A History of South Carolina,, 1809 by Dr. Edward McCrady

326                     HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

not, however, appear to have been in haste to go.  As late as October 9, 1683, the "Baptist company" were settled at Kittery; for Screven was summoned again before the court for disregard of the previous order; and again on the 27th of May, 1684, he was summoned " to appear before the General Assembly in June next.^"  As no further mention in reference to Mr. Screven is found in the records of the province, it is probable that he and his company had made all their preparations for removal and before the time of the meeting of the General Assem­bly arrived, had left their homes on the Piscataqua for a new settlement in Carolina.  The place selected for the settlement was on Cooper River, not far from Charles Town; but the exact location is not known, nor the date of their arrival. Mr. Screven called the settlement Somer­ton, probably from his native place in England.[1]  Blake, Axtell, and Morton came to Carolina about the same time.  Blake's wife and her mother, "Lady" Axtell, became mem­bers of Mr. Screven's congregation.  Before 1693 most of the members of the church had removed to Charles Town .[2]

            In the year 1696 Carolina received a small accession of inhabitants by the arrival of a Congregational Church from Dorchester in Massachusetts, who, with their minister, the Rev. Joseph Lord, settled in a body near the head of the Ashley River, about twenty miles from Charles Town. The church of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was composed of a company of Puritans who, early in 1630, had sailed from Plymouth, England, and settled in that province.  This congregation, which was formed as a missionary enterprise,

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embarked on the 5th of December, 1695, in two small ves­sels, and experienced a severe gale on their passage; but both vessels arrived safely in about fourteen days. The colony, treading their way up the Ashley River in quest of a convenient place for settlement, fixed upon a spot which they named Dorchester. Here, in the midst of an unbroken forest, inhabited by beasts of prey and savage men, twenty miles from the dwelling of any white man, they took up their abode, and remained nearly sixty years, keeping together as a distinct community. Finding the situation unhealthy and confined to a tract of land too small for their purposes, they again moved in 1752 and settled at Medway, Liberty County, Georgia.  Several families of Colleton County, however, came from the stock, and it is believed that many of the people in that section of the State are derived from this source. The ruins of their fort and of their church may yet be seen near Summerville.[3]

The colony was continually receiving new additions from Barbadoes and the other West India Islands, bring­ing with them their negro slaves.  These were all Church of England people, and formed a great part of the church party in the colony.  They settled principally upon the Cooper River; some of them were of the Goose Creek men of whom the Proprietors warned Ludwell to beware.[4]

344          HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

            The first act in order of time found remaining when the statutes were compiled in 1837 was one entitled "An act for the settling of a pilot,^" April 11, 1685.[5] It was, how-ever, so defaced as to be illegible, but we have preserved one passed under Sothell, March 25, 1691, no doubt based upon that of 1685.  This appointed three regular pilots who were required to make it their business to look out for ships coming into the harbor, regulating their conduct and prescribing the rates of pilotage.[6] In 1694 an addition to this act was made providing for the maintenance of a watch on Sullivan^'s Island as well.[7]  In 1696 this was again added to and amended, and rates for bringing in vessels by the different channels prescribed.[8] These pilots Lawson found on duty when he arrived in 1700.[9]  There was need of them; for from the town could now be seen entering the harbor vessels from Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the Leeward Islands, from Virginia and the other colonies, and the always welcome ships from England. About twelve of these ships were owned by the colonists, half of which were built by themselves.[10]  These were, however, small; for, unhappily, the bar across the mouth of the harbor admitted no ships of above 200 tons.[11]  Archdale, writing in 1707, says he could demonstrate what a great advantage Carolina is to the trade of England by consuming com­modities from thither, and by bringing great duties to the

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Crown by importing goods or commodities thence: "For Charles Town trades near 1000 miles into the continent.^" That notwithstanding all the discouragements the town had met withal, yet seventeen ships that year came thence to London in the Virginia fleet laden from Carolina with rice, skins, pitch, and tar, besides several stragglers.[12]

The neck of land between Cooper and Ashley rivers, about six miles in length, was well settled.  One passed about this time, in riding up the road which Archdale described as so beautiful, the plantations of Mathews, Green, Starkey, Gray, Grimball, Dickeson, and Izard on the Cooper; and further up those of Sir John Yeamans, Landgrave Bellinger, Colonel Gibbs, Mr. Schenkingh, Colonel Moore, and Colonel Quarry.  On the Ashley Landgrave West, Colonel Godfrey, and Dr. Trevillian had planta­tions.  Goose Creek was thickly settled.  On the western branch of the Cooper River the most noted plantations were "Coming T," the plantation of Captain John Com­ings, the same who had come out with Halsted, and Sir Nathaniel Johnson's "Silk Hope." In Colleton County lived Colonel Paul Grimball, Landgraves Morton, Blake, and Axtell, and Mr. Boone.  There were two small towns or hamlets besides Charles Town,— Wiltown or New London on the South Edisto, containing about eighty houses, and Dorchester at the head of the Ashley, con­taining about 350 souls.[13]

            The Governor generally resided in Charles Town and the Assembly sat there, as well as the newly established courts.  There also the public offices were kept and the business of the province transacted.

            The first fortunes in Carolina were made in the Indian trade, a trade which the Proprietors jealously endeavored