Edward Moseley (
ca. 16 February 1683 - 11 July 1749), was a British colonial official who served as the first
public treasurer of North Carolina from 1715 until his death in July 1749). He previously served as the surveyor-general of
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
before 1710 and again from 1723 to 1733. Moseley was also responsible, with
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and on the Continental Europe, Continent. He i ...
of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, for surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia in 1728.
Moseley also served as speaker of the North Carolina House of Burgesses (the lower house of the provincial legislature) for several terms, as he was consistently re-elected by his
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
. He briefly acted as
governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
while Governor
Burrington was out of the province.
Early life and education

John Moseley married Mary Beaman at All Hallows London Wall on February 5, 1681/2. Their son Edward was born February 16, 1682/3 just prior to his father's release from indenture. John Moseley began his own
merchant tailor business in
Cripplegate
Cripplegate was a city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England.
The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...
, just west of
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...
; but he had died by April 1690 when his orphaned son applied to
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex.
T ...
. School records confirm that Moseley was a pupil at Christ's Hospital,
Newgate
Newgate was one of the historic seven gates of the London Wall around the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. Newgate lay on the west side of the wall and the road issuing from it headed over the River Fleet to Mid ...
, in a division called the
Royal Mathematical School
Royal Mathematical School is a branch of Christ's Hospital, founded by Charles II. It is currently Christ's Hospital's Maths Department.
History
It was established so that potential sailors could learn navigation and mathematicians could train ...
which had been founded in 1673 to supply educated navigators to the navy and merchant marine. Moseley applied to the school at the age of 7 or 8 and was accepted the following year on July 2, 1691. There, he studied the trade of a navigator for more than six years.
Discharge records show that Moseley left Christ's Hospital December 24, 1697, aged 14/15, to serve an apprenticeship which was to last until December 1703, with Captain Jacob Foreland on the ship ''Joseph'', trading in the port of
Bilbao
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...
(a Spanish iron market). Curiously and somewhat irregularly, a handwritten postscript to the indenture with Foreland states "friends of the said boy would not suffer him to be bound to the said captain and have otherwise provided for him." Unknown wealthy friends of Moseley purchased his indenture so that he would not have to go to Spain with Foreland. Soon thereafter, Moseley landed in
Charleston, Carolina.
Moseley served southern Carolina as an
Ordinary Court
Ordinary court or judicial court is a type of court with comprehensive subject-matter jurisdiction compared to 'specialized court' with limited jurisdiction over specific field of matters, such as intellectual property court. Due to its compreh ...
clerk (January 1701-02) directly under Governor
James Moore. Moseley ceased his role when
Nathaniel Johnson succeeded Moore. A possible friend of Moseley's, John Barnhill (later known as “Tuscarora Jack”), replaced him at that time. Afterward, Moseley worked under Dr.
Thomas Bray
Thomas Bray (1656 or 165815 February 1730) was an English clergyman and abolitionist who helped formally establish the Church of England in Maryland, as well as the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and USPG, Society for the Pr ...
as a librarian for the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518).
It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...
in 1703. While in Charleston, Moseley demonstrated a fondness for books and administration and, as a good Anglican, collected religious texts that he later donated to the
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Church in
Chowan County. Moseley received £5 15s for cataloging the first library in Carolina. This work he performed for Dr. Bray and the Society in May 1703, following the books’ arrival in Charleston.
Through Dr. Bray's acquaintance, he met northern Carolina's, or
Albemarle County
Albemarle County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Ch ...
's, governor
Henderson Walker and his wife Ann. Gov. Walker seemed greatly interested in obtaining a similar Christian library for Albemarle’s capital of “Queen Anne’s Town,” later
Edenton. In October 1703, Walker wrote to the
Bishop of London
The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723.
The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
,
Thomas Tenison
Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.
Life
He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...
, requesting a gift similar to the Rev. Bray's.
In April 1704, Governor Walker died. Moseley moved to the
Albemarle Sound
Albemarle Sound () is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan River, Chowan and Roanoke River, Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean b ...
region and married Mrs. Walker in 1705. Moseley, then about 23 years old, began his career as a surveyor and lawyer.
Career
Moseley became a
planter,
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
,
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
, and
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
, with extensive land holdings (at least 55,000 acres) and numerous
slaves
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
for the labor of cultivating tobacco, pine trees, rice, and other crops. Known for his generosity to community and church, Moseley may be best remembered for his detailed map of the North Carolina colony, which he published in 1733. A revised version was drawn by the original engraver,
John Cowley of London, in 1737. Both were lasting contributions to the settlement of the colony.
East Carolina University
East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...
's Special Collections house perhaps the original copy of the map of 1733, owned by Moseley himself in
Greenville, and it held quite a history of its own. An earlier map of the
Albemarle (1708) made by Moseley was recently discovered by Dr. Larry Tise of East Carolina University in a publication of treasures from the
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament of the United King ...
Collection of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Even though an Anglican, Moseley supported the rights of
Dissenters
A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...
, including
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
, during
Cary's Rebellion
Cary's Rebellion (also known as the Cary Rebellion) was an uprising against the Deputy Governor of North-Carolina in 1711 led by Thomas Cary, who refused to give up his governorship to Edward Hyde. The rebellion was a part of a long-standing t ...
, albeit for pecuniary reasons. He also supported the growth of the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
.
Moseley was a personally motivated, opportunistic man who suffered the vagaries of rival surveyors and colonial justice. He evidently used his authority as surveyor unwisely and was twice accused of not having set foot on the properties that he had supposedly surveyed. Virginia authorities, hungry for a favorable boundary between Virginia and North Carolina, ignored Moseley's more accurate determination of that line, described in the
Carolina Charter. By 1711, he was removed as the colony's surveyor and fined £500, having to return all the surveying fees that he had collected near the border.
Later, Moseley was banned from holding public office for several years because he tried to obtain evidence to link Colonial Governor
Charles Eden to the
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
Edward Teach known as Blackbeard. Moseley and his brother-in-law Maurice Moore had forcibly entered the office of the colonial secretary in 1718 in search of incriminating evidence and had been surrounded by the governor's agents. Angry words were exchanged. When Moseley's case came to trial the following year, he was accused of uttering "seditious words" against the governor at the time. Despite at least one member of the jury being a former legal client of Moseley, Governor Eden's attorney obtained a conviction.
The conviction was merely a slap on the wrist, for Moseley became surveyor-general again in 1723. He was appointed Treasurer of the Province in 1735, a position he held until his death.
As a member of "the Family," elite South Carolinian planters who tried to usurp the Lower
Cape Fear from the king, he legislatively supported
Brunswick Town's founder, brother-in-law Maurice Moore, during the royal government's attempt to restore order in 1732–33. Royal authorities created the successful
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
town of
Wilmington from the opposition. Later, Moseley removed to Brunswick Town, where he died in 1749.
Personal life
In August 1705 Moseley married the former Ann Lillington, widow of Governor
Henderson Walker and daughter of Major Alexander Lillington, in the eastern Chowan District of North Carolina. Edward became allied with the Lillingtons and other prominent families. He and Ann had two sons.
[Edward McCrady, Samuel A'Court Ashe, ''Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century''](_blank)
Brant & Fuller, 1892, pp.469-470, digitized 2007, University of Virginia
After Ann's death, Moseley married Ann Sampson and moved from Edenton to Brunswick Town. They had a large family of sons and daughters.
See also
*
North Carolina–Tennessee–Virginia Corners
The North Carolina–Tennessee–Virginia Corners is a tripoint at which North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia meet. The landmark is located in the Iron Mountains, and is roughly north of Snake Mountain (North Carolina - Tennessee), Snake ...
Citations
References
North Carolina Historical Marker
*''Colonial Records of North Carolina''
*''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography''
*''B.C. Brooks' Writer's Hiding Place''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moseley, Edward
1683 births
1749 deaths
American surveyors
English emigrants
Members of the North-Carolina Provincial Council
State treasurers of North Carolina
Members of the North Carolina House of Burgesses
Speakers of the North Carolina House of Burgesses