86 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

An extract from a letter of the Rev. John McDowell in 1760
Se bishop of London, gives the following information:
Nothing can give me greater pleasure than to hear that my
conduct is approved. I have been south as far as the borders

Permanent Settlement 87

‘The principal event of Dobbs’s administration was the acces-
sion, in 1761, of George III. to the throne.

Mr. Haywood, in the preface of his book on Governor Tryon,

makes the following suggestive observation: “Ever since I have
learned to rely more upon documentary evidence than upon the
individual opinions of writers, I have been convinced that his-
tory has dealt too harshly with the memory of Governor Tryon.”

Governor Tryon was born in the handsome family residence
in Surrey in the year 1729. He arrived in the province at Cape
Fear on Wednesday, October 10, 1764, and next day waited on
Governor Dobbs, who had already been apprised of his coming.
Dobbs refused to relinquish the office at once, which was a bitter
disappointment to Tryon, who wanted to put into immediate
effect the policies which he had outlined.

The Governor’s mansion being still in possession of the in-

cumbent in office, Tryon experienced great inconvenience in
securing accommodations for himself and his family, who ac-

companied him.
The venerable Governor Dobbs was destined never to leave

North Carolina, for, on the 28th of March following, death
brought relief to the aged ruler, and when his remains were laid

to rest on the Town Creek Plantation, there being not a clergy-
man within a hundred miles of Brunswick, the burial service

had to be conducted by a justice of the peace.
One of the first official acts of Governor Tryon was to arrange
for the establishment of a seat of government at New Bern,

with the result that the town began to prosper.
The third session of the Legislature having met on the 3d

of May, after a short encomium on his predecessor’s administra-
tion, he advised the houses to improve the hour of tranquillity in

promoting the internal polity of the province, making the fol-
lowing recommendations: “The establishment of a clergyman
in each parish, whose salary should be paid out of the public
treasury. That they reflect upon the present state of the
Church that it might no longer suffer from so great neglect ; that:
provision be made to enable the postmaster general to establish
a line of post roads through the province of North Carolina,
also a committee appointed to contract for conveying the mail

from Suffolk, Va., to South Carolina.
The most noteworthy event of this decade was the passage by

Parliament of the notorious Stamp Act. An attempt on the

of South Carolina assembling a great number of people from
both provinces, and we were obliged to assemble under the shady
trees. I baptized one day on that visit thirty-two children and
adults, among them five free mulattoes.

“It is impossible for me to live here where my salary is so
small and everything so dear. I could not have continued so
long had I not had some fortune with my wife, which, if I
continue here much longer, must go. I was obliged to sell a
slave last year to help us to subsist, though no persons ever
lived in a more frugal manner.”

April 15, 1760, Governor Dobbs recommended McDowell
fixed in this parish: “I therefore join with them in these
applications, as it is the parish I reside in, and propose when
the church is finished, which is now roofing, to be His Majesty’s
chapel in this government, to which he has been pleased to give
the communion plate, surplice, and furniture for the communion
table and pulpit, Bible and Common Prayer-books, to have the
pete performed een decency. This church will be the larg-
est and most complete in this provi
for building ead churches.” cp rere er er

April 17, 1760, McDowell writes: “It is with great pleasure
that I can acquaint society that my parishioners of Brunswick
have a fine large church, by far the largest in the province, in
great forwardness—the brickwork is done and a great part of
the roof up. We hope to have the church covered and fit for
the purpose of divine service this ensuing summer, and a par-
sone house to be actually built and a glebe purchased for me.

. His Excellency, Governor Dobbs, will put up a pew for
himself, a chancel-rail, a pulpit, and a reading desk; and will
give a carpet for the communion table, plate and lush for the
communion service, and a surplice for the minister.” This
was his seventh year of service.

April 16, 1761, McDowell writes: “The roof of the new
church at Brunswick is all fallen down again. It was struck
with lightning last July, and afterwards a prodigious and im-
moderate amount of rain falling on it made it all tumble down:
and there it lies just as it fell; the chapel is a most miserable
old house, only 24 by 12, and every shower or blast of wind
blows through it.”