Carolana to Carolina: Imperialism, Science, and Early Huguenot Interest in Bath County

The pirate base of "Carolana" began an imperialistic endeavor to steal Spain's territory and wealth in 1629, but stalled because of the vagaries of aristocracy and politics. Finally, "Carolana" moved geographically and dissipated as an English attempt to settle Louisiana ahead of the French, both vying for more pieces of Spain's weakened and treasure-laden empire. "Carolina" took Carolana's place where we find it now in 1663. 

Bath County got a slow, but attentive, start and was eventually settled by the turn of the eighteenth century. Still, the original "Carolana" issue probably invigorated naturalist and author John Lawson to come to "Carolina" (especially to Bath County) and a group of French Huguenot refugees to land in Virginia that same fall of 1700. Huguenot refugees had been intimately involved with Bath County's development long before most of us realized and with only a few years in Virginia. Some reset their sights upon Bath County, North Carolina.

1651 map of Virginia by John Farrar; it includes the "Carolana" patent of Sir Robert Heath.

Elizabeth I used Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and other of her "Sea Dogs" to pirate Spain's wealth in America. The Stuart King James I succeeded Elizabeth I upon her death and he resisted Elizabeth’s imperialist and pseudo-criminal policies against Spain. James’ son, King Charles I, however, rekindled England’s imperialistic ambitions. As King Charles saw it, the proprietary sister colonies that would be Carolina and the Bahamas were England’s best opportunity to raid Spain’s treasure fleets leaving from the Caribbean. 

In April, 1629, Charles granted the Caribbee Islands to his favorite, Sir James Hay, first earl of Carlisle. The Caribbees controlled traffic entering the Caribbean east to west from Europe and thus was certainly a strategic location. The Florida Straits, another important strategic location, allowed maritime traffic from the Caribbean to reach Europe by the northern trade winds that traveled west to east in higher latitudes. Spanish treasure galleons depended upon this channel to sail their bullion home to Seville from the New World. It was essentially the only way back to Spain and the only reasonable route for their flota and galeónes fleets to leave the Caribbean, brimming with treasure and greatly coveted by the English Crown. 

Very likely with this in mind, Charles I also granted his chief justice Sir Robert Heath all the land in mainland America between the latitudes of 31 deg [modern Florida state line] and 36 deg [approx. Virginia's modern border with North Carolina] in the same year, land claimed at that time by his most Catholic Majesty, Phillip III of Spain.  The king hoped to prevent Spain’s recovery of Virginia as well as establish a foothold on Spanish Florida territory. This grant of “Carolana,” then including the Bahamas, straddled the Florida Straits and gave England full control of traffic leaving the Caribbean. Spain mightily resisted this intrusion for they knew the English king was after their silver and gold shipments!

1740 Charles Leslie map of the Bahamas-Caribbean - note the southern boundary for the more recent Carolina as opposed to the former Carolana. At included the already 100-year-old Spanish town of St. Augustine.

For decades from the 17th and early 18th centuries, using English bases in the West Indies, buccaneers, privateers, and other pirates in the Caribbean managed to reduce Spain’s ability to maintain their empire in the New World. Spain had weakened to the point of launching larger flotillas of treasure shipments at longer and more irregular intervals. Capturing those flotillas became the primary goal of English privateers, while the English Crown essentially ignored crimes and indiscretions committed by Englishmen in America. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, Protestant Huguenots originally escaped Catholic France; they joined England's efforts against Catholic Spain. Monsieur de Belavene, the Huguenot refugee who had initially proposed the earlier "Carolana" to provide a colony for protestant French refugees, also proposed that the colony could serve as a base against Spain. Belavene made this argument by using the strategic importance of Carolana to the English. He told the English that “if the Spaniard can hinder it, he will do it.”  As historian Paul E. Kopperman writes:

Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester

On June 24 Belavene wrote an unnamed addressee, likely [Secretary of State Dudley Carleton, Lord] Dorchester, that it would be in England's best interests to establish a colony in "Florida," that is, in the land south of Virginia. Belavene's scheme was ambitious. At the outset, the plantation was to include 2,000 men. These settlers would soon come to prosper through agriculture and manufacture. Their main function, however, would be to prepare their colony to serve as a base for an offensive against Spain in the Caribbean. Within four years, Belavene predicted, the fleets based in the proposed plantation would be capable of sealing off the passage of the Spanish treasure convoys, a state of affairs that would promote England's prosperity and Spain's ruin. [Paul E. Kopperman, "Profile of Failure: The Carolana Project, 1629-1640," North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 59, No. 1 (January, 1982), pp. 1-23.]

Heath was one of the original members in the Council for New England. From 1619-1621, he had also been fairly active in the Virginia Company. Kopperman wrote "In 1620, on his petition, the company had granted him and several partners title to a tract of land in Virginia, and, although it appears that they had failed to settle it, he had throughout the 1620s retained an interest in the colony, so much so that crown officials in Virginia had looked to him as a prime advocate at court."

Heath had the support of several influential courtiers. "Perhaps most helpful of all was [the earl of] Carlisle, [James Hay,] Heath's patron, a director of the Virginia Company, and a man who, as a fellow proprietor, was to link Carolana closely to the Caribbees."

Even before 1629, Heath enfeoffed George, Lord Berkeley, with the northern half of Carolana. He also invested Sir Richard Grenville with the lower three degrees of his tract which may have included the Bahamas.  On October 30, 1629, at Westminster, the official grant was issued:

Grant to Sir Robert Heath, Attorney-General of a territory in America betwixt 31 and 36 degrees of North Latitude, not inhabited by the subjects of any Christian King, but partly inhabited by barbarous men who have not any knowledge of the Divine Deity. Sir Robert Heath, being about to lead thither a large and plentiful colony of men professing the true religion, and applying themselves to the culture of said lands and to merchandising, the King grants to said Sir Robert all that river of St. Matthew on the south side, and of Passamagno (the Great Pass) on the north side, with all lands between the same to the ocean east and west, together with the Islands of Veajus and Bahamas, and all other islands lying southerly or near upon said continent, with all ports, creeks, rivers, lakes, fisheries, minerals, precious stones, &c.; and furthermore, the patronage of all churches there to be built, with as ample privileges as any Bishop of Durham ever had within his See, to said Sir Robert, his heirs and assigns, as absolute Lords and Proprietors, with the intention that said Sir Robert should plant the same according to certain instructions signed by his Majesty of the date of these presents and remaining with his Majesty's Principal Secretary... And further, his Majesty erects and incorporates said territories into a province to be called for all time Carolana and the Carolanean Islands....

Hugh Lamy, chief negotiator for the Huguenots, indicated a tract of land between the 34th and 35th parallels of Carolana, including the future Bath region of North Carolina (see map). By February 24, 1630, Carlisle had already secured an appointment for Lamy as receiver-general of Carolana and the Caribbees.

34th to 35th parallels including the future Bath region of North Carolina

Lamy's associates included Antoine de Ridouet, baron de Sancé and M. de Belavene, another Huguenot, Pierre de Licques, and a Puritan merchant of French ancestry, Samuel Vassall. Vassall, in particular, would play an important role in the earlier Carolana venture, actually attempting to plant the colony - a venture, however, which got no further than being stranded in Virginia. Sancé in particular, desired the 35th parallel, most easily identified as the Bath region, or "the Landis betwixt the river of Roanack and the river of News [Neuse] in Carolana...." Through Sir James Hay, earl of Carlisle, he gained a grant for it in March 1630, but was never able to settle it, partly due to an unrealistic intention to base their profits on the then lucrative salting industry. Salt was important for preserving meat. Sugar was still a couple of decades away from being recognized as the lucrative product that it would be - which drew attention toward plantations in the Caribbean as opposed to the mainland (Carlisle already laid claim to the Spanish possession of Barbados at the time of the Carolana grant, but Jamaica was taken from the Spanish in 1655 primarily for the purpose of sugar plantations - it also became a strategic point from which to launch pirate invasions against the Spanish fleets).

Heath's Carolana venture fell by the wayside, Sir James Hay died in 1636, and finally, Charles I was beheaded in 1649, beginning the Interregnum, or an eleven-year period in which England had no monarch, but a "Protector," Oliver Cromwell. The "Carolana" patent, however, survived in the hands of many and would later resurface. Heath passed his patent over to 24-year-old Henry Howard, Lord Maltravers, son of the earl of Arundel and Surrey in 1632 and it remained in the Howard family for decades. "The Howard family," tells Kopperman, "was highly influential, and Heath, like all courtiers, knew the importance of having powerful friends." At the same time, Maltravers became a councilor for New England, acquired a tract there and another in the West Indies, and attempted to found an English West Indian Company in 1637 that, unfortunately for him, failed.

King Charles II of England

When King Charles II returned from exile in France upon restoration to the English monarchy in 1660, he would continue the same imperialist policies of his father, to establish bases to attack Spanish treasure fleets in America. In 1663, with such a base in mind, Charles II granted eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina: Edward Earl of Clarendon, George Duke of Albemarle, William Lord Craven, John Lord Berkley, Anthony Lord Ashley, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkley, and Sir John Colleton:

… all that territory or tract of ground, scituate, lying and being within our dominions of America, extending from the north end of the island called Lucke island, which lieth in the southern Virginia seas, and within six and thirty degrees of the northern latitude, and to the west as far as the south seas, and so southerly as far as the river St Matthias, which bordereth upon the coast of Florida, and within one and thirty degrees of northern latitude, and so west in a direct line as far as the south seas aforesaid.

In 1663, Carolina extended nearly 325 miles north to south and over 2,500 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the “South Seas,” or the Pacific.   Of course, neither the Lords Proprietors, nor the king could have imagined the sheer immensity of that grant. Except for the Bahamas, this grant was identical to Heath's. 

The Carolina proprietors met for the first time on May 23, 1663. In only two weeks, petitions presented to the king claimed a right to the earlier Heath grant (now, Carolina), through Lord Maltravers, duke of Norfolk's heirs. Samuel Vassell claimed the 31st and 33rd parallels. Sir Richard Grenville claimed to own the 34th, 35th, and 36th parallels. The proprietors argued that "Neither hath Sr Robt. Heath, Mr. Howard or any of his Ancestors Mr. Rich Greenefeild or Mr. Vassell or any of their Assigns planted any part of this Province, there being about 35 years past since ye grant," thus the Vassal and Grenville grants were declared void. This may have been acceptable to Vassell and Grenville at the time, but the deed would remain in circulation, passed from hand to hand until finally recognized by the Crown once again three decades later.

The Carolina Charters of 1663 and 1665 – These charters of King Charles II of England claimed millions of square miles of Spanish territory known as La Florida and Mexico.  It included the already established Spanish towns of Pensacola and St. Augustine (est. 1565). Map by Baylus C. Brooks.

The Carolina Charter was extended two years later to the current Virginia-North Carolina state line in the north and to well-below St. Augustine, Florida, founded 100 years before by the Spanish in 1565. The Spanish had abandoned Pensacola two years earlier, but reoccupied it in response to this increasingly invasive charter.

The Great Seal of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina was used on all official papers of the Lords Proprietors. The reverse side depicted the eight heraldic shields of the Proprietors surrounding a Cross of Saint George

The North Carolina Manual describes in detail the Great Seal of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.  This seal represents clear imperial intent. The obverse side showed a “shield bearing on its face two cornucopias crossed, filled with products.”   Two Native Americans support the shield, on the “sinister side,” carrying a spear and the opposite an “Indian squaw with a papoose by her side and one in her arms.”  The unknown author of this sketch offered the note, “These natives, I imagine are supposed to be bringing tribute.”   

Charles II bequeathed his royal approbation as “Magnum Sigillum Carolinœ Dominorum." The proprietors’ primary instructions read as Domitus cultoribus orbis, “to dominate and conquer the world,” to piratically take all. Again, this motto reflected the primary intent: to dominate Spain’s possessions, including the produce of their silver and gold mines. King Charles II proudly styled his aristocratic pirates as the “Corporation of the Barbadoes Adventurers,” alluding to the pirate-capitalist connection.  

Carolina was divided into three largely self-governing legislative districts. Albemarle, where a loose settlement of runaway Virginians mixed with itinerant merchant mariners and Indian traders already existed and sat below Virginia on the northern extent of the Carolina grant. Clarendon, skipping the Bath region, was the next southward on the Cape Fear River where the first failed attempt to settle Charles Town was made by Puritans and Barbadians.  Craven was the third, on the Cooper and Ashley Rivers, where the final settlement of Charles Town was made in 1671, also by Barbadians. 

Carolana was forgotten for decades though the patent was passed from owner to owner. Carolina under the Proprietors began to grow, first in the Albemarle with its Virginian "runaway" settlers. 

Interestingly, the Bath region as well as the Bahamas were ignored in this second attempt of "Carolina." The Bahamas were re-introduced in 1671, but not Bath. But, soon, the idea of Bath County grew to fruition once again. In 1696, a new county formed south of Albemarle, first called “Bath” for Lord John Granville, earl of Bath. Bath Town, incorporated in 1705, became the major settlement and Port Bath the favored port of entry there because of its greater depth than Roanoke Inlet, the gradually closing entrance to the Albemarle Sound." This area became an important region in the new Carolina, probably first recognized by Huguenots nearly a century earlier. Under renewed attention, Huguenots again eyed the Pamlico and Neuse River basins as a possible new home. 

About the same time that the Lords Proprietors had obtained Carolina, Andrew Lawson of St Andrew's Parish, Newcastle Upon Tyne (a North Sea seaport), in Northumberland, England had two children: the first a daughter by the name of Isabel in December 1664 and the second, a son by the name of John, born in April 1667. The year after John was born, on January 3, 1668, his sister Isabel died and was buried in Northumberland in a nonconformist ceremony. It may be that Andrew Lawson had converted to Quakerism. 

Thomas Howard, Lord Maltravers

William Howard, of Naworth Castle

Andrew Lawson was probably the son of Robert and Isabella Lawson and the nephew of John Lawson, captain of the guard of horse for Charles I and owner of Brough Hall in County York. During the Interregnum, Capt. Lawson lost his estate for his Toryism and support of Charles I, then beheaded. Upon restoration, "In consideration of his great sufferings, he was created a Baronet by King Charles II., 6 July 1665." Sir John Lawson, now an admiral in the king's navy, married Catherine, daughter of Sir William Howard of Naworth (younger brother of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk and known as "Lord Maltravers," who bought Carolana from Sir Robert Heath's estate) and sister to Sir Charles Howard, the next earl of Carlisle after James Hay [John Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire].

Naworth Castle, Cumberland, England. The seat of the Barons Dacre, currently occupied by Philip Howard, brother and heir presumptive of the 13th Earl of Carlisle.

Will of John Chandler (21 Dec 1676, St Sepulchre, London) - note particularly the flourish on the end of the "w" in Lawson's name. Remember also that Chandler's will was witnessed by an almost 9-year-old John Lawson as his apprentice and he was 41 years old when he signed Lionel Reading's will. By the time he came to Carolina, Lawson had developed a distinctive signature that differed greatly from his usual writing - used especially on official documents. This was also a common practice among learned men of the time.

Admiral Sir John Lawson

Admiral Sir John Lawson was allegedly a great-uncle of Dr. John Lawson (married Grace Love of St. Andrews, Holborn in 1663) of London, and this couple were formerly alleged by many to be the father of naturalist John Lawson (note that no children have yet been identified for Dr. John and Grace Lawson through genealogical records). His cousin Andrew Lawson, however, may be the one who later as a "Citizen and Salter of London" apprenticed his son, John (probably the Carolina naturalist who would have been seven years old if born in 1667) to John Chandler in 1675 to learn the trade of an apothecary. Chandler died after two years and John Lawson, possibly at nearly nine years of age, signed as a witness to his will [Raymond Phineas Stearns, Science in the British Colonies of America - Note that this information generally contradicts other genealogies supplied for naturalist John Lawson, but Stearns researched in London with access to most British records. Even though he published his findings in 1952, he had more definitive resources at his command. Today, those resources are made readily available to researchers with access to the internet, even in America].

The Worshipful Society of London Apothecaries reassigned Lawson to James Hayes (later Sir James Hayes of Bedgebury, Kent), another member of the Royal Society and son of James Hayes of Beckington, Somerset (what relationship he may have had, if any, to James Hay, earl of Carlisle is unknown). The younger Hayes attended St Paul's School of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, matriculated and joined Lincoln's Inn in 1649. Hayes was called to the Bar in 1656, became MP for Marlborough in 1659, a Recorder of Marlborough (1659), and Secretary to Prince Rupert (FRS 1665). By May 20, 1663, he had been elected a member of the Royal Society. [http://collections.royalsociety.org].

Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, the Chelsea Physic Garden is, besides  the Oxford Botanical Garden, founded in 1621, the oldest botanical garden in England. Its guide describes it as "at its peak, during the 1700s, the most important centre for plant exchange on the planet." [http://www.lawsontrek.com/along-the-path-blog]

Other members of the Royal Society at this time were Henry Howard, later duke of Norfolk (donated the Arundel Library to the Royal Society which replaced Gresham Hall as their usual meeting place) and then owner of the Carolana patent, Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Daniel Coxe, and Sir James Shaen. From the time that John Lawson first became apprenticed in 1675, Sir James Hayes had become the deputy governor under governor Prince Rupert of the Hudson Bay Company.

Sir Hans Sloane

Dr. Hans Sloane, whose collection founded the British Museum, was a physician who had apprenticed as an apothecary. Petiver, who had dozens of corresponding collectors and whose contribution made up more than a third of Sloane's final collection, was an apothecary, "at the White Cross, near Long Lane in Aldersgate Street." The apothecary was where people went for help with their health, for information on their world.... Sloane's own story makes the case. Well-enough known to enlightenment luminaries like philosopher John Locke and naturalist John Ray to be a member of the Royal Society in 1685, Sloane traveled to Jamaica as a court physician; while there he encountered a local combination of water and chocolate that he called "nauseaous." An apothecary doesn't leave poor enough alone. He allegedly discovered that by adding milk he made the beverage delightful and thereby created what we call hot chocolate, which took England by storm [http://www.lawsontrek.com/along-the-path-blog]. [Note: The actual origins of milk chocolate, however, are possibly much earlier.]

It is significant perhaps that the Hudson Bay Company early corporate venture had four members of Carolina proprietors as its shareholders: Albemarle, Craven, Shaftesbury, and Colleton. Hayes served as deputy-governor until 1685. John Lawson's apprenticeship to Hayes should have lasted until 1683, so his five years under Hayes would have been spent involved in that early American project, as well as in Hayes' Irish properties and duties. Another property Hayes picked up from the duke of Norfolk (Lord Maltravers' son and heir of the Earl of Arundell) in 1678, was the old patent for "Carolana." Hayes kept this patent for the remainder of Lawson's term as apprentice until 1683 when he sold it to Sir James Shaen. 

Soon, Hayes became involved with Christopher Monk, duke of Albemarle, Virginia governor Francis Nicholson and others to fish the Spanish wreck of La Concepcion, resulting in £200,000 of treasure, which made them all rich men. Hayes then rebuilt his manor at Bedgebury, Kent from his part of the wreck's proceeds. A few years later, Hayes served as apothecary-general for the forces going to the West Indies. Nothing is known of Lawson's activities following his apprenticeship with Hayes. Shaen held onto the Carolana patent for fourteen years until his death in 1696 when his heirs sold it to Dr. Daniel Coxe.

Coxe became the first to successfully settle Carolana; however, with the Carolina patent already in place of the older Carolana one, the boundaries had to be reinterpreted. Coxe intended to settle French refugees on this patent, at first, west of Carolina on unplanted territories of its patent along the Gulf of Mexico. Carolinians hoped that the Mississippi region (then part of Carolina) may be peopled with Englishmen, in order to prevent the Catholic nation of France from gaining control of the backcountry, or beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Lest we not forget that Spain still claimed this land, by then, for almost two centuries; later they were, however, more accepting of a fellow Catholic nation like France moving into the territory. In 1698, the French, learning of Dr. Coxe's plans to explore and people the Mississippi, sent an expedition to counter Coxe's plans:

Dr. Daniel Coxe sent two ships to Carolana/Florida in October 1698. As he tells it, there were "in both Vessels, besides Sailors and Common Men, above Thirty English and French Volunteers, some Noblemen, and all Gentlemen." Among the French Huguenot refugees were Olivier de la Muce and two sons of Charles de Sailly. The voyage from England to Charleston, their initial destination, lasted around three months. If the two ships had left England in October 1698 they would have arrived at Charleston in January 1699. The ships and passengers wintered at Charleston from January 1699-May 1699. One of the two ships on the Coxe expedition remained at Charleston. The other ship apparently was shipwrecked on its return to England. It is not clear why it returned early. Sometime during this winter interval, a locally-built vessel, the Carolina Galley [Capt. William Bond], was readied for the exploratory trip to find the Mississippi River...

A crucial segment of this entire voyage was the portion from Charleston to the Mississippi River. Commanded by Captain William Bond, the Carolina Galley set forth from Charleston in May 1699, rounded Florida, and proceeded westward along the Florida coast, and, after some confusion in finding the mouth of the river, arrived at the Mississippi on 29 August 1699. The English vessel commanded by Captain Bond (with French Protestants on board) met a French party (the Catholic ones, serving King Louis XIV) commanded by Bienville on the Mississippi River. The spot on the river where they met has since that time been called the English Turn. Evidence of this meeting is provided in the journal Of the ship Renornmée, in which overall French commander Iberville reported the results of the meeting his brother, Bienville, had with Bond on the Mississippi: "Those ships were sent out on behalf of a company formed at London by some Englishmen and French refugees [Huguenots]. On this ship was a man [Olivier, Marquis de la Muce] representing the interests Of those two groups; the Frenchman was greatly distrusted by the English; he told my brother about it and testified that he wished with all his heart, as did every single one of the French refugees, that the king would permit them to settle in this country, under his rule, with liberty of conscience. He guaranteed that many would soon be here who were unhappy under English rule, which could not be sympathetic to the French temperament, and he begged my brother to ask me to bear their petition to the king; and he left for me his address in Carolina and in London, so that I can write them the king's will about it." [David E. Lambert, Studies in Church History, Volume 12 : Protestant International and the Huguenot Migration to Virginia].

Daniel Coxe Jr.

De la Muce and the Huguenot refugees tried to play Catholic France against the English, but unsuccessfully. They could not be settled in today's Louisiana, though Coxe would continue to plan its settlement, but the French would eventually win the early game. In October 1699, Coxe laid his revised claim for Norfolk, Virginia, before the newly-formed (1696) Board of Trade. Some discussion involved the Bath region of North Carolina once again, but that idea again did not come to fruition, most likely because the proprietors did not wish to lose a part of Carolina that they had just recently planned to settle themselves. 

Samuel Swann, surveyor-general of North Carolina was known to offer an opinion of this and may have been the one to suggest Norfolk in the disputed region between Virginia and North Carolina. Unfortunately the details of his letter are no longer extant. It was well known that North Carolinians and Virginians alike both claimed the Norfolk area. This interpretation might have been seen as settling that issue. 

A Map of Carolana and of the River Meschacebe [Mississippi] (1722) by Daniel Coxe, Junior.

By November 1699, Coxe "is ready to resign his Government and dispose of his interest on such terms as will encourage gentlemen merchants to subscribe £50,000 towards planting and settling it. He prays His Majesty to add a tract of land to the Northern bounds of Carolana, and incorporate subscribers as the Florida Company [an openly hostile intention towards the Spanish], and grant them a man-of-war." Only two years later, Gov. James Moore would launch an invasion of St. Augustine, Florida, taking 800 Apalachee captives as his prize - at that time, Carolinians mostly prized slaves over territory. But, they would be back.

The Post Man and the Historical Account reported that Capt. Bond had returned the French refugee Huguenots to London on April 12, 1700. Without hesitation, they immediately transferred to other ships waiting there, one of which was the Mary and Anne, Capt. George Haws:

London Post with Intelligence Foreign and Domestick (London, England), April 15, 1700 - April 17, 1700; Issue 135 - The Marquis "de Lura" is actually the Marquis de la Muce and Francis Nicholson in Virginia had changed their intended planting in Norfolk to Manakin Town, somewhat further inland.

The settlement of the Huguenots in Virginia proceeded as planned and on April 23, 1700, 500 French refugees left in four ships from the Thames intending for Virginia. The Marquis de la Muce, interestingly styled as "Deputy Governor of Carolina," accompanied the fleet, leaving England the following day. The ships arrived in New York in late July and then made Lynhaven Bay of Virginia by July 23, 1700. There, Gov. Francis Nicholson wrote to the Board on August 1st that:

The 24th of the last moneth [travel time lag] I had the great honour to receive His Majesty's letter, March 18th, and your Lordships' letter, April 12th, concerning the French Protestant Refugees. As I have, so I will endeavour to obey his Majesty's commands about ym [them]. They were on board the ship Mary and Anne of London, George Haws, commander, who had about 13 weeks' passage [left ca. mid-April], and the 23rd of the last moneth arrived at the mouth of this river. I immediately went down to Kikotan to give directions in order to their coming hither, some of which came on Sunday in the evening, the rest the next day [ships separated and arrived at different times]. I writ to Col. Byrd and Col. Harrison to meet ym [them] here, which they did; and we concluded that there was no settling of ym [them] in Norfolk nor thereabouts, because 'tis esteemed an unhealthfull place, and no vacant land except some yt [yet] is in dispute now betwixt us and North Carolina; so we thought it would be best for ym [them] to go to a place about twenty miles above the Falls of James River, commonly called the Manikin Town.

Lawson probably knew De la Muce, Charles de Sailly, both agents for the refugees, and Dr. Coxe, member of the Royal Society. He later had discussions with apothecary James Petiver, royal gardener, George London, and others in the circles of Sir Hans Sloane, also members of that distinguished scientific body. He presented his book, New Voyage to Carolina, in 1708 while in constant communication with the Society in London. Most interestingly, a 33-year-old naturalist John Lawson (1667-1711) may have been aboard one of these ships carrying the French refugees. He arrived in Charleston in mid-late August after following a similar route and leaving approximately on April 20th: 

In the Year 1700, when People flock'd from all Parts of the Christian World, to see the Solemnity of the Grand Jubilee at Rome, my Intention, at that Time, being to travel, I accidentally met with a Gentleman, who had been Abroad, and was very well acquainted with the Ways of Living in both Indies; of whom, having made Enquiry concerning them, he assur'd me, that Carolina was the best Country I could go to; and, that there then lay a Ship in the Thames, in which I might have my Passage. I laid hold on this Opportunity, and was not long on Board, before we fell down the River, and sail'd to Cowes; where, having taken in some Passengers, we proceeded on our Voyage, 'till we sprung a-leak, and were forc'd into the Islands of Scilly. Here we spent about 10 Days in refitting; in which Time we had a great deal of Diversion in Fishing and Shooting on those rocky Islands... On the 1st Day of May, having a fair Wind at East, we put to Sea, and were on the Ocean (without speaking to any Vessel, except a Ketch bound from New England to Barbadoes, laden with Horses, Fish, and Provisions) 'till the latter End of July, when the Winds hung so much Southerly, that we could not get to our Port, but put into Sandyhook-bay, and went up to New York... After a Fort-night's Stay here, we put out from Sandyhook, and in 14 Days after, arriv'd at Charles-Town.

It is indeed interesting that John Lawson ended his "New Voyage" through Carolina in the newly-formed Bath region. It is also interesting that he named his daughter Isabella, perhaps for his deceased sister that he was never able to know. He had perhaps discussed the Bath area many times as part of the original intent of the grant held by his master Sir James Hayes. It seems that every proprietor of the original Carolana had Bath, or the 35th parallel, most on their minds when planning for any future settlement. Lawson may have been involved in these discussions and had numerous opportunities to ponder upon the natural wonders available there. He may have been drawn to Bath since the early days of his apprenticeship from 1675-1683. Also, what influence might this have had on the later settlement of Swiss Palatines in New Bern in 1710? 

Huguenots from Mannakin Town who had originally arrived there when Lawson came to Carolina, left in only a few years to settle the new burgeoning port region of Bath. Carolana.com writes:

Into this vicinity [Bath] also, about 1704 or 1705, came a group of French Huguenots from Virginia where they had settled in 1699 [1700?] at a place known as Mannakin Town on James River. Discontented over economic conditions there, this group moved into Bath County, attracted by its fertile and plentiful lands. Here they proved an industrious people noted for the excellent linen cloth and thread which they made and exchanged “amongst the Neighborhood” for other commodities which they desired. 

Perhaps these Mannakin Town Huguenots were not so discontented with Virginia as much as they were eager to arrive in the Bath region, with the added opportunities afforded by the new port of entry. It was, after all, their originally-intended home for several decades. Another band of Huguenots led by their pastor Phillipe de Richelieu came to North Carolina about the same time; part of them also settled in Bath.

Indeed, Heath's early grant of Carolana and the durable attention of Huguenots invigorated Bath County, North Carolina's history far more than we have realized. The English effort to expel the Spanish from their own territory might simply have been an excuse for Huguenot refugees, desiring a home of their own. Moreover, Lawson's work is still very much with us today. No doubt that he had long planned and investigated the settlement of Bath County while still in England, like Surveyor-General of the Southern Colonies Robert Quarry, who owned a trading post in Bath County and with whom Lawson resided when in Philadelphia. The association of London merchant Micajah Perry also had a significant contribution to these same events and men through the Pennsylvania Company which involved many North Carolinians. Alas, however, we must leave this rather tantalizing prospect for another discussion.


Article updated 8-28-2019.
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 Lawson Trek:

"John Lawson's journey of 1700-1701 provided the first scientific descriptions of the Carolinas. His resulting book cataloged everything from flora and fauna to the native populations and their languages and practices. Considering "the Latitude and convenient Situation of Carolina," he wrote, "our Reason would inform us, that such a place lay fairly to be a delicious Country."

Come with us -- writer Scott Huler and a changing cast of scientists, historians, and anybody else who wants to join in -- as we retrace his trek through what is now a better known -- but still delicious -- country."



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Blackbeard's family records discovered - press release: http://baylusbrooks.com/Press%20Release%208-19-2015.pdf

BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS.
from BBC Radio Bristol
300 years ago on Thursday - 22 November 1718 - Bristol born Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard, the most famous pirate in the history of the world), was killed in a violent battle off the coast of North America. And after 300 years we can finally separate the truth from the myth. You can hear the whole story this Thursday at 9am in a one off BBC Radio Bristol special: BLACKBEARD: 300 YEARS OF FAKE NEWS. With new research by Baylus C. Brooks, narrated by Bristol born Kevin McNally - Joshamee Gibbs in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, and produced by Tom Ryan and Sheila Hannon this is a very different Blackbeard from the one in the story books...

https://youtu.be/AnaYDaNoufE

Edward Moseley's 1733: North Carolina's Tale of Two and a Half Maps

Major Isaac Roberdeau

A long and involved affair developed over Edward Moseley's published [meaning printed... by, in this case John Cowley of Angel-Alley without Bishopsgate in London] map of North Carolina from 1733, which was huge, an 1822 tracing of one printing of that map, also huge, and a smaller, updated manuscript version of Moseley's map made in 1737, which could easily fit in a poster frame of today.  There are various photostatic copies of all shapes and sizes running about, too.

Answering the first question on my mind was not as easy as it first appeared when I investigated the many copies (seven in all) of Moseley's map available at the North Carolina State Archives. 

These were all photostats.  There are seven that were made at some time from original published versions of Edward Moseley's engraved map of 1733.  Three of these are from a tracing of Moseley's map made September 5, 1822 by Major Isaac Roberdeau, Chief of the recently-formed (1818) Topographical Bureau of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Isaac, the son of Revolutionary War General Daniel Roberdeau is best known for his association with Peter Charles L'Enfant in surveying the new capital city of Washington, DC.  The others are copies of a map held by a wealthy businessman who kept a winter home in South Carolina.  The photostatic copy made from this map was held after 1937 and before 1966 by the University of South Carolina. This copy was lost... so, of course, was the original.

The Roberdeau tracing intrigued me because we knew so little about it.  The question was, of course, about Roberdeau's involvement with an original copy of the 1733 Moseley map.  It surprisingly evolved into a hunt for the provenance of ECU's copy of the same map because its provenance was tied intimately with how Roberdeau obtained access to the copy of the map that he traced... as I think, the ECU copy, which I also think was Moseley's personal copy.

Presumably, Roberdeau made his tracing from an original copy that the United States was  not able to simply purchase... perhaps the owner would not part with it.  Or, he could have gone to England, as some have suggested and traced one of their two copies, but it's not as likely.  

Most likely, Roberdeau did not use either of the two copies available in England because only one member of the Bureau left for England during this time and he was to purchase special surveying instruments.  Roberdeau made the tracing, so Roberdeau had to be where the map was and he was not the one who procured the instruments.  Also, getting Congress to pay for two men to tour England on our recently-invaded country's dime was probably asking way too much.   

Presumably, this original was available to Roberdeau either in Washington, where he began his residence in August 1818 or at the home of its owner in 1822.  Assuming the latter, he would have had to be at the map's home at the time and, hopefully, there would be some reference to show this.  So, where was this location?  Most likely, it was in Edenton, where a published Moseley map of 1733 original was known to exist 30 years later with Hugh Williamson Collins (1812-1854).  By chance, Roberdeau may have had that opportunity...

1822 tracing of Moseley Map of 1733 by Major Isaac Roberdeau of the Topographical Bureau, U.S.Army Corps of Engineers. (original: "H 47 Roll" 57 x 45 inches, U.S. War Department), held by Library of Congress, lately lost - photostatic copy at NC Archives in Raleigh.

Bottom right cartouche on the Topographical Bureau's tracing of the Moseley Map of 1733 including Major Isaac Roberdeau's signature and the date September 5, 1822.

About the original Moseley maps of 1733 known to be in America... 

Professor Ralph Scott of East Carolina University presented a paper in 1991 detailing the provenance of "Plausible" Moseley's [this was the nickname that William Byrd II gave Moseley in 1728 as they surveyed the Virginia-NC line together] published map copies in the United States.  His concern was to establish the origin of the Graham copy hanging on the wall of Joyner's Special Collections Library at East Carolina University.  This copy was recently found (1982) in an attic of the Graham family home, the "Wessington" mansion in Edenton (see below):

Wessington mansion in Edenton, NC. Photo by Baylus C. Brooks (July 21, 2014).

Henry P. "Harry" Kendall, ca. 1925

Scott then presumed only two copies have come here, one with Gov. Arthur Dobbs when he arrived from London in 1755, the other bought by map collector Henry Plimpton Kendall (inventor of Curad Bandages, friend of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and chair of the Business Advisory Council under FDR) in 1937.  

Kendall probably obtained his copy late, perhaps overseas.  He had toured England in 1910 with his mother, Clara, sailing from Liverpool on the Zeeland back to Boston, Mass.  Later, Kendall left Boston to visit Brown, Shipley & Company manufactures (on Pall Mall in London) on the Cunard Steamship Samaria in September 1925.  He visited again two months later on the Cunard ship Alaunia to visit another manufacturer on Gibraltar Row.   In 1930, he held a map exposition in which he exhibited numerous maps of North Carolina.  Conspicuously absent from this exhibition was the alleged 1937 purchase of Moseley's 1733.  He visited France in 1931, according to ship passenger records, of which there are many Henry Kendalls leaving from either Boston or New York in the 1920s and 30s and visiting many localities, mostly in England.  Many of those travelers were likely this "Henry P. Kendall."  

Comparison between digital copies of both the Kendall copy and the Graham copy now held by ECU.  A line is missing between the "n" and "d" of the word "and" on the ECU copy but appears on the Kendall.  The "K" and first half of the "e" in "Keeauwees"is partly missing on the Kendall copy, but appears on today's ECU copy ... since ink does not miraculously re-appear, the maps are different copies. 

Kendall apparently saw a map during one of his many trips to England concerning North Carolina that he had never seen before and simply had to have it for his collection.  He could have seen it in a curio shop in Charing Cross or maybe a map collector that he met did not mind parting with a map of faraway America.  

Most likely, Kendall purchased this map and brought it back to his winter home in South Carolina, where he then photographed it and shared copies with map enthusiasts and the University of South Carolina before storing it at his estate.  He probably never knew that another version existed in America...

The interesting part is that Moseley maps keep disappearing... Kendall's original copy was not in his papers when he died in 1959 and the photostatic copy that he had made for University of South Carolina (and map enthusiast [author of Southeast in Early Maps (1958)] and English professor William P. Cumming) had disappeared from the University of South Carolina's archives.  In 1966, they borrowed a copy of the copy that the North Carolina State Archives had made earlier.  So, thankfully, we still know what Kendall's copy looked like... and, it was in pretty good shape, actually!  It had some inking variations, however, that distinguish it from the Graham copy (see comparison photos above). 

William P. Cumming’s collection of maps were generously donated to the E.H. Little Library of Davidson College, and include forty-eight maps with special interest in the early Southeastern United States - Harris, Jim. “Cumming Map Collection,” Davidson Encyclopedia, 23 January 2012

The only original left in the United States (that we know of) remains ECU's copy, hidden until 1982.  I've suggested, almost jokingly, that ECU institute National Archives-level security, of course. Still, even that failed at least once!

These maps were both 57 x 45 inches, within reasonable variation.  Furthermore, the map tracing that Roberdeau made in 1822 is 57 x 45.  So, it came from a published version of 1733, most likely... probably the only one known to have existed in NC at that time... again, the one found in 1982 in Edenton. After all, it could not have been Kendall's because that copy was probably still in England, waiting on the wall of some curio shop.

Interestingly and again, the War Department's "H 47 Roll" Roberdeau tracing of 1822 also turned up missing from the National Archives.  Again, fortunately, Raleigh was able to preserve this one through its photostatic copies.  It seems that the North Carolina Archives is the champion of both copies in its ability to preserve that which others have had difficulty!  lol

Today, in the digital age, the chances of losing their information again would be almost nil... thank goodness, because the historic value of that map is extraordinary and we keep fumbling with it thanks partly to private owners whose momentary delight dies with them! 

East Carolina University's original copy, found in 1982 is perhaps the most famous and has the most interesting story - and, some of it we can positively verify.  Ralph Scott meticulously followed its life, detailed by manuscript holdings of ECUs Special Collections (undoubtedly, there are more in other archives). 

As mentioned earlier, Gov. Arthur Dobbs (1689-1765) arrived in North Carolina in 1755 to replace Gabriel Johnston, who passed away in office in 1752.  Scott originally postulated that Dobbs purchased one of Edward Moseley's famous maps of 1733 while still in England... [whether "famous" or "infamous" is a matter of whether or not you've read my work ;) ]. Scott postulated that Dobbs brought it with him when he came to America. 

Moseley Map [1733] (#MC0017), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Advertisement for the published Moseley map; 9 September 1737; Virginia Gazette; Williamsburg, VA as shown at "A New and Correct Map of the Province of North Carolina: The Discovery of a 1737 North Carolina Manuscript Map" byMike McNamara - Interestingly enough, John Cowley advertised Seymour's Survey of London and Westminster profusely in every British newspaper, but I have yet to find the Moseley Map of 1733 advertised in any British newspaper.  The interest may not have been in Britain.

There's another possibility... proposed by another scholar, Mike McNammara: Dobbs may have urged the original engraver of Moseley's map (John Cowley) to make a smaller manuscript copy from Moseley's original survey, with added details showing improvements that occurred in the few years since the 1733 map was surveyed: the boundary between North and South Carolina and a settlement at the head of the Pee Dee, for instance.  McNammara believes the printed 1733 had not yet been available by 1736 when Dobbs and associates presented a map to the Board of Trade in London... so, they needed a "quickie" made, so to speak.  McNammara asserts that Dobbs kept the 1737 at his library at Castle Dobbs "on the second shelf of the catalog of his Northern Ireland library."  Dobbs had serious interests in investing in North Carolina.  Also, the 1737 manuscript map, to which McNammara refers, contained fewer details (settler's names) than Moseley's published version, indicating a more utilitarian purpose behind this smaller copy.  

 

A New and Correct Map of the Province of N.C. (#MC0035), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.-Reproduction from original. Scale [1:633,600]. 60 miles = 1 degree. Note below title: "Survey by J. Cowley, London. 1737."

A comparison of the compass roses on the Moseley maps and on the Hoare painting of 1752. 

Not only that, a 57 x 45- inch map would be difficult to hold casually while posing for a portrait.  ;)  McNammara makes a strong argumrent.  Unfortunately for Scott's original timeline, the 1737 map was probably the one in Dobb's possession, as McNammara asserts.  But, this may not be the end of the timeline just yet...

Portrait of Arthur Dobbs copied from the 1752 painting by William Hoare

Dobbs did bring a map to the colony and to Brunswick Town, where he lived at Russellborough mansion... he died here.  He even had his portrait painted holding this map, to illustrate the lavish attention that he displayed toward it.  Again, this map was probably the 1737 manuscript map and not the published 1733.  Regarding the map in the painting of Dobbs, McNammara cites the smaller size and position of the compass rose, as well as Dobb's prior partnership with North Carolina land investor Henry McCullough as early as 1735.  McNammara asserts that the 1737 was the one that was submitted to the Board of Trade in 1736 with their proposals.  Dobbs obviously had a prior relationship to the 1737 map that pre-dated his arrival in the colony... even his appointment as its governor in 1753, if William Hoare did, indeed paint this portrait in 1752.  Dobbs planned well in advance for his governorship/investment. 

So, the Graham copy at ECU may not have arrived with Dobbs in 1755.  Could Dobbs have purchased Moseley's personal copy from his estate when he arrived, six years after Moseley died in 1749?  The governor did, after all, build Russellborough mansion adjacent to Brunswick Town on the Cape Fear River.  He did reside in that town during his term, the same place where Moseley lived since 1734 and where he likely died [It was also where the 73-yr old codger met the 15-yr old Justina Davis and married her in 1762!].  The map might have been in his easy grasp at some point, especially after Moseley died, perhaps with his widow, Ann Sampson Moseley (she would later marry Hugh Munro of New Hanover, who d.1779).  That would preserve Scott's explanation, anyway... considering Dobb's interest in North Carolina and his residence in the Lower Cape Fear at the right moment, it's quite possible.

This highly speculative tact requires an approach from the other end of the timeline that, hopefully may tie together.  We have to "fore" track on the trail about a century... the Graham family was in possession of a map at some point and a 1853 article researched by Scott confirms that a cousin, Hugh Williamson Collins, a grandson of Josiah Collins Sr of Edenton, owned it by that time:

Portion from: "North Carolina," North Carolina University Magazine , v. 2, no. 1 (February 1853), 2.

The Collins were related by marriage to the Grahams.  So, this is very likely the earliest confirmed existence of ECU's map.  As to the map in Dobb's possession...

So, we have to connect the Moseley map from the time it fell from Moseley's own hands until it came into Collins' possession... assuming ECU's copy to be Moseley's personal copy.

Now, track to New Bern... with the Collins' kin... the Daves.

Josiah Collins II (1768-1839) of Edenton, N.C.

Now, Professor Scott, at ECU, described how Arthur Dobb's map (1733 or 1737 or both?) wound up in New Bern at Tryon Palace after Dobb's death... after an incident referred to as the "Martin Court Quarrel."  In his efforts to explain the provenance of this map, he describes how the last royal governor, Josiah Martin, replacing Arthur Dobbs had to leave the colony suddenly because of a slightly-heated argument called the "American Revolution."  When Martin boarded the ship, he left behind many of his belongings, including the map that was mired in litigation over Dobbs' estate.  We know he left a map because in the auction of his hastily left belongings there was a New Bern shipwright named David Barron who bought "One map of North Carolina" (only one!!!)... still, Barron died a year later and we lose track of (maybe) the 1737 map... but, both maps may have resurfaced together! They did, as the update below shows:
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UPDATE: [7-29-2015]: Here's the other map purchase of David Barron: 

From 1777 sale of Josiah Martin's belongings left in Tryon's Palace when he hightailed it to HMS Cruizer. This is on the facing page of the estate sale (10 total pages!)

 It appears that the 2 pound price of Barron's map may have been the larger 1733 map while Ogden's only cost him 13 shillings. Presumably, the larger, printed map fetched a better price.

 UPDATE [6-4-2015]: I went to the state archives and just happened across the estate sale of the vacated Josiah Martin from 1777. In it, I found this reference:

From 1777 sale of Josiah Martin's belongings left in Tryon's Palace when he hightailed it to HMS Cruizer. Titus and Thomas Ogden were New Bern merchants. It appears that Titus Ogden purchased another map from the estate.

Yes, another reference to a "Map of Carolina" sold to Titus Ogden. The Ogden Family Papers, 1773-1891 (# 05481) at the Wilson Library at UNC tell:

• Members of the Ogden family, headed by James and Mary Odgen, lived in Manchester, England. Their children Thomas Ogden (d. 1787), Titus Ogden (d. 1793), and Isaac Ogden (d. 1785) emigrated from Manchester to North America circa 1770, where they settled in New Bern, N.C., and became successful landowners and merchants. Titus Odgen later moved to Philadelphia, Pa., and then to Tennessee, where he died in 1793. Titus Ogden was a paymaster to the troops and of Native American annuities; he was present at the 1791 signing of the Treaty of Holston with the Cherokees in Philadelphia.

 "Thomas and Titus Ogden" or "T&T Ogden," merchants of New Bern appear often in the John Gray Blount papers regarding transactions and a vessel owned by Titus Ogden called Old Agatha of which Titus tried to get Blount to purchase half. Estate papers for both Thomas and Titus do not mention the map. John Daves was legally involved with settling the Ogden's affairs in Craven County with John Gray Blount as Titus Ogden's executor. Daves died in 1804. Daves presumably obtained the map in Ogden's estate and presumably passed to his eldest son, John Pugh Daves... both maps then sold from his estate to James W. Bryan for a mere 75 cents!

Further update below on John Pugh Daves Estate Sale....
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Capt. John Daves of New Bern

Major (later, Capt.) John Daves (1748-1804) of New Bern served as the "first collector of the newly-open United States Customs House in New Bern," as told by Scott.  His home sat directly in front of the old governor's palace.  Scott also traced the family lineage of Daves and especially his daughter, Anne Rebecca (1785-1833), the wife of Josiah Collins Jr. and mother of Hugh Williamson Collins and the oldest child of age at the time Daves' died in 1804.  

Still, there was another link:

[UPDATE:] There is some possibility that Daves' son, John Pugh Daves had both maps in his estate inventory in 1839. They apparently were sold to "James W. Bryan"... if the bad writing actually reads as "Maps"... Yes, another link in the chain... James West Bryan, lawyer and recently appointed postmaster for Russel's PO in Craven County [15 May 1838] confirmed Daves' handwriting on his will in the probate in 1838. Bryan's biography from the Bryan Family Papers, 1704-1940 (#00096) at UNC reads:

• James West Bryan (1805-1864), attorney and Whig legislator of New Bern, N.C., brother of John H. Bryan, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1824. He represented Carteret County in the North Carolina State Constitutional Convention, 1835, and State Senate, 1835-1836. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1836-1856, and a member and vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern. He married Ann Mary Washington (1814-1864) in 1831, with whom he had five children: John (died in infancy), Laura (1837-1868), James Augustus Washington (1839-1923), Henry (died in infancy), and Washington (1853-1927).

John Pugh Daves' Estate Sale in 1839, Craven County, NC [Updated info 6-4-2015]

So, how did Hugh Williamson Collins in Edenton get the 1733 Moseley map in 1853!? It may have come to him through his mother or maybe he borrowed it from a cousin.

Dobb's seems to have possessed both maps (remember, two were sold from Martin's "going out of the country sale" in 1777 it seems).  It would be interesting to know definitively what happened to Moseley's personal copy after his death slightly bef. 15 July 1749 and how Dobbs obtained it... Moseley never mentioned it in his eight-page will... damn him! :)
 

Major John Daves House
313 George Street, New Bern
Ca. 1770 - from Walking Tour Map

Furthermore, there is a narrative that may also preserve more of Ralph Scott's provenance detail and even how Major Roberdeau became involved in 1822.  Even more interesting, this tale supports the idea that Roberdeau traced ECU's copy of Moseley's map of 1733... maybe Moseley's own personal copy with his own penciled revisions written directly upon it.  

Yes... revisions... the penciled notations on the map portion below include revised waterways and names of settlers.  The "S[tephen] Howard" printed on the north side of New River received this particular property in 1748, a year before Moseley died.  Other names like "J[ohn] Harris" (friend of John Fonville and his neighbor on the Neuse River who died in Jan 1749), "T[homas] Spight" (Spaight) on the Neuse... Davis, Lewis, Joseph Morgan all received their grants and had been deeded their properties at the indicated locations before Moseley died.  The "SW R..." on New River probably refers to today's Southwest Creek [which he then called "River"]. The lettering is sometimes ornate, with serif, and placed similarly to names that Moseley placed on the 1733 original.  Also, the penciled-in portion that's probably Holly Shelter Creek, beginning near Burgaw (incidentally, there's a great seafood place on that creek called Hollands), is where Moseley and many of his "Family" members had significant real investments (see pics below).  [Note: NC Archives map, call number: MC.167.H7461.1885h]

These notations are probably from the right time and they do appear to follow his interests...
The evidence is good for this being Moseley's writing.

It should be noted here that Prof. Jonathan Dembo, archivist for ECU's Special Collections, mentioned that Herman Moll would sell subscriptions to people to have their names printed on their land in his maps.  If memory serves, William Mayo did the same on Barbados (there's a list of subscribers) and it may have been a common practice among hungry/indebted cartographers.  Moseley was, by no means, starving, but he may have been continuing this common practice even after he published the map... plans for a revised edition, perhaps?  The money could start rolling in before he could get it published!  You would think he already had enough... lol.

New River portion of ECU's Graham copy of the 1733 map with penciled notations/revisions

Moseley Map of 1733 (ECU) compared with 1770 John Collett showing the same area of the Lower Cape Fear.  Note that the penciled-in extension for the creek running east from the NE Cape Fear is in the approximate area of Holly Shelter as indicated by John Collett on his map.  Moseley and his "Family" owned quite a bit of that property.  The Swanns were his in-laws as well as the Lillingtons ("Lunington" on Collett) and both families owned saw mills on that creek. Also, Moseley's nephew, John Ashe, a later Rev. War General, founded the short-lived town of Exeter and Moseley himself had owned 2,000 acres directly South from Exeter and between Thomas Merricks' and Charles Harrison's lands that he deeded to sons James and Sampson when he died in July 1749.  They subsequently passed this property on to John Alexander Lillington, also a later Rev. War General in the 1760s.  The picture below shows a 1764 survey for this 2,000 acres by the "Great Island" in the NE Cape Fear River.

 

1764 Survey by John Colson for 2,000 acres (Moseley's grant originally stated 1,850 acres) formerly belonging to Edward Moseley on the east side of the NE Cape Fear River adjacent to the "Great Island" - from the Lillington Collection, Pender County Library Annex, Burgaw, Pender County, NC.

This is great fun, but we'll have to stop glaring at the map and get back to the narrative... ;)

Enter Major Isaac Roberdeau in the early 19th century... he's already surveyed Washington, DC with L'Enfant, been appointed by Calhoun to the Topographical Bureau and avidly seeking maps of the United States.  His story explores early antebellum North Carolina and the "Era of Good Feelings," a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose, especially with the failure of the Federalist party and a forlorn opportunity  to create George Washington's hope of a no-party system.  Nevertheless, historians consider the "Era of Good Feelings" something of a misnomer because the history of the era expresses a strained and divisive political atmosphere (human beings in America have difficulty getting along, it seems).  There were particularly strong factions within the Monroe administration and the Jeffersonian Republican Party that fueled repeated investigations... a lack, rather, of "good feelings."

John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, formed the Topographical Bureau and appointed his friend, Isaac Roberdeau in charge of it (was once accused of overpaying Roberdeau in 1821).  The Secretary of War was accused of abusing his office and Roberdeau testified in his defense that, during his term as Chief, he struggled to increase the map holdings of the War Department from 65 at start to 1,180 and it was still increasing.  Roberdeau assured that it would soon reach 2,000.  This testimony for his friend Calhoun was delivered before Congress in 1825.  One of those "acquired" maps had to be his tracing of the Moseley Map, made three years earlier.  

Roberdeau Buchanan talked about the relationship between the engineer and John C. Calhoun and Roberdeau's usual trend regarding his inspections in his Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family: Including a Biography of General Daniel Roberdeau:

• Between Mr. Calhoun and the family of Colonel Roberdeau, there existed a warm friendship ; commencing with their official relations while the former was Secretary of  War.  Upon his yearly tours of inspection of the various military posts, Colonel Roberdeau generally accompanied him, and kept a private journal of the movements and expenses of the party.  The Columbian Sentinel of Boston, September 27, 1820, contains a notice:  "Secretary of War left New Haven on Friday last on his return to Washington, accompanied by Major Roberdeau of the Topographical Engineers, and Mr. Hagner, one of the Auditors of the Treasury."

Roberdeau made his tracing of Moseley's map on September 5, 1822.  Where he obtained access to a copy of a Moseley original, 57 x 45 inches, is the question.  

Hugh Williamson Collins' father, Josiah Collins Jr. lived, like his father, in Edenton at a large estate that at least one map labels as "Monticello" in the 1830s (be warned: I have been informed that this map may be inaccurate, though Collins did live in Edenton, on the Albemarle shore):

Walter Gwynn, [untitled], 1830s

A New and Correct Map of the Province of North Carolina: The Discovery of a 1737 North Carolina Manuscript Map

Mike McNamara

- See more at: http://www.mesdajournal.org/2012/correct-map-province-north-carolina/#sthash.foRZKWhB.dpuf

A New and Correct Map of the Province of North Carolina: The Discovery of a 1737 North Carolina Manuscript Map

Mike McNamara

- See more at: http://www.mesdajournal.org/2012/correct-map-province-north-carolina/#sthash.foRZKWhB.dpuf

A New and Correct Map of the Province of North Carolina: The Discovery of a 1737 North Carolina Manuscript Map

Mike McNamara

- See more at: http://www.mesdajournal.org/2012/correct-map-province-north-carolina/#sthash.foRZKWhB.dpuf

It may have been at Collins' "Monticello" near Edenton that Roberdeau had returned to trace Moseley's map in 1822.  

Collins, Josiah, Sr. by A. C. Menius III, 1979

Collins would have been an interesting man for Roberdeau to speak with.  He had built a canal from Lake Phelps to the Scuppernong River around the turn of the century to drain his 160,000 acres in then Tyrrell County (now, Washington).  

• NOTE:  Josiah Collins' grandson Josiah III would become known for his estate at Somerset Plantation on Lake Phelps.  However, he was the first generation to move away from Edenton and the first to be born in America and not England.  

President James Monroe often traveled by new maritime technology.  August 17, 1807 marked the launch of Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat.  This brand new technology was making inroads upon maritime navigation and characterized the innovative atmosphere of the era, as also the newer and better Dismal Swamp Canal, by coincidence, an engineering specialty of Major Isaac Roberdeau who published "Mathematics and Treatise on Canals" in 1796.  Certainly, the Collins should have known of Roberdeau's work.  Although it was eventually Major James Kearney who surveyed the Dismal Swamp Canal, Roberdeau must have had some impact upon the project and good reason to accompany his friend Calhoun on the journey to investigate the coastal fortifications, another of his professional interests.  So, Collins and Roberdeau would have much to share. 

President James Monroe

Josiah Collins Sr. had an accident and was quite elderly already in 1819.  He would die by May of that year.  Still, a month before he passed away, President Monroe, his secretary and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and his wife visited Edenton in April of 1819.  They were making a tour of the southeastern coast, visiting Edenton, Washington, NC, New Bern, Trenton, Wilmington, Charleston, and, undoubtedly many other destinations.  

Secretary of War John C. Calhoun

The Edenton Gazettte issue of April 6th, 1819 reported that they brought along members of the Army's "Corps of Engineers" that were to show the president "objects particularly deserving his attention" relative to "a naval depot, dock-yards and fortifications."  Major Isaac Roberdeau never appeared by name in the newspaper reports, but as the Chief of the Topographical Bureau, Corps of Engineers and a personal friend of John C. Calhoun's, he undoubtedly did accompany them, perhaps anonymously included in the president's military contingent.

Edenton Gazette header for April 13, 1819

The president and party left Washington, DC on March 31st.  They took the steamboat Roanoke for Norfolk, arriving there the next day.  The Gazette printed the news from Norfolk on April 1st:

Edenton Gazette April 6th, 1819

 The president was to return to the Dismal Swamp Canal which he had inspected the year before, falling into the canal when some loose logs on a bridge rolled as he tried to stand on them.  One reporter noted sarcastically that he only got "[Henry] Clay" on his coat.  lol  Nevertheless, Monroe saw Lake Drummond and experienced one of the first trips through the newly opened Dismal Swamp Canal, seen as an important advance in national security after the recent war with Britain... the second one... War of 1812.

Edenton Gazette ad for Steam-boat Albemarle, April 1819

Once in Edenton, President Monroe again received another hearty welcome.  "On Tuesday, last," stated the Edenton Gazette, they embarked aboard the Steam-boat Albemarle for the "Marshes, which separate Albemarle from Pamlico Sound" (namely, the current Hyde, Tyrrell, Washington, and Beaufort County areas) before proceeding to inspect the recently closed Roanoke Inlet, a devastating detriment to Edenton's commerce.  The president's party of engineers may have offered some hope to Edenton's merchants, undoubtedly, Josiah Collins Sr. and Jr. who would certainly have been in attendance... "opening a direct outlet to the ocean from Albemarle Sound," which was rapidly closing and choking off what little access merchants still enjoyed from other maritime locales and their ships' cargoes.

Although the newspaper did not specifically mention the Collins, the two men were prominent local citizens of Edenton who should have been there... with at least John C. Calhoun in attendance, if not his friend and engineer, Roberdeau.  Still, Calhoun was closely associated with the Topographical Bureau that was then actively engaged in acquiring a massive collection of maps and would have been interested in a copy of Moseley's map that anyone, like Collins, would wish to share.    

It's still possible that Roberdeau and Moseley's map may have missed each other in Edenton.  Perhaps another explanation for the connection between Roberdeau and an original copy of Edward Moseley's map might assume that Collins did not obtain access to the map in 1804 when his father-in-law, Captain John Daves died and that it actually fell into the hands of his son, John Pugh Daves (1789-1838) of New Bern (perhaps given to his sister and mother of Hugh Williamson Collins, Anne Daves Collins after his death in 1838)... 

No problem... because the president's party made their way that April over land to Washington, NC, then by the waters of the Pamlico to Neuse Bridge on the Neuse River, and then, into New Bern.  Calhoun and/or Roberdeau may have found the map in Edenton or they might have heard about it and decided to ask Daves about it when they reached New Bern on the president's tour the morning of April 10th.  

By luck, the committee awaiting them in New Bern consisted of many prominent citizens of their fair town, including John Stanly, Edward Graham, and Jonathan P. Daves (yes, this is him).  

William Blount Shepard (1844-1913)

Prof. Ralph Scott writes that Mrs. John W. Graham, of Edenton, claimed the ECU copy of the map to have "been in possession of the Graham family for several generations."  Another part of Ralph Scott's investigations concerned how it came into the Grahams' possession.  Hugh Williamson Collins was apparently an alcoholic who never married.  He was living with his sister Ann Collins Blount when he died of "dropsy due to cirrhosis of the liver" in 1854 at the age of 41, the year after he informed North Carolina University Magazine of his ownership/possession of the Moseley map. 

Afterward, Scott tells us that Hugh's nephew Arthur Collins (1842-1913, son of Josiah III) left "an old map in the room" to the care of his cousin William Blount Shepard (1844-1913) who happened to live at Josiah Collins III's Somerset Plantation in Creswell, North Carolina [Collins-Shepard genealogy].  Arthur made his request that Shepard "Please take care of [the map] for me."  He must have done so before his death.  He died June 1913.  Little did Arthur know at that time that Shepard would die before him, in January of the same year.  Still, Shepard's daughter, Anne Cameron Shepard had married William Alexander Graham, MD (1875-1911).  Their son was John W. Graham, husband of the woman who found the map in her attic in 1982 and transmitted it to ECU.  


So, it may have been that, by this time, the Collins and allied families viewed the map as an honored possession - certainly not when Bryan had two maps for only 75 cents.  Still, the 1733 map had been sought by the federal government for the Topographical Bureau's collection and traced in 1822, then by the North Carolina University Magazine in 1853.  Anne Shepard Graham and her husband may have recognized the map's historical significance as well... Edward Moseley's name was well known, especially after Confederate attorney-general and Wilmington resident (and member of Moseley's "Family") George Davis' glorious praise of him following the Civil War.  

NC Gov. William Alexander Graham (1840-1843)

Still, if James W. Bryan possessed the map in 1839, there may be another trail... A bit more investigation shows that William Alexander Graham's father was John Washington Graham (1838-1928), of Orange County, North Carolina.  John's father was Governor and Confederate senator William Alexander Graham of North Carolina, born in 1804, son of General Joseph Graham (War of 1812), and whose grandfather James Graham (1714–1763) was born in Drumbo, County Down, Northern Ireland and settled in Chester County in the Province of Pennsylvania.  Gov. Graham's wife was Susannah Sarah Washington (1816-1890). UPDATE: Was she related to Mary Ann Washington who married James W. Bryan? Indeed, they were sisters, both daughters of John and Elizabeth "Betsy" Heritage Cobb Washington. So, the 1733 map may have passed from Mary Ann Washington Bryan to her sister, the wife of Gov. William A. Graham sometime after Bryan purchased the "2 old maps" from John Pugh Daves' estate in 1839.

So, we have two possible transmissions from Daves to Graham, one via Daves to Collins-Shepard and the other via Bryan/Washington to Graham. It may have happened both ways, the map temporally being loaned to Hugh W. Collins who died prematurely and the old map falling to Shepard who gave it back to the next generation of Grahams.


Of early North Carolina "historians," commonly trained as lawyers and politicians, Gov. William A. Graham was something of an antiquarian/amateur historian himself whose daughter had married Walter Clark, noted politician, lawyer, and compiler of the state records, another twilight-years historian like his father-in-law.  Graham was well-noted for his strong Confederate sympathies and white supremacy and much of his historical contributions undoubtedly had a slightly-biased revisionist historical "flavor."  He also may have imparted "historical" sympathies to his son, William, the doctor who married Ms. Anne Shephard and brought the Collins' map into his orbit.  

• Still, the next generation folded the map and stored it in their attic (in a large encyclopedia... part of a collection of books stored there)... not archival conditions, but dry.  Bugs and other environmental factors may have taken their toll and many places along the fold lines have been eaten away... a perfect argument for proper, non-antiquarian and third-party/public archival care.  The map could have been lost at any number of occasions while in the private care of people who may or may not understand its value to the state. The Kendall original copy of Moseley's map is now lost to us because Kendall chose to keep it in his own, personal collection... a collection that he had no control over after his death.  A part of our cultural heritage was irresponsibly thrown away... Public institutions are not perfect, no.  Still, they have YET to lose an original copy of this map and have a much better track record than the private whims of the average human being.  Archives have many stages of oversight... it's their job.  Yes, I feel strongly about this...at least we may still have Moseley's personal copy thanks to Mrs. Graham's wisdom in 1982.

Incidentally, in 1835, The future Gov. Graham served on the North Carolina General Assembly, House of Commons as the delegate from Hillsborough while Hugh Williamson Collins served on the same body as the delegate from Edenton. Again, a close-knit bunch...

• Of the "Edward Graham" that served on the committee to meet President Monroe in New Bern in April 1819 with John Pugh Daves, he was probably not related to Gov. William A. Graham, but, irregardless, he was John Pugh Daves' father-in-law.  Daves married his daughter, Elizabeth Batchelor Graham.  Again...this can be confusing!

Anyway... we've gotten way off track, here.  

Obviously, Major Isaac Roberdeau had plenty of opportunity to "discover" an original copy of Edward Moseley's map of 1733... the full-sized 57 x 45-inch version. 


In all of the trouble to discover how a copy of Moseley's map arrived in America... and, just happened to land in Edenton, historians and other scholars have seldom dared to hope that it might be Edward Moseley's personal copy.  The penciled notations, I believe, were made by Moseley himself... in preparation for a revised version.  We may occasionally be rewarded for our dares!  :)

Surely, Moseley had to own a copy of his own final product!  He died in 1749 and he lived in Edenton for most of his adult life, between 1704 and 1733.  But, he spent 1734-1749 living part-time in Brunswick Town, just a stone's throw away from Gov. Arthur Dobb's future plantation of Russellborough, built only five years after Moseley died.  Moseley and the rest of his "Family" owned tens of thousands of acres (nearly 165,000 by my calculations so far) across the colony.  Moseley's sons inherited his portion and, perhaps his other possessions, such as a large map...  Indeed, it may still have been hanging on the wall in his home in Brunswick Town when Dobbs arrived six years after Moseley died!  Anne Moseley, who resided in Brunswick Town after her husband's death, more than likely rolled out a welcome mat for the new governor. It may have been the first time he had seen Moseley's original map.

Gov. Arthur Dobbs may have "inherited," "purchased," "acquired" Moseley's map in Brunswick Town.  This is the only missing link... between the heirs of Edward Moseley and Gov. Dobbs or between Moseley and Collins... the lines do get crossed...  Plus, the Revolution caused enough confusion to lose the trails of both maps, the 1733 and the 1737, when Gov. Martin snuck away in the night to avoid being lynched or killed by irate Americans. Which did he have at Tryon?  One?  Or both?  Some day we may answer that question... some document somewhere, perhaps in the estate of eldest son John Moseley or Edward Moseley Jr., or brothers Sampson, Thomas, James, or William... not to forget daughter Ann Humphries or widow, Ann Sampson Moseley Munro (after 1762, the wife of Hugh Munro).  

One thing that seems significant is that Edward's widow probably remained at his home in Brunswick Town through 1762, where a tax list shows her as still "Ann Moseley."  She had not yet married Hugh Munro (d. 1779).  So, when Dobbs lived in Brunswick Town, Moseley's widow was young and a "free agent" as they say... Dobbs married the still-giggling Davis girl in 1762 as well... the Davis family was related to Moseley through marriage and Dobbs most likely met her in Brunswick Town or Wilmington.  He had ample opportunity to come into contact with Moseley's map.

Last Page of Edward Moseley Will, dated 20 March 1745

Moseley's kids weren't hurting for wealth... the most interesting aspect of Moseley's eight-page will is that he spends a great deal of time devising his many acres with various houses (including the unfinished "Moseley Hall" on the west side of the Northeast Cape Fear River that was to be his grand estate), improvements, and the produce of his slaves and vineyards.  He names his many slaves (about 100 in all), his more than 150 books, various rings worth a "guinea" each, demanding payment of his debts only from the more than plentiful money owed to him and not from the sale of any of his property or slaves, worrying about every minute detail of even the most insignificant fiscal nature, even to who gets what silverware... but, he never seems concerned specifically about the one primary creation of his own genius and artistry, the one thing that we, today, have come to revere the most... his copy of the map of 1733.  Presumably, it is included in the last item... "The rest & residue of my Estate, both real and personal I give to be equally divided among my Sons & the Survivors of them."  

I will say this:  he had damn good handwriting!

Even Moseley, himself, the "land-hungry" man described by Noeleen McIlvenna in A Very Mutinous People, the “factious man” who “found little use for his talents save that of stirring up strife and encouraging contention for ends purely selfish" that historian Rev. Francis Lister Hawks found in 1858, cared so much more for his wealth, slaves, and possessions than anything else, including his own creation.  I guess we think more of it than he did.  As for us North Carolinians, we will remember his map... and the one that's hanging on the wall of Joyner's Special Collections at East Carolina University could very well be the one that he thought not so worthy to mention in his will.

Graham Copy of Edward Moseley's Map of 1733 Hanging on Wall of J. Y. Joyner's Special Collections at East Carolina University

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Dethroning the Kings of Cape Fear: Consequences of Edward Moseley's Surveys

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Aristocratic Pyrates of the Albemarle

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Brunswick Town and Wilmington

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