The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 Part 6

Dale was very hopeful of the "new Bermudas" and proceeded to annex "to the freedom, and corporation ... many miles of champion, and woodland, in several Hundreds" on both sides of the James. These Hamor enumerated as the "[1] Upper and [2] Nether Hundreds, [3] Rochdale Hundred [4]

Wests Sherley Hundred, and [5] Diggs his Hundred." Evidently a settlement was begun in each of these areas all of which kept active till the ma.s.sacre.

BERMUDA HUNDRED (19A)

It was in the Nether Hundred, which became Bermuda Hundred and later the "Neck-of-Land" in Charles City, that settlement was first initiated "for there [according to Hamor in 1614] lyeth the most convenient quant.i.ty of corne ground." With a "pale" from river to river but two miles in length it was possible to secure some eight miles of "exceeding good corne ground." Houses were built one-half mile from each other on "the verge of the river." In 1614 these were described as "faire houses, already builded." There were others as well totaling "not so few as fifty." Gates' lieutenant, George Yeardley, was then in charge.

ROCHDALE HUNDRED (19B)

This plantation, just west of Nether (Bermuda) Hundred, was gotten underway about the same time. A "crosse pale," about four miles long, was, in 1614, already built "with bordering houses along the pale." It was in this Hundred that the "hogges, and other cattell" had a 20 mile circuit in which to graze securely.

BERMUDA CITY (19C)

The "chiefe Citty," when Hamor left, was not yet ready. Its construction, at a point across the Appomattox from Bermuda Hundred, while begun, was not pushed until the fall of 1614. Here Bermuda City was fas.h.i.+oned to be "an impregnable retreat, against any forraign invasion, how powerfull so ever." This became the fourth and last of the public, or general, corporations taking its place with James City, Kecoughtan, and Henrico. Within a few years its name would change from Bermuda to Charles City to honor Prince Charles as Henrico had been named for Prince Henry his brother, both being royal sons. Hamor, in 1614, spoke of "Bermuda Citty," evidently meaning to include Bermuda Hundred as well, as "a business of greatest hope, ever begunne in our territories their." At the same time he mentions the special "pattent,"

or agreement, made between Dale and the people there, "termes and conditions they voluntarily have undertaken."

When Dale a.s.signed small parcels of ground to planters for their own use prior to, or in, 1613, he did much for the Colony. It stopped some of the drain on the common "magazine" and allowed room for individual profit and enterprise. It also freed the colonists from Company service except in emergencies and for one month a year. In making this arrangement, however, he excepted the Bermuda Incorporation people with whom he made a special contract. They were bound to three years of almost continuous public service in the Bermuda City project "before they have their freedom." At the end of their term, however, they claimed their rights of freedom and the Governor, then Samuel Argall, could not deny their claim. On November 30, 1617, he reported in reply to the "citizens of Bermuda hund[red]" that he would "not infringe their rights being a member of that City himself" but begged that the Colony servants "may stay their this year." Evidently these Bermuda people began to enjoy the rights and freedoms that did not become general until the Company division and "Greate Charter" which evolved in 1618 and 1619.

The center of gravity in the Colony in the 1611-16 period was upriver in the Henrico and Bermuda City area. In Rolfe's report of 1616 "Bermuda Nether Hundred" was by far the most active and most heavily populated area. Its 119 people was much in excess of the 50 at Jamestown which stood second among the 6 populated points. Bermuda's population then embraced chiefly the members of the Corporation although there were 17 "farmers" and a few "who labor generally for the Colony, amongst whom, some make pitch and Tarr, Pott-ashes, Chark-coale, and other workes, and are maintayned by the magazin, but are not of the Corporation." Capt.

George Yeardley, who was deputy governor and deputy marshal, "for the most part" lived here as did Alexander Whitaker who had the "ministerall chardge."

The "Cities of Henrico & Charles [Bermuda]" were the best fortified points in the Colony standing "upon high ground the cliffes beinge steepe but of a claye mould the ayre good and wholesome." Also "about those places [there were] good quant.i.ties of cleared groundes."

Fortifications were by "trench and pallizado" with "great timber"

blockhouses athwart "pa.s.sages and for scouring the pallizadoes." There, too, was "access to s.h.i.+pping."

Much official business was transacted here where the Governor was in residence much of the time. Courts, on occasion, convened here and official proclamations and doc.u.ments were issued from the hand of various governors and from the pen of the Colony's secretary. Such was the commission to William Cradock made "provost marshall of Bermuda City and of all the Hundred thereto belonging" from Samuel Argall "Admirall and for the time present princ.i.p.al Governor of Virginia" issued at "Bermuda City" on February 20, 1618 over John Rolfe's signature as "Secretary and Recorder."

It appears to have been Argall that did much to return the emphasis to Jamestown and away from Bermuda. In 1617 he wrote that he preferred Jamestown and proposed to strengthen it as a good healthy site. Charles City remained active, however, and the largest seat in the Colony. In 1619 Samuel Sharpe and Samuel Jordan represented the Bermuda area in the a.s.sembly. It is not known whether they voted for the measure that required all persons from Charles City and other points who were going down river below the Capital to touch "first here at James Citty to knowe whether the Governor will command him any service." By this time Bermuda Hundred and Bermuda City were most often designated "Charles City and Hundred."

It was in 1621 that the Company undertook to establish and build the East India School and to locate this "free schoole in Virginia" at Charles City. A grant of 1,000 acres was set aside and a few workmen were sent to the Colony. For a time it looked as if this center to encourage the "rudiments of learning" and "principles of Religion, civility of life, and humane learning" would materialize. It did not, however, survive the ma.s.sacre. When the workmen reached Virginia, they were placed among the College tenants and later transferred to Martin's Hundred.

The ma.s.sacre of 1622 appeared to have been devastating in the Bermuda area and led to its temporary abandonment. The list of those killed is, however, rather light in comparison with settlements such as Martin's Hundred. There were twenty-seven at four specified points. It leads one to doubt that a full list of names was submitted.

Thought soon turned to a repair of the damages. It was judged "very necessarie to raise new workes especiallie at Henrico & Charles Citty"

which according to one report were "utterlie demolished by the Indians."

This destruction, at least some of it, followed the abandonment of the posts. Houses were burned and "poultry, hoggs, cowes, goates, and horses" were killed in number "to the greate griefe as well as ruine of the olde inhabitants...."

There was a return to the land in some large measure after the ma.s.sacre.

In 1624 a list of 41 residents was given for "the Neck of Land" in Charles City Corporation and the census of 1625 showed 44 in this old Bermuda Hundred area. In 1624 Luke Boys and Thomas Harris sat in the a.s.sembly at Jamestown and may have helped to enact the measure that required "courtes [to be] kept once a moneth in the Corporations of Charles Cittie & Elizabeth Cittie" to handle cases involving petty offenses and sums up to 100 pounds of tobacco. The muster of January 24, 1625 shows the "Neck-of-Land" to have been very well established. Its 44 people had 16 houses and good supplies of corn, fish, livestock, poultry and arms. In May, 1625, ten individual grants (ranging from 50 to 1,150 acres and totaling 2,900) were listed as located here in addition to the corporation and common land.

PIERCEY'S PLANTATION (20)

At the time of the ma.s.sacre Abraham Piercey had a plantation adjacent to the Appomattox River and, perhaps, somewhat upstream from the James.

Here "at Master Abraham Pierse his plantation some five miles off the Colledge people" four persons, 3 men and a boy were killed. Piercey, a prominent merchant, named to the Council in 1624, may have laid out his acres here, "in lieu of his Long service done the Company," as early as 1620. The holding, in May, 1625, was defined as 1,150 acres obtained by patent. A place name here "Peircies Toyle" Creek very likely is a result of his activity in this area.

JORDAN'S JOURNEY (21)

This plantation took its name from its founder, Capt. Samuel Jordan and appears to have embraced 450 acres. At least in 1625 Jordan was credited with this amount as being "planted" by patent in "the territory of greate Weyanoke." It has been said that he established Jordan's Journey, also known as Beggar's Bush, in 1619 although in the a.s.sembly of 1619 he represented "Charles Citty." He was one of the a.s.sembly Committee of four appointed to examine "the first booke of the fower" of the "Greate Charter." In 1622 Jordan received a share of Company stock from Mary Tue as well as 100 acres in "Diggs his Hundred." At this time he was listed as "Samuel Jordan of Charles Hundred gentleman."

Jordan himself died in 1623 and his widow was soon seeking marriage again. When she became betrothed to two men at the same time, Capt.

William Ferrar and Rev. Greville Pooley, and became embroiled in controversy, the Council took note of it. A proclamation followed which prohibited any woman from contracting herself to "two several men at the same time."

Jordan's Journey seems to have prospered. In 1624 Nathaniel Causey represented the plantation in the a.s.sembly. At the time there were forty-two persons in residence and eight had died within the year. In 1625 the population stood at fifty-five persons (thirty-six males and nineteen females). Corn and fish supplies were adequate and there were some cattle and hogs as well as numerous poultry. In the matter of houses, the total was quite large--being twenty-two. The plantation boasted of three boats and substantial amounts of small arms (thirty-eight) and armor of various types (thirty-six items).

WOODLEEFE'S PLANTATION (22)

Captain John Woodleefe, a member of the Virginia Company, came to Virginia initially in 1609 and remained active and interested in the Colony. He was commissioned, in 1619, to go as governor and commander of Berkeley Hundred which he did late in the year. He had other interests, however, and by April of the same year had brought four men, which he had supplied with "apparell and armes," and his wife and children to Virginia. It is intimated that he had other colonizing interests and intentions. The Berkeley Hundred people had cautioned him about attempting another plantation that might interfere with their holdings.

He was instructed not to establish it "unless full ten English miles from them."

He was governor at Berkeley Hundred for about a year and it was sometime shortly before, during, or just after this term of service, that he set up his own plantation. He seems to have chosen a point on the south side of the James a bit up river from Berkeley which he patented in 1620. It lay along the river and west of Jordan's Journey. This could very well have been the 350 acres listed in his name in May, 1625. His was one of the tracts in "the territory of greate Weyanoke" and was later patented again by his son.

CHAPLAIN'S CHOICE (23)

This plantation appears in a listing in 1624. In March of that year, too, Isaac Chaplain represented it in the a.s.sembly. This was another of the number of particular, or private, plantations founded in Virginia in the 1619-24 period. It is generally a.s.sumed to have been located in the area to the east of Woodleefe's Plantation. It was noted in May, 1625 that Isaac Chaplain had 200 acres which were "planted" in the "territory of great Weyonoke." He had as well, what may have been a personal stake, 50 other acres in the Corporation of Charles City.

In 1624 a total of twenty-four persons were living "At Chaplains choice"

and a year later the head count stood at seventeen (thirteen males, four females). This 1625 figure, as did the other muster statistics, included the Truelove Company people and goods. This embraced two boats, but only two houses, forty-one barrels of corn and some small amounts of peas, meal and oatmeal plus three hogs and forty-eight fowl. There were reasonable amounts of small arms and armor and six pieces of ordnance.

The latter, an unusually high figure for a private plantation, included one falconet and five "murderers." Some tobacco was being produced, for "John Trehern of Chaplins Choise" exported "one hogshead" in 1625. A lawsuit ensued when the s.h.i.+p captain sold it, although it had been consigned to Trehern's brother. As satisfaction he was to get "two hundred & thirty waight of tobacco in leafe & smothed together with one hogshead."

TRUELOVE'S PLANTATION (24)

On January 24, 1621, a share of land in Virginia was a.s.signed "unto Rowland Truelove of London, Clothworker." Three months later he received a patent as a "new adventurer" and in November, this was defined to cover the transportation of 100 persons. In this venture he had "divers other patentees, adventurers" and a.s.sociates.

He does not appear to have been discouraged by the ma.s.sacre, for in August, 1622, the Truelove Company sent supplies for their plantation.

The Company records relate that "mr Trulove and his a.s.sociates intend to proceed in their plantation beinge no whitt discouraged with this late ma.s.sacre of the English by the treacherous Indians...." They had requested a Commission for the "s.h.i.+ppe and voyadge" to Virginia of the "barke called the _Trulove_ of London of about forty-six tunn."

A year later, in July, 1623, "Rowland Treawlove and Companie" pledged anew to supply their plantation with "victuall apparrell and other necessaries" to the extent of 400. Their patent had recently been renewed, or pa.s.sed again under the seal. This was one of seventy-two that pa.s.sed in June, 1623 giving good evidence of the private activity afoot for, and in, the Colony at this time. Soon a s.h.i.+p was dispatched with twenty-five new emigrants. In the cargo, too, were 100 "hogsheads"

of supplies valued at 536, a substantial sum, for the plantation of the Truelove Society.

Despite this, all did not go well and the enterprise seems not to have flourished. In January, 1624, Nathaniel Causey was directed by the Court in Virginia to "take into his hands and safe custodie all such goods as belonge to the Company and Societie of Trueloves Plantatione." This had been requested by the Company overseer and Causey, after a "true inventory" was to report to the Governor and Council. In the muster of 1625 Truelove's Plantation appears to be a.s.sociated with Chaplain's Choice.

"POWLE-BROOKE" OR MERCHANT'S HOPE (25)

Captain Nathaniel Powell, who came early to Virginia and served as Acting Governor when Argall left in 1619, settled a plantation on the south side of the James. It was located on Powell Creek at the head of which was the site of Weyanoke Indian Town. The date of his establishment appears to have been in 1619, or a little later, and his enterprise embraced some 600 acres. It was known as "Powle Brook" and was not until later to get the Merchant's Hope designation.

Matters went well until the Indian ma.s.sacre which all but wiped out the settlement and led to its abandonment. Captain Powell and his wife were both slain along with ten others, three of them women. It is said that the Indians were not content with killing. They proceeded to "butcher-like hagle their bodies, and cut off his head...."

Powell's brothers and sisters in England pet.i.tioned the Company to get an account of the estate. The Company in turn asked the Virginia Council to take special care of "this buissnes, both because it is of great consequence, as also for that Captain Nath: Powell was a man of extraordinary merritt, and the pet.i.tioners poore men...." Thomas Powell of Suffolk, England, came into the property. He, a brother of Nathaniel, later disposed of it by sale.

MAYc.o.c.k'S PLANTATION (26)