Colonial Records of Virginia Part 13

[455] therein, McDonald.

[456] part, McDonald.

[457] woulde easily be found, McDonald; would easily be founde, Bancroft.

In the seconde place, the a.s.sembly doth most humbly crave pardon that in so shorte[458] a s.p.a.ce they could bring their matter to no[459] more perfection, being for the present enforced to sende home t.i.tles rather then lawes, Propositions rather then resolutions, Attemptes then Acchievements, hoping their courtesy will accepte our poore indevour, and their wisedome wilbe[460] ready to supporte the weaknes of this little flocke.

[458] short, McDonald.

[459] no, omitted by McDonald.

[460] will be, McDonald, Bancroft.

Thirdly, the General a.s.sembly doth humbly beseech[461] the said Treasurer,[462] Counsell & Company, that albeit it belongeth to them onely to allowe or to abrogate any lawes w^{ch} we shall here make,[463]

and that it is their right so to doe,[464] yet that it would please them not to take it in ill parte if these lawes w^{ch} we have nowe brought to light, do pa.s.se currant[465] & be of force till suche time as we[466]

may knowe their farther pleasure out of Englande: for otherwise this people (who nowe at length have gotte[467] the raines[468] of former servitude into their owne swindge) would in shorte time growe so insolent, as they would shake off all government, and there would be no living among them.

[461] beseeche, McDonald.

[462] Tresurer, McDonald.

[463] inacte, McDonald, Bancroft.

[464] righte soe to do, McDonald; right so to doe, Bancroft.

[465] current, Bancroft.

[466] wee, McDonald.

[467] gott, McDonald; got, Bancroft.

[468] reines, McDonald; raines, Bancroft.

Their last humble suite is,[469] that the said Counsell & Company would be pleased, so soon as they shall finde[470] it convenient, to make good their promise sett downe[471] at the conclusion of their comission for establis.h.i.+ng the Counsel[472] of Estate & the General[473] a.s.sembly, namely, that they will give us power to allowe or disallowe of their orders of Courte, as his Ma^{ty}[474] hath given them power to allowe or to reject[475] our lawes.

[469] suit, McDonald.

[470] find, McDonald.

[471] down, McDonald.

[472] Counsell, McDonald, Bancroft.

[473] Generall, McDonald.

[474] Majesty, McDonald; Ma^{ty}, Bancroft.

[475] rejecte, McDonald, Bancroft.

In sume Sir George Yeardley, the Governo^r[476] prorogued the said General[477] a.s.sembly till the firste of Marche, which is to fall out this present yeare of 1619, and in the mean season dissolved the same.

[476] Gover^{nr}, McDonald; Governour, Bancroft.

[477] Generall, McDonald.

_FINIS._

I certify that the foregoing is a true and authentic copy taken from the volume above named.

JOHN McDONAGH, Record Agent.

July 14th, 1871.

The McDonald copy has the following after Finis:

(in Dorso.) 1619.

The proceedings of the first a.s.sembly of Virginia. July 1619.

True Copy, AUGUSTUS AUSTEN BURT.

LISTS

OF THE

LIVINGE & THE DEAD IN VIRGINIA

February 16, 1623.

_EDITORS' NOTE._

The paper from which this doc.u.ment is printed is to be found in the first volume of the McDonald papers. It is such a census of the inhabitants of the colony as the historical student would like to see made out at several other periods of our colonial history. We can find no legal enactment requiring such a census to be taken, and no order to that effect, save in the Instructions to Governor Wyatt, dated 24th July, 1621, where, among other things, he is directed "To make a catalogue of the people in every plantation, and their conditions; and of deaths, marriages and christenings."--Hening, Vol. I., p. 115.

The entries are as brief as possible, no middle names are given, and foreigners are entered according to nationality, or not more than one name allowed them. Not the least curious is the small number of negroes.

Rolfe states, "About the last of August (1619) came in a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty Negors" (Smith, p. 126), and nearly five years after, when this census was taken, there were but twenty-two in the Colony.

STATE PAPER OFFICE. } COLONIAL. } _Volume 3, No. 2._ }

LISTS OF THE LIVINGE & DEAD IN VIRGINIA