History of Charleston the years from 1679 to 1689

In the years from 1679 to 1689 colonists were continually
arriving. The accession of James II. quickened
the emigration from England. Five hundred dissenters,
led by Morton and Axtell, who were made Landgraves for
their services, came out in a single month. Mr. Benjamin
Blake was an important person in this connection.
The Barbadians continued to come, and gentlemen from
the other West Indian Islands and from England also.
Thomas Drayton, William and Arthur Middleton, and Robert
Daniel, all names of note in Carolina, came in 1679.
Moore, Ladson, Grimball, Cantey, Boone, Thomas Smith,
Schenking, and Izard appear soon after. All of these took
up lands; many of the original grants still remain, and
the Council Journals show the extent, as " Lands granted
on Goose Creek to Edward Middleton, Gent., one of the
honourable persons of this Province." This land became
afterward the beautiful plantation
"
Crowfield," long considered
the handsomest landscape garden in the Province.
Another grant of a thousand acres to the same person
was the " Oaks," the stately avenue of which still remains.
Mr. Thomas Amy is to have twelve thousand acres
(a barony)
" In consideration of his great services
"
(in encouraging
emigration), and John Gibbs, Esq., kinsman of
the Duke of Albemarle, is to " have every attention paid to
him, and three thousand acres rent free." This last is a
very rare order; the quit-rent, which made much trouble,
was generally to be paid. But although the chief residences
of these gentlemen were on their plantations, they
were likewise important citizens; in fact the country for a
radius of twenty miles around was but a greater Charles
Town. Most of the chief planters in those early days
were merchants as well ; the Indian trade was long the
chief source of wealth. "Charles Town trades for 1000
miles into the continent," one old writer says. The Proprietors
tried to restrict the fur trade to within one hundred
miles of the town, reserving all beyond to themselves.In troubled times
some of these agents became persons of great importance.
Besides the furs, they had for exports, as has been already
said, the products of the forest, lumber of all sorts, tar,
pitch, and turpentine. To these, in defiance of the objections
of the Proprietors, there was added salt-beef and
bacon. What was a man whose estate numbered thousands
of acres to do but to graze it ? The cattle throve
and multiplied enormously in a climate where food was
plentiful all the year, and a bracken bush could keep the
cow in the severest weather. Wolves prevented the
increase of sheep as worthless dogs do now, but most
planters protected a small flock, to supply the family with
mutton and with wool for the ever whirling wheels.
Swine could take care of themselves; they fattened on the
acorns of the oak groves, and soon became an important
article of export, while as yet crops were small and
inadequate.
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