"In Perquimans there is a compact little church, built with care and
express, and better than that in Chowan. It continues yet unfinished, by
reason of the death of Major Swann, 1707, who fostered the building of
this church."

Among the vestrymen of this new parish may be found the following names:
Francis Forbes, Colonel Maurice Moore, Captain Hecklefield, Thomas
Hardy, Captain Richard Saunderson, Henry Clayton, Joseph Jessups, Samuel
Phelps and Richard Whedbee. Most of these gentlemen were men of note in
the colony, and many of their descendants are now living in Perquimans
County.

That the wealthy planters in Albemarle felt a certain responsibility
for the spiritual welfare of their slaves, was shown by the fact that
master and slave alike gathered together to join in the services held by
the early missionaries of the Church of England; and that the master
willingly allowed his servant to share in the blessings of the
sacraments of the church. A letter from Rev. Mr. Taylor, written from
Perquimans in 1719, records that he had just "baptized a young woman,
slave of Mr. Duckinfield, to whom I have taught the whole of the church
catechism."

But the letter further reveals that our early colonists cherished their
worldly possessions fully as fondly as their descendants, who pursue
with avidity the chase after the dollar. And when it came to the
question of the slave's spiritual welfare, or the master's temporal
prosperity, the master did not hesitate to show which he considered of
the most importance. For, as Mr. Taylor writes, when it was rumored in
1719 that the General Assembly of that year had decreed that all
baptized slaves should be set free; and when, immediately, and by a
strange coincidence, the reverend gentleman was suddenly besieged by
bands of men and women, all loudly clamoring to receive the rite of holy
baptism, Duckinfield and others of the planters prudently restrained the
poor darkies from entering the church's folds until that law could be
repealed.

In secular as well as religious affairs, Perquimans precinct in those
early days took an active part. Men of political and social prominence
resided within her borders, and at their homes, for lack of other
shelter for public gatherings, much of the business of the colony,
legislative and judicial, was transacted.

As early as 1677 the population of Albemarle had grown so numerous that
the settlers found themselves strong enough to successfully