, and each man received fifty acres of land .* In May, these twenty men were summoned to Salisbury to be invested with their new powers." Alluding to the experiences of this party after reaching Salisbury (the county-seat of Rowan, in which Dobbs Parish was then situ- ated), Doctor Clewell gives a translation of the original account in the Moravian records, which says: "They had a short dis- cussion and all went to the court-house to elect vestrymen. A herald took their names, and then made known to them their duties. The vote of the freeholders was taken, and the names of the vestrymen made known to the public. When this was done the Chief Justice announced to the vestrymen that they would have to appear at court and select two wardens. The sheriff said that, as it would be a task for so many to travel to Salisbury, he would himself come to Bethabara to qualify them." They were qualified accordingly, and then proceeded to elect as church wardens two of their number, Messrs. Lash and Wutke. In closing this account, the old record says: "The organization was now complete according to the wish of our hearts. We thanked the Lord that it was so."
Saint Thomas's Church in the old town of Bath, Beaufort County, and Saint Paul's Church in Edenton, Chowan County, are the only brick buildings still used in the State of North Carolina which were erected by congregations of the Church of
* The Moravian lands were owned by the community as a whole and there were no individual free-holders. Hence it was necessary to issue these grants .- M. DEL. II.
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England prior to the Revolution. As already mentioned, these parishes were laid out in 1701, many years before the churches were built. Some miles below Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River, is the site of the old town of Brunswick (of which scarcely a vestige now remains), and there the brick walls of Saint Philip's Church are in a perfect state of preservation, but all of the woodwork, roof included, has rotted away. As it may interest the reader, we shall add a few words concerning these ancient structures.
The erection of Saint Thomas's Church, in Bath, was begun about 1734, though it was not completed until some years after that date. In 1841, or thereabouts, the entire roof and gable ends of this building were blown off by a heavy windstorm, but the damage was repaired through the liberality of Joseph Bon- ner, a gentleman of that vicinity whose family had long been identified with the Church in North Carolina, one of his ances- tors, Captain Henry Bonner, having been a vestryman in Chowan Precinct as early as 1715. About the year 1868 the woodwork of the structure fell into decay, and this was replaced by William Walling, an Englishman who had settled in North Carolina, and wished to show his veneration for an ancient edifice by which his mother country and adopted home were so closely connected. All of the old records of this parish have been lost. Underneath the building, and also around about it, are many graves, but these, for the most part, are unmarked. The outside dimensions, etc., of this church (as given by the Reverend Doctor Drane in his monograph included in Colonial Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia) are as follows: Nave length, 51 feet; nave width, 31 feet; nave height, sides, 14 feet ; thickness of bricks, 3 by 41/2 by 9 inches; clay tiles in floor, 2 by S by S inches. Saint Thomas's Church was the chief scene of the labors of the great colonial missionary, Reverend Alexander Stewart, to whose career we have already referred.
Saint Paul's Church, in Edenton, was begun in 1736, re- placing a wooden building of earlier date. Like the church in
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Bath, it remained unfinished for quite a while after its construc- tion was commenced. Among the contributors towards its erec- tion were the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, who gave two hun- dred pounds sterling. This parish has had a longer unbroken existence than any other in the State, its history long antedating the erection of the present building. Its first vestrymen-who were also the first ever appointed in the colony-were His Ex- cellency Henderson Walker, Governor; the Honorable Thomas Pollock, President of the Provincial Council, and later Governor pro tempore; William Dukinfield, a Justice of the General Court and a brother of Sir Robert Dukinfield, Baronet; Nicho- las Crisp; Edward Smithwick, a member of the Assembly of the Province; John Blount, a Justice of the General Court; James Long; Nathaniel Chevin, member of the Provincial Council; William Benbury; Colonel William Wilkinson, an eminent at- torney; Captain Thomas Leuten, and Captain Thomas Blount. These vestrymen (who were all colonists of the first consequence in their day and generation) effected an organization on Decem- ber 15, 1701, by electing Colonel Wilkinson and Captain Leuten church wardens, and Mr. Chevin clerk of the vestry. Mr. Smithwick gave an acre of land on which to erect a house of worship, and the vestry at once contracted for such a structure, the same to be of wood and twenty-five feet in length. On De- cember 15, 1702, exactly one year after the first meeting of the vestry, we find recorded in their proceedings the fact that they viewed the chapel and accepted the same from the contractor. It was about thirty-five years later that this chapel was replaced by the substantial brick church (on a different site) which is now used by the congregation in Edenton. In the monograph already quoted, Doctor Drane gives the following outside meas- urements, with description of interior, of Saint Paul's Church : nave length, 60 feet; nave width, 40 feet and 3 inches; nave height, sides, 20 feet; dimensions of bricks, 21,5 by 4 by 81% inches. Saint Paul's floor was formerly tiled, and "intra-mural" burials were allowed. The floor is now of wood. The silver
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communion service, which has been used in Saint Paul's Church for generations past, was the gift of an eminent colonial Church- man and statesman. Both the paten and chalice are inscribed as follows: "The Gift of Colonell Edward Moseley for ye use of ye. Church in Edenton in the year 1725." In Saint Paul's is also a larger chalice of silver which was presented by a colon- ial missionary, the Reverend John Garzia, of North Carolina, it being inscribed as follows: "D. D. Johannes Garzia, Eccle- siae Anglicanae Presbyter." So far as the present writer knows, these are the only communion vessels of the colonial period now used in North Carolina, except one in the parish of Christ Church, New Bern. Saint Paul's Church, in Edenton, was the place of worship of numerous Colonial Governors, Chief Justices and other high dignitaries, many of whom are now at rest within its burial ground, which is historically one of the most interesting places in the Southern States. The two hun- dredth anniversary of the organization of Saint Paul's Parish fell on December 15, 1901, but the vestry decided to hold the celebration of that event somewhat earlier, during the session of the Diocesan Council of East Carolina, which convened that year in Edenton. The celebration was accordingly held, May 22-24, 1901, and the proceedings on that occasion were after- wards printed, under the editorial supervision of Doctor Drane, in a pamphlet entitled The Religious and Historic Commemo- ration of the Two Hundred Years of St. Paul's Parish, Eden- ton, North Carolina.
Saint Philip's Church, on the Cape Fear River, in Brunswick County, is now in a state of ruin. Its walls, and some grave- stones not far distant, are about all that is now left to mark the site of the old borough of Brunswick, which was one of North Carolina's most important towns in colonial days. Even before this parish was established the people of that vicinity had a house of worship and the advantages of church services, con- ducted by the Reverend Richard Marsden. In a letter written from that place in February, 1736, James Murray, a member
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of the Council under Governor Gabriel Johnston, said: "We have ye best minister that I have heard in America to preach and read prayers to us every 2d or 3d Sunday at least; and, on a cold day, a good fire in ye church to sit by." It was in 1741, a few years after the date of this letter, that Saint Philip's Parish was laid out, and the brick church (whose walls are still intact) was not begun until about 1754. "We are building a very large brick church, which is nearly done," wrote the vestry in 1760. It was finished a few years later, while Governor Wil- liam Tryon resided at Brunswick, and that gentleman made a personal contribution of forty guineas to aid the work. ' The walls of this church are seventy-six feet and six inches long, fifty-three feet and three inches wide, and twenty-four feet and four inches in height. Saint Philip's Church was probably abandoned about the time of the Revolution. The parish has never appeared on the rolls of the Conventions of the Church in North Carolina since the foundation of the Diocese in 1817.
The above three churches-Saint Thomas's in Bath, Saint Paul's in Edenton, and Saint Philip's on the site of old Bruns- wick-are the only three brick church buildings of the colonial era now standing in North Carolina. They are all in what is now the Diocese of East Carolina. There are other colonial parishes still existing in the State, but the original buildings have in all instances been replaced by more modern ones. One of these, Christ Church, at New Bern, still owns a silver com- munion service, Holy Bible and Book of Common Prayer, which came from England prior to the Revolution. The communion service is probably the same which King George presented to the "Royal Chapel" (Saint Philip's Church) at Brunswick, and was doubtless brought to New Bern when that place became the capital, thus making Christ Church the "Royal Chapel." It is sterling silver and consists of two large flagons, a chalice, paten and alms basin, these bearing the Royal arms of Great Britain and the King's initial letters, G. R. (Georgius Rex). The Bible and Book of Common Prayer are at present deposited in the
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Hall of History in Raleigh. The Bible was printed at the Uni- versity of Oxford by John Baskett, "Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty," in 1716, while the Prayer Book came from the presses of Joseph Bentham, of Cambridge, printer to the University, in 1752.
Of all the zealous clergymen of the Church of England in North Carolina about the time of the Revolution, none ranked higher than the Reverend Charles Pettigrew, who built Petti- grew's Chapel at his own expense and for many years ministered there, as well as in Edenton and elsewhere throughout the prov- ince. He lived in a locality where the Society of Friends had a strong foothold; and, after the Revolution, he said: "Before the dissolution of the Establishment [of the Church of Eng- land], I absolutely forbade anything to be collected from the Quakers for me, as I would not receive it. Neither have I taken anything for visiting the sick or baptizing during :he course of my ministry." Mr. Pettigrew was born in Pennsyl- vania on March 20, 1743. He was educated in North Carolina. In early life he was a school-teacher; but, desiring to enter the ministry, he went to England in the winter of 1774-'75, and was duly ordained by the Bishops of London and Rochester. He returned to America on the last ship which sailed before the Revolution. After the war he and other clergymen vainly en- deavored to form a Diocese in North Carolina; and meetings, with this end in view, were held in June, 1790; November, 1790; October, 1791; November, 1793, and May, 1794 .* At the time last named, Mr. Pettigrew was elected Bishop of North Caro- lina, but he died (April S, 1807) without being consecrated, and it was more than a quarter of a century before the Church had succeeded in its efforts to establish a diocese presided over by a Bishop of its own. We do not include a separate biography
* For reprints of Journals of these early Conventions, etc., see volume entitled Church History in North Carolina.
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of Mr. Pettigrew in this work, as he never was inducted into the office of Bishop by consecration .*
Among the workers in the earlier efforts to set up a diocese in North Carolina were several clergymen who had borne an active part in the operations of the American army during the War for Independence. At the beginning of hostilties, the Rev- erend Adam Boyd had fought as a line officer, had entered the ministry while the war was in progress (first taking Presby- terian orders), and had risen to the rank of Brigade Chaplain; the Reverend Solomon Halling had been an efficient surgeon in the patriot army before entering the ministry; and the Rev- erend Robert Johnston Miller had enlisted under the American standard when eighteen years old, had encountered the dangers of the field at Long Island, Brandywine and White Plains, re- ceiving a severe wound in the battle first named-also sharing the sufferings at Valley Forge and the triumph at Yorktown. No clergyman of the Church of England was ever an active Loyalist in North Carolina. Old Parson Micklejohn sympa- thized with the royal cause, and was taken into custody and paroled in the early stages of the war, but even he eventually swore allegiance to the Whig government and died an American citizen. Another loyalist in his sympathies (though he took no part against the American cause) was the Reverend James Reed, of New Bern. .
The Reverend Charles Edward Taylor, a clergyman of the Church of England, was one of the chaplains who officiated in the North Carolina Provincial Congress, at Hillsborough in August, 1775.
On April S, 1776, the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, at Halifax, elected as its chaplain the Reverend Hezekiah Ford, a clergyman of the Church of England. This gentleman later was commissioned Chaplain of the Fifth North Carolina Conti-
* A sketch of the life of Bishop-elect Pettigrew, written by me, will be found in the Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VI., p. 396 .- M. DEL. H.
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nental Regiment, April 20, 1777, and marched northward in the summer of that year. He was Special Judge Advocate in a court-martial at Trenton, New Jersey, on July 22, 1777, and was honorably discharged a few months later, in September, just prior to the time when his regimental and brigade com- manders, Colonel Edward Buncombe and General Francis Nash, were mortally wounded at the battle of Germantown.
Another Church of England clergyman who actively sided with the Americans was the Reverend Charles Cupples. In the Revolutionary Assembly at Smithfield, in Johnston County, he acted as chaplain, being elected to that post on May 3, 1779, and serving until excused from further attendance by a joint resolution of the two houses. About a year later, on April 17, 1780, he was also chaplain of the General Assembly which con- vened at New Bern. Not only were most of the clergymen Americans of proved patriotism, but laymen of the Church of England in North Carolina were the foremost leaders of the revolt against King George. The same was true as to laymen in other States also. In his work, entitled The Church for Americans, Bishop Brown, of Arkansas, says: "Two-thirds of the first Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia, A. D. 1774, were churchmen. The same proportion obtained in the Con- gress which declared our independence. Of the fifty-five actual signers of the Declaration of Independence, thirty-five were Episcopalians; twelve Congregationalists; four Presbyterians ; three Quakers; one was a Baptist and one a Roman Catholic.
* * % Of the twelve generals appointed by Washington early in the war, eight were his fellow Episcopalians." *
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