USA > North Carolina > Notes on colonial North Carolina, 1700-1750 > Part 4
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The ministers and lay readers were generally also teachers, and educated indentured servants were sometimes used for that purpose. Charles Griffin about 1705 was probably the first professional teacher in the Province, and others fol- lowed. Brickell a says : "The want of the Protest- ant clergy is generally supplied by some School-Masters, who read the Liturgy. These are most numerous and are dis- persed through the whole Province." A free school for the education of Indian and negro children was established by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Bath about 1720. b
The law required c "That all orphans shall be Educated and provided for according to their Rank and degree" out of the "Income or Interest of their Estate and Stock. if the same will be sufficient, otherwise such
a Page 35.
b See Rainsford's letter.
c Ch. 40, Laws 1715. Sec. 4.
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NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 41
orphan shall be bound apprentice to some Handycraft Trade (the Master or Mistress of such Orphan not being of the Pro- fession of the People called Quakers) till they shall come of age."
Religion was established by law, but the people were al- lowed to worship God in their own way and no one was re- quired to conform to the faith and forms of The Church unless they wished to. The Established Church was supposed to be supported by taxes, but the inhabitants do not seem to have been liberal or prompt in their settlements :
"With absolute freedom of sonscience, benevolent reason was the simple rule of their conduct." a
All Protestant Dissenters were allowed to have their meet- ings for the exercise of their religion without molestation, but no Quaker was qualified or permitted to give evidence in any criminal causes or to serve on any jury, or bear any office or place of profit or trust in the government. b
The early settlers were governed by the laws of England and such additional laws as were not repugnant thereto.
In the revision of 1715 the first of the "Six Confirmed Laws" was "An Act concerning Marriages." After reciting the absence of ministers in the Province to join "in wedlock according to the Rites and Customs of our natural Country the Kingdom of England : that none may be hindered from so necessary a work for the preservation of Mankind and settlement of this country." Sec. 2 reads. "It is enacted and be it enacted by the Palatin and Lords Proprietors, of Caro- lina, by and with the consent and Advice of the present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof, that any two persons desirous to be joined together in the Holy Estate of Matrimony, taking three or four neighbours along with them and repairing to the Governor or any one of the Council, before him declaring that they do join together in the Holy
a Bancroft. Vol. 2. p. 154.
b Laws 1715. Ch. 9. Secs. 2, 6. Re-enacted in 1749.
42 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Estate of Wedlock and do accept one the other for Man and Wife, and the said Governor or Councellor before whom such Act is performed, giving certificate thereof, and the said certificate being registered in the Secretary's office, or by the Register of the Precinct or in such office as shall here- after be appointed for that use. It shall be deemed a Lawful Marriage, & the persons violating that marriage shall be punished as they had been married according to the Rites and Customs of England."
Later magistrates were allowed to perform the marriage ceremony. a Registration of marriages, births and deaths were required, b and "every Planter, Owner, Attorney or Overseer of every settled plantation in this Government, or that hereafter shall be settled ' shall set apart a Burial place, and fence the same for the interring of all such Christian persons whether bond or free that shall die on their plantations." "
In this day of temperance agitation the following law may be worth mentioning, and the idea of requiring a bond of liquor dealers for the faithful observance of the law may be worth reviving: c "An act concerning Ordinary keepers and Tippling houses." The keepers of Taverns or Ordinaries were required to have license to sell liquor and to give bond for the due observance of the law; it further
a Laws 1741, Ch. 1. Sec. 9.
h Laws 1715. Ch. 47.
c Laws 1715, Ch. 53.
* NOTE .- It seems to have been a custom at buryings to feed the people attending. The following bill pasted in "Minute Docket 1695-1712" may not be uninteresting.
Bill of Arthur Carlton for sickness and burial expenses of Thomas Catlett: (1703.)
£. s.
d.
My trouble in ye sickness
10
coffin
10
sheat
S
digging grave. etc.
5 6
funeral dinner 1 10
By looking after hogs, etc. 1 5
... .
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 43
provided that "nothing in this act shall be adjudged to hinder any Man from selling Cyder or other liquors, the produce of his own plantation, at any time hereafter by full and Lawful measures (the same not being drunk in the cellar house or plantation.)" The rate of charges for "Drink, Dyet, Lodg- ing, Fodder, Provender, Corn or Pasturage" was fixed by the Justices of the County Court. a There were very few poor in the province as there was great demand for labor, and every one who would exert himself had an abundance of "hog and hominy." The fines collected for Sabbath breaking and swearing, profaneness, etc., were paid by the Justices to the Church Warden for the use of the poor of the parish. b If any person was wounded. maimed or hurt in his country's service "and not of ability to maintain himself or pay for his cure, he or they shall be cured at the Publick charge, and have one good negro man-slave allowed and purchased for him for his maintenance, and in the same case if any one shall be killed, the Publick shall make the same provision for his wife and family."
To vote for a member of the Assembly one was required to be 21 years of age and to have been an inhabitant of the government six months, and a free-holder with fifty acres. c This property qualification was not hard to attain, as every resident was entitled to fifty acres for himself and the same for each member of his family, if he chose to enter it. To be a member of the Assembly it was necessary to have been a resident of the Province for one full year and to be 21 years of age and own 100 acres of land.
There were a number of good roads in the province before 1750-that from Edenton to Williamsburg, a distance of
a Laws 1741. Ch. 20. Sec. 4.
6 Laws 1715, Ch. 25. Sec. 8.
c Laws 1743. Ch. 1. Sec. 5.
44 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
100 miles, being very good and a great highway of travel. The road from "Edenton to Virginia, being made broad and convenient for all sorts of carriages, such as Coaches, Chaises, Waggons and Carts, and especially for Horsemen." a There was a road from Edenton to Bath, from Bath to New Berne, and from New Berne to Brunswick- distance, two hundred miles.
The road system was not much inferior to that in many counties in North Carolina to-day. Every male person, white or black, from sixteen years of age to sixty, was re- quired to work the roads. b
An effort to secure the carrying of letters was made early in our history. All letters superscribed for his Majesty's service directed to or subsigned by the Governor or other "Publick Officer" or by some Field Officer in the Militia at such time when the government is actually engaged in war against the "Indvan Enemie" shall be "Immediately con- veved from Plantation to the place and persons to whom they are directed under the Penalty of Five pounds for each default-one halfe to the Government and the other half to him or them which shall sue for the same." c It was further enacted that "where any person in the family the said letter comes to can write such person is hereby required to endorse the day and houre of the Receipt of it that the neglect or Contempt of any person therein may be the better discovered and punishment inflicted accord- ingly." The bill, costs and charges of carriages was ad- judged by the Court of each Precinct and paid by the Gen- eral Assembly. d Burrington said in 1731 "this law never an- stered the end, and is now entirely useless." e
a Brickell. page 262.
৳ Laws 1745. Ch. 3: C. R., Vol. 3, p. 435.
Laws 1715, Ch. 15, Sec. 56.
d Laws 1715, Ch. 56.
e Burrington, 1731; C. R., Vol. 3, p. 188.
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NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
A general post-office was established in New York in 1710 for the Continent, with several branches, including Charles- ton in Carolina. Act Parliament 1710, Queen Anne. *
In 1735 Gov. Dobbs in a message to the General Assembly called attention to the necessity of an "Established Post thro' this Province" and the necessity of correspondence with the neighboring Colonies, whereon James Davis, Printer, was employed for the sum of one hundred pounds, six shillings and eight pence Proclamation money for one year, "to convey all Publick Letters, Expresses and Dispatches relating to this Province to any part thereof, and every fifteen days send a messenger to Suffolk, in Virginia, and to Wilmington." a
In a message to the General Assembly in 1764 Gov. Dobbs states that a "Packet Boat" has been established from Eng- land to Charleston. He urges the establishment of a post "once a Fortnight to carry letters from Suffolk, in Virginia, thro' this Province at least to our Southern Boundary."
a C. R., Vol. 5. p. 516.
* NOTE .- "An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all Her Majesty's Dominions and for settling a weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof. for the Service of the War. and other Her Maj- esty's occasions." Statutes at Large, Vol. 4, 1699-1713. (A. D., 1710). page 434.
"All letters and packets from London to New York in North America, and thence to London : Single. one shilling, Double ( letters) two shillings. treble (letters) three shillings, Ounce four Shillings.
All letters and Packets from any Part of the West Indies, to New York aforesaid: Single four pence : Double eight pence, Treble one shilling. Ounce one shilling and four pence.
All letters and Packets from New York to any place within Sixty English Miles thereof. and thence back to New York: Single, four Pence. Double eight pence. treble one shilling. . Ounce. one shilling and four Pence.
All letters and Packets from New York aforesaid, to Charlestown, the Chief town in North and South Carolina. and from Charlestown aforesaid to New York : Single, one shilling six Pence; Double, three Shillings : Treble four shillings six Pence; Ounce six shillings.
All letters and Packets from Charlestown aforesaid to any Place not exceeding one hundred English Miles. and thence back again : Single. six pence : Double. one shilling; Treble, one Shilling, six pence. Ounce two shillings."
Mail carriers were allowed immediate and free ferriage over the rivers and for delaying more than half an hour or charging. the fer- ryman was to forfeit and pay for every offence the sum of £5.
46
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
The General Assembly appropriated £133 6s. Sd. to be paid to the Postmaster if he establish this post. a
The distribution of mails was made from Williamsburg and Charleston. In a letter from Governor Tryon, Dec. 8, 1764, to Lord Hyde, Postmaster-General, he states that the Assembly voted £133 1-2 to establish a post from Williams- burg to Charleston "charging the customary postage on let- ters," by the following route :
From Williamsburg to Edenton. 100 miles
From Edenton to Brunswick. 200 miles
From Brunswick to Charleston. 180 miles
480 miles
(This included the towns of Bath, Newbern and Wilming- ton. )
The post had just been established from New York to Williamsburg. He also petitioned that his Majesty's packet be ordered to touch at Cape Fear River at Fort Johnston. He stated that dispatches sometimes laid six weeks at Charles- ton and occasionally months in Virginia before they were received. b Later Tryon recommended the following route to avoid the "broad ferries of Neuse River, Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds" from Suffolk. c
Route from Suffolk, in Virginia, to the Boundary House of North and South Carolina on the sea coast.
Miles.
From Suffolk to Cotton's Ferry on Chowan River. . . 40
Appletree Ferry on the Roanoke. 30
* Salters on Tar or Pamlico River 35
Kemps' Ferry on Neuse 28
Newbern 10
Trentbridge 13
a C. R., Vol. 6, pp. 1.291, 1,300.
b C. R., Vol. 6. p. 1,058.
c C. R., Vol. 7, p. 149.
* NOTE .- Salters was afterwards Watkins' Ferry and is now Boyd's Ferry on Grimesland Plantation.
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NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 47
Mrs. Warburtons 13
Sneads on New River ferry 26
Sage's 13
Collins' 14
Wilmington 15
Brunswick 15
The Ferry 2
To Bells' 20
The Boundary House 23
Total miles 297
Gov. Tryon used special messengers for carrying his dis- patches.
It seems that the first post route actually established thro' North Carolina was in January, 1769, though it was carried but once a month. a
In 1770 the General Assembly passed "an Act to encourage and support the establishment of a Post-office within this Province." Of this act Martin says: "Davis says that this act was repealed by proclamation. I have no certificate of that ; However, it was only to be in force for two years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Assembly." *
One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was to establish a post-office with post routes from Falmouth, Me., to Savannah, Ga.
The large plantations were miniature republics, raising their own beef, pork, horses, corn, grain, tobacco, wool, cot- ton, tallow, myrtle-wax, ** beeswax, etc., and catching fish in the nearby streams.
a C. R., Vol. 8, pp. 3. 4.
* NOTE .- I cannot find the manuscript law among the records in the Secretary of State's office. G.
** NOTE .- The myrtle-wax was mixed with tallow and used for making candles and is said to have emitted a delightful and fragrant perfume while burning.
48 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
Each planter had his own saw pit, carpenter and cooper and blacksmith shop, tannery, etc. He raised wool and cot- ton enough to clothe his people, carded, spun and wove his own cloth and made his own shoes.
In 1735 Brickell says "The Cloathings used by the Men are English Cloaths, Druggets, Durois, Green Linnen, etc. The women have their silks, Calicoes, Stamp-Linnen, Cali- manchoes and all kind of Stuffs, some whereof are manu- factured in the Province." a
In a few years after this "negro cloth" was made in con- siderable quantities and old inventories show us that almost . every family had their spinning wheel, linen wheel, flax brake, hackles, looms, etc. Little cotton was exported. Only seven bags of two hundred and twenty-five pounds each being exported from Charleston in 1747, and none from any other province. b
In 1784 fifteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-five pounds (seventy-one bags two hundred and twenty-five pounds each), were shipped to England and seized on the ground that the United States could not produce so much.
a Page 38.
b Carr. Coll., Vol. 2, p. 234.
NOTE .- When Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794 cotton grow- ing was greatly enronraged. He was paid $90,000 by the cotton-grow- ing States (N. C. paying thirty thousand dollars, South Carolina fifty thousand dollars. and Georgia ten thousand dollars) that their plant- ers could have the privilege of using his invention. The "Saw-Gin" was a circular saw revolving between iron ribs, tearing the lint from the seeds. One of these of ten saws can be now seen in the State Museum. A tax was laid by the State of 2s. 6d. per annum for each saw used.
In 1810 North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia and Virginia manufactured more than all of New England.
North Carolina manufactured 7,376,154 yards of cloth.
Virginia manufactured 3,007,255 yards of cloth.
South Carolina manufactured 3,083,188 yards of cloth.
Georgia manufactured 3.688,534 yards of cloth.
In 1810, at a military review in North Carolina where 1.500 persons were present, all but forty wore homespun.
J. L. Watkins, Dept. Ag. Year Book 1903.
EF
NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 49
Considerable linen cloth was made and the French colon- ists had introduced silk culture as well as wine-making.
From 1731 to 1735 there were 40756 lbs. of raw and "Wrought Silk" exported from North and South Carolina into Great Britain, and 38621 lbs. of mixed "Silken Stuffs" imported into North Carolina and South Carolina from Great Britain. a #
The gentry for themselves and wives generally imported their clothing and dressed in a similar style to people of their station in England. England discouraged manufacturing in the colonies in every way possible, and up to the Revolution the gentry and better classes imported their clothing, but when we separated from England we began to make every- thing we needed.
Nails were made in blacksmith shops on plantations; and all ironware, pewter, etc., were imported. By an act of Parliament, b
a Carr. Coll .. Vol. 2. p. 272.
b Holmes' Annals. Vol. 2, p. 42.
* NOTE .- In connection with silk it may be interesting to quote a few lines from Coxe in his Caralana, p. 92. "Besides we have a grass, as they call Silk grass, which makes very pretty stuffs, such as come from the East Indies, which they call Herba Stuffs, whereof a gar- ment was made for Queen Elizabeth, whose ingredient came from Sir Walter Raleigh's colony, by him called Virginia, now North Carolina, a part of this Province, which, to encourage colonies and plantations, she was pleased to wear for divers weeks."
Holmes' Annals, Vol. 1, p. 486.
Master Ralph Lane writing to Mr. Richard Hakluyt from the ' new fort in Virginia" Sept. 3, 1585, mentions "several kinds of flax and one kind like silk, the same gathered as a grass as common there as grass here.'
Hawks 1. p. 106.
Thomas Harriot in his narrative writes of "silk of grass or grass- silk. There is a kind of grass in the country upon the blades whereof there groweth very good silk in form of a thin glittering skin to be stript off."
Hawks 1, p. 154.
The Rev. Dr. Curtis, the Botanist, says the plants mentioned by Lane and Harriot are evidently the same thing. "We have a plant (chrysopsis graminifolia) in the pine woods, almost "as common as grass" and now known as silk weed, which answers well to the ac- counts of these writers, and which I have no doubt is the one intended by them."
50 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
the "erection of any mill or other machine for slitting or rolling iron or any plating forge to work with a tilt ham- mer or any furnace for making steel" in any of the colonies was forbidden. *
The poorer planters at first used stone hand-mortars for pounding their grain tho' the better classes had hand-mills. These mills were of stones with about twenty inches or two feet face, and at first brought from England, though it was soon found that the calcareous rock on Neuse River b made admirable ones. This rock when first quarried was soft and easily shaped, but when exposed became hard and durable. These hand mills were worth five or six pounds. c
In 1710 DeGraffenreid said there was only one water mill in the province. As late as 1730 there were only two or three water mills in the province and no wind mills. d The Assembly of 1715 a to encourage mills passed an act permitting the condemnation by the Pre- cinct Court of two acres for a water mill, and one-half acre for wind mill by any one engaging to erect a mill thereon within two years. If the owner of the land would obligate to build such mill himself, then the motion of the applicant for mill was denied.
a Laws 1715. Ch. 37.
b Brickell, 263.
c See inventories.
{ Brickell.
*NOTE .- In 1731 Gov. Burrington states that there was an abun- dance of iron ore in North Carolina.
NOTE .- In 1775 at Hillsboro, the Provincial Congress made an effort to encourage manufactures. "Premiums were voted for the manufacture of saltpetre. gunpowder, cotton and woolen cards, pins. needles, linen and woolen cloth, and for the erection of rolling and slitting mills, furnaces for the manufacture of steel and iron. paper mills, salt works. and for refining sulphur." Lossing, Vol. 2, p. 582; see also C. R .. Vol. 9. p. 1,185 and Vol. 10, pp. 216-219. Immediately manufactures sprung into existence.
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NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 31
In 1722 there were nine precincts in North Carolina, and an act of that year provided for the erection of court-houses at the following places :
For the Precinct of Chowan at Edenton ;
For the Precinct of Perquimans at Jonathan Phelps Point at the Mouth of the Narrows;
For the Precinct of Currituck on the land of Mr. William Peyner next to the land of Mr. William Parker; or at Mr. Parker's, "as the justices shall appoint";
For the Precincts of Beaufort and Hyde at Bath town;
For the Precinct of Craven at New Bern;
For the Precinct of Carteret at Beaufort town ;
For the Precinct of Bertie, now by this Assembly laid out at some convenient place at Ahotsky where the Justices shall appoint.
For the Precinct of Pasquotank at such place as the Jus- tices shall appoint.
Hyde was afterwards separated from Beaufort a and built a court-house of its own. In the next few years the following additional counties were erected. On the site of old Clarendon New Hanover (1728) was established. From New Hanover were formed Onslow (1734) and Bladen (1734) and Duplin (1749). From the territory of old Bath County was erected Edgecombe (1733) Johnston (1746) and Granville (1746). Beaufort, Hyde and Craven having been previously made therefrom. From Albemarle the Pre- cincts of Pasquotank, Currituck, Perquimans, Chowan, Ber- tie and Tyrrell had been taken, and from it Northampton tras also erected in 1741. All court-houses built in the vari- ous precincts were required by law to be at least 24 feet long and 16 feet wide. b
The "Precincts" were changed to "Counties" in 1738.
a Laws 1729. Ch. 3.
b Laws 1722, Ch. 8, Sec. 5.
52 NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750.
In 1749 realizing that the colony was becoming too im- portant to continue to have a migratory capital an act was passed fixing the seat of government at New Berne and ap- pointing John Starkey, Edward Griffith and Jeremiah Vail Commissioners to erect necessary public buildings. At this time circuit courts were established ; a commission appointed to revise and print the laws; the militia better regulated ; a list of taxables arranged for; and £6000 appropriated for public schools. Direct trade had recently been opened from the Cape Fear to Europe, every ship brought high class immi- grants, and a new era had dawned for the colony. All the roads and trails to North Carolina from South Carolina. Virginia and Pennsylvania were filled with the wagons of the home-seeker. The growth of North Carolina from this time forward for the next half-century was probably the most remarkable in the history of American Colonization.
The following extracts from a table in Holmes' Annals, Vol. 2, page 543, of exports to Great Britain and imports from Great Britain is most interesting:
Carolinas.
Exports to G. B.
Imports from G. B.
£.
S.
d.
£.
S.
d.
1701.
16973
6
3
13908
8
33/4.
1710.
20793
9
0
19613
18 1134
1720.
62736
6
8
18290
12
11
1730.
151739
17
6
64785
11 5
1740.
266560
4
5
181821
14
11
1750.
191607
6
3
133037
0
9
1773.
456513
8
4
344859
9
1
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NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 1700-1750. 53
New England.
Exports to G. B.
Imports from G. B.
£.
s.
d.
S.
d.
1701.
32656
7
2
86322
13 111/4
1710.
31112
17
712
10633S
6
4
1720.
49206
12
6
128767
2
11
1730.
5701
5
10
208196
5
5
1740.
72389
16
2
171081
2
5
1750.
48455
9
0
343659
6
8
1773.
124624
19
6
527055
15
10
In 1773 the exports from the Carolinas greatly exceeded the exports of Georgia, New York, New England and Penn- sylvania. Virginia and Maryland alone exceeded us, and probably more than half the North Carolina exports were shipped from Virginia waters and classed as Virginia pro- ducts.
Exports to G. B. 1773.
Imports from G. B.
£.
S.
d.
£.
S.
d.
Carolina,
456.513
8
4
344.859
9
1
Georgia,
85.391
1
8
62.932
19
8
New England,
124.624
19
6
527.055
15
10
New York,
76.246
12
0
289.214
19
7
Pennsylvania
36.652
8
9
426.448
17 3
Va. and Md.,
589.803
14
5
328.904
15
8
1369.232
4 8
1979.416
17
1
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APPENDIX.
As illustrative of conditions in the Colonial period the following extracts from wills will prove interesting :
WILLS.
LIONEL READING, Bath County, July 12, 1708, probated Feb- ruary. 1725. Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved Son Na- thaniel Reading the said plantation after his mother's decease * * * and one feather Bed with Furniture, with a hand Mill. * * * The Same not to be paid out of his own Cattle wch are of a different mark from mine which by record appears. Item I give & bequeath to my Daughter Sarah the youngest of my horses now running in the Woods * * .
THOMAS POLLOCK of Chowan County, 1721. Plantations aggre- gating about 55.000 acres of land. The names of some of them as follows: "Five hundred and sixty acres in the fork of Raquis called Springfield ; *
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