LOWER CAPE FEAR
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
BULLETIN
Volume
XXXVI“, Number
Wilmington,
1
North Carolina
November 1993
-
Elegy ‘leon the QDeath of
541111 I71y Moore: flln Egample of the
Southern flegaic Tradition
fildam QBoyd's
by
Richard Rankin, PhD.
by an
assistantprofessorof history atQueens College.
Dr. Rankin recently published a book through
the University ofSouth Carolina Press entitled
(The following article
Ambivalent Churchmen
was
written
nd Evan elical
Churchwomen: The Religion of the Episcopal
18012-1860. Additional
writings on Episcopalianism in the Lower Cape
Fear by Dr. Rankin are housed in the Society's
Archives and onepaper, 'Profile ofan Anglican
Congregation During the Revolutionary Era:
Elite in North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina,
1765-1785,” contains the following passage:
”...Although no evidence remains to indicate
the cost of pews, almost certainly the price
decreased as one moved farther away front the
pulpit. Ifdifi’erence ofwealth andstatus stratified
St. Jamesfromfront to rear, ties of blood and
marriage crisscrossed the church. Brothers
William and George Hooper, and presumably
their families, shared pew 38 which allowed
them to view the profile of George’s father-inlawArchibaldMacLaine (pew52 .)James Hasell
(pew36) could turn his headslightly to the right
and watch granddaughter Mary and her husband
St. James Church,
I 743 when the elder Adam
LOWER CAPE FEAR HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BULLETIN
Volume
XXXVI“, Number
Wilmington. NC
l
November 1993
granted power of
attorney by John McCay, an Ulster Scot living in
C harleston. The Boyds made sure that young Adam
had
a
went
..Lieut. General James M. Lee
...........
Vice-President
..
..........................
Jan Broadioot
Merle Chamberlain
Secretary
Treasurer
......
Deloris
Ryals
Lou Rhodes
Corresponding Secretary
..Mary
Past President
.Diane C. Cashman
.........
Executive Director
C ounscls
.......
Jean S. Scott
William J. Boncy, Jr.
James D. Carr
.
llllllllllll
DIRECTORS
Robert C. Carter
Joseph
S.
Bronwyn
William S. Hess
Harper
J Michael Hutson
Boney
Ives
Rebecca T. Rhine
M. Moore
John C.
Peterson
Alice G. Rhine
Robert P. Loweth
Dorothy
Morgan
Nola S. Nadeau
.
Sue
J.
Gerald M. Myerow
Gurganus
Catherine R.
Stribling
Symmes
BULLETIN STAFF
Editor
Editorial Committee
,.Beverly Tetterton
......
Tom Broadloot
Diane C. Cashman
Merle J. Chamberlain
.............
Manuscripts may be submitted
to
Jean S. Scott
the committee for review.
JohnAncrum (pew5I .) These sortofkinship networks
could be repeatedformany members, but perhaps the
Moore family
(pews 7, 28, and 54) best exemplifies
complicated family relationships. The various
Moores could exchange glances with their cousins:
The Quinces (pew [5), the Swanns (pews 16 and 48),
the Drys (pews 3 and 4). the Ashes (pews 36 and 54),
and the Howes (pew 28.) A Sunday gathering at St.
James was primarily a service of worship, but it also
had some of the qualities ofafamily gathering.”
This was the world of the Reverend Adam Boyd
who frequently occupied the pulpit of St. James and
who married the widow of Dr. Moses John deRosset,
thus making him a part of Wilmington's labyrinth of
the
the privileged and interrelated.
Adam
into the
were
proud
that he
Presbyterian ministry.
Boyd arrived in Wilmington,
sometime around 1764, he shed his vestments for a
business suit. Five years later. at the age of31, he
purchased an antiquated printing press fromAndrew
Stuartandbeganpublishing the Cape Fear Mercury
a hugely successful newspaper which included a
mixture of current events, advertisements, fiction,
rambling anonymous essays which frequently
sound as if they were written by a man firmly in
possession of the somewhat unusual combination of
robust appetites and a vivid spiritual awareness.
and
After Boyd married Mary Ivy deRosset in 1774 he
became a close friend of patriots Cornelius Harriett,
William Hooper, Archibald MacLaine, and James
Moore, his brother-in-law. Because of the dangerous
conditions in Wilmington, Mary Ivy Boyd stayed at
the home of hersister, A an Ivy Moore, on the Northeast
Cape Fear River while the Reverend Mr. Boyd served
in the American Revolution
.......,,..Susan Block
...........................
classical education and
When Adam
OFFICERS
President
was
Boyd's parents, Adam and Jan Creaghead
emi
Boyd
gratedfrom Balleymoney, Northern Ireland
to Montour County, Pennsylvania at least as early as
ensign, second
lieutenantandbrigade chaplain.He also officiatedas
a military court judge and was instrumental in
organizing the North Carolina chapter ofthe Society
of the Cincinnati F or his efi’orts during the war, Boyd
as an
.
was
awarded 7,200
acres
in Tennessee,
Adam
Boyd spent his later years as an Episcopal
minister in Wilmington, Augusta, and Natchez,
Mississippi. In I 799 he preached the first sermon
ever delivered by an Episcopal minister in Knoxville
and Nashville. He survived his wife byfive years and
died in the midst of writing a series of booklets for
children in Natchez in 1803. He
unmarked grave.
Adam Boyd was survived
by
was
buried in
an
step-children:
ArmandJohndeRossetandMagdelen MarydeRosset
Toomer, wife of Henry Toomer. The Reverend Boyd
also had two step-grandchildren:
Moses John
two
deRosset and Lewis Toomer.
Documentation is scarce on Boyd's sister-in-law,
Ann Ivy Moore, but in 1981, local historian Delmas
Haskett interviewed
who
plowed
land
ninety—year-old tenant farmer
that had once been part of the
a
Fender county Moore Plantation, "The Vatts.” The
elderly farmer told Mr. Haskett that he had been
taken in
to
of twelve
the field by his
and
was
own
instructed
grandfather at the age
as to
the proper way
to
The poem is significant for several reasons. First,
since the poem follows an English form commonly
employed throughout the colonial South, it indicates
plow. ”Now when you get to the top ofthe hill always
pull the plow up because we don’t want to disturb
those Moore boys. They are buried under there in
marble top graves,
”
participant in the literary styles of
southern and English high culture. Second, the poem
is a representative source for the history of the family
in early America since it so graphically illustrates the
growing important of romance within marriage. in
this case the marriage of Ann Ivy Moore and James
Moore (1737—15 January 1777.)2
Writing poetry in early America was a genteel
pursuit, and as newspaper editor and husband of at
Wilmington dowager, Adam Boyd clearly moved in
that
the grandfather had said in 1903.
Delmas Haskett returned later with wire
poles
ground until he found three tombs
buried in the old style of east and west. They were
located under several feet of topsoil This cemetery is
most likely thefinal
resting place ofAnn Ivy Moore.
and
probed
the
.
-
Susan Block, Editor)
the cooperation of Dr,
(The Bulletin staff gratefully acknowledges
William 5. Powell and Dr. John H. Scalf.
When
Adam
)
Boyd~ (1738—1803)
founded
Wilmington's first newspaper, The Cape FearMercug,
in 1769, he secured his place in the history of
intellectual life on the Lower Cape Fear. Published
until Boyd enlisted as an ensign in the Revolutionary
Army in 1776, fourteen issues and four literary
supplements ofthe newspaper survive. Other aspects
of Boyd‘s life, including important activities as a
patriot and as, first, a Presbyterian and, later, an
Episcopal clergyman have received careful study in
an article
by Durward T. Stokes, "Adam Boyd,
Publisher, Preacher, and Patriot."1
Boyd expressed
his
only in his
sermons and in his role as editor of the
Cape Fear
whose
Mercury's supplements
anonymous pieces of
amusing fiction may or may not have come from his
but also in two previously published poems
pen
lamenting the deaths of beloved relatives: his brother
John Boyd circa 1786, and his wife Mary Ivy deRosset
Boyd in 1799. The discovery of a third Boyd elegy,
written in Wilmington circa 1777 upon the death of
his sister»in-law Ann Ivy Moore (birth date unknown)
adds another important poem to the corpus of early
Cape Fear poetry.
literary
bent not
—
Boyd
was a
the town's most aristocratic circles. The technical
form of the 38-line poem is interlocking rhyme and
iambic pentameter. The style is the distinctive southern
elegy, a poetic tradition present in the southern colonies
as far back as seventeenth—century Virginia and gaining
its greatest popularity during the neoclassical period.
Southern poets derived their poetic ethos from the
moderate Anglicanism of contemporary English
elegists. Consequently, southern elegies, unlike New
England's Puritan counterparts, exhibited less
obsession with
religion.3
Boyd‘s poem is clearly a part of the southern
elegiac tradition. Even with his emphasis on God and
the afterlife in the concluding four lines of the poem,
Boyd’s elegy gives more attention to the character of
the couple and their—marriage than to religious themes.
-
1The North Carolina Historical Review
49 (January 1972): 1-21;
Boyd." in William S. Powell. ed., m
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography,multivolume (Chapel Hill:
The University of North Carolina Press, 1979*):
11199-200. All
biographical information on Adam Boyd contained in this issue of the
Durward T. Stokes, "Adam
Bulletin relies
on
the above articles.
2
The other two Boyd elegies were written after Adam Boyd left
Wilmington to serve Episcopal parishes in Georgia. A portion of the
John Boyd elegy and the complete Mary Ivy deRosset Boyd elegy. a
brief eight-line epitaph, are reproduced in Stokes, "Adam
Boyd,
Publisher, Preacher, and Patriot," pp. 3, 18-19.
’
For
an
extended treatment of this
"The Southern
Elegiac Tradition,"
South 1585-1763
3 Vols.
Richard Beale Davis.
Intellectual Life in the Colonial
subject see
(Knoxville: The University oiTennessec
Press, 1978). pp. 1400—1419.
It also contains
One
might
Presbyterian
more
have
classical than biblical allusions.
piety from a
religious tradition was
related to New England Puritanism. In this regard,
however, Boyd's marriage to the staunchly Anglican
widow, Mary Ivy deRosset, in 1774 and his switch to
the Episcopal ministry in 1786 suggest that his
sympathies increasingly lay with that faith.
Boyd must have been deeply moved by his sisterin—law's untimely death to compose an elegy. Leaving
four orphans, Ann or "Amanda" expired shortly after
‘
GcorgcTroxler.
University
Scotland
more
minister whose
"James Moore," in William S.
of North Carolina
Journal of
expected
Biography
PowelLMw
(Chapel Hill: The
multivolume
ofNorth Carolina Press, 1979»): 41299-300; Janet Schaw,
Ladv ofOualitv: Being the Narrative of a Journev from
a
to
the West lndics
Years 1774—1776 edited
North Carolina
by Evangeline
collaboration of Charles McLean Andrews
University Press, 1921),
5
and Portugal
(New Haven: Yale
pp. 167—168.
Daniel Blake Smith. Inside the Great House: Planter
the
in the
Walker Andrews with the
EighteentheCentury Chesapeake Society (Ithaca.
University Press. 1980), pp. 140150.
Family
Life in
N. Y. "Cornell
the death of her husband, General James Moore
"Honorin" in 1777. From
Ann married into
a
most
distinguished planter
families in the Lower
Cape
Fear.
impeccable reputation
James Moore's
judged
from the remarks ofthe Scottish
Schaw. who described him
as
can
be
visitor, Janet
person of ”most
a
unblemished character (and) amiable manners; and
virtuous life had
and his
him the love of
gained
popularity
is such that I
everybody.
assured he will
am
more
province."
followers than any other
A leader in the
from the time ofthe
the victorious
Stamp Act Crisis, Moore directed
Whig
forces
at
1776 and afterwards
February
rank of bri gadier general
Moore's Creek in
promoted
was
the
to
by the Continental Congress.
He died in Wilmington in
January
1777
march north and rendezvous with
as
he prepared
Washington's
main force.4
perfectly
fits the new
couples
were
Moore's
marriage
conjugal ideal that developed in
the years after 1750. As
chose
they
giving greater
a
partner for life,
and greater
weight
to
romantic considerations and less and less to wealth
dynastic alliances. Married life
was more
than
and wives
were more
than
just helpmates:
often
they
friends and lovers?
The
original
survive, but
Boyd
poem does
later handwritten copy,
a
not
apparently
made
by
Moore
Watters, lies among the Quince—Watters Papers
at
one
of the
surviving orphans, Mary Ivy
the Southern Historical Collection
of North Carolina,
Chapel
original punctuation,
been
resupplied
for
at
the
University
Hill. Much of
lost in the
clat‘ity's sake.
Boyd‘s
transcription,
waves
side
gently down,
While in rotation mysticflows its tide,
the
Amanda lived
.
or
rather say
-
to crown,
she shined
and the graces all possessed,
0f beauty
With generous
sentiments, replete her mind,
And virtues favorite seat, her
lovely breast,
lovely features regularly placed,
Blest in
deli ghi the eye
to
herself,
Honoria
Sigh’dfor
or
this
Their souls
They
envy's base control,
beauteousfair
soon were
jars
'Twas
or
hailed! The
-
sigh’d
in vain.
mutualflame;
truly happy pair.
and graces came;
torch
brightest
nor
was
there.
jealous friends disturbed their joy.
worse
Blessing
the
nuptials loves
with his
—
please,
to
by the slightest stain,
congenialfelt
To their blest
the mind
generous soul,
unsullied
Above vice
-
and in her lover blest.
ofnoble
Hisfame
No
wish
neighboring farmers amplest
than death their tenderest
and blest/ 0 ’twas
But Oh./ What
happiness
a
heavenly
beneath the
care
employ.
scene!
sun.
Death, envious death, the dear connection broke.
Honoriafell
err
halfhis
long
Plaintive and sad she
Her widowed heart
Nor cou'd
copy of the
winding
Nor could Amanda
just strategic unions of money and power, and husbands
were
roll
Hymen
Boyd's description of the
and
Whose silver
Formed
Whig resistance movement
oers.
Boyd
James Moore
meandering
in the
man
the Revd Adam
Near the famed Clarendon’s
Her
have
to
a
by
upon the death
prominent family herself,
of the wealthiest and
one
Lines written
or
C rop’z
a
race was run,
survive the stroke.
mourn
’d the
deep pierced
sister's love her
infull bloom
thus
-
Thus all the beauties
-
livelong day.
dissolved in
grief allay.
mourns
of the Vale
the flower dies,
shall fade,
Thus all the
splendid glories of the East.
Seek them
Oh seek!
Sure
by
—
his grace
to
-
the
Almighty Sovereigns aid!
beforever Blest.
There front eternity hath
sighs,
Seraphs
shown.
There she shall shine immortal with her God.
has
(“MM
Fear
Cape
From An Account
America
together
with
abstract
an
have
as
Thit/zer.
by
Patent and
of the
thoughts of transporting
Samuel Wilson. (London,
"(1764) New Bernians in
Carolina in
useful Particulars,
several other necessary and
such
of
the Province
of
Potpourri
to
Themselves
1682). Harvard
University Library:
seat
of government from
Fear.
a
Place within
in the lakes
or
near
the
sea. a creature
called the
Alligator
it
gloomy
a
Musket bullet
pierce it,
to
to
it; it lives both
voracious
on
land and water,
being
a
destroy
greedy creature, devouring whatever it seizes on, man
only excepted which on the land it has not the courage
attacque, except when asleep
water
it's
length
of 16-20 feet,
sharp,
keen teeth, the
as a
horse, declining
in the vertebrae
length
or
is unable
mischievous; yet
Creatures
having
body
by surprize:
In the
it sometimes grows
dangerous;
more
or
a
now
when full grown
ponds
nature
by instinct
there
are a
terrible
which
at a
as
a
letter written
imprisoned
in York,
has
preservation
make
very white; the young
the older
nauseates;
ones
"There
smells
too
their stones,
commended for
are
a
rich
of: their flesh
ones are
few wire grass
ridges,
prices
"
Harriett while
by Cornelius
Pennsylvania
to
friend in
a
Collection, University of North Carolina):
to a
"Tell Mrs. Harnett
(for
I
forget
mention
to
it to her) that 2
most
gallons
of
or
3
pickled
oysters would be the
greatest rarity she could
own
send me."
cuts are
eatable; the Flesh of
strong of musk that it
least
at
a
large
given
perceivable,
good
boundary
Wilmington, 20 December 1777 (Southern Historical
having nojoints
which the poor cattle for their
so
called,
A headline from the
are
September
lasting perfume.”
21
Wilmington Messenger,
1861:
also in Carolina great numbers of fire
Flies, who carry their lanterns in their Tails
Nights, flying through
the Air,
shining
like
in dark
Sparks of
Fire, enlightening it with their Golden Spangles,
From A
From
considerable distance is
use
Cape
through hot parching Sands,
horribility!
timely caution to avoid them by their strong.
musky smell,
better than
of stagnant watermand the inflated
which renders it less
turn
town
miles ofthe south
and then with
back bone, but with its whole
to
their
to
beset with
long mouth,
towards its tail;
the
but under the
Belly that or an arrow finds as easy passage
to
and
and dismal,
Crocodile, whose Scaly back is impenetrable,
refusing
was
to move
ofa Province almost 300 miles wide, and the passage
enliven'd
or
Fifty
attempt
Wilmington
stated that the fork ofthe Neuse
to
”There is in Carolina at the mouth of the Rivers
an
History of New Bern
and Craven
Alan D. Watson New Bern, 1987:
"Men Blown to Pieces
as a
result of
dynamite explosion, six men are dead
Some dynamite had been placed
about the stove to thaw out."
County by
a
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