Wake County, NC - Bicentennial File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto Reprinted with permission of the News & Observer and cannot be reproduced without permission. Winifred Gales Arrives The News and Observer December 29, 1991 Raleigh 200/The New Capital c. 1832 On our arrival (in Petersburg, Va.), our father after some difficulty, hired a carriage and, after a tedious journey of six days and being supplied at Warrenton with a fresh horse, on the 4th of September we arrived at Raleigh, dear Raleigh! It was a great contrast to all my previous life to reside in so small a place as Raleigh, which only five years before had been, laid out as the seat of government for North Carolina. There were not more than 1,000 inhabitants and at least one third were slaves or free colored persons; but there the Governor and Executive Officers resided, the Legislature sat, and there the Federal Circuit and Superior County Courts were held. We were strangers to the sight and altogether unacquainted with habits and manners of that unfortunate Race whose numbers are constantly increasing, and who at this very day I write are a source of uneasiness in many of the States of the Union. . . . Our first difficulties and most discordant feeling arose from our domestic servants. Their color, so strange to us, their capabilities, their habits, their morals, all so different from our English servants, and to our associations through life. An when we hired servants by the year, others, thinking perhaps that servants in our employ might have been initiated into English modes of doing things, would overbid us, and we thus were for the first time deprived of them. The idea of purchasing slaves was most revolting to our feelings. . . . [The following added in Joseph’s hand:] And yet, apparently from necessity, during our residence at Raleigh, we were indeed to purchase several, both as House Servants and to aid us in conducting our Printing, Papermaking and Farming concerns. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ==============================================================