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A History of Colonial Bath, by Herbert R. Paschal, Jr., Ph.D.
Published: Edwards & Broughton Company, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1955
Published for the 250th anniversary of Bath, North Carolina
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[image: St. Thomas Church. This veverable landmark of eighteenth centure Bath has become the town's most treasured link with its historic past. The erection of the church was begun in 1734 although it was not completed in every detail until about 1762. However, church services were being held here by the late 1730's. Little is known of the actual construction of the church. It stands today remarkably well preserved despite years of neglect now happily ended.]
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Many public spirited citizens in Beaufort County were aware that the year 1955 marked the 250th Anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of Bath, North Carolina. A number of them for some time had been trying to arrange some sort of celebration or observance of the occasion. Throughout the County, and elsewhere in the State, efforts were made to bring into being and perfect an organization that would make possible a celebration in keeping with the occasion.
The success of historical pageants, particularly that of "The Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island, made it natural that everyone's thoughts should turn toward some similar project built around the admittedly rich historical background offered by the State's oldest incorporated town. "The Lost Colony" and other historical pageants in this area are professional productions, written by playwrights, directed by professional directors, and with a hard core, at least, of seasoned actors. Investigation soon showed that this meant if a similar production was to be a feature of the Bath Celebration, a very great deal of money would have to be raised. Repeated efforts to solve this problem were made by many interested people throughout the entire year of 1954. But as the year 1955 began, no real progress had been made and even the most sanguine had begun to believe that the task was beyond the will and the abilities of Beaufort County and the friends of Bath elsewhere in the State. At this point, on May 12, 1955, a little group, who deserve to be remembered, met at the home of Edmund H. Harding in Washington. In addition to Mr. Harding, they were Lindsay C. Warren, J. D. Grimes, Mrs. Marcia M. Knott, Dr. Allen Moore, and Mrs. Ford Worthy, of Washington, and Pat Johnson of Pantego. This group formed an organization that they called The Beaufort County Historical Society. On May 19, 1955, Mr. Harding appeared before the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners and reported that his group was determined to see what could be done to prevent the year 1955 from passing without some appropriate observance of the Anniversary of the County's and State's oldest town and the State's first capital. Mr. Harding received assurances of all-out support by the County Commissioners. Realizing that neither the money nor the time was available for the professional production of a pageant, Mr. Harding determined to produce one with the talent and the means at hand. " Queen Anne's Bell" is the result. Mr. Harding wrote it and a group largely amateur will perform in it. Beaufort County and Bath are honored that the Governor of North Carolina, His Excellency, Luther H. Hodges, and other persons prominent in the life of North Carolina, have so far forgotten their official dignities for a season as to put on costumes and turn thespians even if only for a night. No more distinguished cast has probably been assembled for a play in this part of the United States.
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But the Historical Society was not content with its theatrical venture. It wished to mark the anniversary in other ways. It was determined that the history of Colonial Bath should be written and that it should be ready in time for distribution at the pageant in early October 1955. This decision was not arrived at until a meeting held on the 18th of July, 1955, to which the Historical Society had invited a substantial number of persons, who they thought might be interested in various phases of their project. At this meeting a Committee was appointed and charged with the duty of having a history of Bath ready to deliver come pageant time. Appointed on this Committee were Dan Paul of Pantego, Carl Goerch of Raleigh, Mrs. Marcia M. Knott and John Wilkinson of Washington. The Committee at once recognized the nature and magnitude of the task that confronted them. Who could write a history of Bath and have it ready on such short notice? It was pointed out that many things would be required of such a writer. First, he must have a great deal of knowledge of the subject. Second, he must understand something of the art of historical writing, which is a very special proficiency. Third, he must have some talent and versatility as an author, if what he produced was to be readable. Fourth, he must be willing to go to work at once and in the very nature of things, his labor had to be the labor of love. After a brief canvass of the situation, the membership of the Committee almost unanimously felt that there was but one solution and that was that a collection of writings already in existence would have to be examined, edited a little and put together in a sort of patchwork, because an original creation was clearly out of the question. However, the Chairman of the Committee remembered that the year previous he had, while at the University of North Carolina Library, stumbled across a master's thesis on the Tuscarora Indians. He read it with great interest and discovered to his surprise after finishing it that its author was a young man from Washington, North Carolina. Recalling this, he asked his Committee to indulge him for a day or so until he could talk with this young man and find out if he would be willing and able to undertake to write a history of Colonial Bath.
Though he had but a single month in which to prepare his manuscript for the printer, Herbert Richard Paschal, Jr., agreed to do his best. Those of you who read this booklet will have to be the final judges of how well he has succeeded.
Mr. Paschal was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on July 8, 1927, and has lived in Washington, North Carolina, since 1937. He was educated in the public schools here and received an A.B. degree from Wake Forest College in 1950. In 1953 he received his M.A. degree from the University of North Carolina in the field of early American History. At the end of this year he will have completed three years of work on his Ph.D. degree. He has successfully passed his oral examination, which is the great hurdle for those seeking this highest of graduate degrees. This autumn he joins the faculty of East Carolina College as an Associate Professor of History.
It is the opinion of the Chairman of this Committee that this booklet will have enduring value. Mr. Paschal's specialty has been this particular time
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and section and to the writing of this book he brings some five years of concentrated study and much original research in his chosen field. It is not too much to say that this booklet is a genuine contribution to the sum of historical knowledge. When it is remembered that it is written with haste, actually in a race against a deadline, much of it during the author's spare time, the quality of the result is all the more impressive and the possible imperfections that it may contain may be the more readily forgotten and one can only wish that this young man, who so freely and unselfishly volunteered his time, effort, and talents without financial recompense, will receive his reward in other ways. Knowing him as this Committee has come to do, we think his reward will be the satisfaction derived from a worthwhile task well performed.
John A. Wilkinson
Chairman
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
St. Thomas Church (frontispiece) ... ii
Pamlico River Indian Village ... 6
Queen Anne ... 11
Dr. Thomas Bray ... 16
Bath Library Catalogue ... 21
Early Plan of Bath ... 26-27
Lawson Awaiting His Death ... 30
Blackbeard ... 36
George Whitefield ... 41
Plan of Bath in 1769 ... 44-45
Rare Volume ... 50
Page x [blank]
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B. A. Brooks, Chm.
Mrs. Wilton Smith
O. J. Gaylord
R. B. Forbes
Mrs. William Rumley
Milo Gibbs
Mrs. C. E. Venters
Mrs. F. S. Worthy
Togo Wynne
Mrs. J. M. Tankard
Dr. C. C. Crittenden
Dr. John Messick
Milo Gibbs, Chm.
Mrs. John M. Tankard
John Whalen
James Silverthorne
Elijah Edwards
Herman Gibbs
Floyd M. Cox
William Midyette
Dr. John Bonner
B. A. Brooks
Allen Swindell
Ralph Tyer
Mrs. C. E. Venters
Vernon Godley
W. A. Berry
Ashley Futrell, Chm.
Carl Goerch
Bill Sharpe
Aycock Brown
Elizabeth Warren
Mary B. Toler
Charles Parker
Rev. A. C. D. Noe, Chm.
J. D. Grimes
John H. Bonner
Herbert R. Paschal, Jr.
Mrs. F. S. Worthy
Raymond Taylor
Chief C. E. Venters
Sheriff William Rumley
Sgt. W. S. Clagon
Mrs. Charlotte Thompson
John Wilkinson, Chm.
Lindsay C. Warren
Dan Paul
Carl Goerch
Aycock Brown
Mrs. Inglis Fletcher
Bill Bryan
Mrs. E. T. Knott
Bill Patterson, Chm.
Harold Lane
Frank Cox, Jr.
Bath Lions Club
Bath Chapter F.F.A.
R. B. Forbes
Sgt. W. S. Clagon
Dr. D. T. Tayloe
Mrs. Florence Nelson, R.N.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brunsden, R.N.
O. J. Gaylord, Chm.
Jack Marsh
Foy Mason
Claude E. Venters
Cecil Lilly
John G. Bragaw
Tim Payne
Mrs. Wm. B. Rodman, Chm.
Mrs. F. S. Worthy
Mrs. J. D.Grimes
Mrs. E. T. Knott
Mrs. Ben Winfield
Mrs. Olga Tankard
Colonial Book Club
Mrs. Guy C. Small
Mrs. Eva Way
Mrs. Robert Davis
G. W. Marsh, Chm.
B. A. Brooks
O. J. Gaylord
Mrs. C. E. Venters
Mrs. Jack Tankard
Jack Tankard
Charlie Bowen
John A. Tankard
Lions Club, Edgar Tankard
Ruritan Club
Bath Chapter F.F.A.
Fred Potts, Chm.
Heber Winfield
Wayland Sermons
Jim Butler, Chm.
Dr. John Messick
Dr. Jim Hawes
John Bragaw
Dr. Elizabeth Utterback
Mrs. Wilton Smith, Chm.
Mrs. G. W. Marsh
Mrs. John Tankard
Mrs. Roscoe Tankard
Mrs. Scott Topping
Mrs. Donald Carrow
Mrs. Pattie Wilkinson
Mrs. Harry Archbell
Mrs. Allen H. Moore
Mrs. Jack Oden
Mrs. Jack Swindell
Mrs. L. M. Odom
Mrs. Duncan Moore
Mrs. Clyde Pilley
Mrs. Togo Wynne
Henry Van Dorp
Mrs. Fred Hill
B. A. Brooks, Mayor
Mrs. G. W. Marsh
Rev. Harold Tyer
Rev. A. C. D. Noe
Lindsay C. Warren
Herbert C. Bonner
Dr. W. T. Ralph
Taylor B. Attmore
Mrs. E. T. Knott
James Silverthorn
Mrs. Sam Marsh
Mrs. William Midyette
Miss Diane Petway
Mrs. Joe McCotter
Dr. Zeno Edwards
W. F. Veasey
Rev. M. O. Fletcher
William Rumley
W. B. Rodman
Mrs. W. B. Rodman
Mrs. J. H. Norman
T. A. Brooks
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Mrs. T. A. Brooks
Ralph Hodges
Dr. Allen H. Moore
F. S. Worthy
Harold Lane, Chm.
Wayland Sermons
Joe McCotter
Vann Latham
Donald Carrow
Lee Chrismon
Ronald Webster
P. R. Kilby
Dr. Jim Hawes
Bonnie Singleton
Audrey Hardison
Joe Kornegay
Bill Patterson
Harry Adams
Lindsay C. Warren, Chm.
Taylor B. Attmore
Mrs. F. S. Worthy
J. D. Grimes
R. B. Forbes
Edmund H. Harding, Chm.
Mrs. Wilton Smith
R. B. Forbes
Norma Armstrong
Mrs. G. W. Marsh
Mrs. Henry R. Swartzell
Henry R. Swartzell
Togo Wynne
Zoph Potts
Charles Stevens
Dr. Jim Hawes
W. F. Veasey
Fred Mallison
Henry Rumley
B. A. Brooks, Chm.
C. B. Bell
Jay Kilby
Alton Selby
Edmund H. Harding, Chm.
Floyd M. Cox
Max Roebuck
R. P. MacKenzie, Jr.
W. R. Roberson, Jr.
Axon Smith, Chm.
Bill Abeyounis
Miller Slade
T. E. Tankard, Jr.
Lon Taylor
Jack Marsh
Julian Cutler
Bob Langley
Roy Brooks
Max Roebuck
Harold Lane
Bill Patterson
Frank Cox, Jr.
Lions Club of Belhaven
Bill Moore
Bill Abeyounis
Rev. Harold Tyer
Rev. Stanley Jenkins
Rev. R. E. Couch
Lee Nicholls
Bully Freeman
Joe Rickard
Pat Patterson, Chm.
Albert Jowdy
Joe Kornegay
Richard Tripp
Billie Moore
Rev. Harold Tyer, Chm.
R. B. Forbes
Rev. Stanley Jenkins
Rev. C. E. Couch
Mrs. John Oden
Mrs. Mildred Payne
Chas. F. Cowell
Rev. Stanley Jenkins, Chm.
Mrs. John Whalen
Rev. A. C. D. Noe
Mrs. A. C. D. Noe
W. E. Pace
Joe Brooks
J. D. McCotter
R. P. MacKenzie
Taylor Simpson
Capt. Edison Jones
Henry L. Hodges
Arthur Ruffin
Marion Brooks
Floyd Cox
Sam Perdue, Chm.
Mrs. Edgar Tankard
Mrs. Sam Perdue
Mrs. J. E. Brooks
George Taylor
Thad Tankard, Jr.
Mrs. Jack Harris
R. P. MacKenzie
Mrs. Harold Lane
Ann Toler
Henry R. Swartzell
John M. Peele
J. K. Wood
Albert Rouse
Togo Wynne
Henry Rumley
Mrs. Henry Rumley
Zoph Potts, Chm.
Charles Stevens
Mrs. Hannah Bagwell
Howard Wortley
Chas A. Cronham
Mrs. Frank Jones
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