USA > North Carolina > Beaufort County > Some colonial history of Beaufort County, North Carolina Vol. 14 No. 2 > Part 2
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It appears that Virginia prepared to help the North Carolinians in their distress, but that when they heard of Barnwell's treaty with the Tuscaroras they refused to act against the Indians for fear of incurring their hatred. However, when the Assembly, on March 12, 1712, voted 4,000 pounds sterling for the purpose of carrying on the war, and when the Assembly petitioned both South Carolina and Virginia, the South Carolinians were the only ones who helped us. Judge Clark says that this second time South
"O. R., I, 840.
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Carolina sent Colonel James Moore with fifty white soldiers and about a thousand Indians to aid us, and the records show that Virginia voted 3,500 pounds to aid in carrying on the war, and 600 pounds to buy blankets and other supplies for our troops. Governor Hyde had died on the 8th of September, and Thomas Pollock had been elected to fill his place, being given the title of President. President Pollock made a treaty with Tom Blunt, one of the less hostile chiefs of the Tuscaroras, by which a good part of the southern and eastern Indians were led to side with the English. Thus aided from abroad, with finances strengthened, and with power in the newly-created allies, the people of the colony prepared to make a last desperate attempt to break the power of the Indians.
Moore came early in December, 1712, and, owing to the trouble in getting food, Pollock asked Moore to march his men into the Albemarle country. Even there the scarcity of food was great, and it was with difficulty that the Indians were kept from mutiny- ing. About the middle of January, 1713, Moore led his Indians to Fort Reading, in our county, where they remained encamped on account of snow until the 4th of February. Early in Febru- ary, Moore, together with the militia which North Carolina had furnished, and with his Indians and fifty whites, laid siege to Nahucke, the Indian stronghold in Greene County, near where Snow Hill now stands. The Indians failed to dig wells in the fort, and Moore, noticing this, cut off their supply of water. He then stormed the fort and took it, together with 800 prisoners, after having killed a large number; the allied Carolina forces lost only about 140 in killed and wounded, about 95 of them being Indians.13 The Indian allies, after having taken their prisoners, left Moore, as they left Barnwell before him, only about 140 re- maining. But the power of the Indians in Eastern Carolina was broken; the greater part of the Tuscaroras, together with some smaller tribes, joined the Five Nations of the North in New York, being henceforth known as the Six Nations. Except for a few sallies made by a small tribe for the next year or two there was not much more war. Thanks to South Carolina and the Yemas- see Indians, we had been saved.
"Indian Massacre and Tuscarora War. "Booklet," v. 2.
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Beaufort County, besides being in the hottest of the trouble, and consequently one of the heaviest sufferers, was one of the sections of the State which did all it could to quell the savage butchery of the whites by the Indians. Beaufort also furnished her full share of the recruits who were with Moore at Nahucke when the Tuscarora power was broken, for it was the most thickly settled portion of the colony besides the Albemarle sections, and, unlike this section, it did not have very many Quakers to object to the war. Thus the part we played in this first struggle for existence was as great in proportion as the part the Beaufort County boys played in the struggle for freedom from England and in the struggle for our rights during the Civil War.
THE TOWNS OF COLONIAL BEAUFORT COUNTY.
It has long been one of our boasts that Beaufort County con- tains the oldest incorporated town in the State; all of us know that Bath enjoys this distinction. Its history dates almost as far back as does the history of the county itself. The streets and the houses of the quaint old town seem to transport us back into the long-past, much-storied years in which North Carolina was a British colony, and when Bath was as large as any other town within the limits of the colony.
"Sixteen miles from what is now the town of Washington," says Mr. W. L. Peele,14 "and within the limits of what is now Beau- fort County, the [Pamlico] river widens out into an arm of the Pamlico Sound some five or six miles from shore to shore, and sends northward a short estuary into which flows Bath Creek, known among the early settlers as 'Old Town Creek,' and also as Pampticough Creek. In 1696 the homes of the settlers, as they increased in numbers, converged toward a central village situated on the east bank of this creek, about a mile and a half from its mouth. First the settlement and afterwards the village was called Pampticough. In 1681 a 'plantation or plot of ground containing twelve thousand acres, more or less,' was conveyed to Seth Sothel.
14Notes on Bath, North Carolina Day Program, 1914.
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This plantation included the village then 'commonly called Pamp- ticough Town.'"
This was a description of the town before its incorporation. It is certain that the town was incorporated in 1705, and that its name was then changed from Pampticough to Bath. This first act of incorporation dates from the 8th of March, 1705.15 The cor- porate limits of the town embraced sixty acres. This act of 1705 has been lost, but a quotation from the act of 1715, which repeated a part of the original act, is as follows: "Whereas, at the request of Mr. John Lawson, Mr. Joel Martin and others, a certain tract of land purchased by themselves, lying in [on] the Old Town Creek in Pampticough, and containing by estimation sixty acres, * *
* being part of a large tract then belonging to one David
Perkins, but now in the tenure and possession and belonging to Col. Thomas Cary, * * * was incorporated and made a township by an act of the General Assembly, made and ratified at the house of Captain John Hacklefield, the 8th day of March, 1705, * * be it enacted by his Excellency, the Palatine, and the rest of the True and Absolute Lords Proprietors of Caro- lina, by and with the advice and consent of this Present General Assembly, * * and by the authority of the same, that the said land be and is hereby henceforward invested in Mr. John Porter, Mr. Joel Martin, Mr. Thomas Harding, and Capt. John Drinkwater, or any two of them, to and for the use aforesaid and declared and confessed, and incorporated into a township by the name of Bath Town, with all the privileges and immunities here- after expressed."16 These privileges and immunities were of a municipal nature, and aside from the provision for the erection of a courthouse, they were similar to the affairs settled by the municipal authorities or the townsmen of today. A part of this same act of 1705 is taken up with an enactment for the preserva- tion and best use of the Bath Library.
This Bath Library was the gift of the Reverend Thomas Bray, philanthropist and founder of the Corporation for the Establish- ing of the Christian Religion. It was the first library ever seen in the limits of North Carolina, and was valued at 100 pounds. Be-
1S. R., XXIII, 78. 16 Ibid.
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fore the incorporation of Bath, the library had traveled up and down the county, and had apparently been abused and a part of the volumes misplaced, judging from the tenor of the act for the regulation of the library. The men appointed as trustees of the library were the most influential men of the county, showing that even if a greater part of the people were indifferent toward the library and unappreciate of the benefits to accrue from its use, the people in charge of governmental affairs, and the higher classes generally, were not irresponsive to the appeals of culture and learning. What finally became of the Bath Library is not definitely known.
Bath was soon made a port of entry and the seat of govern- ment.17 Its being made a port of entry was the result of the grow- ing trade of Bath, which in turn was due to the depth of water in Ocracoke Inlet, which was greater than most of the shallow inlets on our coast. Bath was more centrally located than Eden- ton, but it was still inconveniently located for the settlers along the Cape Fear, and for this reason the seat of government did not remain long in our quaint little town. Governor Eden lived there in 1714; Christopher Gale had lived there since about 1710; Teach had had a house just across the creek, almost fronting the palace of the proprietary governor. Near the apex of the rising ground on which Bath is built, on what was once the land of Joseph Bonner, there can be seen the remains of the fort to which the inhabitants of the surrounding country fled on the outbreak of the Indian massacre of 1711. Owing to its trade, Bath began to be a flourishing town about 1725. It was located on the road running from Nansemond River, in Virginia, by the way of Eden- ton, Mackey's Point, Plymouth, Bath, and New Bern, to Wil- mington. Thus it was in touch with Virginia and the southern colonists by land as well as by water.18
In 1734 St. Thomas Church, the oldest original religious edifice in the State, was completed. It is a quaint building, a little above one story in height, not having a steeple. It is built with thick walls, despite the fact that the bricks in the walls, as well as the tiles of the floor, were brought from England. There is a story
170. R., III, xviii.
18 Ibid.
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that the bell of the church, though it has been cracked and recast, was the gift of Queen Anne, and though I cannot find a record to prove this, it is safe to suppose that it may have been given by the English queen. However irresponsive a person may be to the appeal of the past, he can hardly see and enter and walk down the same aisles that were trod by the quaintly costumed people of two centuries ago; he can hardly read the inscriptions cut in the slabs let into the walls of the old church and not feel that he has been transported into the bygone days of colonial Beaufort County, and not feel a realization, an inspiration and a thankfulness to our forefathers for their inestimable services as pioneers.
Situated on the principal street of Bath today is perhaps the oddest house in the whole county. It is known as the old Marsh House, though the Marshes were not the original owners. It was built in 1744 by Monsieur Cataunch for a Mr. and Mrs. White- more.19 The Whitemores had a niece, it is related, one Mary Evans, whose husband was lost at sea. This niece, according to a curiously carved tombstone still to be seen in the rear of the old house, died with a broken heart on account of the loss of her hus- band. However this may be, the Whitemores moved away, many thinking that their leaving was due to their grief, so closely were they attached to Mrs. Evans. Thus the house passed from the hands of its original owners, being purchased by a Mr. Marsh, a wealthy ship-owner and merchant of the town, whose descendants still own the place. The chief peculiarity of construction of the house is the chimney, seventeen feet wide, with windows and tiled floors in it. Evidently the building of a chimney was not then the item in house construction that it is today. The house is frame, of course, and the sills have been found to be pitch pine heart covered with tar and wrapped in canvas-merely another example of how substantially our forefathers built. There are numerous other places of interest at Bath, particularly the sight of two old cannon, visible only at low tide, lying buried in the mud at the edge of the water-the harmless rusty memorials of the days when Bath had a fort, or of the advent and passing of that bold bucca- neer, Edward Teach, more commonly known as "Black Beard."
19Rodman, Historic Homes and People of Old Bath Town. "Booklet," v. 2.
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Bath was the seat of government of Bath County until the county ceased to exist, when it became the seat of government of Beaufort, remaining the county seat until the removal of the gov- ernment to the present seat, Washington, in 1785. The court- house, jail, and pillory, which had been built in accordance with the act of 1715, used all to stand at Bath. They were removed upon the petition of a majority of the citizens of the county, for Washington was already outstripping Bath in its progress. Court was early held at Bath; Christopher Gale, Chief Justice of the county, held court there as early as March 31, 1713.20 Other courts, other court officers, and other men came and acted their parts and passed off the stage whereon was acted the drama of the history of Bath Town. No other place in North Carolina is quite so romantic, so antique, as dear old Bath, for even if Mr. White- field did curse it, as the report goes, we all cherish its sacred his- tory, and still hope for a bright future for this village of less than 500 souls which, notwithstanding, holds the honor of being the first incorporated town in North Carolina.
Washington, the present county seat of Beaufort County, and a growing town of 6,211 persons by the census of 1910, has a history that dates back almost to the Indian troubles of 1711. It was in this year that a fort and garrison was placed on the estate of Mr. Lionel Reading, and was called Fort Reading. Though Fort Reading was on the south side of the river, it may properly be said to have been the beginning of Washington. Little mention of the place is made between the years 1715 and 1775. In 1726 a grant of land was made to Christopher Dudley conveying 337 acres of land, on a part of which Washington now stands, to Mr. Dudley. In 1727 Dudley transferred this tract to Edward Salter, who in turn conveyed it to John Worley. Worley deeded the land to Thomas Bonner in 1729, describing the tract as "the plantation whereon I now dwell." Thomas Bonner lived on this plantation, and at his death, Colonel James Bonner, of Revolutionary re- nown, came into possession of the estate. It was James Bonner who laid out the streets and lots of the town of Washington in 1776, selling the lots by lottery, and conveying the streets, to-
"C. R., II, 80.
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gether with lots No. 21, on which was to be erected a courthouse, jail and pillory, and No. 50, which St. Peter's Church now occu- pies, to the public generally.21 In the corner of the churchyard on Main Street may be seen the tomb of Colonel James Bonner, once the owner of all the land on which Washington is built, and the selector of the site of the town.
This town has the honor of being the first place named in honor of George Washington. From the journal of the Council of Safety of North Carolina, in session at Halifax, September 27, 1776, we quote as follows: "Resolved that Captain John Forster, commander of the armed brig, the 'General Washington,' now lying at Washington, do proceed with all possible dispatch to Ocracoke Bar, and to remain within the said bar in order to pro- tect the trading vessels which may be coming into or going out of that port, until one of the aforesaid armed vessels [the 'King Tammany' and the 'Pennsylvania Farmer'] shall return there, or shall be otherwise ordered.22 Thus we see that Washington was fast becoming a small town; that the harbor could accommo- date small armed vessels, which were of greater draft than mer- chantmen, and that its name had been generally recognized as Washington by the year 1776, where our colonial observations cease as far as this paper is concerned. Washington's greatest growth, unlike Bath, was during the period following the Revolu- tion and even after the Civil War, and therefore its richest his- tory is not included in a colonial retrospection. The names of Blount, Bonner, Brown, Gladden, Telfair, Reading, Respess, Van Norden and others are connected with the pre-Revolutionary as well as the post-Revolutionary history of Washington, and these names have, for the most part, been commemorated by having streets of Washington named in their honor.
Chocowinity, a small town on the south side of the river, about three miles from Washington, was begun in colonial times. It was probably a small hamlet in 1745, for it is mentioned in the act for the division of Beaufort County for the better maintenance and construction of the public roads.23 The name is a very musi-
"Rodman, Washington and Its Early Inhabitants. North Carolina Day Program, 1914. 2C. R., X, 877.
"S. R., XXIII, 222.
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cal Indian name, the meaning of which I have been unable to find out. Chocowinity was on the frontier when the Indians surprised the white settlements on the morning of September 22, 1711. Tra- dition has it that the first house to be fired was the one owned by John Porter at Chocowinity.24 Chocowinity has never attained to any size, being still a mere village. It had less chance to grow because of commercial reasons than did Bath, for it is situated a short distance from the head of Chocowinity Bay, an arm of Pam- lico River. The town is best known on account of the fact that for a long time it was the location of a good secondary school established and maintained by the Episcopal Church.
Of these three colonial towns which we have discussed, Bath, Washington, and Chocowinity, Bath was the largest until after the Revolution. It was the center of social life, of commercial activ- ity, and of civil government in the county. It had the best loca- tion, for "on either side of the bay the land, covered with a pro- miscuous growth of trees, slopes gently down to the water's edge, and this beautiful sheet of water is frequently, early in the day, as smooth as glass, upon the shining surface of which appears painted the trees, with the delicate, tender greens of spring-time or the deeper tints of summer, or, more beautiful still, the gorgeous reds, yellows, and greens of the autumn tide."25 It had the start over both Washington and Chocowinity, and it is really difficult to see why Bath is not the city today and Washington merely a town. They all three remain, and other towns have sprung up in the county, but even if they can outstrip their older rivals com- mercially, they cannot deprive them of the heritage of a past history.
RELIGION AND CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY.
Despite the fact that the early settlers of Beaufort County had trouble enough in an economic and social way, they also had to contend with trouble from their religion, or, more correctly, in a majority of cases, because of their lack of religion. The men
"Grimes, Notes on Colonial North Carolina. "Booklet," v. 5.
"Peele, Notes on Bath. North Carolina Day Program, 1904.
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who were the settlers in early Beaufort County were men like those to be found on the frontiers today-pioneers of civiliza- tion; men with small means, especially pecuniary means; men possessed of large hearts and a good will; courageous, restless, and independent, but, despite all this, not essentially religious per- sons, and generally careless in the observance of the outward forms of religion. They came and settled and would have governed themselves, had they been permitted to do so, in peace, but the burdens of the early colonists were greatly augmented by the advent of the proprietary governors and their acts to make the Church of England the established church in the colony.
Prior to the Vestry Act of 1701 the settlers in the present county of Beaufort had no ministers, not coming in great bodies as did the Puritans, or the Quakers, or the Huguenots, who settled farther south. They moved into the wildernesses, staked their claims, and began to clear away the trees, often without regard for the proximity of a neighbor. If the settler throve, he was usually influenced and aided by his wife, who ordinarily was of a finer temperament religiously than her consort. They probably worshiped God in their own way, attributing to Him their bless- ings and their prosperity. If the Indians were a menace, if the crops were bad, if fever and pestilence thinned the numbers of the little settlement, then there is no telling to what a level the spirit- ual life of these pioneers may have ebbed. Certain we are that the great majority of them were not very religious, not having any pastor to put before them the duties and necessities of living a religious life. Religion was, however, a very important thing for a man to be without in 1665, when Yemans was governor of the settlements along the Cape Fear, for if he was not a professed believer in some religion or another, he was not recognized by the government, nor was he allowed to hold lands. Locke, in his Fun- damental Constitution,26 emphasized the necessity of professing some religion, though appearing to be liberal toward Dissenters. Section 96, however, of this Fundamental Constitution, reads in part: "As the country comes to be sufficiently planted, and dis- tributed into fit divisions, it shall belong to the parliament to take
*C. R., I, 187-207.
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care of the building of churches, and the public maintenance of divines, to be employed in the exercise of religion, according to the Church of England."
I quote this passage purposely, and underscore the last phrase particularly, because it illustrates the spirit of the Proprietors. They were willing enough to have Dissenters settle here in order that they might bring wealth into their pockets, but they were ready to force them to support the Church of England after having made such highly-puffed claims of religious toleration. It is not to be supposed that the settlers of the Pamlico region were religious refugees, for this they were not. They were mostly people who came for economic reasons to search for better land, or more hospitable climate, or more favorable terms of settlement. Therefore, the very reasons which led the earlier settlers to the banks of the Pamlico River were against the early and rapid growth of religious ideas. Still those in power, either through personal interest or impelled by the outside power to which they were responsible, early took steps to establish the Anglican or Church of England as the recognized and only duly authorized church, as we shall now see.
In the vestry measures of 1701, the only parish named in what was then Bath County was the parish of Pampticough. This parish comprised the settlements along the banks of the Pamlico River, and was established in order to accommodate the people of Bath Town. This continued to be the parish of Pampticough for the space of about fifteen years. The ministers of the gospel who preached during these years were sent over either by the Church of England or by the Society for Propagating the Gospel, an organization in England for the purpose of evangelizing her colonies, both in the New World and elsewhere. The first of these ministers was one Daniel Brett, who arrived some time in 1701 or 1702. He was not a conscientious laborer, and his character was odious, judging from contemporary estimates made of him. He was a member of the Church party, of course, and his character brought only contempt for the Church and religion in general. But the Church party never ceased to labor for the establishment and firm entrenchment of the Established Church in the growing
.
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colony. In 1704 the authorities advanced a step, and, under Governor Daniel, they passed a law that deprived every person of the power to hold office of trust, honor, or profit who was not a communicant in the Anglican Church.
In the years between 1704 and 1711 three men were sent to preach to the colonists. I mention all these, as I mentioned the first, because they all preached in Pampticough Precinct, which comprised a great part of Beaufort County of today. These men were Messrs. Blair, Gordon, and Adams. Mr. Blair baptized about a hundred children. He it was who tells us that there were four classes of persons within the colony, to wit: "First, the Quakers, who were the most powerful enemies to the Church Government, but a people very ignorant of what they profess. The second sort are a great many who have no religion, but would be Quakers if by that they were not obliged to lead a more moral life than they are willing to comply to. A third sort are something like Presby- terians, which sort is upheld by some idle fellows who have left their lawful employment and preach and baptize throughout the country without any manner of order from any sect or pretended church. A fourth sort, which is really zealous for the interests of the church, are fewer in number, but the better sort of people, and would do very much for the settlement of the Church Gov- ernment there, if not opposed to these precedent sects."27
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