Immigration Into North Carolina (1729 1775)

Immigration into North Carolina (1729 – 1775)

In 1729, the colony of North Carolina became an official Royal Colony – meaning that England would now govern North Carolina and the other 12 colonies. Before England took over the governing of NC, the Eight Lords Proprietors (owners) were in charge of the colony. They had been given this land because they had been loyal to Charles II, the King of England.

The Eight Lords Proprietors never came to North Carolina and they did a terrible job of governing the colony. Without knowing much about the land or its people, they did a bad job of selecting governors. They usually selected men that did not know how to get along with the colony’s people. Also, North Carolina was a violent, unstable colony. There were major rebellions, countless battles with Native Americans, pirates like Blackbeard, and local government struggles that sometimes ended with governors being captured and jailed. Not surprisingly, North Carolina did not grow in population during this period and received a very bad reputation.

That is why England took over the colony in 1729. Though North Carolina still had struggles, the population did greatly increase during the Royal Colony years.

1729 36,000

1749 45,000

1765 120,000

1775 300,000 (4th largest colony of the 13 just before the Revolutionary War) In order to make money off their property, various land agents created promotional tracts in an attempt to get European citizens to move to North Carolina. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the things advertised were misleading. For instance, would be colonists heard tales of “friendly natives”, “the best soil in America,” navigable rivers, cheap land, low taxes, religious freedom, and opportunity. By no means were all of these things untrue, but some colonists certainly felt mislead when they arrived in North Carolina.

The Scotch-Irish

One of the first groups to immigrate into North Carolina were the Scotch-Irish. The Scotch-Irish were not Irish at all – they were Scottish people that England had encouraged to settle in Ireland. England hated the Irish and their Catholic religion. After defeating them in battle, they gave land away to Scottish klans. England had hoped the Scottish people would be a good influence on the Irish – who they unfairly considered backwards. The Scots did so well farming and making things in Ireland that they angered England because the Scotch-Irish were making food and goods cheaper than England – this started hurting England’s trade. As a result, England made it hard on the Scots by raising land rents. A famine also hit Ireland (a period where it is hard to grow crops because of the lack of rain and/or soil death). As a result of this economic hardship, many Scots decided to look to English America as a place to escape and start over.

Beginning in about 1735, the Scotch-Irish began coming to the backcountry (the frontier – the place that had not been settled by Europeans – though there were Native Americans already settled in the area) of North Carolina. This area is called the piedmont today. The Scotch-Irish came to North Carolina mostly via the Great Wagon Road. A 735-mile long road that stretched from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Savannah, Georgia. Some examples of counties in North Carolina the Scotch-Irish settled in where Mecklenburg, Guilford, Rowan. The Scotch-Irish were the largest immigration group to the colony of North Carolina during this time period (1729 – 1775).

Interesting facts: a census concluded that 96% of the Scotch-Irish could read and write (were literate). That is an unbelievably high number for the time period.

Many Scotch-Irish were too poor to pay their ticket price to the new world. As a result, they had to agree to become an indentured servant. An indentured servant typically got free a passage to English America and a plot of land, if they would agree to work a period of time for someone in America (usually seven years). Scotch-Irish composed of the most indentured servants of any of the immigrating groups.

Almost all Scotch-Irish were Presbyterians (a traditional Christian protestant denomination or group). The Highland Scots

The next largest group to immigrate to North Carolina during its Royal Colony years were the Highland Scots. North Carolina had not fully developed a workable port for trading and ship travel – so most groups that immigrated to North Carolina filtered down from other states (most came by the Great Wagon Road). Not only was a port not fully developed, but the North Carolina coast with its changing currents and unpredictable shallow reefs, was a true “graveyard of the Atlantic” coastline (there is a record of at least 500 ships sinking off the coast of North Carolina).

However, the Highland Scots were different. They were the only major immigration group that during this period of increased immigration came directly to North Carolina. In the high country of Scotland, the area had gone through an economic depression and they had faced military defeat at the hands of the English army. Many Highland Scots lived in sod houses on dirt floors sharing space with farm animals.

At about this exact time in history, as luck would have it, a man named Gabriel Johnston, himself of Highland Scot ancestry (background) became Royal Governor of North Carolina. Governor Johnston is often considered by historians as the best or one of the best royal governors in North Carolina history. Governor Johnston, a visionary thinker, believed the Wilmington / Cape Fear area had the potential to become the thriving port city the colony needed. As governor, he quickly moved to have this area developed.

With Wilmington / Cape Fear developing, Governor Johnston invited Highland Scots to settle in North Carolina. He further encouraged settlement by offering free land grants and no land taxes for ten years. The Highland Scots first started settling in what is today Fayetteville around 1732. Future counties like Cumberland, Bladen, Anson, Robeson, Moore and Richmond were all settled by Highland Scots. Upon arrival, the Highland Scots were amazed by the denseness of the forest and the availability of wood. They built houses that were much bigger than the dirt floor sod dwellings they had back in Scotland. They continued for many years to speak their native tongue of Gaelic and like the Scotch- Irish, they worshiped as Presbyterians.

Interesting Fact: Despite harsh treatment by the English, many Highland Scots in North Carolina remained loyal to England during the Revolutionary War.

The Moravians

The Moravians were a small band of people living in Germany. They had been persecuted (attacked, beaten, and killed) for their religious beliefs while in Germany in the 1600s. The Moravians were pacifists (they did not believe in fighting) and they believed in mostly communal sharing of profit. Facing the constant threat of death, the Moravians looked to moving to English America for religious freedom.

The Moravians first settled in Georgia and then into Pennsylvania in the 1730s and 1740s. Hearing about their good reputation, land agents in North Carolina invited the Moravians to plant a settlement in the Carolina colony. In 1752-1753, the Moravians, after traveling down the Great Wagon Road, bought a tract of land in Forsyth County. They named this first tract of land Wachovia (meaning meadow valley). They eventually set up three Moravian towns: Bethabara, Bethania, and Salem (the major city of Winston-Salem would later come out of this settlement).

"The land on which we are now encamped seems to me to have been reserved by the Lord for the Brethren." ~~~~August Gottlieb Spangenberg. January 8, 1753 – Moravian Leader

In order to get their new colony off to a great start, they sent people with special skills:

Minister Shoemaker Banker Gardner 2 Carpenters

Doctor Tailor Tanner 3 Farmers

The smart planning paid off – soon the colony started to thrive. In fact, word spread throughout the colony and people were making trips to Forsyth County to try and hire out Moravians to perform tasks. Moravian goods were so wanted throughout the colony, that wagons were loaded of Moravian supplies and sent to Wilmington. "Brother Kalberland's fame as a doctor is spreading. Patients are coming to him from as much as eighty miles away and he has been called to others at points nearly as distant. Work is beginning to come to the craftsmen." ~~~~~~Jacob Loesch, August 14, 1754.

Interesting Facts – The Moravians used almost no slave labor throughout their history in North Carolina.

The Moravians continued to speak German will living in North Carolina all the way until 1856.

Africans

Though all of the immigration groups of the 1700s faced hard times from the places they were leaving, Africans were the only group that did not freely choose to come to North Carolina. Africans were forced to immigrate to North Carolina as slaves. Some Africans were kidnapped by slave traders and others were sold as slaves by rival African tribes.

The trip from Western Africa to English America for Africans was known as the middle passage. The middle passage was a horrific trip in which various Africans were crammed and chained body to body on the lower decks of ships. Many slaves were killed before they arrived in English America (an estimated 2 million Africans died along the middle passage). Once in North Carolina or in other slave states, slaves were stood on auction platforms and examined by potential buyers. The first African slaves in English America arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Various forms of slavery had been going on throughout the world for thousands of years. At first, southern colonies used indentured servants, but slavery proved to be cheaper and easier to stop from running away. Though North Carolina allowed slavery, it had the lowest amount of slaves of any southern colony and it never developed a plantation economy (only 3% of slaves in NC were considered part of a plantation).

Colony White Population - 1750 Black Population - 1750 White – 1790 Slave - 1790 North Carolina 53,184 19,800 289,181 100,783 South Carolina 25,000 39,000 140,178 107,094 Virginia 129,581 101,452 442,117 292,627

Though not in every case, most historical evidence shows that slaves were poorly fed, poorly clothed, and poorly housed. Somewhat surprisingly, there is no record of a major slave uprising in North Carolina (as you had in Virginia and in South Carolina). Slaves seemed to understand that a rebellion was doomed to failure. Some slaves learned to rebel in other ways: breaking tools, pretending to be sick, pretending not to understand directions, stealing food, and running away). Running away was very hard because it was easy in colonial society to spot a runaway slave.

Not surprisingly, the daily life of a slave was very hard. Slaves typically worked with tobacco, rice, naval stores, or cotton in North Carolina. All of these crops require intense manual labor time – long hours of hard work. Overseers, both black and white, were placed in the fields to push slaves to complete work in a timelier manner – they were allowed to use harsh punishment to intimidate slaves. Some slaves also had special skills: cook, blacksmith, carpenter, and coachman. Special skilled slaves were highly prized and better treated. Bellamy Mansion is a Wilmington example of both free and enslaved blacks using their special carpentry skills.

There were African slaves that were given their freedom in North Carolina. Typically, a slave owner may have set someone free when they died (in their will) or even allowed slaves to purchase their freedom with money saved from skilled jobs that were completed. Free blacks, prior to 1835, could vote and own property in North Carolina.

The Germans

During this same period, a group of immigrants from northern Germany began coming over to Pennsylvania. It is important to understand that Germany was not a unified country in the 1700s – saying somebody was from Germany meant they were from somewhere in or around what is today Germany and they spoke German. A large number of the Germans that came over were people from what is today Switzerland.

These Germans left their area for English America because they were tired of war and tired of living in poverty – they had heard about large amounts of cheap land and religious freedom.

These Germans first started to appear in the frontier backcountry of North Carolina in the late 1740’s, 1750s, and 1760s. They came by the Great Wagon Road and they settled in the following counties: Rowan, Cabarrus, Alamance, Guilford, Orange, and Iredell. The vast majority worshipped as Lutherans or German Reformed.

Not only were conditions very hard (no electricity, no grocery stories, no washing machines, no refrigerators, no cell phones, no police or fire departments), but they were also dangerous. Native Americans had been pushed further and further west into North Carolina and many Natives were fed up and turned to violence. There were also no newspapers written in German and they did not speak the official colonial language of English.

What pushed many Germans living in North Carolina to learn the language was business dealings with the other colonists. Because most business deals were done in English, many Germans were not sure if they were treated fairly.

Interesting Fact:

Many German names were changed to fit in with English America:

Michael Guthmann became Michael Goodman

Johannes Ecket became John Eagle

Weis became White

Zimmerman became Carpenter

Native Americans

While North Carolina was experiencing a huge increase in various immigrating groups, the Native Americans continued to suffer. Upon first contact with Europeans, historians believe North Carolina had about 28 Native American tribes. Due to disease, some tribes completely vanished after contact with Europeans (Hatteras, Chowan, and Cape Fear). The Native Americans came into contact with germs that they had never encountered before, so they had no immunity (defense) and this led to lots of deaths.

Europeans and Native Americans had major differences in land ownership and religion. Because most Native Americans worshipped many gods and did not practice Christianity, the Europeans felt they were backward savages that needed converting. In some cases, Native Americans that would not convert to Christianity were killed.

Native Americans also saw land very differently. While tribes did occupy spaces, Native Americans did not believe you could buy and sell something that was naturally produced. Buying land was like buying air. Europeans were farmers and in an agricultural lifestyle, land cannot be communal – ownership was a necessity. These major differences led to violent disagreements.

As immigration continued into the 1750s and 1760s, the Native Americans joined the French to declare war on English America – which included North Carolina. The frontier backcountry that many of the immigrating groups had settled in became an easy target for Native Americans to terrorize. Significant numbers of whites were killed during the French and Indian War. In the end, England and her colonies did win and the Natives were pushed further west.

John White watercolor paintings (the John White that was the governor of the Lost Colony). These are some of the only pictures we have of Native Americans living in the 1500s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkV-of_eN2w – Colors of the Wind (from the Disney movie Pocahontas)