Geography of the Old North State

Geography.....

As a transplanted Midwestern to North Carolina, I have learned over the past 20 years about the geography and history of the "Old North State".   Here is a link about the settlement of this state and it can go into more detail than I wish to delve into on this blog.  Colonial Settlement in NC

Early settlement and map showing the boundaries for coastal counties in NC

I also had to learn about the history of the state to understand where the $$$ was for estates and such.  The coastal counties definitely had the money.   Trade in the ports brought the money.  Tucked away in the Northeast part of the state is - Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Currituck, Bertie, Beaufort and Tyrell were the earliest to be settled.  Chowan and Pasquotank county folks had lots of nice things.   Of all of the estates, inventories and wills that I have examined - Pasquotank county led the way 82 women of which 18 had clothing listed in their inventory. Chowan county was second for that region with 45 women had estates of which 7 included clothing. 

Head down the coast and you have Craven, Onslow and New Hanover Counties.  I live in New Hanover County by the way.  I began my initial research for inventories in New Hanover County just to learn more about the women who lived here.  Today the county is much smaller than what it was in the 1700s.  Brunswick and Pender Counties were carved from it.  They moved the Royal Governor's house from Brunswick Town/Cape Fear to New Bern (Craven County).  Craven county was 2nd in the list of women's inventories/wills with 14 inventories listing clothing.

Map of North Carolina counties 1760

Inland counties not so much.  Counties were carved up and divided up so sometimes the records get lost.  There was a big expansion of counties from 1775-1780.  Another reason, the American Civil War happened and courthouse records were destroyed. [No negative comments please].  However, there are records and diaries available to show us that trade was happening down the Great Wagon road from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.  People were traveling to Philadelphia to purchase items including clothing, accessories (bonnets, shoes & etc.) and textiles to make clothing.

A map listing the counties in North Carolina 1775

So far I have as of today 19 February 2019:

Beaufort - 1
Bertie - 9
Burke - 1
Carteret - 3
Chowan - 7
Craven - 14
Cumberland - 1
Duplin - 3
Edgecombe- 1
Hyde - 3
Mecklenburg - 4
New Hanover - 8
Onslow - 3
Pasquotank - 18
Perquimans - 3
Tyrell - 1

For a total of  82 inventories & wills of women's clothing.  Some are husband and wife estates that are combined, some are of husband's estates who bequeath clothing to their daughters.  There is more to explore that is for sure and this may not seem like a whole lot but it is a awesome start.  Granted there are some inventories listed before 1738 and after 1783, but as re-enactors/living historians - the bulk of impressions are for either F&I (French & Indian War 1754-1763) or the American War for Independence (1775-1783). 

Also looking at estates from the 1770s-1780s, it would seem that clothing was not considered as much of a commodity or valued as much as in the earlier inventories.  In many cases, "a parcel of women's clothing" or a "trunk of old clothes" would be listed in these later inventories.  Frustrating for researchers but it shows the trend of mercantilism. Ready made clothing was available to people and so it makes sense that clothing was not considered valuable unless it was of personal sentiment.  It also tends to debunk the mentality that women only wore homespun.  Yes, homespun or country cloth was available and made into clothing but 9 out of 10 times, the gowns are made of textiles such as chintz, linen, calico, worsted and etc., that could be purchased at a store or even ready made.  There are numerous inventories of store keepers and also invoices and ledgers of businessmen who were purchasing ready made gowns, accessories like cloaks, mantlets, stockings, shoes, and etc. from Scotland and England to import into North Carolina.  So thus the cut off at 1783, granted I have a few inventories for the mid 1780s that shed some light on the changing fashions and those could be discussed later on.