Crown of life : history of Christ Church, New Bern, N.C., 1715-1940

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HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
NEW BERN, N. C.
1715-1940
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013
http://archive.org/details/crownoflifehistoOOgert
E. K. Bishop
Nofth Csrolin. St«f Library
Crown
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HISTORY OF CHRIST CHURCH
NEW BERN, N.C.
1715-1940
BY
Gertrude S. Carraway
Authorized by the vestry of Christ Church
protestant episcopal church
the rev. charles e. williams, rector
E. K. bishop, Senior warden
NEW BERN
OWEN G. DUNN, PUBLISHER
1940
NORTH LINA LIBRARY C0ft
3K N. C.
I
i
-
-
ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTES
1940
In commemoration of the 225th anniversary of
the establishment of Christ Church Parish in 1715
and the 200th anniversary of the Act of the General
Assembly on August 21, 1740, authorizing erection
of the first parish church here; and in honor of the
Hon. Edward K. Bishop, for more than half a cen-tury
a vestryman, first elected April 24, 1889, serv-ing
as Secretary and Junior Warden at different
times, and for the past eighteen years Senior
Warden, first named to this high position of leader-ship
and responsibility April 3, 1922—able, loyal,
and true, a worthy successor of worthy predecessors.
K.v
DEDICATION
For all Thy saints, Lord,
Who strove in Thee to live,
Who followed Thee, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.
For Thy dear saints, Lord,
Who strove in Thee to die,
Who counted Thee their great reward,
Accept our thankful cry.
Thine earthly members fit
To join Thy saints above,
In one communion ever knit,
One fellowship of love.
Jesus, Thy Name we bless
And humbly pray that we
May follow them in holiness,
Who lived and died for Thee.
—Bishop Richaed Mant, 1837.
Hymn 293.
TWO CENTURIES OF SERVICE
For two centuries of service, progress and inspiration,
Christ Episcopal Church has held an important place,
literally and figuratively, in the heart of New Bern,
second oldest town of North Carolina.
Its spire, pointing skyward, higher than anything else
in the city, is rimmed with a large crown, symbolic of
everlasting life, not only for the Church triumphant but
also for those stalwart Christians who try to further the
Kingdom of God on earth.
The twenty-six rectors, the assistant ministers and
many members have exercised a vital influence on the
history of the region. To a great extent the history of
the local Church is a history of the community.
These patriots of the Cross have bequeathed a priceless
heritage for the Church and Church members of today
and tomorrow—a tower of strength during the past, a
beacon of light in the present, and a guiding star for the
future.
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee the Crown of Life."—Revelation 2:10.
RECTORS OF CHRIST CHURCH
James Reed 1753-1777
Leonidas Cutting 1785-1792
Solomon Halling 1792-1795
Thomas P. Irving 1796-1813
George Strebeck 1813-1815
Jehu Curtis Clay 1817-1818
Richard S. Mason 1818-1828
John R. Goodman 1828-1834
John Burke 1835-1837
Cameron F. McRae 1838-1842
Fordyce M. Hubbard 1842-1847
William N. Hawks 1847-1853
Henry F. Greene 1854-1857
Thomas G. Haughton 1857-1858
Alfred A. Watson 1858-1862
Edward M. Forbes 1866-1877
Charles S. Hale 1877-1881
Van Winder Shields 1881-1889
T. M. N. George 1890-1905
L. G. H. Williams 1905-1907
John H. Brown 1908-1910
B. F. Huske 1910-1917
Daniel G. MacKinnon 1917-1925
Guy H. Madara 1926-1930
I. DEL. Brayshaw 1931-1934
Charles E. Williams 1934-
CONTENTS
Anniversary Tributes
Dedication
Two Centuries of Service...
Rectors of Christ Church..
Table of Contents
Chapter
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
Early Colonial Religion
First Ministers in East Carolina
Establishment of Church
Craven County Settled
Religious legislation.....
Local Parish Designated
Freedom of Worship Again Decreed.
Union of Church and State
New Church Acts
First Local Church
East Carolina Missionaries
Gifts from King George
Page
3
4
5
6
7
9
12
14
19
23
25
29
32
34
36
40
44
The Rev. James Reed, First Rector 47
Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs 50
Large Parish Territory 54
Numerous Church Bills 58
First Public School 61
Other Services of "Parson" Reed._ 64
Church and School 68
Royal Governor William Tryon 72
The Rev. James McCartney 76
Tryon Asks More Aid 79
Royal Governor Josiah Martin 82
Tomlinson Assists Rector..._ 85
The Revolutionary Period and
Disestablishment of the Church 89
Death of Mr. Reed... 95
The Rev. Leonidas Cutting 98
Steps Toward Organization 102
The Rev. Solomon Halling 105
First Bishop Elected for North Carolina 109
The Rev. Thomas P. Irving _ 112
The Rev. George Strebeck and The Rev.
John Phillips, Assistant Rector 119
The Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay and
Organization of the Diocese.. 121
The Rev. Richard Sharpe Mason 124
8 CONTENTS
Chapter Page
XXXV. Other Local Denominations 129
XXXVI. Second Episcopal Church Building 136
XXXVII. The Rev. John R. Goodman 141
XXXVIII. The Rev. John Burke._„ 144
XXXIX. The Rev. Cameron F. McRae._ 147
XL. The Rev. Fordyce M. Hubbard 149
XLI. The Rev. William N. Hawks 151
XLII. The Rev. Henry F. Greene 158
XLIII. The Rev. Thomas G. Haughton.„ 162
XLIV. The Rev. A. A. Watson 166
XLV. The Rev. Edward M. Forbes 172
XLVI. Church Fire 177
XLVII. The Rev. Charles S. Hale 183
XLVIII. The Rev. Van Winder Shields. 185
XLIX. The Rev. T. M. N. George 188
L. The Rev. L. G. H. Williams 192
LI. The Rev. John H. Brown 195
LII. The Rev. B. F. Huske._ 197
LIII. The Rev. Daniel G. MacKinnon 200
LIV. The Rev. Guy H. Madara 204
LV. The Rev. I. deL. Brayshaw 207
LVI. The Rev. Charles E. Williams 210
LVII. The Rt. Rev. Thomas C. Darst 216
Christ Church Vestrymen 219
Bibliography 223
Index 231
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
E. K. Bishop Frontispiece
First Local Church—1750 32
Communion Silver, Presented by King George II 48
Second Local Episcopal Church—1824 128
Present Episcopal Church—1875 __ 176
Christ Church Altar..._ 192
Showing Communion Silver and Memorial Cloth.
The Rev. Charles E. Williams 208
The Rt. Rev. Thomas C. Darst..._ 209
EARLY COLONIAL RELIGION
That the early colonists in Eastern North Carolina had
faith and religion is evidenced by many historical facts,
and, although for a history of Christ Church, New Bern,
it is manifestly impossible to go fully into an account of
Christianity through the entire section, nevertheless it is
important to mention a few outstanding events that
transpired before the settling of this city.
During Colonial days the church was usually the chief
center of a settlement. Upon it our American fore-fathers
depended often for educational and social privi-leges
as well as religious inspiration. Christ Church
played as vital a role along all these lines as any other
factor in this community, and as material a part as prac-tically
any other church in any other region.
On August 13, 1587, Manteo, Indian friendly to the
white colonists in Governor John White's English settle-ment
on Roanoke Island, was baptised,1 this being believed
to be the first Christian baptism by the English on terri-tory
now comprising the United States. Some days later
Virginia Dare, first white child of English parentage born
in the New World, was also christened at old Fort
Raleigh.2
In 1607, as English colonists started up the James River
to found the first permanent English settlement at James-town,
Va., they disembarked first at Cape Henry on April
26. With religious ritual they planted there a crude
wooden cross, symbolic of faith in God and confidence in
the future.3 Episcopal services are continued there an-nually
in tribute to their piety and pioneer spirit.
Religion was also made an integral part of the daily life
of other later settlements in Virginia and Carolina. In-deed,
many persons came to this continent mainly for
freedom of worship. Others were stimulated to religious
zeal in their new homes. In almost all colonies buildings
were set apart for public worship, sometimes private
10 CROWN OF LIFE
homes were thus used. For wide stretches where houses
were scattered, however, religion had to be an individual
or family devotion.
The first charter granted March 24, 1663, by King
Charles II of England to the original eight Lords Proprie-tors
of Carolina stated that these leaders were "excited
with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the
Christian faith, and the enlargement of our empire and
dominion" by settling "in the parts of America not yet
cultivated or planted, and only inhabited by some bar-barous
people who have no knowledge of Almighty God."4
As today, one of His Majesty's titles was "Defender of the
Faith." 5
Liberty of conscience and freedom of worship were al-lowed
under both the first and second Carolina charters,
although it was distinctly understood that the Church of
England was to be the established church in the colony
just as it was in the Mother Country.6
Under John Locke's "Fundamental Constitutions or the
Grand Model of Government," accepted March 1, 1669,7
which had great ideals of liberty8 though failing to func-tion
suitably for scattered inhabitants in Carolina,9 it
was declared
:
"It shall belong to the Parliament to take care for the
building of churches and the public maintenance of di-vines,
to be employed in the exercise of religion, according
to the Church of England ; which being the only true and
orthodox, and the national religion of all the King's do-minions,
is so also of Carolina, and therefore it alone shall
be allowed to receive public maintenance by grant of
Parliament." 10
No missionary societies were in the world during the
17th century, and there were no missionaries on this con-tinent
except a few traveling Quaker preachers. But, at
the close of that century the Bishop of London sent the
Rev. Thomas Bray (1656-1730) to Maryland to settle
some differences there and to study church conditions. 11
Dr. Bray visited various American colonies, and became
intensely interested in their religious conditions. Upon
EARLY COLONIAL RELIGION 11
his return to England, he reported in 1700 the immediate
need of missionaries in the New World.12
i White, John, Account of Lost Colony. Published by Richard
Hakluyt, Vol. Ill, p. 340.
2 Ibid.
3 "On the nine and twentieth day [of April] we returned to the
mouth of the Bay of Chesiopic, set up a cross and called the place
Cape Henry," wrote George Percy, son of Earl Percy, who was with
the Virginia colonists in 1607.
4 The Colonial Records of North Carolina (hereafter cited as Col.
Rec), I, 21.
5 Ibid., I, 20.
Qlbid., I, pp. 32, 113-14.
7 Ibid., I, 187-205; The State Records of North Carolina (hereafter
cited as St. Rec), Vol. XXV, pp. 123-136.
8 Col. Rec, I, 202-203.
9 Ibid., I, pp. xvii-xviii.
io Ibid., I, 202.
ii Ibid., I, 520, 571. New Standard Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, p. 156.
Drane, Dr. Robert B., Colonial Parishes and Church Schools, in
Sketches of Church History in North Carolina, edited by the Rt.
Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire and published by Wm. L. De Rosset,
Jr., p. 167.
12 Col. Rec, I, pp. 572-73. McConnell, Dr. S. D., History of the
American Episcopal Church, pp. 96-98. Protestant Episcopal His-torical
Society Collection, pp. 99-106. Hawks, Francis L., History of
North Carolina, Vol. II, pp. 338-339.
II
FIRST MINISTERS IN EAST CAROLINA
The first minister to preach in North Carolina is said
to have been William Edmundson, a Quaker, native of
Westmoreland, England, who came to Carolina during the
Spring of 1672 and preached at the house of Henry Phil-lips,
where the town of Hertford is now located. 1
George Fox, also a Quaker, was the second missionary
to visit North Carolina. He went to the western part of
what is now the county of Chowan, as well as to the Per-quimans
and Pasquotank sections.2
The Quakers were thus the first to send missionaries
into Carolina, and they infused their principles through
northeastern parts of the province. Presbyterians and
members of other denominations also moved to the region
from Virginia and other colonies.3
Quaker influence was felt from 1694 to 1696 when John
Archdale was Governor of the Carolinas. He was a
Quaker, convert of George Fox. But when Henderson
Walker became Governor, 1699-1703, he did much to help
establish the Church of England and further its cause in
North Carolina.4
The first Church of England missionary for the Albe-marle
section, sent in 1700 at Dr. Bray's insistence, was
the Rev. Daniel Brett. This was an unfortunate selec-tion,
as were some of the later missionary choices. He
remained only a few months.5
As early as 1669 there had been instituted in England
a society "for the promotion of Christian knowledge."
For various reasons it failed to function well. A second
organization, to supply clergymen for the American colo-nies,
was started by Dr. Bray, desirous to improve re-ligious
conditions in the colonies.
On June 16, 1701, his society, as a voluntary organiza-tion
among churchmen in England, was chartered by
King William III of England as the "Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." 6
FIRST MINISTERS IN EAST CAROLINA 13
This association did more towards the early Christian-izing
of East Carolina than probably any other one factor.
However, the group was greatly handicapped in its worthy
efforts by the general indifference found on both sides of
the ocean and the immense distances that had to be
traveled.
The first public library in Carolina was started at Bath,
the oldest town, with books sent by Dr. Bray.7 Books
were later sent to many other towns of the province. And
the Rt. Rev. Henry Compton, Lord Bishop of London
from 1675 to 1714, obtained from the Crown a promise of
a bounty of 20 pounds for every minister or scholar who
would agree to come to America.8
i Cheshire, J. B., Jr., Fragments of Colonial Church History,
pp. 3-4.
2 Col. Rec, I, xviii, 226-27, 572. Journals of Edmundson and Fox.
3 Vass, the Rev. L. C, History of the Presbyterian Church in New
Bern, N. C, pp. 18-21.
4 Battle, Kemp P., The Colonial Laymen of the Church of England
in North Carolina, published in Cheshire's Sketches, pp. 95-96.
5 Col. Rec, I, 572.
6 Cheshire, The Church in the Province of North Carolina, op cit.,
pp. 51-52; New Standard Encyclopedia, IV, 156. McConnell, op cit.,
pp. 98-99. Hawks, op. cit., II, 340.
7 Col. Rec, I, 572.
8 Ibid., I, 600-1. Hawks, II, 339.
Ill
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH
In the Fall of 1701 Governor Henderson Walker had
the "Assembly" pass an act making the Church of Eng-land
the established church.1
Parishes were laid out in this province. Craven, named
for William, Earl of Craven, one of the original Lords
Proprietors, was a precinct in St. Thomas parish. Pro-vision
was made for erection of churches and appointment
of vestries. For payment of 30 pounds for each minister's
salary, a poll tax was laid on every tithable person.2
Quakers, Presbyterians and other denomination mem-bers
in the province objected strenuously to the bill, and
appealed to England. They asserted that, though re-ligious
toleration had been definitely promised, there
could be no real religious freedom and liberty of con-science
for all, if they were forced thus to help support
the Church of England.3
The measure was later vetoed by the Lords Proprietors,
not because of these objections filed by colonists but be-cause
of the opinion that the bill was "inadequate," 30
pounds not being considered enough for preachers.4
On December 15, 1701, however, the vestry of Chowan
precinct appointed under the act made arrangements for
a church reader and a house of worship.5 This church,
reported well under way October 13, 1702, near Edenton,6
was the first to be erected in North Carolina.7 It is said
to have been located on land later included in the Hayes
Plantation.8
An entry dated June 30, 1702, in the Vestry Book of
St. Paul's parish, Chowan precinct, refers to a March act
of the Assembly empowering each vestry to provide a
standard of weights and measures and transact other
business.9 That vestry also met on October 13 of that
year and at other times.10
Governor Henderson wrote to the Bishop of London
October 21, 1703, requesting that a "worthy good man"
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH 15
be sent to Carolina to regain the flock and establish it in
the Christian profession.11 He severely criticized the be-havior
of the Rev. Daniel Brett, said to be "the first
minister sent to us." 12
The first missionary sent to North Carolina by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
was the Rev. John Blair. 13 He left England late in 1703.14
His mission in this New World was destined to encounter
many difficulties and handicaps, as did other early Colonial
missionaries.
In a letter to officials of the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel he reported three chief precincts in this
province, with three small churches and three glebes. 15
Craven was not counted as one of the main precincts. He
said that a reader was engaged at a small salary in each
of the three, for morning and evening prayers and two
sermons every Sunday.16
Four "sorts of people" were described: Quakers,
"powerful enemies to church government" ; those with no
religion who would be Quakers if it did not compel them to
live moral lives; a denomination something like Presby-terianism
; and those really zealous for the interest of the
church. This fourth group was said to be fewest in num-ber
but composed of the "better sort of people."17
Blair almost starved in the Carolina wildernesses. He
worked hard and traveled far, but could accomplish little.
While he was returning to England for aid after a few
months, his vessel was captured and he was held a pris-oner
of war in France for nine weeks.18
During late 1704 or early 1705 a Vestry Act was passed
by the North Carolina Assembly, providing for twelve
vestrymen in each precinct. These were given the power
to build churches and raise money, displace and disap-prove
ministers, for whom they were to pay 30 pounds
per annum.19 This measure was evidently later repealed.
Members of the House of Lords of the British Parlia-ment
notified Queen Anne March 13, 1705, of a petition
received from Joseph Boone, merchant, and other Caro-lina
residents objecting to two Assembly acts: appoint-ment
of a commission of twenty laymen to remove rectors
16 CROWN OF LIFE
only by delivery of written notices and provision that no
man might be chosen to the House of Commons of the
Assembly if he had not received the Church of England
sacrament within a year before his election unless he
would swear he was of the Church of England profes-sion.
20 The Lords declared that such measures were not
warranted by the charter granted to the Carolina Lords
Proprietors.- 1 Accordingly, Queen Anne pronounced them
null and void.- 2
At a council meeting held in Chowan December 3, 1705,
Bath County, reported to be growing, was divided into
three precincts: 23 Pampticough, north of the Pamlico
river beginning at Moline's Creek and extending westerly
to the head of the river; Wickham, from Moline's Creek
to Matchepungo Bluif; and Archdale, the south side of
the river, including Neuse. Each precinct was allowed
two Assembly members. Pampticough soon passed out
of existence. In 1712 Wickham became Hyde, and Arch-dale
became Beaufort.
The second and third missionaries sent to North Caro-lina
for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts were the Rev. James Adams and the Rev.
William Gordon. They arrived in April, 1708.24 Both
were worthy Christian leaders.
At that time there were four precincts in the Albemarle
Sound section, 25 and both ministers went to that area:
Gordon, to Chowan and Perquimans ;
26 Adams, to Pasquo-tank
and Currituck.27
In 1709 Gordon wrote of his section: "The people, in-deed,
are ignorant, there being few that can read, and
fewer write, even of their Justices of Peace and vestry-men."
25 Bath was said to be the only town, with twelve
houses but no church though land had been laid out for
a glebe. 29 Gordon returned to England after a compara-tively
short but satisfactory stay in America.30
Adams was called "exemplary" in a letter written
August 25, 1710, by church wardens and vestrymen of
"Caratuck" to the S. P. G. officials to thank them for
sending the minister to that region. He was reported to
have been there for two years and five months, and was
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH 17
then planning to return to England.31 A letter dated the
next day was sent by the "Pascotank" vestry, asking for
a continuance of Adams' work.32
Adams himself wrote, "I have suffered a world of
misery and trouble, both in body and mind."33 He pre-pared
to leave for England but died in 1710 just before
his scheduled departure.34
The Rev. John Urmstone was fourth on the list of
S. P. G. missionaries to North Carolina. In 1711 he came
to Chowan. Colonial Records contain numerous letters
from him to his superiors, complaining bitterly of the
land, vestries and lack of money.35 The noted divine and
historian, Dr. F. L. Hawks, wrote later that Urmstone,
weak and vacillating, "did more to retard the spread of
Christianity and the growth of the Church of England in
Carolina than any and all other causes combined."36
Fifth came the Rev. Giles Rainsford,37 whose health
failed after a few months. He is said to have been
alarmed by Indian hostilities and to have moved soon to
Virginia.38
i Col. Rec, I, 543, 572.
2 Ibid.. 598, 601. Cheshire, Sketches, p. 52.
3 Col. Rec, I, 527, 709, 802. Cheshire, p. 54.
4 Col. Rec, I, 601. Hawks, II, 343, 357.
5 Col. Rec, I, 543-545.
eiMd., I, 558-61.
7 Cheshire, op. cit.. 119.
8 Graham, John Washington, History of St. Paul's Episcopal
Church, p. 4.
9 Col. Rec, I, 558.
io Col. Rec, I, 558, 560. 568, et als.
iiZfeic?., pp. 572-73.
lilbid., 572.
13 Ibid., 597, 600.
nibirl., 600.
lSIMd., 601.
iGIbid.
i~ Ibid., 601-2.
izibid., 600-3. Hawks, II, 344.
19 Col. Rec, I, 680, 682, 689, 709.
20 Ibid., pp. 634-40.
21 Ibid., 636.
22 ibid.. 643, 673.
23 Ibid.. 629.
24J6kZ., 681.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.. 684-85, 689.
27 Ibid., 681.
ftORTi LIBRARY CO*,
N, C.
18 CROWN OF LIFE
2SiMd., 712.
29 Ibid., 715.
soma., 684-85, 701.
31 I&uL, 728-29.
S2 Ibid., 730.
33 Ibid., 734.
34/6irl., I, 884; II, 75. Hawks, II, 350-51.
35 Col. Rec, I, 763-64, 774, 849, 850, etc.
36 Hawks, II, 353.
37 Col. Rec, I, 858-60.
38 Hawks, II, 353. Col. Rec, II, 17, 128.
IV
CRAVEN COUNTY SETTLED
The first white settlers in this section were from Vir-ginia,
New Jersey and New England. Some were hun-ters.
Others sought a living from the soil. Many desired
religious freedom. There were Quakers, Calvinists, Puri-tans,
French Huguenots and other "dissenters," who had
come to America from religious persecutions abroad.
Although there were a number of earlier smaller groups
or individuals, the first organized settlement in Craven
County dates back to 1707, when the Rev. Claude Phillippe
de Richebourg brought Palatine Protestants to the Trent
River. This is said to have been the first Presbyterian
minister, as well as the first organized Presbyterian con-gregation,
in North Carolina.1 Some of the colonists were
Lutherans, others Calvinists, French Huguenots, or Re-formed
Church members.
These exceptionally fine citizens moved to this region
from Virginia, where in search of religious liberty they
had gone in 1690, with the encouragement of King Wil-liam
of England, first locating at Manakin Town above
the James River falls. Not satisfied with the land in Vir-ginia,
they had decided to move farther south.
Pious and zealous, talented and hard-working, these
settlers were unusually worthy. They held religious ser-vices
regularly. In an effort to promote silk culture, they
had eggs shipped here, but the eggs hatched on the vessel
and the silk worms died for lack of food. After the
Indian massacres in 1711, the colonists moved still farther
south, settling on the Santee River in South Carolina.2
First organized colony direct from Europe to North
Carolina, Swiss and German Palatines settled on the site
of this town in 1710. They were stout Protestants. The
day before the first group sailed from Gravesend on the
Thames River in England in January, 1710, religious
services were held and an appropriate farewell sermon
20 CROWN OF LIFE
was preached by the Rev. Mr. Cesar, a German Reformed
minister of London.3
Baron Christopher deGraffenried, 49, Swiss nobleman,
popular at European courts, who organized the colonists,
was present for the farewell service.4 He followed later
in the year with his Swiss settlers,3 changing the name of
the Indian village, "Chattawka," on the Neuse and Trent
Rivers in East Carolina, to honor his native Bern, Switzer-land.
6
Henry Hoeger, a Reformed minister, accompanied the
local settlers. He was 75 years old, sober and honest.
Jacob Christofle Zollikofer, of St. Gall, Switzerland, was
instructed to go around Europe to try to get contributions
for the building of a church and for the sending over here
of a young German preacher as an assistant to Hoeger.
He was requested to have the young minister ordained
in England by the Bishop of London and to send a liturgy
of the Church of England translated in high Dutch. The
outcome of these assignments is not definitely known.7
The colonists had been able to bring little furniture to
their new home, but they did probably bring their Bibles,
hymn books and religious volumes. Religious services
must have been held often, probably at private homes.
As early as 1703, the Rev. Josuah Kocherthal, a
Lutheran clergyman at Landau in the German Palatinate,
driven to despair over the religious persecutions and hor-rible
sufferings which his followers had endured after
invasions of French armies, had gone to England to in-vestigate
the expediency of an emigration across the
Atlantic.
Upon his return home, he published a book on the pro-vince
of Carolina, giving glowing descriptions of its
climate and fertility. Thousands of downtrodden persons
envisioned a land of plenty and promise, with liberty and
peace of soul.8
Encouraged by the English government, which was as
eager to get foreign Protestant colonists for the New
World as it was to keep its own people at home, the
greatest migrations since the Crusades took place. In a
few months between 10,000 and 15,000 persons flocked to
CRAVEN COUNTY SETTLED 21
London, begging to be transported across the ocean.
Among these were many of the future settlers of New
Bern.9
For his colony, deGraffenried carefully chose young and
able-bodied men, representing almost every trade and
craft then prevalent.10 No colony in America had such a
highly selective personnel.
DeGraffenried was authorized by the Bishop of London
to perform marriage ceremonies and baptisms. 11 Though
most of the settlers were of the Calvinistic and Lutheran
faiths, they signified a desire to be affiliated with the
Church of England. On April 20, 1711, deGraffenried
wrote the Bishop of London:
"Humbly request your lordship to accept of me and my
people, and receive us into your Church under your Lord-ship's
patronage, and we shall esteem ourselves happy
sons of a better stock ; and I hope we shall always behave
ourselves as becomes members of the Church of England,
and dutiful children of so pious and indulgent a father as
your Lordship is to all under your care ; in all obedience,
craving your lordship's blessing to me and my country-men
here."12
The Bishop of London wrote the next January 12 to
Secretary Fulham of the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel: "As to the letter of Baron deGraffenried,
whereby you may perceive that they are all ready to con-form
to the Church of England; if the Society will be
pleased to allow a stipend for a chaplain to read Common
Prayers in High Dutch, I will endeavor to provide so soon
as I have their resolution, which I would willingly hear
so soon as possible, that I may send him over with Mr.
Rainsford."13
A colony of Welsh Quakers, including Thomas Lovick,
John Lovick and other leaders who afterwards became
prominent, settled in 1710 below New Bern on Clubfoot
and Hancock Creeks on the south side of the Neuse
River.14 German immigrants arrived in 1732, but moved
up Trent River and settled in what is now Jones County,
then part of Craven.15
22 CROWN OF LIFE
Thus there were English, French, Germans, Swiss,
Welsh, Scotch-Irish and other nationalities in this area
early in the 18th century. Many religious faiths were
represented—Church of England, Calvinists, Lutherans,
Reformed, Quakers, Presbyterians, and a few Catholics.
Methodists and Baptists also came early to the section.
i Vass, op. cit., pp. 49-53. Ashe, Samuel A., History of North
Carolina, Vol. I, p. 161.
2 Lawson, John, History of Carolina, pp. 28-30, 141, 187. Hawks,
II, 85.
3 DeGraffenried, Baron Christopher, The Landgrave's Own Story,
published in deGraffenried, Thomas P., History of the deGraffenried
Family, p. 77. Vass, 57.
4 DeGraffenried, op. cit., pp. 76-77.
5 Ibid., 78.
a Ibid., 77.
7 Dubbs, Prof. Joseph H., D. D., Historic Manual of the Reformed
Church. Perry's Historic Collections. Vass, 60.
s Todd, Vincent H., Ph.D., Christoph von Grafjenried's Account of
the Founding of New Bern, pp. 13-14, 17, 22.
9 DeGraffenried, pp. 75-76.
io Ibid., 76.
ii Todd, op. cit., 377.
12 Col. Rec, I, 756.
13 Ibid., 831.
14 Vass, op. cit., 70.
is Vass, 71.
RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION
Establishment of the Church of England in North Caro-lina
was recognized by Act of the Assembly in 1711, with
acceptance of the laws of England as "the laws of this
government so far as they are compatible with our way
of living." A fine of a hundred pounds was provided for
vestrymen refusing to qualify under the English laws.1
The Rev. Mr. Urmstone wrote July 7 of that year that
the Assembly Act provided for the worship of God and
the establishment of the church. Vestries of twelve men
in every precinct or parish were called to meet in six
weeks to choose church wardens, to give them power to
buy glebes, to build churches and to engage clergymen.2
But, it was difficult to get ministers. Miles Gale wrote
in 1714 to the Secretary of the Society for the Propaga-tion
of the Gospel
:
"Your letters received for his Excellency, the present
Governor Eden, and my Eldest Son, Christopher Gale . . .
I have made all the Enquiry in my power after some to
go as missionaries, they like the terms but dread y voyage
and the heat of the climate. I heartily wish & hope Re-ligion
may be taken care for in that Heathenish Country."3
An Act for Observing the Lord's Day was passed in
1715 and remained in force until its repeal in April, 1741.4
Three holidays were again decreed: January 30, when
King Charles I was "barberously murthered;" May 29,
the Restoration anniversary; and September 22, the
Indian massacre anniversary.5
This act forbade cursing, swearing and drunkenness on
the Sabbath. Ministers were directed to read the law
publicly twice a year, on the first Sundays in March and
October. If no minister was in the section, the Clerk was
ordered to read it at precinct court in April and October.6
Another 1715 law permitted Quakers to make a solemn
affirmation rather than take an oath.7 This was again
decreed Oct. 16, 1749.8 But, because of their failure to
24 CROWN OF LIFE
take oaths, despite the fact that liberty of conscience was
promised, Quakers were long considered ineligible to hold
office and were not allowed to serve on juries or give evi-dence
in criminal cases.
Also passed in 1715 was an act to the effect that no
minister of the Church of England should be obliged to
enlist in the militia.9 Established Church clergymen were
exempt from military duty during practically the entire
Colonial period in North Carolina, but it was not until
passage of a temporary six-months' act in 1760 and a
more permanent act in 1764 that such provision was made
for Presbyterian ministers, "regularly called to any con-gregation."
10 No mention was then made of other de-nominations.
In 1770 it was recorded that for five years Quakers had
been released from attendance on general or private mus-ters,
provided they were regularly listed and would serve
in the regular militia in case of insurrection or invasion.
On February 23, 1771, Perquimans County Quakers wrote
to thank the Assembly for the act passed at the pre-ceding
session exempting them from militia duty and
military training.11
i Col. Rec, I, pp. 789-90.
2 Ibid., 769.
3IMd.. Vol. II, 133.
4 St. Rec, XXIII, pp. 3-6.
5 Ibid., 3.
Glbid., pp. 4-6.
' Hid., 11.
8 Ibid. Col. Rec, II, 884.
9 St. Rec, XXIII, pp. 29-30.
10/MtZ.. 597.
ii Col. Rec, IX, pp. 176-77.
VI
LOCAL PARISH DESIGNATED
Craven parish was one of nine parishes provided for
in 1715; accordingly, the history of Christ Church may
be said to have been started in that year.
The bill was entitled "An Act for establishing the
church and appointing select vestrys," this "Province of
North Carolina being a member of the Kingdom of Great
Britain and the Church of England being appointed by
the charter from the Crown to be the only Established
church to have Publick encouragement in it." 1
Under the act the province was divided into nine
parishes, as follows: Chowan precinct, two; Pasquotank
precinct, two; Perquimans, Currituck and Hyde, each
constituting one parish; the remaining part of the
Pamplico River and its branches in Beaufort precinct, St.
Thomas parish ; and "Nuse river & the Branches thereof,
by the name of Craven parish, to which all the Southern
settlements shall be accounted a part until further
Divisions."
The twelve men named as vestrymen for Craven parish
were Col. Wm. Brice, Maj. Wm. Hancock, Mr. Jno. Nelson,
Mr. Jno. Slocumb, Capt. Rich'd Graves, Mr. Dan'l Mc-
Farlin, Mr. Jno. Smith, Mr. Jno. Mackey, Mr. Thos.
Smith, Mr. Jos. Bell, Mr. Martin Frank and Mr. Jaco(b)
Sheets.
Vestrymen named for the various parishes under this
act were directed to meet at their respective churches,
chapels or courthouses within forty days after publication
of the law. Should any vestryman fail to meet as sum-moned
by the marshal or deputy, if not "a known &
Publick Dissenter from the Church of England," he was
to be fined three pounds. Should any marshal fail to call
the vestrymen, he was to be subject to fine of twenty
shillings.
All the vestrymen were ordered to qualify before the
following Easter Monday. Others to be appointed later
26 CROWN OF LIFE
were to qualify within a month. They were to take an
oath and make the following declaration before a Justice
of the Peace
:
"I, A. B., do declare that it is not lawfull upon any
pretence whatever to take up Arms against the King &
that I will not apugne the Liturgy of the Church of Eng-land
as it is by Law established."
After qualifying, the vestrymen were expected to
choose two of their number to serve for one year as
church wardens; then two other vestrymen were to be
selected for this service the following year; and so on
under this rotation in office until all vestrymen had served
for a year as wardens.
If a vestryman failed to serve as church warden, he was
to forfeit thirty shillings. Should any vestryman be ab-sent
from a regular meeting without "a lawful cause,"
he was to be taxed ten shillings.
These vestries were empowered to purchase land for the
erection of churches, raising money from a poll tax of
not over five shillings a year. They were also to name
ministers at not less than fifty pounds per year.
The ministers were given the right to marry couples,
but could not receive more than five shillings for each
ceremony. Magistrates were allowed to marry persons
"in such parishes where no minister shall be resident."
A man and woman desiring to be married could take three
or four neighbors or witnesses to the Governor or a Coun-cil
member and obtain a marriage certificate. Previously,
for lack of clergymen, marriage had been only a civil con-tract
in the province.
This extensive Vestry Act, signed by Gov. Charles
Eden, N. Chevin, C. Gale, Fran. Foster, T. Knight and
Speaker Edw. Moseley, remained in force until April,
1741, when it was superseded by another bill establishing
the church and a special marriage act. It was substan-tially
re-enacted in October, 1749.2
In 1720 it was reported that the persons appointed in
1715 to serve as vestrymen for the southwest parish of
Chowan and Craven precinct had not qualified, so it was
enacted by "His Excellency the Palatine and the rest of
LOCAL PARISH DESIGNATED 27
the true and absolute Lords Proprietors of Carolina,"
with the consent of the General Assembly, that the mar-shal
or deputy summon the vestrymen to qualify within
forty days, with power to fill vacancies.3
Three years later, on November 23, 1723, when New
Bern was incorporated and laid out in a township, there
was a clause in the charter providing a site for a church.4
Despite the Indian wars and other difficulties, the town
had by then grown considerably.
Beaufort was also incorporated as a town about the
same time, and St. John's parish was established there,
being divided from Craven into Carteret precinct. Ves-trymen
named were Christopher Gale, Esq., Joseph Bell,
Jno. Shaw, Jno. Nelson, Richard Whitehurst, Richard
Williamson, Richard Rustell, Jno. Shackleford, Thomas
Merriday, Enoch Ward, Joseph Fulford and Charles Cog-dail.
5
No Episcopal minister was serving in any of the eleven
parishes of North Carolina in 1727 or 1728, it was re-ported
in the Journal of Proceedings for setting the
boundaries between North Carolina and Virginia.6
On this Boundary Commission there was a Virginia
chaplain, the Rev. Peter Fontaine, an Episcopal minister,
appointed partly in order that people on the Carolina
frontiers might get themselves and their children bap-tized.
7
Colonel William Byrd, a boundary commissioner, wrote
that when the chaplain "rubbed us up with a seasonable
sermon, this was quite a new thing to our brethren of
North Carolina, who live in a climate where no clergyman
can breathe, any more than spiders in Ireland."8
Transfer of the province from the control of the Lords
Proprietors to the Crown in 1729 ended Proprietary gov-ernment
but brought little change in conditions. Each
parish had the right to elect its vestrymen. The Craven
vestry and church wardens could raise money by a poll
tax not exceeding five shillings in currency for the pur-pose
of paying preachers and aiding the poor.9
i Col. Rec, II, pp. 207-13. St. Rec, XXIII, pp. 6-10.
2 St. Rec, XXIII, 6.
28 CROWN OF LIFE
3 Ibid., XXV, pp. 166-68.
ilbid., 204-5.
5 Ibid., 206-9.
6 Col. Rec, II, pp. 750-57; 776-815.
7 Vass, op. cit., 15.
8 Byrd, William, Histories of Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and
North Carolina, edited by Dr. William K. Boyd, p. 72.
9 Col. Rec, V, 86.
VII
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP AGAIN DECREED
Instructions drafted December 14, 1730, by King George
II for Capt. George Burrington, named as Royal Governor
of North Carolina, contained among the 117 different
sections1 the order that there was to be "liberty of con-science
to all persons (except papists)."2 These directions
were repeated later for Royal Governor Gabriel Johnston,3
who did much to promote the power and influence of the
church in the province.
Burrington was told to "take especial care that God
Almighty be devoutly and duly served throughout your
Government, the Book of Common Prayer as by law es-tablished
read each Sunday and Holiday and the blessed
sacrament administered according to the rites of the
Church of England."4
More churches and rectories should be built in North
Carolina,5 the King admonished, calling attention to the
rule that "ministers must have certificates from the Right
Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London of his
being conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the
Church of England."6 All schoolmasters also were to be
licensed by the Bishop of London.7
Governor Burrington wrote July 2, 1731, to one of the
Principal Secretaries of State: "This Country has no
Orthodox Minister legally settled, those that formerly
have been here generally proved so very bad that they
gave people offence by their vicious Lives."8
The next March he wrote the Bishop of London: "I
was not able to Prevail with the Last assembly to make
necessary provision to subsist a convenient number of
clergymen but have a very good expectation the ensuing
one will come into the measures I proposed. Dr. Marsden
continues in the South Part of this Province. He some-times
Preaches, Baptizeth children and marrieth them
when desired.
30 CROWN OF LIFE
"The Rev. Mr. Bevil Granville, nephew to the Lord
Lansdown, is also here. He was going to Maryland but
we have hopes he will continue with us if your Lordship
will procure the usual allowance from the Society. These
are all the ministers of the Church of England now in
this government : there is one Presbyterian minister who
has a Mixed audience ; and there are four meeting houses
of Quakers.
"Mr. John Boyd (the gentleman who delivers this
letter) was bred at the University of Glasgow ; has prac-tised
Physic in the Colony of Virginia seven years, is now
desirous to take orders, several Gentlemen of my acquain-tance
in this Country give him the Charack of a worthy,
conscientious man, well qualified for the ministry, they
are desirous of having him for their Pastor, and earnestly
requested me to recommend Mr. Boyd to my Lord Bishop
for orders, a certificate, and an allowance from the
Society, the Better to support him, if your Lordship thinks
him deserving; as I believe Mr. Boyd's designs are purely
to do good in takeing the ministry upon him and not out
of any view of gain, I humbly recommend him to your
Lordship for Orders and a certificate." 9
Boyd wrote that year to the Society for the Propaga-tion
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts as follows about
North Carolina:
"There is no minister residing of the Church of Eng-land
in any part of that government, for want of which
many of the people are drawn away by Presbyterian
anabaptists or other Dissenting Teachers, many of their
children unbaptised & the administration of the Sacra-ment
of the Lord's Supper wholly neglected." 10
From Edenton Granville wrote May 6, 1732, that he
had baptized 1,000 persons. 11 That month Governor Bur-rington
also reported that "Richard Marsden officiates
Gratis at a place called Onslow."12 Also in the Cape Fear
region a French clergyman, the Rev. John LaPierre, was
said to be engaged. 13 And, Governor Burrington re-ported,
"a clergyman beneficed in Virginia preaches once
a month in a precinct named Bertie." 14
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP AGAIN DECREED 31
A later report of the Royal Governor in 1733 to the
Lords of Trade and Plantations stated : "There is not one
clergyman of the Church of England regularly setled in
this Government. The former missionarys were so little
approved of, that the Inhabitants seem very indifferent,
whither any more come to them.
"Some Presbyterians, or rather Independent Ministers
from New England, have got congregations . . . The
Quakers in this Government are considerable for their
numbers and substance; the regularity of their lives,
hospitality to strangers, and kind offices to new settlers
induceing many to be of their persuasion."15
The Rev. George Whitefield, (1714-1770), the famous
Methodist divine, "unequalled prince of pulpit orators,"
arrived in New Bern on Christmas eve in 1739. On
Christmas day he preached in the courthouse. An ac-count
of his visit related that "Most of his congregation
was melted to tears. Here he was grieved to see the
minister encouraging dancing, and to find a dancing-master
in every little town. 'Such sinful entertainments,'
he said, 'enervate the minds of the people, and insensibly
lead them into effeminacy and ruin'." 16 Mr. Whitefield re-turned
to New Bern again in November, 1764,17 and later
in 1765.18
i coi.
:
Rec, III, pp. 90-118,
2 Ibid.., 110.
3 Ibid.., 498.
4 Ibid.., 110.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
T Ibid.., 111.
8 Ibid.., 152.
vibid.., 339-40.
io Ibid., 394.
ii Ibid., 341.
12 Ibid., 342.
13 ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., 429-30.
16 Vass, op. cit., 79.
it Col. :Rec, VI, 1060.
is Ibid., VII, 97.
VIII
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE
Although it is impossible to get a complete story of
religious history here during the Colonial era, court
records prove the close union of church and state. In
numerous instances may be found indications of a kindly
Christian spirit towards the weak and unprotected.
An entry dated March 20, 1740, in the minute book of
the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, reads : "Mr.
Philip Trapnell appears and delivers up an infant boy
named Joseph Waters to this court. Ordered that the
constable next in that neighborhood take the said boy
into his custody and bring him to the vestry next Easter
morning."1
In the same month it was recorded : "An infant about
nine years of age is brought into court. The court
thought fit to bind her out to William Carlton till she come
to the age of 16 years and the said Carlton gives securities
for his good performance during the time she shall re-main
with him as follows : that he is to do his endeavor to
teach her or cause her to be taught to read the Bible."
Care of orphans is also shown in a record of Septem-ber,
1742: "Ordered that every master or mistress of
orphans within this County bring a certificate from a
neighboring justice to satisfy the court of their welfare."
Such quality of mercy is not always evident. On Sep-tember
19, 1740, there was made the entry : "Mary Magee
appears in court. Ordered that she be stripped her
clothes to her waste and receive 12 lashes on her bare back
at the public whipping post."
Measures taken against "dissenters" from the estab-lished
church were based on the belief that those who re-fused
to worship under the prescribed forms were wicked.
A bill for liberty of conscience failed to pass in 1740.2
A local record of June 20, 1740, stated: "A motion
and petition made by a sect of decenting people called
Baptists that they may have the liberty to build a house
First Local Church—1750
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE 33
of worship and being duly examined by the court ac-knowledged
to all the articles of the Church of England
except part of the 27 and 36 they desiring to preach
among themselves. Referred." Two words have a line
drawn through them, but they seem to be, "but rejected."
Later that year on September 22 the record shows:
"The following dissenting Protestants appeared, viz.:
John Brooks, John James, Robert Spring, Nicholas Pure-foy,
and Thos. Fulcher came into court and took the oath
of allegiance and supremacy and subscribed the test the
39 articles of Religion being distinctly read to them the
following of which they dissented from to wit: the 26th
and the latter part of the 27th."
However, the Craven Court of Pleas and Quarter Ses-sions
in December of the same year granted a "Petition of
Palintines or High Germans praying that they may have
Liberty to build a Chaple on Trent for a place of wor-ship."
3
Progress along many lines was made in New Bern dur-ing
the next decade. In 1749 James Davis came from
Virginia, through subsidy of the General Assembly,4 and
set up here the first printing press in North Carolina,
publishing the first newspaper, first pamphlet and first
book of the province.5
The General Assembly met here in 17386 and later in
twenty different years, and the Council even more fre-quently,
until the town was chosen in 1765 as the logical
place for the provincial capital. 7 The next year a bill was
passed to erect Tryon's Palace here as the seat of govern-ment
for the province.8
i Taken from minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions
in the vault of the Clerk of Craven County Superior Court, New
Bern, this entry and others quoted in this chapter, unless otherwise
credited, may be found also in an article, "The Early History of
Craven County," by the late Congressman Samuel M. Brinson, in
Volume X, The North Carolina Booklet, published by the North
Carolina Society Daughters of the Revolution.
2 Col. Rec, IV, 514.
3 Vass, op. cit., pp. 60-61.
4 Col. Rec, IV, pp. 976-77, 984, 1023.
o Weeks, Stephen B., The Press of North Carolina in the Eigh-teenth
Century.
6 Col. Rec, IV, 355.
T Ibid., VII, 2.
8 St. Rec, XXIII, 664-65.
IX
NEW CHURCH ACTS
In 1741 another act was passed establishing the church
in this province.1 Sixteen parishes were named, each
privileged to levy a poll tax for support. Among the
parishes is named, for possibly the first public time,
Christ-Church Parish in Craven County.
Inhabitants of each parish were authorized to meet on
the first Monday after the act and on Easter Mondays
thereafter every two years at the church or courthouse
to elect twelve freeholders as vestrymen for two-year
terms.
These vestrymen were ordered to qualify, after being
summoned by constables, and take this oath: "I, A. B.,
do declare I will not oppose the Liturgy of the Church of
England, as it is by law established."
Two church wardens were to be selected by the vestry.
If they refused to serve, they had to pay forty shillings
proclamation money. But they were not required to serve
more than one year without their consent. The wardens
were allowed three per cent of the church taxes.
The vestry could engage a minister, buy land for a
church and raise money for the poor. If a rector was
believed to be immoral, he could be deprived of his salary'
but he was permitted to bring suit for it in court.
This act was later repealed, and another was passed for
the clergy in December, 1758.2
A special marriage act was also passed in 1741.3 This
limited the right to perform marriage ceremonies to min-isters
of the Church of England. In the absence of the
rector, the matrimonial ceremony might be performed by
a magistrate. But whether or not the rector acted in this
capacity, he was to receive the fee, "if he do not neglect
or refuse to do the service."4
Presbyterians did not consider themselves bound by
this act, so they joined couples in wedding ceremonies
conducted by their ministers without license or publica-
NEW CHURCH ACTS 35
tion. It was not until 1766 that these marriages were
legalized. Then it was made lawful for a Presbyterian
preacher to marry a couple by license, but even then the
Church of England minister was to get the fee unless he
declined to officiate.5
Much opposition was occasioned by these acts, and in
January, 1771, the law was changed so that Presbyterian
clergymen could marry couples by publication of banns
or license without the payment of the fees to the Church
of England rectors.6 But the Board of Trade had the
King disallow this change.7
Hence, it was not until the Revolutionary War and the
adoption of the State Constitution in December, 1776,
that there was no Established Church in North Carolina
and the ministers of other denominations were legally
permitted to perform wedding ceremonies and receive
fees for the rites.
i St. Rec, XXIII, pp. 187-191.
2 Ibid., XXV, 364. Col. Rec, V, 1036.
3 St. Rec, XXIII, pp. 158-161.
4 Ibid., 160.
5 Ibid., 674. Col. Rec, VII, pp. 432-33.
6 Col. Rec, VIII, 384, 479. St. Rec, XXIII, 831.
7 Col. Rec, IX, 7.
FIRST LOCAL CHURCH
Places for religious services, probably at private homes,
were undoubtedly designated by the earliest settlers in
and around New Bern, since so many of them had moved
to the section for religious reasons. As already men-tioned,
a chapel had been authorized up Trent River.
There may have been one or more in New Bern.
Col. Thomas Pollock, a "stalwart churchman"1 and a
Proprietary Governor of North Carolina, who held mort-gages
on New Bern property for money he had advanced
to deGraffenried,2 wrote his New Bern agent that he had
given a lot here for a church.3 Title was confirmed by
the Act for the Better Settling the Town of New Bern,
passed by the General Assembly in 1723. That act speci-fically
mentioned "proper allotments for a Church, Court-house,
and Market-place."4
When Royal government of Carolina was initiated in
1729 there were two or three rude buildings used as
churches, perhaps including one here, though there is no
proof for this, and a few Quaker meeting houses in dif-ferent
parts of the province. At that time there was no
regular clergyman in the territory.
About 1734 the Rev. John LaPierre held a few services
in New Bern, and it may be that his work stirred senti-ment
for a commodious church building here. The next
year he moved here and resided here for probably twenty
years. He preached at various places of the region.5
St. Thomas Church, still standing at Bath, oldest town
in North Carolina, dates back to 1734, now the oldest
church building in the State. This was antedated by a
house of worship which disappeared years ago. The
parish was organized there with a vestry in 1701.7
Started in 1736 was the present church of St. Paul's
parish, Edenton, but it was not completed for many years.
Service was held there in 1760, and the interior wood-work
was finished in 1774.8 The parish of Chowan there
FIRST LOCAL CHURCH 37
had been organized at a vestry meeting held Dec. 15,
1701,9 and since then has been known as St. Paul's parish
in that third oldest town of North Carolina. The graves
of three governors, Henderson Walker, Charles Eden and
Thomas Pollock, are in that historic churchyard.
Inspired very likely by these examples of church build-ing
in Bath and Edenton, the Craven parish vestrymen in
1739 laid a tax on all tithables here for a new church.
Commissioners were appointed for the purpose. 10
These commissioners are reported in Colonial Records
to have made 100,000 bricks for the local house of wor-ship.
11 The brick are believed to have been made from
clay in a hill near this town, where John Lawson, first
surveyor-general of the colony, had camped years pre-viously.
Mrs. Richard S. Mason, wife of a later rector of
the church, used to relate how her mother had boasted
about helping with this task of brick manufacture.12 The
brick-making hole is said to have been long visible along
New South Front Street towards the Pembroke road.13
Besides the cost of making these bricks, the vestry in-curred
other expenses, so the legal tax of five shilling was
found to be insufficient to carry on their work.14 An act
passed by the Assembly on August 21, 1740, enabled the
commissioners to proceed with their work on the church
by permitting them to levy a special tax for the purpose.
The act also provided "for the better regulation of the
said town."15
The extra tax sanctioned for New Bern permitted col-lection
of one shilling, six pence, proclamation money, for
two years. It was to be paid yearly, such commodities
being acceptable, as "Pork, good and merchantable, dry
salted, per Barrel, 30 shillings proclamation money ; Beef,
dry salted, per Barrel, good and merchantable, 20 shil-lings
; drest Deer Skins, two shillings and Six Pence per
Pound ; Tallow, four pence per pound ; Bees Wax, Ten
Pence Half Penny per Pound; Rice, per Hundred, Ten
Shillings."
Collections were to be made by "John Bryan, Gentle-man,
he giving Security of 400 pounds, Proclamation
money, to the County Court of Craven." He was to be
38 CROWN OF LIFE
allowed four per cent of the amounts thus obtained. Each
tithable resident not paying the tax was to forfeit four
shillings and costs.
George Roberts, William Wilson, George Bold, William
Herritage and Adam Moore, "Gentlemen," were named as
Commissioners to receive the levy from Bryan.
In this act it was recorded that a lot had been "laid
out" for the church in the 1723 charter, but this site was
considered "insufficient and not so commodious" and "all
the adjacent lots having been taken up," and the "vestry
having taken up four lots, more convenient and com-modious,
for erecting a church, and for a churchyard and
other parish purposes," therefore, "as soon as the said
church shall be fit to celebrate divine service in, the said
four lots shall be saved to the parish." 10
The commissioners were directed to sell at public sale,
after four days' notice, the less desirable property that
had been set aside for the church by Colonel Pollock in
1723 and apply the money on their new church building
at the larger site. 17
These four lots approved for the edifice were on the
north side of Pollock Street between Middle and Craven,
including the present site of Christ Church. Accordingly,
for two centuries the parish has used the same site, cen-trally
situated on one of the most valuable corners in the
business heart of the city.
Another act passed April 4, 1741, pointed out that the
tax had not been enough to finish the New Bern church.
The vestry had been empowered to lay a tax of fifteen
shillings per poll for paying a minister for one year but
the next vestry had not thought it advisable to employ
a minister, so this tax was ordered converted towards the
completion of the church.18
This act stated that the 100,000 bricks made by the
commissioners for the church were too many for the pur-pose,
so the commission was authorized to sell all the brick
not needed and apply the money on the church structure.19
Due to the deaths of Wilson, Moore and Roberts, their
places on the commission were taken in April, 1745, by
John Fonveille, Edward Bryan and Christopher Gregory
FIRST LOCAL CHURCH 39
Hobbs. Under the Assembly Act making these appoint-ments,
the commissioners were authorized, if there was
not enough money on hand to complete the church, to levy
another tax "with as much Expedition as possibly may
be."20
The act was amended in 1751. Bryan and Hobbs were
then dead, and the appointment of commissioners was
discontinued. The church wardens and vestrymen were
given the power to call the commissioners to account for
the money collected ; and, as some of the inhabitants of
Craven and Johnston counties were said not to have paid
the tax, the vestrymen and wardens were authorized to
issue warrents on their possessions and chattels.21
It is believed that the church was finished about 1750,22
but for some time was without a regular rector. It stood
at the corner of Pollock and Middle streets, and traces of
its foundations and walls are still in the churchyard there.
Some years afterwards it was torn down to make way for
a larger structure. The two later churches have been
located farther back on the property.
i Cheshire, Sketches, 100.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., 172. Colonel Thomas Pollock's Letter Book.
4 St. Rec, XXV, 204-5.
5 Cheshire, op. cit., 69.
e Ibid., 209.
T Ibid., 162, 255.
8 Graham, op. cit., 5-8.
9 Col. Rec, I, 543-45.
io St. Rec, XXIII, 141.
ii Ibid.
12 Whitford, Col. John D., Historical Notes, history of First Baptist
Church and other parts of New Bern, in manuscript form, p. 291.
13 Ibid.
14 St. Rec, XXIII, 141.
15 Ibid., 141-43. Col. Rec, IV, 549, 572.
16 St. Rec, XXIII, 143.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., 181-82.
19 Ibid.
20 ibid., 231-32.
21 Ibid., 365-66.
22 Whitford, op. cit., 270.
XI
EAST CAROLINA MISSIONARIES
Although impossible to mention all the missionaries
that worked in Eastern North Carolina during the Colo-nial
era, it is interesting to note that a number were di-rectly
or indirectly connected with the history of New
Bern or this immediate territory.
The Rev. John Garzia acted for some time as a mis-sionary
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in the Chowan precinct, and "as occasion shall require to
the North East side of River Nuse."1 In his annual report
dated April 16, 1742, from Bath Town, he told of bap-tizing
623 children, nine adults and three Negroes in that
section, where he listed 103 communicants and 2,000
"Heathen & Infidels."2
After Garzia died, the Rev. Clement Hall agreed to
settle near Edenton in 1745.3 A native of Perquimans
precinct, he had gone to England for ordination in the
ministry.4 While the Edenton church was being built, he
held services there in the courthouse, at an annual salary
of forty-five pounds.5 For a time perhaps the only clergy-man
in the province, he also conducted services at four
chapels in the territory that now comprises Gates and
Chowan counties and he visited many other parts of the
eastern portion of North Carolina.6
On December 27, 1749, he reported that he had
traveled 200 miles through the northern part of his area
that Fall, baptizing 265 white and twenty black children
and four black adults, besides preaching fourteen ser-mons.
7
Hall wrote May 19, 1752: "I have now thro' God's
gracious assistance and blessing in about 7 or 8 years,
tho' frequently visited with sickness, been enabled to per-form
(for aught I know) as great ministerial duties as
any minister in North America, viz., to journey about
14,000 miles, preach about 675 sermons, baptize about
5,783 white children and 243 black children, 57 white
EAST CAROLINA MISSIONARIES 41
adults and 112 black adults, in all 6,195 persons & some-times
administered the holy sacrament of the Lord's
supper to two or three hundred communicants in one
journey besides churching of women, visiting the sick,
etc."8
In addition to being one of the most capable and devout
ministers in early Carolina, Hall was the first native
North Carolina author. The main writers in this province
that preceded him were not natives, as John Lawson of
Scotland, John Brickell and the Rev. John Thompson of
Ireland.
The first book known to have been compiled by a native
North Carolinian was published for Hall in 1753 by James
Davis at New Bern: "A Collection of many Christian
Experiences, Sentences and several Places of Scripture
Improved; Also some short and plain Directors and
Prayers for sick Persons ; with serious Advice to Persons
who have been Sick, to be by them perused and put in
Practice as soon as they are recovered; and a Thanks-giving
for Recovery. To which is added, Morning and
Evening Prayers for Families and Children, Directors for
the Lord's Day, and some Cautions against Indecencies in
time of Divine Service, &c. Collected and Composed for
the Spiritual Good of his Parishioners, and others. By
Clement Hall, Missionary to the Honourable Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and Rec-tor
of St. Paul's Parish in North Carolina. Newbern:
Printed by James Davis MDCCLIII."9
In 1755 Hall lost his house, books and personal property
by fire. He died in 1759.10 Succeeding him was "Parson"
Daniel Earl, youngest son of an Irish nobleman and a
former officer in the British army, who had come to the
Albemarle section in 1757 to act as curate for the Rev.
Mr. Hall. Besides his religious and political activities,
he taught his people how to cultivate and weave flax and
he established at his home, "Bandon," named for his
native town, the first classical school for boys in North
Carolina.11
About the time that Hall went to Edenton, James Moir
was at Brunswick.12 In 1748 Christopher Bevis asked the
42 CROWN OF LIFE .
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to appoint him
as Moir's successor in the Cape Fear territory.13 Moir
had moved to Edgecombe parish.14
The method of electing vestrymen being regarded as
"inconvenient and detrimental," it was decreed in 1751
that vestrymen should be elected by ballot in the same
manner as Assemblymen. Only citizens qualified as
Assemblymen were considered eligible for vestries. 15
A bill to establish the church and erect schools offered
in 1752 failed. 16 Two years later, however, North Caro-lina
was divided into twenty-four parishes. Among these
parishes were Christ Church parish, Craven County; St.
Thomas in Beaufort County; St. Matthew's, Orange
County; St. George, Hyde County; St. John's, Onslow;
St. James, New Hanover; St. Patrick's, Johnston; St.
John's, Carteret ; and St. Philip, Brunswick.17
The first minister for St. Philip's church at Brunswick
had been the Rev. Mr. LaPierre, a French Huguenot,18
ordained in 1707, 1!) who had come to America the next
year and to this province from Charleston in 1729.20 The
first wooden chapel, 24 by 16 feet, was erected there the
next year. The next church there was started in 1751
and was near enough completion for dedication in 1768.
It is now in ruins. Colonial Dames of America make
annual pilgrimages there.21
Obliged to sell his belongings, Mr. LaPierre is said to
have moved from Brunswick to New Bern in 1735 and to
have remained here until his death here in 1755.22
Although he is not listed as a regular rector of Christ
Church, it is probable that he held services here and
assisted with church and religious affairs in general. The
General Assembly, in session here in 1749, voted him four
pounds for preaching "several sermons" before that
body.23
i Col. Rec, IV, 560.
2 Ibid., 604-5.
3 Ibid., 752-53.
4 Cheshire, Sketches, 70. Graham, op. cit., 8.
5 Col. Rec, IV, 753.
6 Ibid., 924.
T Ibid., 925.
8 Ibid., 1315.
EAST CAROLINA MISSIONARIES 43
9 Copied from old copy of the volume.
10 Cheshire, 71.
il Ibid., 74-75, 168-69. Graham, 9-10.
12 Col. Rec, IV, 606.
13 Ibid., 876-77.
14 Ibid., 872.
15 St. Rec, XXIII, 369-70.
16 Col. Rec, IV, 1337.
17 St. Rec, XXV, 298.
is Col. Rec, III, 342.
19 Ibid., 529.
20 Ibid., 391.
21 Ibid., IV, 754-56, 1299; VII, 789. St. Rec, XXIII, 368.
22 Cheshire, op. cit., 69.
23 Col. Rec, IV, 1024.
XSI
GIFTS FROM KING GEORGE
After the church in New Bern had been completed
about the year 1750, Christ Church vestrymen tried to
get a rector. Their efforts along this line failed at first, as
there were few ministers in the New World. So, in 1752,
they wrote to England, probably to the Bishop of London,
asking aid in their endeavor to obtain a regular rector. 1
Even before the arrival of the rector that this appeal
drew here, it was perhaps in response to this letter, with
its news of the new local church, that King George II had
a special silver communion service made for the parish in
1752 and sent it to New Bern as a royal gift, presented
through John Council Bryan, then a church warden.
This service, still in use here and from time to time put
on public display, bears the Royal Arms of Great Britain
and four Hall Marks, in a shield : the initials, M. F., for
the manufacturer, Mordecai Fox of England ; the letter
"R" denoting "Rex" or King by whom the plate was
evidently ordered ; a Lion, "passant gardant." guaran-teeing
that the silver was of the standard required by
law; and a leopard's head crowned, showing that the
plate was hall marked at the London government office.
A similar communion set, also made by Fox, was pre-sented
to the Old South Church, Boston, in 1742, with
books, vestments and linen for the church altar. An alms
basin, made also by the same manufacturer in 1760, is
owned by Trinity Church, New York.
Royal Governor Josiah Martin is reported to have tried
to take the local silver with him when he fled from New
Bern in May, 1775, but was prevented from doing so.
During the War Between the States the Rev. A. A. Wat-son,
local rector, took the service to Wilmington for safe
keeping. Afterwards it was moved to Fayetteville and
placed in the care of Dr. Joseph Huske, grandfather of a
later local rector. It is said to have been overlooked there
GIFTS FROM KING GEORGE 45
by the Federal troops, because it was hidden among a
great deal of worthless rubbish in a closet.
As was the custom in such presentations, according to
the late Graham Daves, secretary of this parish, who
investigated the Royal gifts during a visit to London in
1896, the ancient Bible and Book of Common Prayer still
in the possession of the local church were presented to the
parish by King George II at the same time as the silver. 2
The Bible is 20 Y> inches long, 13 14 inches wide and
41/4 inches thick. The initials, "G. R. E.," are found three
times on the back, under the crown, standing for "George,
Rex, England." On the front is the Royal coat of arms,
with the mottoes, "Dieu Et Mon Droit," (God and my
right) and "Honi Soit Qui Mai Pense," (Evil be to him
who evil thinks.) The volume is elaborately illustrated.
On the first page is the following in large print: "The
Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New
Newly Tranflated Out of the Original Tongues and with
the former Translations Diligently Compared and Revifed
By His Majefty's Special Command. Appointed to be
read in Churches."
Under an ornamental engraving is the information that
the book was printed at Oxford: "Printed by John
Baskett, Printer to the King's Moft Excellent Majefty,
for Great Britain; and to the University. MDCCXVII."
(1717.)
As a heading for the scriptures is the following dedi-cation
: "To the Moft High and Mighty Prince James, By
the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. The Transflations
of the Bible, with Grace, Mercy and Peace through Jefus
Chrift Our Lord."
The large Prayer Book also contains on its covers, in
gilt, the coat of arms of Great Britain. Upon the back,
surmounted by a crown, are the monogram letters,
"G. R. E." It was published at Cambridge in 1752 by
Joseph Bentham, "Printer to the University."
Its first page has this statement: "The Book of Com-mon
Prayer and Adminiftration of the Sacraments and
other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church According to
46 CROWN OF LIFE
the Ufe of The Church of England Together with the
Psalter or Psalms of David Pointed as they are to be
sung or said in Churches ; and the Form or Manner of
Making, Ordaining and Confecrating of Bishops, Priests,
and Deacons."
This Prayer Book was presented to Dr. Richard S.
Mason, later rector, by the vestry on his leaving this
parish in 1828. It was returned a few months after his
death by his wife, at his request. A note in Dr. Mason's
handwriting pasted in the volume says it was to be re-turned
to Christ Church ; and a letter on black-rimmed
stationery, dated June 20, 1874, and signed by Mary
Mason, also gives this information.
Both the Bible and Prayer Book were lent to the Hall
of History at Raleigh for some years, but are now here at
the church.
i St. Rec, XXIII, 420.
2 Much of the information in this chapter as to the history of the
communion service and the Hall Marks are from an unpublished,
typescript article by Graham Daves, pasted in one of the old church
record books.
XIII
THE REV. JAMES REED
FIRST RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH
Two ministers, both exceptionally worthy men, came
from England following the appeal of Christ Church
vestrymen in 1752. The first was the Rev. James Reed,
who became the first regular rector of the parish. Ar-riving
shortly afterwards was the Rev. Alexander
Stewart, who went to Bath.
Evidently Reed had felt certain that he would be en-gaged
here, for he is reported to have brought his family
with him.1 They arrived late in the year 1753. After a
year's trial as clergyman, Reed was formally installed by
Act of the Assembly as the rector of Christ Church
parish.2
Passed at the request of the Christ Church wardens and
vestrymen, the act read in part that the "Rev. James
Reed at great Charges and Expence, transported himself
from England hither and hath performed Divine Services
at the said church and at the several chappels within the
said parish One year and upwards, to the approbation of
the parish."
The minister was promised an annual salary of 133
pounds, six shillings and eight pence, proclamation money,
so must have been considered an exceptionally fine pastor.
He was assured a good glebe house, with kitchen, the
"lot to be well and sufficiently paled in."3
For his part of the contract, which was confirmed by
Governor Arthur Dobbs, Reed agreed to hold services at
Christ Church every Sunday except when he was on
leave at the chapels in this vicinity. He was to visit each
chapel three times a year.4
This Assembly Act, passed in January, 1755,5 confirmed
the agreement that the church wardens and vestry had
previously made with Reed. It was introduced by John
Fonveille, Craven County's Representative, and Solomon
48 CROWN OF LIFE
Rew,c Assemblyman from the Borough Town of New
Bern, who died the next Fall.7
On December 18, 1754, the House of Commons, in
session at New Bern, passed a resolution naming Samuel
Swann and John Starkey, both of Onslow County, to wait
on Reed and thank him for the sermon he had delivered
before the House members on Sunday, December 15.8
That he made a favorable impression is evidenced by
the fact that he served as Chaplain of the Assembly in
January, 1755, being paid ten pounds for this service.9
He was specifically exempted from clergy acts. 10
Again the following October, at New Bern, Starkey and
James Carter of Rowan County were requested to return
the thanks of the House to Reed for the sermon he had
preached to the Assemblymen on the preceding Wednes-day.
11
Many times he served as the Assembly Chaplain, so
must have been a devout minister and eloquent speaker.
In March, 1757,12 he was paid ten pounds for his services
during the Assembly session, according to Colonial
Records. He served also as House Chaplain in May,
1757 ;
13 and again in April, 1760, when the House met
daily at nine o'clock in the morning for religious
services. 14
Eight chapels at remote points, besides Christ Church
in New Bern and St. John's parish church in Carteret
County, were served by Mr. Reed. 1 '"
3 In 1758 he was en-rolled
as a regular missionary of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, but due to
miscarriage of mail he did not learn definitely of his
appointment until 1760.16
On March 5, 1760, he wrote the S. P. G. Secretary to
thank him for the appointment and the organization's
instructions, as well as for a "parcel of books" and "pious
tracts." He promised to distribute the pamphlets and
said that one had already brought good results in en-couraging
church members to attend Holy Communion
services here more regularly.17
Terming the S. P. G. aid "a great encouragement to
perseverance in the faithful discharge of my ministerial
Oo
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THE REV. JAMES REED 49
duty," the rector pledged himself to endeavor to answer
their expectations "to the utmost of my abilities that the
society may never have occasion to repent of their ap-pointment,
nor our worthy Governor of his recommen-dation."
18
Other ministers also preached at the new church in
New Bern. On December 27, 1755, the Rev. Michael
Smith,19 of Johnston County, later of St. James, New
Hanover County, delivered a sermon there for the Ancient
and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons.
At the request of members, his sermon was printed here
in 1756 by James Davis. In October, 1756, a sermon Mr.
Smith preached before the House during a General As-sembly
session here was ordered printed.20
i Cheshire, Sketches, 74.
2 St. Rec, XXIII, 420-21.
sibid.
Ubid.
5 Col. Rec, V, 310.
GIbid., 270.
'Ibid., 522.
» Ibid., 241.
9 Ibid., 307.
10 Ibid., 1080.
ii Ibid., 550.
12 Ibid., 688.
IB ibid., 845.
14 Ibid., VI, 366.
15 Ibid., 230.
16 Ibid.. 231.
nibid.
IS Ibid.
wibid., V, 961-62.
20 ibid., 665, 696.
XIV
ROYAL GOVERNOR ARTHUR DOBBS
When Arthur Dobbs, of Castle Dobbs, Ireland, author
of scientific and other books, High Sheriff of County
Antrim, Surveyor General of Ireland, and Member of the
Irish Parliament for Carrickfergus,1 was appointed Royal
Governor of North Carolina, he was instructed June 17,
1754, by the Lords of Trade to the King to "take especial
care God Almighty be . . . served . . . the Book of Com-mon
Prayer as by law established read each Sunday and
holiday," and Communion administered according to the
Church of England.2
Churches were to be kept open, and more churches and
rectories should be built, the new Governor was told.
Ministers were to obtain certificates from the Bishop of
London ; and every orthodox rector was to be a member of
the vestry in his parish.3 No schoolmaster was to serve
without a license from the Governor and the Bishop of
London.4
Dobbs endeavored to carry out these directions, but
that he was confronted by a difficult task is borne out by
what the Rev. Mr. Fontaine wrote about North Carolina
in 1754: "They have no established laws, and very little
of the gospel, in that whole colony." 5
In January, 1755, after two months in his gubernatorial
capacity, Dobbs wrote: "What I have chiefly observed
since I came here as to the wants & Defects of this
Province is first the want of a sufficient Number of
Clergymen to instil good principals and Morality into the
Inhabitants, & proper Schoolmasters to instruct their
Youth, the want of which occasion an Indolence & want of
attention to their own good."6
The Assembly appropriated 7,200 pounds for the pur-chase
of glebes and 2,000 pounds for the purchase of
public buildings, subject to the King's approval; but,
ROYAL GOVERNOR ARTHUR DOBBS 51
though His Majesty later sanctioned the appropriations,
the money was used instead for aiding the British during
the French and Indian wars. Repeated requests were
made for the return of these sums for their original
purpose.7
A day of solemn fasting and war prayers was set aside
by Governor Dobbs in April, 1757.8 By another proclama-tion,
June 7, 1758, was designated as a time for fasting,
supplication and thanksgiving.9 To celebrate victory, he
issued another formal proclamation for a thanksgiving
day during the Fall of 1759, he wrote William Pitt in Eng-land,
and he even composed a special thanksgiving hymn
to be sung through the province.10
During November, 1757, he again suggested amend-ments
for the bill providing for an established clergy.11
Church laws had been evaded in some counties by citizens
combining to elect vestrymen who they knew would not
serve. To Dobbs it seemed better to put a general tax on
all taxable persons in the entire province and pay the
clergy directly out of that sum in the public treasury,
using any surplus for the erection of church buildings.12
A year later, in November, 1758, his main recommenda-tion
to the Assembly again was for a better law to main-tain
the clergy. 13 He urged that ministers' salaries be
fixed and vestries better regulated so that future vestry-men
would not have the right to reduce the salaries and
supplies of their rectors. It was also suggested that
vestrymen be carefully chosen and then obliged to qualify
and act.
"I must also recommend to you the erecting proper
schools in the Province for the education of youth, in the
reformed Protestant Religion, and in moral religious
principles," he wrote, "otherwise in the next age we shall
have a succession of Infidels, Deists, Enthusiasts and
Sectaries to the disgrace of our Holy Religion and
destruction of Society." 14
Accordingly, measures for better provision of the
clergy and selection of vestries were passed in 1758.
52 CROWN OF LIFE
Every minister in the province was to be allowed an an-nual
salary of 100 pounds, proclamation money, also a
"glebe with a mansion house, outhouses and other con-veniences,"
or, if no house, twenty more pounds. It was
set forth that this should not conflict with Mr. Reed's
contract.15
Although later repealed and included in a more compre-hensive
law of 1762, the new provisions were the best
for the clergy in provincial history up to that time, the
General Assembly reported to the King:
"And more we should have gladly done; but alas, Sir,
the Country is so impoverished in its circumstances
through granting repeated Aids to your Majesty for
making the same defensible and in carrying on Expe-ditions
. . . against the French and their Indian Allies,
that we cannot give sufficient encouragement to the
Clergy, nor Erect proper Schools for the Education of
our Youth. Permit us, therefore, most earnestly to
intreat your Majesty to order and direct that the pro-portion
of the said sum which shall be allotted to this
Country be laid out ... in purchasing a Glebe for each
parish in this province . . . and erecting and establishing
a free School in every County."16
In a letter from New Bern, Governor Dobbs reported
to the Board of Trade May 18, 1759, that he had approved
bills for a lottery to finish churches at Wilmington and
Brunswick, as similar bills had been passed in a number
of provinces and it had seemed impossible to get the
vestries to levy taxes to complete the two churches.17 A
bill passed in December, 1760, applied proceeds from
slaves and other effects taken from Spaniards at Cape
Fear in 1748 towards finishing the two houses of wor-ship.
18
i Vass, op. cit., 22.
2 Col. Rec, V, 1136.
3 Ibid.
i Ibid., 1137.
^ Ibid., V, v.
6 Ibid., 314.
t Ibid., 527, 1095; VI, 988-89, 1036-37, 1154a-54b. St. Rec, XXIII,
422-24.
8 Col. Rec, V, 755.
ROYAL GOVERNOR ARTHUR DOBBS 53
9 Ibid., 932.
10 ma., VI, 62-64, 65.
ii Ibid., V, 870.
12 ibid., 870, 1014; VI, 5, 223.
i3iMd., V, 1014.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., 1036; VI, 5. St. Rec, XXV, 364.
16 Col. Rec, V, 1095.
n Ibid., VI, 32, 511. St. Rec, XXIII, 535-37.
is St. Rec, XXIII, 535-37.
XV
LARGE PARISH TERRITORY
An Assembly bill in January, 1760, proposing to divide
Christ Church parish, was rejected by the Upper House,1
although "Parson" Reed reported to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts that his terri-tory
was at least a hundred miles long.2 On June 26,
1760, he wrote the S. P. G. Secretary that he could not
ascertain the number of active communicants of the
Church of England, because the county was so large he
was unable to administer Communion at the several
chapels more than once a year.3
"There are too many that can hardly be said to be
members of any particular Christian society," he com-mented,
"and a great number of dissenters of all
denominations from New England, particularly Anabap-tists,
Methodists, Quakers and Presbyterians." About
nine or ten were said to be "Papists." The "Infidels &
Heathen" were said to total about a thousand.4
No Indians were reported, but a great many of the
Negroes were said to be heathen. "I baptize all those
whose masters become sureties for them," he added.5
Erection of a chapel in Carteret County was mentioned,
"built a neat wooden chapel upon Newport River, where
a small, regular congregation constantly attend divine
service, performed by a layman every Sunday."6
Two bishops for the continent, one for the Northern
district and the other for the Southern district, or two
clergymen with Episcopal powers, as well as more regular
rectors, were requested of the Society for the Propa-gation
of the Gospel in a letter written January 22, 1760,
by Governor Dobbs. The society was asked to increase its
missionaries in this province, which was said to have
80,000 white residents besides Negroes,7
"Nor have we but eight resident Clergymen," the
governor observed. "Having only strollers who set up
LARGE PARISH TERRITORY 55
for teachers, without any regular instruction, and many
of them immoral Livers."s
That Mr. Reed had given satisfaction in his parish is
proved by the following recommendation given him
March 3, 1760, by the church vestry:
"We, the subscribers, the church wardens and only
vestrymen at present qualified of Christ Church parish,
which is the whole extent of Craven County, in the pro-vince
of North Carolina, do hereby certify that the Rev.
James Reed hathe served the cure of the sd. parish for
6 years & upwards, that during the sd. time he hath
diligently attended one Parish church & 8 chapels situate
at very great distances from the town of Newbern, the
place of his residence & centre of the Parish.
"That he hath given great satisfaction to his parish-ioners
by a regular and exemplary life and a faithful
discharge of his duty & that there is a perfect harmony
and good agreement subsisting between the sd. Rev. Jas.
Reed & his Parishioners in general, witness our hands
this 3rd. day of March, 1760."9
This recommendation is signed by John Fonvielle,
Will'm. Jonas, church wardens ; James Shine, Thos.
Graves, Lem'l. Hatch, Jacob Blount, vestrymen.
Reed had a comfortable rectory here, as indicated in a
letter written to the S. P. G. Secretary by the Rev. John
MacDowell on April 16, 1761, that New Bern had had an
Assembly Act passed allowing 100 pounds sterling a year
to Reed and that Reed had a parsonage house and all
conveniences.10
But, according to his own word, the local rector did not
get the salary promised locally. Other difficulties are
set forth in a letter he wrote to the S. P. G. on December
27, 1762, from New Bern
:
"The hardships we labor under in this Province are so
great that were it not for the benevolences of the Society,
we could not subsist with the least decency. Every
clergyman that has attempted to settle in this Province
for these 10 years past, upon the sole dependence of the
legal stipend, have been obliged to leave it, and 'tis our
misfortune at Present to have no legal Stipend at all; or
56 CROWN OF LIFE
rather there is no law at present by which any stipend can
be recovered.
"At an Assembly held at New Bern in Nov'r. last a
bill for the encouragement of an Orthodox Clergy and a
bill for the establishment of Vestries were presented to
his Excellency the Governor for his assent, the latter of
which was rejected on account of some exceptional
Clauses, and as the 2 bills depended on each other in such
a manner, that the one cannot operate without the other,
we are therefore at present without any legal encourage-ment.
"Very probably something may be done in our favor
at the next Assembly, especially if it should please God to
prolong the life of our praiseworthy Gov'r. But we can-not
expect his abode with us much longer, for he is far
advanced in years and has lately had a slight stroke of
the Palsy; so that I every day expect to hear the dis-agreeable
news of his death, in whom the clergy will lose
a faithful friend, and the Christian Religion an able
advocate."11
The following June 26 Reed wrote the Secretary that
the clergy were still destitute of any legal provision or
encouragement and had nothing to live on but the
benevolences of the Society. Evidently the local parish
paid him very little, and for long periods of time must
have paid him nothing.
"I have not received any stipend at all from my Parish
for upwards of 14 months," he wrote, "nor have I the
least expectation of receiving one shilling till some Vestry
Law be enacted, for as long as there is no vestry Law no
tax can be levied for the clergy's Stipend & tho' the
Sheriffs have now a whole year's collection in their hands
yet as there is no vestry to call them to account they do
not choose to part with the money on any terms or
security whatsoever, the misfortune is they too often
stand in need of it themselves. For the generality of the
Sheriffs are very extravagant, to say no more . . .
"The Assembly is to meet I believe about Oct'r. next
when our Governor will endeavor if possible to get a
better vestry Law enacted than any of the former ones,
LARGE PARISH TERRITORY 57
that have been repealed. It would be much better for
the Clergy, than it has been, if the Stipend were paid out
of the public treasury as in So. Carolina . . .
"The churchwardens used to send us to the Sheriffs,
and the Sheriffs to send us back again to the church-wardens.
It is not long ago since I had the misfortune to
be sent backwards and forward & played off in this
manner for 12 months successively."12
i Col. Rec, VI, 172.
2 Ibid., 595.
3 Ibid., 265.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid., 265-66.
1 1bid., 222-23.
8 Ibid., 223.
9 Ibid., 230.
io Ibid., VI, 554.
ii Ibid., 745.
12 Ibid., 990.
XVI
NUMEROUS CHURCH BILLS
So many church bills were introduced in the General
Assembly during the Colonial period, many of them being
passed but later repealed or vetoed, that it is extremely
difficult to keep up with their provisions from time to
time.
Alex Stewart, missionary at Bath, reported May 20,
1760, that in the six years he had resided in the province
four different acts had been passed by the Assembly for
electing vestries and encouraging an orthodox clergy. The
last one had met the fate of most of the others, he said,
through repeal in England.1
Governor Dobbs, as Parson Reed said, worked dili-gently
in behalf of the established church and its clergy-men
; but for various reasons, here and abroad, it seemed
impossible to get definite action that would last
permanently.
The Assembly tried to re-enact the Vestry bill repealed
by the King, taking the nomination of ministers from the
Crown, the Governor reported January 22, 1760, but the
assemblymen had been too busy with other matters, so
established a Vestry law for one year to retain the tax
for maintaining clergy pursuant to the last act, which
settled 100 pounds per annum on clergy, with 20 pounds
in lieu of glebe. At the next session, he remarked, it was
hoped to establish a general fund to pay the rectors direct
from the provincial treasury, as in South Carolina.2
Church wardens were instructed in 1760 to appear
annually at the orphans' court to present the names of
orphans without guardians or apprenticeships and to
report abuses of guardians. Justices and wardens failing
to do their duty along this line were liable to fines of ten
pounds.3
Mr. Reed's contract exempted him from the act
establishing vestries passed by the Assembly May 23,
1760. This permitted all parishes to elect their own
NUMEROUS CHURCH BILLS 59
vestries, but since it depended on the general vestry act,
it was not considered valid, and later was repealed by the
King.4 This question as to whether the King or the
colonists could select and remove rectors was one of the
pre-Revolutionary controversies between Americans and
their Mother Country.5
The Bishop of London explained that one primary ob-jection
to the 1760 act was that it did not require
vestrymen to say that they continued to be faithful to
the Church of England. He recommended a stronger
declaration that they would conform to the church liturgy.
Objection was also raised to the bill's provision of
punishing immoral ministers in temporal courts. The
Bishop also declared that the clergy were not provided for
properly, being made dependent on vestries. And again
repeated was the 1759 declaration that the "whole right
of patronage is undoubtedly in the Crown, but the Act
takes away right and gives it to vestrymen."6
Still another of the many orthodox clergy bills was
passed by the Assembly in 1762. Mention was also made
therein that it was not to conflict with Reed's agreement.
It was likely repealed by proclamation, because of pro-visions
opposed by the Governor and other British
authorities.7
Under this measure, ministers were to be engaged by
vestries, at salaries of 133 pounds, six shillings and eight
pence, the same amount as Mr. Reed's salary, besides
their regular fees. If believed guilty of immorality or
crime, they could be removed by the governor, with the
consent of a majority of his council members. All had to
have certificates from the Bishop of London, "ordained
conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church
of England, and is of a good Life and Conversation."
For marrying a couple by license, a clergyman was to
be paid twenty shillings; for marrying by banns, five
shillings. The remuneration for a funeral sermon was
set at forty shillings. If these rites were conducted by
other persons, the regular rectors were nevertheless per-mitted
to demand and receive the fees.
60 CROWN OF LIFE
Vestrymen were privileged to purchase glebe lands, and
erect thereon a "convenient mansion-house, 38 x 18, with
kitchen, barn, stable, dairy and meat house." If no house
was provided for a rectory, the minister was to receive
twenty additional pounds a year.
The Bishop of London wrote May 3, 1762, referring to
the general confusion of so many Assembly laws passed
and repealed, to remind the colonists that, "All statutes
made in England for the establishment of the Church
shall be in force under the law in North Carolina."8
i Col. Rec, VI, 242.
2 Ibid., 223.
3 Ibid., 395. St. Rec, XXV, 415-22.
4 Col. Rec, VI, xxxi, 395. St. Rec, XXV, 430-32.
5 Col. Rec, VII, 152; IX, 81-84.
6 Ibid., VI, 714-16.
7 Ibid., V, pp. xxxi-xxxii. St. Rec, XXIII, 583-85.
8 Col. Rec, VI, 716.
XVII
FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL
Despite the fact that Parson Reed was not paid regu-larly
and encountered numerous handicaps in his local
work, he undertook many more activities than called for
in his contract. Chief among his outside interests were
his efforts in behalf of education, resulting here impor-tantly
in the opening of North Carolina's first incorporated
school.
As early as December, 1762, the House thanked him for
the sermon at the beginning of the Assembly session,
"Recommending the Establishing Public Schools for the
Education of Youth." He was requested to furnish "the
Printer with a copy thereof, that the same might be
printed and dispersed in the several counties within this
Province." 1
Only slight encouragement had previously been given
to public education. Children of the privileged classes
were taught by private tutors or at private schools. Some
studied in Northern States or in England. But poorer
boys and girls had to learn as best they could, or not at
all. Trade apprentices were sometimes taught the three
R's by their masters. Charles Griffin, Church of England
lay reader, who opened a school in 1705 in Pasquotank
County, is believed to have been the first teacher to come
to North Carolina. 2
In 1749 John Starkey had introduced a bill for a free
school.3 In 1754 the sum of 6,000 pounds was authorized
for schools, but was diverted for military purposes. Other
funds appropriated were disallowed in England.4
The Assembly in 1758 asked King George that part of
the sum be provided by the Crown for schools and
churches, in return for Colonial war aid, but objections
were raised up to 1763. Merchants are reported to have
opposed use of public money for such purposes.5
Governor Dobbs frequently urged the need of better
schools and more schoolmasters in the province.6 On
62 CROWN OF LIFE
'
March 30, 1762, he wrote the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel that the number of clergy had been dimin-ished
and that the inhabitants were more "dissolute and
idle for want of clergy and school, there being not even
a Parish Clerk in the Province to serve as a Schoolmaster
or Reader." 7 For almost 30 parishes in the province, he
pointed out, there were only seven clergymen, including
one who did little.8
Largely due to Mr. Reed's influence, a school was opened
here January 1, 1764, with Thomas Tomlinson as school-master.
9 The General Assembly on March 9 ratified an
"Act for building a schoolhouse and schoolmaster's
residence in New Bern." 10 Reed, John Williams, Joseph
Leech, Thomas Clifford Howe, Thomas Haslen, Richard
Cogdell and Richard Fenner were named as the first
trustees. 11
As "Missionary in Craven County," Mr. Reed reported
on local church and school matters in general to the
S. P. G. Secretary June 21. 12 First he told of the passage
of a Vestry Act by the Assembly, with the aid and in-fluence
of "our worthy Governor to whom the clergy in
this Province can never sufficiently express their grati-tude."
Under this act vestries could levy taxes of ten
shillings for building churches, maintaining the poor,
paying church readers and encouraging schools.
Then he reported on the receipt of books and tracts on
various occasions, commenting, "For tho' the heat of the
Methodists be considerably abated, yet the distribution of
such tracts will be of great service."
About the school he wrote: "We have now a prospect
of a very flourishing school in the town of New Bern &
which indeed has been greatly wanting for several years
past, in Dec'r. last Mr. Tomlinson, a young man, who had
kept a school in the County of Cumberland in England,
came here by the invitation of his brother, an inhabitant
of the Parish.
"On the 1st of Jan'y. he opened a school in this Town
& immediately got as many scholars as he could instruct
and many more have lately offered than he can possibly
take to do them justice, he has therefore wrote to his
FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL 63
friends in England to send him an assistant (Mr. Parrot)
and a subscription for a school house has been lately
carried on, with such success, that I have got notes on
hand payable to myself for upwards of 200 pounds this
currency (Equal to about 110 pounds Sterling) to build
a large commodious School House in New Bern & which
I shall endeavor to get completed as soon as possible, for
during 11 years Residence in this Province I have not
found any man so well qualified for the care of a school as
Mr. Tomlinson. He is not only a good scholar, but a man
of good conduct, has given satisfaction to the parents of
such children as are under his care, and will be of infinite
service to the rising generation . . .
"I have rode my long circuit twice with great satisfac-tion.
My congregations have been greatly crowded. My
number of communicants increased and the return of
my health made my duty not only easy but a real
pleasure ! I have likewise taken care of St. John's Parish
(in Carteret County) , which sickness would not permit me
to do last autumn & have visited it twice—once at the
court house where I baptised 24 children, again at a
private house where I baptised 11 children; and again at
the chapel upon Newport River where I baptised 14 chil-dren
and administered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
to 36 communicants."13
i Col. Rec, VI, 955.
2 Johnson, Guion Griffis, Ante-Bellum North Carolina, p. 18.
3 Col. Rec, IV, 977, 990, 994.
^ Ibid., V, xxv; VI, 5, 1006.
5 Ibid., V, xxv, 1095; VI, 3.
GIbid., V, 1014; VI, 116, 219, 449-50, 473, 839, 841, 1026, 1091, 1219.
7 Ibid., VI, 709.
sibid., 710.
9 Ibid., 1048.
io Ibid., 1145.
ii St. Rec, XXV, 484-85.
12 Col. Rec, VI, 1047-48.
13 Ibid.
XVIII
OTHER SERVICES OF "PARSON" REED
A voluminous letter writer, particularly in reporting to
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, the Rev. Mr. Reed's missives furnish today much
information about the church, school and other progress
during his era. He played a prominent Colonial role in
many fields of service.
Reed was one of four clergymen in the province praised
in 1764 by Governor Dobbs, who wrote the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel that there were only six clergy-men
in the province, four of whom performed their duty
diligently—those at Edenton, Bath, Halifax and New
Bern.1
The North Carolina Magazine or Universal Intelli-gencer,
published by James Davis at New Bern, carried an
advertisement in August, 1764, in the form of a "Notice
to the Freeholders of Chrift Church Parifh, Craven
County."2
This notice stated that the subscriber, Richard Cogdell,
sheriff, would open polls at the courthouse for election of
vestrymen of the parish and there would be a fine of 20
shillings on every freeholder in the parish who failed to
attend and vote.
At that time and place, it was also stated, subscribers
to the schoolhouse fund were requested to elect two com-missioners
and a treasurer to direct and superintend the
building of the school.
All persons having bills against the parish and all owing
money to the parish were asked to be at the church
October 4 for settlement of accounts.
Jacob Blount and James Davis, as church wardens,
advertised in the latter's newspaper that on Thursday,
January 3, 1765, pews in Christ Church would be rented
to the highest bidders, for one year, by order of the
vestry.3
OTHER SERVICES OF "PARSON" REED 65
Accounts of the visit of the Methodist divine, the Rev.
Mr. Whitefield, are contained in Mr. Reed's correspond-ence.
The local rector wrote December 21, 1764, that the
preacher had arrived here Saturday, November 17, while
en route from the North to South Carolina and Georgia.4
At the request of local persons, Reed reported, White-field
preached the next morning, Sunday, to a "very
numerous Congregation. That afternoon he continued on
his journey." At the time Reed said he was at a chapel
35 miles from New Bern.
Whitefield complained here of asthma, though he was
fat and looked well, the New Bernian wrote. But, because
of the asthma, he was said to preach seldom and never to
read prayers at the same time. New Bern was the only
place in which he preached in this province, Reed added,
or "probably anywhere south of New York."
Reed then added his opinion, "I think his discourse has
been of some real service here." Whitefield recommended
infant baptism, he remarked, and declared himself to be
a member and a minister of the Church of England.
From New Brunswick Whitefield wrote, "At New Bern,
last Sunday, good impressions were made. The desire of
the people in the section to hear the gospel makes me
almost determined to come back early in the Spring."
He did return the next Spring, on his way back North
stopping over in New Bern and preaching here on Thurs-day
evening of Passion Week in 1765 and also on Easter
Sunday at Christ Church.5
Mr. Reed cooperated not only with Governor Dobbs but
also with the latter's successor, William Tryon. Due to
Governor Dobbs' advancing age and failing health, King
George III of England, who had ascended the throne in
1760 upon the death of his grandfather, King George II,
commissioned Tryon as Lieutenant-Governor of North
Carolina on April 26, 1764.6
Tryon was 35 years of age, a member of an English
family of high standing. On October 10 he arrived in the
colony, at Cape Fear.7 Three days after the death of
Governor Dobbs, he assumed temporary control of the
provincial government, on March 31, 1765.8 His com-
66 CROWN OF LIFE
mission as governor arrived later and was officially opened
before the Council on December 20.9
Not only loyal to the Crown but also zealous for the
established church, Governor Tryon soon recommended
passage of an Assembly bill for a better provision for an
orthodox clergy.10 Passed in May, 1765,u this re-enacted
the repealed 1762 bill, with omission of the former dis-approved
features.12
The stipend for the clergy was fixed at 133.6.3, with
shorter and easier methods provided for their recovery by
law. Certain fees were set for marriage ceremonies and
funeral sermons. Vestrymen retained the right to tax
and pay salaries, and were supposed to supply their
rectors with glebes of 200 acres of good land and a
residence, or pay 20 pounds a year more if no rectory was
provided.
The right of presentation or selection of ministers of
the established church was granted to the Crown, through
the Governor, thus relieving rectors from the so-called
"insolence and tyranny of vestries." 13 The Governor and
his Council were given authority to suspend clergymen
deemed guilty of gross crime or notorious immorality.
Their suspension was revocable by the Bishop of London.
Although confirmed and ratified by the King, on the
advice of his Privy Council, this act was easier to pass
this time than to enforce. In some counties residents
refused to receive the clergymen sent by the governor.
Some men elected vestrymen would not qualify or act.14
Later the measure was amended in 1766 so that the salary
of a suspended minister, or part of it, might be paid to
his substitute.15
Under the act, Tryon officially commissioned Reed as
rector of Christ Church, where he had already been
serving for almost 12 years. An original manuscript of
this commission is now on file in the New York Historical
Society Library in New York City, among the papers
collected by the late Dr. Francis L. Hawks, whose grand-father,
John Hawks, had signed the document as a wit-ness.
It reads as follows
:
OTHER SERVICES OF "PARSON" REED 67
"To all, to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting.
"Know ye, that I, William Tryon, Esquire, Lieutenant-
Governor and Commander in Chief in, and over, the
Province of North Carolina, and by virtue of His Majesty's
Commission true and undoubted patron of the Rectory,
Benefice or Parish of Christ Church in the County of
Craven, in the Province aforesaid, and Diocese of London
;
for divers good Causes and Considerations, me thereunto
moving, have empowered, and by these Presents do em-power,
Thomas Clifford Howe, Esquire, of said Craven
County and Province aforesaid, to induct The Reverend
James Reed, Clerk, A. B., into the Rectory, Benefice or
Parish, of Christ Church, in said County, Province and
Diocese of London.
"In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my Hand
and Caused the Great Seal of the said province to be
affixed at Brunswick this second day of September in the
year of our Lord 1765 and in the Fifth Year of His
Majesty's Reign.
"William Tryon. (Seal)
"By His Honour's Command
Fount'n Elwin, p. Sec.
"Inducted September the 10th, 1765, by me.
(Test) "Thomas. C. Howe."
Jno. Rice
John Hawks
i Col. Rec, VI, 1039.
2 Photostat copies of this newspaper in the archives of the North
Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, N, C.
3 Ibid.
4 Col. Rec, VI, 1060-61.
5 Col. Rec, VII, 97, 104.
6 Ibid., VI, 1043-44.
7 Ibid., 1053-54.
8 Ibid., 1320.
9 Ibid., VII, 159-160.
10 Ibid., 42.
ii St. Rec, XXIII, 660-62.
12 Col. Rec, VII, 150-153, 158; VIII, xliii.
13 Ibid., VII, 97.
14 Ibid., VIII, xliii.
is Ibid., VII, 891-92, 920; VIII, xliv. St. Rec, XXIII, 759.
XIX
CHURCH AND SCHOOL
On May 16, 1765, James Reed and 39 other prominent
residents of New Bern and the vicinity reported to
Governor Tryon that the money subscribed for establish-ment
of a school at New Bern had been partly spent for
materials for a school building and that they desired
Thomas Tomlinson, the instructor, to have more pupils
and be able to procure an assistant.1
Governor Tryon was requested to ask the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel to allow a yearly salary for
Tomlinson. The schoolmaster, 31 years of age2 when he
had arrived here in December, 1763, was said to be en-deavoring
to teach the children "in such branches of use-ful
learning as are necessary in several of the offices or
stations in life, and imprint on their tender minds the
principles of the Christian religion agreeable to the
establishment of the Church of England."3
This petition was signed by the following men: James
Reed, Missionary, Thomas Clifford Howe, Samuel Cornell,
John Williams, Richard Cogdell, Richard Caswell, James
Davis, Peter Conway, John Clitherall, Jacob Blount,
Richd. Ellis, Francis Macilwean, Alexdr. Gaston, Phil.
Ambrose, Jacob Sheppard, Jos. Jones, John Daly, Will.
Euen, Timo. Cleary, Jno. Pindar, Pat. Gordon, John
Franck, Tho. Pollock, Bernard Parkinson, Wm. Wilton,
Christ. Neale, Thos. Sitgreaves, Corn. Groenendyke, Jno.
Green, John Fonville, Longfield Cox, Jno. Smith, Cullen
Pollock, Richd. Fenner, Amb. Cox Bayley, Andr. Scott,
Andr. Stewart, Eliu Cotting, Jno. Moore, Alex. Eagles.
Reed reported that collections of school pledges were
slow.4 On July 10 there were 30 pupils, at 20 shillings
proclamation money per quarter.5 But, much of this was
not paid. And it was not sufficient to operate the school
efficiently. Hence, aid was desired from the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
CHURCH AND SCHOOL 69
Tryon wrote for this financial supplement,6 and it was
pledged by the Society.7 He reported July 31 that there
were only five clergymen then in the province, for 32
parishes. Four S. P. G. missionaries were listed: Reed,
in Craven County; Earl, near Edenton in Chowan;
Stewart, at Bath in Beaufort County; and Moir, an
itinerant missionary.8
As to Reed, the Governor added he had seen "much of
him at the General Assembly held at New Bern. I really
esteem him a man of great worth9
. ... I pledged my
endeavors to get decent clergymen,"10 and also to ask
more aid from the Society.11
Referring to the condition of the churches, Tryon said
that the church at New Bern was "in good repair;" at
Wilmington there were "walls only ;" at Brunswick "only
outside walls built and roofed." The Bath church was
said to be "wanting considerable repairs," and Edenton,
"wanting as much." Chapels were reported to have been
established in every county, "served by a Reader where
no clergyman can be procured."12 Only one complete
glebe house, with full glebe lands, was said then to be in
the colony, "at Bath and nowhere else." 13
That Summer Reed contracted a severe attack of yellow
fever.14 During his illness Tomlinson likely acted as his
substitute in holding services at Christ Church.15
Mr. Reed wrote the Society January 14, 1766: "We
have suffered the most intense heat during the last sum-mer
that ever was known in the memory of man and
about the middle of August I was seized with the yellow
fever," an "exceeding violent" attack, "but soon over,"
though it left him permanently deaf.16
The Rev. Mr. Stewart had been brought to New Bern
in a horse litter during December, having lost the use of
his limbs from rheumatism, and was under the care of a
physician, Reed reported. He commented also, "though
people here are peaceable and quiet, yet they seem very
uneasy, discontented and dejected." 17
His illness over, Reed renewed his efforts for the local
school, and on July 20 wrote to the S. P. G. : "Schoolhouse
is at length enclosed . . . Large and decent Edifice for
70 CROWN OF LIFE
such a Young Country—forty-five feet in length, thirty
in breadth, and has already cost upwards of 300 pounds
this currency."18
All subscriptions had been expended, he said
:
"I have preached and begged in its behalf, until the
suppliant is entirely weary and charity cold." The floors
had not been laid, and the chimneys had not been built.
"I have therefore sent a Bill of Exchange for my last half
year's salary to New York to purchase Bricks for the
Chimneys and intend at the next session of Assembly . . .
in November to recommend the undertaking from the
pulpit . . .
" 'Twould give me great satisfaction to see a little
flourishing Academy in this place. I have this affair much
at heart, and the difficulties I have met with have given
me much uneasiness. Mr. Tomlinson received a small
additional stipend last Easter Monday. The vestry then
agreed to pay him twelve pounds per annum for attending
the church in New Bern at such times as I am obliged to
be absent and attend the several Chapels. I have fur-nished
him with Tillotsons Sermons and the congregation
attends very regularly."19
The minister kept his word, and on December 1, 1766,
the General Assembly incorporated the local school,20 first
to be so chartered in the province21 and second private
secondary school in English America to receive a charter.
Under this charter, the schoolmaster had to be a mem-ber
of the Church of England.22 Upon recommendation
of the trustees, he was required to obtain a license from
the governor.23 The eleven trustees were given authority
to elect other trustees in case of vacancies24 and to dis-miss
schoolmasters without the consent of the Royal
Governor,25 powers to which British representatives later
objected. Thus both school and church furnished some
of the controversies which arose between English rulers
and colonists in those pre-Revolutionary days.
The Rev. Mr. Reed, named one of the school trustees,26
reported that the school building was completed in 1768,
though it was perhaps used even before being finished, on
CHURCH AND SCHOOL 71
the corner site of the present school campus, on New and
Hancock Streets.27
A tax of one penny per gallon levied for seven years on
spirituous liquors imported through Neuse River helped
support the new school, including the teacher's salary of
twenty pounds, or about $100, a year, an assistant's
salary of the same amount, and the tuition of ten poor
children selected by the trustees.28
i Col. Rec, VII, 35-36.
2 Epitaph on his tombstone in Cedar Grove cemetery states that
Tomlinson died September 24, 1802, at age of 70 years.
3 Col. Rec, VII, 35-36.
* Ibid.. 98.
5 Ibid.
eibid., 102-4.
7 Ibid., 458.
siua., 102.
9 Ibid.
io ibid., 103.
ii Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., 99.
i-± Ibid.. 154.
15 Ibid., 241; IX, 305.
16 Ibid., VII, 154.
17 Ibid.
is Ibid., 241.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., 339, 420. St. Rec, XXIII, 678-80.
21 Col. Rec, VII, 432, 458.
22 ibid., 432. St. Rec, XXIII, 679.
23 St. Rec, XXIII, 679.
24 Ibid., 678-80.
25 Col. Rec, VII, 316; IX, 243.
26 Ibid., IX, 242.
27 Ibid., VII, 750. St. Rec, XXIII, 679-80; XXV, 516.
28 Col. Rec, IX, 239. St. Rec, XXIII, 680.
XX
ROYAL GOVERNOR WILLIAM TRYON
As a "staunch churchman,"1 Royal Governor Tryon,
as has been noted, did much to help the established
church. The Rev. Andrew Morton referred to him as
"that amiable and good man, who may be justly called
the Nursing Father of the Church in this Province."2
The Rev. Mr. Moir wrote, "Governor Tryon, though a
soldier, has done more for the settlement of a regular
ministry in this province than both his learned Prede-cessors."
3
Another minister, the Rev. George Micklejohn, later
declared : "We have a governor who rules a willing Peo-ple
with the Indulgent Tenderness of a common parent,
who desires rather to be beloved than feared . . .
defender and friend, the Patron and nursing father of the
Church established amongst us—he is a Religious
Frequenter of its Worship and a steady adherent to its
Interest."4
In February, 1766, Tryon became a member of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, and gave it a handsome cash donation.5 He made
a contribution of forty guineas towards the church being
built at Brunswick.6
However, his religious interests were not confined to
his own denomination. Other faiths also grew stronger
under his rule. Dr. Hugh Williamson, Presbyterian
historian, in his history of North Carolina, wrote, "It was
fortunate for the dissenters that Governor Tryon was not
a bigot."7 Bishop J. B. Cheshire wrote that Governors
Johnston and Dobbs were both zealous churchmen but
that Tryon did much more to advance religion in North
Carolina.8
Thirteen Church of England ministers were in the
province in 1767, a substantial increase over the five that
were here when he arrived. They were listed April 30 of
that year, as follows: 9
ROYAL GOVERNOR WILLIAM TRYON 73
Reed, Christ Church, Craven County; Micklejohn, St.
Matthews, Orange County; Stewart, St. Thomas, Bath;
Morton, St. George, Northampton; Samuel Fiske, St.
John, Pasquotank; Thomas Floyd, Society, Bertie; these
six established by letters of Presentation by the Governor.
Daniel Earl, in charge in Chowan County, who was said
never to have applied for Presentation ; Thomas Burgess,
Edgecombe, Halifax, settled by Act of Assembly; John
Barnett, St. Philip, Brunswick; John Wills, St. James,
New Hanover; James Cosgreve; William Miller, St.
Patrick, Dobbs; and Charles Cupples, St. John, Bute,
"not yet established." 10
These ministers had no easy time. Even Reed, as
already indicated, had dire difficulties. In 1767, when
there were 1,378 white taxables in Craven County,11 the
Rev. Mr. Stewart wrote the Society that Reed would have
"been obliged to desert his parish" had not Mr. Dobbs
induced the Society "to take him on their list . . . The
parish of New Bern, known to be the most beneficial
parish at that time in this province when money was
plenty, on a better footing and punctually paid, was in-sufficient
to support Mr. Reed (a parsimonious saving
man and without children.") 12
Mr. Stewart informed the S. P. G. that the lack of a
currency medium made it impossible for North Carolina
churches to pay proper salaries and that a nominal salary
of 100 pounds sterling was hardly equal to 40 pounds
sterling in South Carolina, Virginia and Northern
provinces.13
But the rectors and missionaries performed valiant
service along many lines. Among the tracts and sermons
published by James Davis at New Bern was one by
Stewart in 1758, entitled, "The Validity of Infant
Baptism."14
A number of additional church acts were passed by
the Assembly during Tryon's administration. In 1766
the previous year's law concerning the orthodox clergy
was amended so that if a minister was considered guilty
of crime or immorality the governor and council might
suspend him until the Bishop of London could review and
74 CROWN OF LIFE
decide the case; and meanwhile the church wardens and
vestry could allow any deserving minister to substitute,
at full or part pay.15
During that same year another act continued for
another five years the bill for vestries passed five years
earlier, permitting freeholders to change vestrymen not
then serving. Any person elected to the vestry and re-fusing
to serve was liable to a fine of three pounds.16
In that year, too, it was made lawful for a Presbyterian
minister to marry a couple by license. 17 But the Church
of England minister was still to get the fee whether or
not he officiated, provided he did not refuse to serve.
Prior to that, no minister except one of the established
church was legally allowed to celebrate the rite of matri-mony.
However, this 1766 act was soon repealed.18
The Vestry Act of 176819 was the last one seeking to
perpetuate the Church of England in North Carolina. It
was limited to five years,20 but was then voted to be con-tinued
for ten years,21 though nullified by the Revolution.
Governor Tryon selected New Bern as the seat of his
provincial government, following a tour of two months
through North Carolina.22 As there was no suitable
government house here, plans were made for the erection
of one.
The General Assembly in November, 1766, passed with
a large majority a bill entitled: "An act for erecting a
convenient building within the town of New Bern for the
residence of the governor, or commander-in-chief for the
time being."23 The Governor approved the measure
December l. 24
Construction of "Tryon's Palace," costing about
$80,000,25 followed, 1767-70, with John Hawks from Eng-land
as the supervising architect.26 The Assembly met
in 1768,27 176928 and 177029 in the new school building at
New Bern, and even used the schoolhouse also in 1771,30
177331 and 1774.32 But, the new Palace was used chiefly
then for Assembly meetings. The governor wrote June
7, 1770, that he had just moved into the edifice, sooner
than he had expected;33 and the first meeting of the
Assembly there was held the next December.34
ROYAL GOVERNOR WILLIAM TRYON 75
Regarded as the most beautiful building in North or
South America,35 this Palace played an important role
during Colonial, Revolutionary and early State history.
i Col. Rec, VIII, xliv.
2 Ibid., VII, 424.
3 Ibid., 145.
Ubid., 519-20.
5 Ibid., 158, 162, 260. Haywood, Marshall DeLancey, Governor
William Tryon and His Administration, p. 28.
6 Col. Rec, VII, 164, 515.
7 Williamson, Hugh, History of North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 118.
s Cheshire, Sketches, p. 75.
9 Col. Rec, VII, 457.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., 539.
12 Ibid., 493.
l3/&i(Z., 496.
14 Ibid., VI, 316. Old copies of the pamphlet.
15 Ibid., VII, 224. St. Rec, XXIII, 759.
16 St. Rec, XXIII, 759-60.
17 Ibid., 674. Col. Rec, VII, 432-33. Haywood, op. cit., p. 18.
is St. Rec, XXIII, 826. Col. Rec, VIII, xliv.
19 Col. Rec, VII, 920.
20 ibid., VIII, 4-5.
21 Ibid., IX, 1014-15. St. Rec, XXIII, 956.
22 Col. Rec, VII, 2.
23 Ibid.. 320. St. Rec, XXIII, 664-65.
24 Col. Rec, VII, 338.
25 Ibid., VIII, 626.
2d Ibid., VII, 431.
27 Ibid., 923, 984-85.
28 Ibid., IX, 272.
29 Ibid.
so ibid., 224, 226, 272.
31 Ibid., 371, 590.
32 Ibid., 953.
33 ibid., VIII, 211.
Mlbid., 282, 285.
35 Kimball, Fiske, Tryon' s Palace, published in Quarterly Bulletin
of the New York Historical Society, for January, 1940, pp. 13-14.
Lossing, Benson J., The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol.
II, p. 570. Col. Rec, VII, 695; VIII, 285. Don Francisco de Miranda,
"the precursor of the Independence movement in Spanish America,"
who visited New Bern in 1783, is quoted by Francis Xavier Martin
in The History of North Carolina from the Earliest Period, Vol. II,
p. 265, as saying the Palace not only was the most beautiful in
North America but had no superior in South America.
XXI
THE REV. JAMES MCCARTNEY
At the beginning of the year 1767 James McCartney,
a native of Ireland, was employed to assist Tomlinson with
the New Bern school. 1 He continued in this capacity until
May, 1768. when he left for England to become a candi-date
for Holy Orders.- Very likely during this time he
served as lay reader at Christ Church.
Governor Tryon wrote the Bishop of London February
12. 176S, that McCartney ''waits on you for orders of
ordination.*' Mr. McCartney, he said, had also acted ably
as tutor to Speaker John Harvey's children. 3 The next
May 14 the Rev. Mr. Reed wrote the S. P. G. recom-mending
McCartney for priesthood.
-
In his letter Reed reported that the ''duty upon rum
will amount to about 60 pounds per annum this currency
and will be sufficient to discharge present debts, com-pletely
finishing the school house, and pay Tomlinson 20
pounds per annum." He added. "T have baptized about
100 whites and blacks in my own parish from Midsummer
to Christmas last and about 30 in St. John's parish. '"-
Ordained as a minister of the Church of England,
McCartney was licensed July 25 by the Bishop of London
for service in North Carolina. During November he
arrived back in New Bern, but was ill at home here for
several weeks. Following his recovery, he reported later,
he visited six extensive parishes, preached 49 sermons,
and baptized 763 white persons and 27 Negroes between
the middle of December and the latter part of May.6
"Though many of these parishes would have received
me willingly, none would suit so weakly a Constitution as
mine." he wrote. 7 During this period he undoubtedly held
services here. Because of its climate, he decided the first
of June. 1769. to settle in Granville County."
For several years McCartney served the Granville
parish faithfully. In 1771 he was one of those contract-ing
with John Lvnch for erection of a church there.
THE REV. JAMES M'CARTNEY 77
Because he had known of John Hawks' excellent work
here, he was probably the one responsible for obtaining
Hawks to draw plans for the church.9
A number of citizens signed a petition in 1771, praising
McCartney as "a credit to his holy profession" and recom-mending
that his bounty from the Society for the Propa-gation
of the Gospel be continued. It had been given him
temporarily when he returned to America after being
ordained. Since the subscribers were nominally church
members, many of them belonging to Christ Church here,
the list is quoted:
John Simpson, Aquila Sugg, William Cray, Richard
Ward, Samuel Johnston, Robert Howe, Francis Mackil-wean,
Ben. Hardy, Thomas Hines, Richard Evans,
Edward Hare, William McKinne, Thomas Gray, James
Green, Junr., Joseph Leech, Joseph Montfort, James
Blount, William Davis, Philemon Hawkins, John Campbell,
A. Nash, Hugh Waddell, Andrew Knox, Wm. Thomson,
Joseph Hewes, Jacob Shepard, Jacob Blount, James
Bonner, William Haywood, Moses Hare, James Hasell,
John Rutherford, Lewis deRosset, John Sampson, Alexr.
McCulloch, William Dry, Samuel Cornell, Marmaduke
Jones, Nat. Dukenfield, M. Moore, John Ashe, J. Moore,
Cornelius Harnett, Richard Caswell and John Harvey.10
Also recommended for ordination orders by Governor
Tryon in the same year as McCartney was a talented
young actor named W. Giffard, who had come to the
province with a company of strolling players. In a letter
to the Bishop of London June 11, 1768, Tryon wrote from
Brunswick that Giffard was
"Most wearied of the vague life of his present pro-fession,
and fully persuaded he could employ his talent to
more benefit to society by going into holy orders and
superintending the education of the youth in this
province ... I was not assured how far your lordship
would choose to take a member of the theater into the
church . . . His behaviour has been decent, regular, and
commendable ... If your lordship grants Mr. Giffard
his petition, you will take off the best player on the
American stage."11
78 CROWN OF LIFE
The sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Micklejohn,
S. T. D., before "His Excellency Royal Governor Tryon
and the troops raised to quell the late Insurrection at
Hillsborough, on Sunday, Sept. 25, 1768," was printed by
James Davis at New Bern.12
i Col. Rec, VII, 689.
2 Ibid., 750.
3 Ibid., 689.
ilbid., 750.
5 Ibid.
Qlbid., VIII, 85.
7 Ibid., 85-86.
8 Ibid., 86.
9 A copy of the original plans is filed in the collection of Dr.
Francis L. Hawks, grandson of the architect, at the New York
Historical Society Library, 170 Central Park West, New York City.
io Col. Rec, IX, 61-62.
ii Ibid., VII, 786-87.
12 Ibid., 939, 976, 983. Copies of the sermon are extant. Dr.
R. D. W. Connor, then Secretary of the North Carolina Historical
Commission, edited one for The North Carolina Booklet, Vol. VIII,
No. 1, July, 1908, pp. 57-58.
XXII
TRYON ASKS MORE AID
Continuing his efforts to bolster the power of the
Church of England in this province, Governor Tryon wrote
Daniel Burton, S. P. G. Secretary, March 20, 1769, from
Brunswick
:
"The infancy of the established religion in this province
is undoubtedly the period and crisis for setting the Church
of England here on a solid basis. We have laid a more
firm and permanent foundation than any other colony can
boast, she now stands in need of the utmost assistance of
her friends to raise the superstructure ... I trust the
Society will not withdraw the missions of 50 pounds per
annum from those gentlemen who now enjoy them, but
rather exert every other aid in their power to facilitate
the propagation of the gospel here.
"The bounty of the Society of 20 pounds per annum
for two years to every minister coming out to this pro-vince
is certainly of real se