At a General Meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts Held on the 21st. day of April 1758 [...]

A Letter from Arthur Dobbs Esqr, Governor of North Carolina, dated May 30th. 1757, acknowledging the receipt of the Secretary’s Letters of the 25th. of March & the 21st. of Sepr. 1756, as also of the books sent with them. Govr. Dobbs expresses himself sorry to hear, that Mr. Smith has had so great complaints agst. him from Prince Frederick’s Parish in South Carolina, & says, that since Mr Smith came into St Patrick’s Parish in Johnston County in North Carolina, he inquired after his Character, & found it very agreeable to that County; & upon finding it so large that Mr Smith could not attend the Service of the Chapels they obtain’d an Act of Assembly to divide the Parish; & that part he has fixed in have allowed him as much, as the whole County did before for double the Duty; the Govr. has heard him read prayers & preach several times, & he thinks he performs the Service & preaches very emphatically, & with a becoming Zeal. The Govr. has not heard much lately of Mr Moir; his County applied for & obtained an Act to divide them, & the larger & better part who disagreed with him, have turned him over to the other Parish, where he resides & is fixed. The Govr. has approved of Mr Hall’s being fixed in St Paul’s Parish, Chowan County; he keeps up the Character of a good Pastor, as doth Mr Stewart at Bathtown in Beaufort County; but as the Vestries in that County are chosen for three years, & frequently of the lowest of the people, what they agree to give their Minister one year, they retract & lessen the next to the lowest Sum the Law allows, & yet will increase their Duty at their several Chapels, which being at great distances is a great Expence as well as fatigue to the Clergy. A Provincial Tax has been thought of by some, so as to allow a handsome Provision, & then those Parishes who have no Clergy, & yet pay to the Tax, would desire to have resident Clergymen; but it will be very difficult to get such a Bill pass’d. Mr Read is the Clergyman who officiates in the Town & County of Craven, which extends near an 100 miles, so that they are obliged to be frequently three successive Sundays without Divine Service in town, whilst he attends the Chapels; as he has no Assistant & is but indifferently paid, he is afraid he will be obliged to give up his Charge; & the Govr. wishes the Society would think it proper to place him upon the Mission. The Govr. upon this Account proposed to take a Chaplain into his family that would assist in doing Duty in town, when the other Minister should be absent at the Chapels, but he has not been able to procure one of a suitable Character; the Governor therefore wishes the Society would recommend some to come over to be fixed in the Western part of the Province of good Lives & Characters, & if they were appointed Missionaries, the Govr. says he would take care to have them fixed to the Westward. The Govr. complains much of the want of Schoolmasters, there being none in the Province, except one sent lately to Edenton by Encouragement from Earl Granville; there is now a fort building among the Catawbees, & it is to be garrisoned, & is fix’d by the Indians consent in the midst of their Villages; he thinks this a proper opportunity to fix a Schoolmaster there to teach the Indian Children without taking them away from their Parents; if the Society would allow a Salary, & send over a proper Schoolmaster, the Governor promises to contribute £30 ⅌ ann. Currency to promote so good a design, so long as he shall continue in that Government. 

Whereupon it was Agreed to recommend to the Society to send over a Schoolmaster in the Holy Orders of our Church for the instruction of the Negro Children among the Catawbees, as soon as one duly qualified & willing to go over upon that Service can be procured, & they leave it to the particular consideration of the Society whether it may at present be proper to receive Mr Read into the number of their Missionaries, & to inquire for proper persons to be sent over to Govr. Dobbs to be fixed Missionaries in the Westward Parts of South [sic] Carolina. 

Agreed that the Revd. Mr Read be appointed Misy. to the Town & County of Craven with a Salary of £50 ⅌ ann to commence from midsummer next, & that a Schoolmaster in the Holy Orders of our Church be sent for the instruction of the Indian Catawbees Children, as soon as one duly qualified can be procured for that Service. 

A Letter from the Revd. Mr Hall the Society’s Misy. at St. Paul’s Parish in North Carolina, dated May 20th. 1757, acknowledging the receipt of the Secretary’s Letters of March 25th. & Sepr. 4th. 1756, & returing his humble and hearty thanks for the Society’s seasonable donation of £30, for their present of a new Library, for appointing him their Missionary to St. Paul’s Parish, & for their additional & proper instructions, which he has carefully distributed according to the best of his judgment. He has with the consent of the Vestry lately journeyed 200 miles, & officiated in 3 Parishes where they have no minister, administred the Holy Sacrament of Baptism & the Lord’s Supper to a large number of Children & Communicants, churched the Women, catechized the Youth, &c. The Revd Mr Earl, who teaches a School at Edenton by agreement with his Employers officiates there on those Sundays Mr Hall is obliged to go to the remote Chapels. 

Also a second Letter from Mr Hall dated July 12th 1757 with his Notitia Parochialis inclosed by which it appears, that he had baptized 177 White & 3 Black Children in the preceding half year

A Letter from the Revd. Mr Stewart Misy. at Bath Town in North Carolina dated May 8th. 1757, acknowledging the receipt of the Secretary’s Letter of March 25th. 1756 together with the books for a Missionary’s Library at Bath Town. Since his last he has baptized 74 white & 21 Negro Children, 1 Adult white Woman, & 17 Adult Negroes properly instructed, & admitted one Negro Man to the Lord’s Supper. Last fall by permission of the Vestry Mr Stewart made a Voyage to a part of Hyde County called Aramuskeet, about 120 miles from Bath Town, & baptized there 51 White, & 15 black Children, & 3 Indian Mulattos from 14 to 16 years old, who could repeat the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer & the ten Commandments, administred the Holy Sacrament to about 30 persons, 3 of them Negroes. He has distributed the Pamphlets & Books according to the directions of the Society. By a Postcript Mr Stewart desires the Society to bestow upon him Stackhouse’s History of the Bible or Shuckford’s Connection. 

Whereupon it was Agreed to recommend to the Society to send Mr Stewart Stackhouse’s History of the Bible. 

Resolved to agree with the Committee. 

A Letter from the Revd. Mr Macdowell, Minister of St James’s Parish in North Carolina, dated June 8th. 1757 returning thanks to the Society for the Gratuity of £20 which they were pleased to grant him for his Services. He was just returned from visiting St Martin’s Parish, Bladen County, where he baptized 61 Children & Adults; they are very good & religious people, & have given Mr. Macdowell encouragement to go up & live amongst them, & he believes he shall go, as the Vestry of St. James’s do not encourage a Minister of the Establishment, but are for reducing the Salary as low as the Law will allow, which is £60 Sterling ⅌ ann. which will not go so far there as £30 in England; he has had £100 Sterling ⅌ ann. since he came to them, but that is by Curtesy & not by Law, so that he doth not think it worth while to be inducted into the Parish, which obliges him to make a new Agreement every year with the Vestry. Would the Society think him deserving of a Mission Mr Macdowell could do a great deal of good; he would immediately set out, & go thro’ all the upper & back Counties, & the several Counties thro’ the Province, where many of the White Inhabitants who are Men & Women grown have never seen a Minister some such he has already met with in the out parishes where he has been to visit; for besides his own he has made the Tour of St John’s Parish, Onslow County, three several times; St Gabriel’s, Dupplin County, four times; St Martin’s, Bladen County, three times; St Philip’s, which is near him, duely once a quarter, & in the fall he design’d to go up again and visit Bladen County, & at the same time Cumberland County, where he had never yet been. Mr Macdowell humbly begs a few Books for his own use which he cannot get there, vizt. some Annotations on the Holy Scripture, a large Bible, & Concordance. 

Whereupon it was Agreed to recommend to the Society to grant Mr. Macdowell a Quarto Bible and Cruden’s Concordance; with Ostervalds Arguments & Reflections on the Books of the Old & New Testament; & that he be acquainted, that the Society will consider him for what extraordinary Services he shall perform in his visits to the several Parishes in N. Carolina. 

Resolved to agree with the Committee [...]