First Charier of North Carolina.—Early Settlements on the Chowan and Cape Fear.—Planters from Barbadoes.
In 1630, a patent was granted to Sir Robert Heath for the whole of the country extending from Virginia, southward, over six degrees of latitude, to the rather indefinite boundary of Florida, then in possession of the Spaniards. The region was named Carolina in honor of the sister of Charles the First, of that name. Heath was unable to fulfill the conditions of his charter, and it was forfeited before any settlements were made. In l663,March 24 Charles the Second granted a charter to a company, among whom were General George Monk (the Duke of Albemarle), Lord Clarendon, Sir George Carteret, Lord Ashley Cooper (afterward Earl of Shaftesbury), Lord Berkeley, and his brother Sir William, the governor of Virginia. The region under this grant extended from the thirty-sixth degree to the River San Matheo in Florida, now the St. John's. Ten years earlier than this, a permanent settlement had been formed upon the northern banks of the Chowan. Roger Green, an energetic man, led a company across the wilderness from the Nansemond to the Chowan, and settled near the present village of Edenton1653 There they flourished; and in the same year, when the charter was granted to Clarendon and his associates, a government, under William Drummond, a Scotch Presbyterian, was established over that little territory. In honor of the Duke of Albemarle, it was called Albemarle County Colony. In 1662, George Durant purchased from the Indians the Neck, which still bears his name and the following year George Cathmaid received a large grant of land, for having settled sixty-seven persons south of the Roanoke. Two years later, it being discovered that the settlement on the Chowan was not within the limits of the charter, Charles extended the boundaries of that instrument, so as to include northward the region to the present Virginia line, southward the whole of the present Carolines and Georgia, and extending westward, like all of that monarch's charters, to the Pacific Ocean. These charters were liberal in the concession of civil privileges, and the proprietors were permitted to exercise toleration toward non-conformists to the Church of England, if it should be thought expedient. Great encouragement was offered to immigrants, from home, or from the other colonies, and settlements steadily increased.
In 1661 some New England adventurers entered Cape Fear River, ** purchased a tract of land from the Indians on Old Town Creek, about half way between Wilmington and Brunswick, and planted a settlement there. The Virginians looked upon them as rivals, for the latter claimed a right to the soil, having settled prior to the grant to Clarendon and his associates. Difficulties arose. A compromise was proposed, but the New Englanders were dissatisfied. The colony did not prosper; the Indians lifted the hatchet against them, and in less than three years the settlement was abandoned. Two years later,1665 several planters from Barbadoes purchased of the Indians a tract of land, thirty-two miles square, near the abandoned settlement. They asked ol the proprietaries a confirmation of their purchase, and a separate charter of government. All was not granted, yet liberal concessions were made. Sir John Yeamans, the son of a cavalier, and then a Barbadoes planter, was, at the solicitation of the purchasers, appointed their governor. His jurisdiction was from Cape Fear to the San Matheo (the territory now included in South Carolina and Georgia), and was called Clarendon county. The same year the Barbadoes people laid the foundation of a town on the south bank of the Cape Fear River. It did not flourish, and its site is now a subject for dispute.
Settlements now began to increase south of the Roanoke; and as the proprietors of Albemarle county saw, in anticipation, a powerful state within the limits of their fertile ter-
* It is said that Durant's Neck has the honor of having furnished the first seed for the Timothy Grass which is in such high repute among farmers. Among the first settlers was a Quaker named Timothy somebody, who observed the grass growing wild, and supposed it would be good for cultivation. He sent some of the seed to his friends in England, who, having found the grass to be valuable, called it Timothy Grass, in honor of his friend in Carolina.—Caruthers's Life of Caldu-ell, page 52. A Bible brought from England by Durant (and probably the first brought into North Carolina), is now in the library of the Historical Society of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill.
** The Cape Fear is formed by a union of the Haw and Deep Rivers, about one hundred and twenty-five miles northwest from Wilmington, and enters the Atlantic a little more than twenty miles below that city.
The absurd "Fundamental Constitutions" of Shaftesbury and Locke.—Sketch of the Authors.—Extent of the Province.
ritory, and dreamed of a grand American empire, they took measures to establish a government with adequate functions, and to transport into the New World the varied ranks and aristocratic establishments of Europe. The Earl of Shaftesbury, * the ablest statesman of his time, and John Locke, ** the illustrious philosopher, were employed to frame a Constitution. ***
