The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 Part 7

Samuel Mayc.o.c.k came to Virginia about 1618 and served as a Councilor under both Yeardley and Wyatt. He located a plantation upriver from Jamestown on the south side next above Flowerdieu Hundred sometime prior to April, 1619. It took its name, Mayc.o.c.k's Hundred or Plantation, from him, the original patentee, as was often the case in early Virginia. It would seem that he, like others, then undertook to bring in men and supplies. There is reference to Sara Mayc.o.c.k bringing over four servants in the _Abigail_ in 1622 "uppon the accompt of Mr. Samuell Mayc.o.c.k." For this she got 200 acres of her choice.

Mayc.o.c.k's was another of the early beginnings that was snuffed out by the ma.s.sacre. Four were killed on his "Divident" including himself.

Another was Edward Lister who came to Plymouth in the _Mayflower_ and had signed the "compact." Mayc.o.c.k was one of six Councilors who perished on March 22, 1622 at the hand of the Indians.

FLOWERDIEU HUNDRED--PIERCEY'S HUNDRED (27)

In 1618 Sir George Yeardley acquired 1,000 acres on the south side of the James River above Martin's Brandon and across from his Tanks Weyanoke holding. He proceeded to establish a plantation here which he named in honor of his wife who had been Temperance Flowerdieu. In 1619 it was well enough along to merit the representation in the a.s.sembly which was performed by John Jefferson and Ensign Edward Rossingham, the latter one of Yeardley's kinsmen. This, perhaps, suffered in the ma.s.sacre less than many other settlements. Only six persons were killed here. Flowerdieu Hundred was one of the fewer than a dozen points that the Colony decided to hold after the onslaught.

Council minutes and other sources in the 1622-24 period show the plantation as one that was probably functioning well. There were cases revolving around the use of livestock, particularly cattle, and the cultivation of tobacco. At least one such case led Yeardley to examine witnesses at "Flowerdieu Hundreth." One reference to tobacco puts interesting light on its cultivation at this time. Yeardley's overseer, one Sergeant Fortescue, was charged with negligence in the care of the harvested tobacco:

... hee did hange the tobacco soe thick uppon the lynes that the lynes brake and the tobacco fell to the ground, and before the said tobaco was at all dryed he made it upp into role and soe by his faulte it was not marchantable and that all the tobacco except six or seven hundred waight, was made upp wett and nott merchantable, The whole crop amounting to 9000 waight or thereabouts.

This seems to mean a yearly harvest of 9,000 pounds at Flowerdieu Hundred in 1624.

This was the year that Yeardley sold this plantation as well as his holding across the James at Weyanoke to Captain Abraham Piercey, one of the leading merchants in the Colony. In 1624, the year of the sale, a population of sixty-three (including eleven negroes) had been listed for Flowerdieu Hundred with another eighteen having died in the previous twelve months. In the census of 1625, Piercey's Hundred, as the place was now called, had fifty-seven including its seven negroes (four men, two women and one child). The enumeration included twelve houses, three stores, four tobacco houses, and two boats, all of which had been bought, or built, by Piercey. There was a windmill too, and this, the first in the Colony, had been erected by Yeardley, it is said, in 1621.

It stood on Windmill, earlier known as Tobacco, Point.

Corn supplies were given at ninety-three barrels and fish at 1,600 pounds. Cattle was totaled at forty-four head and hogs at thirty-one.

Supplies of powder and lead were ample for the thirty-four "fixed pieces" which were on hand. Besides, there were thirty-four swords and 20 complete suits of armor as well as some other types. Two pieces of ordnance were included and, perhaps, one of these is that described as on hand in the winter of 1622. This evidently was one of the most successful of the Virginia private plantations.

"CAPTAINE SPILMANS DIVIDENT" (28)

Sometime prior to 1622 Captain Spilman, perhaps, Thomas Spilman, brother of Henry Spilman, occupied a tract that lay between Flowerdieu Hundred and Martin's Brandon. It was Thomas who had come to Virginia in 1616 or 1617. The ma.s.sacre uprooted the settlement here and two persons were slain by the Indians. "Captaine Spilman, a man warie enough heretofore & acquainted with their trecheries," was forced to locate elsewhere.

Thomas appears to have chosen Elizabeth City where he planted fifty acres and in 1625 was established with his wife, a child "borne in Virginia," and four servants.

WARD'S PLANTATION (29)

Captain John Ward arrived in Virginia on April 22, 1619 in the s.h.i.+p _Sampson_ with some fifty emigrants to establish a private plantation.

Samuel Argall later placed this as in 1618. He selected some 1,200 acres west of Martin's Brandon and adjoining a creek on the south side of the James which still bears his name. He appears to have been in a.s.sociation with Captain John Bargrave who, for some years, had been intimately a.s.sociated in Virginia trade and colonization. Several members of the Bargrave family were with him. It was Captain John Bargrave who, in 1622, claimed the distinction of having undertaken to be "the first planter of a private colony in Virginia." This effort he dated as late 1617, or early 1618, and it seemingly came to nought unless his effort was continued in the Ward and John Martin enterprises.

Both Ward and Bargrave were among those granted patents in 1619 and were included in the eleven people "Who had undertaken to transport to Virginia great mult.i.tudes of people, with store of cattell." Soon after arrival in the Colony, Ward found himself on the New England coast fis.h.i.+ng to aid Virginia's food supply. On his return in July, he made his contribution to the general store.

His plantation evidently took root for it was among those that sent representatives to the first a.s.sembly at Jamestown in July and August, 1619. Ward and his Lieutenant, John Gibbs, attended and Ward, himself, served on the a.s.sembly committee that examined the first and third books of the "Great Charter."

Initially his representation was challenged on the grounds that he had seated in Virginia without authority and without a commission. The Burgesses, however, recognized his support of the Colony and the fact that he had adventured his person. He was permitted to take his seat providing he agree to get a lawful commission. There was no further question when he a.s.sented to this. Perhaps he fulfilled his obligation when his old indenture was pa.s.sed again under the seal on May 17, 1620 in the name of "Capt John Warde and his a.s.sociates."

Ward continued his activities and in the fall of 1620 he was again trading on the Potomac--"the people there, are said, to have dealt falsely with him, so he took 800 bushels of corne per force." Such acts probably had a bearing on the ma.s.sacre that came in 1622. The ma.s.sacre may, as a matter of fact, have ended the Ward Plantation story as it did the story for a number of settlements in early Virginia. Probably the twelve persons killed at Lieutenant Gibbs "Dividend" had reference to Ward's Plantation. Mention of the plantation ceases after this date although seemingly Ward received a new grant, or a reaffirmation of his old one, in June, 1623.

MARTIN'S BRANDON (30)

This private plantation, as did its founder John Martin, had a tumultuous history from the time of its establishment. Martin, a member of the first Virginia Council in 1607, lived almost constantly in the Colony for a quarter of a century. He will always be remembered as the single dissenting voice to the projected abandonment of Virginia in June, 1610. He, as James P. C. Southall, has stated was "in many ways ... a typical Englishman in the sense that he was jealous and tenacious of his own rights, stubborn and courageous in maintaining them."

When in England in 1616-17 he "was allowed in reward ten shares" of Company stock and on January 29, 1617, obtained a patent that contained privileges and exemptions such as were never before, or after, granted to a Virginian planter. It was stipulated that he could "hold and enjoy"

his Virginia lands "in as large & ample manner and to all intents & purposes as any Lord of Mannor here in England." It included, too, provision for "free trafick in the Bay and Rivers" and the right to establish "convenient markets" on his lands. He entered into close business partners.h.i.+p with Captain John Bargrave, whom the Company, in March, 1617, granted fifteen shares of land in Virginia. Bargrave "relying upon the said patent of Martin" proceeded to furnish the "_Edwyn_ of London with men and wares of good value fit for the said plantation, and sent the same with the said Captain Martin into Virginia." Martin left England in April, 1617 on the _Edwin_, "a barke of very good sayle" and reached Virginia in May just after Argall who had come as governor.

Bargrave had been hopeful of trading with Martin's Brandon and transporting more colonists, yet Argall, to support the Colony, compelled the _Edwin_ to remain in Virginia for almost a year and to be used in the Colony and on the coast. It was March, 1618 before it could set sail for England. In the meanwhile, Company affairs had come under different management and Martin's patent was under fire.

When the a.s.sembly was called in 1619, his plantation, now being well established, sent two representatives down to Jamestown. The Burgesses challenged them saying that Martin's patent exempted his settlement from obedience to the laws of the Colony. Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy could be seated, it was ruled, if Martin would bring his patent into conformity. This he would not do saying that he would not "infringe any parte" of it. Thereupon, the General a.s.sembly submitted the case to the Company for a definition and explanation of the offending clauses in Martin's patent. Later, exception was taken to the nature of the operation of Martin's Brandon plantation. It was alleged to be "a receptacle of vagabonds and bankrupts & other disorderly p[er]sons & whereof there hath been a public complaint...." It was charged further to be a place "where such as are indebted do shroud and rescue them selves under his protection."

Martin proceeded to fight for his patent in England and did all that he could to maintain it. In the end, however, on April 2, 1623, he accepted a new one for the land to be "laid out in Martin's Brandon." He was denied the request for the nearby "swamps and boggs" for the use of "his swine."

When he had departed for England in the spring of 1621 he had left his settlement in the care of Lieutenant Edward Saunders. It was not until 1624 that Martin returned to Virginia with more servants and supplies.

In the meanwhile the ma.s.sacre had caused at least the temporary abandonment of the plantation after seven persons had been slain here.

The area is not mentioned as such in either the population listing of 1624 or in the census of 1625. In the listing of land patents in 1625, however, there is an entry that reads "Marttin Brandon belonging to Captaine John Marttin by Patent out of England (planted)." A later deed (1643) defines "Martin's Brandon" as 4,550 acres between Chippokes and Ward's Creeks.

"PACES-PAINES" (31)

Richard Pace, late in 1620, braved the wilds over the river from Jamestown when, on December 5, he received a grant for 200 acres upstream from Jamestown. These acres became known as "the plantation called Paces Paines." It was in the territory of Tappahanna in the western extremity of the Corporation of James City. Adjoining him was the 100 acre tract granted, at the same time, to Francis Chapman who was described as "scituate nere unto Paces-Paines." This, a little later, was added to the Pace holdings. Pace was an "ancient planter" as was his wife Isabella who also took land in her own right. Their son George seated here and later claimed fifty acres each for the transportation of 6 persons in the _Marmaduke_ in 1621. John Burrows became one of their neighbors.

Paces-Paines was seated soon after the patent was issued in 1620 and Richard, who produced tobacco here, reported later that he "bestowed great cost & charges uppon building ther, & cleareing of ground." He made this statement when he applied, successfully, for permission to return to his plantation some months after the ma.s.sacre of 1622.

Both Pace and his plantation are mentioned in the accounts of this Indian uprising. As reported later, "if G.o.d had not put it into the heart of an Indian ... to disclose it, the slaughter of the ma.s.sacre could have been even worse." This Indian, one Chanco by name, belonged to William Perry. Perry was active in the Paces-Paines area and later married Richard Pace's widow and became "Commander" of the settlement.

The night before the Indian attack Chanco was at Pace's. In the night he told Pace, who, it is reported, "used him as a sonne," of the impending danger. Whereupon Pace secured his own house and quickly crossed the river to Jamestown. The governor then spread the word as rapidly as possible undoubtedly saving many lives in the Jamestown area. Chanco, the Christian convert, has become a Virginia hero.

The retrenchment following the ma.s.sacre led to the temporary abandonment of Paces-Paines; yet late in 1622 Pace returned, having promised to "fortifie & strengthen the place with a good company of able men."

Although not listed in 1624, the settlement was among those enumerated in 1625. At that time it had a population of thirteen persons. It is of note, perhaps, that the census made no mention of Pace, or Perry, yet it does mention Francis Chapman as in residence. It included four old planters: John Proctor (1607), Phettiplace Close (1608), Thomas Gates (1609) and Francis Chapman (1608).

BURROWS' MOUNT (32)

This, like Paces-Paines, was located on the south side of the James, upriver from Jamestown, and in the western part of the Corporation of James City. At the time of the census, early in 1625, it boasted of but seven persons. This, perhaps, should be increased by another ten suggested by the reference that "Mr. [John] Burrowes and six of his men which are planted heare are reconned, with theire armes provisions, etc.

at _James Cittie_." His Jamestown listing actually included his wife, seven servants, and Mara Buck. He had become guardian for this daughter of the Rev. Richard Buck and this included the management of "the cattell belonging to Mr. Buck's children."

Burrows' Mount, or Burrows' Hill, was, it seems, a relatively new plantation early in 1625. Burrows' 150 acres here very likely were the result of his request for this amount on February 6 of that year. At that time the court awarded him, on presentation of the required "Certificates," the usual allotment for the transportation of three persons. His actual settlement at "Burrowes Mount" may, however, have preceded his grant.

PLANTATIONS "OVER THE RIVER FROM JAMESTOWN" (33)

Early in 1609 "We built also a fort for a retreat, near a convenient river, upon a high commanding hill, very hard to be a.s.saulted, and easie to be defended: but ere it was halfe finished, this defect caused a stay," it is recorded in _The Proceedings of the English Colonies in Virginia_ (1612). This was envisioned as a place of refuge in the event that enemy attack would force an evacuation of Jamestown. It is now a.s.sumed that this was about a mile up a creek directly across the river from Jamestown and that it still exists in part.

The fort saw no service. As a matter of fact, the colonists evidently did not, in the first decade, find the south sh.o.r.e of the James across from "James Citty" particularly hospitable. There is little record of activity here prior to the ma.s.sacre in March, 1622, although some land grants may have preceded it.

Captain William Powell traded acres here with Captain John Hurleston as early as 1620. A court case in 1625 establishes that Captain Powell and others "did cleere a piece of grounde" here in April, 1622 which later fell to Captain Samuel Mathews. This embraced some eight or nine acres and did involve "howses" as well. On April 23, 1623, there was reference to "all the plantations right over against James Citty." They were described as pleasant and fruitful seats. The area in question here extended from Hog Island up to the projection of land now called Swan's Point.

The plantations were represented as a group in the a.s.sembly of 1624 by Samuel Mathews and Edward Grindon. Collectively, in 1624, they had a reported population of thirty-three. In that year twenty-one persons died, two having been slain by the Indians. It is not until the census of 1625 that a number of the plantations in this section are clearly identified. Five such are listed with a total population of ninety-six persons. This was clearly a growing community at this time.

In May, 1625, it is of record that in excess of 3,700 acres had been taken up in "The territory of Tappahanna over against James Citie" by sixteen persons. Eleven of the grants were noted as "planted." The largest single grant was to William Ewens for 1,000 acres. It should be noted, perhaps, that no acreage figure was shown for the "Divident" of Captain Samuel Mathews and that of Captain John Hurleston. Among those listed as having received grants, and some were dead, were John Rolfe (400 acres), Richard Pace (200 acres), Captain William Powell (750 acres in two parcels), George Sandys (300 acres), and John Burrows (150 acres). All were "planted." Only the acreage of John Dodd, Francis Chapman, Thomas Gates, John Utie and Robert Evers were not "planted."

THE TREASURER'S PLANTATION (GEORGE SANDYS) (33A)

George Sandys was named resident treasurer of the Colony and came to Virginia in the s.h.i.+p _George_ in 1621. He, it seems, soon became interested in the area over the water from Jamestown. His patent for 300 acres, here, as Treasurer of Virginia, is dated in December, 1624, yet he was already "actually possessed" of this dividend, 100 acres of which was for a bill of adventure for a share of Company stock and 200 for the transportation of four persons to Virginia in 1621. He had William Claiborne survey "at his plantation over the water" 650 acres including his and parcels belonging to John Bainham and Edward Grindon. This was "by the water side" and was about a square mile in extent as reported by Claiborne. Evidently Sandys was actually in possession of all three tracts at the time of the survey.