Excerpt from "Beaufort Established in 1713"

Original 1713 deed for lot #4 
from Robt. Turner to Tho. Roper
   In the Province of Carolina, a town was officially established when approved by legislative action, either by the Lords Proprietors or the General Assembly, thereby granting permission for the township to be named and laid out.
    For Beaufort, this approval came in the fall of 1713. Robert Turner, then land patent owner, hired Deputy-surveyor Richard Graves to plat the 100-acre town with 106 lots for sale.  . . . Before Carteret became a precinct in 1722, deeds stated that the town laid out by ye sd surveyor on the 2nd day of October 1713 and by ye permission of ye lords proprietors intended for a township by ye name of Beaufort.  . . .