James Hasell

[1] In 1763 when Governor Arthur Dobbs was absent from the colony on a visit to South Carolina, Hassel, as senior member of the Council, was in charge on the government.

[1] In 1766 Governor Tryon wrote the British Board of Trade that he had given the commission of chief justice to James Hasell and described him as "senior member of his Majesty's Council, next to the President.

[2][3] James Hasell (sometimes spelled Hassell) was on board HMS Cruizer on the Cape Fear River with Governor Josiah Martin as the council met in its final meeting that called an end to the Province of North Carolina.

The record of that meeting notes that Hasell said that the governor should "take every lawful measure in his power to suppress the 'unnatural rebellion' now fomenting".

Described as "all that remains of North Carolina's oldest library", the collection contained a number of first editions, and many autographed by the leading men of the period.