The Colonial Records Of North Carolina (Volume I) 1662 To 1712

Excerpt from The Colonial Records of North Carolina. At a later date the historian Williamson who desired copies of certain papers in London relating to Carolina hoped that Mr. Chalmers would furnish him therewith or assist him in obtaining them. Mr. Chalmers would do neither and threatened to interfere if application should be made to the head of the proper department. In this connection it must be borne in mind that access to the records in the British offices could not be had without special permission until a comparatively modern period. But how to account for the utter absence of records in North Carolina? There could have been no inducement to their destruction and it follows therefore that we must look to natural causes the want of towns and the consequent lack of known and suitable buildings used as depositories for public records. Experience proves that the most valuable documents unless put away in such muniment rooms soon disappear and are lost. The incompleteness of the records in North Carolina continued to be more and more felt until it was determined to perfect them as far as pos sible....