The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 Part 10

Another prominent patentee at Mulberry Island was John Rolfe who had "land on Mulberry Island Virginia" before March 10, 1621. He and "some others," including William Pierce, obtained 1,700 acres by patent and proceeded to "plant" it. His chief residence at the time was in Bermuda Hundred and it is doubtful that he resided here. He had, it might be mentioned, in 1620, married Jane the daughter of Captain William Pierce and he appears to have lost his life in the Indian ma.s.sacre.

It is not known how many others "planted," or lived, here at this time.

Evidently it was not sufficient to send a representative to the a.s.sembly in 1619. Whatever growth it enjoyed was checked by the Indian ma.s.sacre in 1622. It is recorded that Thomas Pierce, probably a son of William, his wife and child, two men and "a French boy," were killed at Thomas'

house "over against Mulberry Island." The resettlement of the area after the ma.s.sacre was delayed. No persons are listed from this locality in 1624 nor were there representatives in the a.s.sembly of the same year.

Within a year, however, the picture had changed.

The census of January, 1625 lists thirty persons, twenty-five males and five women, at "Mulburie Island." Not much else is listed in the muster except the arms of the settlement. The twenty-two suits of armor, the thirty-seven "fixed pieces" and the forty-two swords would indicate that protection was uppermost in the plans. There were several distinct musters including those of Anthony Baram and Thomas Harwood, yet the largest was that of Captain William Pierce. Although not in residence himself, he had thirteen servants at Mulberry Island. Except for Pierce's, there were no other servants save one of Thomas Harwood.

MARTIN'S HUNDRED (44)

This was one of the earliest of the "particular" plantations and had a larger and more vigorous life than most. It has been said that this might be listed as the leading, or model, Hundred in the Colony. It was one organized and promoted by a group within, yet outside of, the regular Company projects. It was named for Richard Martin, an attorney for the London Company. He was a leading member in the Society of Martin's Hundred as this special group of adventurers was known. Another leader in the sponsoring group was Sir John Wolstenholme whose name was a.s.sociated with the town, described in January, 1622 as "the Towne in Martin's Hundred [which] is now seated called Wolstenholme Towne."

Wolstenholme was located on the James, it seems, and the boundaries of the Hundred, when laid down in 1621, were measured five miles along the "river called (Kinge) James River" in each direction from it. This was five miles toward Jamestown and five toward "Newportes Newes." Northward the bound was the Queenes River alias Pacomunky [York]. It is of interest to note that the boundaries were to "the middest" of the rivers. Roughly its 80,000 acres lay on the north side of the James between Archer's Hope and Mulberry Island.

In October, 1618, the Society sent its first colonists to Virginia.

These made up a party of 280 who reached Virginia several months later in the _Guift of G.o.d_. Several additional groups were sent out in 1619, a large party in 1620 and others in 1621. The latter were sent, it was recorded, "to plante and inhabite and to erect and make perfect a church and towne there already begunne." At the time of the a.s.sembly in 1619 it was an established community and sent its representatives up to Jamestown--John Boys and John Jackson.

It appears to have been a determined lot of "ancient adventurers" who sponsored Martin's Hundred and the record indicates that they worked hard and zealously to make it a paying organization. They were, however, often beset with difficulties. s.h.i.+pmasters and mariners abused them as did the "Capemarchant," according to their reports. When they sought Company shares to sustain losses in one s.h.i.+pment to Virginia, Sir Edwin Sandys reminded them that they were a particular group. He related "As Martins Hundred hath been at great charges, so have divers other hundreds, so have also beene many perticuler persons, Captaine Bargrave alone hath brought and sett out divers s.h.i.+pps ... Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir Thomas Dale, besides a mult.i.tude of other[s], who have spent a large portion of their estates therein...."

In May, 1621, Yeardley wrote concerning the arrival of servants to be located at Martin's Hundred. He described the difficulty of making land a.s.signments "because we have never a surveyour in the lande." He added too that "the undertakers at Martins Hundred would thinke themselves muche wronged, if any other should be sett on worke to divide their groundes." He commented, too, that a proper division might be better since he had heard that the Society "intende ... to buy out the Indians of Chischiack [on the York River]."

Martin's Hundred suffered severely in the ma.s.sacre of 1622. The slaughter took a total of seventy-eight persons including the commander.

Among those killed were a score of women and children showing that family life was well developed here. The loss was so great that the settlement was temporarily abandoned along with a great many others in Virginia. The abandonment was of short duration, it seems, for new references soon appear such as that naming Captain Ralph Hamor "to have absolute power, and comand in all matters of war over all the people of Martins Hundred." In any case "the replantinge" was left to the Society which had originally established it. Although the Company deemed it, along with others which had been deserted, "of absolute necessitie," it was too busy with its own projects to aid materially.

The Society "set forth a verie chargeable supply of people" in October, 1622. When William Harwood was mentioned for the Council, Martin's Hundred asked that he not be named since they needed his services full time. Reverend Robert Paulett was named instead. In April, 1623 it was a going concern although life was dark in the eyes of Richard Frethorne who wrote of the danger, hunger, and the heavy work. He related "ther is indeed some foule [fowle], but wee are not allowed to goe, and get it, but must worke hard both earlie, and late for a messe of water gruell, and a mouthfull of bread, and beife." He stated that of twenty who came the last year but three were left. In all, he said, "wee are but thirty-two." The Indians he feared; "the nighest helpe that Wee have is ten miles of us." Here "wee lye even in their teeth." The break in the monotony, it seems, was an occasional trip to Jamestown "that is ten miles of us, there be all the s.h.i.+ps that come to the land, and there must deliver their goodes." The trip up took from noon till night on the tide. The return was the same.

Nothing came, at this time, of the proposal for "runninge a pale from Martin's Hundred to Cheskacke," between the York and the James rivers.

The stockade across the peninsula was still a decade away. When built it would be several miles to the west. There is nothing to indicate that the church, or school, for which William Whitehead left funds in his will in 1623, ever materialized. The plan was that it be built in Martin's Hundred.

Evidently conditions at this time were at a low ebb. George Sandys felt it was a pity that the project could not be pushed more vigorously.

When the plantation was asked to take a number of the "infidelles children to be brought up" the officials asked to be excused since they were "sorely weakened and ... in much confusion." The Indians, too, were still around. The Governor in May, 1623 urged that the "Commander" keep watch, insure the carrying of arms and prevent stragglers from loitering about. The Indians were suspected of coming to "spy and observe."

Seemingly the plantation, perhaps already a parish in the church organization, was not represented in the a.s.sembly in 1624.

At this time Martin's Hundred was reported to have twenty-three persons, but twenty-eight had died within the year, two being killed. At the time of the general census of the next year, there were but thirty-one, a fact that indicates small growth. To accommodate these there were seven houses, supplies of corn and fish and some cattle and hogs. The settlement was well stocked in weapons with thirty-two armors of various types, thirty-one swords, and fifty-two small arms. Perhaps William Harwood, who was in charge, remembered well the ma.s.sacre.

ARCHER'S HOPE (45)

The place name Archer's Hope is older even than Jamestown located several miles upstream from it. Here on May 12, 1607 colonists went ash.o.r.e to evaluate a spot as a site for their initial settlement. It had advantages, yet it was not possible to bring the s.h.i.+ps in close to the sh.o.r.e so the next day they made choice of Jamestown. Gabriel Archer, it appears, liked the spot and it was named in his honor. The site was at the mouth of College (Archer's Hope) Creek, the waterway that may have been used by the Spanish Jesuit missionaries four decades earlier when, in 1570, they were searching for a mission site in Virginia.

Even though the settlers elected not to establish themselves here in 1607, it was in the Jamestown neighborhood and very likely was soon in use. It is clearly established that a distinct community took form within a dozen years. Unfortunately not much is known prior to 1619 when a number of land grants were made to men like William Fairfax, John Fowler, William Capp and Joakim Andrews, most with established Jamestown connections. It was at Archer's Hope that the great ma.s.sacre reached closest to Jamestown. Five persons were slain "At Ensigne Spence his house." Following the slaughter the settlement appears to have been abandoned with survivors taking refuge elsewhere, perhaps, at Jamestown.

The abandonment was of short duration. On February 16, 1624 some fourteen persons were in residence here, at least three family units and presumably a number of servants. Evidently this was not sufficient to merit representation in the a.s.sembly of 1624. The fact that Archer's Hope had a commander, Thomas Bransby, and that its inhabitants had been cautioned not to go too far from their homes alone, even when armed, leads to the conclusion that there was still danger from the Indian, "the Enemie," even in 1625. At the same time there is evidence of an expanding agriculture and increasing population. Archer's Hope had its disturbers of the peace as well in citizens such as Joseph Johnson who from time to time found himself answering to the General Court.

The census of 1625 named fourteen persons as const.i.tuting the settlement of Archer's Hope which then extended to the east as well as to the west of the creek bearing the same name. Each of the four major entries showed a single house although there must have been more than this in aggregate. On a population basis the amount of arms and armor available would indicate that, perhaps, the community had a military cast. Food supplies were about normal, yet no livestock is shown except eight hogs which included "piggs" as well.

Altogether, by this date, at least 3,000 acres of land had been taken up by fifteen persons, many of them "ancient planters." The largest grant, 750 acres, had been to Rev. Richard Buck, minister for Jamestown.

Richard Kingsmill had received 300 acres as had Ensign William Spence and John Fowler. Two, William Claiborne and John Jefferson, had 250 acre parcels, but all others had lesser amounts. Only three were shown as "planted." The list omits a grant of some size to George Sandys which was located in the precincts of Archer's Hope but well to the east "on the ponds, dividing from the land of Martin's Hundred." On the west Archer's Hope was separated from James City's "Neck-of-Land" by the Jamestown parish glebe land.

"NECK-OF-LAND NEARE JAMES CITTY" (46)

This area lay behind Jamestown Island on the mainland between Mill and Powhatan Creeks. Even though separated from "James Citty" only by the narrow Back River and its marshes, settlement seemingly was delayed for a decade. At least the records are silent on the matter if colonists did establish here in the first years.

It clearly emerges as an established settlement in 1624 when its population was given at twenty-five persons including at least four families with servants and dependents. That same year it sent its own burgess to the a.s.sembly at Jamestown, its most prominent resident, Richard Kingsmill. Early in 1625 the population stood at eighteen, six freemen, three women, three children, five servants and a single negro.

A comparison of the names given in 1624 with those in 1625 points up the s.h.i.+fting of persons that must have been a part of the Virginia scene at this time. As might be expected from its proximity, a number of the residents of the "Neck-of-Land" had property also at Jamestown or in the Island.

The 1625 muster listings included six houses, a boat, twenty-six and a half barrels of corn as well as some "flesh," fish, and meal. Livestock embraced eleven cattle and thirty-one hogs, "yong & old." There was only one "armour" and two "coats of male" yet small arms, shot and powder were in greater supply. The General Court records offer an occasional glimpse of life here in these years. There was, for example, the decision in 1624 that the "lands and goods" of John Phillmore, who died without a will, should be given to Elizabeth Pierce "unto whom he was a.s.sured and ment to have maryed."

This then was the Virginia of 1625--a settled area embracing the James River basin and the lower part of the Eastern Sh.o.r.e. It was very rural with the people busy about the task of developing a new land. Some twenty-seven distinct communities, groups, or settlements were enumerated at this time, yet even these may not fully suggest the scope of the occupied, or cultivated, land. These settlements were chiefly along the north and south sh.o.r.es of the James River, eastward from the falls to the Chesapeake Bay. Though loosely knit geographically, they were a unit politically with affairs, for the most part, administered from the capital "citty" of Jamestown. Actually the Colony even now was poised for an extension of its frontier inland from the river fringe especially across to the banks of the York and into what was to become the Norfolk area. This would precede "the push to the west" that later became such a familiar pattern.

In the first seventeen years, despite hards.h.i.+p, suffering, death, discouragement and defeats, a great deal had been accomplished in Virginia. The colonists, some of whom had already become "ancient planters," had met and learned many of the ways of the wilderness and the new environment. They had learned to survive and had gained knowledge of the country's advantages and disadvantages and its nature and extent. After many false starts, a source of wealth had been found in tobacco. Security was coming to replace insecurity and individual well-being was rising above the earlier general storehouse or magazine system. Government, too, after several changes of direction, had become stable and even embraced a representative legislative a.s.sembly. It seems that King James I, when he took over, directly, the management of the Colony, must have found that the Virginia Company of London had built well in the New World. Otherwise, the change of administration would have been more disrupting than it was in Virginia.

SELECTED READINGS

Andrews, Charles M., _The Colonial Period of American History: The Settlements_ I. New Haven, c.1934 (several printings).

Andrews, Matthew Page, _Virginia: The Old Dominion_. New York, c.1937.

Brown, Alexander, _The First Republic in America_. Boston, 1898.

Brown, Alexander (ed.), _The Genesis of the United States_.... Boston, 1896. 2 volumes.

Chandler, J. A. C., and Thames, T. B., _Colonial Virginia_. Richmond, 1907.

Craven, Wesley Frank, _The Dissolution of the Virginia Company of London_. New York, 1932.

Forman, Henry Chandlee, _Jamestown and St. Mary's: Buried Cities of Romance_. Baltimore, 1938.

Hamor, Ralph, _A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia and the Successe of the Affaires There Till the 18 of June, 1614_. London, 1615. The J. Munsell reprint (Albany, 1860) The Virginia State Library are more readily available.

McIlwaine, H. R. (ed.), _Minutes of the Council and General Court of Virginia, 1622-1632, 1670-1676_. Richmond, 1924.

Neill, Edward D., _History of the Virginia Company of London_. Albany, New York, 1869.

_Virginia Vetusta, During the Reign of James the First_.... Albany, New York, 1885.

Powell, William S., "Books in the Virginia Colony before 1624." _The William and Mary Quarterly_, 3rd Series, V, 177-184 (April, 1948).

Rolfe, John, _A True Relation of Virginia_ [in 1616] as printed by Henry C. Taylor. New Haven, 1951.