Robert Williams was b. in Ruthin, North
Wales,
County Denbighshire, Ap 29, 1723, d. Sept. 4, 1790 at "Dinnant" the
family
home near Beaufort, N.C. He is buried 200 yards from the grist mill and
dam on his property now owned by the International Paper Co.
He sailed from London in 1763 and became a
merchant in New Bern, N.C. In 1765 he came to Beaufort and built a Salt
Works on 10 acres on the east end of Front St. This is now the Davis
property
and it is still listed as the "Salt Works Property" on the Tax lists.
In April 1775, the British Parliament cut
off all supplies coming to America. This included the salt that
was
so vital for the preservation of foods etc. On Apr. 23, 1776, the
Provincial Congress at Halifax, N.C. chose Robert Williams, William
Thompson
of Carteret Co. and Waightstall Avery and Richard Blackledge of New
Bern
as Commissioners to produce salt. Up until this time salt had
been
shipped in. Robert Williams had traveled to many countries,
having
come from a wealthy family. He had studied the salt evaporation
process
in France, Spain and Portugal and possibly China. The early Chinese
records
show they extracted salt from the sea water by evaporation. They
valued salt next to gold. He tells in his letters of watching the
process in France, Spain and Portugal and he had become very learned in
the process.
In a letter to James Coor he states "I shall
not wait for Blackledge and Avery" and proceeded to build the Salt
Works
as it was already May and the season lasted only to August. In a
letter to Cornelius Harnet he mentions how some of the other
Commissioners
don't seem to be concerned about getting started because of the short
season.
He goes into detail about how the salt could be put into cone shaped
piles
until it is taken away and even the weather does not hurt it even when
exposed for up to three years. He also says he expects between
10-25
bushel a day from the 18 marsh beds in hot dry weather. He says
"if
there is no salt it will require but little force to subdue and starve
the Province, which next spring must and will fall, of course, and
tumble
down itself, like an old house in a calm."
Land was purchased from Arthur Mabsob on
Gallant's
Point where the Fish Factory now stands on Newport River. It
contained
10 acres and 40 poles or 82 poles front and 20 poles back. At one
point his partner mentions he got 1 peck of salt from 32 gallons of
water.
There were other salt works of which Zarariah Harker's was one.
In 1767 he returned to England and there he
married an English lady named Elizabeth Dearman. They came to
America
on his own vessel. As the trip took about three months and it
would
be a lonely trip, Elizabeth asked a dear friend to come with
them.
She was Anne Shoebridge of Essex or London. Elizabeth died in
1773
and is buried in the cemetery at "Dinnant." Robert and Elizabeth
Williams had one son, Richard, b. Nov. 28, 1770. Robert built the
first brick house in Carteret Co. and had the brick brought from
England.
After a decent length of time Robert married
Elizabeth's friend Anne Shoebridge, Oct. 10, 1774. They had seven
children of which at present I can mention , John, Elizabeth and
Samuel.
Anne Shoebridge was the dau. of Richard and
Martha Belle Shoebridge (b. 1712 in Kent). Their dau. Anne
b. Sept. 7, 1748, London. She lived to be 97 years old, d. June
9,
1845 near Somerton, Belmont Co. Ohio at the home of her son, Samuel
Williams,
buried in the Friends burying ground in Ohio.
Robert and Anne were members of the Core Sound
Meeting and in 1771 Robert and Anne were condemned in meetings for his
shortcomings and again in 1773 he was condemned in a letter from
Horsley
Down. On July 13, 1774 he was disowned but was reinstated Aug.
11,
1779; he is listed as a minister, but he and his wife Anne were ordered
to sit in silence in the meeting, taking no part in the business until
the meeting was satisfied. In May 15, l782 they were received
into
active membership.
In 1800 Anne Williams, along with some, if
not all her children, went to Ohio along with the Bordens, Pasquenefts,
Dews, Jonas Small, Francis Mace and other families from Carteret Co.
Jonas
Small and Francis Mace were two of the families that returned.
Jean
Kell has an excellent chapter about the Salt Works in her Book
"Carteret
Co. in the American Revolution."
Sources: Family records; Clarks and Saunders
Colonial
Records.
Ethel T. Elliott