- Title
- North Carolina historical review [1967 : October]
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-
- Date
- October 1967
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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North Carolina historical review [1967 : October]
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“RUSSELLBOROUGH”: TWO ROYAL GOVERNORS’
MANSION AT BRUNSWICK TOWN
By Stanley A. South*
Early in. September, 1748, Spanish ships sailed twelve miles into
the Cape Fear River and attacked the little town of Brunswick, taking
possession of all of the vessels in the harbor and plundering the town
for three days before being driven away by townspeople under the
leadership of William Dry. During the rout of the invaders from the
town, the Spanish ship “Fortuna” blew up and sank in the harbor,
killing Captain Vincent Lopez, all of his officers, and most of the
crew.1
By 1751, probably as a result of that dramatic incident at Port
Brunswick, His Majesty’s Sloop “Scorpion” was stationed there under
the command of Captain John Russell. On October 31 of that year
William Moore of Orton Plantation sold to Captain Russell fifty-five
acres of land adjoining the northern boundary of Brunswick Town for
one pound per acre.2 It was on this land that Russell began to build
his home. Russell died in December, 1752, however, and by an instru¬
ment dated April 16, 1753, his widow acknowledged a bonded indebt¬
edness of £.700 proclamation money to Richard Quince, a prominent
Brunswick Town merchant, and appointed Quince as her attorney to
dispose of “a certain plantation or Tract of fifty-five acres of Land
situate near Brunswick in New Hanover County whereon a new house
is lately erected and not as yet finished,” along with the Negro slaves
and other goods and chattels “at the highest price he . . . can get for
same.” 3 By November 18, 1754, when William Moore made his last
will and testament, the property was once again in his possession and
* Mr. South is archaeologist with the State Department of Archives and History.
This paper was read at the seventh annual Conference on Historic Site Archaeology
held at Avery Island, Louisiana, November 3, 1966.
South Carolina Gazette (Charleston), October 31, 1748.
• New Hanover County Registry Records, New Hanover County Courthouse, Wil¬
mington, Book C, 302, hereinafter cited as New Hanover Records. A microfilm copy
of these records is on file in the State Archives, Raleigh.
New Hanover Records, Book D, 79-80. In this instrument, which was executed
bf Alice Russell, “widow and relict” of the late John Russell, on April 16, 1753, it is
Hassell’s will was published on “the thirteenth day of December last
past, which would indicate that he had died a few days earlier.
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