A Letter from Arthur Dobbs Esqr Governor of North Carolina, dated Newburn in North Carolina December 13th. 1754, acquainting that since his arrival in that Province he had traversed the whole Country near the Sea Coasts from the Northern Boundary to the Mouth of Cape Fear River, near the Southern Boundary, and he had made the best inquiry he could into the State of Religion, & of the Established Church in the Province. He found the Church at Edenton where there are at present about 50 Families not finished, but when done it will be a neat brick Church, & there are several distant Chapels in the County of Chowan: Mr Dobbs received a very good Character there of the Society’s Missionary Mr Hall, who is diligent in his Duty: & fixed in an house there & he beleives in a Glebe. At Bath Town the Church is finished & Divine Service performed in it. There are about 20 Families in that Town, but the Parish which is very large has several distant Chapels where Mr Stewart officiates in their turns, & discharges his Duty to the Satisfaction of his Parishioners, they allow him 75£ Sterling ⅌ annum, & it gives Mr Dobbs pleasure, that Mr Stewart answers the good Character he gave of him to the Society. The Church in Newburn is finished & Divine Service performed in it, & it is a pretty neat Brick Church: and Mr Read a Clergyman that came over thither with a good Character at the request of the Vestry, officiates in it: he is extremly well liked, & is a pious good Man, & has a house & will have a Glebe. The Parish allows him 75£ Sterling ⅌ annum, & he is obliged to serve several Country Chapels: but not coming over with a Licence from the Lord Bishop of London as not being Apprized of the Necessity of it. Mr Dobbs applied to his Lordship to grant him one but this it seems could not be done, because the person licenced is obliged by Law to take the Oaths before the Bishop, before he can grant him one: & therefore Mr Dobbs cannot induct him into the Living of Newburn: but he has a call to go to South Carolina, where he will be received without a licence: this Mr Dobbs observes to be an hardship which he think’s ought to be remedied, & Shows the Necessity of having a Bishop on the Continent or a Person in the Episcopal Character to Ordain Confirm & grant licencies as well as to Visit the Clergy. Mr Macdowell who was put into Orders, & had a licence granted him by the Lord Bishop of London at Governor Dobbs’s request, is fixed at Wilmington, the largest Town in that Province, containing 90 Families, & he behaves very well & is much esteem’d by his Parishioners, the Church is building, & there are several Chapels in the Parish. The Church will be a Brick one, more than 60 feet long & 40 broad, & in the mean time Divine Service is performed in the Court house, & if the Society can increase their Missionaries there, Mr Macdowell well deserves their Countenance. Mr Dobbs has inquired into the Character of Mr Moir the Societys Missionary at Edgecombe & he cant say it is agreeable, there is a quarrell between him & his Parishioners, but as Mr. Dobbs has as yet not had an Opportunity of being fully informed about it, he will not lay the blame upon him. Mr Fanning who officiates at Roanoke, & was put into Orders upon Mr Dobbs’s recommendation is fixed likewise in a Parish, & behaves very well, & is very well liked by his hearers. There is one more Clergyman in the Province who officiated at Newburn before Mr Reads arrival, but by reason of his foreign Dialect & his Age: he was of very little Service to the People. Mr Dobbs finds the People very desirous to have Pastors & Schoolmasters to instruct their Children, & tho’ the Colony consists, as Mr Dobbs computes of near 80,000 Inhabitants, there are but those six Clergymen already mentioned in it, & for want of Clergymen in the Western Counties, the people have set up Lay readers, who read the Common Prayer & Sermons to them, but they being without the benefit of the Sacraments there are many Conventicles set up with Dissenting Teachers from Scotland & Ireland, the Inhabitants of Cape Fear are building a brick Church at Brunswick 76 feet long & 56 broad, & they have an house & Glebe ready for the Minister. Mr Dobbs heartily wishes the Society would help them to maintain Clergymen in the back Western Counties where numbers are daily arriving, & then he should be able to get over some pious Clergymen to them; Mr Dobbs hath given a Considerable number of Bibles & Common Prayer books & other good books among the Poor Planters & their Children, & Concludes with presenting his Respects to the Society; & desiring to know what they would have him do further towards promoting Religion & Moral Virtue in that Colony.

Agreed to recommend to the Society, that a Letter of thanks may be sent Mr. Dobbs for his great care in promoting Religion as Established in the Church of England in his Government of North Carolina, & that he be acquainted that the Society will be ready to concur with him as far as they properly can, in settling Missionaries in the Western Parts of that Province.

Resolved to agree with the Committee.

A Letter from the Revd. Mr Stewart the Society’s Missionary at Bath Town in South [sic] Carolina dated Novr. 12th. 1754, returning his hearty thanks to the Society for their appointing him to that Mission, & promising his best Endeavours to do his Duty therein, where from the first of Jany. preceeding he had baptized 395 Whites & 27 blacks, & Administred the holy Communion to 220 Persons: he Officiates at the Church in Bath Town which at his arrival was very ruinous, but is now repairing, 2 Sundays in the month, & on the others, & on several Week days he officiates to 8 Chapels in the Parish, it being a very large one, & some of the Chapels 120 Miles distant from each other: & this Circuit he proposes to go round 8 times in a Year, if God shall grant him abilities. In that Parish or County for each Parish in that Province is a distinct County (24 in number) there are about 3000 Inhabitants, & most of them well affected to the Church, but there are a few Ignorant Anabaptists for want of proper instruction: & therefore Mr Stewart begs the Society to send him some good books, more especially on the Excellency of the Common Prayer & of the importance of Infant Baptism to distribute among them: & if the Society would be so good, to send also a folio Bible & Common Prayer book for the Church & a Library for the use of the Missionary of which he hath great need.

Agreed to recommend to the Society, to send Mr Stewart a folio Bible & Common Prayer book for the Church of Bath Town, & Forty Shillings worth of small Tracts, among them Bishop Beveridge’s Sermon on the Common Prayer & the Abridgement of Mr Wall on Infant Baptism, & a Library of ten pounds Value for the use of the Missionary at Bath Town for the time being.

Resolved to agree with the Committee.

A Letter from the Reverend Mr. Macdowell dated St. James’s Parish New Hannover County North Carolina Decr 13th. 1754 acquainting that since his arrival in that Province on the 16 of December 1753, he had baptized almost 400 Persons, And Administred the holy Communion 7 times, never to less than 12 Persons. In Wilmington the Chief Town in the Parish there are 90 Families many of which have gone under the denomination of Presbyterians, but they now come constantly to Church, & many of them repeat the Responses, & there were reckoned one or two Quaker Families, but they come likewise to Church, & he has baptized one Young Woman among them. The New Church was then in great forwardness, & he hoped would be ready for Divine Service in Spring, in the mean time the Courthouse is fitted in a Decent manner for that purpose. The Vestry allow him an 100£ Sterling ⅌ annum for officiating, & 15£ for an house, ‘till one is built on the Glebe: but as every thing is extreemly dear there & Cloathing fit for a Clergyman not to be got at any rate, he hopes the Society will receive him into the number of their Missionaries in that Province as he intends thro’ Gods Assistance to do all the good he can in his Station.

Agreed to recommend to the Society to grant Mr Macdowell a Gratuity of 20£ for the good Services he hath done already, and as an Encouragment to him to persevere in well doing.

Resolved to agree with the Committee.

A Letter from the Revd. Mr Hall the Society’s Itinerant Missionary in the Northern Part of North Carolina dated Edenton Octr 21st. 1754, acquainting of the arrival of Governor Dobbs about ten days before & that now he hoped the Clergy would be releived from some hardships they labour under, & all things be set right, he had proposed to set out, in the Month preceeding on his acustomed Journey for about 20 days, & to officiate at least to 14 Congregations, but it had pleased God to prevent him by Sickness from which thro’ Mercy he was then so far recovered as to perform his Duty in that Extensive Parish, but several in his Family continued ill. The number of Baptisms then Administred by him from his first arrival in the Province amounted to 7680.

A Letter from the Reverend Mr Moir the Society’s itinerant Missionary in the Southern Part of North Carolina dated Edgecombe Octr 26. 1754, acquainting that since April the 30th. he had baptized 270 White Children & 53 blacks: & in some of the Chapels, there are about 90 Communicants & in others 50, he added that the Vestry of Edgecombe was quite discouraged: & had laid aside all thoughts of finishing the Chapels, as it is not in their power to pay either the Workmen, or his Salary because the Sheriff will not pay them even in Bills tho’ he may purchase as many as he pleases at 50 ⅌ cent discount, which would be a vast advantage to him who collected the Taxes in Silver & Gold, or Commodities, for which Mr Moir offered him 10 ⅌ cent advance. [...]