The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 Part 3

VIRGINIA AND THE DISSOLUTION

The Virginia Company established the first permanent English settlement in America, but did not reap the profits that it had expected. Even through reorganization and large expenditures, it never achieved its full objective and was increasingly subject to criticism despite its remarkable achievement. The devastating effect of the ma.s.sacre ushered in a period of attack that never subsided. Commissioners were sent to investigate the Colony at first hand. Charge was met by countercharge and tempers rose high. The Company stubbornly contended for its original charters and James I and Company opponents seemed equally as determined to break them. Matters reached a head in 1624 when James I dissolved the Company, thereby removing the hand that had guided Virginia affairs for 17 years.

With this act Virginia became a royal colony and continued as such until the American Revolution made it free and independent. From the point of view of the people in the Colony, the change from Company to Crown was almost painless although there was concern over land t.i.tles and a continuance of the a.s.sembly. The Company Governor gave way to the royal appointee, but most inst.i.tutions were left intact. Perhaps a glance at the proceedings of the a.s.sembly of March, 1624 is useful in pointing up the matters of concern to the representatives of the people at this particular time.

At the time Virginia was a going concern. It was well established, economically sound, and expanding at a considerable rate. The business at this session embraced some 35 laws, or acts. Of this total 7 dealt with the economic situation, 8 with Indian affairs and security, 8 with religious matters, 6 with local organization and welfare and 5 with matters of personal and community rights. In the main they suggest growth and an established order.

In the economic sphere there was concern for the planting of ample corn, emphasis on fencing and planting "vines, hearbs, rootes, &c." Commodity rates were in need of further enforcement. It was duly ordered, too, that there would be "no waightes nor measures used, but such as shalbe Sealed by officers Appointed for that purpose."

In matters of safety the chief concern was still the Indian. Trading for corn with the natives was to be prohibited. It was required that "every dwellinge howse shalbe pallizadoed," that guards be maintained and that careful and constant inspection by commanders insure working and ready arms and ammunition. Good watch was to be maintained even when at work in the fields and powder was not to be wasted "unnecessarily in drinking or entertainementes." It was determined that in midsummer the people of "every corporatione" should fall on the Indians near them "as we did the last yeere" presumably to burn their crops and houses.

Church affairs came in for considerable regulation. One act required that a place be set aside for the worship of G.o.d in each and every plantation, a place or "roome sequestred for that purpose" as well as "a place sequestred onlye to the buryall of the dead." A fine, one pound of tobacco for one Sunday but fifty pounds for a month of absences, was imposed for missing the Sunday service. Ministers were exhorted to look after their charges and the people were not to "disparage" their ministers without "sufficient proofe." Payment of the minister's salary was to be insured and there were regulations against "swearinge and drunkennes." A formal order was pa.s.sed that March 22, the date of the ma.s.sacre of two years before, be "solemnized as [a] hollidaye." In matters of church conformity the action was specific, "That there be an uniformitie in our Church as neere as may be, to the canons in Englande both in [substance] and circ.u.mstance and that all persons yeeld redie obedience unto them under pain of censure."

Government organization and operation was spelled out in a number of instances. To meet the needs of a growing and spreading population special courts were set up for Elizabeth City and Charles City. At least in cases involving no more than 100 pounds of tobacco and for petty offences, it would not be necessary to journey to Jamestown. It was further ordered that all private holdings be duly surveyed, bounded, and recorded. A public "grainary" was ordered to be established in each parish. Control of trade was sought by specifying that no ships should "break boulke [bulk] or make privatt sales of any comodities" before reaching Jamestown. Taxes were not ignored either for a levy of ten pounds of tobacco, already the common currency it appears, was laid on each male above 16 years of age to help defray the "publique depte [debt]." Lest it be forgotten, it was enacted that obedience was required "to the presente government."

Old planters were given special exemption from public service, "they and theire posteritie," while Burgesses were rendered exempt from seizure during a.s.sembly time. "Persones of qualitie" when found delinquent, it was stated, could be imprisoned if not fit to take corporal punishment.

It is of note that service to the Governor, or the public, was made contingent on a.s.sembly consent. Of particular interest, too, was the action on the principle of taxation. It was bold, indeed, at this time for the a.s.sembly to declare that;

The Governor shall not laye any taxes or impositiones uppon the Colony, theire landes or comodities otherwi[se] then by the awthoritie of the Generall a.s.semblie, to be levied and imployed as the saide a.s.sembly shall appoint.

This was an early word on taxation, but it was to be far from the last word in the next century and a half.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Towns, Plantations, Settlements and Communities in Virginia: 1607-1624. (The sites of Richmond, Williamsburg and Norfolk are shown but the cities did not exist at the time.)]

THE SPREAD OF SETTLEMENT--1607 TO 1624

By 1624 the Colony had grown from a single settlement at Jamestown to a series of communities along the James River and on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e.

Until 1611 only Jamestown had proven lasting. In this fourth year, however, Kecoughtan (Elizabeth City) was established on a permanent basis and Henrico was laid out. In 1613 the fourth of the Company settlements was established at Bermuda which was to become Charles City.

For five years the center of population pa.s.sed up river. The area in the "Curls" of the James for a time was the preferred location. It looked as if even the seat of government would be moved here where much official business was transacted. In 1616 John Rolfe listed 6 settlements and according to his report, some 68 per cent of the residents were in the Henrico-Bermuda area.

Decline set in, in the upriver settlements, however, and the focus returned again to the Jamestown area, aided, it seems, by the efforts of Governor Samuel Argall. It was this 1617-19 period, too, that saw the beginning of particular plantations which did much to populate the James River basin as far as the falls. In 1619 at the time of the a.s.sembly meeting, there were eleven localities, or communities, that sent representatives to Jamestown. Plantations continued to multiply until the destruction of the ma.s.sacre temporarily rolled back the number. For a time the settlements were reduced to, perhaps, a dozen. Even the ma.s.sacre, however, could not long hold back what was becoming a tide.

The reoccupation of abandoned areas and the utilization of new land was quickly the order of the day. In 1625 a total of 27 areas or communities were reported. In this surge of expansion the center of population now pa.s.sed again from Jamestown and rested in the lower areas of the James.

In 1624 and 1625 Elizabeth City was indeed Virginia's most populous community. In fact, early in 1625 the Elizabeth City group (Kecoughtan, Buckroe, Newport News, etc.) had a greater population than did all of the plantations above Jamestown. At this point "James Citty" and the Island stood second with a population of 175 while Elizabeth City alone had about 350.

The story of Virginia's first seventeen years was written all along the banks of the James and much of it in the towns, forts, and plantations that grew here. Each of them has an individual story and together they give much of the story of Virginia's early years.

PASBEHEGH COUNTRY (1)

The country westward from Jamestown Island along the north sh.o.r.e of the James River as far as the Chickahominy River was known early as Pasbehegh Country from the Indians which inhabited there. Jamestown, as a matter of fact, was considered to have been established in Pasbehegh territory. This area began to feature in the immediate history of Virginia when, in 1608, the colonists elected to build their gla.s.s furnaces on the mainland at the top of the isthmus leading to the Island. This, although an unsuccessful enterprise, functioned for a time and people were in residence here. When the enterprise was revived about 1620 the same site, it is thought, was again used. In 1624 it is reported that five persons were then living at the "glase house."

Presumably these were a.s.sociated with the gla.s.s project.

The settlement of the general area is not clear as to date. It is stated that Sir Thomas Dale granted "some small parcells" in Pasbehegh, perhaps, as early as 1614. These probably were immediately seated and planted. Samuel Argall returned to Virginia, which he had served well in the 1609-14 days, as governor in 1617. He, likewise, is credited with having granted "some small parcells" here. Argall, too, is identified with the creation of a distinct settlement in the area, one that, for a time, bore his name. This was Argall's Guift, more often mentioned as Argall's Town.

ARGALL TOWN (1A)

Samuel Argall, it seems, was attracted to the area west of Jamestown and established his people here. He and his a.s.sociates had been a.s.signed 2,400 acres for the transportation of 24 persons by Charter of March 30, 1617 issued just before he left England. This was one of the first such grants. There were settlers with him, too, to be employed on land set aside for the support of the Governor's office. Evidently his settlement, or plantation, got underway in 1617 and two years later was listed among the populated areas in the Colony. It was one of the eleven communities which sent representatives to the First a.s.sembly in 1619.

They were Thomas Pawlett and Edward Gourgaing.

To advance the settlement, Argall had contracted for the clearing of some 300 acres of ground (600 pounds sterling it was to cost). This was to be done by colonists a.s.signed to Martin's Hundred. Other arrangements were made with Captain William Powell to clear ground and to erect a house, this to cost 50. This was the Powell whom Argall made the Captain of the Governor's Company and Guard, Lieutenant Governor and Commander of Jamestown, the blockhouses and the people. Evidently Argall and Powell intended to pa.s.s on this cost to the "Inhabitants of Paspaheigh, alias Argall's towne" for these people sought "an absolute discharge from certain bondes wherein they stood bound to Captain Samuell Argall for the payment of 600 lb and to Captain William Powell, at Captaine Argall's appointment, for the payment of 50 lb more. To Captaine Argall for 15 skore acres of wooddy ground, called by the name of Argal's towne or Paspaheigh; to Captain Powell in respect of his paines in clearing the grounde and building the houses, for which Captaine Argal ought to have given him satisfaction."

Seemingly the accommodations which resulted were good ones for when, in 1619, some newly arrived Martin's Hundred people were seated here, there was good and convenient housing which enabled them to do the "best of all new-comers." They reaped better crops and the list of those who died was "not comparable to other places." Argall Town, however, was not destined to become a settled community. It was on the Governor's land and Yeardley proceeded after his arrival in 1619 to take a "petty rente"

from the settlers here "to make them acknowledge ... that Paspaheigho by expresse wordes in the greate commission did belonge to the Governor and that they had bene wrongfully seated by Capt. Argall upon that lande."

PASBEHEGH (PASPAHEGH) AND "THE MAINE" (1B-C)

With Yeardley's arrival steps were taken to lay out the 3,000 acres set aside for the Governor's office. This was specified to be on the land "formerly conquered or purchased from the Paspahegh Indians" and included Argall Town. It seemingly was directly east of another 3,000 acres of Company land set aside for the profit of the Company. The Company tract adjoined the Chickahominy River. Both the Company and Governor's land was to be tilled chiefly by tenants. The exact bounds of Pasbehegh, even with these specifications, is difficult to fix. Even landownership in the period prior to 1625 is difficult to define. It seems fairly evident that two communities developed in the area between Powhatan Creek and the Chickahominy, that closest to Jamestown being "the Maine" (mainland). There are references, however, that clearly indicated that both were collectively referred to on occasion as Pasbehegh, as when in 1621 there is mention of the "Subberbs of James Cittie called by the name of Paspehayes," and on occasion as "the Main"

as in the listing of residents in 1624. On the other hand, other references are equally as suggestive of two communities. There is separate mention as early as 1619 and a clear differentiation in the census of 1625.

In 1625 there were some 43 people at Pasbehegh including 10 of the Governor's men. Among the total were 7 wives and 3 children. Seemingly the decision to hold this area after the ma.s.sacre, "James Cittie with Paspehay," took the families back to the land. The settlement, in 1625, seemed well stocked with arms but had no livestock.

Nearby in "the Maine" lived an additional 36 persons of which the largest single muster was that of Thomas Bunn with his wife, son, a maid and four other servants. It was somewhat less well equipped in arms than its neighbor although in most categories it was comparable. Only 3 houses were enumerated yet this was 2 more than given for Pasbehegh.

Perhaps, living conditions were deteriorating.

It may be significant that the General Court in January, 1626, reiterated the permission given "to the inhabitants of Pasbehaye to remove themselves from that place." No restraint would be placed on them "nor any other the inhabitants of the Maine to stay and inhabit there."

Perhaps, the insecurity of being on the "Governor's Land" was one reason that these "free men" could, and wanted to, leave. The reasons offered, however, were "the barreness of the ground whereon they plant," "the badness of their utterly decayed houses" and "their small strength & ability to hold & defend the same place."

SMITH'S (SOUTHAMPTON) HUNDRED (2)

This, along with Martin's Hundred and Argall's settlement, was among the first particular plantations to be established in Virginia and was founded and promoted by the "Society of Smyth's Hundred." It took its name from Sir Thomas Smith who was treasurer of the Virginia Company and a heavy investor. When he sold his interest in 1620 to his successor, the Earl of Southampton, the designation was changed from Smith's to Southampton Hundred. The initial grant was for some 80,000 acres and it was located on the north sh.o.r.e of the James between the Chickahominy River and the Weyanoke territory.

The first settlers to come over in the venture appear to have arrived in the ship _George_ in 1617. In 1618 it was planned to send another 35 and supplies were arranged including "Tooles for a brickyard" and "A mill to grind" tools. The items enumerated can be found in the _Records of the Virginia Company of London_ in Volume III, pages 95-96. From a good start it seemingly became, for a time, the leading plantation on the James. When Yeardley arrived as Governor he became interested in this project in which he obviously had a financial stake at least to the extent of bringing "out of England at my chardge 25 men this year [1619]

to furnish Smyth hundred...." Yeardley wrote on April 29, 1619, that the plantation was "alltogether dest.i.tute of cowes." He asked that more be sent and that authority be sought to purchase as they were available. He hoped to get in the Colony "as many as will sett up 3 ploughs at Smythes Hundred, for we have there great store of good cleered grounds." He was disappointed in not having a good tobacco crop but drought and other things had prevented it. "I cannot expect much tobako our cheifest care must be for corne."

When representatives were chosen for the a.s.sembly in 1619, Capt. Thomas Graves and Walter Sh.e.l.ley went up to Jamestown from Smith's Hundred.

Already a church had been founded here. It was St. Marys Church to which Mary Robinson was a benefactor having made possible a communion cup, a plate, a carpet, an altar cloth, "one surplisse" and other ornaments and hangings to the value of twenty pounds. The Society of Smith's Hundred became interested, too, in the rearing of Indian children in the Christian way when another benefactor a.s.sured financial support. It was agreed that arrangements would be found for all not accommodated at Berkeley and Martin's hundreds and elsewhere. This particular plantation was among those to be encouraged by Company and Colony. Products they reaped could be returned to their own adventurers.

Yeardley continued for some time as commander of the hundred. He held court, made land grants, and conducted other Colony business here, perhaps, in "the now mansion house of mee the said George Yeardley in Southampton Hundred." In January, 1620, he advised "not onely the Adventurers for Smythes hundred, but the generall Company also, to send hither husbandmen truly bred (whereof here is a great scarcity, or none at all) both to manage the plough and breake our oxen and horses to that busines." In the same period John Rolfe wrote that the Smith's Hundred people had seen much sickness even though they were seated "at Dauncing Point, the most convenyent place within their lymittes." For this reason "no matter of gaine or greate industry can be expected from them." On the matter of sickness George Thorpe wrote from Southampton Hundred on December 19, 1620 that Virginia was healthy and that he was "perswaded that more doe die here of the disease of theire minde then of theire body by havinge this countrey victualles overpraised unto them in England & by not knowinge they shall drinke water here." He added hopefully, perhaps, that "wee have found a waie to make soe good drinke of Indian corne," that he often preferred it to "good stronge Englishe beare."

Society expenditures continued as forty-two more colonists were sent, of which five died en route in August 1619. Supplies were dispatched, including "English meale" and equipment furnished. The latter, early in 1620, included forty swords and thirty-three suits of armor plus two more "better then ordinary" totaling thirty-two pounds in cost.

The two Smith's Hundred ventures into iron production failed for the same reason that the College project failed. The men "were not able to mannage an iron worke and soe turned good honest tobaccoe mongers." The results of their fishing "in the North Colony," for which they had special "lycence," are less clear. The plantation did have its own shipping. Again, this time early in 1622, they were called on to undertake the education and rearing of some 30 of the "infidelles children," "Children of the Virginians."

The ma.s.sacre appears to have been the blow that ended the promising hopes of Smith's Hundred. Only 5 persons were slain here but the effects were more far reaching. It was to be one of the settlements to be held and well fortified. In June, 1622, it was reported that "the inhabitants of Southampton Hundred since the late bloudy murthering of [the] nation by the Indians, hath been often infested by them & still is above other plantations wherby they are not onlie putt from planting corne, tobacco, & other nessarie employmentes wherby they might be able to subsist, but also have no corne for the present to maintaine life."

It would appear that the plantation was abandoned and that its survivors may have been relocated at Hog Island where the adventurers had an interest. This was an unfruitful end after the expenditure of some 6,000 pounds sterling. The net result in 1625 was some cattle, "land belonging to Southampton Hundred containeing 100000 acres" and a tract with some tenants on it at Hog Island.

"TANKS WEYANOKE" (3)

About midway along the north sh.o.r.e of the James River between the Chickahominy and Appomattox Rivers is a projection of land that forces a wide sharp turn in the James. The Indians called this Tanks (little) Weyanoke, a place where the river goes around the land. This was separate, and distinct, from Great Weyanoke which lay along the south side of the James toward the Appomattox. The Weyanoke Indian tribe inhabited both areas, yet their chief town was on the south side.

In 1617 the Indian chieftain Opechancanough, who later would master mind the ma.s.sacre, presented Sir George Yeardley with a sizeable tract here later described as 2,200 acres. On November 18, 1618, in his instructions, the Company confirmed the Indian grant to Yeardley "in consideration of the long and good and faithful service done by ...

[him] in our said Colony and plantation of Virginia." Two hundred acres were allowed for two shares of stock and 2,000 were allowed for services rendered. Bounds for "Weyanoke," and for adjacent "Konwan" which was also included, were described and it was declared to be in "the territory of the said Charles City."