George Burrington is known as the first "Royal Governor" of North Carolina.

He was first appointed Governor of North Carolina on January 15, 1724, because his father had been active in support of the British government at the accession of George I. Burrington was ignorant and profligate, and on 7 April, 1725, was succeeded by Sir Richard Everard.

His retirement angered him so much that he proceeded to make himself disagreeable to Everard in various ways, and was several times indicted for disorderly conduct, once for knocking loudly on the new governor's door, calling him "a noodle and an ape," and declaring that he was "no more fit to be governor than Sancho Panza."

Burrington did not appear at the time set for his trial, and a nolle prosequi was finally entered by the governor's order. Burrington left the colony, and in 1730, when Everard was removed, the home government, strangely enough, considering his previous experience, sent him out again as governor of North Carolina.

He arrived the second time in February, 1731, and conducted himself with such a want of prudence as to increase the number of his enemies. Riding across the country one day, and observing that a poor man had built a cabin on his land, the governor ordered his servant to burn the cabin.

Finally, knowing that Smith, late chief justice of the colony, had been sent to England by the council to complain of him, Burrington left, in April, 1734, ostensibly on a visit to South Carolina, but went immediately to England. Some time after this he engaged in a drunken frolic in London, and was found murdered one morning in St. James's park - he died there in 1734.

The next year a ferry was in operation across the river. A letter of Governor Burrington dated 1733 says he sent out Indian Guides and some of his men to mark a road to the middle of this Province from Virginia to Cape Fear Province River and to discover and view the land lying in those parts until then unknown to the English.

Maurice Moore undoubtedly had the ear of this man and directed his attention to the potential of the Cape Fear lands, which had been held by the Proprietors and rendered unavailable for settlement. By defying the will of the Lord Proprietors, whose decisions had produced several failed settlements in the Cape Fear region, Burrington was determined to make this unoccupied property available to settlers.

Maurice Moore and members of his family by both blood and marriage became the recipient of over 90,000 acres of land in Carteret Precinct and the Lower Cape Fear region while Burrington was governor. Roger Moore settled with one hundred slaves on his land adjacent to the Cape Fear River and built Orton Plantation.

His brother, Maurice Moore, laid out a town about fifteen miles from Orton and named it Brunswick, in honor of George I, King of England, (1714-1727) and a member of the German House of Brunswick-Hanover. This quickly became the trading and shipping center for the region and became the county seat in 1729 when New Hanover County was created.

After migration began from the South Carolina parishes of St. James Goose Creek and Prince George Winyaw to the Brunswick settlements, brought on by abrupt changes in Proprietary law and encouragement from the Moore family, a dispute arose over who had jurisdiction of the new settlement.

North Carolina preempted the dispute on November 27, 1729 in creating New Hanover County, called a precinct prior to 1729. It was described as "bounded to the Northward by the Haulover, (an unidentified location) and Little Inlet, and to the Southward by the Southernmost bounds of the Province."

Presumably the county was bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and extended as far west as the province of North Carolina. The name of the county was chosen to honor George II (1727-1760), as his father was honored before him, as a member of the German House of Hanover.

With the efforts of Moore's group of intermarried landowners, the area of the Cape Fear grew and settlement increased with their encouragement for relocation in this favorable area. This small group of people, due to the extensive relations by blood and marriage, became known as "the Family". This group included Roger and Maurice Moore, their brother Nathanial, and men from the Allen, Porter, Moseley, Ashe, and Swann families, as well as others.

They were wealthy and powerful plantation owners; many of them holding seats on the Governor's Council or in the General Assembly. Their population as a group, although nearly 90% slave, encompassed half of the population of the region. The Family was eventually known not only for the creation of the town of Brunswick and the success of the settlement in areas of commerce and shipping, but also as a direct influence in its demise.

The landholdings of these men encompassed nearly all desirable acreage in the area, and because of the extensive plantation system which had been established, acquisition of land by those outside of the Family was increasingly difficult. This pattern of ownership became the source of bitter controversy as opportunity for increased settlement of the area relied solely on the sale of land by members of the Family.

One of the most vocal complainants over the Family's landholdings came from the former Proprietary governor, George Burrington, who had been appointed as the first Royal Governor of North Carolina in 1731. His quarrel with the Family concerned his personal landholdings and a claim that his own holdings while both parcels were under this members control, had devalued in his absence from the colony, while a Family member's holdings had increased several fold.

Within his efforts to fight the power of these few landholding men with whom he had his grievance, Burrington extended his anger to encompass the entire Family. This tore the Lower Cape Fear into political factions with the Governor and his followers on one side with the Crown as their support, and the Family with its wealth and influence on the other.

His primary concern was with the lack of control over registration of land holdings and the immense power the Family held over a vast majority of cultivatable land in the region. Toward the end of his tenure as governor, Burrington tried to persuade the General Assembly to pass a law requiring all men to register their land holdings. When this failed he vocally blamed the Family, widening the rift between the factions even further.

His instructions in regard to the Church are voluminous and indicate a purpose to provide for an Establishment. North Carolina, along with the other American provinces, had already been put under the ecclesiastical control of the Bishop of London.

Burrington had the right of collation, and was instructed to "permit a liberty of conscience to all persons (except papists) so as they be contented with a quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the government."

He was directed to see that the "book of common prayer as by law established" be read each Sunday and holiday, and "the blessed sacrament administered according to the rites of the Church of England." He was to see to it that "a competent maintenance be assigned to the minister of each orthodox church"; that "a convenient house be built at the common charge for each minister," and that there be "a competent proportion of land assigned him for a glebe and exercise of his industry."

"The governor was not to prefer any minister to any benefice without a certificate from the Bishop of London "of his being conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England and of good life and conversation." No minister was to preach or to administer the sacrament in any "orthodox church" "without being in due orders."

Running into opposition of his enforcement of Royal decrees which included the use of proclamation money (value set by the Crown), he simply dismissed the Assembly and didn't call it again for two years!

Two members of the governor's council, Nathaniel Rice and John Baptista Ashe, protested against the formation of new precincts by the governor and his council without the concurrence of the popular branch of the Assembly as being in derogation of its rights. The governor and the other members were equally as determined as those two for the formation of the new precinct. So two memorials went to the Board of Trade in London, one from Ashe and Rice and another from the governor and his council, each memorial setting forth the reasons for and against the erection of the precinct, and each referring to the other in no complimentary terms. From that time, for about ten years, the contention was kept up as to the legality of the act of the council, and Edgecombe precinct was a name only, its representatives being denied seats in the Assembly.

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