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| The Straits - Core Sound, NC - Shows Chadwick's Creek Detail from 1907 Map Below |
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| "Ocracoke to Beaufort Including Core Sound" 1907 NC Map Collection |
Samuel, the whaler, married Mary (?) (c.1700-c.1775) about the same time he ventured to the Straits area of Core Sound, North Carolina. (Oral tradition claims that Mary was native American, raised by white foster parents after her parents were killed when she was an infant.) It appears that Samuel’s brothers and/or cousins Ephraim (1700-1762) and Ebenezer Chadwick (1685-1765) were part of the whaling group that traveled to North Carolina.
A 1723 lease allowed Governor Burrington, Christopher Gale and John Lovick to take whales along the coast between Cape Fear and Currituck Inlet for a term of seven years. A whaling license was issued in 1726 to Samuel Chadwick. Chadwick and three other residents of Carteret precinct, Bath County, were permitted to whale with three boats...When Chadwick bought 130 acres at Straits, NC, in 1725 he described himself as "late of New England but now an inhabitant of Carteret Precinct."
Descendant Amy Muse speculated that he may have "fished" on the Carolina coast before 1726. According to Muse, "Masters of the early New England whaling sloops landed them with tackle and stores in Port Beaufort during the months from Christmas to April. Then they set up camps on the Sandy Banks off shore and the whalers went out from there in small whaling boats." Source: NOAA History of Whaling In or Near North Carolina.
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| Whaling License issued to Samuel Chadwick 1726 |
By the early 1740s, with the advent of spermaceti candles (before 1743), American vessels appear to have begun to take Sperm Whales in earnest. The diary of Benjamin Bangs (1721-1769) shows that, along with the bumpkin sloop he was in, he found three other sloops with Sperm Whales being flensed alongside off the coast of North Carolina in late May 1743. On returning to Nantucket in the summer 1744 on a subsequent sperm whaling voyage he noted that "45 spermacetes are brought in here this day," another indication that American sperm whaling was in full swing. Image and text courtesy Whale Hunters.
1725 Land Transfer:
This indenture made ye 31st day of May anno Dom 1725 between Solomon Smith of Craven Prect in ye county of Bath and in ye Province of North Carolyna of ye one parte and Samuel Chadwick late of New England but now an inhabitant of Carteret Prect in ye County and province aforesaid of ye other parts witnesseth that ye said Solloman Smith for an in Consideration of sum of fourty-five pounds good and lawful money of this Province in hand paide att and before ye ensealing and delivery of these presents by ye sd Sam Chadwick well and truly paide ye receipt whereof he ye sd So Smith do hereby acknowledge and himself therewith fully satisfied contented and paid and thereof and every part and parcell thereof doth clearly acquitt exonerate and discharge ye sd Sam'l Chadwick his heirs ex and adms forever by these presents hath given granted aliened bargained sold infeoffed and confirmed and by these presents doth fully clearly and absolutely give grant bargain sell alien infeoff and confirm unto ye sd Sam Chadwick his heirs and assigns forever all that tract and parcell of land containing by estimation one hundred and thirty acres situate lying and being in ye Prect of Carteret and County and Province aforesaid beginning on ye Straits side on ye land which Mr. Joseph Bell now lives on then along ye water side to ye mouth of a creek parting ye premises and Mr. Richard Whitehurst's land, then up ye Creek N 20 degrees et 234 pole to a marked pine then south 22 degrees east 29 pole to ye first station which sd tract of land was taken up by Wm. Williams and by him sold and transferred to Mr. Richard Smith late of this County deceased and by ye said Rich Smith in his last will and testament given and bequeathed unto ye sd Sollomon Smith....
(Source: Carteret County Deeds, Court House, Beaufort, Book C, p. 121 Solomon Smith to Samuel Chadwick)
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| "Whale on Beach at Beaufort" - NOAA |
The following children of Samuel and Mary Chadwick were mentioned in this 1749 North Carolina Will Abstract: Sons: Thomas, Isaiah, Gaer ("my manner plantation").
Daughters: Tamar Chadwick, Sarah Chadwick, Mary Chadwick.
Executors: Samuel Whitehurst, Thomas Chadwick, Isaiah Chadwick. Witnesses: Joseph Bray, Rebecca Chadwick, Rachel Young. Clerk of the Court: Geo. Read.
From ancestry.com family trees:
Sabra Sarah Chadwick 1728-1810 married Nathan Davis 1723-1808 in 1745
Thomas Martin Chadwick 1730-1802 married Rachael Young 1728-1805 in 1750
Isaiah Chadwick 1732-1781 married Abigail Davis 1732-1758
Tamar Chadwick 1734-
James Chadwick 1734-
Sarah Chadwick 1737-1810
Gayer Chadwick 1735-1815 married Elizabeth K. Logan 1739-1803
Mary Chadwick 1744-
From the history of the Gloucester-Straits Community
Gayer Chadwick, youngest of whaling master Samuel, sold groceries and whiskey at a store on his property on the east side of Whitehurst’s Creek, which he had inherited from his father Samuel. Gayer and his wife Elizabeth reared six children. After Elizabeth died about 1800, Gayer married Sarah Piner; she was soon known as “Sallie Gayer.” After Gayer’s death in 1815, Sallie kept the store until her death sometime after 1820.
Many wind-powered grist mills are known to have existed along the Straits. One of the earliest is believe to have been built by Samuel Chadwick, a New Englander, who acquired many acres in Straits beginning in 1725 just before closing of the whaling season that year, and twelve months before the date of his fishing license granted by a royal governor. Samuel’s grandson Barnabus had a grist mill near the east side of the mouth of Whitehurst’s Creek.
CARTERET WILLS AND INVENTORIES - State Archives, Raleigh
Inventory of Samuel Chadwick's Estate
An inventory of all and Singular the goods and chattles Rights and Credits of the Estate of Samuel Chadwick, Es1., Decs taken by us Sam Whitehurst, Thomas Chadwick and Isiah Chadwick executors of the estate.
Four hundred and seventy-eight acres of land, two hundred acres of land, one Island of Marsh, eleven negroes, sixty-one head of cattle, fifty-eight head of sheep, nine head of hogs, two horses, four feather beds and furniture, ten pistoles in gold, Book debts two hundred and ninety-eight pounds, eleven shillings, eight Pense, the wearing apparel to the value of ninety-seven pounds, eighteen shillings, fourteen barrels of oyl and four barrels of Myrtle wax, one hundred and fifty-one yards of oznage(?), three small anchors, one small cable, thirty wt. of cordage, fourteen an one half yards of damask, six pounds of iron, five pots and one kettle, iron 3 guns,four chests, one chest of drawers, three pair andirons, one pr. fire tongs, one frying pan, two cases with bottles five pewter dishes, one dozen pewter plates, nine pewter basons, eight cheers, two spinning wheels, one oval table, two pot tramels, two looking glasses, eight books, two pr. scales with weights, two pair stillards, three pewter measurers (two quarts, one quart,and a pint), two earthen bowls, three earthen muggs, one warming pan, two pair cotton cards, one hour glass, two ploughs, one hand mill, one loom, one pr. bellows, one old handsaw, one silver spoon, four Iron candle sticks, one pair mill stones, one cutlafs, one pr. silver buckles, one pewter bason, two pr pott hooks, two spades, one flesh fork, one iron ladle, two shovels, one hatchet, six club axes, six hoes, one hundred and fifty pounds (old tennar), two syths…
