USA > North Carolina > Notes on colonial North Carolina, 1700-1750 > Part 2
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In 1700 there were only about five thousand people in the province-at the beginning of the Tuscarora War there were ten or eleven thousand inhabitants. Bath County was the seat of this war. This county embraced Pampticough, Wick- ham and Archdale precincts, and extended into the wilder- ness on the South and West. Pampticough and Wickham precincts covered the territory between the Roanoke and Pamlico Rivers. Archdale precinct claimed the land between Pamlico and Neuse rivers, and also the Neuse settlements on both sides Neuse River. a These precincts are now Beau- fort, Hyde and Craven Counties.
At the time of the Tuscarora war the white settlers were fringed along the coast and the Indians occupied all other lands. Chocowinity was the frontier, and tradition says that on the morning of the Indian massacre John Porter's house at Chocowinity was the first to be fired. On the Roanoke were the forts of the Cheeweo and Resootska. On the Tar near the present town of Washington, was Nakay-there was also a fort just about two miles above Bear Creek, on what is still known as Indian Fort branch on Grimesland planta- tion. #
a C. R. Vol. 1. p. 620.
* NOTE .- A field of about ten acres cleared by the Indians on Indian Fort Branch in the west corner of a seventy-five-acre field (Pridgen eut) is still in cultivation.
17
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Further up the Tar about two or three miles below the present town of Greenville was King Blount's town, Uco- hnerunt. On the Contentnea were Conneghta, Tahunta and Hookerooka Forts and Hancock's town. a. To the South and West was the unknown wilderness and the Indian towns of Keeouwee (old town) Totero Fort, Uharee, Acconee- chy, etc. *
After the war most of the Tuscaroras went to their kin- dred in New York. King Blount and his people were given a reservation between Tar and Neuse River, but were soon moved at his own request to lands on Roanoke River where fifty-three thousand (53,000) acres were given them in Ber- tie County, and a fort was built for their defence from enemy Indians. b Here they lived under their Kings, Tom Blount and his son, James Blount, many years. They were afterwards joined by the Supponees and the Chowans. c
a See map Eman. Bowen.
b C. R., Vol. 2. pp. 283, 484, 496.
c C. R., Vol. 3. p. 538.
* NOTE .- In the preliminary articles of peace signed November 25th, 1712, between Major General Thomas Pollock for the colonists and Tom Blount, Saroonha. Hounthanohnoh. Chaunthorunthoo. Ne- woonttootsery and Herunttocken for a number of Indian towns, it was agreed among other things: "Imprimis, The afsd great men Doe hereby Covenant & agree to & with re said presidt & Councill that they shall and will. with ve utmost expedition & Dilligence, make Warr agt. all ye Indyans belonging to ye Townes or Nations of Catechny, Cores. Nuse & Bare River and pamptico, and that they shall not nor will not give any Quarter to any male Indyan of those Towns or Nations above ye Age of fourteen yeares, and also that they shall & will sell off & dispose of all ye males under that age. And that further, after they shall have destroy'd those townes or soe soone as this Governm't shall think proper to require it the said great men doe hereby promise to Join ye English with Soe menny Men as may be thought proper to destroy & cutt off all ye Matchepungo Indyans. * *
4thly .- It is hereby farther Agreed by ve Great Men af-sd that these Severall Townes of Tostehant, Rauroota, Tarhuntah, Keutah. Toherooka, Juninits & Caunookehee, nor any of ye Indyans belonging to them or either of them. shall not nor will not Hunt nor rainge among re English plantations nor Stocks without leave, nor then ahore ye number of three at one tyne, neither shall they Claime any property in ye lands on ye South Side of Nuse called Chatookae River, nor below Catachney Creek on Nuse, nor below Bare Creek ate not-sha-hun-han-rough on ye Noth (south) side of pamptico river." See original treaty framed in State Hall of History.
18 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
These Indians also removed to New York, but they held their lands on the Roanoke and collected rents for them well on into the nineteenth century. a
The Indians remaining in the province about 1730, through their Chiefs, King Tom Blount, of the Tuscaroras; King Hoyter, of the Chowans, and King Durant, of the Yawpims, paid a yearly tribute to the Governor. b
The Tuscarora war and the hardships following caused many people to leave the province, but this war was a bless- ing in disguise. As soon as the Indian troubles were finally disposed of, settlers sought the desirable lands higher up on the Roanoke, Tar and Neuse Rivers and their tributaries. In a few years settlements were begun on the Cape Fear. In the war we were aided by South Carolina and some of her leading citizens were so favorably impressed with our country that many of them and their friends soon moved here.
From a population of eleven thousand two hundred (seven thousand five hundred white, three thousand seven hundred negro) in 1715 c just after the Indian war the province of North Carolina had grown to thirty-six thousand, in 1730 at the end of the Proprietary period. From that time until the Revolution probably no province in America grew faster in wealth and population. In 1752 our popula- tion was ninety thousand d, seventy thousand white, twenty thousand negro, having been tripled in twenty years.
The Indian captives, more than six hundred, taken by Cols. Barnwell and Moore and their soldiers and ally In- dians, were sent to South Carolina as slaves. Those taken by our people were sold into slavery in the West Indies or kept in bondage here. An Indian slave was valued at about £10, and was generally sold away from home. Negroes
a C. R., Vol. 7, p. 248.
b C. R., Vol. 4, pp. 34, 446.
c Chalmers.
d S. P. N .. Vol. 4. 22.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 19
commanded higher prices as they were more docile and ca- pable of greater labor.
In the Indian war our ally Indians were offered "a reward of six blankets for the head of each man of the said Indians killed by the (friendly) Tuscaroras, and the usual price of slaves for each woman and child delivered captives." a The white people after capturing Indians sometimes indulged in barbarities, as DeGraffenreid gives us an account of the roasting of an Indian King in 1711. b
Even as late as 1760 a law was passed making Indian captives slaves and "the absolute right and property of who shall be the captor of such Indian," and ten pounds was given for an Indan scalp taken by a citizen, and five pounds was given for a scalp captured by a solider. To some of our people it seemed profitable for the Indians to raise dis- turbances, but this province was never directly charged with inciting them to war for sinister purposes. Of one of our neighbors an historian says: "This province long con- tinued 'that barbarous practice' which was then introduced (1680) of promoting Indian hostility that they might gain by the traffic of Indian slaves." c
"The moving causes of immigration to Albemarle were its delightful climate, magnificent bottom lands and bountiful products." d
Land-holding gave dignity and importance. The large land-holders, then as now, wielded great influence in their communities. They were the aristocracy of the country and the governing classes; their sons inheriting prestige and leadership with their estates.
Many of the early settlers came from other colonies for the rich lands along our river bottoms, which were found to be cheap, fertile and abundant. These "river plantations"
a C. R., Vol. 1, p. 15.
b C. R., Vol. 1. p. 946.
c Chalmers, Vol. 2, p. 172. d Saunders.
.
20 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
of North Carolina and the South were to become famous all over the world. Land could be easily secured. A planter starting life with modest beginnings would, by the productive- ness of this soil and the natural fruitfulness of his slaves, horses, cattle and hogs, die rich in old age.
Brickell, who for awhile lived at Edenton, writing about 1735 says the Albemarle Country was settled by "Persons from Virginia and other Northern Colonies who, finding the Soil so very good and fertile, settled here, and are become very Numerous and Rich; for the lands here produce every- thing Planted in them in great abundance, Horses, Cows, Sheep and Swine breeding in vast numbers, the winter being very short, and that so mild that the Planters are at little or no Labour or Expense in providing Fodder for their Stock to what other Northerly Countries are." a
Among the planters were gentry who lived as much like their relations in England and Scotland as conditions in a sparsely settled country would admit. Some of the early planters came here in official positions as deputies of the Lords Proprietors, bringing with them their friends, retain- ers and tenants. With the various governors came their kinsmen, supporters and adherents. An examination of the wills in the office of the Secretary of State will show from the signatures with seals bearing imprinted theron crests and coats of arms of signers, that many of the leading men of Carolina belonged to the gentry of England and Scot- land. Many of them were highly educated and classical scholars of great learning. The drafts of old laws, state papers, wills and letters of that day will, in phraseology and elegance of diction, compare most favorably with the productions of the best scholars of to-day.
At the close of the Proprietary period, it may not be far wrong to suggest that the per cent of highly educated and leading men in the colony in proportion to population (which
a Brickell, p. ?.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 21
was thirty-five thousand) was as great as it is in North Carolina to-day, but the masses for many years had little opportunity for education.
Of the great families of the province at that time, during the second quarter of the eighteenth century, may be men- tioned the Swanns, Porters, Gales, Moseleys, Moores, Pol- locks, Vails, Blounts, Bryans, Maules, Ashes, Johnstons, Herritages and others. It is safe to say that in honor, char- acter, virtue and accomplishments, they were not excelled by any families on the American continent. They were people of education, refinement, culture and abundance. Without great wealth they lived in comfort and plenty. With lands, slaves, books, plate, horses and carriages they were leaders in a social life that rivaled the best in the adjoining colonies.
The early settlers took up the choicest lands on the rivers to such an extent that laws were passed to prevent the entering of too much land on the rivers to the exclusion of other set- tlers. In laying out the lands the enterer was at first al- lowed to take up 640 acres or a square mile in one tract on the river, a, but the act further provided that the surveyor should not "lay out two several tracts of land for any one person within two miles at least of each other, unless by particular warrant from the Lords Proprietors for that purpose." It must have been easy to obtain this "particular warrant from the Lords Pro- . prietors for that purpose," or the law was not strictly oh- served, as we find many men in the province owning large bodies of land before North Carolina became a Royal Province. Of the large landed proprietors, some of them owning as much as fifty thousand acres. may be mentioned George Burrington. Frederick Jones, Roger Moore, Edward Moseley, Maurice Moore, John Lovick, William Maule, Dr. Patrick Maule, Seth Sothell, Robert Forster, Martin Franks,
@ Chap. 33. Sec. 4, Laws 1715.
22 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Christopher Gale, John Porter, Thomas Pollock, Cullen Pol- lock, William Stephenson, John Baptista Ashe and others. *
To prevent non-residents entering land for speculation, one was required to have resided in the province for two years before they could sell their rights and lands. a All persons entering land were required to pay on the 29th of September one shilling for every fifty acres as quit rents, and were to be allowed three years to seat and plant, and the patentee was required to build a habitable house and to clear and fence and plant at least one (1) acre of land within the time limited. b In the Coun- cil Journal March 31, 1726, we read: "For saving of lands for the future, every house shall be fifteen foot long, ten Broad, Made tight and habitable of Clapboards or Loggs squared, with a roof and chimney-place and a Door-place The whole acre cleared well, the major part of it broke up and planted with either fruite, trees or grain." c The large land-owners probably built one or two log houses on each tract of land, and placed thereon an over- seer with several slaves. The overseers were frequently in- dentured servants in bond or those who had served their term and were in the employment of their former masters. They were sometimes hired for wages, but often for a part of the produce of the land. The customary wages being "for which Service he is allowed every seventh Calfe, seventh Fole and half of all young hogs that are bred during his stewardship,
a Laws 1715, C. 2.
b Laws 1715, Ch. 26.
c C. R., Vol. 2, p. 607.
* NOTE .- Bernheim. Vann and other writers say Martin Franks came to North Carolina in 1732. This is an error. He was treasurer of Craven precinct before that time (Page manuscript laws, in Everard's time) and was one of the signers of a petition in 1711-12. (Hawks.) In Grant records, Book 2. page 254, is recorded. Apr. 14. 1730, a grant in Craven Precinct. Bath County, to Martin Franks for Ten thousand one hundred and seventy-five (10,175) acres. The grant recites that "All of which land was granted to the sd Martin Frank by a warrant dated June 15th, 1711."
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 23
and likewise the seventh part of all sorts of grain and to- bacco that is produced on the said plantation." a *
The slaves also made tar and turpentine in the spring and summer season, clearing land in the fall and winter; the women and children worked the corn raising sufficient for the men and animals.
During the wars between England and France, the Swedish merchants, who controlled the naval stores trade of the world, put the price of tar to such an extortionate figure that Eng- land gave bounties to her colonists to produce it. ** About 1704, North Carolina commenced its production, and for two hundred years it has been one of the chief products of the State. In the year 1753 North Carolina exported 61,528 barrels of tar: 12,052 do. of pitch; 10.429 do. turpentine, 762,000 staves: 61.580 bus. corn. 100 ( ?) hhds. tobrown, and about 30,000 deer skins, besides lumber and other commodi- ties. In 1708 the exports from all America was 6,089 bar- rels of pitch and tar to England. b
a Brickell, p. 269.
b Chalmers.
* NOTE .- In Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina, Vol. 2. p. 261. we are told that overseers, when hired for wages, were paid fifteen to forty pounds per annum, and laborers from one shill- ing and three pence to two shillings a day "with Lodging and Diet." *
** The following is taken from the English Statutes at Large, Vol. 4, 1699-1713.
"Chap. X. 1704-
** An Act for encouraging the importation of Naval Stores from her Majesty's plantations in America. * *
* any of the naval stores hereafter mentioned. shall have and enjoy. as a Reward or Praemium for such Importation, after and. according to the several rates for such Naval Stores as fol- lows, viz :
II. For good and merchantable Tar per Tun, containing eight Barrels, and each Barrel to gage thirty-one Gallons and an half. Four Pounds.
For good and merchantable Pitch per Tun, each Tun containing twenty Gross hundreds (Net Pitch) to be brought in eight barrels. four Pounds.
For good and merchantable Rozin or Turpentine per Tun, each Tun containing twenty Gross hundred (Net Rozin or Turpentine) to be brought in eight Barrels, three Pounds.
For Hemp. Water rotted, bright and clean, per Tun, each Tun containing twenty Gross hundreds. six Pounds.
For all Masts. Yards and Bowsprits, per Tun, allowing forty Foot to each Tun. Girt measure, according to the customary way of measuring round bodies, one Pound.
24 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Every planter of ordinary thrift soon became independent. In the most primitive period of our history the first houses of the planters were built of logs. The house was of notched logs and was probably such as is seen in many sections of the State to-day. Between the logs were fastened split poles which were chinked with mud. The chimneys were mostly wooden, the base, body and brast of chimney being logged up to the funnel, after which a square pen or stack of sticks was made and daubed inside and out with clav to cement together and to protect from burning. The inside of the fire-place was covered with mud in the same way. Lumber was scarce and expensive, and such as they had was sawed by hand in saw-pits or imported from Boston. a It was prob- ably about 1730, before saw mills made their appearance in North Carolina. b Just before 1750 these mills sawed about 150,000 feet a year.
Col. Byrd, in his "History of the Dividing Line," c says : "Most of the houses in this part of the Country are log houses, covered with Pine or Cypress shingles three feet long and one broad. They are hung upon laths with Peggs, and their doors too turn upon Wooden Hinges, and have Wooden Locks to secure them, so that the Building is finisht without nails or other iron work."
It may be interesting to note what was regarded as a habitable house as shown by the size of houses required to be built in the various towns within eighteen months or two years after purchasing lots. Pollock in 1720 required that the houses built on lots in New Bern (which town he owned) should be "not less than Fifteen Foot square." d As late as 1756, eighteen months' time was given for building on lots taken up, and a habitable house of sixteen
a Thomas Pollock's Will.
b C. R .. Vol. 3, pp. 427. 432. (1732) ; C. R., Vol. 4. pp. 52, 61, (1735). c Vol. 1, p. 50.
d C. R., Vol. 2. p. 386.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 25
feet by twenty-four feet required. a In Edenton b houses were required to be "not of less Dimensions than Twenty Feet long, Fifteen Feet in width and Eight Feet in Height between the first floor and the joists," and no wooden chimneys were allowed to be built there after the first day of May, 1741. c At Brunswick houses were to be 20 feetx16 feet. d When the town of Johnston, in Onslow, which was afterwards de- stroyed by a wind storm in September, 1752, e was incorpor- atedf theinhabitants buying lots were required to build within two years a "good, substantial habitable frame-house not of less dimensions than Twenty Four feet in length and Six- teen feet wide, besides sheds and Leantos." When Capt. Richard Sanderson attempted to build a town on Roanoke Island g it was required that the houses should be 20 feetx15 feet. In the establishment of Newtown (which afterwards became Wilmnigton), it was made a town, "Provided, the Inhabitants thereof do, within the space of two years from the date hereof build and erect six Brick Houses in the princ- ipal streets, of forty feet long and thirty feet deep." h When the village of Newton was changed into the town of Wil- mington i it was required that before one was allowed to vote for a representative for the said town in the General As- sembly he must be "a Tenant of a Brick, Stone or framed habitable House, of the Length of Twenty Feet, and Sixteen Feet Broad ; or an inhabitant of a Brick House of the Length of Thirty Feet, and Sixteen Feet Broad, between the Bounds of said Town, upwards, and Smith's Creek, and within One Hundred and Twenty Poles to the Cape Fear River." This
a Laws 1756, Ch. 12.
b Laws, 1740, Ch. 1 .. Sec. 2.
~ Laws 1740. Ch. 1. Sec. 13.
d Laws 1745. Ch. 12. Sec. 8.
c Martin. Vol. 2. p. 61.
f Laws 1741. Ch. 12, Sec. 6.
! Laws 1715. Ch. 59.
h C. R., Vol. 4. p. 43.
i Laws 1739, Ch. 4. Secs. 4 and 5, and Laws 1740. Ch. 4, Secs. 7 and 8.
26 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
was probably intended to include several of the prominent men who lived near to town.
The planters lived upon their estates with residences gen- erally more pretentious than the town houses. A few of these houses were of brick, but they were commonly frame houses. Some of them were of considerable dimensions even early in the eighteenth century. There were few brick houses in North Carolina. Even after the planters became wealthy they did not affect them. In a humid climate brick houses were probably damp and unhealthy. In New Bern there were only two brick dwelling houses as late as 1792. a
There are to-day standing houses of well-to-do planters that were built prior to 1750. Some of them brick, but mostly of wood. These houses are about forty feet long and twenty feet wide, to which are added shed rooms or "leantos." The basements or cellars are about 7 or 8 feet pitch, the walls to the cellar being massive masonry of rock, the rock having come from the West Indies as ballast for vessels. In the cellar is generally a large room about 19x19 feet at one end, and the other end divided into small rooms which are used for storage. The walls of the cellar rise several feet above the ground. In the large cellar room there is a fire-place several feet deep, about eight feet wide and four feet high.
a Morse Geog., Mrs. Powell's "New Bern."
NOTE .- All the earlier brick buildings are said to have been built with "brick brought from England." This probably means of "Eng- lish Brick" except a few pressed brick for tiles and ornamental pur- poses. In Harriot's Narrative (1586) we read : "The planters may be well supplied with brick, for the making whereof in divers places of the country there is clay both excellent, good and plenty, and also by lime made of oyster shells and others burnt, etc."
When Bacon burned Jamestown in 1675 there were a number of brick houses in the town. Drummond, the former Governor of North Carolina owning one which in an excess of patriotism he fired with his own hands. An old grant in Virginia in 1637 for lands at James- town calls for the "Brick Mill": Lawson says in 1700 that there were "Large Brick Buildings" in Charleston at that time; he further says "Good Brick and Tiles" were made in North Carolina. Brickell also informs us that "Brick and Tile" were made here in his time. The light tonnage of the vessels averaging probably not more than 100 tons burden coming into these waters after a month's sail from Eng- land. would have made the importing of brick quite expensive.
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 27
There were receptables or ovens built in the sides of the fire- place. Across the chimney, inside, ran a heavy iron rod on which were the cranes for hanging pots. These cranes were made in two pieces and so adjusted that pots could be raised or lowered at will. In the cellar rooms were small windows. Resting on the cellar walls were the sills of the house, gener- ally 10x12 inches or 12x12 inches, hewn out of heart pine running the full length and breadth of the house; on these were the sleepers, six inches by eight inches or eight inches by ten inches, hewn out of heart pine, joined at the ends, mortised, tenoned and truncheoned with lightwood trunch- eons about one and a half or two inches in diameter. The sills were sometimes tarred with hot tar and wrapped in tarred canvas as a further protection against moisture. On the first floor is a large square room 19x19 feet. For sev- eral feet from the floor around the room, coming up to the base of the windows is panelling. The fire-place is four or five feet wide, and above it about six feet tall is the old wooden mantel of best workmanship. Adjoining the big room is a narrow passage with stairs ascending to the second floor and garret ; across the passage are two small rooms.
The second floor is a duplicate of the first and the garret is divided into small rooms with small windows at end of house. These houses frequently had brick ends as is so often seen in tidewater Virginia. All the timbers are of unbled pine and the nails used are hand-wrought.
NOTE .- There are three of these houses still standing in Beaufort County : The Cotanche or Marsh House at Bath, the Maule House at Maule's Point and the old house at the Grimes Plantation on Tranters Creek. The old Cotanche House at Bath has closets in its massive chimney in which valuables could be placed to secure from fire. The chimney closets have small windows in the chimney. It was not uncommon to have an excavation bricked un on each side of the chimney opening inside by the hearth in which valuables could be placed. In some old chimneys under fire-places have been discovered a box or barrel with covers neatly fixed in the chimney foundation. so that by raking away the ashes and taking up part of the hearth these little vaults could be reached. These deposit places were safe from discovery and secure from fire.
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