Series 3 - Arthur Dobbs letters and papers

216pp

Materials, including compiled research and copies of 18 letters written between 1729 and 1790, pertaining to Arthur Dobbs and Scots-Irish emigration to North Carolina during the mid-18th century.
Dobbs (1689–1765) was a prominent Irish statesman, scientist, and colonial administrator who served as the Royal Governor of North Carolina from 1754 to 1765. Born into a wealthy landowning family in County Antrim, he initially shaped public infrastructure as Ireland's Surveyor-General, overseeing the construction of the Irish Parliament House in Dublin, and co-founded the Royal Dublin Society.
Deeply invested in British imperial expansion, Dobbs financed maritime expeditions searching for the Northwest Passage and acquired 400,000 acres in North Carolina to settle Scots-Irish families. Appointed governor at the onset of the French and Indian War, he fortified the colony and championed inter-colonial unity. However, his later administration was plagued by bitter political conflicts with the local assembly over taxation, currency, and the capital's location.
An enthusiastic amateur scientist and friend of Jonathan Swift, Dobbs famously became the first European to document the Venus Flytrap, native to the Carolinas. At age 73, he drew public attention by marrying 15-year-old Justina Davis. He died at his estate in Brunswick Town, North Carolina, in 1765 before a planned return to Europe, and remains buried there at the ruins of St. Philip's Church.
The series includes:
-1996-1997 correspondence between Kerby A. Miller, Bruce D. Boling, and David Doyle regarding the Dobbs papers held in PRONI [PRONI reference number D162/52];
-notes on, and excerpts of, publications pertaining to mid-18th century North Carolina;
-Miller’s transcripts of letters held in the Dobbs papers;
-photocopied pages from Rankin, Helen. and E. Charles Nelson, eds. (1990), Curious in Everything: the career of Arthur Dobbs of Carrickfergus 1689-1765 (Carrickfergus: Carrickfergus & District Historical Society), including numerous transcripts and reproductions of letters from the Dobbs papers in PRONI;
-Miller’s research on the Irish background of settlers associated with Dobbs’ settler schemes, including correspondence with North Carolina historical organisations;
-transcripts of letters excerpted from Saunders, William Laurence, ed. (1887), The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Volume 5 - 1752 to 1759 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels);
-transcripts of letters excerpted from Carr, James O. (1901), The Dickson Letters (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton).;
-Miller’s transcripts of letters held in the William Dickson Papers, State Archives of North Carolina [call number PC.1088], including reproductions of letters provided by the archives. This features correspondence between William Dickson in North Carolina and his cousin Rev. Robert Dickson in County Down.

Further correspondence involving Robert Dickson is located at P155/73/17/1.