FEB 23 1921, LIB Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina. — No, 6 The Introduction of Rice Culture INTO South Carolina By A. S. SALLEY, Jr. Secretary of the Commission ,RY Printed for the Commission by The State Company Columbia, S. C. 1919 Bulletins of the Historical Commission of South Carolina. — No. 6 The Introduction of Rice Culture INTO South Carolina By A. S. SALLEY, Jr. ? * » . Secretary of the Commission Printed for the Commission by The State Company Columbia, S. C. 1919 The present State of South Carolina was formerly a part of the territorj' gi-anted by Charles II, March 2a 1663, to eight of his suiDporters, as the province of Carolina. 'Even before a per manent white settlement had been effected within their province these Lords Proprietors had begun to lay plans for the develop ment of rice culture therein. In a letter to Lord "Willoughby, governor of Barbadoes, dated at Cockpit, Augus-t 31, 1663, the Duke of Albemarle, one of the Propiietoi-s, after telling his Lordship of the grant he and his associates had received from the Crown, proceeded to detail some of their plans for development : there are some persons of your Island of Barbadoes that have by there letters to me set forth there desires of beginning of or coutributeing to a setlement in those parts which I conceave will prove rather advantagious than otherwayes to those under your Government for that setlement will devirt many people that desigiie to plant from planting there commodyties which your plantation abounds in (of which greater quantities being made vv-ill sinke the maker) ai;(l put them upon such as your lands will not I conceave produce, aud as the Kiuge hath not yet within his Terrytories in quantit.v, although his people consume much of them to the exhausting the wealth of the Kingdome, the commodyties I meane are wine, oyle, rea sons, currents, rice, silke &c^ In 1666 Robert Home published in London a pamphlet adver tising the resources of Carolina, wherein the following statement was made : The Meadows are very proper for Rice, Rape-seed, Lin-seed, etc, and may many of them be made to overflow at pleasure with a small charge.^ On January 13, 16T2, among the articles "Shipped by the Grace of God in Good Order & well condicioned by me Rich"^ Kingdon, for the prop. ace', of the Lords Prop", of Carolina, in & upon the good ship called the William & Ralph, whereof is master under God for that present voyage William Jeffereys, & now riding at anchor in the River of Thames, & by God's grace ^CoJlectioni, of the South Carolina Hietorical Society^ Vol. V, p, 15. -Narratives 0/ Early Carolina (S.illov), p. 69. bound for Charles Towne in Ashley River" was a barrel of rice. The consignment was receipted for at Charles Town by Governor West, April 23, 1672.^ In a letter from the Lords Proprietors to the governor and. council of South Carolina, dated April 10, ]»77, the Proprietors wrote : wee are Layinge out in Severall places of ye- world for plants & seeds proper for yor- Country and for ^sons that are Skill'd in plantinge & produceinge vines. Mulberry trees Rice oyles & wines and such other Comodities that enrich those other Countryes that enjoy not soe good a Climate as you. This wee thinke and are sure is ye- way of Bestowinge or- money the most to or- owne and the places advantage,^ In 1690 Seth Sothell arrived in South Carolina at a time when the people were extremely dissatisfied with the administration of Governor Colleton. Sothell was one of the Proprietors of Caro lina, having purchased the share formerly belonging to the Earl of Clarendon, and as such had the right under the Fundamental Constitutions to supercede Colleton as governor, which he did. Several of the leading men of the province forthwith presented him with a petition reciting the grievances of the people which they desired laid before the Proprietors. One request they made was that the people be allowed to "pay their rents in the most valuable and merchantable produce of theire Lands", declaring that: we, in behalfe of the whole Countrey, most humbly and heartily begg and beseech the Lords Proprs. out of their favorable beneficence to be pleased to grant yt. whatever ye conveyance be yt. ye Lands shall therein be granted for a penny an acre or the vallew thereof, A^ithout any expressed reserva tion of re-entry, & ye people will alhvayes, in parllment or otherwise, be ready to adjust the price of Couiodityes, so as yt. ye Lords Proprs. shall be gainers, and then we doubt not but in a very few years to see such multi tudes of tennants here as yt. their Lordships shall quickly be re-imbursed their great charge, and this we are the most confident of because we are encoraged wth. severall new rich Couiodityes as Silck, Cotton, Rice & Indigo, well, are naturally produced here.'' ^A Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the close of the Proprietary Gov- ernment [William J. Elvers], Charleston, 1856, pp, 382-383. "British Public Record Office, Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 20, page 125. (Copy in ofBce ot Historical Commission of South Carolina,) M Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the Close of the Proprietary Gov ernment [William J, Rivers], Charleston, 1856, p, 428 On September 26, 1691, the General Assembly of South Caro lina ratified the following Act : Whereas, Mr, Peter Jacob Guerard, hath at his proper cost and expence of time, lately invented and brought to perfection, a Pendulum Engine, wliich doth much better, and in lesse time and labour, huske rice, than any other heretofore hath been used within this Province, That he, the said I'eter Jacob Guerard, and all other ingenious and industrious persons may be encouraged to essay such other machines as may conduce to the better propagation of any coinmodityes of the produce of this Collony, Be it enacted by the Pallatine and the rest of the Lords and absolute Proprietors of this Province, by and with the advise and consent of the tVmiiuons, in this present Parliament assembled, and it is enacted by tli(^ authority of the same, that noe person whatsoever, but the said Peter Jacob Guerard, or such others as by hiiu shall be thereunto under his hand and seale lyceused, shall at any time during the space of two years after the ratification of this Act, make, sett up or use the said Pendulum Engine, unlesse he or they shall first pay unto the .said Peter .Taeob Guerard forty shillings current money of this Province, for every such Engine he or they shall make, sett up or use as aforesaid. It is hereby made lawful for the said Peter Jacob Guerard, to bring his action at law against the said per son or persons, and recover the same as in plaine actions of debt, in any of the courts of this Province is used and accustomed. Read thrte tinnex, past and ratified in oijen Parliunuiit the si:r and twentieth day of Scptcmlier, 1601. Seth Sothell, G, Muschamp, John' Beresford, W, Dunston, John Farr,^ On March 16, 1695/6 the General Assembly ratified "An Act to ascertaine the Prices of Land, the Forms of Conveyances, and the Manner of Recovering of Rents for Lands, and the Prices of the several Commodities the same may be paid in." That Act provided that quit rents "shall be paid to the Lords Proprietors in currant money of this part of the province, or in Indigo, Cot ton, Silke, Rice, Beef or Porke in barrells or halfe barrells on which shall be put the packer's marke, or in English Pease".' ^The Statutes at Large of South CaroHnu. Vol. II, 63. -The Laws of the Province of South Carolina (MS,), by Nicholas Trott, p, 67 ; The Statutes at Large of S-outh Carolina. Volume II, 96-97. The date 1694/5 given in the Statutes is wrong. In the original manuscript Act it is 1695/6, The Act is signed by Governor Archdale aud the Deputies, and Archdale was not governor March 16, 1694./5. Trott's manuscript volumn also gives 1695/6, 0 In another Act ratified March 16, 1695/6, "An Act for Remis sion of Part of Arrears of Rent and to Ascertaine The Payment of the Remainder", it is likewise : Enacted that Every person which after The Remission, and abatement of the Rents as is before Provided Shall be in Arrear of Rent to the Lords proprietors Shall pay to the Lords Receiver one Moyety of all his arrears Upon or Before the first day of December next and the other moyety Upon or Before the first Day of December which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God one Thousand Six hundred ninety and Seaven in Currant Money of this Province, or in Indigo, Silke, Rice Cotton Beefe Porke in Barrells or halfe barrells wth : the Packers marke thereupon or in English pease' In an address and remonstrance from the Commons House of Assembly of the Province of South Carolina, November 19, 1698, to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina their Lordships were re quested to "Interceed with his most Gratious Majestie for y= takeing of y^ Duty of Rice Turpentine Rossin Pitch and Tarr, Impor(ted) Imported from this Province" and to "Procure and Send us by y* : first oppertunity a moddell of a Rice Mill".- In a letter from William Thornburgh, one of the Lords Pi'o- prietors of Carolina, to William Popple, Secretary of His Majesty's Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, dated July 21, 1699, he says: I have herewith sent you a sample of our Carolina rice that the Rt. Hon. the Lords Cominissrs. of Trade & Plantations may see what a staple the I'rovince of Carolina may be caiiab'e of furnishing Europe withall. The Grocers do assure me its better than any Foreign Rice by at least 8s. the hundred weight, & wee can have it brought home for less than 4s. pr. tonn. wch. is not dear,' The minutes of the Commissioners for July 25, 1699, say : A letter from Mr. Thornburgh to the Secretary of the 21st. instant with a sample of some Carolina Rice was laid before the Board,* In a letter to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Planta tions, dated March 8, 1700, the governor and council of South Carolina stated that South Carolina "hath made more rice v^ ^Manuscript Acts of Archdale's administration, office ot Historical Commission of Southi Carolina. ^Journal of the Commons House of Assembly of South Carolina for the two ses sions of 1698, p. 36, '..4. Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the close of the Proprietary Gov ernment [Rivers], p. 453. ••British Public Record OfBce, Journals Board of Trade, Vol. 12, p. 128. (Copy in office of Historical Commission of South Carolina.) Last Cropp then we have Ships to Transport"^ and Edward Ran dolph, Collector of Customs for the Southern Department of North America, in a letter to the same board, dated July 30, 1700, wrote of the people of South Carolina : They have now fduiid out the true way of raising and husking Rice there has been above 300 Tuns shipped this year to England besides about 30 Tuns more to the Ishinds," In 1699 Jonathan Amory, one of the leading men of South Carolina, died. By his will he appointed his wife, Mrs. Martha Amory, his executrix. Mrs. Amory died very soon after. In her will she named Mrs. Sarah Rhett as her executrix. In Mrs. Rhett's account rendered on making a division among the heirs in 1707 note is made of four plantations. One of these, called Clouters, comprising 420 acres, was a rice plantation over which Elias Storey was overseer and upon which there were twenty- four negroes — eight men, eight women, five boys and three girls. Rice seems to have been planted also at another of the plantations called the Cow Pen. In January, 1700, in recording the prices received for the pioducts sold from the plantations, Mrs. Rhett gives rice from the Cow Pen at 15 shillings per hundred pounds and from Clouters at 6 shillings, 814 pence per hundred.^ The smuggling out of Carolina rice to countries other than England appears to have begun earh^ In a letter, dated "S'. Nicholas- Lane 30 December 1708", John Lloyd writes to William Popple, Secretary of the Commissioners for Trade and Plan tations: I received your Two Letters that remiided me of my Promise to the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners of Trade & Plantations concern ing Ships that carried Rice to Portugal I wrote to a Particular friend there and pray'd him to give me an account of itt, but by my late Letters from thence I find he is unwilling to give any information all that I can learn is this That three Ships loaded at Carolina, and took out clearings for Rhode Island, from whence they got certificates to Cleare their Bonds att Carolina and thence Reloaded their Ships the Masters Names are Samuel Jones Thomas Thatcher and one Pitts All New England men I have a Ship lately arrived from Carolina now att Portsmouth, when the Master comes for London if I can learn anything farther concerning this Trade shall wait on their Honours. I presume one way to stop this Trade, ^Commissions anil Instructions from the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Puilic Officials of South Carolina, 1685-1715, p. 131. "British Public Record Office, Proprieties, Board of Trade records, Vol, 26, pp, 286-287, (Copy in office of Historical Commission of South Carolina,) ^The Descendants of Hugh Amory, 1605-1S05 (London, 1901), pp. 38-39. woud be to give power to our Consuls abroad strictly to examine all ships from Her JIajtys— plantations or settlements that shall be loaded with Fish, whether iiart of their cargoe be nott Rice. Logwood, pitch or Tarr, which are often imported in those parts. As for Rhode Islaiid tis a jilace where ali Roguery's are committed and great Quantitys of Goods from Portugal are Landed there, and so conveyed to severall parts.' In a letter from the Lords Proprietors to Nathaniel Sayle, Receiver General of South Carolina, dated August 18, 1710, they say: The Officers Sallaries & wt : pa.vmeuts You are Directed to make by your Commission & Instructions are to be pd, — out of our Quit Rents but al Jloneyes which you Shall Receive for ye PurChase of Lands & wt Shall Remain of our Quit^Rents after those Pajanents made you are hereby Ordered to Consigne to Us and to Send them for London by ye first oppor tunity every Quarter of a Year in Rice or money'' In December, 1710, the Proprietors, addressing Sayle's suc cessor, wrote : We being inform'd that att the time of the death of our late Receiver Genii : there were Effects of ours in his hands of a Considerable A'alue which he intended to have returned to us According to the directions to him formerly by us Given, These are therefore to Command & require you torthwith to send Over his Accts : and Remmitt ye Ballance thereof in Rice &c ; by two of the Next ships yt shall Come for England after the Receipt hereof Section XI. of an Act of the General Assembly of South Caro lina entitled "An Act for avoiding Deceipts in Selling of Beef and Pork, Pitch and Tarr Rosin and Turpentine by appointing Packers in Several Parts of this Province"', ratified December 1 8, 1714, provides: Whereas the different Length of Rice of Barrels Exported is ver.y Pre- .ludicial to the Owners of Vessels by making bad Stowage for the Preven tion thereof Be it Enacted by tha authority aforesaid, that every Rice P>;irrel exposed to Sale after the first day of December next after the Ratification of this Act Shall not be, less than Thirty two Inches long nor more then Thirty three, on the I'ain and Penaltie that for every Such Cooper or other I'erson So Offering or Neglecting Shall forfeit the Sum of five Shillings for every Such Bairel ; and every Person who Shall offer ^British Public Record Office, Proprieties, Board of Trade, Volume 9, p. 49, (Copy in office of Historical Commission of South Carolina.) -Commissions and Instructions front ihe Lords Pioprictors of Carolina to Public Officials of South Carolina. 1685-1715, p. 231. nbid, p. 235. to Sale any Rice Shall put his proper burnt Jlark upon every Cask of Rice as aforesaid, under Penalty of forfeiting five Shillings for ciich Rice Cask So Offered to Sale.' The journal of the CommonH House of Assembly of South Carolina for Wednesday, February 16, 1715, shows the follow ing as a part of the proceeding's of that day :" Upon reading the Petition of John Thurber, relating to the allowing him a gratuity out of the Public Treasury for bringing the first Madagascar Rice into this Province : Ordered That the said Thurber be allowed the sum of One hundred pounds out of the Public Treasury, & that Twenty pounds thereof be paid to him, by the Publick Receiver, & that the other Eighty [lounds be remitted by the said Receiver to the said Thurbers family in N. England, in what will be most advantageous for said Thurbers family. In a letter from the Council of Trade to James Stanhope, Secretary of State for the Southern Department, dated July 19, 1715, the following statement was made in reference to South Carolina : The Produce of this Colony, are, Naval Stores, vizt — Pitch & Tar in Good Abundance and some Masts, Rice of the best kind; & considerable Quanti ties of Skins, which by the Trade hereof, and the Duties on their Importa tion here, are very beneficial to this Kingdom, & occnsion an Augmentation of his Majesty's Revenue,-' The next imonth two gratuities to be paid in rice were voted in appreciation of services rendered in the Yemassee War, through which the province had just passed. On August 26, 1715. the Commons House of Assembly adopted the following resolutions : Resolved, That Cai)t. Saml. Meade, Commander of his Majesty's Ship, Success, for his great services to this Province, in hi.s voyage to and from Boston in New England, be presented with six Tuns of Rice, so soon as the same can conveniently be got ready to be delivered to him, after the next croii of Rice comes in. Ordered, That the Publick Receiver for the time being, do (at the charge of the Publick) deliver the said Six Tuns of Rice to Capt. Meade aforesaid, or his order. ^The Laios of the Province of South Carolina (MS.), by Nicholas Trott, Second Tart, p. 88. (In office of Historical Commission, Columbia.) -The original journal for 1715 cannot now be located, but the copy here given ih from the copy of the original made for the State by John S. Green about 1850. ¦'British Public Record Office, America and West Indies, Vol. 621. (Copy in office of Historical Commission of South Carolina.) 10 Resolved : That Lieut. Alexr. Coldeott (Lieut, of his Majesty's Ship Success) be also presented with one Tun of Rice as aforesaid, for his services to the Pub lick in the aforesaid "Voyage. Ordered : That the Publick Reeever, for the time being, do (at the charge of the Publick) deliver the said one Tun of Rice to Lieut, Coldeott aforesaid, or his order. The next day two barrels of rice were voted to Capt. Thomas Raymond, master of a sloop which had brought forces from- North Carolina to assist. The first published account that the writer has been able to find of the beginning of rice culture in South Carolina appears in a f)amphlet entitled The/ Iinportance/ oj the /British Plan- tatioTis / in / Ainericaf to this / Kingdom,; /with /The State of their Trade, and /j\Iethods for Improving it; /as also /A De- ¦so'iption of the se'eral Colo-/nies there, which was printed in London in 1731.^ On pages 18-19 thereof its author says:- The Production of Rice in Carolina, which is of such prodigious Advan tage, was owing to the following Accident. A Brigantine from the Island Madagawar happened to put in there; they had a little Seed Rice left, not exceeding a Peck, or Quarter of a Bushel, which the Caistain offered. and gave to a Gentleman of the Name of Woodward. From Part of this he had a very good Crop, but was ignorant for some Years how to clean it. It was soon dispersed over the Province; and by frequent Experiments and ^London :/ Printed for J. Peele at Locke's Head., in Amen-/Corner, Pater-Xostcr- Row. MDCCXXXI. /(Price One Shilling and Six Pence,)/ '^Joseph Sabin's Dictionary of Books relating to America credits the authorship of this pamphlet to F. Hall. The internal evidence of the pamphlet shows that its author was Capt. Fayrer Hall, who commanded the Sea Nymph in Rhett's expedition against Stede Bonnet, pirate, in 1718, and in Governor Johnson's expedition against Richard Worloy, pirate, in the same year. He was a resident of Charles Town at the time, for on August 13, 1719, he so recites in a mortga.ge of his personal property to Col, William Rhett and Sarah, his wife. He states lu the pamphlet that he bad lived several years at a time in America, some of that time in Charles Town, and had traded In those parts over twenty years ; that he had been interested in the sup pression of pii'ates ; "that what I have said I have taken great Care should be true" ; and, spealsing of the Bahama Islands, "I don't thinlt these Islands worth inhabit ing, while we have so much of as fine a Countrey as any in the World uninhabited, I mean the Province of South Carolina" ; and ''All Manner of Provisions are ex tremely cheap in South-Carolina, insomuch ttat the Shipping at Cliarles Town are supply'd all the Year round with Beef at less than seven Shillings Sterling per hun dred Weight ; and it would seem incredible, should one relate the prodigious Quan tities of Fish, and the cheap rate, at which that Market is supplied with them." Hall's pamphlet has been made use of in Anderson's History of Commerce, Volume 3, p. 167. ff. The writer is indebted to Mr. Victor H. Paltsits, of the New York Public Ijlbrary, for the extract from and full description of Hall's pamphlet. 11 Observations they found out Ways of producing and manufacturing it to so great Perfection, that it is thought it exceeds any other in "Value. The Writer of this hath seen the said Captain in Carolina, where he received a handsome Gratuity from the Gentlemen of that Countrey, in Acknowledge ment of th'e Service he had done that Province. It is likewise reported that Mr. Du Bois, Tl'easurer of the East India Company, did send to that Countrey a small Bag of Seed-Rice some short Time after,' from whence it is reasonable enough to sujipose might come those two Sorts of that Commodity, one called Red Rice in Contradistinc tion to the White, from the Redness of the inner Husk or Rind of this Sort, tho' they both clean and become white alike. It is unfortunate that the author gave no dates. Although it is uncertain at what time before 1715 (the year Capt. Thurber received his gratuity) Madagascar rice was first planted in South Carolina, it is certain that rice culture was begun before 1690) and that it was not begun as the result of an "accident" but as a j part of a prearranged plan of development of Carolina by the Proprietors thereof. The procuring of the Madagascar seed from Thurber by Woodward might have been accidental, but some sort of rice would have been tried sooner or later — if it were not already being planted. If the author was correct in his / claim that the Madagascar seed was the genesis of the rice indus try in South Carolina, then it was Dr. Henry Woodward who procured the seed from Capt. Thurber, and the first planting had taken place over thirty years before Capt. Thurber received his gratuity from the General Assembly, that is to say, about 1685, or earlier. Dr. Henry Woodward was for many years one of the leading men of the province, and was of great assistance to the Lords Proprielors in developing it. In 1666 he came to Port Royal with Sanford's exploring expedition and remained there with the Indians in order to learn their language and to explore and study file country in the interest of the Proprietors. His ro mantic exneriences from then until the establishment of Charles Town in 1670 have been told in the records of the day.^ On May 18, 1682, he was commissioned by the Proprietors to explore ^Charles Dubois, Treasurer of the East India Company, lived at Mitcham, Surrey, where he had a garden filled with the newest exotics at that time in course of intro duction. He took much interest in botany and botanists, and his collection of dried plants occupies seventy-four folio volumes, the entire number of specimens being about thirteen thousand. They form a part of the herbarium at the Oxford Botanic Garden. He died October 21, 1740. ^See The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol, VIII, pp. 30-33. 12 the islands on the coast of Carolina to see "what they do con tain" ; to seek a passage over the Appalachian Mountains and to search and make discovery of those parts of our Province where you shall think any mines are or other things fitt or usefull for us to know and you are from time to time to give us an account what discoverys you have made and what kind of Country the Inlands of Our Province are and how quiillifled for Planting of vines & Inhabitants.' It would have been perfectly natural, therefore, for Dr. Wood ward to have been the man to successfully inaugurate the plant ing in South Carolina of a commodity which his patrons, the Lords Proprietors, had desired introduced. He died some time between May 6, 1685,^ when we find him acting as an interpreter for the Grand Council at an investigation of an outrage com mitted by one tribe of neighboring Indians upon another, and IMarch 12, 1690, when Col. John Godfrey made his will. In referring to his daughter Mary, wife of William Davis, Col. Godfrey directed that "a full Ballance be had and made of her Two former Husbands Debts, Robert Browne and Doct'" Henry Woodward, which did any wayes attaine to me" and again he left a negro to»her in lieu of £20. "Borrowed from my Daughter Davis wei' was of the Children of Doct'" Henry Woodwards Estate". It is likely that Dr. Woodward's death occurred nean-r to the former date than to the latter, as the writer has been un able to find any records of his presence in South Carolina during the vears between these dates, while there are numerous records of his activities just prior to the first date, and we must allow for a reasonable time to have elapsed between his death and the next marriage of his Avidow, and then a possible further lapse of time between that marriage and the making of Col. Godfrey's will. If, however, Dr. Woodward was not the Woodward to Avhom Capt. Thurber gave the seed, then it necessarily was one of his two sons — if a Woodward at all — to whom he gave it, as the records do not show any other Woodwards in the province be tween 1685 and 1715. These sons did not arrive at man's estate 'British Public Record Office : Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 20, p. 207, (Copy in office of Historical Commission of South Carolina,) ^The date March, 1686, given by Mr. Barnwell in The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine for January, 1907 (Vol. VIII, p. 82), as the last date of Dr, Woodward alive Is erroneous. The letter there referred to is dated March 21, 1684/5, 13 until after 1700, and, consequentlj', the Madagascar rice could not have been the first rice planted in the province. To this wi'iter the evidence seems to indicate very clearly that Dr. Henry Woodward was the "Gentleman of the Xame of Woodward" who procured the Madagascai- seed from Capt. Thurber and that. therefore, Madagascar seed was planted before 1690. Mada'gas- car grew a very superior quality of rice, and still grows it, and Thornburgh's letter of 1699 shows that even at that early date the South Carolina rice was of the very best. The author states that Woodward "was ig^norant for some Years how to clean it." That statement is borne out by the Act patenting Guerard's pen dulum engine in 1691. He also says it was "soon dispersed over the Province; and by frequent Experiments and Observations they found out Ways of producing and manufacturing it to so great Perfection, that it is thought it exceeds any other inValue." The petition of 1690, the pendulum engine Act of 1691, the quit rent Acts of 1696, the requests in 1698 for the remov^al of duty on its exportation and for a model of a rice mill, and Thornburgh's statement in 1699 as to commendations of it by London grocers all sustain that statement. The author states that Dubois sent rice seed ".some short Time after" the Madagascar seed had been secured. By evidence which will appear later on it will be seen that the Dubois seed was sent in 1696. As every statement made by Hall, except that as to the accident, is exactly sustained by contemporaneous recoids, and, as he wrote at a time much closer to the period when the matters of which he was writing trans pired 'than any other writer, and had lived in South Carolina while many of the actors of that period were still alive and able to inform him of the facts, it would seem that more credit should be given to his statements than to those of writers who wrote many years later and made contraiy statements without giving a scintilla of evidence to sustain them. Capt. John Thurber died Xovember 24, 1717, aged 68, and was buried in Kikemult Cemetery, Warren, R. I. In Volume 48 of The New England Llistoru-al and Genealogical Register there is published a contribution entitled "Burials at Warreii and Bar- rington, R. I.'' This list was made in 1871 by Gen. Guy Man- nering Fessenden and in a footnote to the name of John Thurber Gen. Fessenden says: The "John Thurber," Capt,, was the person \\ho first Introduced rice into South Carolina from India, between 1694 and 1697. 14 Gen. Fessenden gives us no authority for his statement, but we could put more faith in his date for the introduction of Mad agascar rice if he had not confused Madagascar with India. If his date is correct then the Madagascar rice was not the first planted and Thurber gave it to some one other than a Woodward. The evolution of the story of the Madagascar rice from tlie first telling thereof is shown by the following accounts from five later writers : In A DescHption of South Carolina, published in London in 1761, James Glen, a former governor of the province, writes.-' The following Extract is inserted to shew by what means that profitable commodity Rice came to be first planted in South Carolina ; for as it was not done with any previous Prospect of Gain, but owing to a lucky acci dent, and a private experiment, many Persons will naturally be desirous of knowing the several circumstances relating to an affair so fortunate to this Kingdom, and it may serve as a new instance of the great share this accident hath had in making discoveries for the benefit of Mankind, [Here follows a slightly inaccurate copy of the account given in the pamphlet of 1731.] The writer of this extract hath not mentioned the time when Rice was first planted in South Carolina : but it appears in page — - of this descrip tion, that Rice was generally Planted in that Colony in the year 1710,^ and therefore the first planting of it must have been about the year 1700, if not sooner. In June, 1766, the following contribution appeared in the Gentleman's Magwzine^ of London, under the caption. "An Ac count of the Introduction of Rice and Tar into our Colonies" : John Houghton, a seiisible writer on trade and husbandry, Vol. II. page 298, enumerates the commodities imported into England : among which he mentions Rice, and gives the following account of it, probably from the Custom-house books or bills of entry. Uice imported in the year IBdlf. Prom the Streights 154.5 Cwt, From Spain 120 ditto Prom Holland 330 Qrs, But as he takes no notice of rice from Carolina, it is probable it was not then planted there, which will appear with still stroiiger evidence by the following account. 'See B, R. Carroll : Historical Collections of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 270. ' ^On page 265 of Carroll's reprint of Glen's pamphlet some figures are given which show the rice exportations from South Carolina after 1720. There is no mention of 1710, but as 264,788 barrels were exported between 1720 and 1729 we may infer that rice was planted at least ten years earlier than 1720. ^Volume 36, pp. 278-279. It was reprinted (inaccurately) in The Southern Agri culturist (Charleston) for January, 1831 (Volume IV), pp. 7-9, 15 In the year 1G90, my sagacious friend, Charles Dvhois, then treasurer of the East-India Company, told me often with pleasure, that he first put the Carolinians on the culture of rice. He happened one day, in that year to meet Thomas Marsh, a Carolina merchant, at the coffee-house, to whom he said, I have been thinking, from the situation, nature of soil, and climate, that rice may be produced to great advantage in Carolina: But, says J/«r.s-/!, how shall we get some to try'?, "Why, says Dubois, I Will enquire for it aiunu.gst our India Cap tains — Accordingly, a money bag full of Ea.st India rice was given to Marsh, and he sent it to South-Carolina; and in the year 1098, he told his friend Dubois, that it had succeeded very well. But, from so small an original, it required a long time to spread to advantage; besides, the people being unacquainted with the manner of cultivating rice, man.v difficulties attended the first planting and preparing it, as a vendable commodity, so that little progress was made for the first nine or ten years, when the quantity produced was not sufficient for home consumption. About this time, a Portuguese vessel arrived, with slaves from the east, \A'ith a considerable quantity of rice, being the ship's provision; this rice the Caroiinian.s gladly took in exchange for a supply of their own pro duce. — ^This unexpected cargo was distributed, which gave new spirit to the undertaking, but was not sufiicient to supply the demand of all those that would have procured it to plant. Therefore the Assembly of South Carolina, taking into consideration the importance of the culture of rice, very prudently voted a bounty to en courage its importation, that there might be a supply of seed for every undertaker. My ingenious friend, Tho. Lamboll, Esq; now iiving, informs me that in the year 1704, bein.g then a lad, going to school at some distance from Charles Town, he took notice of some planters, who were essaying to make rice grow. In the year 1712, the same gentleman was an apprentice to a principal merchant in Charles Toirn, who was appointed public treasurer; and he well remembers that a bounty (granted by the Assembly) was then paid to a Captain, who brought in the first cargo of rice, after the bounty was ordered : This cargo came from the Strcights, probably from Egypt, or the Milune.te. In the year 1713, another ship arrived, and the Captain made the like demand, and received the bounty for bringing a cargo of rice aud slaves from Madagascar. From these particulars it appears, that the progress of raising rice, in any considerable Quantity, was very slow ; and I can find no account of any being exported for the first 15 years. But it is reasonable to conclude, that after the arrival of these two cargoes of rice for sowing, the planters were amply furnished, to extend its culture ; and being a yearly production, it soon became a staple commodity; it is therefore very probable, that in the .years 1715 or 1716, a quantity was raised sufficient for exportation, which continued to increase till the year 1726, and then it became a great 16 article of commerce. For my correspondent, Sam. Eveligh, a merchant re siding in Charles Toirn. writes to me that from the year barrels of rice 1726 to 1727 were exported 40,000 172.9 to 1730 exported 41,957 1740 to 1741 exported 80,000 1755 to 1756 exported 60,000 1757 to 1758 exported 67,000 1760 to 1761 exported 100,024 *1761 to 1762 ^exported 34,972 1 half barrels 3,600 The Cwi'olina Gazette of .June 12, 17(32, says, the crops of rice are so great thiit we expect to make 150,000 barrels. I cannot express the satisfaction I feel, in reflecting on the wonderful increase of so valuable a commodity, from so small a beginning, in about, or little more than half a century. May 26, 1766. P. CoUison,' Xotwithstanding the many inaccuracies in the foregoing con tribution it contains something of value to assist us in arriving at the truth as to the beginning of the rice industry in South Caro lina. While no rice may have been exported to England in 1694 it does not. follow that none was raised in South Carolina at that time. On the contrary, the evidence is positive that rice was then a commodity of the province. The entire production may have been kept at home for food and seed. There was also at that time a duty charged on exportations of it to England. The date 1696, given as the year of the receipt of Dubois's seed from India, which date he says he received from Dubois him self, harmonizes perfectly with the contemporaneous records and with the account given by Hall in 1731, but the further state ments that it was nine or ten years after that before enough wtta known of cultivating and preparing rice to make it a vendable commodity, and that the quantity produced during those years "was not enough for home consumption, do not accord with the records. The records show that in 1696 the Proprietors allowed the quit rents to be paid in it; that in 1698 the British govern- *Probably this year they turned their hands to making indigo, of which they made 239,629 pounds, [The cultivation of indigo began about the same time as that of rice. It did not develop as fast and did not attain its zenith until the advent of Moses Lindo in 17,56. — A. S. S., Jr.] iPeter Colllson, naturalist and antiquarian, was born near Windemere, ,Ianuary 14, l(l!i3/4. He was a member of a firm that produced men's mercery, and it eon- ducted a large trade with the American provinces. The foregoing was one of thirteen papers that he contributed to the Gentlcman'y Maga-.ine. He died Au,gust n, 1768. (DicHonarii of National Biography.) 17 ment was asked to remove the duty from exportations of that raised in South Carolina, and that in 1699 more was produced than there were ships at Charles Town to carry it away in and that three hundred and thirty tons thereof were exported to England and the West Indies during the first seven months of 1700. The explanation of the error is that it took nine or ten years after the starting of the industry to learn the proper methods of cultivating and preparing it for export, instead of nine or ten years after the receipt of the Dubois seed. The statement that the General Assembly had pi'()\ided for bounties which were paid to masters of vessels bringing in rice in 1712 and 1713 is not borne out by the contemporaneous records. A search of the several compilations of the laws of South Caro lina by Trott (1736), Grimke (1791) and Cooper (1837) do not reveal any Acts to that effect; nor do the legislative journals uf the period show anything. It is possible that such bounties were paid between 1694 and 1700 under the terms of ."An Act to raise money to be disposed of for the Encouragement of the Produc tion and Manufacturing of divers Sorts of Provisions and Com modities of the Growth of this Province", which was ratified June 20, 1694, to be effective for two years, was continued in 1696 for three and a half years, and repealed November 16, 1700. Xeither of the compilations of Trott, Grimke nor Cooper con tains anything but the title of the Act and the original cannot now be found. The statements of Thomas Lamboll as to seeing a bounty paid in 1712 to the captain who brought in the first cargo of rice and of seeing another paid in 1713 to a captain who brought a cargo from Madagascar were evidently based on the fact of the gratuities paid to Captains Thurber and Meade and Lieutenant Coldeott in 1715.^ Capt. Thurber was evidently needy in his old age, and, laiowing the benefits South Carolina had received from the rice seed he had brought in, petitioned for aid (There was no demand for something he was entitled to) and it was readily granted. It was not an unusual thing for such gratuities to be voted to those "who had done something for the general weal and were in need, and this was not the only one voted to a needy benefactor of the rice industry. The following extract from the journal of His Majesty's Council for South 'Lamboll, who was born in 1694. was quite young in 1715, when the gratuities were voted, and after a lapse of fifty years, his recollection of the facts — if he had ever been fully cognizant of them in bis youth — had evidently become confused. 18 Carolina for January 9, 1755, concerns a similar case, which, while arising forty yeai-s later, is interesting in connection with the history of the rice industry: A Petition of Joseph Koger,' was presented to the House, and read. Set ting forth that the Petitioner, a German Protestant, had been about twenty years in this Province, a grept part of which time he had spent in con triving & inventing Machines for a more easy & Expeditious w^ay of man ufacturing Rice. First a Wind-fan, which after many Trials, & much time spent upon it he, at last, brought to perfection, and to be of great advan tage to the Public; and tho' there was not one in Carolina, that answer'd the end, but what he either made or had been taken & made from his yet had he reaped no further benefit to himself & Family thereby, than what arose from the bare making of a few with his own hands having neither Slave nor Servant to assist him. After perfecting his Wind-fan he next applied himself to the Inventing a Machine for a more eas.v, quick, and advantageous method of pounding Rice, the most I/aborious part in the whole process of preparing that Provincial StajDle for a Market, In which he has likeways succeeded, beyond any; before attempted or seen in the Province, and to the approbation of all who had seen the one he made for Ml- Mc-kinzie, from which several others were then making thro' the Province, and Mr- Jervey took the Model he so beneficially exposed in Town. The Petitioner begged leave further Humbly to shew, that being a Forreigner, without any connections in the country, and speaking English but poorly, he was destitute of those aids so necessary to push one's way thro' the World, And that while he had been thus employing his time, his vigour and his strength in endeavouring to be useful to others, his own had suffered and he was then reduced, at 50 years of Age, to the necessity of being obliged to his kind Neighbours for the support of himself, his Wife and Children, in the bare necessarys of Life; which distress had been helped for-ward, by having his House, Tools, and the little all he had lately burnt to Ashes. The Petitioner therefore Humbly prayed In Consid eration of what he had done for the Public Emolument, even to the neg lect of his own and his Family's private Interest ; and that he might be enabled to continue his Endeavours, for the future, for the good of the Province, which, with Suitable encouragement, he hoped, he hoped, he might be further usefull to, That His Excellency & Honours would in their great Justice and goodness, be pleased to grant him such reward, as in their great Wisdoms they thought he deserved. Charles Town 1 Signed .Joseph Koger—. Jan: 9th.. 1755— ^ May it please your Excellency & Honours We whose names are hereunder Subscribed, beg leave hereby to certify that what is set forth in the annexed Petition is, to the best of our knowl edge. Strictly true, and that the Petitioner Joseph Koger, ever since he has lived in these parts, which is many years, besides applying himself to the purposes mentioned in the said Petition, has behaved himself honestly soberly and every way not only Irreproachably but Commeiidably. As Witness our hands 9th- Jan'ry 1755 : 19 Robt- Mc-Murdy George Godfrey Thos- Brown Joseph Andrew Robert Godfrey Danl Singellton Joseph Scott S: Elines Rich : Woodcraft John Panney John Lambert George Vinson William Glover William Steads Senr- Joseph Steads John Sanders Robert Handcock Tobias Ford George Jackson Robt- Reid Jno : Moore Wni- Oswald John Little Hush Millen Tb: Beach P : Rumph Bethel Dewes Nathl: Dean John Cochran Thos- Clifford James Moore Saml- Porcher Joseph Glover T Rigdon Smith James Bullock James Skirving James Postell William Sanders Archd- Hamilton John Laird Phillip Hext David Hext John Mc-Collum Adam Gulliatt Jos- Newton John Mc-Kenzie Samel Hastings Wm- Brown Saml Sleigh Stephn : Cater Hugh Ferguson Jas- Baker Thos- Jones Robt- Manning John Barton Willm- Mitchell Jos : Gibbons Robt- Oswald Gidn- Dupont John Roberts Thos- Ellis David Jefferyes Jno : Roberts Senr. Jno : North Danl.xMc-Cartey's mark Danl- Legare Junr Henry Warner Wm- Harden S : Singleton Richd- Bailey James Sharp Danl- Maybank John Field Jonath : Greaves Ben: Splatt John Wilkins Robt- Nenian Gasper Agerman John Dodd David Goddln Thos- Bradwell Thos- Eberson Wm- Smith Thos- Sacheverell James Holey Charles Odingsells Saml Lowle Richd- Coenhash Wm- Anderson John Beatly Jas- Cuthbert Thos- Simpson Saml Sprig Edwd- Ferguson James Hamilton Wm- Beaty James Reid Wm- Glaze John St John Saml. Davison Thos- Law Elliott Geo : Purkis Wm- Williamson Jas- Ilartly Robt- Baron Wm- Bower Williamson Wm Buchanan ABrm Hayne Thomas Elliott Senr- Isaac Nichols Alexr- Rantowle Isaac Ladson Geo : Logan Junr- Joseph Perry John Miles Thos- Singellton Chas- Ferguson Josiah Perry Edwd- Perry Saml- Elliott James Ladson George Evans John Edmanson David Stevens Saml. Wainwright Thos- Ladson Silas Miles Edwd- Perry Junr- Meliher Garner Thos- Miles Robert Maekewn Jr : Ralph Izard Richd Bedon Wm- Fuller James Grindlay Chas : Wright John Hume Thos- Ferguson Jno- Matthews Benjamin Harvey Isaac Godin Wm- Harvey Chas- Lowndes John Mc. Queen Thos: Smith David Deas 20 Order'd that the said Petition be sent to the Commons House of Assem bly In response the General Assembly appropriated £500. to be laid out in two negroes to be held in trust for Roger's use and benefit.^ In 1779 An Historical Account of the Rise a'nd Progress of the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, by Rev. Alexander Hewat, D. D., was published in London. After alluding to Land grave Thomas Smith's accession to the governorship in 1693 Dr. Hewat says :^ About this time a fortunate accident happened, which occasioned the introduction of rice into Carolina, a commodity which was afterwards found very suitable to the climate and soil of the country. A brigantine from the island of Madagascar touching at that place in her way to Britain, came to anchor off Sullivan's island. There Landgrave Smith, upon an invitation from the caijtaiu, paid him a visit, and received from liim a present of a bag of seed rice, which he said he had seen growing in eastern countries, where it was deemed excellent food, and produced an incredible increase. The governor divided his bag of rice between Stephen Bull, Joseph Woodward, and some other friends, who agreed to make the ¦experiment, and planted their small parcels in different soils. Upon trial they found it answered their highest expectations. Some years afterwards, Mr. DuBois, treasurer to the East India Company, sent a bag of seed rice to Carolina, which, it is supposed, .gave rise to the distinction of red and -white rice, which are both cultivated in that country. Several years, how ever, elapsed, before the planters found out the art of beating and cleaning it to perfection, and that the lowest and richest lands were best adapted to the nature of the grain. Here is the story of 1731 retold with variations by Dr. Hewat. The embellishments very clearly show that Dr. Hewat did not consult the public records of the province which were close at hand in Charles Town, where he resided when he gathered his material for his history. What ground he had for substituting Landgrave Smith for Woodward does not appear. Not to en tirely rob the Woodward family of the credit of the enterprise, he makes Joseph Woodward one of the experimenters with the seed. The early records of the province, although quite full, do not contain the name of Joseph Woodward. Dr. Henry Wood ward's two sons: John, born Febriiary 19, 1681, and Richard, born June 9, 1683, were both too young to have engaged in rice planting in 1694. iJournal of Council, 1755, pp. 4-7 ; journal of the Commons House, 161-162, 569. =See B. R. Carroll : Historical Collcctionx of South Carolina, Vol. I, p. 108. 21 In A Yieic of South Carolina, published in Charleston in 1802, Governor John Drayton says: Rice, was first planted in South-Carolina, about the year 1688 : when by 'chance a little of it, of a small unprofitable kind, was introduced into the state. In the year 169C, a bag of a larger and whiter rice, was presented, by a captain of a brigantine from Madagascar, to the governor ; who divided it between several gentlemen. And some time afterwards, Mr. DuBois, treas urer to the British East India Company, sent another parcel of rice ; which probably made the distinction which now prevails, between white and gold rice. Governor Drayton has mixed the accounts of Hall, Collison and Hewat. He has assigned Collison's date of the Dubois rice to the Madagascar rice; fixed the date of the Dubois seed at "some time afterwards", in consideration of Hall and Glen; sub stituted "the governor" for "a Gentleman of the Name of Wood ward", possiblj' in deference to Hewat, and assigned a still earlier date (1688) to the "chance" introduction of "a small unprofitable kind", probably out of respect for the Act of 1691 protecting Guerard's pendulum engine. In what he calls an "Agricultural History of South Carolina From 1670-1808", which forms a part (pages 199-231 of Volume II.) of his History of South Carolina, published in 1809, Dr. David Ramsay furnishes this account of how rice was introduced int