09/30/2025
FACEBOOK/INSTA: In September 1729 several of the owners of the proprietorship of Carolina surrender their shares to the Crown formally ending the proprietary period in South Carolina. The Carolina Charter was issued by Charles II in 1663 giving eight political supporters almost total control and rights to a portion of North America below the Virginia Colony. A reissued charter for the Province of Carolina in 1665 expanded the territory to include all the land below Virginia down to the Spanish Colony at Saint Augustine and west to the Western Seas. A settlement established by the Lords Proprietors along the Ashley River would grow into the present state of South Carolina. During the early years, the province teetered on the brink of failure with insufficient leadership and an absence of support from the proprietors forcing the colonists to develop a degree of self-rule. By 1719 the Yemasee War, the threat of invasion from the Spanish, and difficulties with pirates led the colonists to seized power from the proprietary governor and appeal to the Crown to take control of the colony. In August 1720, the Crown took provisional control of the province and looked to revoke the charter. After years of negotiations, the Crown in June 1729 agreed to buy out seven of the eight shares of the proprietors. The eighth share owned by John Lord Carteret, the Earl of Granville, would be surrendered in 1742 in exchange for an extensive grant of land in the northern section of the North Carolina colony. Attached is a microfilm copy of a petition of the Lords Proprietors pertaining to the negotiations with the Crown. The original is housed at the National Archives of Great Britain, but the microfilm is available at the SC Dept. of Archives and History. Source: B800103
