With the exception of the Church of St. Paul at Edenton, and the Quaker settlements of Pasquotank and Perquimans, there was scarcely a point in the Albemarle region at which, in the early days of Gov. Johnston, religious services were held. Soon after the creation of Bertie precinct, as early as 1739, the Rev. Matthias Brickell became rector of St. John's parish. He was the first clergyman, west of the Chowan, who had a parish. Much of the character for morality and intelligence of the people of St. Johns, was owing to the efforts of this godly man. He possessed high social qualities and culture, and remarkable for men of his cloth, created in the minds of the people love and confidence. His church at Ahoskie saw, on each Sabbath, the people collected to listen to his advice and instructions.
Parson Brickell died years before the Revolution, but left descendants.
His oldest son, Colonel Matt. Brickell, was a leading man in the county, previous to 1775. He was a member of the First Provincial Congress, and died in the midst of the gigantic struggle for independence. One of his daughters married Major Hardy Murfree; the other was the wife of John Brown, and the great-grandmother of the late John A. Anderson, and Dr. Godwin C. Moore. His two sons, Thomas and John, were often members of the Legislature. Thomas, 1781 to '85, and John in the Senate, 1782.
For a full century the name of Brickell was known and honored in this county, but during the last fifty years has disappeared.*
* Moore's Hist. Sketches, xiii. 559.
He was the brother of Dr. John Brickell, one of the earliest historians of the State, who came from England to North Carolina with Governor Burrington, in 1724. (Moore's Hist. i. 50.)
Dr. Brickell lived at Edenton, where he practiced medicine. He went with a joint commission to the Cherokee Indians in Tennessee.
In sketching the men of Hertford, this record would be marred were the merits of that most exemplary gentleman, Godwin C. Moore, passed unnoticed. He was born in this county, about 1806, at the same homestead where his ancestors have lived for several generations. He was educated at the Hertford Academy in Murfreesboro, and at the University; studied medicine and graduated at the Pennsylvania University, and enjoyed a long and successful career as an able and acceptable physician. His skill in the healing art was only surpassed by his genial and generous disposition.
He entered public life as a member of the House of Commons, 1831, in the Senate of 1842; and again in the Commons in 1866. Modest and retiring in his disposition, he never was ambitious of political favor; his was the popularity that sought him, not that which was pursued. In 1837 he was urged, and did become a candidate for Congress, against Hon. Samuel T. Sawyer. And again, against Hon. Kenneth Rayner; the canvass was irksome, and no one regretted his defeat less than himself.
In 1832 he married Julia, daughter of John Wheeler, Esq., who realizes in her lovely character, her unstinted kindness, womanly modesty and affectionate disposition, every virtue that adorns her sex. Numerous children have grown up around them, and among them, not the least, is Major John W. Moore, the author of a History of the State, and of "Historical Sketches of Hertford County."
Dr. Moore was an exemplary member of the Baptist Church, and for forty years continuously elected Moderator of the Chowan Association.
He died May 26, 1880.
In addition to Captain Frazer, (See ante, page 214) the general restoration of peace in the Revolutionary war, brought no joy to John Brown, of Cuttawiskey Marsh. He was an ardent Tory. He was of gentle lineage and some culture, and had been for many years, during the reign of George II., an officer in the army. After the Colloden Campaign, disabled by wounds, he retired on half pay.
He came to America and sought repose among
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