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__ __ ___


Social Life of Virginia
in the
Seventeenth Century


AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER
CLASS, TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE
HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND DIVERSIONS
OF THE PEOPLE
BY
PHILIP ALEXANDER E.UCE, L.L.B., L.L.D.
Late Corresponding Secretary o'the Virginia Historical Society;
Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society;
Author of Economic and Institutional Histories of Virginia
in the Seventeenth Century;
History of Colonial Virginia, 1606,1764, &c., 6c.
Second Edition
Revised and Enlarged
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
J. P. BELL COMPANY, INCORPORATED
1927






COPYRIGHT 1907, BY PHILIP ALBXANDEB BRUCE


PRINTBD BY J. P. BELL COMPANY, INCORPORATBD
AT LYNCHBURG, VLornIA




Dedication
TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER,
CHARLES BRUCE, OF STAUNTON HILL, VIRGINIA
AND OF MY UNCLE,
JAMES COLES BRUCE, OF BERRY HILL, VIRGINIA
AS REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL THAT WAS LOFTIEST AND
NOBLEST IN THE LIFE AND CHARACTER
OF THE
GREAT SOUTHERN LANDOWNERS AND SLAVEHOLDERS
OF THE PAST








4-%2.7
(Preface 'Go First Edition
No one who studies the purely social aspects of
Virginian life in the seventeenth century can fail to
be impressed with the paucity and poverty of the materials that touch directly upon the subject. Excepting a few brief summaries of personal observations in
the Colony resembling those left by Colonel Henry
Norwood, the Rev. John Clayton, and the author of
Leah and Rachel, nothing that can be correctly described
as Travels in the Virginia of that day, after it had
become a populous community, with a definite character of its own, is in existence. Nor are there any
extended biographies of the principal citizens belonging to the periods following the first colonization to
supply indirectly information of value. The nearest
approach to personal memoirs is to be found in the
letter-books of William Fitzhugh and William Byrd,
which, however, are, in substance, simply correspondence about dry business matters. Beverley's History,
while full of vivid details, really relates to the last
years of the seventeenth century and to the first of
the eighteenth. To acquire an accurate conception of
the Virginian social life from 1607 to 1700, the student
must examine a very large mass of miscellaneous printed and manuscript materials which are primarily concerned with other subjects, such, for instance, as the
pamphlets preserved in Force's Historical Tracts, the
Virginian parish registers, the original colonial documents now in the custody of the British State Paper
Office in London, and above all, the several hundred
volumes of the Virginian county records of the seventeenth century, which still survive. These are the
-chief, although not the only, sources of information;
11V




'Preface


and to these, as well as to all other sources known to
me, I have had access in person, with a view to the
preparation of the present volume.
In one particular alone have I been compelled to rely
on the special researches of others. The knowledge
of American genealogy in general, as so far accumulated, is chiefly the result of the labor of students who
respectively have devoted many years,-in some instances, indeed, a lifetime,-to the investigation of the
history of a single family in all its ramifications. This
is as true of those who have pursued their inquiries in
the field of Virginia Genealogy as of those who have
pursued their inquiries in the field of New England
or New York. It is only quite recently that the study
of Virginian family history has been carried on in a
thoroughly scientific spirit, but we have already secured, by the zeal and industry of scholars so well
known in this department of research as Alexander
Brown, Rev. Philip Slaughter, Rev. Horace E. Hayden,
Charles P. Keith, Edward Wilson James, William G.
Stanard, Lyon G. Tyler, and others who might be
named, a great volume of trustworthy genealogical information, which, when considered as a whole, throws
a decisive light on the origin of the higher planter
class of Virginia in the seventeenth century.
The conclusions touching this subject set forth in
the present work are based on the results of the special
investigations so far made by all those who have been
active in this particular department; and I am confident that further investigations of the same character
will only go to confirm more unmistakably the correctness of these conclusions.
Norfolk, Va., April 25, 1907.
vi




Preface 'Go Second edition
SINCE the publication of the first edition of the
present work in 1907, there have been numerous contributions to the history of Virginia families in the
form of separate volumes, the contents of which have
been highly useful to me for the light which they have
thrown on various sides of my general subject. I wish
to acknowledge my special indebtedness to Mr. Fairfax
Harrison's The Virginia Carys, The Devon Carys, and
The Proprietors of the Northern Neck. These books,
so full of new information laboriously collected and
accurately and attractively presented, are models for
all future investigators of Virginia family origins.
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,
edited by Dr. Stanard, the Old and New Series of the
William and Mary College Quarterly, edited by Dr.
Tyler and Dr. Swem, respectively, and Dr. Tyler's
more recent Historical Magazine, have afforded me
invaluable assistance by the great mass of genealogical
facts preserved in their successive issues since 1907.
Without access to their pages, I would have been very
much hampered when I came to revise and enlarge the
edition of that date.
In the preface to the original edition, I gave it as
my deliberate conclusion, after a long and careful
examination of all the authorities, that, independently
of the small body of African slaves, the population of
Virginia in the seventeenth century was, from a social
point of view, a duplication of the English rural communities of that day on a smaller scale, and also modified by the physical conditions prevailing in a new and
remote country in the early stages of development.
vii




Preface


There was no class in the colony which resembled the
English nobility; there was none that enjoyed special
privileges; but there was, in Virginia, as there was in
England, a vigorous and refined class of gentry, the
majority of whom had been born, reared, and educated
in the mother country. It was logical and natural
enough that they should have retained all the social
characteristics of their race, so recently transplanted
to a new soil. Dr. William G. Stanard possesses an
almost unequaled knowledge of the social history of
Virginia in colonial times. What is his impression?
"It is believed," he has stated in print, "that the population of Virginia in the seventeenth century, contained about the same proportion of families of gentle
blood, and of those descended from merchants and
yeomen, that England did." How closely the Virginia
people in that century resembled their English kin in
their habits, customs, and general points of view, is
revealed in the chapters in the present work which
describe in detail the social life of the colony in that
age.                  PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE.
University, Va., October 10, 1926.


~ml




(Contents


I.  SIZE  OF  POPULATION.................  1
II. INFLUENCES PROMOTING ENGLISH EMIGRATION..........................  11
III. ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASS.. 27
IV. ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued.................. 39
V. ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued.................. 50
VI. ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued........................  61
VII. ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued........................  77
VIII.  THE  YEOMEN.......................  98
IX.  SOCIAL  DISTINCTIONS................. 106
X. SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS-Continued..... 119
XI. SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS-Continued...... 132
XII. SOCIAL SPIRIT-TIES WITH THE MOTHER
COUNTRY.........................  143
XIII. SOCIAL SPIRIT-MANNER OF LIFE....... 160
XIV. SOCIAL SPIRIT-HOSPITALITY OF THE
PEOPLE...........................  174
XV. POPULAR DIVERSIONS-DRINKING AND
DANCING.........................  182
ix




contents


XVI. POPULAR DIVERSIONS-ACTINGANDGAMES 191
XVII. POPULAR DIVERSIONS-HORSE-RACING... 199
XVIII. POPULAR DIVERSIONS-HUNTING AND
FISHING.......................... 216
XIX. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONS-THE
FUNERAL.........................  223
XX. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONS-THE
W EDDING.....................  228
XXI. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONSCHURCH, COURT-DAY AND MUSTER... 244
XXII.  DUELLING.........................  250
XXIII. CONCLUSION........................ 255
APPENDIX.........................  263


x




Bibliography
THE following list does not pretend to embrace all the works relating to Virginia genealogy in the Seventeenth Century. A complete enumeration of such books and pamphlets would be too
voluminous for these pages. I have limited the appended list to
the works referred to in the notes of the present volume as my
authorities for statements in the text:
Accomac County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, original
volumes, county court-house.
Allerton, Walter J., Allerton Family, Chicago, Ill., 1900.
Ancestor, The, A Quarterly Review, London and Philadelphia.
Baird, Rev. Charles W., Huguenot Emigration to America, New York,
1884.
Beverley, Robert, History of Virginia, Richmond, Va., 1855.
British Colonial Papers, originals, British State Paper Office, London.
Brown, Alexander-Genesis of United States, 2 vols., Boston, Mass.;
First Republic in America, Boston, Mass., 1898.
Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia in Seventeenth Century, New York, 1896; Institutional History of
Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, New York, 1910.
Byrd, William, Letters of, Va. Hist. Soc., MSS. Coll.
Byrd Deed Book, Va. Hist. Soc. MSS. Coll.
Campbell, Charles, Spotswood Family, Albany, N. Y., 1868; History
of Virginia.
Cary, W. M., Sally Cary, N. Y., 1916.
Chappell, E., Chappell Family, Kansas City, Mo.
Christ Church, Middlesex County (Va.) Parish Register.
Cogbill, James C., Family of Cogbill, Cambridge, Mass., 1879.
Crawford Family of Virginia.
Critic Newspaper, Richmond, Va.
Dinwiddie Papers, Va. Hist. Soc. Pubs.
Elizabeth City County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century,
certified copies, Va. St. Libr.
Essex County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified
copies, Va. State Libr.
Farnham  (Va.) Parish Register.
xi




DBibliography


Fitzhugh, William, Letters of, Va. Hist. Soc., MSS. Coll.
Fulham Palace, London, MSS. relating to Colonial Virginia.
General Court (Va.) Records, Vol. 1670-76, Va. Hist. Soc., MSS.
Coll.
Goode, Brown, Goode Family, Richmond, Va., 1887.
Goodwyn Family of America, compiled by L. G. Tyler, Richmond,
Va., 1895.
Green, Raleigh T., Notes on Culpeper County, Va., 1900.
Green, Thomas M., Historic Families of Kentucky, Cincinnati, O.,
1889.
Green, B. W., Word Book of Virginia Folk Speech, Richmond, Va.
Harrison, Fairfax, The Virginia Carys, The Devon Carys, N. Y.
1919-20, Proprietors of Northern Neck, Richmond, Va., 1926.
Hayden, Rev. Horace E., Virginia Genealogies, Wilkesbarre, Pa.
Henning, W. W., Va. Statutes at Large, Richmond, Va., 1812.
Henrico County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified
copies, Va. State Libr.
Horner, J., Blair, Banister and Braxton Families.
Hotten, J. C., Original Lists of Emigrants to America, 1600-1700,
N. Y., 1874.
Hume, John Robert, Hume Family, St. Louis, Mo., 1903.
Isle of Wight County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century,
originals, county court-house.
Jones, Hugh, Present State of Virginia. Reprint.
Keith, Charles P., Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, Philadelphia,
Pa., 1893.
Lancaster County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, originals, county court-house.
Lambeth Palace, London, MSS., relating to Virginia.
Lee, Edward J., Lee of Virginia, Phila., Pa., 1895.
Lower Norfolk County (Va.) Antiquary, edited by Edward Wilson
James.
Lower Norfolk County (Va.) Records for Seventeeenth Century,
originals, Portsmouth, Va.
Maryland Archives, Proceedings of Council, Md. Hist. Soc., Coll.
Maury, Colonel R. L., Huguenots in Virginia. Reprint.
Meade, Rt. Rev. William, Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of
Virginia, Philadelphia, Pa., 1857.
xiil




IBibliography


Middlesex County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century.
McIntosh, C. F., Norfolk County Wills, 1710-1753.
Montague, Peter, History of Genealogy of, Amherst, Mass., 1894.
Neill, Rev. E. D.-Va. Company of London, 1606-24, Albany, 1869;
Va. Carolorum, Albany, 1869.
Northampton County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, originals, county court-house.
Northumberland County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century,
originals, county court-house.
Page, Channing M., Genealogy of Page Family.
Parish Registers, Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va.
Princess Anne County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century,
originals, county court-house.
Randolph MSS., 3 volumes, Va. Hist. Soc. MSS. Coll.
Rappahannock County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century,
certified copies, Va. State Library.
Richmond County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, originals, county court-house.
Sainsbury, E. Noel, Abstracts of Va. Colonial Documents in British
State Paper Office, Va. State Libr.
Slaughter, Rev. Philip, History of Bristol Parish and History of
Saint George's Parish, Richmond, Va., 1890.
Smith, Captain John, Works of, Richmond, Va.
Spotswood, Letters of Governor, Va. Hist. Soc. Pubs.
Stanard, W. G., chart of descendants of Rev. Robert Rose, Richmond,
Va., 1898; Colonial Register, 1902; Some Emigrants to Virginia, 1911.
Stanard, Mrs. W. G., Colonial Virginia, Phil., Pa., 1917.
Surry County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified
copies, Va. State LibrThomas, Major R. S., Four Square and Fox Hunting, Smithfield,
Va., 1905.
Tyler, Lyon G., Cradle of the Republic, Richmond, Va., 1900; Williamsburg, Richmond, Va., 1907; Tyler's Historical Magazine.
Upshur, T. T., Sir George, and Temperance Yeardley and Some of
Their Descendants. Reprint, 1896.
Virginia Company of London, Abstracts of Proceedings, Va. Hist.
Soc., Pubs.
Virginia Colonial Records, State Senate Document. Extra. 1874.
xiii




DBibliography
Virginia Land Patent Books, Va. State Capitol, Richmond.
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Va., Hist. Soc., Pubs.
Virginia, Present State of, 1697-8, by Hartwell, Chilton and Blair.
Waters, Henry F., Genealogical Gleanings in England, Boston, 1901.
Wertenbaker, T. J., Planters of Colonial Virginia, 1922.
Westmoreland County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, originals, county court-house.
William and Mary College Quarterly, Old and New Series.
York County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified copies,
Va. State Libr.


xiv




The SOCIAL LIFE of VIRGINIA
IN THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
I
SIZE OF POPULATION
DURING the first decades following the earliest settlement of Virginia, when the number of its inhabitants had not expanded beyond a few thousands, it was
not a difficult task to make out a complete and accurate
roll even of their names. A census was taken in 1625,
and also in 1634-'5, nearly ten years later, and there
is no reason to think that the results of the counts
made at these dates were not strictly correct, since the
area stolen from the primeval forest and occupied was
still so narrow as to allow even a few enumerators to
pass over it in a comparatively short time. But as the
population grew, and the plantations spread out more
and more widely and irregularly, thus pushing many
families into remote and almost unknown corners of
the frontier, it became less and less easy to find out
from year to year, or decade to decade, the precise
number of people having their homes in the Colony.
The census of 1643-'5 was, perhaps, the last one of the
seventeenth century taken after the manner of a modern census, which ascertains every fact with extreme
exactness. As the century drew on there were several
enumerations of population as well as of the different
1




rGHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIqGINIA


kinds of property owned by the Virginians, but they
were the result rather of private calculation than of
actual count.1
A statement was sent up to Jamestown each year
from every county as to the number of its tithables
that year. This information was required by the
House of Burgesses, because the number of tithables
in all the counties united constituted the basis of the
public levy annually ordered by that body as the fountain head of the taxing power of the Colony. With
this complete list of tithables at hand to go by, it was
easy to fix, with a fair degree of accuracy, the size of
the population at the time the list was taken. Throughout the seventeenth century the rule was to estimate
the unknown number of inhabitants at thrice the
known number of tithables, and this was for all practical purposes a trustworthy method of ascertaining.
As long as the number of tithables was correctly returned, the colonial authorities felt no burning inter'A striking illustration of this will be found in the well-known
enumeration given in the New Description of Virginia. The author
of that pamphlet estimated the population in 1649 at 15,000 whites
and 300 blacks; the number of cows, bulls, calves and oxen at
20,000; and the number of horses at 200, etc. By an act passed in
1645, and not repealed until 1648, not only tithables, but also land
and live-stock of all kinds were made returnable for taxation. The
calculation of the writer of the New Description was doubtless,
based on the figures entered in the tax lists of 1648, which were,
perhaps, the most complete for all forms of property recorded in the
history of the Colony previous to 1700, because it was during this
short interval alone that live-stock and land were subject to the levy.
It was only in a narrow sense that the county commander could be
looked upon as a censustaker, for his duty in this respect seems to
have been confined to returning a full list of the persons eligible for
military service.
2




IxN 3H6 SeveNTE8NTH CeNTURY


est in the size of the population. That size was only
important ordinarily as forming the basis of taxation,
and extraordinarily, as forming the basis of a militia
muster to resist an attack by an Indian foe or invasion by a foreign enemy. In those distant times, when
political economy was yet to be reduced to a science,
the administrative authorities even in England concerned themselves but little with any aspect of population except such as related to the income required
for the support of government, or to the soldiers
needed for the defense of the soil. This was peculiarly so in a remote colony like Virginia, where the inhabitants were dispersed very thinly over the face of
a wide and uneven area of partially cleared plantations; where there were neither cities, nor towns, nor
even villages or hamlets; and where the whole economic system possessed a remarkable degree of simplicity and monotony.
In 1619 it was estimated that the population of Virginia of English descent did not exceed twenty-four
hundred persons. About this time the annual addition
to it from the Mother Country was thought to be close
upon twelve hundred; and this was probably correct,
for, in one year, 1621, for instance, everyone of the
twelve ships that came out to the Colony brought over
a detachment, more or less large, of new settlers.2
These yearly accessions, with the natural increase,
would have swelled the number of inhabitants at a
very rapid rate had not the mortality precipitated by
a change of diet and climate been extraordinarily great
even for that age, when so little care was exercised
2Broadside, Doct. 46, Colonial Papers, Vol. I.
8




3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VITGINIA


in observing the general laws of health. It was computed by one contemporary authority that, during the
first thirty years following the earliest settlement of
Virginia, not less than five of every six persons landed
on its shores soon succumbed to one disease or another, but principally to the debilitating influence of
the period of seasoning, at which time the newcomer,
accustomed from his birth to the more veiled rays of
the English sun and the greater equableness of the
English air, was first exposed to a semi-tropical blaze
in the corn and tobacco fields in July, August and September, or to those rapid alternations of the atmosphere
marking the other parts of the year. The same writer
asserts that, in the course of these thirty years, one
hundred thousand persons died in the Colony.3 If this
statement was intended to apply to new settlers alone,
it probably greatly exaggerated the mortality, but
there is no room for doubt that the death rate, down to
the middle of the century at least, was far beyond anything occurring in modern times within the temperate
zone, and was only comparable to the rate prevailing
among raw Europeans settled in the Delta of the Amazon or of the Niger. As the woods vanished before the
axes of the colonists, and as the area of drained and
cultivated soil spread back from the river banks to
the foot of the higher lands, the hoarded malaria of
the country steadily grew less; the people too gradually
acquired from experience and observation a juster
idea as to how to combat the poisonous influences of the
newly upturned mould, the fetid marshes, and the
burning sun; and the general healthfulness of all the
8 New Albion, p. 5, Force's Hist. Tracts Vol. II.
4




IN tqHE SegtNTeeNTH CeNTURY


plantations advanced. The rate of mortality for the
whole population also steadily diminished as the number of persons born in the Colony, and, therefore,
accustomed to the climate from birth, increased.
The death rate among those passing through the
period of seasoning must, however, have always remained high. As if the climate was not fatal enough
in its influence on the health of the new-comers during the first years after the earliest settlement, the
Indian tomahawk had to come into play to swell further the lists of the dead. A few months after the
Massacre of 1622 the number of inhabitants was supposed to be about twelve hundred and seventy-seven.4
The census of 1625 discloses a population of only twelve
hundred and two, an actual decline as compared with
the population surviving the terrible catastrophe of a
few years before. During this brief interval famine
and disease had further cut down the number of inhabitants, and the massacre, together with the great
discouragements following it, had checked migration
from England. By 1628 the population, in spite of the
renewed flow of new settlers, had grown to only three
thousand.5 In the following year, an observer upon
the ground, who had long been a prominent resident
of Virginia, William Pierce, estimated the number of
people in the Colony at a figure ranging from four to
five thousand6; but only one year later Governor Harvey stated that the population did not exceed twentyfive hundred.7 At the end of four years more, the
4Colonial Records of Va. State Senate Doct. Extra, 1874, p. 89.
6 British Colonial Papers, Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 32.
British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., 1629-30, No. 24.
Harvey to Privy Council, British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., 1629 -30, No. 95.
5




r3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF TIRGINIA


population was supposed to be fifty-one hundred and
nineteen, which, if Harvey's calculation was correct,
represented an annual increase since 1628 of about
three hundred and fifteen only.8 A formal count at
this time (1634) revealed the fact that the population
did not exceed four thousand, nine hundred and fourteen, but after the census was taken, a Dutch ship
brought in one hundred and forty-five persons from
the Bermudas, and an English ship, sixty from England.9 The tide of new settlers then began to pour in
in larger volume in consequence of the more orderly
state of affairs and the rising prosperity of the Colony.
In 1634 alone twelve hundred arrived.10 Since 1619
the population of Virginia had doubled in size, but this
had come about only after fifteen years had passed.
In the course of the following fifteen, the size of the
population trebled: about five thousand in 1634, it rose
to fifteen thousand in 1649, without including the three
hundred slaves whom the planters then owned."
The faster growth during this last interval was due,
not to any great increase in the number of new settlers
seeking homes in Virginia, but rather to the rise in
the birth-rate among its inhabitants. There was by
the middle of the century a large native population
thoroughly seasoned to all the trying variations of the
climate and inured to every side of plantation life,
however harsh and severe it might be in the struggle
8 Sainsbury's Abstracts, Colonial Papers for 1628, p. 176, Va.
St. Libr.
9 British Colonial Papers, Vo. VIII., 1634-5, No. 55.
"British Colonial Papers, Vol. VIII., 1634-5, No. 3.
" New Description of Virginia, pp. 1-16, Force's Hist. Tracts,
Vol. II.
6




IIN 'H6 SE eVNTheNTH eENTUCY


to push the frontier further and further outward.
From an early date it had been observed that the
fecundity of women residing in the Colony was remarkable, and this fact had not become less conspicuous as the conditions of existence grew more easy.
Twelve years after the great massacre of 1622, a catastrophe which had brought the Colony to the brink of
ruin, the last trace of that appalling disaster had disappeared from the face of the country, and only the memory of the practical lessons in prudence and forethought
which it taught remained. Every succeeding year now
saw hundreds of new dwelling houses built, and new
family circles, each beneath its own separate roof,
formed under the protection of a firm and orderly local
government, and supported in comfort and contentment
by profitable labor in the field. The generous soil afforded an ample subsistence, however large the number
of children gathered around the table at meal times;
the more mouths there were to feed, the more hands
there were to work; whilst the comparative loneliness
of the life was an additional spur to marriage and the
production of offspring.
In the course of the twenty years preceding 1649
but one event took place to check with great sharpness
the growth of population. This was the massacre of
1644; but that calamity fell on the planters dispersed
along the line of the frontier, whilst the great body of
the colonists escaped all loss of life and property. The
peace and prosperity prevailing about the middle of
the century, not only encouraged the rapid expansion
of the native population, but also held out stronger
inducements than ever before offered to persons in the
7




rqHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIFRGINIA


Mother Country to settle in Virginia.12  The rate of
growth observed in the Colony at this time continued
to be maintained during the next fifty years. In 1675,
after an interval of twenty-five, the population was
estimated at fifty thousand by the three distinguished
citizens, Moryson, Ludwell, and Smith, who had been
commissioned to go to England to obtain a new
charter'3 and the general accuracy of this statement
seems to be confirmed by one made by Culpeper a
few years later. That Governor, in his report on the
condition of the Colony about 1681, declared that the
tithables then numbered about fourteen thousand,
which would indicate a total population at the lowest
of forty-two thousand, and at the highest, of fifty-six
thousand.14 About 1697, according to the authors of
the Present State of Virginia, 1697-8, the whole body
of the tithables had grown to twenty thousand, a proof
that the population now ranged between sixty and
seventy thousand.15 It was perhaps really nearer the
latter than the former figure, as some time had gone
by since the number of inhabitants had been estimated
at seventy thousand by Governor Andros in a report
made to the Board of Trade.'6
The preceding statements show that, during the interval of sixty-six years ending in 1700, the population
of Virginia had increased to fourteen times its size at
12New Description of Virginia, pp. 1-16, Force's Hist. Tracts.
Vol. II.
S3Petition of Moryson, Ludwell and Smith, Colonial Entry Book,
1675-81, p. 33.
"British Colonial Papers, Vol. XLVII., No. 105.
" Present State of Virginia, 1697-8, Sect. 9.
6 B. T. Va., 1697, Vol. VI., p. 161.
8




IN TmHE SeENTeeNTH CeNTURY
the beginning of that long period; in other words, that
sixty-five thousand persons had been added to it at the
average annual rate of one thousand, which seems a
rather moderate degree of growth when it is recalled
that the additions by births had been further swelled
by immigration. Either the mortality among the natives themselves was very great, or the flow of new
settlers into the Colony was comparatively insignificant, if we consider, not the number who arrived in
the English ships, but the number who survived the
period of seasoning on the plantations. It is doubtful
whether this number exceeded on the average five hundred a year, and it would perhaps be nearer the truth
to estimate it at three hundred."'
It is no cause for surprise, that the average number
of new settlers from year to year should have been
greater in the time of the Company than after the revocation of its charter. During the existence of the Company there was a powerful body in England to employ
all its energies and resources in encouraging emigration to the Colony; every means at the command of this
body was used to set forth the advantages which Virginia had to offer to all who would remove thither
and make their permanent homes there; and every
17If the land patents of the seventeenth century preserved in the
Register's office at Richmond, made up the entire number issued
during that period, it would be easy to estimate from year to year the
additions to the population from abroad, since a full list of headrights is either appended to each of these patents, or shown by the
number of acres contained in the grant. This, however, would not
throw any trustworthy light on the number of persons added
permanently to the population, since it is impossible to calculate
with accuracy how many of the immigrants included in these lists of
headrights survived the change of climate, diet, and labor.
9




rIHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRIGINIA


facility of transportation which that age afforded was
extended to every person who wished to go out to
become a citizen of the new country, beyond the Atlantic. The greater the number of such persons sent oversea, the more rapidly the opening up of the forests
would go on, and the more quickly the profits of the
Company itself, which were dependent on the growth
of population, would be increased. When the letterspatent of that corporation were recalled, no similar
organization arose in England to take its place in stimulating emigration to Virginia; no powerful influence,
directed strenuously to that end by a single body of
men on the ground, was left to do the same work.
From 1624, when the Company was abolished, down to
the end of the century, the only inducement, apart from
political and social conditions, held out in England to
promote emigration to Virginia was the general reputation of the Colony as a place where the fortune of
the individual might be improved either by planting
tobacco on one's own account, or by entering into indentures as an agricultural servant. As might have
been expected, mere reputation, however favorable to
the Colony, could not be as effective as the resources
of a great company brought persistently to bear to fill
the out-going ships with men, women, and children
bent upon seeking new homes in Virginia.


10




II
INFLUENCES PROMOTING ENGLISH EMIGRATION
IN a former work" I dwelt at some length on the influences which led that large section if the colonial
population known as the indentured servants, including the mechanics as well as the agricultural laborers,
to desert their native England and bind themselves for
a term of years to planters in Virginia. What were
the influences that, from time to time, caused the emigration to the Colony of that conspicuous body of men
who, immediately on their arrival, took a position
of equality with the foremost of the gentry there, a
position to which they were entitled by their social
connections in England, if not by the amount of wealth
which they had brought over with them? In short,
what was the previous social history of the founders
of the families that dominated the highest social life
of Virginia in the seventeenth century? By the end
of that century, when property had been accumulating
during nearly one hundred years, and a sufficient interval had passed to allow at least two generations to
be born and to grow up in the Colony, a very considerable proportion of the leading members of the landed
gentry were natives of the country, who had inherited
their estates from fathers, who, in their lifetime, were
among its most prominent citizens. But from 1619,
when the community became for the first time free,
down to 1700, perhaps not a period of twelve months
'See Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth
Century," Vol. I., Chapter 9.
11




1IH~ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


went by that this class did not receive additions by the
arrival from England of men of equal social standing,
who were in a position to acquire, by patent or purchase, estates, large or small, according to the means
at their command. And these men became at once as
much a part of this class from a social point of view
as if they had been born in the Colony in the same
walk of life, or had risen to that walk after residing
there during a long series of years. With few exceptions, the most distinguished families in the colonial
history of Virginia were founded in the Seventeenth
century. It was in this century that there emigrated
from England the Armisteads, Banisters, Bassets,
Blands, Bollings, Bacons, Brents, Beverleys, Burwells,
Byrds, Carys, Corbins, Carters, Claibornes, Custises,
Fauntleroys, Fitzhughs, Harrisons, Lees, Lightfoots,
Ludwells, Masons, Pages, Peytons, Randolphs, Robinsons, Scarboroughs, Spencers, Tayloes, Thoroughgoods,
Washingtons, and Wormeleys-families that represented the nearest approach to an organized aristocracy
which North America has seen, and which constituted
in their association with the eighteenth, if not with the
seventeenth, century, the stateliest social body known
so far in American history.
The most powerful influence leading the founders of
these families and families of equal social standing in
the Colony to emigrate from England to Virginia was
that active and enterprising spirit which has pre-eminently distinguished the English race immemorially.
It was no longer possible in the seventeenth century
to repeat the daring achievements of Drake and Hawkins, Frobisher, and Cavendish, who had gathered
around them the boldest and most gallant men in the
12




INX.HF SEUVE0NT6NTH CENTURY


kingdom. Had James possessed the lion-heart of
Elizabeth, the bravest and stoutest in England would
have continued to find in the hot pursuit of Spanish
galleons on the ocean, or in the destruction of Spanish
cities along the seaboard, an outlet for their irrepressible restlessness, untiring energy, and insatiable love
of adventure. Under this timid and calculating monarch, the only outlet remaining was the founding of
colonies. Even this occupation, tame as it seemed in
comparison, was not, in the view of the more eager
spirits, entirely devoid of opportunities for romantic
action. How much a mere taste for strange experiences in a remote and unexplored country entered
into the hearts of many who went out to Virginia in
1607 is shown by the fact that the enterprise drew
into that company of voyagers John Smith, a man whose
whole previous life had been a series of episodes full
of peril and excitement. But Smith also illustrates
how thoroughly practical the most adventurous Englishman could be when the real work of Kettling the
new land began. Of all the European peoples in those
times the English possessed in the most marked degree
the ardent and intrepid spirit which moves men to
leave their native soil behind and cross many thousand
miles of sea, and also the patient and calculating spirit
which enables them, when once fixed in their new place
of settlement, to make the most of its advantages without any thought of returning to their former homes.
No people were more devoted to their own country
than the English, and yet no people were quicker to
abandon it when the prospect of adventure, novelty,
or gain was held out before them. It was as if the
Englishman was more responsive to the primordial
18




SCHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VrIRGINIA


impulses of Nature; as if, indeed, civilization had not
been able to repress in him that purely animal instinct
which leads the bees to swarm forth from their original
hive, and beasts to migrate blindly without any apparent motive in a search for food.
The wandering spirit of the Angles, who swept
boldly southward unmindful of the dangers of the sea,
and scornful of enemies, had been transmitted to their
English descendants of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. The first great emigration of the race was
from the sombre forests of the North; the second was
from the beautiful hills and valleys of England itself.
At bottom, the same impulse, hardly modified by the
vast gap in time between the two movements, was at
work,-an impulse which led the adventurer to rely
blindly on his own fearless spirit to carve out a new
fortune for himself in a new land; which allowed
neither love of kindred nor devotion to familiar scenes,
however thickly crowded with memories and associations, to shake his resolution to depart; and which
directed his gaze cheerfully and firmly towards the star
of hope in the West the very moment his native land
sank below the horizon in the East.
It was no short and easy voyage in those times to
pass from an English port to the Capes of Virginia;
weeks must go by after the Scilly Isles had vanished
behind the rim of blue waters before the pines along
the Virginian coast would begin to loom above the
waves; the hardships of a long sojourn in a contracted
and uncomfortable ship must be endured; the dangers
of violent storms at sea and the peril of wreck when
land was approached must be risked; the debilitating
influences of a hot climate on reaching the shore must
14




IN T5HE SEeNTeeNTH eN TURY


be withstood,-not one of these discouragements
served to lessen the tide of emigration which poured
out of England, not only towards Virginia and Maryland, but also towards the English colonies in the
North. The history of no other nation furnishes a
movement of population comparable in magnitude and
duration with that which led to the settlement of the
whole Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Georgia. Vast
as it was, it was only the beginning of English colonization. When the Revolution tore the American communities from the side of the Mother Country, the
flood of English emigration westward slackened and
practically died away, but before another hundred
years had passed it had spread itself far into the
Australasian seas; new English cities, crowned with
all the triumphs of the modern arts, and teeming with
a happy and prosperous population, had arisen under
the Southern Cross; from Table Mountain to far beyond the Zambesi, English dominion had broadened
out in South Africa; England's commissioned Viceroy
was enthroned at Calcutta, her uncommissioned at
Cairo; while in the West, in spite of Saratoga and
Yorktown, she still owned half a continent and counted
her loyal subjects by the millions. These were the
achievements of her sons who had inherited that spirit
of enterprise and adventure, not to be daunted by fear
of a deadly climate or an Indian foe, which had sustained the souls of the men who, before the close of
the seventeenth century had hewn down the forests
in Eastern Virginia; had brought the land under cultivation; had established homes; had founded a carefully ordered social and political system, and thrown
over it all the aegis of English Law.
15




rGHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Bestow upon a people a bold, enterprising, and restless temper, and narrow the chances of fortune in their
native land, then the disposition to emigrate, even when
great obstacles are to be overcome and long distances
to be traversed in doing so, will be irresistible. This
was the general condition of the English in the seventeenth century. And no class in that community felt
more impatiently the influence of a contracted sphere
in which to improve their pecuniary fortunes than that
class which shared the most ancient blood in the kingdom. It was not merely the man who trimmed the
hedges, dug the ditches, reaped the corn, followed the
plough, and drove the teams afield, who turned to Virginia as a land where he might, after completing a
term of indentured service, acquire an interest in the
soil and build a home on his own estate, however small
in area. The sons of long descended gentlemen residing on their own ancestral lands, the sons of men engaged in the professions of law, medicine, and the ministry, the sons of men who relied upon a small local
trade, or an extended general business for the support
of their families,-all these turned towards Virginia a
gaze as hopefully and bravely expectant of better
fortune there as the gaze of the common labourer
dreaming of those remote plantations as he drove his
loaded wagon to the barn, or scattered the seed far and
wide from his open hand.
Then, as now, the families of the English were
among the largest in the world; the manor-house, the
parsonage, the doctor's and the lawyer's residence,
overflowed with children. The women married young,
and only too often died before middle age from the
mere fatigue of child-bearing; second marriage and
16




IN  9H6e SEVEENTeNTH C6NTU-E      Y
double sets of offspring in the same home were conditions observed everywhere. What careers were these
children to follow when they came to maturity? Where
were they to settle in order to earn a livelihood? These
were questions which pressed as anxiously against the
mind and heart of the parent whose income was transmissible as they did against the mind and heart of the
parent whose income was dependent upon his life. In
those times, the foreign empire of England had not
spread entirely around the globe to furnish an enormous number of civil offices to be filled by the cadets of
English families. The English regular army and navy
were small, and in consequence there was little room
in these services for the host of young men whose fathers were seeking a pursuit for them. What room was
there for these young mien in the communities where
they were born? The man who owned a great landed
estate was bound by the chain of custom and pride,
even if uncontrolled in his own individual case by the
laws of entail and primogeniture, to leave that estate
to his eldest son. As this son would succeed him over
the whole domain, however broad in acreage or rich in
soil, there would be no opening anywhere in that domain after his death for his other children. The benefice of the clergyman and the practice of the physician
and the lawyer died with them. At the best, each could
hope to establish only one son in the calling which he
himself followed.
It is no cause for surprise to find that under the pressure of this discouraging outlook for a large family,
so many sons of men of gentle birth were in that age
apprenticed in manual trades which, in modern England,
are reserved for persons in the plainer walks of life.
17




'HH6 SOeIAL LIFT OF VIRGINIA


No doubt many parents must have looked upon emigration as offering a far better chance of good fortune
than the pursuit of a mechanical art in an English hamlet, or of business in a shop in some prosperous English
town. Social prejudices must have played a strong
part in those times in spite of the contracted field for
employment. The younger brother of the heir to a
landed estate was brought up in the same comfort and
luxury as the heir himself. During their father's life
time the home of the parents was the home of all, where
the footing and privileges of all were equal. The
younger son was no more fitted than the elder to yield
with equanimity to the claims of any occupation that
would degrade his children to a level much lower than
the one to which he himself was born.
As soon as Virginia began to acquire the reputation
of an important community (and what was true of
Virginia was also true of every other of the older English colonies in America), how natural that the English
father of a large family, whether he was a land-owner,
clergyman, merchant, lawyer, or physician, should
have been disposed to weigh carefully the opportunities which it offered for an advantageous settlement
of at least some of his sons. And there must have been
periods when this disposition was far stronger than at
others. During the supremacy of Cromwell, what
opening was there for the children even of those royalists who had enjoyed, under happier conditions, a high
degree of power and influence? With all those kinsmen capable of advancing them, had Charles still been
reigning at Whitehall, prescribed, and with their own
immediate families under a ban because loyal to the
monarchy, was it at all strange that so many young
18




IN q3HE SEVeNTeeNTH CeNTURY


men, like the Washingtons, despairing of brighter days
in their native country, and burning with ambition to
improve their fortunes, and spurred on by a spirit of
enterprise, should have looked upon emigration to Virginia as offering the only hope for the redress of the
evils at home? One cavalier voiced the feelings of his
whole class when he said that "Virginia was the only
city of refuge left in his Majesty's dominions in those
times for distressed cavaliers."2 In 1649 alone, the
year when the final blow was given to the cause of the
royalists by the fall of the King's head on the scaffold,
seven ships, heavily loaded with passengers, all, with
few exceptions, there is reason to think, in sympathy
with that cause, set sail for the colony where Charles
II. had been boldly proclaimed as soon as news of his
fathers' death (which was at once denounced there as
an impious murder) had arrived.3  But long before
this, and during many years afterwards, that stream
had poured, and continued to pour, across the Atlantic
to the "City of Refuge" among the plantations in Virginia.
There were special reasons why Virginia, after it
began to grow in wealth and population, should appeal
strongly to the interest of the English landed gentry
as a body. First, it was firmly loyal to the monarchy,
in spite of the harsh and injurious operation of the
Navigation Acts; in spite of sweeping grants of its
territory to independent proprietaries like Baltimore,
or to private beneficiaries like Arlington and Culpeper;
in spite of selfish denials of reasonable requests like
2Ingram's Proceedings p. 34, Force's Hist. Tracts Vol. I.
8 Interregnum Entry Book, Vol. XXXVI., p. 13, British State
Papers.
19




3 HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


that for the cessation of tobacco culture for a time; and
in spite of royal governors, like Howard and Culpeper,
bent upon their own enrichment in a few years by unjust impositions upon the people.
Secondly, Virginia as a whole was devoted to the
Church of England. It is true that persecution of none
of the various dissenting sects was ever carried to the
same extreme in this colony as in the colonies of New
England, but at no time previous to the Act of Toleration was Virginia a comfortable spot for such sects.4
The controlling influences in her society hardly needed
the vehement and persistent co-operation of Sir William Berkeley to give emphatic direction to the disapproval felt by that society for all forms unsanctioned
by the Anglican Church. Much of the bitter feeling
aroused by the division of Virginia's territory in favor
of Baltimore was due to his profession of the Roman
Catholic faith; the foundation of Maryland signified
not only a rupture of the original grant to Virginia,
which might at any time be repeated as to the unoccupied soil yet left to her, but also the establishment of a
Roman Catholic community at her very door. There
is no reason to think that the violent course of Berkeley towards Quakers and Puritans was repugnant to
the sentiment of a majority of the people, or that the
Toleration Acts of Charles and James were regarded
with entire satisfaction by any sections except those
who thus obtained the right to worship in the manner
they preferred. The Virginians as a body were as conservative at heart as the English themselves, and con4 During the Protectorate, the Puritans enjoyed absolute exemption
from interference, but neither the Quakers nor the Papists were even
then in so happy a condition.
20




IN '3He SeVeNTeeNTH eeNTUrY
formity to the Church of England was but one phase
of loyalty to the established order in the State.
Thirdly, the whole power of Virginian society, even
in the times when universal suffrage prevailed, was
directed by the landowners. That society was composed entirely of the landed proprietors and their
dependents. There were neither towns nor cities, and
consequently the number of persons following those
special callings which thrive best in large and crowded
communities was too small to be of weight from a social
point of view. The public sentiment was exclusively
the sentiment of men who, like the landowners of England, looked to agriculture for the income which went
to the support of their families, and whose only material interests were those associated directly with the
soil. The member of the English landed gentry contemplating the advantages of sending his son out to
Virginia deemed, it a favorable circumstance that he
would engage there in the pursuit which had occupied
the time and thoughts of his forefathers in England
for so many hundred years; nor was it a drawback that
tobacco, and not wheat, would be the staple which that
son would cultivate as soon as he had acquired an estate, for, in the course of a very few generations, the
English people had seen a great community built up in
Virginia entirely through the profits obtained from
the sale of the plant. The young Englishman himself,
accustomed from his birth to all the operations of
the farm, perhaps discovered in the expectation of
producing this plant a new fillip to his interest in
his own emigration.  The mere fact that it was
unknown to him by practical experience in its cultivation, no doubt, had a tendency to exaggerate his
21




rGHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VI(GINIA


hope of the pecuniary returns to be derived from it, to
which he would not for a moment have yielded had the
staple been one with which he was thoroughly familiar
from childhood.
Letters resembling the one in which Fitzhugh gave
such a vivid description of the estate accumulated by
him in Virginia must have been constantly received in
England, and passed from hand to hand, with the inevitable result of stimulating in the breasts of many
persons the desire to share in a like good fortune by
emigrating to the Colony.5 Such testimony coming
from well-known citizens, without any motive to overstate their happy condition, was not likely to have been
questioned. A more critical attitude might have been
assumed towards an interested pamphleteer like William Bullock, but even his account of the advantages
to be derived from settlement in Virginia, supported
as it was by private information, must have made no
small impression.6 There were at least a dozen ports,
beginning with London in the east and Bristol in the
west, to which ships were annually returning from the
Colony loaded with cargoes of tobacco; though the
sailor might speak with disfavor of the heat of the climate in summer, these cargoes were a tangible proof
of the fertility of the soil and of the ample reward of
labor. Any member of the English landed gentry who
was debating in his own mind as to the advisability of
sending his son out to settle there was not likely to be
diverted from his purpose by the tale of a seaman
6Bruce's Economic Hist. of Va. in the Seventeenth Century,
Vol. II., p. 243.
"Bruce's Economic Hist. of Va. in the Seventeenth Century, Vol.
I., p. 342, et seq.
22




IN r3HE SeENTEEfNTH CeNTUrY


touching the horrors of the "seasoning," for it was
known that this period of bad health fell far more heavily on the ordinary agricultural servant, compelled by
his contract to work in the fields under the rays of the
sun soon after his arrival, than on the immigrant who
had brought over means sufficient to enable him to employ others to till the ground for the production of his
crops.
But there was still another reason why the Colony
made a strong appeal to Englishmen who belonged
to the landed gentry. In essentials the life which the
Virginian led on his estate was the same as the life
which the English gentleman led on his own. The
comparative isolation of the plantation was considered
by the latter to be no drawback, as it made possible
that independence of individual action which was so
highly valued by him in his native country; breadth,
of surface only assured the more certainly ampleness
of room for the master to move in without touching
elbows with his neighbours, to the diminution of his
sense of personal supremacy. The life in Virginia,
owing to the entire absence of towns, was even more
rural in character than the life in England. The
Englishman, accustomed to country pursuits, knew, in
emigrating, that he was seeking a residence in a community where all the tastes and habits of the English
rural gentry were in some respects only accentuated
by the dispersion of the population. Love of home,
as the center of the most sacred affections, was perhaps not more fervant there than in England, but the
bonds of kinship were much stronger because in that
secluded existence ties of blood assumed a far higher
degree of importance, while the pleasures of hospi28




rI3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VN(GINIA


tality were more relished, since the presence of a guest
was an event of greater rarity and distinction. And
the Englishman was also aware that in no manor-house
of Devon, Surrey, or Essex was the devotion to England
and all things English deeper than in the plantation
residences of Virginia; that the subtle tie of nationality was as binding there as in the Mother Country;
that the recognition of class distinctions and social
divisions was quite as clear; and that, as an English
gentleman, he would at once take the same position in
the society of the Colony as he had held in his native
shire, and would hardly recognize in outward customs
that he had made a change of habitation. And this
would also be true, not only of the amusements of indoor life, but also of the diversions of outdoor. All
the immemorial games of England were played there
with an equal zest, and all the manly sports pursued
with an equal energy. The various holidays that had
been celebrated in England beyond the memory of man
were without exception also observed in Virginia; and
as in England so in Virginia, every occasion of a festive character, public or private, was used to the utmost
to bring amusement and enjoyment into the lives of the
people.
These different influences appealed with almost equal
power to merchants debating in their own minds as
to settling either themselves or their younger sons in
Virginia. One of the earliest aspirations to rise in
I This seems to have been the impression of Colonel Henry Norwood
and the other Cavaliers who were so liberally entertained after their
arrival in Virginia.
24




IN q5H SEVNTE6JNTH CENTURY


the breast of an Englishman beginning to win success
in his trade was to own a country estate, a feeling that
sprang, not only from the immemorial love of rural
occupations and amusements characterizing the English people as a body, but also from a desire for the
increased social consideration which property of this
kind has always conferred in England. It was in the
power of the prosperous merchant to purchase land for
himself in one of the English shires,-which, naturally
he would prefer,-but it was not always in his power to
purchase land for all of his sons, even if he had deemed
this to be an advisable step to take. An opening was
presented in Virginia for establishing some of these
sons as landowners at a much smaller expense than he
could establish them in England, and the wisdom of
doing so seemed increased when he recalled that the
Colony was, from every point of view a mere corner
of the Mother Country; that the habits of the higher
planter class were the habits of the English rural gentry; and that the whole tone of the social life there
was practically the same as that prevailing in every
English county. Like the father belonging to the circle
of country gentlemen, he saw that, in addition to the
independence, heartiness, and refinement of this social
life, the Colony possessed in tobacco culture a means
by which a son starting there with a fair estate might
steadily improve his fortunes. Many English merchants were, by the course of their business, thoroughly
informed as to the advantages to be reaped by planters
who engaged in trading in that commodity. It was in
this way chiefly, they knew, that the largest properties
held by citizens of the Colony had been accumulated;
25




ZSH   SOCIAL LIFE OF VI(GINIA
and the same opportunity, they felt sure, was open to
a son who possessed the shrewdness and the capital
to make the most of such chances as they arose from
year to year.


26




III
ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASS
EVEN during the earliest years of its settlement, Virginia was regarded with extraordinary interest by
members of the most influential social classes in England. Of the three hundred and twenty-five incorporators whose signatures were attached to the charter of
1612, twenty-five were peers of the realm; one hundred
and eleven, knights; sixty-six, esquires; and twenty,
"gentlemen," a designation which, in those times, had
a meaning distinctive of a special rank. Three-fourths
of the persons who signed this document were included
in the circle of the English gentry, while one hundred
and twenty of the number had at one time been, or still
were, members of Parliament, a position in that century, as in the present, generally filled by some one who
was connected with the landed property of the kingdom.1 In the charter of 1609, it was the trades of England which were chiefly represented; the commercial
impulse given to colonization was then the most conspicuous; but three years later it was what was known
in those times as the "gentle classes" which were principally interested. It followed very naturally that a
very considerable proportion of those who took an active part in settling the country even in the beginning,
when it stood in its primeval condition, were men who
had a right, whether from the point of view of birth,
breeding or education, to be called "gentlemen"; nor
were they the less so because often impecunious, for
1Charter of 1612, Brown's Genesis of the United States, Vol. II.,
p. 642.
27




q3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


as we have seen, that was pre-eminently the age of hope,
when it was thought that fortune would certainly come
to anyone who would seek it in the unknown regions
lying in the East of West,-the age when men gambled
away their entire patrimony in a night, and sailed
away by the first ship to recoup their losses.2
The calamities that had overwhelmed the colonists
of Roanoke Island were still not forgotten, but not for
one moment did this fact prevent a large number of
Englishmen of good birth, who might have remained
in ease and safety at home, from joining the expedition
which set sail in 1606 from Blackwall for Virginia.
Of the one hundred persons who went out on that adventurous voyage fifty-four were recorded as belonging
to the station of a "gentleman," a term that was always
used very guardedly in that age. Among these fiftyfour were representatives of such distinguished English families as Archer, Sandys, Walthrop, Throckmorton, Brewster, Browne, Pennington, Wingfield,
Waller, Wotton, Gower, and Frith.3  At least one,
George Percy, was the son of a nobleman of the highest rank in the kingdom.
In the First Supply, which arrived in the course of
1608, there were included thirty-three "gentlemen" in
a total company of one hundred and twenty new settlers, a proportion of one-fourth of the whole as compared with the one-half who participated in the first
voyage.4 Among these thirty-three were found men
bearing such well known English names as Feather2Green's Short History of the English People, Sect. V., Chap. 7.
s Works of Captain John Smith, Yol. I., p. 153, Richmond edition.
4Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. II., pp. 172-3, Richmond
edition.
28




IN THE SE:9NTeeNT3H CENTURY


stone, Abbot, Mollineux, Perkins, Bentley, Worley,
Killingbeck, Bayley, and Harper. As they were accompanied by a perfumer, they must have looked forward to the continued enjoyment on the banks of the
James of all their usual foppish refinements. Smith
has stated that most of the persons entered as "labourers" in the First Supply were really footmen who were
in attendance on their masters; and that, of the entire
company, only a few dozen had been accustomed to the
rough manual work which the colonists were at once
called upon to do. Though Smith spoke at first with
impatient scorn of these gentlemen, with their valets
and perfumers, as men who were better fitted "to
spoyle a commonwealth than to begin or maintain
one," he was forced to acknowledge that the test of
practical experience showed that there were among
them more sensible minds and more industrious hands
than he had expected.5
In the Second Supply there arrived twenty-nine
"gentlemen" in a total company of seventy new settlers. Among the persons of gentle birth who came
out on this voyage was Francis West, a brother of
Lord De la Warr and a member of a family distinguished in the peerage. His companions in the same
station of life bore such well known names as Russell,
Codrington, Philpot, Leigh, Harrison, Holt, Norton,
Yarington, Phelps and Prat. Two alone, however,
namely, Gabriel Beadle and John Russell, are designated by Smith as "gallants," the term applied in that
age to young men of good family who had circumnavigated all the vices of the town, but in whom, in
6Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 241, Richmond edition.
29




g5H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VNIGINIA


spite of waste or loss of fortune a gay and adventurous
spirit still survived.6
In the Third Supply a larger number of these reckless young fops found their way to the Colony. They
had been hurried off by their friends, according to the
same impatient chronicler, "to escape ill destinies,"
and were thus forerunners of a host of daring spendthrifts of fashion who, for several hundred years, have
by 'their kinsfolk been packed away from the same
island to remote corners of the globe, there, under new
influences, to become, not infrequently, sober and honourable citizens.7 But the forests around Jamestown
presented to these early gallants few inducements to
lead a more useful life. Smith complained of them bitterly as creating factions among the settlers, and bringing confusion upon the objects for which the Colony
had been founded.8
There was, however, in the conduct of the great body
of the men of birth who came to Virginia in these first
years nothing whatever to lead the authorities to discourage the introduction of the social element which
they represented. "I would not have it conceived,"
declared De la Warr in a letter to the London Company,
"that we would exclude altogether gentlemen, and
such whose breeding never knew what a day's labor
meant, for even to such this country, I doubt not, but
will give likewise excellent satisfaction, especially to
the better and stayed spirits; for he amongst them that
cannot dig, use the square, nor practise the axe and
6 Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 203, Richmond edition.
7An instance of the spendthrift son is mentioned in Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 83.
8 Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 235, Richmond edition.
30




IN 3H6e sevNTeeNTH CeNTURY
chisel, yet he shall find how to employ the force of
knowledge, the exercise of counsel, and the operation
and power of his best breeding."9
The introduction into Virginia of persons belonging
to the social rank of gentlemen went on as steadily after,
as before Smith's departure from the Colony. In the
reply which the Grand Assembly made to the pamphlet entitled the "Declaration of the State of the Colony
in the Twelve Years of Sir Thomas Smythe's Government," it is expressly asserted that, among those who
perished in Virginia during this period of its early
settlement, were many persons sprung from "Ancyent
Houses and born to Estates of ~1,000 by the year, some
more, some less."10 Now an estate which in those times
would assure an annual income of ~1,000 would in these
assure an annual income of ~5,000, an income, as roughly estimated, equal to twenty-five thousand dollars.l
That men so well placed in the point of fortune in their
native land as this should have gone out to Virginia
shows that they were either moved by a spirit of mere
novelty and adventure, or expected extraordinary opportunities to arise there by which their means, already
large, would be increased.
It is probable that every ship sailing for the Colony
in the time of the company carried out a considerable
number of persons who belonged in England to the
social rank of gentlemen. It was not often that in the
list of passengers the social position of each was stated,
but when it was, the proportion of gentlemen among
9Brown's Genesis of the United States, Vol. I., p. 411.
~Neill's Va. Co. of London, p. 408.
"One thousand pounds sterling in 1611 had the purchasing power
of five thousand pounds at the present time.
31




ZHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


them varied; sometimes it was small, and sometimes it
was quite large. Of the band of thirty-five persons
who came over in 1619 with the intention of settling at
Berkeley on James River, the modern Harrison's Landing, only three were entered as of that station in if~e
in the certificate which the Governor was required by
law to draw up to show their arrival in the Colony.
The names of these three were Toby Felgate, Ferdinando Yate, and John Blanchard. But in a second consignment of settlers which was made at a later date
to the same plantation, thirteen, in a total company of
fifty, were set down as men who had enjoyed high social position in England.'2  The ship Margaret and
John, in crossing the ocean in 1620, with eighty-five
emigrants on board bound for Virginia, was attacked
by Spaniards, and in the fight that ensued eight persons
among the English were killed. Of these eight it is
incidentally mentioned that one was a "gentleman,"
whilst of the twenty who were simply wounded in the
conflict five, or one-fourth of the number, were referred to as belonging to that social rank.13 It is not
improbable that this formed the proportion of gentlemen in the full list of passengers. The ships Ann
and Bonny Bess, in 1624, brought into the Colony
thirty-two immigrants, eleven of whom were listed as
"gentlemen," and the remainder as "farmers" and
"artisans."
Nor did this proportion disappear after the charter
of the company was recalled, if a trustworthy inference
can be drawn from the few instances in which any
12 Brown's First Republic, pp. 371, 413. Toby Felgate in a patent
which he sued out in 1630 refers to himself as "mariner.>'
3Brown's First Republic, p. 416.
32




IN "He SeVENT6ENTH eENTUrY


light at all is thrown upon the social rank of the emigrants on board ship. For instance, in 1636, when
Harvey set out for Virginia on his return after the
mutiny which had expelled him, he was accompanied
by one hundred passengers, twenty of whom, or onefifth of the whole number, were declared by him to be
"gentlemen of quality." A large number of the remaining passengers were perhaps the agricultural servants
whom these gentlemen were carrying out to the Colony to work the lands which they intended to acquire
by patent.'4
Investigation of early Virginia genealogy has not
yet been searching enough to show fully and precisely
the social origin of every member of the memorable
Assembly which convened at Jamestown in 1619, the
first legislative body of a representative character to
meet on North American soil. Enough, however, is,
known to disclose the fact that, with few exceptions,
all had been of good, and some of high, social standing
in England. Yeardley, who as Governor was the presiding officer of the Council sitting as the Upper Chamber, seems to have been one of the few whose beginnings were decidedly plain, but he had filled high offices, and had been knighted for his valuable services.15
British Colonial Papers, Vol. IX., No. 27, I.
5 The statement reported in the following deposition seems to have
been considered a slander:
"Deposition of Roger Marshall taken in open court: 'This deponent saith that being at Mr. tittleton's house, Thomas Parkes
came into the kitchen and talked concerning Mr. Yeardley, saying,
"I have done the king better service than ever the sire of Yeardley
(i. e., Justice Yeardley) did," and, further, the said Parkes told
the people there present, saying, "Justice Yeardley's father (Sir
George) did work upon a taylor's stall in Burchin Lane in London."
88




reHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


On the other hand, Captain Francis West, a member of
the House of Burgesses, was a son of the second Lord
De la Warr. John Pory, the Speaker, was not only a
graduate of Cambridge University, and an author of
distinction, but also had been a prominent member of
the English Parliament, a position which proved even
more then than now that the incumbent enjoyed high
social consideration. Thomas Pawlett, a Burgess, was
the grandson of the first Marquis of Winchester, and
brother of John Pawlett, also a peer. Pawlett seems
to have arrived in Virginia as recently as 1618, and his
election to the Assembly so soon would indicate the
power of social influence in the Colony even in that
early period, for he had hardly had the time to make
much impression by his personal ability, independently
of his conspicuous family connections.'6 Rossingham,
another Burgess, was a nephew of Governor Yeardley,
whilst Lieut. Gibbes, who was also a Burgess, is supposed to have been a son of Thomas Gibbes, formerly
a member of the King's Council for the London Company. Captain Thomas Graves was of sufficient consideration to be included among the subscribers of the
charter of 1609, and Captain William Tucker among
those of the charter of 1612. John Jackson, or Juxon,
In a second deposition, Parkes is reported to have said: "Alas! hee
(i. e., father of'Justice Yeardley, Sir George) was but a taylor that
lept off a shop board in Burchin Lane.'"
Northampton County Records, orders, Dec. 20, 1643. A brother of
Sir George Yeardley was an apothecary.
6 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIII, p. 4. Pawlett owned
the famous Westover estate on James river, which he devised by will
to his brother, Lord Pawlett. He sat in the Assembly of 1633 (N. S.)
as the representative from Westover and Flowerdew Hundred; see
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., pp. 151, 152.
84




IN  HE S6UENTerNTH  eNTURY


was a kinsman of the Bishop who was to win such lasting fame as Charles the First's spiritual attendant
when he ascended the scaffold under the windows of
Whitehall. Walter Shelley, another Burgess, who had
been among the earliest members of the London Company, is thought to have belonged to the family afterwards made so celebrated by the great poet of the same
name, but one which had long enjoyed a conspicuous
position among the landed gentry of England.17
Besides the Wests,18 Pawletts, and Percies, who were
either the sons or brothers of English noblemen, there
were, in the interval between 1610 and 1623, numerous
persons in the Colony connected by close ties of blood
or marriage with members of the English baronetage.
For instance, Henry Spelman was the nephew of Sir
Henry Spelman, one of the most distinguished antiquarians of that day.19 Captain Jabez Whitaker had
married a daughter.of Sir John Bouchier.20 George
Thorpe, the manager of the College lands, an accomplished scholar and devoted philanthropist, who was
destined to perish so miserably by the tomahawk of the
Indian, was a great-nephew of Sir John Mason, of the
17 See as authority for these various details the admirable article
from the pen of the late William Wirt Henry, republished from the
papers of the American Historical Association in the Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 60. There is also an article of value on
the same subject by Mrs. William G. Stanard.
I The family of West in Virginia traces descent from John West,
one of the three brothers connected with the early history of the
Colony; see Abstracts of Proceedings Va. Co. of London, Vol. I.,
p. 115, note.
I Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 196, states, that he was
a son. This is an error.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 78.
85




e3H$ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


English Council of State, and a near kinsman of the
titled families of Throckmorton, Dale, and Berkeley21
Thomas Willoughby, according to a tradition which
bears some evidence of authenticity, was a nephew of
Sir Percival of Walloton.22 Henry Fleet was, on the
maternal side, the grandson of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the
celebrated rebel, and a great-great-grandson of the almost equally famous Thomas Brooke, Lord Cobham.
The family of Governor Wyatt traced their descent
from the same ancestor. The nephews of the Governor
settled permanently in Virginia. These were the sons
of the Rev. Hawte Wyatt. William Strachey, who filled
the office of Secretary of State to the Colony, was a direct descendant of Sir John Strachey, and belonged to
a family which has maintained by its talents and wealth
a conspicuous position among the landed gentry of England down to the present day.23 William Davison, who
was also Secretary of State in Virginia, was a son of
William Davison, who held the same office in England,
and was one of the most faithful and trusted advisers
of Queen Elizabeth.24  John Rolfe, celebrated as the
husband of the lovely Indian heroine Pocahontas, and
as the first among the English settlers to cultivate tobacco for export to England, was sprung from a
family of distinguished social connections which
21 William and Mary Collegej Quart., Vol. IX., p. 209. Thorpe was
the grandson of Margaret Throckmorton, who was the aunt of Sir
Thomas Dale. Lady Dale was the granddaughter of Sir Richard
Berkeley, Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXII., p. 133.
3Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 448.
8 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 168.
2William and Mary College Quart, Vol. X., p. 199.
86




IN '3He SEeNTeeNTH CeNTURY


had long been seated at Heacham in Norfolk.25
Captain Raleigh Croshaw was probably a close kinsman of the famous poet of the same name.26       Sir Richard Martin, the Lord Mayor of London in 1589, was
the father of Captain John Martin, the earliest Virginia
secessionist.
In a petition to the Privy Council which the London
Company presented some time previous to the revocation of its charter in 1624, they declared that many of
the sub-patentees of the very extensive public land
grants, some of whom had gone out to Virginia, were
"men of noble and worthy families, and possessors of
such large fortunes that they were able to expend great
sums in settling and improving their plantations."27
The patents to private land grants recorded in the Colony in the short interval between 1622 and 1624 were,
in many instances, obtained by persons who could
justly lay claim to the same distinguished social origin.
Not only were a very considerable number of these
single patentees entered in their patents as "gentle'2 William and Mary College Quart,, Vol. X., p. 169. Among those
whose names are included in the list of dead at West and Shirley
Hundred, 1624-5, was "James Rolfe, slaine by the Indians." This,
there is little reason to doubt, was John Rolfe, a strange fate for the
son-in-law of Powhatan; British Colonial Papers, Vol. III., No. 35.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 86. Croshaw is always
spelt with the o in the records, but the name was really Crashaw.
7 Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 143,
Va. Hist. Soc. Pub. An instance is that of Sir Richard Worsley,
who, in 1622, was associated with other persons in patenting a vast
tract of land in Virginia, to which they ha4 become entitled by
transporting to the Colony one hundred new settlers (Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog,, Vol. II., p. 68). The Berkeley Grant is another
case in point.
87




g3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA
men," a term applied with legal precision in a public
document, but the searching inquiry into special genealogies now going on has shown that many of them
possessed connections in England of a high social rank.
Among these patentees, for instance, were Maurice
Thompson, the father of the first Lord Habersham, and
Giles Allington, a member of the well known family
of Cambridgeshire, formerly represented in the peerage by the Barons Allington.28
2 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., pp. 189, 191: The title
now belongs to a different family. In estimating the proportion of
freemen among the persons whose names are mentioned in the five
hundred and one land patents issued between 1623 and July, 1637,
Dr. William G. Stanard, in his abstracts of these patents, has declared that "of the names appearing in these 501 patents, 336 are
positively known to have come to the Colony as freemen, and were
chiefly men and heads of families. There are 245 persons whose
names do not occur as headrights, and yet of whom it is not positively shown that they were freemen, though probably the'by far
greater number of them were. There were 2,094 whose transportation
charges were paid by others. These included negroes, wives, children, friends, etc. It would probably be fair to say that of the
names represented in the patents cited, there were 675 freemen,
women, and children who came to Virginia, and about 2,000 servants
and slaves." See Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 441.
38




IV
ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued
THE different records of the long period from 1624,
when the company was abolished, until the close of the
seventeenth century, show the continued emigration to Virginia of numerous persons who were connected by ties of blood or marriage with persons of
high position in England. The Colony had reverted to)
the Crown only a few years when Sir John Zouch, a
member of one of the most ancient families of Derbyshire, not only acquired a large tract of land on the
James, but also took up his residence there, although
it seems to have been only for a time.' Walter Aston, -
who lies buried at Westover, was a cousin of Lord Aston in the English peerage,2 while Thomas Booth, the
first of a name destined to become very well known in
the social history of the Colony, was a cousin of the
Earl of Warrington.8 William Claiborne, who at different times filled the positions of Secretary of State,
Commissioner of Parliament, and Deputy-Governor,
and resisted so stoutly the partisans of Baltimore when
they sought to dispossess him of Kent Island, was descended from the Cleburnes of Westmoreland, in England. His brother married a daughter of Sir Richard
Lowther, of Lowther, situated in that county, a member
of a family represented in the English peerage to-day
by the Earls of Lonsdale, and long one of the most
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 222.
2Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. V., p. 313.
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 234.
89




'?He SOCIAL LIFe OF VIRGINI.A


powerful in the North.4 Adam Thoroughgood, the
owner of a large estate, and for many years a very
prominent figure in the affairs of the Colony, was a
brother of Sir John Thoroughgood, of Kensington,
who was attached to the Court.5 Samuel Mathews,
who, like Thoroughgood, made a large fortune by planting and trading, and, during the Puritan Supremacy,
became Governor of Virginia, had married the daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, the son-in-law of Sir Sebastian Harvey, one of the most distinguished Lord Mayors
of London in those times.6
A leading member of the Council of Governor Harvey was Henry Finch, who was a brother of the Lord
Keeper of that name7; and Captain John West, referred
to by Harvey as "the Uncle of the Late Lord Lawar,"
was also a member of the same body.8 Sir John Harvey
himself had performed such valuable services on the
sea that he had been rewarded by his elevation to the
knighthood.9 Joseph Noy was a brother of the famous
Attorney General of England, Sir William Noy. Henry
Woodhouse, ancestor of the Woodhouse family of Virginia, who arrived in the Colony about 1637, was descended from Sir William Woodhouse, of Waxham, Norfolk. Sir William had married the widow of Sir Henry
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 313.
Thoroughgood's house is still standing on Lynnhaven Bay, as
solid and in as good repair apparently as when it was first built.
It is, from some points of view, the most interesting, as it is, perhaps, the oldest colonial residence in Virginia.
"Neill's Va. Carolorum, p. 111; see, also, Va. Maga. of Hist. and
Biog., Vol. I., p. 91, Vol. XII., p. 88.
British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., p. 96, II.
8 British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., No. 95, II.
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 87.
40




IN '3HE SVENTeENTH eNNTURY


Parker, who was the daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe;
Woodhouse's son had married a daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon (the famous Lord Keeper in the reign of
Elizabeth), and the sister of the celebrated chancellor
and philosopher, Francis Bacon. Captain Henry
Woodhouse, the fruit of this marriage, and the father
of the emigrant, was recommended for the chief command at Tilbury, became Governor of Bermuda in 1623,
and aspired to the same office in Virginia.10 Major
Richard Moryson, who was for some years in charge
of the fort situated at Point Comfort, was a son of Sir
Richard Moryson by his wife, a daughter of Sir Henry
Harrington. His brother, Colonel Francis Moryson,
long one of the most prominent and useful citizens of
the Colony, left England after the defeat of the royal
cause, of which the Morysons had been active and zealous supporters. A sister of these two brothers had
married the accomplished Lord Falkland, who was so
celebrated in the history of the Civil Wars.11 A son
of Major Richard Moryson settled permanently in
Virginia, and when he died his estate passed to his
nephew, Henry Moryson, who at the time occupied the
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in Lord Cutt's regiment of
footguards.'2
Among the principal families in Virginia previous
to 1650 were the Calthorpes. Christopher Calthorpe,
10 British Colonial Papers, Vol. VIII., No. 75; Va. Maga. of Hist.
and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 400-1; see, also, Lower Norfolk County
Antiquary for numerous interesting facts about this ancient family,
which is represented in Princess Anne county to-day.
1"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 384.
12 Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 455, Va. St. Libr.
Copy. The properties known as Fort Hill and Buck Roe were sold
by Henry Moryson to Robert Beverley.
41




'GH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VINGINIA


who was the first of that connection to settle in the
Colony was the grandson of Sir James, and the uncle
of Sir Christopher Calthorpe, of Stirston, in England.
A cousin, Reynolds Calthorpe, had married the only
daughter of Viscount Longueville.13 Through his
mother, who was a daughter of John Bacon, of Herset,
in Norfolk, Christopher Calthorpe, of Virginia, was
related to the Bacon family, one of the most powerful
and distinguished in the Mother Country in that age,
whether considered from a political or from a social
point of view.
George Reade, the earliest of that name to emigrate
to the Colony, was a grandson of Sir Thomas Windebanke, of Harnes Hill, in Berkshire. This Sir Thomas
had married a daughter of Sir Edward Dymoke, the
hereditary champion of England, an honor which his
descendants continued to enjoy until the last century.14
Reade is invested with some personal interest as an
ancestor of Washington. His brother was for some
years the private secretary of his kinsman, Sir Francis
Windebanke, who, as Secretary-of-State under Charles
I., made himself, by his subserviency to that ill-advised
monarch, so hateful to the popular party that, when
the Long Parliament met, fiercely bent upon punishing
him and his like, he was compelled, in order to escape
arrest, to fly across the Channel to the Continent.
Richard Kemp, who filled the office of Secretary to
the Colony about 1637, is believed on good evidence
u William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 107, et seq.
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 171; Va. Maga.
of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII., p. 300; see, also, Vol. VI., p. 408.
There are interesting references to Reade in a letter of Secretary
Kemp, which will be found in British Colonial Papers, Vol. IX.,
1636-8, No. 97.
42




IN GHe S eeNTNeeH cTeNTURY


brought out by recent investigation to have been a
brother of Sir Robert, of Gissing, who resided in Suffolk county, England.15 Colonel William Bernard, one
of the foremost citizens of Nansemond in 1640, was a
brother of Sir Robert Bernard, of Brompton Hall, in
Huntingdonshire.16 Richard Bennett, a planter of large
fortune, and at one time during the Puritan Supremacy
Governor of the Colony, a man who occupied during a
long life a conspicuously useful and honorable position
in the community, was a member of the family upon
which Lord Arlington had conferred so much social
distinction and political power in England.17 In 1635,
in a letter describing the mutiny which ended in the
expulsion of Governor Harvey, Secretary Kemp refers
incidentally to Robert Lytcott as the "son of Sir John
Lytcott, now bound out for England."18 Among the
wealthiest and most influential citizens of Accomac
was Colonel Nathaniel Littleton, whom recent investigation shows to have been a brother of Sir Edward
Littleton, Lord Chief Justice of England, and a son of
Sir Edward, of Henley, in Shropshire. He was thus
sprung directly from Sir Thomas Littleton, one of the
"6The disposition of English Kinsmen to settle in groups in Virginia is illustrated in the history of the Kemp family. The children
of Sir Thomas Kemp, and his wife, Dorothy Thompson, consisted of
four daughters: Mary married Sir Dudley Diggs, and was the
mother of Governor Edward Diggs; Ann married Sir John Call;
Dorothy married Sir John Chicheley, the father of Governor
Chicheley; Amy married Sir John Skipwith. Va. Maga. of Hist. and
Biog., Vol. XXIX., p. 137.
18 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI., p. 408.
17Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 54.
18 British Col. Papers, Vol. VIII, No. 61.
48




HWe SOeiL LIFE OF VIRLINIA


earliest as well as one of the most famous writers on
law in the English language.19
Colonel Richard Lee emigrated to Virginia about
1641-'2, and there founded a family which has produced a larger number of celebrated men, whether in
statesmanship or war, than any other family which
England has furnished to America. Whether he was
descended from the Lees of Coton or of Ditchley, he
was sprung from a line of progenitors of whom it has
been correctly said that they "were knights and gentlemen of high position before the ancestors of half the
present peerage of England had emerged from obscurity."20 There seems to have been no political motive in the emigration of Richard Lee, although about
the year he went out to Virginia the Long Parliament
was sternly calling to book all who had shown too much
zeal in carrying out the intemperate and misguided
policy of the King. It is possible that Lee foresaw the
violent times that were approaching and desired to
withdraw to a more peaceable spot beyond the sea.
But it was not the habit of members of his family,
whether they came before or have come after him, to
shrink from the shock of battle or the storms of public
M William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 230; Vol. IX.,
p. 62; New England Hist. and Gen. Register, Vol. XLI., pp. 364-9.
See, also, Evelyn's Diary, March 24, 1688, for interesting references
to the beautiful residences of one branch of this family in England.
20 Lee of Virginia, p. 42. There is a letter still extant from
Launcelot Lee to Thomas Lee which would seem to show that the
emigrant was beyond doubt descended from John Lee, of Coton.
See opinion of William G. Stanard, Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog.,
Vol. VI., p. 256, an opinion confirmed by the more reeent investigations of the same careful authority. The exact connection, however, has not yet been fully traced.
44




IN THE Se~VeNTeeNI3H CeNTURY
life, and it is more probable that, without any thought
as to the rising commotion in England, which was finally to involve persons of his social rank in such a
whirlwind, he was induced to go to Virginia by the
assured prospect of great improvement in his pecuniary fortunes. That a man of his distinguished social
antecedents and influential connections should have
decided that the Colony offered greater advantages to
persons of his class than England itself is one of the
most remarkable proofs of the high consideration in
which Virginia as a place of residence, and tobacco
culture as a business, were held by Englishmen, who,
in their native country, were surrounded by so much
to make their lives agreeable and their occupations
profitable. The portrait of Richard Lee, which is still
in existence, presents as noble a type of the English
cavalier as Vandyke or Lely ever immortalized on canvas. The dark hair, the swarthy complexion, the high
forehead, the firm and regular features, the calm and
proud expression-all unite to form a countenance not
surpassed in serene beauty by Rupert's, or in massive
strength by Montrose's.
During the seventeenth century the Wormeleys were -
more prominent in the social and political life of the
Colony even than the Lees. The first of this conspicuous family to settle in Virginia was Christopher
Wormeley, who had filled the office of Governor of
Tortuga in the interval between 1632 and 1635. He
was accompanied by his brother Ralph. The two were
sons of Christopher Wormeley, of Adwick-ye-Street,
in Yorkshire, and through him were directly descended
from Sir John de Wormele, of Hadfield, situated in
45




rGH6 SOCIAL LIF6 OF VIRGINIA


the same county.21 Ralph inherited the large estate of
his brother, and at Rosegill, overlooking one of the
noblest reaches of the broad Rappahannock, established
what was perhaps the stateliest home in Virginia during the seventeenth century, a home adorned with all
that the literature of the Mother Country and all that
the mechanical arts of the Colony of that day could furnish, and celebrated far and wide for its hospitality and
good cheer.22  Robert Throckmorton, the first of the
Throckmorton family to arrive in Virginia, was the
grandson of Gabriel Throckmorton, lord of the Manor
of Ellington, in Huntingdonshire, who traced his pedigree to Sir Robert Throckmorton, of Coughton, Warwick.23  There was recorded in Accomac, in 1641, a
deed from the widow of Sir Thomas Dale, in which she
provided that one moiety of her property situated in
Virginia should be divided among the children of Sir
William Throckmorton. This was the dividend which
had been granted by the London Company to Dale as
some return for his eminent services in the offices of
Governor.24  In 1650 Edward Digges emigrated to the
Colony, where he became distinguished, not only for
2 Lee of Virginia, p. 144; Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV.,
p. 173.
22 See later reference to the library at Rosegill. A description of
the house and its contents will be found in Bruce's Economic History
of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II., p. 156. It was at
Rosegill that Colonel Henry Norwood, who had crossed from the
Eastern to the Western Shore, found a band of newly arrived
Cavaliers in the full enjoyment of Colonel Wormeley's hospitality.
Howard, while Governor, spent much of his time here.
23 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 84, 88.
24Accomac County Records, Vol. 1640-45, p. 62, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
46




IN M3H SEVENTEeNTH CgNTUT


the agricultural improvements he sought to introduce,
but also for his prominence in political affairs. When
he died he left a large estate to his widow, which
included a variety of household articles showing a considerable degree of luxury and elegance in the appointments of his home. Digges was a son of Sir Dudley
Digges, Master of the Rolls in England, one of the
foremost offices in the administration of English justice. Sir Dudley was also at one time Ambassador to
Russia, and had taken a conspicuous part in the management of the London Company. The mother of
Edward Digges was a daughter of Sir Thomas Kemp,
of Chilham, Kent.25
Nathaniel Bacon, the elder, emigrated to Virginia
about the time the Puritan Supremacy in England was
at its height; and he was not the only member of his
family connection to leave his native land in consequence of that distasteful fact. We find him, after his
arrival in the Colony, surrounded by numerous cavalier kinsmen. Through his mother, Martha Woodward, he was nearly related to Thomas Woodward,
late assay-master of the Royal Mint, who had recently
settled in Virginia. Through his first wife, Mrs. Ann
Smith, he is supposed to have been a brother-in-law
of Captain William Bassett, a former officer in the
royal army, who also had decided to try his fortune in
the Colony; while, through his second, he had become
closely related to Sir Philip Honeywood, another cavalier officer who had found Virginia a more agreeable
place of residence than the Mother Country under'the
6Lee of Virginia, p. 311; for Digges' Inventory see Bruce's Economio History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II., p. 182.
47




rGHE SOeIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


rule of Cromwell. An aunt, the widow of Sir Thomas
Lyddall, had married Colonel George Lyddall, who,
under the influence of the same feeling, had left England, and made his home in New Kent County, where
we find him at a later day especially active in repelling
Indian invasions. Lyddall was not the only member
of his immediate family who had sought an asylum in
Virginia, for, in 1666, Sir Robert Peake, a wealthy
citizen of London, devised a considerable estate to John
Lyddall, who at this time resided in the Colony.
Bacon himself was a grandson of Sir James Bacon,
and was thus a kinsman of the celebrated Chancellor.
As I have already pointed out, the Woodhouse family,
which emigrated to the Colony at an earlier date, belonged to the same distinguished connection. Bacon,
like Richard Lee, was an Englishman of the highest
order both social and intellectual. He had received as
thorough an education as that age afforded; was a
man of commanding personality, as shown by the great
prominence enjoyed by him throughout a long life,
and of unusual talents for business, as proven by the
large fortune which he accumulated. He possessed
moral characteristics, associated with great mental
vigor, which would have carried him very far in the
public life of England had he remained there until the
Restoration. He appears to have been singularly
shrewd, wise, politic, and self-possessed. In the great
commotion raised by his cousin, the younger Bacon,
he never for a moment seems to have allowed family
feeling to sway him, but throughout pursued a course
which not only maintained the confidence Berkeley
placed in him, but also relieved his name of the shadow
48




INX He SEVENTefNTH CENTURY
of suspicion which might well have been attached to it
among those in authority.26
Sir Henry Chichely, who arrived in Virginia only a
few years before Bacon, had served in the royal army,
and was such a conspicuous adherent of the royal cause
that the Puritan Council of State, in granting him a
license to emigrate, required him to furnish security
that he would do nothing prejudicial to the existing
government. Chichely was the son of Sir Henry, and
brother of Sir Thomas Chichely, of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire. Sir Thomas was a member of the Privy
Council, Master of the Ordinance, and a man who possessed great influence after the Restoration. Sir Henry
Chichely himself had been an alderman of London.27
Among the other titled Cavaliers who emigrated to the
Colony about the same time as Chichely were Sir
Thomas Lunsford, Sir Dudley Wyatt, and Sir Gray
Skipwith. Thomas Welsford, who also removed thither, was the second son of Sir Thomas Welsford, who
had lost both life and estate in supporting the side of
the King.28
6 For Lyddall and Bacon, see Waters's Gleanings, p. 11; William
and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 223.
Interregnum Entry Book, Vol. XCII., p. 177; Vol. CXXXII.,
p. 8; British Colonial Papers, Vol. XXX., No. 70; Vol. XLVI., No.
97; Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 39; Vol. VIII, p. 181;
William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VI., p. 152. These different authorities contain many interesting facts about the Chichelys. Sir
Henry Chichely married Agatha, the widow of Ralph Wormeley.
2 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VI., p. 89; Ingram's
Proceedings, p. 34, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. I.
49




V
ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued
Among the Englishmen of high position who made
their home in Virginia were the two sons of the Rev.
Lawrence Washington, the brother of two knights,
and connected by ties of close friendship with the
Spencers of Althorp. The aunt of the two emigrants,
the wife of Sir William Washington, was a half-sister
of one of the most famous and brilliant noblemen of
that day, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. Rev.
Lawrence Washington had been ejected from his pulpit
in 1624 as a "malignant loyalist," and his fidelity had
brought on him many hardships and privations. His
sons shared his sympathies, and following the example
set by so many of even higher social rank, removed to
Virginia in the hope of there restoring the fortunes
of their family.'
Henry Isham, whose daughter married William Randolph, the progenitor of many famous men, belonged
to a family which had been long seated in Northamptonshire and which has retained its social standing
down to the present day. He was the grandson of Sir
Easely Isham of Pythchley.2 In 1676 he received a
legacy of ~400 from his uncle, Thomas Isham of the
1 Waters's Gleanings, p. 372; Mr. Waters suggests that the two
emigrants might have been influenced in some measure to go to Virginia by their blood connection with the Sandys and Vernon families,
at one time so prominently represented there, or so deeply interested
in its affairs.
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. S. XVIII., pp. 87, 397.
50




IN CHseve SNTeNTH eCNTUrY


Middle Temple.3 He was also a nephew of Sir Edward
Brett, who had been knighted by Charles I. for brilliant services as an officer, and who, by his will, seems
to have devised a considerable estate to Isham's two
daughters. Isham resided in Virginia for a time, but
appears to have returned to England and died there.4
Thomas and Philip Ludwell, who became so distinguished in the social and official life of Virginia, were,
through their mother, great nephews of Lord Cottington, one of the most conspicuous figures in England
during the reign of the second Charles." The first two
members of the Bland family to make their home in
the Colony were remote kinsmen of Sir Thomas Bland,
of Kippax Park, situated near the City of Leeds, who,
though knighted as late as 1642, was sprung from ancestry which had occupied the foremost place in that
part of England. A first cousin of the two emigrants
had married a titled member of the Herbert family.6
George Brent, one of the largest landowners residing in the Northern Neck, was a grandson of Sir John
Peyton, of Doddington, while his wife was a niece of
Sir William  Layton, of Horsmandene, in Worcestershire.7 John Clarke, who resided at Middle Plantation,
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVIII., pp. 85, 86.
4Waters's Gleanings, pp. 447-8.
6Lee of Virginia, p. 127; William and Mary College Quart., Vol.
I., p. 110.
Lee of Virginia, p. 138. See Waters's Gleanings for will of the
Herbert who intermarried with the Blands.
7Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 124: Colonel St. Leger
Codd, of Northumberland County, was a grandson of Sir Warham
St. Leger, of Ulcombe, Kent; see same Vol. XI., p. 374. The second
wife of Brent was a step-daughter of Lord Baltimore. Va. Maga.
of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XIV., pp. 98, 101.
51




3HEC SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


was a son of Sir John Clarke, of Wrotham, in Kent,
and on the maternal side, a grandson of Sir William
Stead. Sir John was a brother of Sir William Clarke,
of the same place, and to the son of the latter, who inherited his father's title, the property of John Clarke
in Virginia descended.8 The Scarborough family, long
the most powerful on the Eastern Shore, furnished
even after its arrival in Virginia at least one member
to the titled class of England. Of the two sons of
Edmund Scarborough, the emigrant, one, named
Charles, settled in the Mother Country, where he became a scholar of great distinction, was elected a member of Parliament, and was appointed physician in
turn to Charles II., James II. and William III.
Knighted for his services, he rose to these high positions, not only by the force of extraordinary talents,
but also through the influence of his family connection in England.9
Miles Cary, the first of that name to remove to Virginia, was related to the Cary family represented in
the English peerage at that time by Robert Cary, Lord
Hunsdon.10 Edmund Jennings, who arrived in the
B William and Mary College Quart., Vol. XII., p. 37; York County
Records, Vol. 1671-1694, p. 22, Va. St. Lbr. The incidental way in
which these interesting items of family history come out in a single
brief entry in the York County Records shows how slender are the
materials which preserve the family connection with England of so
many of the higher gentry of Virginia in the Seventeenth century.
It also suggests how much valuable genealogical information has
perished in the destruction of so many of the county records for
this century.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV., p. 316.
O This fact is shown by the acknowledgment of Lord Hunsdon
himself; see Keith's Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, p. 39. Informa52




IN eH6 S&evNTEeNTH CeNTURY


Colony when he was very young, and in later life became one of its Attorney-Generals, was a son of Sir
Edmund Jennings, of Ripon, Yorkshire, and through
his mother, a grandson of Sir Edward Barkham, who
had filled the office of Lord Mayor of London. One of
Sir Edmund's daughters married Sir Charles Caesar,
Master of the Rolls, and another, Robert Walpole, ancestor of the celebrated statesman of that name. Peter
Jennings, a kinsman of Edmund, and like him at one
time Attorney-General of Virginia, married a daughter of Sir Thomas Lunsford, the distinguished cavalier who had left England when the royal cause seemed
hopeless."1 George Luke, who, after his settlement in
Virginia, became the husband of the widowed sister
of William Fitzhugh, was a grandson of Sir Samuel
Luke, of Woodend, in Bedfordshire, made famous in
English literature by the pen of Butler as the hero of
the great satire Hudibras.'2   Nicholas Spencer, who
occupied the important post of Secretary of the Colony
in the interval between 1679 and 1689, was, on the
maternal side, the grandson of Sir Edward Gastwick,
of Wellington, and was also related to the family in
possession of the barony of Culpeper. His mother was
Lady Mary Armiger.13 A niece of Lord Culpeper had
tion of extraordinary fullness and value about the Cary and allied
families will be found in Harrison's The Devon Carys and The
Virginia Oarys, and in Miles Wilson Cary's Sally Cary.
"Lee of Virginia, p. 300; Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV.,
p. 366, Vol. VI., p. 399; Vol. XVII., p. 159; Vol. XXIX., p. 350;
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 154.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 167.
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 173; see, also,
will of William Spencer, brother of Nicholas, which will be found
in Waters's Gleanings.
58




3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


married Samuel Stephens, of Balthorpe, in Warwick
county, in Virginia.14 Joseph Woorey, of Isle of Wight
county, was a nephew of Sir John Yeamans, of Bristol, a town which had sent many other emigrants of
distinguished social connections to that part of Virginia. Woorey was also the great nephew of the brave
and devoted loyalist who lost his life as the penalty for
endeavoring to deliver up the city to Prince Rupert,
an enterprise that was thwarted by the Parliamentarians. Sir John Yeamans became celebrated in the
colonial history of the Carolinas by founding the Clarendon settlement on Cape Fear River.'5 Among those
who perished in the fight which took place in Lynnhaven Bay near the end of the century between the
guardship Shoreham and a pirate vessel was Peter
Heyman, a grandson of Sir Peter Heyman, of Kent,
England, who had been appointed to the collectorship
of Lower James River. Heyman had gone on board
of the Shoreham to witness the battle.'6
One of the most influential families of Lower Norfolk county during the latter part of the seventeenth
century was the Gutterick or Goodrich. In 1703, the
affairs of Thomas Goodrich, probably of this family,
then a minor and temporarily residing in England,
were placed in the hands of his maternal uncle, Sir A.
Danby, who had married a daughter of Abraham
Moon, at one time a merchant of London, but afterwards, there is reason to think, identified for many
4Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 83.
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VI., p. 131; Vol. VII.,
p. 212.
16 Campbell's Hist. of Virginia, p. 361.
54




IN T3HE Se'0VNTeNTH eNTU(Y


years with Lancaster county,'in Virginia.17 Rowland
Place, a member of the Council and a planter of large
estate, had married the daughter of Sir John Brookes,
of Norton, in Yorkshire. Place himself was the son of
Francis Place, a painter of distinction residing in the
city of York.'8 Launcelot Bathurst, who settled in
Essex county, was a son of Sir Edward Bathurst, of
Gloucestershire, the head of a family which continues
to occupy a position of social and political importance
in England.19 The first of the Peyton name to emigrate was sprung from the Peytons seated at Iselham,
who were able to trace their ancestry to the eleventh
century; and he was also a descendant of Sir Thomas
Osborne, Lord Mayor of London, and the forefather
of the Dukes of Leeds.20
Elizabeth, the wife of Edward Hill of Shirley on the
James, was the daughter of Sir Edward Williams.
She enjoys a greater badge of distinction in having
been an ancestress of General Robert E. Lee.2' John
Clayton was the son of Sir John Clayton and a brother
of General Jasper Clayton.22 Warham Horsemanden, a
member of the House of Burgesses and the Council,
was a grandson of Sir Warham St. Leger of Ulcombe.23
Henry Filmer, who resided in Warwick county, was
sprung from a sister of Sir Samuel Argall. His neph17 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI., p. 74; Christopher Danby
married a niece of the first Lord Culpeper.
8 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 231.
19 William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. XII., p. 61.
0 See Peyton Family Hayden's Virginia Genealogies.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XIV., p. 171.
2"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XIV., p. 5.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 181.
55




rZHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


ew, Sir Robert Filmer, was an influential citizen of
London.24 A niece of Sir Nathaniel Herne, an alderman of that city, resided in Virginia in 1679. In 1660,
Sir Henry Hyde, a cousin of the great chancellor, Lord
Clarendon, devised his lands in Virginia to his godson,
William Hyde.
In 1694, Sampson Darrell sued out a patent to a
tract of two hundred acres situated in Stafford county.
There is reason to think that he was a descendant of
Sir Marmaduke Darrell, so long a member of the London Company. The name Sampson often reappeared
in the English connection both in those times and
afterwards; and it was repeated in Virginia from generation to generation.25
The wife of William Whitby, who, in 1653, was the
presiding officer of the House of Burgesses, was the
daughter of Mrs. John Gorsuch. Mrs. Gorsuch was a
sister of Richard Lovelace, the famous laureate of the
Cavaliers, whose verse reflected all the gayety and debonair graces of his gallant social order. The brother
and sister were sprung from Sir William Lovelace.
The Lovelace family was linked through blood or marriage with the descendants of Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
one of the fathers of English colonization, and it was
also allied to Sir Edwin Sandys, the patron of the
London Company, and to his brother, George Sandys,
the author of the classic translation of the poet Ovid,
which was written on the banks of the Powhatan, in
the midst of a vast wilderness. The Loveless family
had also intermarried with the families of the explorer
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 182.
IVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVII., p. 115.
56




IN HE SEVeTeeNTH CeNTURY


Carleil and the statesman Sir Francis Walsingham;
and it was connected by a similar tie with the family
of Sir Dudley Digges, which furnished a governor to
Virginia in the person of Edward Digges.26
Christopher Branch was descended from a family of
Abingdon, near Oxford, which had supplied two masters to the Fraternity of the Holy Cross.27 Sir Thomas
Grymes, a member of Parliament in 1623, had a great
grandson who succeeded to his title and full name. It
was the brother of this fourth Sir Thomas Grymes who
emigrated to Virginia. This family is not to be confused with the more distinguished one that resided at
Brandon in the Rappahannock Valley.
Francis Dade, the first of his name to remove to the
Colony, belonged to a family which had ihtermarried
with the English Cornwallises and Wingfields. The
Cornwallis family was founded by a sheriff of London
as early as 1378, and from him was descended the
British commander at Yorktown, afterwards a distinguished viceroy of India. Edward Maria Wing —
field, the first President of Virginia, was the grandson
of Sir Richard Wingfield, who had married a daughter
of the thirteenth Earl of Oxford, and had been decorated with the garter in 1541. One of his sons became
the husband of a sister of Bess of Hardwick, Countess
of Shrewsbury. William Dade, th. emigrant, married
the granddaughter of Sir Richard Wingfield.28
Sir Thomas Chamberlayne enjoyed great distinction
as a diplomat during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVII., p. 129; Vol. XVIII,
p. 310.
27 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIII.
2 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XX., p. 328.
57




reH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRkGINIA


VI, and Queen Elizabeth. Among his direct descendants were Thomas and Humphrey Chamberlayne, who
were long citizens of prominence in Virginia. Humphrey, as we shall learn later, had apparently inherited
no share at all of the diplomatic temper of his ancestor.29
The wife of the great patriot, the younger Nathaniel
Bacon, was a daughter of Sir Edward Duke.30 Richmond and William Tyrrell were great nephews of
Francis Tyrrell, of England, who was a grandson of
Sir Edward Montague.31
In 1567, George Ludlow was Sheriff of Wiltshire.
That he occupied a high social position independently
of his office was shown by his marriage to a daughter
of Lord Windsor. His son became the husband of a
sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle. A grandson sprung from
the union, Sir Edward Ludlow, was the ancestor of the
regicide. The sons of a second grandson, Thomas, John
and Francis, and a daughter, Sarah, emigrated to Virginia, where Sarah married Colonel John Carter, the
father of the famous King Carter, who, as a stately and
opulent representative of the landowners of the Colony,
had but one rival, the second William Byrd. George Ludlow of this family was long a planter of wealth and influence in York county. Another member served as deputy governor of Massachusetts, while a third rose to
prominence in New York.32
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIII., p. 169.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXV., p. 249.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXVII., p. 152.
2Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIX., p. 353.
58




IN GHE S VNTeFNTH CeNTURY


The wife of Sir William Berkeley was of the Culpeper family which had enjoyed high social consideration in England during many generations. At times,
she revealed some of the worst characteristics of aristocratic birth, for she was capable of both imperiousness and insolence. This fact was exhibited in
her contemptuous relations with the English Commissioners in 1676.33 Rev. John Farnefold, rector of a
parish in Virginia, was a son of Sir Thomas Farnefold
of Gatewick, Sussex.34 The second wife of Rev. Thomas
Teakle of Accomac County was the daughter of Robert
Nelson, a wealthy merchant of London, and granddaughter of Sir John Temple of Biddlestone.86 Thomas
Warren, who settled in the Colony as early as 1635,
was a son of Sir Edward Warren of Poynton, Baron
of Stockport, and High Sheriff of Cheshire, and,
through him was descended from William de Warre,
second Earl of Surrey. He was also closely allied to
the Booths of Dunham Massey.38
Charles Scott, of the shire of Kent, was the father
of two daughters, Debora and Dorothy. Their mother
was a daughter of Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington
Castle, who had married the heiress of Sir Reginald
Scott. Debora Scott married William Fleet of Kent,
and was the mother of Henry Fleet, who was afterwards so prominent in the history of Jamestown. An
aunt of Debora Scott was the wife of Richard Argall,
and the mother of Sir Samuel Argall, the governor
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXV., p. 269.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXII., p. 400.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXII., p. 84.
" Wm. and Mary Coll. Quarterly, Vol. XXVII., p. 43.
59




SHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


of that Colony. A sister of Sir Samuel married Sir
Edward Filmer. The mother of Debora Scott was the
aunt of Sir Francis Wyatt. These facts reveal the close
relations which so often existed between the families
identified with the early history of Virginia.37
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIX., p. 34.
60




VI


ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued
A CONSIDERABLE proportion of the prominent families of Virginia in the seventeenth century were sprung
directly from the squirearchy of the Mother Country.
It was the leading persons among this squirearchy who
held the most conspicuous seats in the English parish
churches, who filled the offices of vestryman and magistrate, who owned the bulk of the lands, who lived in
manor houses which their forefathers had occupied,
and who, like their forefathers, followed the hounds
in season, and at times partook rather freely of the
bottle. And it was their ancestors whose bones lay in
the chancels of the ancient rural churches, or under
the defaced tombstones in the adjacent churchyards;
whose memorial tablets gleamed on the interior walls
of the churches themselves, and whose monuments rose
in the shadow of the neighboring yews planted far
beyond the recollection of living men. From the massive gray church towers there could be seen in every
direction in the surrounding country the homes, in
most cases dating from the remote past, from which
the younger sons of this local squirearchy had gone out
to make their fortunes, some to the nearest town, some
to the great mart of London to enter trade, and some
over sea to plant tobacco in Virginia.' The emigration
1Sometimes the father would emigrate to Virginia and the son
remain in England. A document recorded in Accomac county and
61




SHeO SOCIAL LIF6 OF VIRGINIA


to that Colony had been especially large from the rural
parishes of the southern and middle shires, so remarkable for their agricultural abundance and so productive
of famous names in English history. From the great
upland slopes that looked down upon the English Channel towards the south, and upon the Bristol Channel
towards the west, the sons of the country gentlemen
could see the white wings of the fleets of merchantmen
bound out to Virginia, and gleaming for hours, even
days, upon the blue waters before they melted finally
from view. Doubtless, that annual spectacle was not
without its effect upon the minds of many a susceptible
youth, eager, in spite of the great natural beauty and
wealth around him, and in spite of his ancient home
haunted by a thousand memories and associations, to
push out into some region never before visited by him,
there to win fortune more easily than it could be done
in his native land.
Among the prominent families of the Colony which
traced their origin to the squirearchy of Devonshire,
the most beautiful of these southern shires, was the
Yeo. A Yeo had been a member of Parliament from
signed by Earl of Derby, Duke of Richmond, etc., members of the
great Council of State, refers to "William Rydeing, late of Westerby
in the country of Lancaster, gentleman, now of Accomac." His son,
Hugh, lived at Westerby, and, in 1683, inherited his father's estate.Accomac County Records, Vol. 1676-90, p. 371. Dr. Bennett W.
Green, in his remarkable work, "Word Book of Virginia Folk
Speech," declares that the slurring of the "r" shows that the
ancestors of the Virginians "came chiefly from Southern England."
Again he says (p. 9): "There seems to be a distinctly southern, southwestern, and east midland character in the speech of the Virginians,
little or none of the East-Anglian or Norfolk." See, also, William
and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 28; Vol. VIII., p. 211.
62




IN rGH6 SeV6NTeeNH eeNTurY


Totness as early as 1557. One of the gentlemen who
subscribed to the defense of the kingdom when the
invasion by the Armada was threatened was Leonard
Yeo, a leading citizen of the county at that date.2 The
first of the family to emigrate to Virginia, known also
as Leonard, settled in Elizabeth City, but at a later
period in the century the name was found in Accomac,
for which county Hugh Yeo was at one time a member
of the House of Burgesses. The family, long after its
arrival in Virginia, continued to own property in England.3 The Broadhurst family was sprung from Walter
Broadhurst, who established his home in the Colony in
1650. He was the son of William Broadhurst, who
resided at Lilleshall, in Shropshire, and whose social
position was such that, in all formal legal papers, his
name was always accompanied by the term "gentlemen."4 In 1678 he is found conveying property to the
son who had settled in Virginia.   The first of the
Peachy family to emigrate was the son of Robert
Peachy, of Milden Hall, Suffolkshire.6 The wife of
Daniel Parke, the elder, belonged to the family made
celebrated by the accomplished John Evelyn, of Wotton, a family, however, that had been long prominent
among the country gentry of England. She was the
daughter of George Evelyn, who was residing in VirVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 194; William and
Mary College Quart., Vol. IX., p. 125.
This fact appears in various depositions found in the Accomac
Records. The Lear family, also very prominent, was from Devonshire.
4Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IX., p. 333.
BWestmoreland County Records for 1678.
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 111.
68




1e3H SOCIAL LIFE OF VUIGINIA


ginia as early as 1649, and where he still has descendants; thus, through him, she was the niece of John
Evelyn, and the grand-daughter of Robert, of Long
Ditton, in Surrey.   Another member of this family
connection, who also bore the name of Robert, was, in
1637, the Surveyor-General of the Colony. It is possible that these close personal ties made John Evelyn
the more willing to accept an appointment to the
Board of Trade and Plantations, of which he has left
an interesting account in his famous diary.7 A name
of still greater literary celebrity was associated with
Virginia a few years later. The great grandfather of
the historian Gibbon resided there in 1659. During
his stay, he enjoyed the intimate friendship of Colonel
Richard Lee.8 The Corbins were sprung from Nicholas
Corbin, who, in the reigns of Richard III. and Henry
VII., owned Hall's End and other landed property in
Warwickshire. The first of them to come out to Virginia was the grandson of Gawen Grosvenor, a distinguished name in that century as well as in this.9
John Page, the first of the Pages to make his home in
the Colony, where he arrived in 1650, at the age of twenty-three, was the son of Francis Page, of Bedfont parish, in Middlesex. He is supposed, on reliable evidence,
to have belonged to a branch of the Page family of
7William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 172; Va. Maga.
of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IX., p. 173. Robert Evelyn, the SurveyorGeneral, was entered at the Middle Temple in 1620; see Va. Maga.
of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 296.
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXXIII., p. 312.
Lee of Virginia, p. 83. The Corbin family was connected with
the Fowkes of the English Gunston Hall, and also with the Pudseys, a
family of equally high social distinction in those times. See Va.
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXIII., pp. 161, 398.
64




IN 'HE SEVENTEENTH CfNTURY


Harrow-on-the-Hill, which had, during many generations, occupied a high position among the rural gentry
of England. The Pages of Bedfont had been seated
there from a date going back beyond the reign of
Edward VI., during which period, one member of the
family, Rowland, had possessed manorial rights there.
The father of the emigrant was of sufficient consideration in the parish to have his tomb placed in the chancel of the parish church, an honour only paid to the
remains of persons of high social standing.'0 The Beverley family, which was represented in Virginia in the seventeenth century by several members of great political
prominence had been associated with the town of Beverley, in Yorkshire, as far back in the past as the reign
of King John. Robert Beverley, the elder, was perhaps the wealthiest citizen residing in the Colony, while
his son of the same name was the earliest native of
Virginia to write a book possessing extraordinary merits.'1
The first of the Harrisons to emigrate settled on the
James River not many years after the Colony was
founded, and his descendants acquired importance before the close of the century. Investigation has been
unable to throw much definite light on the origin of
this family, which has contributed so many distinguished men to the history of our country, but as the
10 erald's College Report, Page Genealogy, p. 34: "Sir Richard
Brown, in his will, requested to be buried in the churchyard, he
being much offended at the novel custom of burying every one within
the body of the church and chancel, that being a favour heretofore
granted only to martyrs and great persons."-Entry Febry., 1683,
Evelyn's Diary, Chandos Classics.
Lee of Virginia, p. 319.
65




'H6 SOeIAL LIFe OF VIMGINIA


emigrant was soon after his arrival appointed clerk
of the Council, a position only held in those times by
men of influence and social prominence, it has been
inferred that his social connections in England were
such as entitled him to more than usual consideration.12
Daniel Gookin of Newport News was sprung from
the Gookin family of Ripple Court, Kent, while the
Roanes were descended from Robert Roane of Chaldon,
a large landowner of Surrey.13
John Carter arrived about 1649. There is no trustworthy information as to his origin, though he is conjectured, apparently without any ground, to have been
a member of the Carter family long seated in Hertfordshire.14  The prominence of this family in Virginia,
which has been almost exclusively social, really began
early in the eighteenth century with Robert Carter, who
combined with extraordinary wealth (partly inherited
and partly accumulated by his own foresight) a remarkable personal impressiveness. The two together
led to his receiving the name of "King Carter." Robert
Carter and the second William Byrd, who were the most
distinguished members of their families, were both born
in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, and their
characters were largely moulded by the influences
which then prevailed. In their affluent style of life,
great landed estates, troops of dependents, lordly deportment, and far reaching authority, they were the
12Keith's Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, p. 46; British Colonial
Papers, Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 26.
18Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVI., p. 68; Vol. XIX., p. 14.
"This claim is set forth in the Carter Family Tree, but does not
appear to be substantiated; see William and Mary College Quart.,
Vol. I., p. 138.
66




IN 'GHe SeVNTeNTH CeNTURY


rivals of the first proprietors among the English country gentry of their day.
The family of Colonel Peter Ashton, of Westmoreland county, was sprung from the Ashtons, of Spalding,
in Lincolnshire, one of the most ancient families residing in that part of England, whilst the Burwells traced
their descent immediately to a family equally ancient
in Bedfordshire.l5 The Smiths, of Abingdon parish, in
Gloucester county, were, through Elizabeth Cox, an
offshoot of the Stracheys, of Sutton Court, in Somersetshire.16
A considerable number of the leading families of
Virginia in the seventeenth century were directly descended from Englishmen who were distinguished in
the professions, but who, in most cases, can be traced
back to the landed gentry. William Fitzhugh, who accumulated a large estate, left a long series of interesting letters, and founded a representative family, was
the son of a lawyer in practice at Bedford. As his
brother, Henry Fitzhugh, enjoyed considerable interest at Court, it is probable that the family connection
possessed social and political influence. There is some
slight reason, indeed, to think that the Fitzhughs of
Bedford were a remote branch of the Fitzhughs of
Ravensworth, who had been raised to a barony.17 The
Douthats also appear to have borne a close relation to
For Ashtons, see Letters of William Fitzhugh, Jan'y 30, 1686-7.
For Burwells, see Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 260.
1 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 400.
17 Lee of Virginia, p. 89; The Fitzhugh Family, Va. Maga. of Hist.
and Biog., Vol. VII. One of the former homes of the Fitzhughs in
Virginia is named Ravensworth. It is now the property of the
Lee family.
67




C;HE SOCIAL LIF OF VIRGINIA


the legal profession in England.18 Philip Lightfoot, the
first of the Lightfoot family to come over, was the son
of John Lightfoot, a barrister of Gray's Inn, in London.l9 Charles Harmer, who settled on the Eastern
Shore, was the brother of John Harmer, professor of
the Greek language in Oxford University.20       Thomas
and Henry Batte, the first of their name to reach Virginia, and the progenitors of a distinguished social connection there, were the sons of Robert Batte, the ViceMaster of University College at the same great seat of
learning.21 Christopher Robinson, who emigrated to
the Colony in 1666, and made his home in Middlesex,
where he became at once a conspicuous member of the
community, was a nephew of John Robinson, Bishop of
London. Robinson demonstrated his affection for his
birthplace by naming his residence in Virginia after it
-Hewick.22     Isaac Bargrave and Rev. Thomas Bargrave, early settlers, were respectively a brother and
nephew of a dean of Canterbury.23     Ambrose Fielding,
John Lomax and Roger Mallory, founders of distinguished families in the Colony, were all sons of English
"York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 187, Va. St. Libr: Margaret Pryor, daughter of William Pryor, of York county, returned
to England and married Thomas Edwards, of "Inner Temple, Gentleman." She sold the lands which she had inherited in Virginia.
See York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 392, Va. St. Libr.
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 91; Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 397.
' Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 274. Vol. XIX., p.
129 says he was a brother.
William and Mary Coll. Quarterly, Vol. I., p. 196.
"Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 13. A sister married
Sir Edward Wood.
"See Bargrave, Waters's Gleanings.
68




IN CGHE S6VNTENTH CeNTURY


clergymen.24  Peter Montague, the emigrant, was the
second cousin of Richard Montague, who was the
Bishop, first of Chichester, and afterwards of Norwich.25 William Juxon, of York county, was a kinsman
of Bishop Juxon, who received the last words of
Charles I on the scaffold. Daniel Sheldon, of York
county, was a son of Archbishop Sheldon of Canterbury.26.
Rev. William Pinder, rector of Mattisfount, Southampton, bequeathed ten pounds sterling to his nephew,
Thomas Singleton, then in Virginia.27  Testamentary
gifts of this kind constantly occur in the later history
of the Colony. For instance, in 1672, Edward Newman
received a like sum under the will of his uncle, a canon
of Windsor Castle; and, in 1691, William Bolton, a
clergyman residing in Harrow-on-the-Hill, in the
county of Middlesex, England, made his brother in Virginia his residuary legatee.28 About 1669, a prominent
citizen of York county provided in his will that, should
his children die before they came of age, one hundred
pounds sterling should be paid by his executors to his
kinsman, Prebendary Terrill, of Windsor.29
There were in Virginia during the seventeenth century a considerable number of 'prominent families
sprung from English military officers. I have in a previous chapter referred to those of this origin who were
descended from Cavaliers with titles indicating social
24 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XIV., p. 320; Vol. XXV., p.
165; Vol. XXXIII., p. 33.
History of Peter Montague, pp. 30, 49.
"William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. II., pp. 7, 8.
Pinder's will, Waters's Gleanings.
2 See Waters's Gleanings, years 1625, 1672, and 1691.
2York Records, Vol. 1669-72, p. 160, Va. St. Libr.
69




tHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


rank; but there were numerous others descended from
Cavalier officers who were without such titles. Some
of the supporters of the royal cause who found their
way to the Colony were, like Robert Jones, merely common soldiers, but perhaps, like him, had been wounded
in battle in the King's service. After his capture, Jones
was shipped to the plantations, but seems to have returned to England before the death of Charles II.30 An
officer of distinction who found an asylum in Virginia
was General Mainwaring Hammond. He arrived about
1649, the very year Charles I. perished on the scaffold,
and was accompanied by Sir Philip Honeywood, who
also had been an officer in the royal army. Other officers of high rank abandoning England under the influence of their hatred of the existing government were
Majors Philip Stevens, John Brodnax, and Richard
Fox, and Colonels Guy Molesworth, Joseph Bridger
and Henry Norwood.
In the band of Cavaliers seeking homes in the Colony
there were a number who had been active supporters
of the King, without, however, possessing a military
title. Such were Gray Molesworth, Anthony Langston, Henry Bishop, Alexander Culpeper, and Jeremiah Harrison; such also quite probably were the nine
gentlemen, whose names, with the prefix of "mister,"
an indication at that day of social position, are included in the list of headrights offered by Sir Thomas
Lunsford to secure a land patent in 1650, the year of
his arrival. Some of these companions of Lunsford,
himself a Cavalier officer of distinction, had, no doubt,
held commissions in the royal army, while all had, in
" British Colonial Papers, Vol. XLV., No. 3, 31.
70




IN H seV TEN NTH CeNTUrY
one capacity or another, either military or civil, striven to advance the royal cause. Jeremiah Harrison had
married the daughter of the man by whose fidelity and
coolness Charles II. had been saved just after the battle
of Worcester, which had proved so disastrous to his
fortunes. Henry Bishop became a citizen of Virginia
previous to 1646, in which year he was commissioned
by the House of Burgesses to return to England in
order to deliver a letter addressed by that body to the
English Parliament. He seems to have remained, for,
in 1660, he filled the high office of Postmaster-General
of the Kingdom.31
Among the most active supporters of the royal cause
were the Randolphs, a family which enjoyed some distinction in England, not the smallest part of which
was derived from the fame of a member who had become celebrated as one of the first poets of that day.
They were, to use the words of one of their number,
81 For the various details about the different Cavaliers mentioned
in the previous sentences of this paragraph, see Va. Maga. of Hist.
and Biog., Vol. III., p. 266, Vol. VIII., p. 390, and William and Mary
College Quart., Vol. VI., p. 90. Major John Brodnax, the first of
his distinguished name in Virginia, which is still associated with
Brunswick County, died in York County. Dr. Lyon G. Tyler has
called attention to the interesting fact that the will and inventory
of Brodnax show his possession of all those articles of dress which
are associated with the popular conception of the fashionable and
dashing Cavalier. See William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VI.,
p. 61. William Colston was the son of a royalist mayor of Bristol,
Ibid, Vol. XXV., p. 197. After the execution of Colonel John
Penruddock in 1655, for his attempt to restore the King's authority, his brother Edward, who had taken part in the rising, was
transported to "Virginia." As his name was not afterwards associated with the colony, it is possible that the West Indies was his
destination.




GH6 SOeIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


"entirely broken and dispersed" by the upshot of the
Civil Wars32; but in emigrating to Virginia, William
Randolph had taken the first important step, not only
towards restoring the fortunes of the family, but also
towards raising those fortunes to a point which had
not been reached in England. Before the close of the
colonial period a series of noble plantations in the
most fertile part of the country lying along the Lower
James River had become the property of the Randolphs
in their various branches. Here they had lived in a
state of affluence remarkable even in the most prosperous days of the Colony; had filled a succession of
high public offices; had received the honor of knighthood; had intermarried with all the most powerful
families and had enjoyed a degree of social and political influence unsurpassed in those times. Nor did
their distinction come to an end with that memorable
era. Among the most prominent names in the period
of the Revolution and the foundation of the national
government were Peyton and Edmund Randolph; and
in the great crisis of Secession there was an equally
brilliant representative of the same family in George
Wythe Randolph, the first Confederate Secretary of
War.33
The Mason family is descended from Colonel George
Mason, who, acording to an unconfirmed tradition,
82 The grandfather of the emigrant had married as his second wife,
the sister of Sir Richard Lane, who served as counsel for Lord Strafford in the trial for his life. Lane was afterwards the Lord Chief
Baron and Lord-Keeper. One of the poet Randolph's poems was
addressed to "Aunt Lane." Henry, the uncle of the emigrant, also
moved to Virginia. William was the nephew of the poet of the halfblood. Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXII., p. 363.
83 The late P. E. Bishop Randolph was also a member.
72




IN 5H~ SeVeNTeNTH BN~TU(Y
only after the crowning defeat of the royal cause at
the battle of Worcester left England to settle in the
Colony. He had been preceded by Gerard Fowke, a
cousin who had been a member of the royal household
as well as a colonel in the royal army.34 Thomas Landon, the first of the Landon family to go out to the
Colony, had been the first groom of the King's buttery,
a position of a higher social character in that age of
extravagant loyalty than it would be in these times
when so much of the divinity that hedged a monarch                /
has passed away.85 The wife of the elder William
Byrd was the grand-daughter of a clergyman, who,
like Rev. Lawrence Washington, had, in 1643, been
ejected from his benefice on the ground that he was a
"malignant loyalist."  A number of these clergymen
appear to have settled in Virginia.36
These emigrants to Virginia, who had taken an active part in the Civil Wars, or had openly sympathized
with the royal cause in the great conflict between King
and Parliament, enjoyed an influence in the social life
of the Colony, which was out of proportion to their
mere number. Some of these men, as we have seen,
were persons of rank in England, others were untitled
"4 Dinwiddie Papers, Va. Hist. Soc. Coll., p. 23.
86 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 431.
88 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IX., p. 10: Berkeley
wrote in 1671: "We had few (clergymen) we could boast of since
the persecution in Cromwell's tyranny drove divers worthy men
thither;" Hening's Statutes, Vol. II., p. 517. Among the clergymen
who came to Virginia was Rev. Thomas Teakle, whose father had
been killed in the course of the Civil Wars. Va. Maga. of Hist. and
Biog., Vol. XXII., p. 84. The husband of Mrs. John Gorsuch, who
was a sister of the poet Lovelace, was the son of Rev. John Gorsuch,
the rector of Walkem in 1657.
73




GeHI SOeIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


officers in the royal armies, and, with few exceptions,
all were sprung from the English landed gentry. They
brought with them to Virginia the tastes and habits
of the society in which they had moved, and to which
they had belonged by birth as well as by association,
the society of the English country gentlemen. The
most characteristic features of that society had, in
no small measure, been already introduced into the
Colony by those among the previous English settlers
who had mingled in it in their native land. The plantation life in which men like Lunsford, Honeywood,
Skipwith, Norwood, Stevens, Mason, Molesworth,
Cary, Brodnax, and Fowke found an asylum must
have appeared to them as marked by much that was
familiar in spirit, custom, and habit as compared with
that life which they had so recently left behind. There
was the same disposition to enjoy with heartiness all
the sources of happiness and pleasure which life afforded; the same love of overflowing good cheer; the same
taste for dancing, card-playing, and other indoor
amusements; the same interest in horse, dog, and gun,
in racing, coursing, and shooting; and the same loyalty
to King and Church, which had prevailed among the
Cavaliers of England. These gentlemen of recognized
position in England, these soldiers who bore upon their
persons the scars which proved the firmness of their
courage and the strength of their devotion to their
sovereign, must, in the homes of the principal planters, have possessed an extraordinary prestige on account both of what they had suffered and what they
had represented in the Mother Country. The participation of such men in the current of the social life
around them must have given it a stronger impulse
74




INX 'He SVeeNTeNHTH eNTUsRY


in the direction it was already running; and also have
done much to confirm and accentuate those peculiarities which already existed. Immigrants, like Richard
Lee and the elder Nathaniel Bacon, sprung from distinguished families, although without military reputation, no doubt, soon after their arrival, became the
social leaders of the community, and by the dignity of
their personal appearance and bearing, and thorough
knowledge of all the refinements of the best society of
that day made a lasting impression upon the social life
of the Colony.
Nor, in describing the social influence of the Cavaliers, should Sir William Berkeley be forgotten. Appointed to the Governorship about 1642, he remained
in office, with the exception of the interval of the Protectorate, until 1676. All the accounts unite in representing him as having enjoyed a great popularity down
to the last ten years of his administration, when he
allowed himself to fall so completely under those reactionary influences which arose both in Virginia and
England after the Restoration. He was, from many
points of view, a type of the extreme Cavalier. Sprung
from one of the oldest and proudest families in England, the favorite of royalty and trained in the atmosphere of a Court; headstrong, irascible, impulsive,
domineering, yet capable of assuming all the conciliatory graces of one long accustomed to the best society
of his times; a man of imposing appearance and bearing on all occasions; an aristocrat in every feeling and
opinion; brave to recklessness, and ready at any moment to maintain his honor with the sword at his side
-such are the outlines of a character, which, stamping itself deeply in many ways upon the contemporary
75




rqHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA
social life of the Colony, must have served, like the
presence of the immigrant Cavaliers, to strengthen the
sympathies of the Virginian planters with all those
ideas, standards, and habits which had immemorially
distinguished the great body of the English people.87
"Lord Clarendon, in the Eighteenth Book of his History; tstifies
to Berkeley's sympathy with the Cavaliers. "Sir William Berkeley,"
he records, "invited many gentlemen and others thither (Virginia) as
a place of security, and where they might live plentifully. Many
persons of condition, and good officers in the war, transported themselves thither, with all the estates they had been able to preserve."
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVIII.
76




VII
ORIGIN OF THE HIGHER PLANTER CLASSContinued
ONE of the most important sections of the higher
planter class during the seventeenth century were the
families sprung directly from English merchants.
Many of these descendants of English merchants, however, traced their pedigrees back, and that, too, not
remotely, to landed proprietors in the different shires,
for in that age a very large proportion of those engaged in trade in the cities had come in from the rural
parishes. The law of entail and primogeniture, which
was, perhaps, more deeply rooted in England in those
times than in these, had, as already stated, a powerful
influence in causing many of the younger sons of the
landed gentry to emigrate to Virginia in search of
fortune; but it had an even more powerful influence
in forcing many of these younger sons into mercantile,
and even into mechanical pursuits, in order to earn a
subsistence without leaving their native country.
From a very early period, the trade guilds had filled
a conspicuous place in all the larger English towns,
and nowhere was their supremacy within their own
sphere of operation more absolute than in London; in
that city, no one was permitted to cast a vote for municipal officers unless he had served an apprenticeship in
1 Clarendon notes this fact in connection with the Cheshire gentry,
among whom large families were especially noticeable. Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 58&
77




CeH: SOCIAL LIFS OF VIRGINIA


one of the livery companies or crafts; and this regulation prevailed generally in all the other cities of the
kingdom. This privileged exclusiveness made the mercantile and mechanical callings uniformly profitable.
When there were three or four sons to be provided for
by a father who was a country gentleman, it was usual,
in the seventeenth century, to keep the eldest at home
if he was to inherit the whole of the landed estate; the
second was sent to one of the great universities, in
order to prepare himself to enter a learned profession,
such as law, physic, or divinity; the third was apprenticed to a local solicitor, apothecary or surgeon; the
fourth to a pewterer or watch-maker, or the like. It
will be observed that the employments selected were
graduated in social importance according to the relative ages of the sons; the youngest fared the worst in
the dignity of the calling chosen for him; but in order
that he might acquire the highest skill in his mechanical craft, it was customary for him to be dispatched to
London the greatest centre of business in the kingdom, and the finest school in which to learn an art,
because it was known that there he would enjoy every
opportunity of perfecting himself in his special pursuit. At the end of his time, he would return to the
village or town nearest to his former home.2 As the
purely manual crafts were not admitted to the guilds,
and the membership of the guilds themselves was confined to men who had enjoyed a long and careful training, there was no disposition to shut out from genteel
society those persons belonging to these trade cor2 See Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte, chap. III.; also the
Life of Sir Humphrey Davy.
78




IN He SVeNTNETH NT eUT


porations who followed the lower branches of the arts;
whilst so much wealth was accumulated by the persons
who followed the higher, that they were able, not only
to intermarry with the noblest families in the kingdom, but also to found new families of great distinction.8
All of the London guilds,-which included in their
membership many persons who had, in early life, come
to that great center of trade from every part of England,-were deeply interested in the early settlement
of Virginia; this is shown by the fact that, among the
subscribers to the charter of 1612, were ten mercers,
twelve goldsmiths, seven grocers, twenty drapers and
tailors respectively, ten skinners, two salters, ten ironmongers, twelve haberdashers, sixteen clothworkers,
and four vintners. These merchants and manufacturers were sagacious enough to perceive that the
Colony would, in time, raise up a host of new purchasers
for their goods and products. Throughout the seventeenth century, it was the tradesmen of London who
took the leading part in supplying the various needs
of the Virginian planters; their principal rivals in this
traffic were the tradesmen of Bristol, who were among
the most active and enterprising in that age; while
following at a distance in sharing in the profits of this
8 "The simpler state of society in the 16th and 17th centuries did
not draw lines of demarcation at retail trades. Great foreign merchants, such as we have now, had not yet been developed. War as a
profession for younger sons had ceased; also the custom of attaching
them to the duties of the greater nobility, and in consequence" they
could only enter the learned professions or be apprenticed to some
ordinary retail trade. They did not thereby cease to be members of
the country gentry." Introduction to Visitation of Shropshire
Harleian Soc. Pub.
79




r3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


commerce were the tradesmen of Weymouth, Dartmouth, Hull, Plymouth, Biddeford, and Barnstaple.
Many of the merchants engaged in trade with Virginia visited the Colony in the course of their business,
and a very considerable proportion, already having
relatives there, or forming new ties, or discovering in
this new field a better chance of fortune than in the
old in England, remained there permanently.4
During periods of extraordinary commotion in England, which brought about a disturbance of trade and
encouraged severe exactions, many English merchants
removed to the Colony in order to obtain peace and
security; this was especially the case at the beginning
of the armed conflicts between Charles I. and his Parliament, which, following upon an interval of remarkable prosperity, was to cause so much ruin and confusion by the interruption of foreign commerce, the
sacking of cities, and the passage of predatory troops
in all directions.
Among those engaged in business in Virginia at a
very early date, —after, perhaps, some experience of
That these visits on the part of English merchants were very
numerous was shown by the wills which they made before setting
out on so long and so dangerous a voyage, and which were afterwards
recorded. An example will be found in the will of Nathaniel Braddock, Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI., p. 149, and of William
Wraxall, Ibid. p. 361. See for the wills of other visiting merchants
the "Virginia Gleanings in England," published in Va. Maga. of
History and Biography. John Brewer, formerly a grocer of London,
was, at his death, in 1635, a member of the Va. Council; Va. Maga.
of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI., p. 317.
Tyler's Cradle of the Republic, p. 47. For prosperity in England about 1630, see Green's Short History of the English People,
chap. viii, sect. 5. Clarendon also dwells upon it in his history.
80




IN TH6 SVENTeENTH eENTURY


the like pursuit in England,-were George Menifie,
John Chew, and Abraham Piersey, men whose names
are always coupled with the term "merchant" in the
records. All three rose to wealth and prominence in
the Colony, and at least one, Chew, founded a family of
distinction and influence.6
Berkeley Hundred, which spread over eighty thousand acres, was, in the beginning, taken up under a
patent granted to seven well-known merchants of London, and of the seven, all probably, but certainly three,
William Tucker, Maurice Thompson, and Cornelius
Lloyd, went out to Virginia in search of fortune.7 The
first patent to Martin's Brandon was acquired by three
English merchants, one of whom, Richard Quiney,
was a kinsman of Shakspeare's son-in-law of that
name.8
The earliest of the Ferrars to settle in the Colony
was nearly related by blood to Nicholas Ferrar, who,
sprung from an old family of Hertford, had, when
very young, been apprenticed to a skinner of London,
to become, in time, the master of the skinner's guild,
a merchant of great eminence, and the trusted friend
of many of the celebrated seamen and statesmen of
those times, among others, Drake and Hawkins, Sandys
and Raleigh. He was one of the most distinguished
members of the London Company, and among the most
earnest and constant, as well as among the wisest sup'TheVirginia Land Patent Books. The same is observed in the
county records in the case of leading men like Cornelius Lloyd, of
Lower Norfolk county; see Records of that county, orig., Vol. 1646 -51, p. 81.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI., p. 185.
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI., p. 187.
81




3GHe SOCIAL LIFf OF VIRGINIA
porters of that great enterprise. Even after the revocation of the charter, the Ferrars in England continued to show an active interest in every scheme that
would advance the welfare of Virginia.9
The father of Captain Ralph Hamor, who, escaping
with his life by a hair's breadth from the frightful
massacre of 1622, wrote an account of the early history
of the Colony, was the son of a merchant tailor.10 William Claiborne, at one time, as already mentioned, Secretary of Virginia, a Commissioner of Parliament, and
prominent in many other ways, had a brother who
occupied a shop on Ludgate Hill, in London, where he
was a dealer in clothing.1" As the Claiborne or Cleburne family, from which these two brothers were directly sprung, was one of the most ancient in the
English county of Westmoreland, the adoption of a
trade by one of them as a pursuit in life, thus imitatVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 320; Bruce's Economic
Hist. of Va. in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I., p. 365, et seq. For
a remarkable account of the Ferrar religious establishment at Little
Gitting, see Shorthouse's "John Inglesant." The history of Nicholas
Ferrar's career shows what was done in England in those times with
so many young men of good family, when they had to be settled in
life, and also the fortunes which so many acquired in trade. Nicholas
married Mary Woodenoth, who was of very ancient lineage.-Va.
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 320.
0 Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 118,
note, Va. Hist. Soc. Pubs.
1 Governor Harvey, in a letter to Lord Dorchester, dated May 29,
1630, described him  as a "stocking-seller." See British Colonial
Papers for 1630, No. 5; see, also, Vol. V., No. 93. As Harvey was
an enemy of Claiborne on account of a violent difference of opinion
as to Baltimore's right to colonize Maryland, this term applied to
Claiborne's brother was used contemptuously, without perhaps expressing the truth exactly.
82




IN t5He SeVeNTeeNTH e(NTURY


ing the example of Nicholas Ferrar and so many
other young men of gentle descent, serves to show
both the greater social dignity of the ordinary crafts
in the England of that day than in the England
of this, and also the greater narrowness of the
field of employment. In preferring to emigrate to
Virginia rather than to follow in the footsteps of
his brother in London, William Claiborne discloses
how powerful was the influence leading so many
young Englishmen in those times to seek their fortune
in the Colony.
The Brooke family was already well known in Virginia in the seventeenth century. In a deed drawn up
before 1650, John Brooke, of Essex-shire, referred to
himself as "clothier," and named as his attorney in
the Colony his relative, Henry Brooke, who resided
there. We learn from this deed that Barnaby Brooke,
a brother of John, died at sea, while on his way to
Virginia in charge of a large quantity of merchandise.
Nor were these the only kinsmen of Henry Brooke who
were engaged in trade in England; in a second deed,
dated as early as 1638, we find him mentioning the
name of Nicholas Brooke, who, it appears, was a merchant of London.12
Captain Robert Higginson, who was sent, in 1644,
to build a palisade at the Middle Plantation, was the
son of a painter-stainer, whose place of business was
in London, also.13 In the same year, the earliest member of the Bushrod family to settle in Virginia entered
his name in the records of the Eastern Shore as a mer1York County Records, Vol. 1638-48, p. 63, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
13 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. XII., p. 36.
88




eHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


chant.'4 Richard Death, a well-known citizen of Isle
of Wight county, about this time, in his will, devised
property to a son belonging to the guild of Merchant
Tailors in London.15 Captain Robert Felgate, of York,
who was even more prominent in the Colony, was a
brother of William Felgate, of the guild of skinners
in the same great city; in his will, bearing the date of
1644, he referred to himself as "gentleman," a term
which had also been applied to Toby Felgate on his
arrival in 1619.16 Among the persons who acquired
patents to lands situated within the boundary of Shirley Hundred, was John Brewer, a member of the Grocer's Guild of London, whose sons settled permanently
in Virginia.'7  The Allertons, of the Northern Neck, a
family of great distinction in the Colony, and possessing a wide and prominent connection through marriage, were sprung from Isaac Allerton, an English
merchant-tailor.18 Samuel Haywood, who intermarried
with the Washingtons, and was himself the founder of
an influential family, was the son of a wealthy merchant of London.19
Henry Corbin, of Westmoreland county, who, as we
have seen, traced his pedigree to the Corbins of Hall
End, in Warwickshire, a family of high standing among
the English country gentry, had a brother in London
14Northampton County Records, orders July 29, 1644.
1Isle of Wight County Records, Wills for 1647.
York County Records, Vol. 1633-94, pp. 71-2, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
Brown's First Republic, pp. 371, 413. Toby Felgate was alive in
1630, as we know from a land patent which he acquired in that year.
1TVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., p. 183. Brewer himself
died in Virginia.
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 39
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 40.
84




IN '9H6 SEeNTeeNTH CEN'TURY


who belonged to the guild of leather sellers.20 A cousin
of James Ashton, of the same county, a member very
probably of the ancient family of Ashtons, of Spalding,
in Lincolnshire, followed the trade of haberdasher in
Covent Garden.21 The Corbin and Ashton families,
each in the full enjoyment of a distinguished social position in England, illustrated in the same striking way
as the Claiborne family, the powerful influence that
led some members to engage in trade in England, and
others to seek their fortunes in Virginia. Cadwallader
Jones, of Rappahannock county, was the son of Richard Jones, a London merchant.22 A son of Richard
Lee, the emigrant, left Virginia, and, making his home
in that city, remained in business there until his
death.23  Mrs. Sarah Thoroughgood, of Lower Norfolk
county, was sprung from two Lord Mayors of London,
who had made large fortunes in trade.24    The ancestor
of the Booker family, which acquired prominence at a
later date, was an English merchant, who carried on a
large trade with Virginia about the middle of the
seventeenth century.25
20 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 30.
2Letters of William Fitzhugh, January 30, 1686-7; Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. X., p. 292. The Ashton home in Virginia was
known as "Chatterton," the name of the residence of the Lancashire
branch in England, the original seat of the family.
22 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 31.
2Lee of Virginia, p. 71.
4 Mrs. Thoroughgood was the direct descendant of William Offley,
third Lord Mayor of Stafford. One of his sons was Sir Thomas Offley.
A second accumulated a large fortune as a tradesman in London. A
son of this merchant married Ann Osborne, a daughter of Sir Edward,
Lord Mayor of London. Her mother was a daughter of Lord Mayor
Hewitt. Sarah Offley was a daughter of Ann Osborne.
sVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 95.
85




53H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF 'VIGINIA


A brother of John and Henry Batte, sons of a ViceMaster of Oxford University, and the first of their
name to remove to Virginia, as already mentioned, was
a member of the Grocers' guild in London.26 Richard
Bennett, who belonged to the family which Lord Arlington had made so conspicuous in England, was the
nephew of an English merchant, who was interested
in the trade with the Colony.27     William  Byrd, the
founder of one of the most distinguished families in
Virginian history, was the son of a London banker or
goldsmith,28 whilst the Blands, who traced back to English landed proprietors, were sprung directly from
Adam   Bland, a member of the skinners' guild in the
same city. Of the two sons of Adam Bland, one followed the business of a merchant tailor; the other, that
of a grocer.29 Both the father and uncle of Thomas
and Philip Ludwell were participants in the trade of
mercers. The father, as we have seen, had married a
niece of Lord Cottington, one of the most famous public men of those times.30 The first of the Fitzhughs is
said to have been the grandson of a maltster of Bedford; through whom, however, he was, with some probability, related to the Fitzhughs of Ravensworth, the
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 79.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III., pp. 53, 54.
28 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 153.
2 Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 83,
note; Va. Hist. Soc. Pub. See, also, Hayden's "Virginia Genealogies."
0 Waters' Gleanings, p. 719; Lee of Virginia, p. 127; William
and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 110. Mrs. Bland testified that
her husband had spent ten thousand pounds sterling on his plantation in Virginia. Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XX., pp.
238, 350.
86




IN 'GHE SveNTreeNTH CeNTURY


possessors, as already stated, of a barony.31  Philip
Lupo, of Isle of Wight county, was the son of a London
goldsmiths.
Among the leading families which were associated
with York county, were the Vaulx and Munford. The
member of the Vaulx family, Thomas, by name, who
was a justice of that county in 1670, seems to have
been accompanied to Virginia by Humphrey and James
Vaulx. The three were brothers of Robert Vaulx, a
wealthy merchant of London, who, at one time, resided in the Colony, but perhaps only to obtain a practical knowledge upon the ground of the character of
the business, for he returned to England.33 William
Munford came over to Virginia as the agent of his
brother, John Munford, a London grocer; he describes
himself in various deeds, sometimes as "rL.rcer," and
sometimes as "tobacconist."  It is possible  hgtt.thpse
two early merchants were brothers, or at least near
relations, of Robert Munford, to whom the well-known
family of Munfords of Virginia trace their origin.34
Among the merchants trading in York county, who
left descendants, was to be found Thomas Griffith,
who had emigrated from London.85     Hugh Stanford,
who died in that county in 1657, was the brother of
Anthony Stanford, a prominent merchant of the same
8 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII.; see Fitzhugh Family.
82 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVI., p. 119.
88York County Records, Vol. 1684-87, p. 170, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. III., p. 14.
8William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 153, Vol. VI., p.
128; York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, pp. 28, 135, Va. St. Libr.
Copy.
" William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VIII., p. 202.
87




q3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA
great city.36 The first members of the Washington
family to emigrate, through the marriages of their
cousins, the daughters of Sir William Washington,
were also connected with the trades of London; Susannah was the wife of Reginald Graham, a member
of the draper guild, and her sister, of Colonel William
Legge, a descendant of a Lord Mayor, who had accumulated a large estate by his talents for business.37
Among the leading citizens of York county was
Peter Perry, a brother of Micajah Perry, who had
also filled the same great office of Lord Mayor, and
who was perhaps the most conspicuous English merchant engaged, during the seventeenth century, in
supplying the planters of Virginia with goods of all
kinds in exchange for tobacco, in which trade he sucWilliPA White, a London haberdasher, had a brother who resided
in Virginia; Jeremy Robins, a fringe weaver, a daughter. Va.
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 63. Roger Williamson a
merchant tailor of London, also had a brother in the colony; Edward
Fabian, also a merchant tailor of London, a son, to whom he bequeathed property in England. Ibid., Vol. XV., p. 180; Vol. XVII.,
p. 71. The following London merchants were associated with Virginia: John Starke, Ibid., Vol. XIV., p. 303: John Juxon, salter,
Ibid., Vol. XV., p. 319; John Beauchamp, vintner, Ibid., Vol. XVI.,
p. 193; Edmund Crafford, Ibid., Vol. XIX., p. 289; Richard Richmond, leather seller, Ibid., Vol. XV., p. 180; Thomas Weston, Ibid.,
Vol. XXIV., p. 236; John Mercer, Ibid., XIV., p. 425. Richard Fielding, who owned lands in Virginia, was a merchant of Bristol. The
ancestors of John Ralph were merchants of Lynn, Ibid., Vol. XIX.,
p. 203.
87 Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, p. XVII. Colonel William Legge
was the ancestor of the present Earl of Dartmouth. Sir William
Washington had married a half-sister of the Duke of Buckingham.
The marriage of his daughter Susannah shows the social standing of
successful members of the London Guilds at that period.
88




IN SHe eRTe rTH eeNTU


ceeded in making a large fortune. It is probable that,
like so many settlers in the Colony who were connected by ties of family with wealthy English merchants, Peter Perry combined the calling of a planter
with the occupation of looking after his brother's interests in that part of Virginia. William Lee, a resident of the same county, was a brother of George Lee,
a merchant of London, who enjoyed a profitable share
in the Colonial trade.38   Miles Cary, the first of the
Cary family to leave England, and a relative of Lord
Hunsdon, was the son of John Cary, a woolen draper
of Bristol.39 The Bollings, who, by the marriage of
John Bolling with Jane Rolfe, descended from Pocahontas, and whose social prominence began in the
seventeenth century, were derived from Robert Bolling, a sadler, and Thomas Clarke, a silk throwster
of London.40 The original Bollings were seated at
Bolling Hall. After Rosamond Bolling's marriage to
Sir Richard Tempest, her brother resided at Chellow.
It was a member of the Chellow branch who became
a merchant of London. The Peytons, who, like the
88 For Perry and Lee, see William and Mary College Quart., Vol.
I., p. 80, et seq.
8" The will of Alice Cary, of Stepney, Middlesex, bequeathed "to my
grandfather, John Cary, of Bristol, woolen draper, one shilling, and
to my uncle, Myles Cary, one shilling."-Waters's Gleanings, p. 1056.
The first of the well-known Baskerville family in Virginia was the
brother of Henry Baskerville, a fishmonger of London. The Baskervilles, like so many English families of good position, in that era,
had been forced to turn to trade for a livelihood. Va. Maga. of
Hist. and Biog., Vol. XV., p. 58. This was also the case with the
Branches, who became woolen drapers; William and Mary College
Quarterly Maga., Vol. XXIV., p. 205.
"Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, see Bolling Family.
89




e3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Skipwiths, were represented in the Colony by a baronet, traced their ancestry back to Sir Edward Osborne, a member of the guild of cloth-workers, a Lord
Mayor of London, and the founder of the ducal house
of Leeds in the English peerage. Henry Peyton, who
settled in Stafford county, had before his emigration
from the Mother Country, been a member of a trading
guild.41 Henry Freeman, a landowner of York county,
had formerly been a mercer at Chipping Norton in
Oxfordshire, while Isaac Clopton, who was a justice
of York county in 1676, had been a haberdasher before
leaving England.42
The Harwar family was probably sprung from Samuel Harwar, a merchant tailor of London.43    Henry
Sewell, a prominent citizen of Lower Norfolk county,
where his name is perpetuated in Sewell's Point on
Hampton Roads, was not only the son of a merchant,
but also, in early life, served a full apprenticeship to a
trade in Yarmouth, England.44  The first of the Buckners to settle in Virginia was closely connected by
blood with a wealthy family of the same name established in business in London, one of whom belonged
to the guild of merchant-tailors.45 Thomas Wardley,
of York county, was the heir of Thomas Wardley, a
leading member of the same guild, and drew an income from property which his father had devised him
41Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, see Peyton Family.
2William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 165; Vol. V., p. 80.
43 York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 458, Va. St. Libr.
4Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-1666, p. 3742.
6Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-66, folio, p. 82. It is not
improbable that the Buckners of Virginia were sprung directly from
one of the London merchants.
90




IN 3HE SeUeNTeeNTH CeNTUrY


in Cheapside.4" About 1665, James Bailey, a draper
living in London, made a grant of live-stock to his
sister-in-law, who had gone out to Virginia.47  Five
years later, William Collin, a member of the weaver's
guild in the same city, settled in the Colony.48 John
Sandford, a resident of Lower Norfolk county, was a
near kinsman of Richard Sandford, of Exeter, who
followed the trade of dyer, one of the most important
in England.49 The Booths were closely related to Richard Booth, a leading merchant of London, and member
of a family which, as we have seen, numbered among
their kindred the Earls of Warrington.5~ The Custis
family was sprung from a Dutch innkeeper who had
emigrated to Holland from England.
The sister of the elder Nathaniel Bacon married Anthony Smith, a member of the guild of tanners. Her
grandfather, Sir James Bacon, of Friston Hall, the
cousin of the Chancellor, and a close kinsman of the
Lord Keeper of the same surname, was the son of a
member of the guild of salters. Richard Foote, who
emigrated to Virginia near the close of the seventeenth
century, was the son of a person of the same name
who had accumulated a fortune in trade in England.
Members of this family were owners of large estates
in Cornwall, and were entitled to bear arms; among
the distinguished men whom the family produced was
Samuel Foote, who enjoyed great celebrity as an
46York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 358, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
47York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 189, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
8 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VIII., p. 256.
4 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 16.
'~British Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 1676-81, p. 182.
91




'G6H SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


actor.51 John Beauchamp, who is referred to in the
records as "of James River, gentleman," was a brother
of William Beachamp, a member of the guild of vintners in London. John Beachamp himself had, at one
time, perhaps, been a merchant in the same city, for,
about 1678, a person of that name was engaged in
business in St. Giles parish, Cripplegate without. The
estate which he owned in Virginia at his death was
transferred by his heirs to his brother, the vintner.62
Samuel Timson, a leading citizen of York county about
1683, had formerly been a woodmonger of London.
William Fellowes, a member of the same guild, had
married the widow of Captain Philip Chesney, of the
Colony.53 James Crews, of Henrico county, was a near
kinsman of James and Mathew Crews, who followed
the calling of haberdashers in London; their niece was
the wife of William Whittingham, of that city, whose
name always appeared in legal papers accompanied
by the term "gentleman."54 About 1687, Otho Thorpe,
a merchant of London, devised his estate in Virginia
to his niece and other relatives.65
A small number of prominent families in Virginia
in the seventeenth century were sprung directly from
sea-captains, who, in some cases, had combined with
that calling the business of active traders in the mer5 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 73.
62Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 75, 79.
"8 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 208; York County
Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 98.
H6enrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 306.
65York County Records, Vol. 1684-7, p. 270, Va. St. Libr. Copy.
This list could be greatly extended. See, for other English merchants
connected by social ties with Virginia, the 'Virginia Gleanings in
England" in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
92




IN SeHE VeNTeNTH eCNTUR


chandise which they imported into the Colony. As a
rule, these seamen were a superior body of men, and
when they came to settle in the community, made valuable citizens. They had, for years, been exposed to the
perils of repeated ocean voyages at a time when these
voyages were far more adventurous than they are now;
and they had thus grown to be cool and self-reliant in
the face of danger, and to bear all hardships with firmness. As they navigated their own ships, it followed
that they possessed a certain amount of general education as well. as special scientific information. Visiting the Colony year after year, they must have grown
thoroughly familiar with all the conditions of trade
and agriculture prevailing there, and this knowledge,
no doubt, stood them in good stead when they decided
to buy land and become permanent residents. Such
was conspicuously the case with Mindert Doodes, the
Dutch sea-captain who settled in Virginia and became
the ancestor of the Minor family. John Newton, master mariner, emigrated to Virginia and was the progenitor of a distinguished line.56 Thomas Ball, the
first member of the Ball family whose name appears in
the records of Lancaster county, where he was a large
landowner, was always designated as "mariner" in
deeds.57 Thomas Willoughby, of Lower Norfolk county, referred to himself in a like manner in private grants,
and William Gange in public patents.68 A member of
the celebrated Evelyn family of Wotton was master of
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XXX., p. 301.
"'Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1654-1702, p. 20. Ball seems
to have been a citizen of Northampton county in 1655.
"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-1666, p. 285; Va.
Land Patents for 1624.
98




qHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


a ship in the Virginia trade.59 Isaac Foxcroft, who
was prominent in the affairs of Northampton about
1675, described himself in deeds as "mariner, of Kingston-upon-Hull."60 Robert Ranson and Samuel Milburn,
of Elizabeth City County, were similarly designated.61
Nicholas Jordan, a citizen of Lower Norfolk county,
devised his estate, at least in part, to his brother, Robert Jordan, "mariner," of London, who probably, before his death, settled in Virginia.62  Land was owned
in the Colony also by ship-surgeons; for instance, Dr.
James Montgomery, of the man-of-war, St. Albans,
who died at Richmond, England, about 1697, left his
property in Virginia to be divided between his two
brothers.63
The surviving county records of Virginia during the
seventeenth century contain an extraordinary array
of names, which have always been especially well
known on account of their intimate association with
English social or political history. This is peculiarly
notable in the earliest records of the Eastern Shore,
69 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XX., p. 246. William Ewens
of Greenwich, another sea captain, owned lands in Virginia, Va.
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XVIII, p. 307.
"6See Northampton County Deeds for 1675.
6 Elizabeth City County Records, Orders June 19, 1699.
62Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1666-75, p. 67. Cornelius
Calvert always referred to himself in deeds as "Mariner." See Records of Lower Norfolk County. Calvert was the first of the wellknown family of that name long associated with that part of Virginia. Captain Samuel Each and also Captains Warren and Opie
owned lands in Virginia; Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vols. XVII.,
p. 444; XVIII., p. 90; XX., p. 70.
8Waters's Gleanings, Will of Montgomery; see, also, York County
Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 118, Va. St. Libr.
94




IN GHE SeeVNTeeNH NCNTURY


where, until recent times, owing to the isolation of
this fertile peninsula, the population remained perhaps
more purely English in origin than in any other part
of our country. Attached to the depositions, land
grants, wills, and the like, preserved in these records,
will be found such names as Whittington, Stanley, Tatham, Carew, Goring, Wraxall, Fowke, Blake, Salisbury, Walpole, Capel, Luddington, Nottingham.64
Empson, Ratcliffe, Cade, Pitt, Sommerville, Mortimer,
Fortescue, Somerset, Bloomfield, Harrington, and Marlow. We find in the earliest Surry Records such names as
Cotton, Roscoe, Osborne, Shrewsbury, Shelly; in the
York, Hyde, Peverill, Cromwell, Perceval, Wentworth;
in Henrico, Lisle, NApier, Milton, Bathurst; in Elizabeth City and adjacent counties, Knox, Barham,66 and
Goodrich; in Isle of Wight, Bradshaw; in Richmond,
Bruce, Ridley, and Litton; in Rappahannock, Paget,
Parr, Lowther, Gower, Swinburne, Morpeth, Burgoyne, St. John, and Blackstone; in Middlesex, Wharton and Churchill.66 The men who bore these famous
After two hundred and fifty years' association with the social
and political life of the Eastern Shore, the Nottingham family continues to-day to be one of the most prominent of all those seated in
that part of Virginia. This is also true of many others which might
be mentioned, such as the Wise, Wilkins, Kendall, Harmanson, etc.
Up to a recent date, the Eastern Shore was very much cut off from
the rest of the world, and in consequence of this fact, the continuity
of its family history was perhaps more unbroken than was to be
observed anywhere else in the United States.
6Anthony Barham, "gentleman," resided on Mulberry Island in
James river.
8Many of these old English names have, in the course of time,
become corrupted, such as Shrowsby for Shrewsbury and Tatum for
Tatham. The pure English origin of the stock of people residing
in Virginia in the seventeenth century is brought out very clearly
95




3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRIGINIA


names were, in many instances, owners of large estates
or held prominent offices.
Many families conspicuous in New England at this
time, or at a later period, were also represented in
Virginia. Among the leading ones in Accomac were
the Sturgis, Smalley, Dewey, and Washburn, whilst
the Ravenscroft name was as well known in Virginia
as in the northern colonies.67 Colonel Isaac Allerton,
of the Northern Neck, was the son of Isaac Allerton,
one of the Pilgrims who arrived in the "Mayflower,"
and, through his mother, the grandson of William
Brewster, the leader of that memorable company.
Among the planters residing in that part of the Colony
were the Broughtons and Lords, who had at first settled in New England. Several of these emigrants
from the North, or their descendants of the same name,
acquired some political importance; for instance,
among the Burgesses elected in 1696, were John Washburne, Michael Sherman, and Joshua Story.68
It is not likely that the persons who came to Virginia
from New England exercised any Puritan influence
on the higher social life of the former Colony. The
only trace of Puritan feeling in the more conspicuous
families is observed in an occasional given name which
by comparing any list of Virginia land owners during that centurylet us say the Rent Roll of 1704-1705, which belonged to its last
years-with the names appearing in the index of either Pepys's
Diary or Evelyn's Diary covering the same period. Another interesting comparison would be with the names seen to-day on the street
signs of London.
67 Samuel Ravenscroft came to Virginia from New England about
1691-2; see Minutes of Assembly, April 25, 1692, British Colonial
Entry Book, Vol. 1682-95.
6 Minutes of H. of Burgesses Sept. 25, 1696, B. T. Va., Vol. LII.
96




IN reH SeVENT&eNTH eCNTUR


had really come into common use during the period
when Puritan thought was so prevalent among the
whole body of the Church of England; it was doubtless then that Temperance became a favorite name in
the Yeardley and Cocke families, Priscilla in the Farrar, Prudence in the Morris and Obedience in the
Robins.
The prominent families that reached Virginia by
way of Barbadoes were as numerous as those that
came in by way of New England. It was from this
island that the Walkes, of Lower Norfolk county, and
the Perrins and Marshalls, of Elizabeth City, emigrated to the Colony.69
e Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, p. 2122. Elizabeth
City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, pp. 212, 393, Va. St. Libr.
97




VIII
THE YEOMEN
IN every civilized country, however aristocratic may
be its institutions, the great majority of the people
till the soil with their own hands. At best, they are
simply small landowners. This was the condition in
Colonial Virginia, as it was the condition in England
during the same period. The Rent Roll of 1704-1705
gives an accurate enumeration of both the small and
the large landowners at the end of the seventeenth
century. It should be remembered that Virginia during that century embraced only the narrow area bounded on the north by the lower Rappahannock River; on
the west by a line drawn from Fredericksburg to Richmond, to Petersburg, to Suffolk, to Norfolk; and on the
South by the line that separates Carolina and Princess
Anne county. There are to-day hardly twenty contracted counties and half counties within this area. A
view of the whole of it could be obtained from the top
of another Washington Monument placed in Richmond; and a fast motor car could traverse it from
north to south in seven hours, and from west to east
in four. Within this limited compass, the Rent Roll
of 1704-1705 reveals that there were at least four hundred and fifty families who owned from one thousand
acres to ten thousand or more; and seven hundred and
fifty families who owned from five hundred acres to one
thousand. In each of these small counties, there was
an average of twenty families that owned from one
98




IN GHE Se6VNTeNTH ENTURY


thousand acres to ten thousand acres or more, and
forty families who owned from five hundred to one
thousand. There are very many estates mentioned in
the Rent Roll of 1704-1705, that ran from eight thousand acres to fifteen thousand, and even to twenty
thousand-such, for instance, as the estates of the
Byrds, Ludwells, Eppeses, Randolphs, Beverleys, Armisteads, Aliens, Harrisons, Pages, Bassetts, and others. It should be borne in mind that the Rent Roll of
1704-1705 does not embrace the large estates of the
Washingtons, Lees, Spencers, Carters, and the like
landed magnates of the Northern Neck.
What was the actual number of small landowners in
Virginia at this time? It was these petty landowners
who made up the class of Yeomen in the social system
of the Colony. There were fourteen hundred and
eleven families who respectively possessed one hundred
acres or less, and two thousand, six hundred and ninetythree families that respectively possessed between one
hundred acres and five hundred acres. To summarize
together the figures for both the small and large landowners, we find that there were four thousand, one
hundred and four families who owned respectively from
a few acres up to five hundred acres; and about twelve
hundred who respectively owned estates in excess of
five hundred acres. In other words, one in every four
families in Virginia at the end of the seventeenth century owned from five hundred acres to twenty thousand acres. Was the proportion of large landowners
to small very much greater in the aristocratic England
of that day than it was in the contemporary Virginia?
It is debatable whether the small landowners were
more important economically than the large, if we
99




S3HE SOeIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


compare the whole volume of production on the small
estates combined, with the whole volume of production
on the large estates taken together. The far greater
extent of the large estates balanced the greater number
of the small estates by offering an equal area under
actual cultivation.
Were the yeomen of the seventeenth century in Virginia more important politically by mere force of their
greater number than the members of the upper class?
The records refute this supposition. It was the representatives of the gentry who filled the Council, the General Court, the County Court, the vestry, the pulpit, the
clerkships, and every other public office of influence. It
was the representatives of the gentry who expelled
Harvey, backed Berkeley against Parliament, formed
the Long Assembly, and in the person of Bacon, led
the rebellion of 1676, and after his death, put it down;
who opposed Culpeper's and Effingham's encroachments; and who subscribed a fund for the erection of
the College of William and Mary. The roll of the
General Assembly bristles with the names of all the
large seventeenth century landowners.
"Of the members of the Council between 1607 and
1650," says Dr. William G. Stanard, "only two names
can be found which had ever been even technically in
the list of indentured servants. There were during the
seventeenth century, one hundred and seventy-two
members of the Council. The origin of eighty-five is
unknown. Sixty-six were of gentle affiliations. There
were only two known to be yeomen. There was not a
single instance in the House of Burgesses of 1623-1624
of a member of the humble social rank of the servant.
In the session of 1629, there were four instances of for100




IN eGHE S6VENTerNTH CNTURY


mer servants in a membership of forty. One of these
servants, so-called, was Richard Townsend, known to
be a gentleman by birth. In the sessions of March,
1629-1630, there were forty-five members, of whom
only two had appeared originally in the list of servants.
In the session of 1644-1645, there was only one. In
the session of 1649 only two."
The yeomen, in whose ranks we also include all those
persons in the communities of Virginia in the seventeenth century who had become small landowners after
passing through a period of indentured service, were
as inferior socially to their neighbors of the gentry as
the same class in contemporary England were to the
principal English landowners, but there is no reason
to believe that they cringed in the slightest degree to
the families which possessed the greatest social and
political power in the community.1 In the first place,
it is quite probable that a large proportion of the small
landowners had, in consequence of money they had
brought over from England, been able to purchase
estates as soon as they arrived in the Colony, or at
least to sue out patents to public lands, by buying as
many head rights as they could afford to do.2 Inde1William Puckett, of Henrico county, was, in this respect, a fair
representative of his class in the communities of that day. When,
in an altercation with him, in 1679, Major Chamberlaine heaped on
him opprobrious epithets, Puckett replied with utmost promptness
and spirit. See Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 98.
2The following entries show the character and condition in England, before their emigration, of many small Virginian land-owners in
the seventeenth century; they bear the date of 1658: "William Webb
obtains certificate from justices of Tewksbury Borough, England,
that he, his wife, and family are nowe and for divers years last
past have lived civilly and orderly within this towne." He obtained
101




3HE8 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


pendent pecuniarily, in however small a way, in the
Mother Country before they emigrated, they remained
independent in the Colony after they had established
themselves there permanently. In the second place, the
life of comparative isolation which they led nourished
in them a spirit of self-reliance, and their mastership
of their own properties, though contained within narrow boundaries, fostered in them a spirit of manly
pride. Finally, they were in full possession of the suffrage, which gave them, as a body, a considerable degree of political power, a privilege, which apart from
all else tending in the same direction, was certain
to ensure them importance, if not individually, then
as a mass.
Nor did the fact that many small landowners had at
one time been agricultural hands under articles of indenture operate to lower the importance of this section
of the community taken as a whole. Most of the
indentured servants had, of their own accord, come
out from England with a view of obtaining
immediate employment in the Colony, and with the
hope that, at a later date, they might secure a small
homestead of their own there. They belonged, as a
rule, to the class of English farm laborers, who were
as distinguished for intelligence and industry as any
laborers in that age. With the more numerous oppora second certificate from the church-wardens of Bushley parish,
County Worcester, that he was born in that parish: "Besides I doe
knowe that Stephen Webbe, the father, was a freeholder of several
lands within the Manour of Bushley, and lived there for many
yeares." William Webb was seeking to prove his right to property
which his brother and nephew had left at their deaths in Virginia.
See Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72, p. 145, Va. St. Libr.
102




INX 'H SeVENTeeNTH C(eTURT


tunities opened to them in Virginia to improve their
condition, there is reason to think that a very considerable proportion of this class of emigrants, when their
terms expired, became owners of small estates, which
they were able to acquire by superior prudence and
economy.3
Towards the end of the century, the estimation in
which the small landowners (whether they were men
who had arrived with means, or had once served as
laborers in the Colony), were held was, from a social
point of view, greatly raised by the steady increase in
the number of African slaves introduced into Virginia.
The presence of the negro bondsman had a marked
tendency to promote pride of race among the members
of every class of white people; to be white gave the distinction of color even to the agricultural servants,
whose condition, in some respects, was not much removed from that of actual slavery; to be white and also
to be free, combined the distinction of color with the
distinction of liberty; and the two were all the more
important if joined to the possession of considerable
property.
There are numerous proofs that any suggestion as
to social equality with the negro was resented even by
the most indigent and illiterate section of the white
population. An instance that occurred in York county in 1681, shows the feeling prevailing on this point
among white working men, on whom alone a slave was
likely to have intruded himself, although in this case
8 See Bruce's Econ. Hist. of Va. in the Seventeenth Century. Vol.
I., chap. IX.; Vol. II., chap. X. For a discussion of the criminal
elements in the population of Virginia in the seventeenth century,
see same work, Vol. I., pp. 589-612.
108




WHE SOCIAL LIFe OF VIRGINIA


the slave's mistress, and not the slave himself, committed the fault complained of. Mrs. Vaulx, a woman of
high social position, sent her slave, Frank, to negotiate
a matter of business with James Macarty and Edward
Thomas, who were apparently mechanics. The latter
evidently resented the selection of a black man to convey to them such an important message, for they curtly
informed him that "they were not company for negroes," which seems to have ended the interview.4
Whilst the Indian, like the negro, could also, by law,
be held in slavery, he seems, from a social point of view,
to have enjoyed higher consideration with the white
people; this is disclosed by the fact that there was no
prohibition of the marriage of Indians with white persons, while the intermarriage of whites and blacks was
strictly interdicted. There are instances in which the
county courts expressly granted permission to a white
man to take an Indian servant to wife; for example,
in 1688, Benjamin Clamm, of Henrico county, was licensed by the justices to marry Sue, an Indian girl in
the employment of John Cox.5 The marriage of John
Rolfe and Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, had
established a romantic precedent, which, no doubt, had
its influence in diminishing the popular prejudice
against such unions; the blood of the Indian princess
flowed in the veins of some of the leading men in the
Colony; and this fact alone was well calculated to remove any impression that such alliances were dishonorable. Moreover, the negro arrived in Virginia, not
only a wretched slave, torn from his country, but also
'York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 362.
Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1671, p. 206, Va. St. Libr.
104




INX 'H$ SEVENT66NTH eCNTUEY


an indescribably low and bestial savage, as hideous in
aspect as he was brutish in instinct and mean in intelligence. The Indian, on the other hand, belonged to a
superior race, was brave and hardy in spirit, and often
of remarkable dignity in appearance and stateliness
of manner; and as a member of an independent nation,
joined with the whites on equal terms in declaring war,
and making treaties of peace. All these facts, so promotive of his importance as a man were not likely to
be forgotten in social intercourse.


105




IX
SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS
THE quickness with which the founders of such families as the Lee, Wormeley, Jennings, Randolph, Robinson, and Beverley, rose to great influence after their
arrival, shows that they were in a position to acquire
lands in the Colony at once, because they had brought
over with them the necessary means, which they had
either inherited or received from their fathers. John
Page, Miles Cary, and Nicholas Spencer continued to
own property in England long after they had been in
possession of large estates in Virginia.' The earliest
patents sued out by nearly all of the emigrants whose
names soon became socially distinguished in the colony,
prove that they had, quite from the beginning, some
fortune at their command with which to secure a share
in the soil, and to establish a home; the large properties
accumulated by them all were, like those of William
Fitzhugh, Robert Beverley, and the elder Nathaniel
Bacon, the result of extraordinary foresight and prudence, but a prudence and foresight which had something more than a mere determination to win success
to start with. A marked proportion of these families,
as we have seen, were sprung directly from merchants
who were not likely to allow their sons to go out to
Virginia in the condition of penniless adventurers.
Virginia was a promising community for persons
without capital, who were ready to earn a subsistence
Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century,
Vol. II., pp. 246-247. Many other instances might be given.
106




IN THE SeV8NT68NTH eeNTURY


by working with their bare hands, but not for persons
without any capital who were seeking to make their
way with their wits alone.
Apart from the few individuals engaged in the professions, there were, along economic lines, only two
divisions of the population, one of which was represented by the landowner, and the other by the common
laborer. The young Englishman reaching the Colony
with some means of support, could at once secure an
interest in the soil; but, on the other hand, if he arrived
without such means, he was compelled to become at
once an agricultural servant. Whilst the general conditions prevailing made possible the accumulation of
large estates by combining trading and planting, the
chances were not so extraordinary as to allow many
men of the lowest social origin to become rich by some
stroke of fortune, or a succession of strokes, and thus
found families in the possession of every social advantage which the Colony offered. The only prominent figure in the social life of Virginia in the seventeenth century who is known to have passed his first years there
under articles of indenture, resembling those of an ordinary laborer, was Adam Thoroughgood. As his
nearest relative in England, a brother, was a baronet, it
is quite probable that, like a good many young Englishmen of that and a later day who established themselves
in Virginia, his object in beginning in so humble a way,
was to obtain a practical knowledge of planting tobacco; and that he was in possession of pecuniary resources with which to make the most of this knowledge as
soon as it was obtained.
It was a conspicuous feature of the social life of Virginia during the seventeenth century, that, like the po107




eGH$ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


litical system, it was thoroughly organized from the beginning. There was no period in the history of that
social life when it resembled the social life of a community situated on our extreme western frontier,
where all social distinctions are merged in a rude social equality. From the hour when the voyagers disembarked at Jamestown in May, 1607, all those social
divisions which had existed immemorially in England, took root in the soil of a new country; the line of
social separation between the gentleman and the common laborer was even sharper than that between the
military officer and the ordinary soldier, or between the
civilian officer and the private citizen. Not even in the
interval of terrible want and sickness following during the first summer after the arrival of the earliest
expedition, were these social divisions forgotten, simply because, under the influence of inherited feeling
and habit, and by the force of actual law, all Englishmen recognized and acted upon differences in social
rank.
When we picture to ourselves the vast wilderness
which formed the background of Jamestown in 1610,
a wilderness of forest tenanted only by wild beasts
and painted Indians, there seems an element of ludicrous incongruity in the pomp and ceremony which
De la Warr adopted on every public occasion, and in
the rigid etiquette which he, as nobleman and governor,
required to be observed in relation to himself. An impression is made that he was extraordinarily solemn
and formal by nature, but this impression, which was
undoubtedly true in a measure, did not represent all
the influences directing his action. De la Warr had
come out to Virginia as a great nobleman, as an almost
108




INX EHE S&VeNTENTH CENTURY


absolute governor and captain-general, and, finally, as
the trusted representative of that powerful company
of peers, knights, and gentlemen who had obtained the
new charter of 1609. Virginia was not a colony composed of a single village and a few small plantations;
it was a great province of England, a wilderness, as
yet, it is true, but a wilderness that was certain, in
time, to become wealthy and thickly inhabited. In
exalting the authority of office so characteristic of those
times, the disposition of De la Warr was to consider
simply the dignity of his position, however nominal that
dignity really was in the light of the handful of settlers
huddled together in misery at Jamestown. And in
adopting so much ceremonial in that little community,
he was only doing what any other great English nobleman appointed governor and captain-general of a part
of the kingdom, whether populous like Scotland or Ireland, or with only a few white people like Virginia,
would have done.              1
The spirit which governed De la Warr officially and
personally was the spirit which, in a modified way, pervaded the entire social life of Virginia throughout the
seventeenth century. The community, from a social
point of view, was as if some shire of England, with its
whole population, had been moved bodily over sea. In
no sense was it a community which, in its social framework, had grown along lines entirely peculiar to itself.
Every Englishman who, in those early times, went out
to the Colony, carried over the unconscious tenacity of
De la Warr in claiming every form of social consideration to which he had been entitled in England itself.
There was not the smallest desire to leave the old privileges and customs behind. Virginia was not looked
109




CtHe SOeIAL LIFe OF TVIGINIA


upon as a new country; it was simply an outlying possession, like the islands of Jersey and Guernsey; and
there was no more reason why the emigrant, in going
thither, should abandon all those opinions as to the
proper constitution of society, which he had inherited,
than if he were about to make a visit to Devon or
Hampshire, where marked gradations in social position had been recognized for over a thousand years.
He would find no great noblemen there, it is true, but
this would be the result, not so much of the framework
of its society, as of the remoteness of the Colony from
England, and its comparatively limited degree of economic development as yet.
The other proofs of social distinctions and divisions
would be as conspicuous to the emigrant on his arrival
in Virginia as they had been to him in England himself. For instance, one of the most ordinary social
badges in use was the coat-of-arms. One distinguished
student of Virginian genealogy in the seventeenth century has declared that, after a long course of investigation, he is unaware of a single person whose name
in deeds is followed by the term "gentleman," who was
not entitled to use a coat-of-arms. This would fulfill
the definition of a "gentleman" given by Sir Edward
Coke.2 If this statement holds good for all who were
so designated in public and private documents during
this century, which however, is highly questionable,
then the number of persons legally entitled to coatsof-arms was as great in Virginia, in proportion to
population, as it was in England. In three counties
alone, namely, Essex, Lancaster, and Middlesex, the
records of which for the century have been very much
2Lyon G. Tyler in William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I, p. 112.
110




IN 'GHE SeV6NTENTH CeNTURY


cut down by different vicissitudes, there were at least
forty-seven families which regularly made use of coatsof-arms.,
There is no reason to think that armorial bearings
were as freely and loosely assumed in those early times
as they are so often now, under Republican institutions;
such bearings were then a right of property, as clearly
defined as any other, and continue to be in modern
England what they were in colonial Virginia. In the
seventeenth century, when so large a proportion of the
persons occupying the highest position in the society
of the Colony were natives of England, the unwarranted assumption of a coat-of-arms would probably have
been as soon noticed, and perhaps as quickly resented,
as in England itself. The prominent families in Virginia were as well acquainted with the social antecedents of each other in the Mother Country as families
of the same rank in England were with the social antecedents of the leading families in the surrounding
shires; they were, therefore, thoroughly competent
to pass upon a claim of this nature; and the fact that
they were, must have had a distinct influence in preventing a false claim from being put forward. In a
general way, it may be said that it was quite as natural
for Virginians of those times to be as slow and careful
as contemporary Englishmen in advancing a claim of
this kind without a legal right on which to base it, and,
therefore, when they did advance it, that it was likely
to stand the test of examination by the numerous persons in the Colony who must have been familiar with
English coats-of-arms in general.
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 167.
111


(




reH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Before leaving England, some of the emigrants took
care to have their coats-of-arms confirmed; for instance, in 1633, Moore Fauntleroy obtained such a confirmation from the Office of the English Heralds, who,
in their report, declared that this coat-of-arms had
been enjoyed by the Fauntleroys "time out of mind."4
Among the prominent families who are thought to have
possessed a legal right to the coats-of-arms which they
habitually used, were the Bacon, Berkeley, Bland,
Byrd, Bolling, Beverley, Bennett, Burwell, Claiborne,
Cary, Cole, Cocke, Clayton, Digges, Ferrar, Fitzhugh,
Kingsmill, Lee, Ludwell, Ludlow, Milner, Page, Parke,
Robinson, Randolph, Spencer, Thoroughgood, Throckmorton, Thurston, Tucker, of Lower Norfolk county,
Willoughby, Woodhouse, Washington, Booth, Batte,
Chichely, Calthorpe, Fleet, Jennings, Lunsford, Peyton, West, and Wyatt.5 The English ancestry of most
of the founders of these conspicuous families was as
well known in the seventeenth century as the ancestry
of an equal number of persons belonging to the English
gentry of that day. They could follow their genealogical descent with a like precision and accuracy; in
using coats-of-arms in Virginia, they were simply doing what their fathers had done before them in England, and what they themselves had done previous to
their own emigration, and it appeared to them as much
a matter of course to use such coats-of-arms in the
'Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I., p. 224.
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 120. The original
spelling of the Farrar name was Ferrar. Not long after the family
settled in Virginia "a" seems to have been substituted for "e" in the
spelling of the name, probably as more in harmony with its
pronunciation.
112




IN 5HE SEV6NTeeNTH CONTURY


Colony as it would have been had they never left their
native Devon or Sussex, Staffordshire or Lincolnshire.
The possession of coats-of-arms by the leading Virginian families in the seventeenth century is disclosed
in various incidental ways. Insignia of this kind are
frequently included among the personal property appraised in inventories.6 And they were also stamped
on pieces of fine silver plate. In a letter to George
Mason, of Bristol, Fitzhugh requests him to invest
eighty-five pounds sterling, lying in his hands to the
writer's credit, in silver dishes, candlesticks, and the
like, but to be careful to work no arms on them, as this
could be done in Virginia by a servant under indentures to Fitzhugh, whom he declared to be "a singularly
good engraver."7  This is one of the numerous instances which show that this prosperous planter and
lawyer always maintained a thrifty and economical
mind, even when there was a large sum at his command. The purchase of large quantities of silver plate,
not for household display, but as a means of making a
safe investment, was one of the commonest acts of
wealthy Virginians in those early times, but, in the
ordinary course, the engraving was done in England
before the plate was shipped away to the Colony, because it was not likely that any person acquainted with
so difficult an art could be found there.
The custom of carving coats-of-arms on tombs was as
general in Virginia as in the Mother Country itself.
If the person buried underneath was a woman who,
For an instance see inventory of Philip Felgate, Lower Norfolk
County Records, Vol. 1646-1651, p. 47.
7 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 21, 1698. Richard Lee also had
his coat-of-arms engraved on his silver plate.
118




rqH6 SOCIAL LIF6 OF VIRGINIA


during her life, had been married, the coat-of-arms of
husband or father was used indifferently; for instance,
on the tomb of Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon, the elder, who
was a daughter of Richard Kingsmill, the Kingsmill
coat-of-arms is chiseled, whilst the coat-of-arms cut
into the tombstone of a Miss Bassett, who inter-married
with the Aliens, of Claremont, is that of her husband's
family.8 These elaborate gravestones, which are the
counterparts of so many belonging to the same period
still found intact in the English parish church-yards,
were probably, without exception, procured from England, as the coats-of-arms are, as a rule, sculptured
with a skilful precision and a justness of proportion
which could have been shown by trained workmen
alone. It was not an uncommon provision in wills that
the testator's coat-of-arms should be stamped in brass
on his tombstone; for example, in 1674, Colonel Richard Cole gave directions that a slab of black marble,
bearing his coat-of-arms, engraved in this metal,
should, after his death, be purchased in England,
brought over, and laid on the spot where he desired his
body to be buried.9
Owing to the custom prevailing among prominent
families in these early, as in later, times of burying
their dead in the garden near the dwelling house, many
of these costly gravestones, with their elaborate carvings of armorial bearings, have alone remained to mark
the site where a colonial home once stood. The vicissitudes of time have destroyed the residence and dissVa. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., pp. 49, 211. The Allen
arms were the same as those of the Allen family of Derbyshire and
Staffordshire.
9Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-77, folio, p. 186.
114




INX      e H SeVeNTWNTH CNTURY
persed the family, but the tombstone, as compact as
ever, continues to point silently to an era when the social laws and habits of England, inherited from a remote past, but destined in Virginia to perish under
new institutions, followed men in the Colony even when
consigned to the dust. It is not uncommon, even at the
present day, to find these ancient tombstones, with their
facings blackened by storm and sunshine, but still legible, standing in an open field or meadow of Eastern
Virginia.10 Sometimes, the name on one of these stones
has sunk into such obscurity as to have no interest
even for the most learned genealogist. For instance,
on what is known as the Church Pastures Farm, a part
of the Brandon estate, on Lower James River, there is
still to be observed the isolated grave-slab, stamped
with armorial bearings, which informs us that a certain person, "gentleman," was born in London in 1649,
and died in Virginia in 1700.11 There was, perhaps, no
other record in the Colony that such a man ever existed. He represented a case that, no doubt, occurred
very frequently in the seventeenth century; that is to
say, an Englishman of good family emigrated to Virginia, lived and died there childless, and his very name
was soon lost even to tradition. If preserved at all, it
was preserved, like the name of this person, on the
fragment of his tombstone, tossed about a field, and
trodden upon by wandering cattle.
10Such is the situation of the Moseley tombs, in Princess Anne
county, which, however, are still surrounded by a crumbling brick
wall. The remains of the Yeardley tombs are hardy perceptible in
the grounds of the Nottingham home in Northampton county.
" Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol VII., p. 211.
115




r3HE SOeIAL LIFE OF Vfl(GINIA


There was the clearest recognition of class distinctions in every department of Virginian life during the
seventeenth century, a fact brought out in numerous
ways by the silent testimony of the different legal documents which have survived to the present day, after
passing through all the vicissitudes of war and revolution. The colonial custom, following the immemorial
English, was, in such documents, to fix by terms, whose
legal meaning was fully understood, the social position
of the principal persons mentioned therein. The total
omission of a term after a name was as significant in
one way as the insertion of a term was in another.
There were certain particular designations to show calling which were applied generally without social discrimination. In one instance alone, perhaps, did such
a designation carry a distinct inference of social importance without, however, nicely defining its degree;
the word "planter" probably at a late period conveyed
such a meaning. Not long after the abolition of the
company, we find the term "planter" applied to the
lessees whose names appear in the grants of land belonging to the office of governor. The area contained in these
grants was not extensive, and the lessees were men of no
social consequence.'2 Not many years later, the term
"planter" was applied with great freedom, whether the
patentee acquired title in a large tract or in a small;
whether he was a citizen of marked prominence in the
Colony, or possessed no prominence at all. But, by
1675, we find, in the ordinary conveyances, recorded
in the county courts, an indifferent use by the same
man, as applicable to himself, of the terms "gentleSee Va. Land Patents, 1625-30.
116




IN GHe SeVUENTEeNTH CeNTURY


man" and "planter," as if the two were practically interchangeable. At this time, the estates, in many cases,
spread over many thousand acres, and whilst all who
owned and cultivated land of their own, whether great
or small in area, were, in a strict sense planters, the
term may have come to have a subordinate social meaning as applicable to men of large estates, whose social
position by force of birth, as well as of worldly possessions, was among the foremost in the community.
Or it may be, which seems, on the whole, more probable, the person drawing up one of these deeds designated himself there as "gentleman" if he happened at
the moment to think of his social rank, or as "planter"
if he thought of his calling.13
Sometimes, in one deed, a grantor will designate himself as "gentleman"; in a second, as "planter"; and in a
third, as "merchant." The last two terms defined the
pursuits in which he was engaged; the first his social
position. In describing himself as "merchant" or
"planter" in a formal conveyance, such a person may
have had in mind the fact that, by the use of such
terms, he made the more clear the exact identification
of the grantor, and thus diminished the chance of confusion with some one else, who might bear the same
name.
"8John Goode, of Henrico county, in some of the deeds in which
his name appears describes himself as "gentleman"; in others, as
"planter." See Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 189 -90. The following would seem to show that the term "planter"
designated simply the calling without social significance: "Know
all men by these Presents that wee, Walter Jones, Chirurgeon, William Wilson, gent., Richard Street, planter," etc. Elizabeth City
County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 285, Va. St. Libr.
117




r3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


The calling or social rank of the grantee in a deed
was stated with the same particularly as that of the
grantor. One example of this fact, among many
which might be brought forward, will be found in an
agreement, which, about 1679, was entered into by
Robert Bowman and Richard Kennon, of Henrico county; Bowman is designated as "planter" and Kennon as
"merchant"; whilst in a second deed recorded in the
same county, both Martin Elam and John Bowman described themselves as "planters."14
1 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 83-84.
118




x
SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS-Continued
THE men who followed a mechanical trade were as
careful as the planters to apply to themselves in legal
documents the terms used for their special pursuits.
Sometimes a person would designate himself as "gentleman" in one deed and as "cooper" or "carpenter"
in another. This seems to have been the habit with
George Wyatt, the son of Rev. Hawte Wyatt, and the
nephew of Governor Wyatt, a man, who, by birth and
social connections, belonged to the highest social rank
in the Colony.1 Major William Barber, under whose
supervision the capitol at Williamsburg was built, described himself in some deeds as "cooper"; in others
as "carpenter." He was a church-warden, justice of
the county court, a member of the House of Burgesses,
and had married a daughter of Henry Cary, whose
name in legal documents was always coupled with the
designation "gentleman," to which he was entitled as
a member of a family well known to be of gentle descent.2 It was, no doubt, equally applicable to Barber
1See Va. Land Patents for 1642 for patent in which Wyatt
designated himself as "cooper"; William and Mary College Quart.,
Vol. X., p. 60.
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. V., p. 195. Cary himself
was a building contractor. He erected the President's mansion at
the College; St. John's Church at Hampton; and St. Paul's in Hanover county. He was the ancestor of Archibald Cary. Larkin Chew
in various grants styles himself indifferently as "gentleman,"
"builder," or "carpenter." William Randolph sometilies referred to
119




GqHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


also. In those early times, the word "carpenter" expressed more than it does at the present day; it signified not only one who worked in wood with his hands,
but also a builder, architect, and contractor, and it was
not improbable that it was used, in this broader sense,
in connection with Barber himself. And in the same
way, the word "cooper" had a wider meaning than it
now conveys.
"I was born a gentleman," exclaimed Cromwell on
one jccasion in addressing Parliament, "and in the old
social arrangement of a nobleman, a gentleman and a
yeoman, I see a good interest of the nation and a great
one."  Nobleman, gentleman, yeoman-these were the
terms which carried a clear and precise social significance wherever Englishmen had established a community. There was no order of noblemen in Virginia
in the seventeenth century, but there was, to use the
Protector's language, a "social arrangement" of gentlemen and yeomen.3 The term "yeoman" appears with
little frequency in the early land patents, and it was
used to express exactly the same rank as the like term
inserted in a contemporary legal document in the Mothhimself as "carpenter." "The Virginia forefathers," says Dr. Stanard,
"engaged in any kind of business that they thought would be profitable. They did not often do the practical work, but they supervised it. Mr. Cooke did not stand behind the bar he owned at Varina,
nor Charles Carter of Cleve and Nathaniel Harrison of Wakefield
actually work at the ovens in their bakeries; nor did Henry Cary
and Larkin Chew have time to sow and plant." Va. Maga. of Hist.
and Biog., Vol. XXXI., p. 49.
'Macaulay estimated that the yeoman class of England in the
seventeenth century embraced one-seventh of the whole population,
and that the average income of each head of a family belonging to
this class ranged from sixty to seventy pounds sterling; see History,
chap. iii.
120




IN I'He SeVeNTeENTH eENTUrI


er Country. The fact that it was not freely used, is an
evidence that, when employed at all, it was employed
with discrimination. There were only about fifteen
persons so designated in the early land patents; these
were William Spencer, Gabriel Holland, Thomas Sully,
John and Edward Johnson, John and Robert Salford,
Thomas Godby, John Taylor, John Powell, Alexander
Mountney, Elizabeth Dimthorne, William Lamsden,
Thomas Bouldin, John Sibsey, and Adam Dixon. None
of these names, with the exception of Sibsey, became
prominent in the social history of the Colony. The
term "yeoman" is used very often in the county records
long after the names of these early settlers were entered in the land patents. In 1646, John Sawies, of
Surry county, so described himself in a deed; so did
James Pope, of Westmoreland county, in 1660; and
Robert Beverley, of King and Queen county, about 1694.4
Numerous other instances of a like character might be
given; and they continued to occur throughout the
colonial period.5 Originally, "yeoman" meant simply
Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72, p. 37, Va. St. Libr.; Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1653-72, p. 122; Essex County Records, Vol. 1692-95, p. 174, Va. St. Libr. The Beverleys were
probably originally small land-owners in Yorkshire, and were as
such perhaps designated as yeomen. It seems remarkable, however,
that such a term should have been retained by the younger Robert
Beverley, one of the largest landowners in the colony. Its retention
was perhaps due to mere whim, "after the order of the use," as Dr.
W. G. Stanard has pointed out, "of only wooden stools at Beverley's
house, Beverley Park, in King and Queen county; this, too, at a
time when the houses of much poorer men were full of handsome
chairs."
Edward Wilson James in the Lower Norfolk Antiquary (No. I.,
Part 1, p. 46) gives an instance from the records of 1728: "Thomas
Lawson, gentleman, to Nat. Hutchings, yeoman," etc.
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HeH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


a small landowner, and his social position in the community lay between that of the gentleman and that of
the common laborer. Both Pope and Beverley were in
possession of large tracts of land, and both represented
families of prominence.
In conversation, the term "mister" was, no doubt,
applied to both gentlemen and yeomen, but when it
appears in legal documents as a prefix to a name, it
signifies that the person so designated was entitled to
a higher degree of social consideration than was enjoyed by a mere yeoman; the term seems, in fact, to
have been reserved in those early times in all forms of
written and printed matter, such as records and books,
for persons whose claim to be gentlemen in the broad
social sense, was admitted by all. In some cases, the
term appeared to carry so much dignity that it could
only be used properly of one who filled a high political
office; for example, in the list of gentlemen who accompanied the expedition to Virginia in 1607, the first to
go over, Edward Maria Wingfield, the President of the
Council, and as such the Governor of the new Colony,
was the only one whose name was preceded by the
word "mister."6
A similar designation accompanies the names of
many of the grantees appearing in the early land patents; among these names were those of planters, who,
like Thomas Eaton, Adam Thoroughgood, George Menifie, Nathaniel Hooke, and Jeremiah Clement, were
men of recognized prominence in the community.
Whalley, one of the most active lieutenants of Nathaniel Bacon, the younger, in the Insurrection of 1676, is
always honored in the narratives of that uprising by
Works of Capt. John Smith, Vol. I., p. 163, Richmond edition.
122




IN C'3H STeeNTeNTH CeTURY
the title of "mister," which was either a proof of his
high social position, or a tribute to the conspicuous
part played by him in the course of the tumult.7
Sometimes in the same document a man is designated
first by the term "mister," and then by the term "gentleman"; for instance, in the land patents, Adam
Thoroughgood is found very often entered in grants
as "Mr. Adam Thoroughgood, gentleman." The same
joint use of the two words is observed in the county
records; by a deed preserved in Elizabeth City county,
Thomas Tench, of Maryland, conveyed property to
"Mr. William Mallory, gentleman," who was an inhabitant of Virginia8; and a similar use of "mister" and
"gentleman" occurs in deeds passing between Thomas
Wythe and Edmund Swaney, who were justices of the
Elizabeth City county court; it is possible that the high
position which this fact gave them in the community,
apart from birth and fortune, entitled them to the right
to be so elaborately designated in a legal document.
The use of the term "mister" is observed most constantly in the lists of the county tax levies; in these
lists, the word "gentleman" does not appear, whilst the
word "mister" is employed wherever the person whose
name is mentioned could lay claim to any special social
consideration. When the name entered was that of a
man who belonged to a social grade below that of gentleman, it is not accompanied by a designation of any
kind.9
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 3.
8Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, pp. 208, 222, 246,
Va. St. Libr.
A good example of a county levy from the point of view referred
to in the text will be found in the levy for 1696 in the Henrico
County Records for that year.
123




e3He SOeIAL LIFE OF VIIGINIA


Whenever the term "gentleman" appears in the records in the seventeenth century attached to a name,
it was intended to convey a meaning that had been defined with legal precision. It was a term that was never
used loosely, lightly, or indiscriminately in those times,
even in papers without legal importance or significance;
in legal documents, such as the patents and county records, it was applied as nicely and advisedly as if this
had been required by a decision of the highest court in
the kingdom. Indeed, its use was regulated by social
customs, which, among Englishmen and the descendants of Englishmen, had all the force of a legal judgment. No one could assume the right to couple the
term with his name in a legal document unless his
claim was too generally recognized to be disputed.
According to the great lawyer, Coke, it was an error
to designate a man as a "gentleman" (when the question was one of mere social rank) unless he possessed
the undeniable privilege of bearing arms. Whilst it
seems improbable that the use of the term in the Colony was strictly confined to those who had the right to
do this, however large the number might have been,
nevertheless, it is plain that its use did not extend beyond those who, either by birth or fortune, occupied a
position of influence in the social life of the community. In the early patents, the term "gentleman" appears as an affix only to the names of such grantees as
filled the most important places in the Colony; among
these names are those of Yeardley,l1 Croshaw, Sandys,
10"Mr. Charlton told this depont., saying: 'John, I doubt you are
entict away by Mr. Yeardley,' to whome this depont replied, saying:
'Mr. Charlton, you doe Mr. Yeardley much wrong, for hee is a gentleman whom I did never see in my life'."; Northampton County Orders
124




INH  HE SEVNTEENTH CENTUR


Waters, Burnham, Hamor, Utie, Maurice Thompson,
Spelman, Claiborne, Cheeseman, Willoughby, Felgate,
Harwood, Tucker, Alington, Poole, Saunders, and
Arundell. Wherever the term is observed in the county records, it is found attached to the names of persons
whose social position is known to have been high.
Many of the most prominent citizens never failed in
ordinary conveyances to designate themselves in this
manner. A father transfers an estate to a son; son
and father each is referred to as "gentleman"; such
was the case in a deed which, in 1637, passed between
Hugh and William Bullock11; and other examples might
be brought forward. Occasionally, there would be
placed on record a deed, in which a half dozen men
would be designated as "gentlemen," and one as "goodman," a term which indicated that this person alone of
the entire company filled a subordinate place in the society of the community.12
It was not simply in ordinary conveyances that the
term "gentleman" was employed with great particuJanuary 3, 1642. The Yeardley here referred to was probably Argoll
Yeardley, a son of Governor Yeardley. This deposition shows the
particular use of the word "gentleman" in ordinary conversation.
Edward Wilson James has an interesting note on the general use of
the word in England in early times; see Lower Norfolk County
Antiquary, Vol. I., p. 100.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 414.
2See power of attorney in Northampton County Records Orders
February 10, 1644-5. The "goodman" in this case may have been
some one from New England. It was a term which was in general
use only in the Northern Colonies, having, however, been brought
from England. The following is from the Elizabeth City County
Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 283, Va. St. Libr.: "Know all men by these
presents.yt we Pascho Curie, gent., Thomas Curle, gent., and Coleman
Brough, gent., all of ye aforesaid county, gents."
125




3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


larity; in such conveyances, a man, if so inclined, could
press his claim to such a designation somewhat beyond
what he was fully justified in doing; but in formal orders of court, no such latitude would be likely to show
itself. In no legal records does the term appear more
often than in orders of this kind, and nowhere is it
used with greater precision. In the seventeenth century, all the work of a public character was done by
the foremost men in the community; whether it was
to choose the site of a new town, or to pass on a new
bridge, the county court almost invariably selected
the commissioners from among the wealthiest and most
prominent citizens. In naming these officers in the
order appointing them, the court never failed to designate them as "gentlemen," unless it happened, which
was quite rare, that they were unable to claim this
distinction.13  The term  "gentleman" seems to have
been the only one generally used in public documents
in connection with the names of members of the House
of Burgesses,'4 and this was also true of the names of
the justices of the different county courts. It is only
occasionally that the names of the latter public officers
in the various records bear the prefix of "mister,"
which, as we have seen, was ordinarily the synonym
IsSee Middlesex County Records, orders January 5, 1686, for an
instance of the use of the term "gentleman" in a court order. "Stephen
Cocke having moved this court to assigne certain gent. of this
Countye to meet such as shall bee appointed by the Court of Charles
Citye Countye to view and receive the bridge over Turkeye Island
Creeke, it is ordered that Capt. William Randolph and Captain Fra.
Eppes doe meete these gent. as shall be appointed by Charles Citye
Countye." This is from the Henrico County Records Orders June
1, 1697.
14Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 203, 1632-3.
126




INX 3HE SeVENTeNTH CeNTUer


of the word "gentleman.'5 The expression "gentlemen justices," as referring to the judges of the county
courts, occurs with great frequency.16
A military title was considered to be so honorable that
it was not thought necessary, as a rule, to follow a
name, to which such a title was prefixed, with an addition term of distinction; for instance, in an order of
court, bearing the date of 1697, William Randolph and
Francis Eppes, of Henrico county, two of the most
prominent citizens of the Colony, from a social, as well
as from a political, point of view, were designated
simply as "captains," the military title they bore as
officers in the militia,7 but in numerous other instances
of military officers, who were also conspicuous members of the society of the community, the name is as
regularly followed by the term "gentleman" as it is
preceded by the military title itself. For example,
Thomas Willoughby, a leading resident of Lower Norfolk county, is in the records of that county almost invariably referred to as "Lieutenant Thomas Willoughby, gentleman"; and the same use of the double designation is observed in the text of many of the early land
patents; for instance, it was generally "Captain Robert
Felgate, gentleman," and "Captain Raleigh Croshaw,
gentleman," instead of the one or the other designation omitted.
The term "esquire" was the most honorable and respectful in its personal application which was in use
in Virginia; and from many points of view, it carried
1 Accomac County Records for the years 1632-40.
16See, for an instance, Henrico County Records, orders April
10, 1696.
7 Henrico County Records, orders, June 1, 1697.
127




r3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


all the distinction of an English title. In England, the
term was employed to designate either the son of a
knight, or one who filled an office of universally recognized responsibility and prominence. In Virginia, on
the other hand, its proper application seems to have
been confined to the members of the Council, who, as
members also of the Upper House of the General Assembly, held a position, which, in its social dignity, as
well as in its relation to legislation, corresponded to
that of a member of the English House of Lords. The
office of Governor alone was superior to that of a member of this Upper House; and when to the importance
thus derived, there was added the importance derived
from being also a member of the Governor's advisory
board, it can be easily seen that a Councillor was relatively as great a personage in the Colony as a leading
nobleman was in England.
The Councillor was really chosen a member of the
Board simply because he was a man of large estate and
great personal influence in the community. Invested
with this new dignity and authority, and obtaining by
the office extraordinary opportunities of further enriching himself, he secured a hold upon the consideration of the Virginian population of al classes which few
noblemen in England enjoyed beyond the boundaries
of their own properties, and the circle of their own dependents. The name of one of these Councillors is
never found entered in even the obscurest of the county
records without the affix of "esquire"; this always displaces the term "gentleman"; and in some cases, seemed
to cause the omission of the military titles, which are
generally entered so unfailingly. The name of William
Byrd, the elder, is invariably coupled with the term
128




IN r5He S6VeNr3e6N3H (CerNURX


"esquire," whilst it is frequently recorded without the
military title of "colonel," which he bore.18 In the early
land patents, however, the military title also is usually
inserted; for instance, we find Roger Smith, Ralph
Hamor, and Henry Browne, all members of the Council and the Upper House of Assembly, designated each
as both "Captain" and "Esquire."'9 George Menifie,
who, in the early patents, is described as "merchant,"
in the later, when he had become a member of the
Council, always appears as "Mr. George Menefie,
Esquire."
After 1634, when the number of patents for each year
shows a remarkable increase, the designation of the patentees of the public lands as "gentlemen," "yeomen,"
and the like, is discontinued, but the term "esquire,"
is used as often as ever in these public grants. It is
found in all of the county records,20 orders of Council,
and Acts of Assembly, and was invariably employed
by the Councillors themselves in their private legal papers, such as ordinary conveyances and affidavits. In
a document of the latter nature, which Colonel Richard
Lee signed at Gravesend in 1655, he described himself
as "Colonel Richard Lee, of Virginia, in the partes beyond the seas, Esquire21; and it was also in the same
" "An agreement between William Byrd, Esquire, and Richard
Kennon, gentleman," etc., Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92,
orig., p. 156; see, also, orig., p. 415.
"9Va. Land Patents for 1634.
20An instance: "Philip Taylor doth owe and stand indebted unto
Nathaniel Littleton, Esq." See Northampton County Records, Orders,
Aug. 31, 1643; May 28, 1644.
21 British Colonial Papers, Vol. XII., 1653-6, No. 51.
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e3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


words that he referred to himself in his will22. By the
year 1678, the term, in its unabbreviated form, had
come into common use in conversation as a way of alluding to a Councillor; for instance, we find Rowland
Place spoken of as "Esquire Place" in the testimony
which a witness, about this date, gave in the Henrico
county court.23  Whiting, another Councillor, is designated as "Esquire Whiting" in the testimony of a
second witness who appeared in the county court of
Rappahannock.24    Ralph Wormeley is always so referred to.25 The records show that the Collectors of
Customs and the Naval Officers also received the title
of "Esquire," but this honor was conferred the more
readily because these positions were almost invariably
filled by the members of the Council.26
The term "Honorable" seems to have been applied
only to a person holding a great office, which was never
filled by more than a single incumbent, such as that of
Governor, Secretary, Auditor, or Treasurer. The wife
of one of these officials was generally designated as
"Madam"; it was by this title that the wives of Nicholas Spencer, the Secretary of the Colony, and Col. William Byrd, the Auditor, were known; there are frequent references to "Madam Spencer" and "Madam
Byrd" in the records. The wife of another Secretary
2Lee of Virginia, p. 61. The will was drawn in England.
28"enrico County Minute Book 1682-1701, p. 6, Va. St. Libr.
2" Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1682-92, p. 73, Va. St. Libr.
2 "To Mr. George Parks for trouble in conveying Esqr. Wormeley's
negro over the river." Essex County Records, Orders, Nov. 12, 1692.
2 Peter Heyman, who was Collector for Lower James River, was
always designated as "Esquire," although he does not appear to have
been a member of the Council. See Elizabeth City County Records,
orders, Aug. 22, Sept. 20, 1699.
130




IN T3He seNreeH GeNURT


of the Colony seems to have been addressed as "Madam
Elizabeth Wormeley."27     The title, however, was not
restricted to the wives of such officials; for example,
we find that the wife of Robert Dudley, a prominent
citizen of Middlesex county, who had never filled any
of these high positions, was always referred to as
"Madam Dudley," a tribute very probably to her extraordinary force of character, her beauty of person, and
charm of manner.28
7 See for Madam Spencer, Westmoreland County Records, Vol.
1665-77, folio p. 79; for Madam Byrd, Henrico Cotinty Records, Vol.
1688-97, p. 148, Va. St. Libr.; and for Madam Wormeley, Middlesex
County Records, orders, March 5, 1693.
28Middlesex County Records, Vol. 1694-1713, p. 100.
181




XI
SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS-Continued
THE English law of entail does not appear to have
been in general operation in Virginia during the seventeenth century. The reasons for this fact are obvious.
First, the estates of extraordinary value accumulated in
Virginia in the course of the first one hundred years were
comparatively few; it followed that there were not many
heads of families, who, owing to the possession of large
wealth, felt disposed to aggrandize the family name
further by concentrating in the hands of the eldest son
almost the entire family fortune. In the next century,
when sufficient time had elapsed to allow a notable increase in the number of great estates, there was a more
marked inclination to leave the family property to one
son, though it is quite improbable that the law of entail
was ever in as general acceptance in Virginia as it was
in contemporary England. Secondly, there were no
mechanical trades of the higher grade in the Colony
during the seventeenth century to which younger sons
in Virginia, as in the Mother Country, might turn when
cut off in the division of their fathers estate by the law
of entail, or the law of primogeniture, nor was there
room for many in the local professions of law, medicine,
and the church. There being no towns or cities as in
England, the transactions in mercantile life were confined to a few general stores, and to casual dealing in
tobacco and imported goods. It followed, from these
different conditions, that, had a parent devised the
great bulk of his property, which consisted, for the
182




IN r3H6 S6VERNrE3Nr3H CE$NrURY


most part, of land, to the eldest son, it would have been
impossible for him to make any special provision for the
younger children by establishing them in a professional
calling, or setting them up in business or in a trade,
and they would have been forced, in consequence, to
become common laborers. Thirdly, whilst social divisions prevailed in Virginia almost to as marked degree
as in England, the absence of a recognized legal nobility very naturally tended to diminish the popularity
of the laws of entail and primogeniture in the Colony
by doing away with the necessity of supporting titles
with ample fortune.
It very frequently happened, however, that the eldest son was allowed, by the will of his father, to have
first voice in the division of the paternal estate; an instance of this occurred under the last testament of
Peter Montague, who, emigrating from England, accumulated a large property in Virginia, but was only
to this extent disposed to recognize the laws of entail
and primogeniture.' Very often, a father bequeathed
to the eldest son what was known as the "manor plantation."2  Sometimes, however, the eldest son was entirely disinherited, no doubt fox the same reasons as
have influenced fathers in other countries and at other
periods, to take so extreme a step. An instance of this
kind was, in 1678, furnished by Thomas Ball, of Northampton county, who, cutting off his eldest son, divided
a large estate among his younger children.,
The rule that prevailed almpst universally in Virginia, during the seventeenth century, in the division
1Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1654-1702, p. 62.
'Will of John Williams, Isle of Wight County Records for 1691-2.
'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-79, p. 314.
188




ILHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


of property by will, was followed by William Fitzhugh
in distributing his estate at his death. Few men in the
Colony were in possession of a larger fortune, and few
had a greater temptation to advance the importance of
their families after their decease by leaving practically
everything they owned to their eldest sons. Instead of
doing this, Fitzhugh seems to have apportioned both his
real and his personal property quite equally between his
five sons. The oldest appears to have been favored only to
the extent of being made the residuary legatee of such
lands as might remain undisposed of under the will; but
that these were not expected to have much value is
proven by the equal division of the slaves among all
the sons. A specific sum of eighty pounds sterling was
also bequeathed to the eldest; and he seems to have had
a slight preference shown him in the distribution of the
family portraits, but none as between himself and the
son next in age in the division of the books contained
in their father's library.4
The elder William Byrd, on the other hand, disclosed
in his will a plain determination to aggrandize his oldest child at the expense of the others, but this disposition was quite probably due to the fact that the eldest
alone was a son, who alone could perpetuate a name
only represented in the Colony by this one family.5 In
a like spirit, carried even further, John Tiplady, of
York county, in 1688, bequeathed all his lands and tenements to his eldest son in ventris; his living children
"Will of William Fitzhugh, Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IL,
p. 276.         <
IWill of William Byrd, Byrd Deed Book, p. 114, Va. Hist. Co.
MSS. Col.
134




IN 'e3H6 SeeNqNee3H GeNq5URY


were daughters, for whom it is possible he may already
have made provision.
There were a few other cases, in which the testator
showed a desire to follow the principle of the laws of
entail and primogeniture; for instance, in 1685, John
Daniel, of York county, devised apparently all his lands
and houses to his eldest son, with the direction that,
should this son die without heirs, the property was to
pass to the second son; and if he, too, should die without heirs, then it should pass to the third and last;
and if the third should die without heirs, then the property should pass to the eldest daughter; and in the
case of her death, also, without heirs, to the second and
youngest daughter. The whole of the personal estate
seems to have been divided between the wife and children, without regard to sex.
There were cases in which the testator showed a disposition to concentrate his landed property in the hands
of the last survivor of his children, whether a son of
daughter; in the meanwhile, all were to share in the
income, but the last one to die was alone to have the
right to convey or bequeath the whole property in fee
simple.8
When an owner of land died without leaving any testament disposing of it, the whole of the real estate
York County Records, Vol. 1687-91, p. 345, Va. St. Libr.
7 Will of Daniel, York County Records for 1685.
8The will of Richard Patrick of Northampton county made "his
children or any one of them utterly incapable of selling or disposing
of any part or parcill of their lands I have now left them by this
will, and I doe will and ordaine that the longest liver shall inherit."
Northampton County Records, Vol. 1670-79, p. 112.
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3UH  SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


seems to have passed, by the law of primogeniture, to
the eldest son. Walter Bruce, of Nansemond county,
drew up a will, in which he divided his plantations between his sons, but the instrument was lost, and, therefore, after his death, could not be offered for probate;
and in consequence of this fact, it had no legal force
whatever. The eldest son, Abraham Bruce, in a deed
in which he seeks to carry out his father's wishes, declares that the lands which he conveys to his brother,
John, had descended to him (Abraham) as his father's
heir-at-law. Had there been no such general provision
in operation, the plantations of Walter Bruce, even in
the absence of a will, would have been divided equally
among his sons without the necessity for a deed of gift
resembling the one Abraham so generously made.9 It
is quite probable that, in most cases in which lands had
come to be concentrated in the hands of the eldest son,
it happened, as in the instance just given, by the loss
of the will distributing these lands, or by the failure of
the original owner to make a will at all. Such cases
must, in the long run, have been of rare occurrence, and
when they did take place, many eldest sons doubtless
acted upon the just impulse which guided Abraham
Bruce.
9 "Abraham Bruce, of Lower Norfolk County, eldest son and heir
of Walter Bruce, late of Chuckatuck in the County of Nansimond,
deceased, gives his brother John 600 acres of land on Boman's creek;
the said 600 acres was by my father's Walter Bruce's will given to
my said brother, John Bruce, but the said will through the negligence
of those that had it in keeping, is lost, and no record thereof to be
found, so that the lands before recited doth honestly descend to me,
the sd Abraham Bruce, as heir-at-law to my said deceased father."
This deed is recorded May 16, 1689, or 1690, Lower Norfolk County
Records, Vol. 1686-95, p. 123.
186




IN GHE S ElCreeJwuH CeiURY


If there was little disposition during the seventeenth
century to enhance the social importance of a family
by concentrating the bulk of its property in the hands
of the eldest son, there was a very strong desire to promote the distinction of the family by concentrating
among its members as many public offices as private influence could secure. All that official dignity, fees, and
perquisites could confer, were seized upon during this
century to increase the general consideration, which
the large landowners already enjoyed in consequence
of comfortable fortunes and prominent social connections. No office, provided that it carried a salary, was
too insignificant to be coveted by the most conspicuous,
and even by the wealthiest citizens. Coroner, appraiser of property, viewer, escheator, member of the vestry,
sheriff, clerk, and justice of county court, member
of the House of Burgesses, member of the Council-all
could claim that, even apart from the importance of
their official positions, they were the very first men in
their community. Now, if a law had been adopted requiring that no person should hold more than one public office at a time, it is probable that the smaller of
these offices would not have been eagerly sought after
by prominent citizens, simply because the salary attached to them was insignificant, and the dignity they
imparted inconsiderable; but there was no restriction,
-certainly not for any great length of time-upon the
number of offices which one person was allowed to
occupy, and it followed that every influential citizen
was disposed to catch in his dragnet as many offices,
great or small, as he could. One small official position
by itself amounted to little, but two small official positions, associated with a very important one, amounted
187




rqHE SOCIAL LIFE OF V.IGINIA


to a great deal, if not in dignity, then in point of aggregate salary.
In the interval between 1670 and 1691, every official
position in Henrico county was occupied by a member
of the Randolph, Cocke, or Ferrar family. During the
greater part of this time, the clerkship of the county
court was filled by either William or Henry Randolph.10
The court which came together April 1, 1698, included
in its body at least three members of the Cocke family,
while a fourth member served as its clerk. In 1684,
Thomas Cocke filled the office of high sheriff, and a few
years later, leased the public ferry, at which time, he
had a seat among the county justices." Such official positions as escaped the grasp of the Ferrars, Cockes, and
Randolphs, were seized by members of the Eppes family. In 1695, the office of sheriff was filled by Francis
Eppes, and that of under-sheriff by Littlebury Eppes.
An Eppes is almost constantly found among the county
justices. And not satisfied with the purely civil and
judicial offices, ranging from the coronership and escheatorship, to the membership of the House of Burgesses, these four families were able to acquire, by
force of their social influence and personal talents, the
far larger proportion of the military offices of the county. A similar condition prevailed in all of the older
counties of the Colony, where certain families had been
seated long enough to establish a powerful social and
political connection. This is another striking point of
'"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, pp. 39, 49, Va. St. Libr.
Henry Randolph, one of the two Randolph emigrants, was clerk of
Henrico county in 1650, and of the House of Burgesses in 1660-73;
William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 125.
1Henrico County Records Orders April 1, 1698.
188




IN'53H6 SeVEN3GeeN3H CeN"U' Yi


resemblance between Virginia and the Mother Country during the seventeenth century, namely, the overshadowing importance of one or two families in directing the affairs of each county, and their ability to retain this importance during a long series of years,
without any general rivalry to diminish it.
The officer who was able to concentrate a larger number of official positions in his single person than any
otheir individual whatever, was the member of the Governor's Council. Several of the positions which he
combined in himself were the most lucrative of all in
the Colony; he was not only a Councillor, an office of
great weight and dignity, but also a member of the
Upper House, a justice of the General or Supreme
Court, commander or lieutenant of his county, naval
officer, collector of the customs, farmer of the quitrents,
and escheator. It is not strange that the Council should
have been described as composed of the "most noted
gentlemen" of Virginia.12 As the most prominent families grew to be more and more closely connected with
each other through intermarriage, the Council came to
be more and more composed of persons who were near
kinsmen to each other, until, by 1703, this had reached
such a point that one family, the Burwells, through
themselves and their blood relations, controlled the decisions of the Board. Spotswood bitterly complained
12Governor Andros mentions that the following "noted gentlemen
of this Country" were at Jamestown Oct. 20, 1698: "William Randolph, Lewis Burwell, Philip Lightfoot, William Leigh, Gawin Corbin,
Benjamin Harrison, Peter Beverley, Thomas Ballard, Miles Cary,
John Taylor, William Buckner and George Marable"; most, if not all,
of these prominent men, were members of the Council. See Minutes
of Council, Oct. 20, 1698, B. T., Vol. LIII.
189




rHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VUIGINIA


that, should a cause involving a Burwell come before
the General Court, a body identified in personality with
the Council, seven of its members, owing to their kinship to that family, would have to retire from the deliberation of the case.'3
In every department of life in Virginia during the
seventeenth century, we discover that determined feeling that the most formal respect shall be shown to persons occupying a position of authority, which is observed in every department of English life throughout
the same period. The two local bodies most powerful
in enforcing this respect were the vestries and county
courts. Vestry and county court alike were composed
of the men who were, from both a social and a political
point of view, the foremost in the community. How
jealous they were in protecting the dignity of leading
citizens is illustrated in numerous instances preserved
in the county records. One may be given as an example. About 1685, Humphrey Chamberlaine, of Henrico county, a man of good birth, but of a very choleric
temper, was arrested because, in a fit of anger with
Colonel William Byrd, he had stripped off his coat and
drawn his sword with the intention, apparently, of making an attack. The offence was committed very near
the house where the court of justices was sitting,
which was probably considered as greatly aggravating
its heniousness, especially as Byrd had come to take
part in the deliberations of that body. Promptly
clapped in jail, Chamberlaine soon broke down the
bars, and but for the vigilance of the guards, would
have made a clean escape. When brought before the
justices, he sought to excuse himself for his conduct
"Letters of Governor Spotswood, Vol. I., p. 60.
140




IN e3HE SEVeUNRNeeH C6Nq3U'IY


towards Colonel Byrd by saying that he was "a stranger
in the country and ignorant of its laws and customs."
The court, declining to accept such a paliation, declared that "no stranger, especially an English gentleman, could be insensible of y" respect and reverence
due to so honorable a person" as Colonel William Byrd.
Chamberlaine was sentenced to pay a fine of five
pounds sterling, and also to have repaired, at his own
expense, the damage he had done to the prison.14
The privilege extended to persons in the enjoyment
of the highest social position in the community had,
in many cases, been expressly established by law. For
instance, at the sessions of 1623-4 the General Assembly, declaring it to be improper that persons of quality
should undergo corporal punishment, enacted that,
thereafter all persons of this kind should, in case of
any delinquency, be merely imprisoned. If their offence was of a more serious character, they were, apparently in addition, simply to pay such a fine as the
monthly court should think just to impose."5 A regulation somewhat similar in spirit was adopted many
years later on instructions from the English authorities, namely, that all male persons in the Colony, between the ages of sixteen and sixty-with the exception, it would seem, of servants and slaves only-were
to be liable to be called to arms, but in doing so, scrupulous care should be taken to show the strictest respect "to ye quality of ye person" in order that officers
might not be "forced to go as private soldiers, or in
places inferior to their degree."'6 Later in the century,
' Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, pp. 107-8, Va. St. Libr.
Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. I., p. 127.
"Colonial Entry Book, 1606-1662, p. 226.
141




r1HE SOCIAL LIF6 OF VIRGINIA


the regard for the quality of the person in inflicting
punishment for the less henious offense was perhaps
not carried so far, but it continued to be shown up to
a certain point in numerous ways.
One of the few instances of a gentleman receiving
corporal punishment occurred in the case of Richard
Denham of Lancaster county, who, for delivering to a
member of the county court, while sitting, a challenge
to fight a duel, was condemned to be struck six blows
on the shoulder with a whip, a punishment called for
by the outrage on the dignity of the court, but which
was perhaps, merely nominal as administered; and
certainly in no way approached the severe flogging,
which would have been inflicted had Denham belonged
to a lower order of society."7 Those persons who occupied the social position of yeomen were not considered
to be of a sufficient high social quality to entitle them to
exemption from corporal punishment. In 1647, a citizen
of Lower Norfolk county, who was designated in the
judgment of the court as "yeoman," was condemned
to be lashed, in the presence of the justices, for defamation.:8
17Lancaster County Record, Vol. 1652-1656, p. 64. This is the
only case in the seventeenth century records of Virginia known to me
of a man of good social position receiving corporal punishment for
any offense. Denham was the son-in-law of Captain Thomas Hackett,
and presumably of the rank of a gentleman.
Lower Norfolk County Antiquary, Vol. II., p. 13.
142




XII
SOCIAL SPIRIT-TIES WITH THE MOTHER
COUNTRY
FEW aspects of the social history of Virginia in the
seventeenth century are more remarkable than the
strong affection with which the people as a whole clung
to all that reminded them of the Mother Country-to
the habits, the customs, the moral standards, which
prevailed and governed in that beloved land beyond
the sea from which nearly all the colonists were directly sprung.1 This unswerving loyalty in all social
matters was especially characteristic of the Virginians
during this century because so large a proportion of
the population had been born in England, and so many
persons had left their native shires long after their
earliest and most vivid impressions of the different
communities in which they had first seen the light had
been formed. It was not until the last decade of the
century was reached that the native inhabitants of the
Colony began to approach in number those who had
emigrated from England. The sons and daughters of
men and women whose first years had been passed
under English skies were likely to have had almost as
lThe Virginians, as late as 1670, seem to have spoken of themselves as Englishmen. The following is from a petition drawn up
in that year: "Ye Petitioner humbly prays that since the said Biggs
hath herein neglected the performance of his duty, unbecoming a
good Christian, a loyall subject, and a true Englishman," etc., Va.
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. X., p. 376.
148




7gHe SOCIAL LIFE OF 9IRGINIA


deep impressions of the Mother Country as their parents themselves, for it may be easily imagined that
these parents especially if they had belonged to the
English gentry-omitted no opportunity of recalling
for the amusement of their children their own childhood and youth in their native land; of describing all
the varied scenes associated with those early experiences; of picturing the old home; of delineating the
characters of the different members of the circle of
kindred; and relating an hundred interesting stories
drawn from the long annals of the family history. It
may be taken for granted that whatever was unhappy
or unprosperous in their condition before they went
out to Virginia faded from their memories, or became
greatly softened in the retrospect when their thoughts
flew back across the rolling waste of waters separating
them from their native shores-that the fields, meadows, and woods of England seemed to put on a new
beauty, the ancient homes to be crowned with a new
glory, the parish church and churchyard to be clothed
in a new sacredness. Time and remoteness even created a glowing charm where none really existed and
made the charm that really did exist appear an hundred
fold more attractive. Thus by the plantation firesides
love of all that went to compose the general social life of
England was instilled into the hearts of the young Virginians. It was acquired at the mother's knee. It was
drawn in with the very air they breathed.
Members of all classes invariably spoke of England
as "home." There is a touch of pathos in the constant
use of this term as referring to the Mother Country.
We find it in the dryest business letters, and in the
most formal legal documents. Nor was its use con144




IN THE SBVeNr96N1 5H CeN5GUW


fined to persons whose home England had once been;
even the natives of Virginia who had never seen England, and never expected to cross the ocean to visit the
land of their ancestors, always designated it by the
same loving word which, as coming from them, at least
reflected the unconscious yearning inherited from parents born under English skies. It was when he came
to consider the division of his estate and to think of
death that the mind of the emigrant, however long he
may have resided in Virginia, appears to have dwelt
with the most lingering fondness upon the scenes of
his boyhood and early manhood, and upon those kinsmen who had remained behind. It is in wills that the
expression "home" as applied to England is most frequently found, and it is there that it seems to be invested with its most pathetic interest. In some of
these last testaments the writer is not content to use
the word once. In the will of Peter Hopegood, of
Rappahannock county, for instance, it appears at least
six times.2
Had it been practicable in that century, when sailors
were even more superstitious than they are now, to
transport coffined bodies back to England, many wills
would, no doubt, have contained a provision that the
testator should be buried in the English parish church
where his ancestors had long been buried; where he
himself had attended services in early life; and where
perhaps his nearest relatives continued to worship. It
must have been a sorrowful thought to many of these
Virginians who had emigrated from  England that
their bones should find a last resting place so far from
scenes associated for centuries with their forefathers,
2Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, p. 71, Va. St. Libr.
145




93H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


and so far from ground that had been hallowed as the
earth to which the dust of parents and kinsmen,
perhaps of their own children, had been consigned.
One of the most moving wills of the seventeenth century was that of Robert Day, which survives among
the records of Westmoreland county. Though he followed the calling of a sea-captain, he appears to have
been a citizen of Virginia. He left directions that,
after his death, his heart should be removed from his
body, embalmed, and conveyed to England, there to
be interred beside the remains of his father, children,
and friends.8
It was not simply the demands of business that,
during the seventeenth century, led so many Virginians to visit England; a deep love for their old home
influenced many of those who had been born there to
return, whilst a natural curiosity to see what had been
so often described to them, and a desire to meet kinsmen whom they had never met, prompted many of
the native colonists to make the voyage. There is not
a surviving county record of the century which does
not contain numerous notices of an intention to go by
the first ship to England. As early as 1632 a special
license had to be obtained by any one wishing to depart
before he could acquire a legal right to do so.4 This
license seems to have been granted by the county court;
and its recordation was not infrequently accompanied
8Westmoreland County Records, Wills, 1665-77, folio p. 86.
'Henings's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 200. The character of the clerk's
certificate is illustrated in the following entry from Surry County
Records: "I do herebye certifye that Michael Howard hath sett up
his name and Resolution of goeing for England this p'sent shipping
according to law, at Lawne's Creek P'rish Church, M'ch 1st, 1685-6."
p' Jno. Harris, Rcdr.
146




IN rH6 SVU8Nr3E~NrGH CEN'1GUR


by that of the last testament of the person receiving it,
no doubt because the voyage was looked upon as attended with extraordinary danger. This fact must
have brought a strong influence to bear to discourage
many to undertake such a journey; and that the perils
of an ocean-crossing were so constantly defied is only
another proof of the close social bonds uniting such a
large number of Virginians with the Mother Country.
There were several reasons why the law provided
that all wishing to leave the Colony, whether permanently or for an interval, should, before doing so, obtain a license. First, it was to prevent debtors without
property in Virginia, from escaping to England,
whither it was possible for them to have shipped beforehand a large quantity of tobacco; and secondly, to
conform to the terms of the English statutes, which
required that each parish should feed and lodge its own
poor, and be careful that they did not wander beyond
its own boundaries to become a burden upon another
parish. In spite of the necessity of securing a license
to leave, there was no restriction whatever upon the
liberty of departure unless there was the plainest
ground for refusing to grant permission; and this in
reality only arose in those cases in which creditors
had reason to question the good faith of a debtor with
little or nothing to root him to the soil of the Colony.
If that debtor left sufficient estate behind to cover his
obligations, it is not probable that any obstacle was
thrown in the way of his going. News of his intention
was, no doubt, soon bruited abroad by persons who had
been present at the session of the county court when
the license was asked for. Such an intention must
have at once aroused the interest of the public, as a
147




T3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


voyage to England was an event to be discussed in
those quiet plantation communities; and if there was
any one with a right to object to that intention being
carried out, it was in his power to write at once to the
clerk of the county court asking him to refuse to deliver the license certificate until reasons for opposing
such a license could be offered.5
Not infrequently as many as eight persons at a
single sitting of the county court published their intention of leaving for England and obtained the license required. In making such a long and tedious
voyage, it was natural that the companionship of
friends and acquaintances counted for much; and no
doubt, as far as possible, there was an effort on the
part of each person to time his departure so as to enjoy on shipboard the society of others, like himself,
going out to the Mother Country. Very often the wife
would accompany the husband to afford him the solace
of her presence.6 Many of those who returned to England remained there permanently under the influence
of renewed social ties with their native land, or of an
advantageous opening to follow some business there.
Some, having probably accumulated a competence
in Virginia, desired to spend their last days in ease
and quiet in the midst of the scenes which had been
8 "Mr. Francis Meriwether, Clerk of Ct., I would desire you not to
let Mr. John Waters have a certificate for goeing out of ye Countrye
untill you receive a note from me yr subscriber, for he is my debtor a
considerable sum of money in tobo, Jan'y 30, 1692. Thomas Wheeler."
This is from Essex County Records, Vol. 1692-95, p. 170 Va. St. Libr.
Waters had published his intention of going to England.
A case of husband and wife going out to England together is
recorded in Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, orig., p.
161.
148




INX 'He SENr566NCH (CN~3USY


familiar to them in childhood and early manhood.7
Some, who were simply revisiting England for a time,
died there, and their wills distributing their estates in
the Colony were recorded in the general probate office
in London along with the testaments of other English
citizens.8 Some were detained in England far beyond
the period they had assigned for their stay. There are
numerous instances in which the county courts granted
a wife permission to take legal charge of her husband's
affairs owing to his unexpected detention abroad.9
Quite frequently the trial of a suit was deferred from
sitting to sitting until one of these visitors to the Mother Country who was a party to the cause should
reach Virginia on his anticipated return.10
This constant intercourse with England must have
had a powerful influence in preserving and strengthening an affection for it, not only in the hearts of the
Virginians who revisited it, but also in the hearts of
all his kinsmen and friends, who themselves had not
enjoyed the same privilege. Doubtless, those who had
been so happy as to see the Mother Country returned
with far more graphic accounts to give of its teeming
cities and beautiful landscapes, its shaded streams,
green meadows, and yellow cornfields, its ancient
7 The following is from the York County Records, Vol. 1675-84,
orig., p. 470: "Know all men by these presents that I, Anthony
Hall, late of Virginia, now of the Bogge in England, gentleman * * *
appoint Mrs. Rebecca Hethersall as my attorney."
8 See Waters's Gleanings and also the "Virginia Gleaning in England," which are abstracts of wills, recorded in London, contributed
to the Va. Maga. of History and Biography (see Vol. X., et seq.) by
Mr. Lothrop Withington.
ISurry County Records, Vol. 1645-72; see entries for year 1661.
~Elizabeth City County Records Orders, Nov. 18, 1692.
149




'gH~ SOCIAL LIFE OF VUIGINIA


homes, hoary castles, and stately churches, than could
be found in all the books in the Colony, whilst the affectionate welcome they had received from relations
over sea made a deeper impression as described by
word of mouth than the kindest expressions used in
the letters which came from those same persons.
The little band of sea-captains, who were annually
voyaging backwards and forwards, were also very
active in keeping up an uninterrupted communication
between English and Virginian kinsmen. These seacaptains, as we have already seen, were a body of superior men, who were freely admitted to the tables of
the foremost planters. Many a verbal message and
letter were carried by them from relatives in Virginia
to relatives in England, or the reverse, and through
them there was also a constant exchange of gifts testifying to mutual interest, affection, and esteem. William Byrd, the elder, very frequently used these agents,
who were perhaps only too pleased to accommodate so
considerable a man, in sending to English friends such
a present as a choice assortment of hickory nuts and
walnuts, or slips of sassafras and pawpaw; and through
them, he was sent in return, in affectionate recognition
of his good will and kindness, gooseberry and currant
shrubs, and the like, or the seeds and roots of such
flowers as iris, crocus, tulip and anemone.11 William
Fitzhugh receives, among other presents, from English friends, a quantity of claret, and shows his appreciation of the gift by shipping in return a quantity of
cider, which had been expressed from the apples of his
own orchards.'2 Had all the letter books of the wealthy
"Letters of William Byrd, May 20, 21, 1684; July 29, 1690.
"Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 20, 1694.
150




IN He SV'UE3ENGH CeCeNiurY


planters of those times been preserved, it would be seen
that, with hardly an exception, they would note incidents
similar to these in the lives of Byrd and Fitzhugh.
Now the gift would be a cardinal red bird, the nightingale of Virginia; now the mocking bird, with its echoes
of the entire choir of the colonial forests; now the
flying squirrel or opossum; now the raccoon, which the
first settlers took to be a species of monkey.'3 If the
kindly spirit towards English kindred and friends
crops out in the record of such characteristic presents
as these in correspondence devoted almost exclusively
to business, it can be easily imagined that the letters
of a less practical and formal nature, such, for instance as passed between the ladies of the related English and Virginia families, would have breathed a
spirit of even greater kindness and affection, and in
doing so gone far towards overcoming the alienating
influences arising from a long separation in time, and
from the vast dividing reaches of the ocean.
Numerous bequests coming from both the Virginian
and English branches of the same family reveal how
strong the ties between English and Virginian kindred were, and how earnestly it was sought to cherish
these ties to the last.14 On the English side it is not
confined to bequests from parents to their own off' Some years ago, there was a Virginian raccoon caged in the
courtyard of Warwick Castle, a more common sight in England in
the seventeenth century than in the nineteenth, however.
4The gifts frequently had a sentimental as well as an intrinsic
value; for, instance, Mrs. Anne Mason left to "Mr. Gideon Mason,
now living in Virginia, and to his wife, to each of them a ring of
20sh. a piece; to Gideon Mason, his son, her silver tankard; to
Ann Mason, her silver porringer; to Martha, her six silver spoons."
See Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. X., p. 412.
151




53He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


spring, who had settled in the Colony.'5 Such an evidence of kindness and affection as Mrs. Margaret
Cheeseman, of Bermondsey, showed in her will towards the family of Lemuel Mason, of Lower Norfolk
county, was far from being uncommon. She left ten
pounds sterling, equal in modern values to two hundred and fifty dollars, to each one of his numerous
children. In 1687 John Pargiter, of London, bequeathed an equal amount to Sarah Lovell, who also
resided in Virginia; and a like amount was in 1666
left to Thomas Poulter by Hannah Wallis, of the same
city. In the same year Joseph Walker, of Westminster,
bequeathed property to a kinsman of his own name
in Virginia, while Jane Maplesdin, also of Westminster, left a considerable legacy to John Lee, a citizen
of the Colony. Among other persons in England who
about the same time made bequests to friends or relatives over sea were Edward Francis and Joseph May.
These are only a few typical instances among the many
belonging to every decade of the century which might
be mentioned.
Bequests from Virginians to their English kindred
are even more frequent. For example, in 1648 Richard Simons left his whole estate situated in the Colony
to his son, a resident of England,'6 whilst a few years
later John Clarke, the owner of two valuable houses
in Bocking, Essex, devised this property to his father,
"How numerous were the bequests from English parents to their
children residing in the Colony is shown by the wills which appear
in the "Virginia Gleanings in England," published in the Virginia
Maga. of History and Biography.
18York County Records, Vol. 1638-48, p. 431, Va. St. Libr.
152




IN 1'3H SeVEN3ZeeN  H CeNtiUrY


who was probably a citizen of that place,17 an additional proof that many members of the highest planting class in Virginia continued to possess estates in the
Mother Country long after their emigration. William
Calvert, in 1665, bequeathed a large amount to his
brother, whose home stood near Newark, in Nottinghamshire'1; and about ten years later Henry Isham
by will left his mother a one-third share of all the property he owned in both England and Virginia.19
Thomas Taylor, in 1693, divided forty-two pounds
sterling among his four children, a son and three
daughters, who still resided in the Mother Country;
the amount due to each was, as each came of age, to be
paid by the rector of the parish church of Finchley, in
Middlesex.20 George Jordan by his will directed that
two thousand pounds of tobacco, which had been placed
in his hands by William Jordan, should be shipped to
England to be devoted to the use of the latter's children residing at Gyburne, near Skipton, in Yorkshire.21  Such are a few characteristic instances of gifts
by last testament to immediate relatives in England.
The number of similar bequests and devises to relatives
more remote in blood was very much greater.
As early as 1646, by which time considerable wealth
had been accumulated in the Colony, its citizens had
"1York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 78, Va. St. Libr.
18 York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 126, Va. St. Libr.
"Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 72.
20 Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 250, Va. St. Libr.
Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 295, Va. St. Libr. Many
other instances will be found in Mr. Withington's "Virginia Gleanings
in England," the first number of which was published in Virginia
Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. X., p. 291; see, for example, the will
of Peter Ashton, Vol. X., p. 293.
153




CHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


begun to leave money for the benefit of indigent persons dwelling in those English communities with
which the first part of the testators' lives had been
associated; for instance, in the course of that year,
Richard Elrington, of York county, bequeathed ten
pounds sterling to the poor of St. Martin's-in-theFields, in London, subject to the provision that it
should be distributed as far as it would go, among the
oldest paupers to be found in that parish, at the rate of
two shillings and sixpence a head.22  Christopher Robinson bequeathed five pounds sterling to the poor of
Cleasby, where he was born28; and in 1655 ten pounds
sterling was bequeathed by Captain John Moon, of
Isle of Wight county, for the support of the poor living
at Berry and Alverstock, in Hampshire. As this was
designed to be a permanent fund, the interest alone
was to be expended in alleviating the condition of the
indigent in those places.24 Nathaniel Knight, of Surry
county, provided in his will that one-half of his estate
should be distributed among a certain number of English persons, whom he designated in proportion to their
necessities,25 whilst Philip Chesley left a legacy of one
hogshead of tobacco to every one of his name residing
in Welford, Gloucestershire.26
The affection and confidence in which the Virginians held their English relatives are shown in the
2York County Records, Vol. 1638-48, p. 135, Va. St. Libr.
2 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 20.
"Will of John Moon, Isle of Wight County Wills for 1656.
" Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 260, Va. St. Libr.
Knight's father, who was to carry out this provision, resided at
Stroodwater, Gloucestershire.
" York County Records, see Wills, for 1674.
154




IN GHmi  SeVeNreN5CH eNetURIT


numerous instances in which a son or daughter was,
by last testament, recommended to the care of English
kindred during the period the child was receiving general instruction, or preparing for some special pursuit
in life. One example among many is furnished by
Thomas Crosby, of Isle of Wight county, who, in 1679,
bequeathed his son to Thomas Graves, of London, with
the request that he should be properly educated as well
as trained by an apprenticeship to earn his living in
some branch of trade.27 In many cases, to be referred
to hereafter, Virginian parents during their own lives
invoked the assistance of their English relatives when
they sent their children to school in England. For instance, in 1684 we find the elder William Byrd seeking
the kindly offices of his kinsfolk in London when his
daughter was about to set sail. "She could learn nothing here in a great family of negroes," he wrote, and
he was, therefore, led, in spite of her tender years, to
let her go over sea to enjoy the advantage of a good
English school, a step he, no doubt, would not have
taken, on account of her youth, had there not been
near relatives in England to show an interest in her
welfare.28
As far as possible all the social customs and habits
characteristic of England were closely followed in the
social life of Virginia. For example, one of the most
common provisions of wills made in the Colony during
the seventeenth century was for the purchase of
mourning rings to be distributed among kinsmen and
friends; and a definite sum was generally set apart
by the testators themselves to be devoted to this pur7 Isle of Wight County Records, Vol. 1661-1719, p. 193.
Letters of William Byrd, March 31, 1684.
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iGH8 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


pose. The amount thus used was often very large.
Corbin Griffin, of Middlesex county, left twenty-five
pounds sterling, equal in value to six hundred dollars
in our present American currency, with which mourning rings were to be bought; and he directed that at
least fifteen of these rings, designed, no doubt, for the
persons to whom he was most attached, should cost
not less than a guinea a piece. Under the will of the
elder Nathaniel Bacon twenty pounds sterling were to
be expended in a similar way. John Page, in his last
testament, instructed his executors to buy eighteen
mourning rings; the executors of Roger Hodge were
directed to buy fourteen; and the executors of Robert
Beckingham sixteen.29 A like provision was also often
made in wills for the purchase of gloves to be presented
after the testator's death to his nearest relatives and
friends. For example in 1676 John Emerson made
such a testamentary gift to each of thirteen persons
whom he had in life esteemed most highly; and he
went so far as to direct that each pair of gloves should
not fall below twelve pence in cost.30
The English custom of giving various articles the
character of heirlooms was also very generally followed in Virginia. Even such ordinary household objects as tables and cupboards were brought into this
legal category by'the special provision of wills; but
this was probably due to the great value in which such
objects, when beautiful in design and finish, were held
29 Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century,
Vol. II., p. 195. When Mary, the daughter of John Evelyn, the
diarist, died, sixty mourning rings were distributed among her
friends. See Diary, March 10, 1685.
0 Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p, 184, Va. St. Libr.
156




IN tHE6 SEV6N13E6NH eNuUrT


owing to the heavy expense incurred in their purchase
and transportation across the ocean.31 Rings, lookingglasses, Bibles-all passed very frequently subject to
this same law in order that they might, like land entailed, remain in the same family for an indefinite
period. The articles thus invested with the almost
sacred character of heirlooms had, perhaps, in most
instances, acquired an extraordinary sentimental value
from their association with the homes and early lives
of the testators in England, or had descended from
their English ancestors. It was a frequent occurrence
that a Virginian in his last will requested of the vestry
of his parish church permission for his executors to
inter his body in the chancel because that privilege had
been enjoyed in England by his forefathers.32
The planter sometimes received the name of his
residence as a kind of surname in accord with a custom prevailing in Scotland, and to some extent in the
north of England. For example, John Parker, a proniinent citizen of Accomac, is generally designated in
the county records as "John Parker of Mattapony,"33
and other instances of the like character might be mentioned.
The names of many Virginian homes at this period
bore a close resemblance to names so often used in the
81Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, p. 53, Va. St. Libr.
82The will of George Watkin, of Surry county, contains the following: "My body I comit to ye earth from whence it came to be
Buried in decent manner in ye Chancelle of ye Church at Lawnes
Creek, as my p'r'cessors have been in ye chancell of ye P'rish Churches
where they dwelt." Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 55,
Va. St. Libr. Burials in the chancel depended upon the consent of
the minister. See Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 243.
83"Accomac County Records, Vol. 1682-97, folio p. 88.
157


/




H3HO SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Mother Country.    For example, the residence of
Christopher Robinson, situated in Middlesex county,
was known as the "Grange.34   The name of "Exeter
Lodge" was given to the residence which John Saffin
had erected in Northumberland county,35 while the
residence of Thomas Bushrod, in York, bore the name
of "Essex Lodge."30 In some wills belonging to this
period the home of the testator is referred to simply as
the "manor house," a term in general use in England.37
The other names which the immigrants gave their Virginian homes show a fond recollection of the English
mansions in which they were born, or with which their
families had been long associated. For instance, the
residence of Captain Thomas Purifoy, in Elizabeth
City county, had received the name of "Drayton," in
honour of the ancient seat of the Purifoys in Leicestershire, the shire from which Mrs. Purifoy had come,
and probably her husband also.38 The residence of
the Moseleys, of Lower Norfolk county, where they had
settled as early as 1649, was known as "Rolleston" in
recollection of Rolleston Hall, the seat of the Moseley
family, in Staffordshire.39 Sometimes the name of the
home was suggestive of an English stateliness which
was not necessarily entirely foreign to the home itself
even in these early times. For example, Richard Cole,
8Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 20.
36Northumberland County Records, Vol. 1666-72, Depositions,
Jan'y 20, 1666.
"York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 135.
87Rappahannock County Records, Wills, Vol. 1677-82, p. 75, Va.
St. Libr.
8Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 101.
39 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. V., p. 327.
158




IN q3HV SVeN3&NEXH CeNqGUT
of Westmoreland county, had given his home the name
of "Salisbury Park,"40 a designation in such popular
use in England, and which in this case was probably
made appropriate by an extensive and magnificent
growth of trees surrounding the house. The term
"Hall" as applied to a residence was also not uncommon.
40 See Cole's Will in Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-1677,
folio p. 186.
159




XIII
SOCIAL SPIRIT-MANNER OF LIFE
FOLLOWING the shores of the lower reaches of the
great rivers, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the York
and the James, we find many years before the close of
the seventeenth century, a succession of large plantations, on each of which there stood a substantial mansion, occupied by a family of social and political prominence, descended from the English gentry, and using
coats-of-arms, to which they were legally entitled. As
early as 1675, the Colony had been established long
enough for these homes, in their outer and inner physical aspect, to have acquired some of the dignity distinguishing so many of the ancient English manorhouses, and in their intimate social life, much of that
charm which was thrown around the social life of
England in that age by ease of fortune, refined manners, general culture, and the amenities springing
from the closest bonds of kinship and friendship. In
every important feature, the society of Virginia in the
seventeenth century was the same as that far more
celebrated society which constitutes the most romantic
side of the Colony's history in the eighteenth, although,
necessarily in the seventeenth century, the accumulation of wealth had not as yet gone so far, and therefore, the ability to make a display was not so great.
Before considering the most salient features of the
social life of Virginia at this early period, it will be
instructive to touch briefly on the material background
160




IN '3H8 SF76XNC136N(H CFNUT;MY


of that life, on which I dwelt at length in a former
work.'
First, as to the residences. The residences were, as
a rule, built of wood, with the chimneys and the underpinning of brick. Among the few constructed entirely
of brick was the house of Governor Berkeley, situated
at Green Spring, near Jamestown; and this was also
true of the mansion in Surry county, occupied by
Thomas Warren. The common use of wood in Virginia
in erecting a residence was due to the abundance as
well as to the superior quality of the timber; in England, on the other hand, owing to the smallness of the
area in forest, stone, brick, and slate were generally
employed for this purpose, with the result that the
houses were better able to withstand the disintegrating force of time and weather, and were less open to
the risk of fire. In England, as in the Colony, the
floors and stairways were composed of wood, and the
lower walls were lined with wainscotting. Abraham
Piersey, the wealthiest merchant and planter in Virginia in the early years of the Colony, and William
Fitzhugh, who possessed one of the largest fortunes
of a later period, each occupied a wooden residence.
The history of Fitzhugh's home resembled that of numerous others-it had gradually spread out, by the erection of wing after wing, as his family grew in size,
until the whole covered a very considerable area of
ground. This house contained as many as twelve or
thirteen apartments. The residence of Mrs. Elizabeth
IThe authorities for the details that follow as relating to houses
and their contents, clothes, abundance of food, and the like, will be
found in Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth
Century, Vol. II., chapts. xii., xiii.
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rH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Digges, in York county, contained, in addition to other
apartments, both large and small, what were known
as the "yellow" and the "red" rooms, chambers, no
doubt, used only when there were guests in the house.
There was also a large hall-parlor, which probably
served the mixed purpose of a family sitting-room and
a withdrawing-room for visitors. The residence of
the elder Nathaniel Bacon, a man who possessed a very
large estate, and who, being very prominent in the
political life of the Colony, must have entertained very
constantly, contained, besides a number of sleeping
chambers, what were described as the "old and the new
halls," which, in summer at least, were probably used
as sitting-rooms. Rosegill, the home of Ralph Wormeley, who, like Bacon, enjoyed great social and political
influence, contained a large withdrawing-room, in addition to numerous sleeping chambers. There was,
perhaps, no other residence in Virginia more admirably appointed for the entertainment of guests. It was
situated directly on the banks of the Rappahannock
river, in one of its widest and noblest reaches, which
thus afforded extraordinary facilities for boating and
sailing. The library was, perhaps, the choicest and
largest in the Colony, while the house itself was unusually spacious.
The residence of Robert Beverley, who was as commanding a figure as Bacon or Wormeley, was smaller
in its dimensions than Rosegill; it contained six large
chambers, one of which was, perhaps, used as a withdrawing-room. There were eight rooms in the residence of Richard Willis, one of the most prominent
citizens of Middlesex county. Among the numerous
rooms in the residence of William Fauntleroy was a
162




IN THE Se6VeN Z3wNH CeNtCUrT


large hall. The residence of Thomas Willoughby, of
Lower Norfolk, contained, besides a hall and numerous
other apartments, a parlor or withdrawing-room, and
two chambers, known as "the green" and "the red,"
which, like the two similarly designated in the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges, were, no doubt, always reserved for guests as the two handsomest rooms
in the house. The residence of Southey Littleton, in
Accomac county, contained, among other apartments,
a hall and three sleeping chambers; the hall was probably used as a dining-room, as the expression "dining
hall" appears not infrequently in the records.
These residences are fairly representative, in the
point of spaciousness, of all those occupied by the class
of wealthy planters, and it will be seen that they contained ample room, whether in the way of halls, dining-rooms, or chambers, for the entertainment of
guests in great ease and comfort. It is doubtful whether, in this respect, the home of the average English
country gentleman of that period offered a more liberal accommodation.
The inventories of the estates of the leading citizens
show that these colonial residences were furnished and
ornamented after the most substantial and attractive
patterns which England afforded. There was every
variety of bed, protected by hanging mosquito nets,
and supplied with the finest linen sheets, and very
often with silk counterpanes, whilst the sides were
adorned with valances of gold and silver texture.
There were couches, which were not infrequently covered with embroidered Russian leather, or Turkeyworked cloth; and chairs ranging in kind from those
having the seat made of rushes, or rudely tanned calf
168




SHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


skin, to those with the seat and back composed of the
costliest Russian leather or cloth elaborately embroidered. In some of the residences, there were as many
as twenty-four chairs, bound in the finest Russian
leather; in one room alone-no doubt the parlor of
Mrs. Elizabeth Digges's home-there were nine chairs
covered with Turkey-worked cloth; and eleven with
cloth into which a pattern of arrows had been woven,
were found in another apartment.
The large fire-places were made for the burning of
1. In the clearing of new grounds, an annual task
on each plantation, a vast quantity of fuel was accumulated, and thus furnished a supply for use in winter
which it was impossible to exhaust. Hickory was especially abundant, and cut down in the Spring, became
thoroughly seasoned before Autumn had passed. The
heavy logs, piled up on the great iron or brass andirons
in the hall, gave out a ruddy glow, which brought the
warmth back into the body of the guest who had been
traveling from a remote plantation, through snow and
a biting air, to reach the home of his host. A fire was
kept lighted in this apartment, and a little slave, hardly to be distinguished from the dogs drowsing about
the hearth, was always at hand to throw on another
stick as the flame began to decline. In the sleeping
chambers reserved for visitors fuel was laid in each
fire-place, requiring but the touch of a candle to the
resinous pine knots to burst into a hot fire. The floors
of the finer residences were covered with carpets, which
served further to assure the comfort of the guests and
inmates. Some of those used in the parlors, and, no
doubt, in the handsomest sleeping rooms, also, were
of the costliest material; for instance, in the home of
164




IN r3H$, SeteN8G3eN'~H CEN GURY


Mrs. Digges, two of the chambers were laid with Turkey-worked carpets, while the carpets covering the
floors of two other rooms were of a green color, and,
perhaps, equally as expensive. The windows in all of
the principal apartments were shaded by linen curtains, and the chimneys were hung with printed cottons. In some houses, tapestry adorned the walls of
the best rooms. Pictures also looked down from many
places. In the homes of such wealthy men as William
Fitzhugh, Thomas Ludlow, Joseph Croshaw, and Edward Digges, there seem to have been numerous pictures, the larger proportion of which were probably
copies of ancestral portraits brought over from England, as at this time there were no artists in the Colony
to fix on canvas the faces of the leading families.
The dining-room at this period seems to have contained a great variety of tables; there were the folding,
the falling, the oval, and the side-board tables, some of
which were so handsome that they were, as we have
seen, often required by the wills of the owners to descend as heirlooms. The tablecloths were frequently
of the finest stuff; for instance, Mrs. Elizabeth Digges
possessed nine manufactured of damask; and the napkins, of which there was a great profusion owing to
the absence of forks, were often made of the same
material. Thirty-six damask napkins were included
in the entries of the Digges inventory. The open cupboards of the dining-room presented a very liberal
display of plates and dishes. At this time, these utensils were generally made of pewter; so were the spoons,
bowls, jugs, sugar pots, castors and porringers; and
so also were the cups, flagons, tankards, and beakers.
In the seventeenth century, the calling of the pewterer
165




'-HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


was one of the most important of all the mechanical
trades, and the art was carried to the highest state of
perfection. Polished with extraordinary care, these
pewter utensils shone with a brightness approaching
quite near to that of silver; to the casual glance, the
cupboard of the colonial dining-room of this early period seemed to be filled with utensils of the more precious metal; and, no doubt, the mistress was often
gratified by compliments paid by her guests to the shining array on the shelves.
But the table service was not restricted to pewter,
though that material necessarily was the one most
often used. The travelers visiting the Colony in the
seventeenth century comment on the quantity of silver
which they saw in the residences of the different planters; plates and dishes, cups, tumblers, mugs, tankards,
flagons, beakers, porringers, bowls, sugar pots, castors,
and spoons, made of this valuable material, were frequently noticed. Some of this silver had been inherited
from English parents, but the greater part had been
bought from English silversmiths. Planters in the
possession of large fortunes were constantly purchasing silver plate through their merchants in England;
and this was done not only for the more striking display which a silver table service would make, but also
as a safe form of investment. On one occasion, we find
William Fitzhugh giving an order to an English correspondent to purchase for him two silver dishes, to
weigh about fifty ounces apiece; a set of silver castors,
to receive sugar, pepper, and mustard, which was to
weigh from twenty-four to twenty-six ounces; a silver
basin, to weigh from forty to forty-five; a silver salver
and a pair of candlesticks, to weigh thirty ounces
166




IN rGHe SeNOYH CN3URT


apiece; and a silver ladle, to. weigh ten ounces. To
these, there were to be added a dozen silver hafted
knives and a dozen silver hafted forks. On another
occasion, Fitzhugh purchased in England two silver
dishes, weighing between eighty and ninety ounces
apiece, twelve ordinary silver plates, and two silver
bread plates, a large pair of silver candlesticks, and
one pair of silver snuffers.
The elder William Byrd, like Fitzhugh, invested
large sums, from time to time, in silver plate of different kinds. Mrs. Elizabeth Digges left to relatives two
hundred and sixty-one ounces of such plate, and Corbin Griffin one hundred and sixty-one, whilst the silver
plate belonging to Robert Beverley was valued at a figure now equal to nearly eight hundred dollars. Even
the planters who had moderate estates, were in possession of a considerable quantity of silver in the shape
of salt-cellars, spoons, beakers, cups, tankards, and the
like. Richard Ward, of Henrico county, a planter of
small fortune, bequeathed twenty-seven silver spoons;
another planter of York county, of fortune equally
small, divided by will twenty-four silver spoons and
one silver tankard. Numerous other instances might
be mentioned.
For the amusement of the guests in the house, as
well as of the members of the family, musical instruments were to be found in nearly all the planters' residences; there were frequent references in the inventories to the virginal, the hand lyre, the fiddle, the violin, and also to the recorder, the flute, and hautboy, as
a part of personal estates. As we shall see hereafter,
a small collection of carefully-selected books was one
of the most ordinary contents of the Virginian home,
167




rlHe SOCIAL LIFe OF VIRGINIA


and during those hours when the visitor was not occupied with other pastimes, an interesting volume was at
hand to divert him, if his tastes were literary.
There are many evidences that, from an early date,
members of the wealthiest class of planters possessed a
large quantity of the most fashionable clothes which
the English tailors could furnish. This enabled them
to make an attractive appearance when entertaining
in their own homes, or when visiting the homes of their
friends. Among other articles of dress owned by
Thomas Warnet, a merchant who died in Virginia
about 1629, were a pair of silk stockings, a pair of
black hose, a pair of red slippers, a sea-green scarf,
edged with gold lace, a felt hat, a black beaver, a
doublet of black camlet, a gold belt and sword. All
this bravery must have been very imposing when seen
on the streets of Jamestown, or in the houses of its
citizens; but that it was not unusual, is shown by the
fact that a law had to be passed before the middle of
the seventeenth century, restricting the liberty of importing so much finery. It was expressly forbidden to
bring in silk pieces, unless designed for hoods and
scarfs, or to introduce silver, gold, and bone lace, or
ribbons wrought with gold and silver texture. But
this law was either repealed, or treated with contempt;
silk stockings, beaver hats, green scarfs, gold lace, and
red slippers were as common articles of dress in Virginia as in England itself. On gay occasions, the men
strutted about in camlet coats, with sleeves ending in
lace ruffles; in waistcoats black, white, or blue, or
adorned with patterns elaborately Turkey-worked;
and in trousers made of the costliest plush or broad
cloth. The whole suit was often manufactured from
168




IN T3He SVEN)3V6Ne3H eGN3U'W Y


broad cloth or plush and dyed an olive color. About
their necks they wore cloths of muslin or the finest
holland, and in their shoes, shining brass, steel, or silver buckles, whilst they carried in their hands or pockets silk or lace handkerchiefs, delicately scented.2
The dress of the ladies was even more remarkable
for fineness of texture and beauty of aspect. There
are innumerable references in the inventories of personal estates to silk and flowered gowns, bodices of blue
linen or green satin; waistcoats, bonnets, and petticoats trimmed with silk or silver lace; sarsanet and
calico hoods, scarfs of brilliant shades of color, mantles
of crimson taffeta, laced and gallooned shoes, gilt and
golden stomachers, and fans richly ornamented. The
wardrobe of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges, which, perhaps,
did not differ from that of any other woman in the
Colony of equal wealth and position, contained, among
its numerous pieces of finery, a scarlet waistcoat
trimmed with silver lace, a sky-colored satin bodice,
and a pair of red paragon bodies.      Mrs. Frances
Pritchard, of Lancaster county, possessed a printed
calico gown lined with blue silk, a white striped dimity jacket, a blue silk waistcoat, a pair of scarlet sleeves
with ruffles, and a Flanders lace band. These costly
articles of dress were further set off by valuable jewelry; the ladies' caskets contained numerous pearl necklaces, gold pendants, silver earrings, and gold hand
rings, which were worn, if not every day, on every
social occasion when the bravest ornaments seemed
2 "Brother, the five waistcoats and three felts, the 9 yards of redd
kersey, the scarlett coat with silver buttons are in James's sea
chest." See letter of James Clarke, 1659, York County Records,
Vol. 1657-62, p. 180, Va. St. Libr.
169




ieH SOeIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


appropriate. Among the possessions of the Dickenson
family, who resided in York county, were one gold
ring, set with a single ruby, a second ring set with
seven rubies, and a third, set with a white stone.3
Nathaniel Branker, of Lower Norfolk county, owned
a sapphire set in gold, three gold rings, adorned with
a blue and green and a yellow stone respectively, a diamond ring of several sparks, and a beryl set in silver.
There were three other rings, and an amber necklace
in addition.    Among the articles owned by Denis
McCarty, of Rappahannock county, was a ring bearing
eight diamonds.6 Small gold and silver bodkins for
holding together and decorating the hair, were in general use among the ladies of this period.
Few countries of the world have possessed so abundant and varied a supply of food as Virginia during the
seventeenth century. This partly explains the hospitable disposition of the people even in those early times.
The herds of cattle, which ran almost wild, afforded
an inexhaustible quantity of milk, butter, cheese, veal,
and beef. The hams obtained from hogs that had fed
on the succulent mast of the forests, were considered
by travelled visitors to the Colony to be quite equal,
if not superior, to the celebrated hams cured in Westphalia. Deer were shot in such extraordinary num'York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 474, Va. St. Libr.
4 Lower Norfolk County Records, orig., Vol. I., 1686-95, folio p. 17.
5Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1686-92, orig., p. 241. See,
also, an account of the jewelry owned by the Moseley family given
in Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the seventeenth century.
See, also, will of Mrs. Howe in Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog. for
October, 1906, under which the Hill family of Shirley, on James
river, inherited valuable rings, etc. The list might be greatly extended.
170




IN GH6 seveN NREH CeNGUrY


bers, that it was said the people had grown tired of
eating venison. There were few counties in which
there were not many large flocks of sheep; and mutton
was much relished. So abundant were chickens that
they were not included in the inventories of personal
estates; no planter was so badly off that he could not
have a fowl on his table at dinner. The wild turkeys
frequenting the woods were of remarkable weight and
afforded a popular repast. The clouds of wild pigeons
arriving at certain seasons in incredible numbers, were
killed by the tens of thousands, and for many weeks
furnished an additional dish for the planter's table.
So vast were the flocks of wild ducks and geese in the
rivers and bays during the greater part of the year,
that they were looked on as the least expensive portion
of the food which the Virginians had to procure for
the support of their families. Fish of the most delicate and nourishing varieties were caught with hook,
or net, or speared at the very door; among other kinds,
the perch and shad, the bass, pike and sheepshead.
Oysters and shell fish, without previous planting, could
be scraped up by the bushel from the bottom of the
nearest inlet or tidal stream.
The numerous varieties of fruit, such as apples,
peaches, plums, and figs, were more highly flavored
than the same varieties grown out of doors in England,
owing to the greater heat of the sun in Virginia, and
a longer season in which to ripen. So extraordinary
was the quantity produced that the mere droppings of
the orchards formed an important part of the food
used in fattening hogs. Not only were domestic grapes
cultivated in profusion in the gardens, but there were
also several excellent kinds, such as the slow and scup171




iHE$ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


pernong, which ran wild through the tangled brushwood springing up in every damp forest bottom. Such
an abundance of wild strawberries could be gathered
from the vines overspreading every abandoned field,
that no attempt was made to produce the domestic
berry. The cool intervals between the rows of waving
Indian oorn were yellow with huge pumpkins, or green
with luxuriant peas. There were ten varieties of peas
alone grown in Virginia, one of which, the black-eye,
became, from an early date, a common article of food
with persons of every class. There were two varieties
of potatoes, the Irish and the sweet, both of which
reached a state of perfection in a soil remarkable then,
as now, for its adaptability to vegetables. The watermelon and cymblin flourished in it to an even greater
degree. In hominy, the roasting ear, and the corn
pone, the Virginians possessed articles of food of great
excellence, which were entirely unknown to the people
of the Old World. There was produced on every plantation an extraordinary quantity of walnuts and chestnuts, hazel and hickory nuts. Honey was obtainable
in abundance, both from domestic hives and hollow
trees in the forest. Every variety of sweetmeat, as
well as oranges, lemons, prunes, and raisins were imported from England, the West Indies, or the Azores.
England itself, in proportion to its population, was
not more abundantly supplied with liquors of all kinds
than Virginia, over sea. A considerable share of these
liquors was brewed in the Colony, where, in one year
alone, 1644, there were six public brew-houses in operation. By the middle of the century, home-made beer
had become the most popular draught. Cider was consumed in almost equal quantities, and was considered
172




IN r3H6 S EVEXr96ErH CEXNCUST


by capable judges to be quite as good as that expressed
from the apples grown in the most famous orchards in
Herefordshire; there was hardly a residence of any
pretension which did not keep a supply of this liquor
on hand; and some of the planters had as much as one
hundred and fifty gallons stored away in their cellars.
Perry, which was made from the juice of pears, was
also produced on every plantation, and drunk with as
much liberality as cider. Among the most ordinary
drinks was a punch brewed with West Indian rum, or
apple or peach brandy; and hardly less common was
mathegalin, a mixture of honey and water in certain
proportions. The wines most often found on the tables
of the planters were claret, Fayal, Madeira, and Rhenish. It was one of the most characteristic features of
those times that the rarest French, Spanish and Portuguese wines were drunk, not only in private residences,
owned by the wealthiest persons, but also in the taverns, which were resorted to chiefly by persons of the
lower classes.


178




XIV


SOCIAL SPIRIT-HOSPITALITY OF THE PEOPLE
IT is evident from the brief description which has
been given of their commodious residences, handsome
furniture, and valuable plate, of their fine clothing and
beautiful ornaments, of their abundant and varied food
and wines, that the citizens of Virginia during the
seventeenth century who owned large estates, were in
as advantageous a position to entertain lavishly as their
kinsmen among the country gentlemen of England.
Servants were numerous long before African slaves
began to be brought in, cargo after cargo, to take the
place of the whites, whose indentures had expired.
After 1675, negroes became more and more frequent
in the household. Sufficient time had now elapsed to
allow a large increase in the number of slaves who had
been born in Virginia, and who thus had had opportunities of receiving a careful domestic training in the
planters' homes. At least one wealthy Virginian of
this period, the elder William Byrd, complained of the
number of negro servants who were to be found under
his roof. But that they were quick in anticipating
the wants of the planter's family, as well as of his
guests, is shown by the many evidences which have
survived of the affectionate relations existing between
master and slave. One of the most ordinary encomiums included in the mortuary eulogy inscribed on so
many of the tombstones of those times is that the deceased was a "kind" master or mistress; and the wills
174




IN'3H6 S6Ve Nr?3eNrcH ~eNrGU(Y


offer an equally eloquent, and, perhaps, a more trustworthy, proof of the loyal and devoted spirit on the
one side, and the high appreciation in which it was
held on the other. The provision which Daniel Parke,
in 1689, made by will for one of his slaves was far from
being exceptional: "For the true and faithful service
of one of my negroes, known as 'Virginia Will'," he
wrote, "I leave him his freedom, and also fifteen bushels of clean shelled corn, and fifty pounds of dried beef
annually as long as he lives; also one kersey coat and
breeches, a hat and two pair of shoes, two pair of yarn
stockings; two white and blue shirts, one pair of blue
drawers, one axe and one hoe; the same to be delivered
annually."'
The disposition to entertain and to be entertained was
encouraged, not only by the number of trained servants
living under the wealthy planter's roof, but also by the
ease with which a visitor could get from house to house;
with hardly an exception, each of the principal residences was situated on a large body of water, or on a
navigable creek communicating with such a body. The
boat was generally the most convenient means of
reaching a neighbor's home, or even a home which lay at
a very considerable distance off. Born on the shores of a
great stream like the York, or Rappahannock, the
Lower James, or Potomac, the young Virginians of
those times, as of these, acquired, at an early age, an
extraordinary skill in handling a sail boat, and in making the most of every breath of wind that passed over
the waters. One single sailing vessel, calling at house
after house along the banks of a river, was able to
'York County Records, Vol. 1687-91, p. 278, Va. St. Libr.
175




53H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


carry a large party of merry pleasure-seekers to an entertainment given in some planter's home standing
twenty or even forty miles away from the point where
the vessel started on its voyage. If a different means
of conveyance was preferred, there was the riding
horse to bear both the male and the female guest to
their place of destination. The rapidity and even the
apparent recklessness with which the Virginians rode
gave rise to an expression which became a proverb:
"the planter's pace"; and in these journeys on horseback from residence to residence, the young men and
women, no doubt, made the forests echo to the clatter
of flying hoofs, as well as to the sounds of joyous
laughter.
The seclusion of the planter's life and the remoteness of his home greatly stimulated his hospitable instincts. In the instructions which were given to Governor Yeardley, in 1626, by the English authorities,
he was directed to see that all newcomers were, on their
arrival, comfortably lodged with those citizens who
had been long established in the country,2 but there was
really little need for such a regulation, for if the newcomer was respectable, his society was considered a
full return for the small cost of taking him in. Any
person of distinction visiting the Colony was unable
to accept all the invitations extended him. Colonel
Henry Norwood, who left England after the ruin of
the royal cause, relates, in his account of his stay on
the Eastern Shore, that there was much rivalry among
the planters there as to who should feast him first and
most often.3 Norwood himself was made doubly in2British Colonial Entry Book, 1606-62, p. 259.
3 Norwood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 48, Force's Hist. Tracts, Vol. III.
176




IN THE SelVNrE9i~E H ENq3LuTY


teresting as a guest by all the graces which he had acquired at Court, by his long experience of the great
world, and by his devotion and fidelity to his King.
The author of Leah and Rachel, writing in 1656, stated
that a traveller in the Colony in proceeding on his
journey, not only incurred no charge for his entertainment but also was received everywhere with the
heartiest of welcomes. "Virginia," he declared, "wants
not good victuals, wants not good dispositions, and as
God has freely bestowed it, they as freely impart with
it."4 It was only in a passing moment of panic that
the county courts required even of innkeepers such a
report as the one provided for in 1681-no unknown
guest of that time was to be allowed to remain in a
tavern over a day and night without the host informing
the nearest constable of the fact.6 It was not many
years since the Insurrection, led by the younger Bacon,
had been suppressed, and the recollection of that terrible tumult had made the local authorities suspicious
of unknown persons wandering about the country.
But this was not the feeling of ordinary times; in such
times, the hospitality of the colonists was carried to a
point which reminds one of the Biblical age. The
stranger enjoyed the right to command every comfort
in the planter's residence as if he proposed to pay for
it. It was as if the first homes in every county were
licensed hostelries, so generous and liberal was the
scale of entertainment.6
'Leah and Rachel, p. 19, Force's Hist. Tracts, Vol. III.
See bond of Samuel Thompson, an innkeeper, Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 576, Va. St. Libr.
'Leah and Rachel, p. 19, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. III.
177




r3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


This spirit continued until the end of the century.
Beverley declared that a traveller in Virginia needed
no other recommendation to the people than that he
was a "human creature"; that if he was in want of
shelter and a meal, he had but to inquire of anyone he
met on the road the way to the nearest gentleman's
seat; and that, if on his arrival there, the master was
absent, he was certain to find that the servants had
received orders to set before strangers the very best
that the plantation had to offer. And Beverley added
that, if "there should be a churl that, either out of contrariness or ill nature, would not comply with this
generous custom, he had a mark of infamy" attached
to him, and soon discovered that he was an object of
opprobrium to all.7
The welcome received at some of the inns must often
have been distinguished for a grace and warmth superior to what was observed in the ordinary tavern;
for in Virginia, as in England, some of the hostelries
were kept by men accustomed to the most refined society of the communities in which they lived, but who
had been forced by ill fortune to become purveyors to
the entertainment of the public. In some cases, however, we find prominent and wealthy citizens entered
in the records as "innkeepers" because taverns were
among the pieces of property which they owned. This
was probably the case with Thomas Cocke, who, in
1685, was licensed to keep a tavern in Henrico county;
TBeverley's Hist. of Virginia, p. 258. "Even the poor planters,"
remarked Beverley, "who have but one bed, will very often sit up or
lie upon a form or couch all night to make room for a weary traveler
to repose himself after a weary journey."
178




IN 1He S~'1eNrHe~NH C(~eN3URY


and with Thomas Jordan, who, in 1674, was licensed
to keep a tavern in Surry county.8
The author of "Virginia's Cure," writing about 1666,
declared, as the result of his own personal observation,
that the Virginians were "naturally of beautiful and
comely persons, and generally of more ingenious spirits" than the people of England9; and the opinion
formed by such an intelligent traveller as Hugh Jones,
who visited the Colony many years later, was equally
flattering to its inhabitants.10 It is not strange that
the spirit of manly self-reliance fostered by the independent life of the plantation, manners polished by
constant intercourse with the best society furnished
by the oldest colonial communities, and a natural
sprightliness of mind, should have enabled some Virginians, even at this early period, to make a highly
favorable impression in the most distinguished circles
of London. The younger Daniel Parke and the younger William Byrd belong more distinctly to the early
part of the eighteenth century than to the latter part
of the seventeenth; both, however, were born in the
seventeenth century, and both were the products of its
highest social influences. During their stay in Eng8 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 330; Surry County
Records, Vol. 1684-86, p. 25, Va. St. Libr. See, also, Lower Norfolk
County Records Orders, Feb'y, 2, 1685-6. The Jordan family was
one of the most prominent in Surry county, where it had been long
settled. In his will, dated 1677-8, when the Colony was still suffering from the great upheaval of 1676, George Jordan prayed, "God
Almighty to bless this poore Colonie, and this county especially,
wherein I have lived forty-three years." See Surry Records, Vol.
1671-84, p. 296, Va. St. Libr.
9 Virginia's Cure, p. 6, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. III.
10 See Hugh Jones's "Present State of Virginia."
179




S3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


land, both moved in the highest society of the Kingdom, and both appear to have won its good will. As
aide to Marlborough, Parke was chosen by that famous
general to carry to the Queen the dispatch announcing
the greatest of his victories. Byrd was intimate with
some of the most remarkable persons in England, and
showed his versatility by securing the friensdship of
men belonging to such different types as Boyle, the
scientist and philanthropist, and Peterborough, the fop
and soldier. The history of his times, whether colonial
or English, does not furnish a more charming or a more
attractive figure than he. In possession of a large fortune, in the enjoyment of all that the noblest English
literary culture and the finest school of English manners, London, could impart, and blessed with much that
Nature implants in the hearts and minds of her children only in her most generous, lively, and stately
moods, Byrd became, at an early age, one of the most
brilliant, one of the most accomplished, and one of the
most lovable gentlemen of his time. The very existence of such a man, who concentrated in himself such
varied claims to distinction, speaks a thousand times
louder for the refinement and fertility of the social
life to which he belonged, than the most elaborate description of its different features.
The second Robert Beverley, who, like the younger
William Byrd, was a native of Virginia, and like him,
also, born many years before the end of the seventeenth century, was almost an equally charming product of the social influences of his times. His "History of Virginia," by which he is chiefly known, throws
almost as much light on the general spirit of that day
as the writings of Byrd on the general spirit of a some180




IN 3H6 UerqrH e3GULRY


what later period. The fund of lurking humor which
it contains, reflects the happy temper of his Virginian
contemporaries; there is in it a freshness, a spontaneity, that is characteristic of a youthful and growing
community, a keenness and minuteness of observation
possessed only by those who, from their earliest childhood, have been close to nature in its primeval forms;
a disposition to enjoy, which, taking all the pleasures
and amusements of life as they come, prefers to open
the eyes wide to the sunshine and to blink only at the
clouds; a devoted patriotism that was fostered by remoteness from the Old World; and a love of freedom
and a hatred of tyranny that were nourished by the
secluded and independent life of the large plantation.


181




XV
POPULAR DIVERSIONS-DRINKING AND
DANCING
WHAT were the most popular amusements of the Virginians during the seventeenth century? All the records
go to show that their diversions, whether within or out
of doors, differed but little from those of their English
kindred, and that these diversions were enjoyed with
all that extreme heartiness which distinguished the
English people in all their sports unless they had come
under the gloomy influence of the austere fanaticism
of the Puritans. In a former work I pointed out how
far drinking in public was carried, and the extraordinary facilities for gratifying this appetite which the
taverns afforded. The love of hospitality for which the
planters were so remarkable gave an additional stimulus to this proclivity when indulged in in the private
home. The guest was honored by placing before him
at table the best liquor as well as the best food which
the house could furnish; and in the fervor with which
his health was drunk, glass, no doubt, followed glass
with amazing rapidity. There were few residences
which did not contain a great variety as well as a great
quantity of wines and strong spirits. Reference has
already been made to the extraordinary store of homemade liquors, like cider and perry, that were to be
found in so many cellars in the Colony. The store of
imported liquors was equally notable. For instance,
in 1686, William Fauntleroy had in the cellar of his
182




IN 3He seve'NTeewN H CeNcwUr


residence in Rappahannock county ninety gallons of
rum, twenty-five gallons of lime juice, and twenty
dozen bottles of wine reserved for the use of his private table'; and this was far from being an unusually
large supply of liquors kept on hand chiefly for the
gratification of the guests of the house.
One explanation of the liberal drinking both in the
taverns and private residences was that a very large
proportion of the population were natives of England,
who had simply brought over to Virginia the habits
which they had formed in the Mother Country. Perhaps the freest tipplers of that age were Englishmen,
whose chill and humid climate not only encouraged an
extraordinary consumption of liquors of all kinds, especially ales and beers, but also, in large measure,
diminished the ill-consequences of excess. The great
mortality which prevailed among English emigrants
arriving in Virginia was to a marked degree attributable to this continued indulgence at the same rate as
in England in a proclivity for which the hot climate of
Virginia was far less well suited, even when the frame
had become seasoned to the change.
Governor Berkeley declared that Virginia was as
"sober and temperate a colony, considering their qualities as was ever sent out of the kingdom,"2 by which
he meant that the Virginian planters, on the whole,
drank less than the English gentlemen of the same period; and this was probably true, for we fail to find in
the Virginian records for the seventeenth century any
account comparable to the experience of John Evelyn,
Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, p. 80, Va. St. Libr.
Letter of Berkeley to Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, July
21, 1662, British Colonial Papers, Vol. XVI., No. 78.
188




r9HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


the diarist, who, on at least two occasions, notes that
at the houses he was visiting, it was the rule to ply the
servants of the guests with liquor until they grew
thoroughly intoxicated.3 The indulgence in Virginia
was such, however, that it became necessary at one
time to pass a law that no debts made in buying wines
should be allowed to be sued for in court. According
to Berkeley, this law was designed to do away with the
imputation so often brought against the Virginians
of drinking too hard, and also to check the over-readiness with which liquors were sold on credit. As payment of all debts was made but once a year, namely,
at the time when the tobacco crop was shipped away,
it was the disposition of only too many persons, even
before the tobacco had been planted, to enter into impossible engagements to settle at a future date simply
that they might supply themselves with wines and
spirits in the present. The new law forced the seller
to be wary in allowing most persons a larger quantity
than they had the means of paying for at once.4 But
the regulation did not touch those among the planters
whose credit was not open to question. Wherever a
body of gentlemen, large or small, gathered together,
whether it was as appraisers to fix the value of an
estate, or as commissioners to accept a new bridge,
or as county justices to hear causes, a goodly supply
of liquor was at hand to quench their thirst. The few
'See entries in Evelyn's Diary.
'Letter of Berkeley to Commissioners of Foreign Plantations,
July 21, 1662, British Colonial Papers, Vol. XVI., No. 78.
'Item among charges against the estate of George Proctor, 1678:
"Three gallons of rum expended at the appraisement." Surry County
Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 310, Va. St. Libr.
-      184




IN reH6 SVeNrNeeEN H CeNe3ur


letters belonging to the century, like those of William
Fitzhugh and William Byrd, the elder, which have survived, show the great care with which provision was
made for preventing the stock of public or private
wines from running too low. Many of the leading citizens had to pay a heavy penalty for this generous style
of life. Gout was as common a disease in Virginia as
in England. Colonel William Randolph was a sufferer
from it; so were Nicholas Spencer and John Page, as
we learn from a minute of a Council held in 1687,
which they were for that reason unable to attend6; so
was Henry Hartwell, who on at least one occasion
while in England was, by a violent attack, kept away
from the meetings of the Commissioners of Plantations, before whom he had been summoned to testify.7
It was not always at their own tables, or in taverns,
that the Virginians of the seventeenth century laid the
ground for the inroads of gout and kindred physical
ills. There is at least one recorded instance of a large
banquetting hall having been built in one of the counties by a little company of wealthy gentlemen. In 1670
a formal agreement was entered into by Henry Corbin, Thomas Gerard, Isaac Allerton, and John Lee, all
citizens of Westmoreland county, to erect a house in
Pickatown field at their common expense. Lee was
allowed ten pounds sterling, which was his share of
the cost, for actually building it, under the supervision
of Gerard and Allerton. Beginning May 1, 1671, each
party to the contract in succession was to give a banquet in this new hall; and he was required to invite to
it not only all the other parties, but also their wives,
6British Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 1680-95, p. 255.
Letter of Hartwell, dated Aug. 24, 1697, B. T. Va., 1697, Vol.
VI., p. 133.           185
185i




CGHe SOQIAL LIFE OF VMIGINIA


sweethearts and friends. It was arranged that Corbin
should provide the first feast; Lee was to follow Corbin; Gerard, Lee; and Allerton, Gerard; and then
Corbin was to give his second banquet and so on as before
indefinitely. If a party to the contract died, his heirs
were to take his place. That the hall was erected, and
the series of banquets inaugurated, we learn from the
testimony of Thomas Lee, whose father had been present certainly at one of them. The ostensible object of
this annual feast was to perpetuate boundary lines,
but that this method was adopted was due, not to its
superiority over the customary processioning, but to
the delightful opportunity which it gave for indulging
the wealthy Virginian's love of social entertainments.8
As we have seen, there were few homes of these
times in which there was not a considerable variety of
musical instruments, and in one or two instances the
number was sufficiently great to form almost a small
orchestra. At many of the entertainments some female member of the family giving the dance, no doubt,
furnished the music by playing on one of these instruments, but the county records show that, among the
servants and slaves, there were some who were especially valued for their skill with the fiddle, and that
this skill was called into use on many gay occasions.
Attached to the plantation of Captain Richard Bailey,
of Accomac county, was a negro slave, who, by his accomplishment in this respect, contributed as much to
the diversion of the neighborhood as any person in it.
The fiddler is found taking a prominent part in a
lively scene which occurred at the Rev. Thomas
8Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 171-2.
186




IN GHE SE~ZVe5N NH CeXGUiY


Teakle's, to the scandal of the whole countryside,
though the episode seems innocent enough to modern
perceptions. Elizabeth Parker, accompanied by Samuel Doe and his wife, went over to Mr. Teakle's house
to visit his daughter while he was away. They carried
the negro boy with them, and after their arrival it occurred to the little company that it would be pleasant
in the opportune absence of the clergyman to have a
dance. The fiddle which had been left behind was sent
for, and the dancing began. While it was going on,
one James Fairfax came for the boy, but Elizabeth Parker made him abandon his purpose by informing him
with some temper that she had borrowed the fiddler
of her sister, Ursula Bailey, his owner. She, however,
declared that the boy should not go unrewarded for
his playing, and she pulled out her purse and gave him
a Spanish piece of eight. She also persuaded Fairfax
to remain and take part in the dance.
Some one present seems to have reproached Margaret Teakle for "undutifulness of carriage and demeanor" towards Mr. Teakle "by making feast in his absence," but Elizabeth urged her to disregard her father
-whose strict notions as to what was proper amusements she probably scorned and despised-and to take
advantage of his not being in the house to enjoy herself. Mr. Teakle, who, though a clergyman, was a man
of wealth, was engaged to be married to one of Elizabeth Parker's kinsfolks, "and a proud woman she was,"
exclaimed the fair tempter, "and wore fringes at the
binding of her petticoat!" Margaret Teakle seems to
have yielded only too readily to her friend's urgent
appeal, and at once fetched the silk with which the
fiddler might string his instrument; and as a reward
187




r3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


for his playing gave him several yards of ribbon as
well as several yards of lace, all of which, no doubt,
greatly touched the negro's sense of finery. The dance
started on Saturday night, and continued with spirit
until nearly eleven o'clock on the next Sabbath morning. The company consisted of Elizabeth Parker, Jane
Hall, Margaret Teakle, James Fairfax, and John Addison. In one interval of the dancing Margaret Teakle
led her friends upstairs to show them her wedding
gaiters. They seem to have overhauled the contents
of her trunk, and among the articles which she presented to Elizabeth Parker were thread laces and ribbons, and also a muslin cap adorned with a yard of
fine lace. When Mr. Teakle returned home a few days
afterwards, and was informed of the desecration of
his house by a dance on the Sabbath day, even during
the hour when services at church were in progress,
he was greatly scandalized, and at the next meeting of
the county court formally presented Elizabeth Parker
and her husband.9
This scene at Mr. Teakle's home throws an entertaining light on the gay spirit of the young Virginians
of both sexes, who were ready to divert themselves
on the most unexpected occasions, and who sometimes
carried their love of amusement to a point that was
well calculated to shock the piety of their elders. It
was only by the indignant actioh of Mr. Teakle in having the main culprit indicted that this special incident
is preserved for us, but similar instances of dances
9Accomac County Records, Vol. 1690-97, p. 161, et. seq. Teakle
resented especially Mrs. Parker's acceptance of the gifts of his
daughter, and endeavoured to make out that the articles had been
improperly taken away from his house.
188




IN r;H6 Se6N5eweDH e6NrU!R


begun on the moment must have been of frequent occurrence, and have done much to brighten the social
life of the Colony. Nor was dancing occurring on a
Sunday a great rarety, though it never went unpunished. Among the indictments at one term of the court
of Princess Anne county in 1691-'2, three were for
fiddling and dancing on the Sabbath.10 This did not
show so much a disregard of the religious character of
the day as a survival of the old English customs,
which permitted the indulgence in a great variety of
amusements after the hour of services in church had
passed."   The authorities, however, were not as tolerant of these customs in Virginia as they would probably have been in England.
The taste for dancing did not content itself with
such skill as could be acquired by the ordinary participation in this form of amusement. There is some evidence of the presence in the Colony of dancing masters
who gave lessons in the art professionally. One of
these was Charles Cheate, who was accompanied by
his servant, Clason Wheeler, a fiddler. They appear to
have taken an active part on the popular side in the
Insurrection of 1676, and when it failed, fled to New
10Princess Anne County Records, Vol. 1691-1709, p. 34. In 1698,
William Johnson, of Accomac, was fined for a like offence. See
Accomac County Records, Vol. 1679-1705, folio p. 43. The offenders
in Princess Anne county were Peter Crashley and his wife, and
Thomas Dodds.
"The Declaration of Sports allowing games and the like after
religious services on Sunday was reissued by Charles I. in 1633,
but in 1643, when the Puritans had obtained the supremacy, the
document was publicly burnt, and all sports and amusements on
the Sabbath forbidden. See Traill's Social England, Vol. IV., for
some account of the change.
189




S3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


England for safety, a harbor of refuge, however, in
which their ability to teach their art was not likely to
assist them in earning a livelihood.l2 Cheate, and men
following the same calling, hardly confined themselves
in Virginia to instructions in dancing. It is quite probable that they were also able to secure large fees by
serving as musicians at the entertainments so frequently given in the planter's residences. Their skill
in performing on various instruments must have been
superior to that of a slave fiddler like the one owned by
Captain Richard Bailey, or to that of most of the
planters' wives and daughters, whose opportunities of
becoming proficient were necessarily rather limited.
"Boston (Mass.) Town Records, July 29, 1678.
190




XVI
POPULAR DIVERSIONS-ACTING AND GAMES
THROUGHOUT the seventeenth century the opinion
prevailed among the great body of English-speaking
people that play-acting was repugnant to good morals.
In a prayer drawn up for the infant plantation in Virginia in 1612, and in that year published, actors are
referred to as belonging to the "scum and dregs of the
earth."' If there was any undertaking to have a play
performed in the Colony previous to 1665, no record
of the fact has survived, but in 1665, when the Stuart
dynasty had been restored to the throne in England,
and the theatre was fast becoming one of the most popular as well as one of the most disreputable institutions
in the kingdom, a play known as "Ye Bare and ye
Cubb" was acted on the Eastern Shore by three citizens of Accomac county, Cornelius Wilkinson, Philip
Howard, and William Darby by name. As soon as the
report of this having taken place reached the ears of
the King's attorney, John Fawsett, he summoned them
to court, where each was subjected to a rigid cross
examination. At this session the justices contented
themselves with ordering the culprits to appear at the
next meeting of the court in the habiliments which they
had worn in acting the alleged play, and they were also
required to bring with them for inspection a copy of
the "verses, speeches, and passages" which they had
declaimed on that occasion. The justices must have
'Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 315.
191




rtHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


found the performance to have been of a very innocent
character, for they directed the three men to be discharged and the person who had informed on them to
pay all the expenses of the presentment.2
The leniency exhibited in this case shows that, if
a spirit of strong opposition to play-acting had previously prevailed in the Colony, which was not unlikely
during the Puritan Supremacy, only recently ended,
that spirit had now passed away, or the justices at
least were determined not to countenance it when the
play itself contained nothing damaging to public morality. At a time when the English theatre had not only
been revived, but also was allowed a degree of license
without precedent on account of the reaction against
Puritan strictness and austerity, it would have been
remarkable had Virginia, the Colony most in sympathy
with English feeling, condemned in a Puritan spirit
all play-acting as in itself wicked and opposed to good
morals, however devoid the play itself might be of any
passages to give offense even to the most rigid censor.
The large number of Cavaliers who had settled in Virginia were, no doubt, ready at all hours to throw their
strong social influence against so narrow and illiberal
a view had it prevailed; and led by the powerful Governor, Berkeley, himself a playwright of no mean ability, they were certain to create a sentiment in favor of
play-acting to the extent to which alone it was possible
to carry it in the Colony; i. e., a performance on a very
small scale by amateurs in the private drawing-room
of a plantation residence. It is quite probable that this
form of amusement was often indulged in in this small
way during the long period following the Restoration
2Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-66, folio p. 102.
192




IN 53He S~eNe3NQeNH QgCeU(Y


when the theatre had become the most popular resort
for diversion in the Mother Country, a fact thoroughly
well known to contemporary Virginians, not only by
correspondence with relatives in England, but also from
the accounts given by the numerous emigrants of the
higher class annually arriving, as well as by the many
persons returning to the Colony after a visit over sea.
Among the chief amusements of the Virginians during the seventeenth century was the game of ninepins,
played either in alleys specially built for the purpose,
or in large rooms in private residences. As early as
1636 William Ward, of Accomac county, is found participating in a game of this kind which took place at the
house of John Dunn, and the diversion proved so absorbing that he is reported to have spent the whole day
engaged in it.3 Ten-pins was one of the diversions
provided for guests at all the taverns, and it was made
more exciting by betting. For instance, in 1681 Robert Sharpe and Richard Robine, of Henrico county, laid
a wager of four hundred pounds of tobacco on the issue
of a game of thirty-one up. Robine had been drinking
quite, heavily, and this probably led Thomas Cocke, Jr.,
who was present, to decline to serve as marksman.
Three games were won by Sharpe and two by Robine,
and then the playing was stopped for a time; and when
resumed, two games were won by Robine, one after
another. A dispute now arose as to the payment of the
wager, which was afterwards submitted to a jury
called together by the county court. This game was
played in a ten-pin alley that probably formed a part
of the tavern owned by the elder Cocke.4 A game which
3Accomac County Records, Vol. 1632-40, p. 59, Va. St. Libr.
4 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 191.
193




GH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


took place in Northampton county in 1693 was played
in a private residence. Joseph Godwin, the son of the
owner of the house, bet his opponent that he would
tip seven pins, but only succeeded in tipping five. A
quarrel arose over the payment of the wager', and a
violent scuffle ensued, which seems to have brought
the two parties to it into court.'
Betting even on the most trifling issues was one of
the most popular diversions, and under certain circumstances does not appear to have been discountenanced by the county courts. The rule seems to have
been for the justices, when the question of a wager was
brought before them, to refer the matter in dispute to
a jury. Such was the course followed in a case involving a bet of five pounds sterling which, in 1688, was
made between Thomas Chamberlaine and James Brain,
of Henrico county.6 If the question to be decided was
one calling for some learning, the court appears to have
settled it on their own responsibility. For example,
in 1687, in a suit between Captain William Stone and
John Brodnax, as to whether Brodnax could be compelled to pay five hundred pounds of tobacco which he
had lost in betting on the relative weight of gold and
quicksilver, a solemn judgment was delivered by the Henrico county court on the point involved.7 The subject of
the wager was sometimes even more abstruse. For exNorthampton County Records, Vol. 1689-98, p. 263. Sets of tenpins are frequently mentioned in the different inventories; for instance, among the contents of the store of William Porter, of Lower
Norfolk county, in 1693, was a "sett of playing bowls." See Lower
Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, p. 1992.
6Henrico County Minute Book 1682-1701, p. 199, Va. St. Libr.
7 Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 163, Va. St. Libr.
194




IN CGH Se6Nv6e6eN'H CeNGuMr


ample, about 1690, Thomas East and Richard Ligon,
of Henrico county, made a bet as to how much "one
thousand foot square solid" contained. If the two
should differ as to what was the correct amount, it
was agreed that the matter should be referred to Colonel William Byrd and Mr. John Pleasants, the latter
the most prominent Quaker in the Colony, whose decision was to be accepted as final.8
Some justices appear to have taken the ground that
a bet could have no standing in court because it was
unlawful to indulge in gaming9; and in the same year
in which a judgment was delivered to this effect in
Richmond county we find that the bonds of tavern
keepers in the neighbouring county of Essex required
that no unlawful betting should be allowed to go on in
their inns.10 Where, however, money had been staked
down, or a formal contract drawn up, as the law of that
day directed, and the subject of the wager was not
destructive of public morality, or injurious to other
people's property, the bet seems to have been, as a rule,
upheld. In a case occurring in Henrico county about
1690 the attorney for the defendant, Edward Chilton,
expressly pleaded that his client was not responsible,
though he had lost, simply because neither of these
provisions had been followed by the parties; and the
Court promptly sustained the contention."
There are numerous references to dice playing in the
county records, a game very popular with those who
8Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-79, p. 261, Va. St. Libr.
Richmond County Records for 1694, orig., p. 30.
10 Essex County Records, Vol. 1692-95, p. 355, Va. St. Libr.
Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 279, Va. St. Libr.
195




73HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


gamble,12 whilst the references to card playing occur
with even greater frequency. Packs of cards are
among the most common forms of property included
among the items in the inventories of personal estates.
In 1665 Captain Jeremiah Fisher owned as many as
nine packs,13 and a few years later Jonathan Newell
as many as eight.14 Both were citizens of York county.
That the cards found in the plantation residences were
in constant use is shown by numerous contemporary
evidences. For instance, in 1678 the grand jury of
Henrico county, a county, owing to its situation on the
frontier, somewhat remarkable for laxness of morals,
presented Joseph Royall because, by his own confession,
he had played cards on the Sabbath."1      Three years
afterwards John Hayward, of York county, acknowledged in court that, while staying at the house of
James Pardoe, he and his companions fell to drinking,
and after drinking all day, began, when night came on,
a game of cards, which ended in a violent quarrel. Pardoe and Hayward, going to bed in the room where the
liquor was kept, resumed their drinking, and the game
and quarrel seemed to have been forgotten.16
The favorite game of cards was known as put. Put
was played, not only by citizens of the highest social
12 "Charles Stewart and Giles Webb play dice and Giles wins 500
lbs. of tobacco." This was in 1685. See Henrico County Records,
Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 313.
In 1619, the General Assembly passed an act prohibiting gambling
with dice and cards. The winner was to forfeit his gains, whilst the
winner and loser were each required to pay a fine of ten shillings.
"York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 23, Va. St. Libr.
4 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 139.
15 See Henrico County Records for 1678.
16 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 328.
196




IN i3HW SEVENq3ENUH CEUURY


rank in the community, but also by the domestic and
agricultural servants, who belonged to the lowest. In
1686 we find John Marshall, a former servant of Mr.
John Gawin, of York county, engaged in a game with
Joseph Bascom, in which the latter lost a wager of
five pounds sterling, a sum equal in purchasing power
to one hundred and twenty-five dollars in American
currency, a proof of how far the gambling went even
among persons of very moderate means.17 In the
course of the same year a game took place between
Captain Soane and Richard Dearlove, of Henrico county, in which ten puts were played for a stake of fifteen
hundred pounds of tobacco. Soane was successful, but
as Dearlove refused to pay when called upon, a suit was
entered against him in court.18 In 1690 Allanson Clerk,
of the same county, who had won four pounds sterling
of Peter Rowlett in a game of put, was thrown out
of court because, when the game was played, no sum
was placed in the hands of a stakeholder, nor regular
contract to pay such a sum was drawn up, as required
by law to give the betting a legal footing.'9 A game
of cards which was played in the house of Mrs. Judith
Randolph, a lady of the highest social position, between
Mr. John Piggott and Mr. Charles Featherstone, led
to angry words, and finally to a suit in court for the
amount of the wager involved. The stakes do not seem
to have been high, as the total winnings of Featherstone, the successful party, did not exceed fifteen half
crowns. In the course of the game two bottles of liquor
were consumed. Piggott appears to have been espe17York County Records, Vol. 1684-7, p. 144, Va. St. Libr.
18Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 300.
"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 279, Va. St. Libr.
197




gHe, SOCIAL LIFE OF qIRGINIA


cially fond of gambling. In 1682 he is found engaged
in a game of cross and pile with Martin Elam and John
Milner in Elam's house. The stakes were partly coin
and partly tobacco; and, contrary to his experience at
Mrs. Randolph's, Piggott was successful; but not quite
as successful as he supposed, for, though he had won
only three hundred pounds of tobacco, he claimed on
the morning following the game that he had won seven
hundred pounds.20
20Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 28, 224.
198




XVII
POPULAR DIVERSIONS-HORSE RACING
THE most popular form of amusement in Virginia
during the seventeenth century was the horse-race,
and in those times, as in these, the pastime led to much
betting. It was looked upon as a sport in which only
gentlemen could take part, although members of every
class in the community were represented among the
spectators. In 1673, James Bullock, a tailor residing
in York county, was fined one hundred pounds of tobacco for his almost unprecedented presumption in
running his mare in a race with a horse belonging to
Mr. Mathew Slader for a wager of two thousand pounds
of tobacco. The county justices sitting upon the case
solemnly pronounced his act to be contrary to law on
the ground that racing with horses was a "sport for
gentlemen alone" in which no laboring man could
legally take part.' There are few incidents recorded in
the early history of Virginia which throw a greater
flood of light on the rigidity of the social divisions in
the community than this incident of the unfortunate
tailor, who, after winning the race, found that he had no
standing in court because the loser of the wager happened to belong to a higher social grade. It also shows
the very great esteem in which horse racing was held
in the Colony, and the determination to confine the
sport as far as possible to the class who could give it
the highest degree of distinction.
York County Records, Vol. 1671-94, p. 34, Va. St. Libr.
199




r3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIIGINIA


Horse-races appear to have taken place in all parts
of the Colony, although perhaps more frequently occurring in those parts which had been settled longest,
and which, therefore, were the most thickly inhabited.
The persons residing on the Eastern Shore who were
fond of this pastime do not seem to have participated
only in races on their own side of the bay. In 1674
Richard Awburne and Isaac Jacob, both citizens of
Northampton county, undertook to run their horses in
a race which was to come off on the Western Shore.
The stake, formally arranged between Awburne and
John Panewell, amounted to four hundred pounds of
tobacco. Not satisfied with this race, Awburne and
Jacob are found a few days later running their horses
in another heat, but, it seems, on a track situated in
their own county. This appears, however, to have been
a private race; but in a third in which Jacob took part
there were many other persons present as spectators,
among them a number of women, whose interest in the
issue was doubtless as keen as that of the.men. These
races in Northampton county came off on a ground
known as Smith's Field, where a track had been carefully laid off. Jacob, who was probably a Jew, appears
so often in the records as taking part in horse-races,
not restricting himself, as we have seen, to the Eastern
Shore, that it is quite possible he was a professional
trainer.2
Nowhere in the Colony did horse-races occur more
often than in the lower counties of the Northern Neck.
Here they seem to have taken place most frequently on
2 See Northampton County Records, Vol. 1664-1674, p. 269. There
is an allusion in these records to the "fall races" (1674), as though
races were held at that season regularly. See Vol. 1674-79, p. 4.
200




IN T3He SevegNqeeXNH CeNqUqr


Saturday, perhaps because the afternoon of that day was
observed, as in England, as a half holiday. In 1696 a
complaint was made to the House of Burgesses by numerous citizens of Northumberland that the celebration
of the races on Saturday very often led to the profanation of the Sabbath, possibly because, in the ardor with
which the sport was pursued, the racing was resumed
the following morning, regardless of the sacred character of the day; or more probably what had begun on
Saturday as a horse-race ended on Sunday as a drinking and fighting bout.3 That these races were attended
by a concourse of spectators is shown by the fact that
such occasions were always used by tie public authorities in making announcements to the people.4
The principal racing track in the Northern Neck was
known as the Coan Race course, which was situated
in Westmoreland county. Persons residing in the
neighboring counties seem to have often preferred this
course to one much nearer to them. For instance, in
1694, Captain Rodham Kenner, who was the high sheriff of Northumberland, left that county to try on the
Coan track the running powers of a mare named Folly
against those of Smoker, owned by Mr. Joseph Humphrey. The stake agreed upon amounted to fifteen hundred pounds of tobacco. Folly, which really belonged
to Mr. Peter Contanceau, won the race, although
Smoker was one of the most famous race-horses in the
Colony. Humphrey claimed that Smoker had not been
fairly beaten because the jockey riding him had held
his bridle tightly in order to diminish his speed; but
8 Minutes of House of Burgesses, Sept. 30, 1696, B. T., Va. Vol. LII.
4Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII., p. 130.
201




?3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


when this assertion was submitted to a jury they
promptly decided in favor of Kenner. Still dissatisfied, Humphrey obtained an injunction against further
proceedings on the common law side of the court until
a point of equity involved in the case had been passed
on in chancery; and when this also went against him,
carried his cause up to the General Court on appeal.5
The persistency shown by Humphrey was due not so
much to a sense of the injustice which he thought had
been done him, as to his extreme jealousy in preserving the reputation of his horse, a reputation which perhaps touched him as closely as his own. The whole
case illustrates the serious spirit in which the most ordinary horse-race at this time was run, and how little
the expense of a suit was considered if it would remove
from a favorite animal the discredit of defeat. At a
later date we find Humphrey and Kenner engaged in
a second race." In 1695 Smoker was run in a race on
the same track against Prince, a horse belonging to Mr.
John Haynie, and won. The wager in this instance
was fixed at four thousand pounds of tobacco and forty
shillings.7
Some years previous to this race one had been run,
apparently on the Coan Race course, between the horse
of Mr. John Stone, of Rappahannock county, and the
horse of Mr. Yewell, of Westmoreland. The stake
amounted to ten pounds sterling, or to two hundred
and fifty dollars in our present currency. That this
race was not simply a private trial of speed in which
only the jockeys and owners of the two horses were
Northumberland County Records Orders, Jan'y 17, 1693-4.
Northumberland County Records Orders, Jan'y 17, 1693-4.
7Northumberland County Records Orders, Aug. 22, 1695.
202




IN 'He SelVeNeE NH CeNgu Y


present is shown by the fact mentioned in the record
of the event that there were many people in attendance
as spectators. Mr. Stone's horse carried off the wager,
but it was only after a suit that Mr. Yewell consented
to make payment.8 Yewell, who was deeply interested
in this branch of sport, appeared again and again in
the courts either as plaintiff or defendant in disputes
as to the winning or loss of stakes. In 1688 a very important suit was tried before the justices of Westmoreland county involving a number of races in which John
Hartridge and John Washington, on one side, and John
Baker and Yewell, on the other, had participated.
After all the various evidences for and against had been
formally presented the jury left the court room and
proceeded to the race track, which they examined with
great care in order to obtain a more intelligent understanding of the testimony which they had just heard.
But, nevertheless, they were unable to agree on a verdict. When the court was informed of that fact, the
sheriff was ordered to keep them in confinement without bread, drink, candle, or fire until they should reach
a decision.9
The race-track in Richmond county was known as
Willoughby's Old Field. This designation probably
shows the character of the ground on which most of
the courses of that day were laid off. Land which had
long been under cultivation, but had finally been abandoned to the native grasses, was not unsuited for a
race-track. The plough had left the surface of the soil
in a measure in a state of uniform evenness, whilst the
rough, thick turf gave it both spring and compactness.
8Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-77, folio p. 211.
Westmoreland County Records Orders, Jan'y 11, 1687-8.
208




r3HI SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Only the annual use of the grubbing hoe and axe, however, could prevent the course itself, as well as the
rest of the field, from springing up, in a few years, in
masses of tangled briars and thickets of cedar and
sassafras; that this was not suffered to take place is
shown by the great length of time during which races
were run over the same ground. There is reason to
think that the popular race tracks were kept in good
condition continuously; and that as careful attention
was given to them as to the principal highways in the
county.
Among the earliest races recorded of Willoughby's
Old Field was one which took place there in the year
1693. On this occasion there seem to have been numerous horses entered for the stakes, whilst the attendance of spectators deeply interested in the upshot of
the different heats was evidently extraordinary.
Among those who had come to the course was Mr.
John Gardiner, of Westmoreland county; and he had
brought with him a horse celebrated in all that region
named Young Fire, which must have been a conspicuous object even among that group of picked animals,
for it was of the purest white in color. During the
progress of the first races of the day, Gardiner kept
Young Fire in the background, as if wishing first to
observe the powers of his possible competitors; then,
when several races had been run, in which all the other
horses perhaps had taken part and shown what they
were equal to, Gardiner suddenly led Young Fire forth
and boldly challenged the owner of any horse on the
track to run his steed in a race for a stake of one thousand pounds of tobacco and twenty shillings in coin.
Daniel Sullivant, borrowing Mr. John Baker's bay
204




INX 5He SEV6NE~~~N3H CENqUY


horse, which perhaps had exhibited its superiority to
the other horses in the races that had already taken
place, promptly accepted the gauge, and it was agreed
to try the white and the bay, the one against the other,
instantly. Mr. Raleigh Travers became the security
for the payment of the wager, whilst Mr. John Clemens
and Captain William Barber were selected to stand at
the poles in order to report the name of the winning
horse. At the end of the race a dispute arose as to
whether the wager had been fairly lost and won, and
it was only finally settled by a suit in court.10
A third race course in the Northern Neck, hardly
less well known or less frequently used than the Coan
and the Willoughby Old Field tracks, was the one situated at Yeocomico. Here, in 1694, the race-horse
Smoker turns up again, no longer belonging to Mr.
Joseph Humphrey, but to Captain Rodham Kenner,
whose Folly had defeated Smoker, as we have seen, in
a race on the Coan Race course a few months before.
Kenner had, perhaps, in his admiration for the speed
which the horse had displayed on that occasion, purchased him, but quite certainly only at a very high
price. In the race at Yeocomico, Smoker was run
against Campbell, a horse belonging to Captain John
Hartley. The stake agreed upon was five hundred and
seventy-seven pounds of tobacco, and the stretch was
for a quarter and a half-quarter of a mile. Campbell
soon showed himself to be so superior in speed to
Smoker that his rider was not required to ply either
whip or spur, and he was about to pass in between the
poles first, when Richard Kenner, a brother of Rodham,
10Westmoreland County Records, Orders, April 7, 1693. The
name appearing in this entry was either Hartridge or Hartley.
205




qGHe SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


who had been told to stand back lest his nearness should
frighten the horses, rushed forward and with a loud
"bellow and shout," and a violent waving of his hat,
caused Campbell to shy suddenly from the track, and
thus technically to lose the race. Richard Kenner was
arrested for his offense, and tried by a jury, but seems
to have been acquitted." This incident forms an additional proof of the serious spirit in which even the
most casual horse-race was run, and the popular determination that it should be conducted with perfect
fairness, even if the assistance of the courts had to be
invoked.
The race-course in Rappahannock was situated "at
Rappahannock Church," to use the words of the records. The nearness to each other of race track and
church edifice reveals how tolerant the religious authorities of these early times were towards this popular amusement; and it is not entirely a remote probability that on this Rappahannock course the young
men, after the services were over on Sunday, tested the
comparative speed of their horses, though unlikely that
any formal racing took place. In 1676 a great race
came off on this track between the horses of Robert
Vaulx, Clement Trellman, and John Meader, which
doubtless drew together a large number of spectators.12
The course was still in good condition eight years later,
for, in 1684, Mr. Alexander Swann and Mr. George
Parkes competed on this ground for a stake of eleven
pounds sterling, which had been placed in the hands
of Mr. Thomas Harwar, who was also present. A dispute arose as to whose horse had really won. One of
"Westmoreland County Records, Orders, Aug. 29, 1694.
"Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-77, p. 264.
206




IN rtH6 S8VE63NCB3H CeN'lURY


the persons who had been chosen to act as a judge in
the race declared that "Mr. Swann's horse, the black,
had it of Mr. Parkes's, the gray," by at least half a
head. This testimony decided the case when it first
came into the county court. Parkes was ordered to
pay all the costs and Harwar to deliver up to Swann
the stake; but the case was brought up a second time,
apparently at the instance of a second judge in the race,
who was prevented from being present at the first trial.
This judge testified that, instead of the black horse
winning over the gray by half a head the gray had won
over the black by that length. As the evidence was so
directly conflicting, the court ordered the money,
which was still in the hands of the stakeholder, to be
returned to the persons depositing it, after a sum had
been reserved sufficient to meet the expenses entailed
in the first trial. These, it seemed, amounted to over
two pounds sterling.18
The principal race-course in Surry county was
known as the "Devil's Field"'4; and this, like Willoughby's Old Field, in Richmond county, was, no doubt, one
of those large patches of ground formerly under cultivation, but now abandoned to a coarse turf well adapted
to become the floor of a primitive race-track. In 1678
a race was run on this course between a mare and a
horse, the one belonging to Mr. George Proctor, the
other to John Price. Two judges, as usual, were selected~to decide as to which animal won. These were
Thomas Barlowe and Thomas Adams; but instead of
the goal being defined by two poles set up on opposite
Is Rappah&nnock County Records, Orders, March 5, 1684-5; Aug.
5, 1685.
"4Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 133, Va. St. Libr.
207




tH6E SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


sides of the track it was agreed that it should be represented by a path which crossed the course at a certain point. The animal passing over this path first
was to be taken as the winning one. The upshot of the
race was one of those lively wrangles which were so
very common in the racing at this period because the
heats weor so often run without the strict arrangements adopted wherever the sport was conducted with
great precision and formality. One of the judges, after
swearing that Price's horse "did come over the path
some time before the mare," declared himself unable
to say whether "the horse did carry his rider upon his
back over the path, for Price did stop his horse in the
path, or rather the fore parte of the horse over the
path; the horse turning about, Price turned himself
off from the horse's back, hanging his arms on the
necke of ye horse; the first foote that came to the
ground was on the path, the other beside it." The
judge who uttered these words was evidently not only
a close observer, but also had a nice sense of what constituted a clean victory in a horse-race. Each of the
principals seems to have acted as his own jockey.15
Probably, most owners of race-horses during the seventeenth century, if very young men, were always ready
to mount their own steeds for a heat. There are many
indications that, even in these early times, the Virginians were bold and even reckless riders, and there was
perhaps no form of excitement in which they indulged
more ardently than in careering around a race-track,
with a half dozen competitors careering before or behind them.
15 Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 133, Va. St. Libr.
208




IN THE SeerH eNr3URY


Henrico county was hardly second to Westmoreland
in the lively favor in which its inhabitants held the
pastime of horse racing. One of the most popular racetracks in this county was situated at Bermuda Hundred, among the oldest settlements in the valley of the
lower James River. Here in July, 1678, a race was
run between horses belonging to Mr. Abram Womack
and Mr. Richard Ligon. In this instance the owners
did not ride their horses. One was ridden by Thomas
Cocke, the other by Joseph Tanner, a servant of Mr.
Thomas Chamberlaine, both of whom were still mere
boys. Chamberlaine was selected to call out when the
horses were ready to run, whilst Mr. Abram Childers
was to act as starter. As no judges appear to have
been named, it is probable that the horses were to career over a circular course with the goal situated at the
point from which the race began. The persons there
would thus be easily able to decide as to which horse
won. The horses made a rush, but the one ridden by
Cocke, after running four or five lengths, shied from
the track. Cocke quickly reining him in, cried out:
"This is not a fair start." Chamberlaine shouted to
his servant, who was riding the other horse, to stop,
but the young man, when he returned, boldly declared
that the race was fairly begun, and in this contention
was sustained by Mr. Childers.16
Both Ligon and Womack seem to have been deeply
interested in horse racing. In 1683 a number of persons who had assembled at Womack's house on some
convivial occasion17 got into an animated discourse on
'6Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 38, Va. St. Libr.
1 The company, it would appear from Ligon's words regarding his
horse, had been engaged in running races.
209




'3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


the subject, and soon there was a challenge from one
of the company, Edward Hatcher, to run his horse
against the horse of Edward Martin, who was also
present. All exclaimed loudly: "Done, done," with the
exception of Richard Ligon, who started up eagerly.
"Mr. Edward Hatcher," called out Ligon, "my horse
shall not run any more to-day or to-night." Hatcher,
uttering a great oath, shouted back that it was his
horse, not Ligon's, and at once led the animal off to a
pasture near by, where the races took place, followed
by Andrew Martin. Ligon now came up, and seizing
Hatcher as he was about to mount, said again: "Edward Hatcher, this is my horse, and he shall not run."
Hatcher, seeing Ligon's determination, turned to the
persons who were to act as judges, and exclaimed:
"I can't help it," meaning that he was prevented from
carrying out his agreement, and, therefore, should not
be held as liable for the wager as if his horse had lost
the race. But the judges refused to listen to him, and
directed Martin to run over the track alone. When he
reached the end of the course, he stopped, dismounted,
and fixed his knife in the ground; then, returning to
the starting point, claimed the horse which Ligon had
asserted to be his own. This was probably the stake.
Ligon, however, still refused to give it up, and the dispute finally found its way into the county court.18 The
account of this race which appears in the records is of
interest as showing how rigid the judges in a horse
race at this period were in upholding the terms of an
agreement even under circumstances when, it would
8Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 254.
210




IN e3He SeJN'3eNT?3H CeNqURY


seem, the agreement should properly have been considered no longer in force. Hatcher was held strictly to
his verbal contract, though the action of Ligon had
made it impossible for him to perform his part in it.
A second race-course in Henrico county was situated
at Varina, and here races seem to have been run at
regular intervals. Among those taking place on this
course was one between the horses of the younger
Thomas Batte and Richard Parker. The stake consisted of one hundred pounds of tobacco, but the fairness of the race was disputed by Batte because, as he
asserted, Parker's mare had crossed in front of his
horse and so thwarted his progress in the race as to
prevent his coming in ahead. When the point was submitted to the county court, that body found that the
only satisfactory way of settling the difficulty was to
order that a new heat between the mare and horse
should take place on exactly the same course. The
justices, it seems, held their sessions at Varina, and it
is quite probable that they attended the second race in
a body. Whether they did or not, however, their decision was, no doubt, regarded with great popular
favor as affording a second opportunity of enjoying
the most exciting of all Virginian pastimes, a horserace.19
There are numerous proofs that many other important races occurred on the course at Varina towards the close of the seventeenth century. Here,
about 1687, a great race took place betwen the horses
of Hugh Ligon and Stephen Cocke, in which ChristogHenrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 242, Va. St. Libr.
211




SHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA
pher Branch was the stakeholder20; and in the same
year a race was run in which a horse belonging to
Henry Randolph participated.2     In 1687, also, Giles
Webb won a heavy wager of John Huddlesey.22      In the
following year William Eppes recovered in the county
court twenty shillings which Stephen Cocke had refused
to pay, on the ground of some irregularity in the race
on which that amount had been bet.23 In 1690 Captain
William Soane entered a suit against Mr. Robert Napier for ten pounds sterling, which he claimed to have
won by default at Varina. The most important witness
was the distinguished clergyman, Rev. James Blair, who
requested the court to permit him to deliver his testimony simply on the word of a priest. Having acted
as the endman for Captain Soane, he deposed that Napier had brought his horse to the race-track, but before
the time agreed upon for the heat had led him away.
The horse which had been chosen to run against Napier's, a white in color, was a sorrel owned by Mr.
Littlebury Eppes. Eppes, as we have seen, had been
sheriff of the county. Among the other deponents in
this case were Captain William Randolph and Benjamin Harrison. Indeed, the men interested in it, whether as principals or witnesses, were among the first citizens of the Colony. The high repute in which the sport
20 See iHenrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, pp. 170, 174, Va.
St. Libr.; Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 466. The records take notice only
of the races in which there were disputes requiring settlement in
court. The number of these indicates indirectly the number of races
run without charge of unfairness.
21 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 430.
22 Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 161, Va. St. Libr.
The Court allowed Webb a balance of ~3 10s.
23Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 235, Va. St. Libr.
212




IN 6HE S6'UeZ rqeeNrH CeNqUgRY


was held is shown by the fact that it was not considered derogatory to the dignity and usefulness of the
first clergyman in Virginia at this time to take part
as a judge in a horse race. The jury decided in favor
of Captain Soane, and in doing so disclosed the determination so often exhibited by judges and juries alike
of this period that when once two parties had agreed
to run a race with their horses, both should be required
to carry out the contract strictly; and that nothing
short of the death of one of the horses should be accepted as a legal excuse for the withdrawal of either party
from the projected heat.24
Among the most popular race courses in Henrico
county was one which seems to have been generally
known as the Ware. About 1698 there took place on
this track an interesting race between a mare named
Bony belonging to Thomas Jefferson, Jr., and a horse
named Watt, the property of Thomas Hardiman. It
was arranged that the race should cover one quarter
of a mile. By the terms of the agreement the mare
was to start ten yards ahead of the horse, and if she
came in five lengths ahead of him, John Steward, who
had borrowed the horse of Hardiman for the race, was
to pay Richard Ward, who had borrowed the mare,
five pounds sterling on demand. If, on the other hand,
the horse came in five lengths ahead of the mare, Steward was to receive six pounds sterling from Ward. It
was also agreed that the weight of each jockey should
not exceed one hundred and thirty pounds; and that
the race was to end as soon as the poles were passed.
The mare, it seems, outran the horse, but a dispute
2Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-97, p. 147. Henrico County
Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 268, Va. St. Libr.
213




r1HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIIGINIA


arose, which brought the question of the stakes into
court for settlement. Among the witnesses in this case
were Thomas Chamberlaine and Stephen Cocke, whose
names so often appear in the records in connection with
this pastime.25 Chamberlaine, about the same date, was a
party to a ra6e which was run on the course at Conecock. His opponent was Richard Ligon, and the wager
agreed upon amounted to forty shillings. A gallon of
rum was on this occasion provided for the enjoyment
of the spectators.26
There was a fifth race track in Henrico county situated at Malvern Hill. Here, in 1699, a heat was run
between the horses of William Eppes and William Sutton for a stake of half a pound sterling. It was agreed
that, in the race, each horse was to be kept to his own
side of the course, unless, at the very start, Stephen
Cocke, who was serving as Sutton's jockey, could by
two or three leaps of his horse, get possession of that
part of the track belonging to the other rider. The
starter in this race was William Randolph, perhaps,
after the elder William Byrd, the foremost citizen of
the county. Cocke failed to leap ahead after two or
three jumps, and the horses in running seem to have
come violently against each other.27
There is nothing in the surviving records to show
that the Virginians of the seventeenth century resembled their kinsfolk in England in finding pleasure
in such rude sports as cock-fighting, and bear and bull
2Henrico County Records, Orders, April 1, 1698.
Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 297.
"Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-97, pp. 74-5, Va. St. Libr.
214




IN 'eGH SeVeN3eeN;H CeNURT


baiting.28 If such rough pastimes were indulged in in
the Colony, no proof of the fact remains; but it is altogether probable that sports of this kind, with the
possible exception of cock-fighting, found no place in
the category of their amusements, if, for no other reason, because it was in the power of every man,master, servant, and slave,-to take part in hunting
some species of wild game should his inclinations lie
that way. Nowhere in those times was this form of
diversion followed with more ardour than in Virginia29;
and nowhere perhaps were there more ample returns
from gratifying so manly and healthy a taste. In gratifying that taste a double purpose was really served,
for, as we have seen, the great variety of food which
distinguished the tables of the planters in these early
times was largely due to the game of different kinds
obtained from the fields, forests, and streams.
28 "There was now a very gallant horse to be baited to death with
dogs, but he fought them all so as the fiercest of them could not
fasten on him, till they ran him through with their swords. This
wicked and barbarous sport deserved to have been punished. * * *
I would not be persuaded to be a spectator." Evelyn's Diary, Aug.
17, 1667. Evelyn records on June 16, 1668, that he had that day
witnessed cock and dog fighting, bull and bear-baiting.
2 In some cases, the hunters never returned. See case of Geo.
Watson, Lower Norfolk County Records, Orders, Nov. 15, 1641.
215




XVIII
POPULAR DIVERSIONS-HUNTING AND
FISHING
THE landowners highly valued the game found on
their estates, and in many instances carefully protected
it from depredations; for example, in 1680 a guardian,
in the interest of his ward, who resided in York,
brought suit in the court of that county to recover
damages from a citizen who had, with gun and dogs,
trespassed on the wards' property, and also to prevent
a recurrence of the wrong in the future.' Many additional cases, showing that the same position was taken
by other planters, or their representatives, might be
mentioned. Numerous estates, however, were so large,
and such an extensive proportion of their area was in
primeval forest, that it is not probable that their owners were able to keep them strictly posted even if they
had wished it; and in all parts of the Colony, especially
in the vicinity of the irregular line of the frontier,
there were wide reaches of land, inland swamp, seamarsh, barren upland and the like, which belonged to
no man, and where everyone enjoyed the right to hunt
at all seasons. It followed that it became a habit of
the Virginians of every class to use a gun from the time
they had strength enough to lift it to their shoulders.
From the earliest date, the number of fowling pieces
included among the items of inventories, was often
very remarkable.2
"York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 180.
2 See inventory of Philip Felgate, Lower Norfolk County Records,
Vol. 1646-51, p. 47.
216




IN THE SeJeNrGeeNeH CeXGURY


The laws of the Colony during many years required
that the head of every family should keep in his house,
ready to hand, a well-fixed gun, two pounds of powder,
and eight pounds of shot for every person under him
who was able to carry arms. The object sought in this
regulation was to provide for immediate defense
against sudden Indian attack. This was an additional
reason why the Virginians should acquire an extraordinary skill in the use of the fire-lock; and whether directed against the lurking Indian foe, or the different
kinds of wild game, their aim was among the surest
observed in those times; more than one writer who had
had opportunities of seeing the manner in which they
employed their guns, comments admiringly on their
"marvellous dexterity."'
The gun was chiefly used in the pursuit of birds, of
which there was an extraordinary abundance in the
Colony, whether they belonged to those varieties frequenting the land, or to those that haunted the waters
along the sea coast. Of the first, were the partridge,
the wild pigeon, and the wild turkey. As the area of
cultivated ground grew wider, the number of partridges steadily increased in consequence of their being
able to find a larger supply of food. On the other hand,
the number of wild turkeys perhaps as steadily diminished within the same area, as the turkey is distinctly a
forest bird, that is very shy of human habitations. Of the
two varieties of game, it is probable that the pursuit
of the wild turkey afforded the Virginians the greater
diversion, as it required much exertion as well as wariness to come up with it and kill it. Blinds of pine or
8British State Papers, B. T. Va., for 1692, No. 118; unassorted.
217




g$He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


oak boughs were erected at different eligible spots in
the woods, and here, after scattering the flock with
trained dogs, the hunters would hide themselves, and
by skillful use of the yelp, soon call up the confused and
unsuspecting birds within range of the guns. But this
was not the only method used in taking the wild turkey; among the ingenious devices employed for its capture was the large trap built in the midst of the forest;
lured by a long train of grains of corn to the hole in
the ground which led into the trap, where there was
piled up a quantity of the same grains, the turkey entered unhesitatingly, and once in, was too stupid to find
its way out by the same hole again. Beverley informs
us that sometimes as many as seventeen wild turkeys
were captured at one time in this apparently simple
fashion.4
The destruction of the turkey and partridge did not
approach that of the wild pigeon, a bird which arrived
in Virginia at the same season annually in the course of
its migration. All contemporary observers declare that
the number of these birds appearing at these times was
far beyond the power of human calculation; that for
hours they darkened the sky like a pall of thunder
clouds; and that they broke down, by their weight, the
limbs of the forest wherever an entire flock lighted
in search of food. It can be well imagined that the return of this vast multitude of birds was eagerly anticipated each year by every Virginian who was fond
of the sport of shooting and capturing them. So thickly did they crowd the woods in different places, and so
tame had they become from fatigue and hunger, that
4Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258.
218




IN 'H6 seUe GH CeNGURTY


they were struck down in great numbers with poles
reaching up to their perches; nor was the work of destruction confined to the day; thousands were killed in
the same manner at night, when the glare of torches
served to confuse and bewilder their eyesight.5
The pursuit of the great flocks of wild geese and
ducks along the sea coast, and by the shores of the inlets and creeks, afforded the Virginians of these early
times as much diversion as the pursuit of the game
birds frequenting the upland fields and forests. The
gun had not yet been able to decimate the myriads of
aquatic fowl which had been feeding in these waters
from the earliest ages; practically throughout the
seventeenth century their number remained undiminished; steal upon the flocks as often as they might, the
sportsmen of that day could not make even a perceptible impression in reducing the incalculable multitudes,
that often, in one string, spread over several miles of
the surface of the Bay. In hunting the duck and goose,
the device of the blind used in pursuing the wild turkey was employed, and in this way, the greatest success
in killing them was obtained.
The game hunted with dogs alone was as abundant
as the game hunted with guns. There appear to have
been in Virginia, in the seventeenth century, a great
number of dogs of a mongrel breed, whose chief use
was in destroying the smaller kinds of animals running wild in the woods and fields. How valuable they
were considered to be by their owners is shown in a
case which occurred in Northampton county about
1691; a complaint was, in the course of that year,
6See Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth
Century, Vol. I., p. 121.
219




(GHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIR~GINIA


lodged in the county court against Mike Dixon, on the
ground that he permitted his dogs to rush out and bark
at the heels of persons passing along the highway,
which was situated immediately in front of his door.
Instead of proposing to kill or restrain them, Dixon
simply petitioned the court to have the public road removed some distance back from his dwelling house,
"because it was necessary," he declared, "to keep dogs
for the preservation of creatures from vermin." The
creatures he referred to were poultry and young pigs,
and the vermin were wolves, foxes, minks, polecats, and
the like.
Though foxes were hunted, there is no record of
wealthy planters breeding packs of hounds for the enjoyment of this sport. Hares were caught in large
numbers by pursuing them with dogs, or by smoking
them out of the hollow trees, or the holes in the earth,
in which they hid themselves during the day. Raccoons and opossums were tracked at night with ease.
According to Beverley, the plan followed by the hunters of these animals was to go with three or four dogs
to the parts of the woods where they were always to
be found, owing to the abundance there of the wild
grape, or whatever other food they were most fond of;
as soon as an opossum or raccoon had been driven up
a tree, the nimblest climber among the hunters was
sent up to shake the animal from the limb on which it
had taken refuge; but, generally, it was only after a
scuffle that the game could be made to loosen the grip
of its claws and to tumble into the midst of the yelping
hounds below. A moonlight night was usually selected
for this special sport, or, if the night was dark, the
Northampton County Records, Vol. 1689-98, p. 86.
220




INH qS3He SeNeeNGH QeNGUqY


hunters carried pineknot torches to light them on their
way. The dogs were kept in easy reach by calls on a
cowhorn, the mellow note of which at that silent hour
in the forest could be heard at a great distance. Several large dogs were always taken along, as wolves,
bears, and panthers were now abroad.7
Bears and panthers were found as late as 1683, even
in those parts of the Colony which had been longest
settled. In that year, rewards were offered in Accomac
county for the destruction of these beasts, which must
have greatly encouraged the pursuit of them, already
very exciting from the unusual danger attending it.8
Bears were especially numerous in Lower Norfolk
county, where they were able to obtain a secure refuge
in the fastnesses of the Dismal Swamp. What was
known as "wolf-driving" was, in many counties where
this kind of animal still prowled about freely, one of
the most popular forms of sport; it was the annual custom in Northumberland, for instance, as late as 1691,
for the county court to make public arrangements
within regularly appointed limits for the thorough
scouring of the forests for these hated vermin.9 They
seem to have been hunted on horseback with dogs, as
if they were so many foxes. Beverley states that he
had often, while going at full speed, run down wolves
in the recesses of the woods. Beaver, otter, and deer
hunting was also among the most popular diversions
of Virginian sportsmen at this period.
But the amusement of this general character which
they are said to have most delighted in, was the pur7Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258.
8Accomac County Records, Vol. 1682-97, p. 35.
8Northumberland County Records, Orders, Sept. 16, 1691.
221




rGHE SOCIAL LIFe OF VWRGINIA


suit of the horses that ran wild in the forests. So
many foals were annually dropped there, that a large
proportion of each herd was as shy of man as so many
deer browsing within the same area of country. Under the custom then prevailing, these wild animals belonged to whoever could seize and brand them; thus,
in addition to the excitement of the sport, the young
Virginian had as an inducement to pursue them, the
prospect of getting possession of a very spirited steed.
It was, however, such a difficult task to overtake them,
that Beverley, after his own ardour perhaps had been
cooled by advancing years, remarked that the chief
result of trying to capture one of these unbroken horses
was to ruin one already broken.10 Almost equal sport
was afforded by hunting the numerous wild cattle
roaming in the woods.
Another popular diversion consisted in taking fish in
various ways. This was done chiefly with hook and
line, but seines, cast and stationary nets, as well as gill
lines, were also in general use. The most exciting
branch of this sport was known as "striking," a method that had been adopted from the Indians. A blazing
light was obtained by burning pine knots in a brazier
raised above the bow of a boat, and as the boat glided
along over the surface of the stream in the darkness,
this bright light attracted the fish, and also made them
clearly visible in the water below. A person skilful in
handling the weapon employed in this sport, was able
to secure a great number of very fine fish in a single
night."
10 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258.
"Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258.
222




XIX
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONS-THE
FUNERAL
THE most important occasions of a partly or wholly
public character in Virginia during the seventeenth
century were the horse-race, the funeral, the wedding,
the meeting at church on Sunday, the general muster,
and county-court day. I have already referred to the
popular gatherings at the principal horse-races. From
an early date, the funeral had some of the aspects of
a festive event, however decorously conducted. In the
remote rural neighborhoods, especially where the extraordinary seclusion and monotony of the life in narrow clearings in the primeval forests seemed to emphasize the sombre side of human destiny, it would have
been supposed that a funeral would have reached the
very height of solemnity, not only in the actual ceremony itself, but also in all that immediately followed.
Moreover, it was in such a community as this that the
deceased was most likely to have been known to every
individual in the assemblage of people, a fact that, by
imparting to all a sense of personal loss, would have
made a mournful feeling universal, and for that reason, if for no other, left the gloom of the funeral unrelieved by even a suggestion of cheerfulness in any
form. But it was in these very neighborhoods that
the people in attendance at a burial were most certain
to find, as soon as the ceremony was finished, a means
of consoling themselves in the liveliest fashion, at least
223




r3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


temporarily, for the bereavement which had befallen
their community. Having in su~h a neighborhood to
travel the furthest in order to be present at the funeral,
they stood in the greater need of refreshment when
the ceremony was over. This fact was clearly recognized by the surviving members of the deceased person's family. It would have been looked upon as most
inhospitable to have permitted those who had come such
a distance to show their respect for the dead, to go
away thirsty and hungry, to arrive more thirsty and
more hungry still at their homes, at perhaps a late hour
at night. Under the influence of this feeling, the persons attending a funeral were regarded as possessing
an even more sacred character than ordinary guests,
and the amplest provision that the house could afford
was made for their entertainment.
The eating and drinking was often preceded by a furious fusillade. About 1650, Thomas Wall, of Surry
county, instructed his executors to fire over his grave
"three volleys of shot for the entertainment of those
who came to bury him."' At this time, the firing off
of guns at funerals was permitted by law2; but this
was not always allowed, as there were years when powder and lead had to be carefully husbanded, owing to
fears of Indian invasion. So many accidents occurred
at funerals by the wild firing indulged in by persons
present who had been drinking too freely that, in 1668,
the county court of Lower Norfolk entered an order
that no such firing should be suffered on a like occasion
thereafter, unless an officer was on the ground to reg1 Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72, p. 246, Va. St. Libr.
'Acts of Assembly, 1655-6, Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 265.
224




IN GH UECN ereH eNturY


ulate it.3 At the funeral of Major Philip Stevens, in
York county, as much as ten pounds of powder were
used up in doing honor to his memory.4
The expenditure of powder, however, was insignificant in comparison with the consumption of liquor of
all kinds. The quantity seems extravagant, even in
those cases in which the deceased left a large estate;
in the cases in which the estate was small, the quantity
often provided appears incredibly disproportionate to
the estate's value; for instance, at the burial in Surry
county, in 1673, of John Grove, a planter of very moderate means, the cost of the liquors amounted to as
much as one thousand pounds of tobacco.? The personal property of Walter Barton, of Lower Norfolk
county, was valued at fifty-four pounds sterling and
fifteen shillings only, and yet his funeral expenses were
estimated at eight pounds sterling. The burial of William Vincent, who was also a man of small means, led
to an outlay of fifteen hogshead of tobacco.6 At the
funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Eppes, of Henrico county,
five gallons of wine and two gallons of brandy were
drunk by the persons in attendance; and, in addition,
a steer and three sheep were consumed. At one funeral occurring in York county, in 1667, it required, for
the assuagement of the mourners' thirst, twenty-two
gallons of cider, twenty-four of beer, and five of
brandy; and, to sweeten the drinks, twelve pounds of
"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-66, p. 143.
4York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 86, Va. St. Libr.
5 Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 33, Va. St. Libr.
Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 549; Vol. 1686 -95, folio p. 171.
225




r5H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF Vl{GINIA


sugar had to be provided.7 At another funeral, which
took place in Lower Norfolk county, in 1691, the consumption of liquor amounted to sixty gallons of cider
and four gallons of rum; and of sugar, to thirty
pounds.8 The expenses incurred in burying John
Griggs, of York county, was estimated at sixteen hundred pounds of tobacco. The provision of food and
drink for the persons present on this occasion included turkeys, geese, and other domestic poultry, a pig,
several bushels of flour, twenty pounds of butter, sugar
and spice; and also twelve gallons of different kinds of
spirits.9 Many other instances might be given of the
heavy cost imposed upon estates in following the custom of furnishing the most liberal entertainment for
funeral guests.
Numerous testators deprecated such extraordinary
expense at their own funerals, and provided a limit to
it in their wills; for example, Ralph Langley, of York
county, in 1683, instructed his executors to spend no
more in drink at his burial than his estate could afford,
which he estimated at six gallons; of brandy, presumably.10 George Jordan, of Surry county, expressly forbade guns to be fired over his grave, and directed his
executors to permit no drunkenness to disgrace the
occasion. He wished a "good and decent funeral," he
declared in his last will.1 John Michael echoed the
same sentiment in even more emphatic words; in his
7Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 258; York County
Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 221, Va. St. Libr.
8 Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, f. p. 171.
9 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, p. 87, Va. St. Libr.
~ York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 485.
Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 295, Va. St. Libr.
226




IN c3He S$eN e36NeeH CeNEW3URY


will he ordered that there should be "no drinking immoderately nor shooting suffered" at his burial, for
such excesses, he said, "were very unseasonable and
inconsistent with the occasion." Instead of this, there
was to be only "a civil and free entertainment."12
Some testators contented themselves, like Edward
Warren, with simply desiring that "some entertainment should be made for the friends who should
come" to see them buried.18 The funeral ceremony was
not infrequently made more imposing by certain provisions as to the habiliments of the mourners. Colonel
Richard Cole, of Westmoreland county, by will, directed that the minister who should be chosen to conduct
the services at his grave, should, on the occasion, wear
gloves and a love scarf; the pall-bearers, who were to
embrace the leading citizens of the county, were to be
similarly dressed; whilst the remainder of the company present were to wear gloves and ribbons.'4
"Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-79, p. 340.
8 Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 171, Va. St. Libr.
4 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1655-77, p. 186.
227




XX
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONS-THE
WEDDING
ONE of the most curious features of the social life of
Virginia during the seventeenth century, was the number of marriages often made by the same individual,
and as a corollary, the quickness with which the loss
of a partner was repaired by remarriage.     Instances
of the same person having married at least three times
were far from unusual; and there were even instances
in which a person had been married six times, without
having, like Bluebeard or Henry VIII., shortened the
length of a single one of the six unions by murder or
divorce.1 The frequency with which remarriage on
the part of a woman took place was due, in some measure, to the fact that she was always married off at a
very early age. When a father made an important gift
to a daughter, it was customary for him to insert in
the deed conveying it, a clause providing as to what
should be done with the gift in case she should become
a wife before she had reached her sixteenth year.2
Ursula, a daughter of the elder William Byrd, who died
when seventeen years old, had been married to Robert
Beverley long enough to give birth to a son.3 There is
1The mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, of Lancaster county, married six times. See Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II., p. 237.
2 Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72, p. 408, Va. St. Libr.
"Writings of the second William Byrd, Bassett's edit., p. xxxiii.
See an entry in Evelyn's Diary, May 16, 1681, in which he states as
his opinion that a young lady was not "capable of disposing of herself judiciously till she was sixteen or seventeen years of age."
228




IN 3GHE SEEN`eeGH eNqURY


an instance of a clandestine marriage recorded in
which the wife had not yet passed her twelfth year.4
Many of these women, who assumed all the cares of
family life at such an immature age, became, in time,
broken in health, and after bearing from ten to twelve
children, died, leaving their husbands to marry again
and to surround themselves with second broods, perhaps equally as numerous. But very often the young
wife was left a widow in a few years, and if endowed with beauty, charm, or a fine plantation, she
soon consoled herself by marrying a second or third
time, as the case might be. So great was the haste in
some instances that the second husband was granted
the probate of the will of the first.5 In 1696, Rev.
James Boulware obtained, in the Essex county court,
a judgment against Edward Danneline for fees which
were due to him, not only for having performed the
marriage service of Mr. and Mrs. Danneline, but also
for having preached the funeral sermon of John Smith,
the first husband of Mrs. Danneline, for whose estate
the second husband had been appointed administrator.6
In this case, the funeral baked meats had furnished
forth the marriage tables. There is one instance recorded in this century in which the husband took such
a cheerful and philosophical view of his widow's remarriage that he left his whole estate to her children
by a second husband, should she marry again and have
offspring-an example of serene generosity probably
4 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 154.
Case of Alexander Shipworth, York County Records, Vol. 1664 -72, p. 70, Va. St. Libr.
"Essex County Records, Orders, June 11, 1696, Va. St. Libr.
229




q3H~ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


then without precedent, and probably never since imitated.
But perhaps the most remarkable case of quickness
with which a widow's hand was sought in marriage
after the death of the first husband, occurred as early
as 1623. Rev. Greville Pooley was the hero of this episode, which was characterized by all the romance that
ardour at least could give. The husband of Mrs. Jordan had been dead only three or four days, when Mr.
Pooley, fearful lest a rival should start up, earnestly
requested Captain Isaac Madison to broach for him,
to the widow, a proposal of marriage. Madison, no
doubt, struck with the unseemly haste of such conduct,
at first declined to act as intermediary; naturally
enough, he said that he did not wish to "meddle in any
such business"; but finally, being a warm friend of the
clergyman, and feeling sure that Mrs. Jordan would
soon marry some other man, if she did not marry Pooley, he yielded. When Madison told her of his mission,
the lady declared that she had as soon marry Mr. Pooley as anyone she knew, but she did not think it quite
decent to do so so quickly. Having received this answer, Pooley plucked up courage to visit Mrs. Jordan
himself. During the course of the interview, he desired a dram of her, and on her bidding one of the servants go and fetch it, he declared very gallantly that he
would have it of her fetching, or not at all. She then
went into the next room for it. A verbal contract was
now entered into with all the formality of a marriage
ceremony, and the couple drank to each other's health.
He kissed her and exclaimed: "I am thine, and you are
mine until death do part us." A few minutes afterwards, Mrs. Jordan began to fear lest she should be
280




IN mT'GHe SeNIeN1 EH CeNOuRY


criticised should she be too precipitate in remarrying.
Pooley, however, protested "before God that he would
not reveal" the engagement until she thought "the time
fitting." But being very full of the secret, and perhaps
thinking to bind the lady more firmly, he soon told it.
Mrs. Jordan was so angered that she declined to carry
out the contract, and in so doing increased the clergyman's chagrin by saying that "if he had not revealed
it, he might have fared ye better."7
The quickness with which so many women of this
period remarried was not due to a lack of tender feeling for the memories of their deceased husbands; it
very frequently had its origin in reasons of practical
necessity that could not be carelessly put aside. On a
large and secluded plantation, where numerous unbroken negroes, recently brought in from Africa were
at work, or white agricultural servants, who, in some
cases, were transported criminals, the position of a
widowed mistress, however firm in character, or however accustomed to command, was environed with dangers as well as exposed to serious inconveniences. The
reasons for apprehension were more urgent when she
had been left with very young children. The men
seemed to recognize at once that widows were made,
by these peculiar conditions, which, as a rule, surrounded them, the more easy of conquest, and they pressed
their suits with a proportionate degree of confidence
and ardour.
The frequency of remarriage on the part of the women of this period was also due, in some measure, to
the fact that the number of persons of the male sex
7British Colonial Papers, Vol. 1622-3, No. 30.
281




GH~ SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


exceeded the number of persons of the female in the
different communities of the Colony. Among the native inhabitants, there was, no doubt, a numerical
equality between the two sexes, but the disproportion
in favor of the male sex in Virginia throughout the
seventeenth century was annually maintained by the
very much larger number of men than women among
the new settlers, whether they came over with independent means, or with no other resource but the labor of
their hands; whether, in short, they were planters on
their own account, or merely agricultural servants.
There were, naturally, more persons of the male than
of the female sex among the English emigrants; and it
followed that the supply of possible husbands was
greater than the supply of possible wives, and that, if
a woman remained single, whether from birth, or after
the death of her husband, it was for no want of suitors
for her hand. One means adopted by brothers who had
prospered in the Colony, of aiding their families left
behind in England, was to invite their sisters to visit
them in Virginia, where, as in the case of William
Fitzhugh's sister, they would soon be able to make
eligible matches. Bullock informs us that no maid
whom he had brought over failed to find a husband in
the first three months after she had entered his service.
At the time when Rev. Greville Pooley made such
haste to distance all possible rivals in the graces of Mrs.
Jordan, the numerical superiority of the men was perhaps the most extraordinary in the history of the Colony. It was only a few years before that the London
Company had found it necessary to import wives for
the different tenants engaged in working the public
lands; in one year alone, there appear to have been
282




IN 3HE, SVErrH 6E3GUqY


settled on these lands one hundred and ten tenants,"
none of whom seem to have been married until the company provided wives for them. The social rank of
these tenants was the same as that of the large body of
men renting farms from the great English proprietors,
from among whom they had perhaps been taken, owing to their experience in cultivating the soil. They
certainly did not occupy a higher social level than
English yeomen.
The young women who went over to become the
wives of the tenants, though belonging to the lower
orders in England, were chosen especially for their
previous good character. No indiscriminate or irregular method of selecting them was countenanced in the
slightest degree by the company. Owen Evans, pretending to have received the royal commission to impress maids for shipment to Virginia and the Bermudas, visited Somersetshire, and there caused such consternation among the young unmarried women, that
forty are said to have fled from one parish alone, and
so successfully concealed themselves that their nearest
friends did not know what had become of them. Evans
was soon arrested.9 It is probable that the whole number of maids imported did not exceed one hundred and
fifty. The largest band arrived in 1620, when ninety
landed.10 In a letter from the company to the Governor
and Council in Virginia, dated August, 1621, it was
stated that one widow and eleven maids had been dis8Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. II., p. 40, Richmond edition.
9Dom. Cor. Jas. I., Vol. CIII., No. 42.
10Abstracts of Proceedings Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 67, Va.
Hist. Soc. Pub.
288




TH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIU(GINIA


patched, and that fifty more maids would soon follow.'1
In September of the same year, the company again
wrote that thirty-eight maids had been sent out; and it
is probable that this number was additional to the fifty
previously referred to.,2 Each one was acquired at the
rate of about one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco,
or twelve pounds sterling, which went to reimburse
those members of the company who had borne the expense of transporting the maids to the Colony."3
That these young women did not become the wives
of the tenants within a few days after they reached
Virginia is shown by several facts. First, the company
gave orders that they should be well cared for until
married, and the Assembly requested of the company
that they should always bring victuals with them for
their support in this interval. 14 Secondly, in choosing
a husband among the large body of men who occupied
the public lands, each maid was to have as much freedom of selection as she would have enjoyed had she
been marrying in England. There was probably a proportion of three single tenants to each maid, and her
choice, therefore, instead of being confined to one man,
practically lay between three men, any one of whom she
could accept or reject as under normal circumstances
j in her native country. If no one of the three touched
her fancy, it was in her power to abandon the thought
of marriage altogether; by disposing of herself as a
domestic servant or agricultural laborer, in response
to the extraordinary demand for her in either charac"Randolph MS., Vol. Ill., p. 165.
Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 166.
1Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 166.
'Randolph MS., Vol. III., pp. 166, 166.
284




IN IHE SeveNeeNrH CNeN3U RY


ter that existed, she could easily have secured the
amount required to cover all the charges entailed by
her transportation to the Colony; and this was perhaps
the course pursued by some among this memorable
company of women, who have so often furnished a
theme to romantic writers.15
An impression prevailed in England in these early
times that the Virginians residing alone on his plantation on the other side of the world, was willing to
marry any woman rather than not marry at all; for
instance, in 1612, the Spanish Ambassador in London,
Don Pedro de Cunega, reported to the King of Spain
that at least forty or fifty of the settlers in the Colony
on James river had found wives among the Indians,
and that a clergyman who had opposed their doing so,
had been strongly reprehended.1' In reality, the only'
marriage between an Indian woman and an English
settler occurring in Virginia during the existence of
the company's rule, was the celebrated union of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, which was made possible by
the fact that Pocahontas was the daughter of a king,
however barbarous in spirit and aspect. The earliest
English marriage to take place in the Colony was that
of Anne Burras and John Laydon. Laydon himself
followed the pursuit of a carpenter, while Anne Burras
was the serving woman of Mrs. Forrest, the wife of a.
prominent settler.17
The marriage contract was quite as common in Virginia during the seventeenth century as it was in Eng1' No writer has used this celebrated episode more effectively than
Miss Mary Johnston in her popular novel, "To Have and to Hold."
6 Calendar of British State Papers, Colonial 1574-1660, p. 13.
Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 203, Richmond edition.
285




'3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF tI1GINIA


land. The terms of some of these ante-nuptial agreements secured to the woman the right to retain the
whole of her property,l8 a right that was, perhaps, always reserved in those cases in which the future wife
was a widow with children, whose first husband had
left her his entire estate in fee simple. In a marriage
contract between John Hurst and Elizabeth Alford, of
Lower Norfolk county, dated 1675, it was carefully stipulated that Hurst should not "meddle" with his wife's
property, and that she should be fully authorized, not
only to manage, but also to sell it, should she so desire,
as if she was still unmarried. In addition, she kept in
her own hands the power to convert to her own use the
bills of exchange, tobacco, and other merchandise,
which she should at any time send out of the Colony;
above all, she reserved to herself the right to distribute
her estate by will in such manner as she chose.19 It is
evident that this lady was shrewd enough to make the
most of the eagerness of her lovers by preserving her
complete independence in all matters relating to her own
business.
There is recorded of this period at least one instance
in which a woman bound herself by a formal contract
not to marry any one but the other party to the agreement, but apparently not binding herself absolutely to
marry this person. Such was the case of Sarah Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison, who, after
"cordially promising" never to become the wife of
anyone but William Roscoe, boldly repudiated her
written obligation by becoming the wife of Rev.
James Blair. Her conduct at her wedding gave
Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 265, Va. St. Libr.
1Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1666-75, p. 185.
236




IN 35H6 SEevE~ENH CeN(UY


additional proof of her eccentric character; when called
upon by the clergyman who performed the ceremony
to say "obey," she replied: "no obey"; and when the
clergyman read that part of the service again, she again
replied "no obey"; and gave the same answer when he
read it a third time. The clergyman now ignored her
words and proceeded with the ceremony to its conclusion, probably in his heart wishing Mr. Blair well of a
very capricious partner.20
There were great strictness and exactness in the
Colony in throwing around marriage all the safeguards
which the law could create and enforce. Under a proclamation issued in 1672 it was declared that the ceremony should not be valid unless a license bearing the
Governor's signature had been first obtained, or unless
the banns had been published at least three times in
the church of the parish in which the parties resided.2'
When one of the latter was under age, the consent of
the parents or guardians was required before the license would be granted22 and the license itself had to
be returned to Jamestown for final recordation.23
About 1683, the presiding justice of each county court
was empowered to issue a marriage license after receiving a certificate from the clerk of the same court
that the marriage bond called for by Act of Parliament
had been given.24 The penalty named in this bond was
twenty thousand pounds of tobacco. The bond itself
20 Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 278.
21 Robinson's Transcripts, p. 73.
22 Acts of Assembly, Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 216. See, also,
Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 157.
`Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 225.
24York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 517.
287




'H6$ SOCIAL LIFe OF VIRGINIA


seems to have been generally signed by the bridegroom
and a friend, who had come forward as his security,
but in many cases it appears to have been signed by his
friends alone.25 The publication of the banns in the
parish church shows how closely English customs were
followed in the Colony; this method of legalizing an intended marriage was probably, in most cases, preferred
to the license, if for no other reason, because it entailed
smaller expense, since a fee of one hundred pounds of
tobacco had to be paid for the license, but of only forty
pounds for the banns.26 It seems to have been usual at
times for the prospective bridegroom to set up at the
court-house door, a written notice of his intention to
marry; this was done, in 1657, by Richard Markham,
who was engaged to Frances Yeates, and, in 1659, by
John Manning, who was engaged to Lydia Richardson.
Both were citizens of Lower Norfolk county.27
Runaway matches occurred very frequently throughout this period. To such an extent had Maryland, by
1673, become the Gretna Green of Virginia lovers,
whose marriages for one reason or another were obstructed in their own Colony, that the Virginia Assembly, in the course of that year, requested the Governor
to appoint a committee with the power to negotiate
with the Governor of the neighboring Province for the
adoption of regulations that would make it illegal for
Catholic priests or Protestant clergymen there to marry
the couples who had by stealth left Virginia and crossed
2 Three marriage bonds will be found among the records of Essex
county for the year 1693. See Vol. 1692-5, pp. 290-1, Va. St. Libr.
2 Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 243.
Lower Norfolk County Records, 1656, pp. 90, 253.
288




IN r9H6         CEr qURY


the Potomac for that purpose.    It was not always
necessary to pass that river in order to make a clandestine marriage; in 1662, a prominent citizen of
Northampton county ran off with Elizabeth Charlton,
a girl only twelve years of age, an heiress and a member of one of the most conspicuous families on the Eastern Shore. At the time, she was staying at the home of
Captain Jones, where she was receiving her education.
The marriage in this case occurred on the other side of
the Bay, whither the couple had fled in a sail-boat. The
license was probably obtained there, as there the two
were unknown.29
As early as 1632, it was provided by law, that, except in case of a necessity, the marriage ceremony
should be performed in a church30; and that it should
take place between the hours of eight in the morning
and twelve midday.31 The close of the ceremony at this
period seems to have been followed by a lively fusillade; but this, finally, led to such an alarming expenditure of powder that it was restricted, if not forbidden
altogether, in those years when there was fear of trouble with the Indians.32  It is not probable that the
legal requirement that the marriage ceremony should
be celebrated only in a church edifice remained in force
down to 1700; in some of the parishes, the church was
situated so remotely from many of the inhabitants that
this would have made a journey of perhaps two days
IOrders of Assembly, Oct. 20, 1673, Colonial Entry Book, Vol.
LXXXVI.
INorthampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 158.
30Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 158.
Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 216.
Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 210.
289




C3He SOCIAL LIFe OF VIRGINIA


necessary to reach it. For several years previous to
the middle of the century the local magistrates were
impowered to perform the ceremony, but this resulted
in so much confusion that a law was passed confining
the right to clergymen33; this change very probably did
not alter the rule, which must have prevailed during the
time the magistrates could marry couples, namely, that
the ceremony could take place in a private house. As
soon as the settlements began to spread out, convenience required that this should be allowed; and no doubt
also the social spirit of the peeple, which sought to
make the most of their secluded life of every enlivening
event, caused it to be greatly preferred. When the
wedding came off at the bride's home, the feasting and
dancing, usually so freely indulged in, could be started
as soon as the ceremony ended. Very often this could
not be done for hours when the ceremony took place
in the parish church.
There is no surviving record of the festivities accompanying a Virginian wedding in the seventeenth
century; but little reason exists to doubt that an occasion of this kind closely resembled a like occasion occurring in England in those times. Quite probably it
was attended by even greater and more prolonged gaiety, owing to the desire of the people, whose lives were,
as a rule, secluded and uneventful on their remote plantations, to make the most of every opportunity that
arose to brighten their existence. We have already
seen that even the funerals were not devoid of their
bright and cheerful side; if there was a disposition to
extract even from a funeral all the social enlivenment
8 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1653-64, p. 80.
240




IN CHe SUERNGEEH C~NG3URY


which it could possibly afford, whether springing from
the reunion of friends and acquaintances, or from the
enjoyment of whatever was good to eat and drink, it
could be easily perceived that the spirit with which the
guests would enter into such a joyful occasion as a wedding, would be almost unrestrained. The country neighborhoods were not, as a rule, so thickly settled that an
occasion of this kind re-occurred with extraordinary
frequency, thus to dull by rapid repetition the edge of
the pleasure derived from attending it. When a wedding did occur, it was an event all the more important
because it did not happen so often as at this time it did
in the more crowded parishes of England. Moreover,
the majority of the guests, in order to reach the home
of the bride, were compelled to travel a considerable
distance either by boat or horse; it was not a matter
of a few hours for both going and returning, but sometimes of a whole day; indeed, it was not uncommon for
twenty-four hours to be consumed in the journey to
or fro alone, and, knowing this, the guests were in no
mood to shorten the festivities when they had once arrived at the residence where the wedding was to take
place. The parents of the bride required no other influence but the knowledge of the many miles their
guests had come to lengthen these festivities to the last
moment to which they could be drawn out.
When a wedding came off, it seems to have been made
an excuse for general relaxation among people of all
classes, and sometimes for the most open disregard of
duty. A witness in a case that was tried in the court
of York county in 1656, testified that, on his arrival at
Mr. Thomas Bushrod's residence, he was surprised to
find his tobacco crop in a neglected condition. "Mr.
241




?3He SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Bushrod," said he, "what do you mean by suffering
your tobacco to run up so high; and why do you not
top it?" Mr. Bushrod replied that "his overseer,
Richard Barkshyre, had gone to a weddinge att Pyanketank without his consent, and he knew not how to
helpe it."S34 When the Dutch men-of-war entered James
River in 1666, and carried such havoc among the merchant-men lying there under the supposed protection
of the guard-ship, the latter vessel was rendered practically useless at the critical moment by the absence of
the captain on shore in attendance at a wedding.
It does not seem to have been always customary at
this period for the bridegroom to procure the wedding
ring. In 1655, Henry Westgate directed in his will
that a hogshead of tobacco belonging to his estate
should be used for the purchase of two wedding rings,
one of which was to be given to his daughter, Elizabeth,
the other to his daughter, Anne. These rings were to
be bought in England.35
The marriages which took place in Virginia in the
seventeenth century, whether the ceremony occurred
in church or in a private residence, were rarely followed by divorce. Writing in 1681, William Fitzhugh,
a lawyer of distinction, who was thoroughly familiar
with the Colony, declared that he had never known but
one couple residing there to obtain from court even an
order of separation. This couple was Giles Brent and
his wife.36 Other cases, however, had occurred, but at
very long intervals. In 1655, Alice Clawson, of Northampton county, secured a divorce from her husband on
"'York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 125, Va. St. Libr.
"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1651-56, p. 182.
"Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 8, 1681.
242




IN TH6e seve6N6NH CeNturY


the ground that he had, for many years, lived among
the Nanticoke Indians in the character of their principal chief, and had refused to give up his Indian concubine.37 In this case, the heathen associations of Clawson, even more than his prolonged desertion of his wife,
were probably the main reason why the justices granted the divorce so readily. It was rare that a decree of
separation was prayed for, and still rarer that it was
allowed. In 1699, Mrs. Mary Taylor, of Elizabeth City
county, complained to the county court that her husband was "so cross and cruel" that she could not live
with him. She begged that he should be required to
provide her with a maintenance, but in a home of her
own, where she would be "secure from danger." The
court promptly ordered him, not only to deliver up to
her her furniture and wearing apparel, but also to contribute twelve hundred pounds of tobacco, or six pounds
sterling, annually to her support.38
37Northampton County Records, Vol. 1654-5, p. 135. There is a
petition for divorce entered in Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol.
1656-66, p. 3542.
88Elizabeth City County Records, Orders, Jan'y 18, 1699. The
following item relates to a midwife's fees: "Agnes Williams, aged
24 years, sayeth that Maudlin (Magdalen), wife of John Major,
did bargain with Susan Helline, widdowe, for to keep her while she
lay in childbed, and did promise to give her 12 hens." This was in
1682. See Accomac County Records, Vol. 1632-40, p. 16, Va. St. Libr.
248




XXI


PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OCCASIONS-CHURCH,
COURT-DAY AND MUSTER
FUNERALS and weddings partook in some measure
of a private nature, although, in these early times, the
line between them and occasions strictly public in every
sense was perhaps not always strictly drawn. The
three most important public occasions in the social life
of the people at this period were the meeting of the
congregation in the parish church, the general muster
and the gathering on the monthly county court day at
the county court-house.
In Virginia, throughout the seventeenth century, the
holding of services in the parish church on Sunday gave
rise to an occasion which was as remarkable for its
social as for its religious aspects. In this edifice all the
people of the entire parish were supposed to assemble
every Sabbath morning, and as there was a considerable penalty for remaining away, it is probable that few
who were without a good reason to be absent failed to
attend. Apart from any desire to join in public worship, the prospect of meeting friends and acquaintances
must have had a strong influence in bringing a large
number of persons together under the church roof.
Both before and after the hour of service they had a
full opportunity to mingle in the closest social intercourse. It was at this time that friendships were
formed or cemented, courtships begun or advanced, and
the latest news and gossip of the neighborhood ban244




,IN 53H6 S6UENq3EN3GH CGN'cUTY
died auwt. Advantage must have been taken of this
occasion also to wear some of that costly finery which,
as we have seen, members of either sex very often possessed in a great quantity. The women were not so
conscious of the sacred character of the hour as to be
indifferent to arousink the envy of their acquaintances
by the display of a beautiful dress, while among the
younger men at least there must have been many who
sunned their foppish instincts in the eyes of the congregation by the exhibition of their bravest waistcoats
or most brilliant shoe-buckles.
The old church which still stands near Smithfield,
in Isle of Wight county, one of the noblest monuments
of the colonial era in existence,' must have beheld in
these early times as notable a gathering of planters
and their families in the shadow of its embowering
trees as has ever taken place on the soil of Virginia.
Here, and at other churches like it, a spirit of social
kindness as well as of religious devotion, was nourished
from Sunday to Sunday, the bonds of mutual sympathy
and helpfulness were made closer and more intimate,
the more innocent vanities were aired, the manners of
the young improved by intercourse with their elders,
and the minds of the old refreshed by renewed association with their neighbors. For a few hours the parish
church was a center of overflowing life. If the services
1A very interesting account of the Smithfield church, its historical and personal associations, will be found in a sympathetic,
learned and thoughtful paper read by Major R. S. Thomas before
the Virginia Historical Society, Dec. 22, 1892, and published in its
collections. Major Thomas possessed a fund of information about
the history of this part of Virginia; and it was due to his extraordinary zeal and industry as an antiquarian that many facts of
importance in illustration of that history have been preserved.
245




H3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIIA


were in progress, there was a large congregation listening to the words falling from the lips of the clergyman, or joining in the singing of one of those immemorial psalms which required no instrumental music
to increase their impressiveness; and if the services had
ended, there were the groups of persons within the edifice and the groups without under the trees laughing
and conversing, while in the surrounding thickets
horses, impatient to carry their masters and mistresses
home, were neighing and stamping the ground.2 An
hour later the character of the whole scene had
changed; the church building was closed in door and
window; not a man or horse was to be observed; and
the silence was only broken by the occasional cry of a
wandering bird, or the bark of a squirrel. And so it
continued until, on the following Sunday, the church
doors were thrown open again.
A general muster, while sharing in some of the social
features of the assemblage at church, was naturally
distinguished for much more stirring and exciting incidents.   As a meeting of this kind was held for an entire
county, it drew together persons from a far wider area of
country than the area contained iin a single parish;
2The peacefulness of the occasion was sometimes, in the frontier
counties disturbed by rude interruptions, as the following entry in
the Henrico County Records for 1687 shows: "Upon ye p'sentment
of one of ye grand jury on his own knowledge that Henry Ayscough
did on a Sunday (ye tenth of July last) come drunk to ye Church,
and there unbutton his coat and offer to fight with two persons then
there; likewise he swore that he would ride into ye church and did
attempt it; It is ordered that ye said Henry Ayscough, for his said
drunkenness, swearing, and other misdemeanors, be fined, and doe
pay according to ye lawes in such cases made" * * * Henrico
County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 185, Va. St. Libr.
246




IN q3HE SNTjNrEeNH CEN3UrT


from the remotest points within these extensive limits
the people came, some trudging on foot, some perhaps
travelling in carts and rude carriages, but the greater
number riding on horseback. Women perched up behind on pillions accompanied their fathers, brothers,
or husbands. The military spectacle afforded by a
general muster, the finest which the Colony had to offer, no doubt had the same burning interest for all
classes of persons at that day which it would now have.
These musters must frequently have lasted longer than
a few hours, but even when confined to a single day, the
occasion for all who had to come from a distance really
spread over two days, as they were unable to return
home before the following morning.3  There was thus
an opportunity after the close of the exercises for a
general commingling of the people. As every freeman
was subject to military duty, the muster brought together numerous representatives of every class in the
community above the grades of servant and slave, and
even servants and slaves were there in attendance on
their masters. All who were most prominent and influential among the gentlemen residing in the county
must have been present, and this fact alone, no doubt,
served to impart a special social distinction to the occasion in the eyes of the opposite sex, and had its effect in increasing the number of ladies present. The
muster itself, by varying the character of the day by a
military display, gave a fillip to the social pleasure of
8 In 1696, as already stated, a petition was offered in the House of
Burgesses by citizens of Northumberland county praying that no
musters should be allowed to take place on Saturday, as it led to
the profanation of Sunday. See Minutes of House of Burgesses,
Sept. 30, 1696, B. T. Va., Vol. LII.
247




Hfi6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


the reunion such as it would not have possessed had
the people come together without a special object. The
event very probably also had its darker side in the
presence of many who were disposed to take advantage
of it to indulge too freely in liquor, but the presence
of so many soldiers fully armed was always a guarantee that no serious disorder would occur.
The diversions of the monthly court day were entirely confined to men. This occasion was far from being purely social in its character. It had also its political and business aspects, all of which were removed
from the sphere of feminine participation. The absence of women, in a measure, accounts for the lack of
restraint which so often distinguished the day in these
early times. There are numerous proofs that the meeting of the monthly court created an opportunity, not
only for the general discussion of the merits of candidates for the House of Burgesses, for making bargains
for the sale of tobacco and live stock, and for an exchange of county news, but also for a free enjoyment
of rough horse-play. Above all, it was enlivened by a
great deal of drunken revelry, which was not entirely
confined to members of the lowest class. A minute of
Northampton county court, dated 1678, records the fact
that it had become the practice of several persons to
attend on the occasion of the court's meeting in order
to get intoxicated, quarrel, and fight; and that they
had had the "impudence" to enter the court room
whilst the judges were sitting, and be abusive to their
face. A strict measure for repressing these roughs
was adopted, and the keeper of the ordinary near the
court-house was warned that, unless he preserved perfect order in his tavern, his license would be with248




IN QeH SEIv3H ENH CENutRY


drawn.4 When George Mayplis petitioned the county
court of Lancaster for the right to sell cider at the
court-house on court day, it was granted on condition
that its exercise should be "in no ways injurious or prejudicial in ye disturbing of ye court in ye time of its
sitting."5 In spite of all these precautions on the part
of the justices, much drunkenness seems to have prevailed by the time night arrived. This fact was so well
known that the indentured servants very often took advantage of the relaxed vigilance of that hour to make
their preparations for flight. About 1680 a servant
confessed in Northampton county court that he had
been waiting for a court day in order to steal a bridle
and saddle. This he said he could do as soon as night
came on when he knew the people would be too much in
drink to observe his action. The bridle and saddle he
intended to hide in the woods until he could run off with
one of his master's horses and thus make good his escape to Maryland.6 Nicholson, during the course of
his administration offered prizes to all who should excel in riding, running, shooting, wrestling, and cudgeling.7 These contests probably took place on court days.
Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-78, p. 374.
Lancaster County Records, Orders, July 12, 1682.
'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1679-83, pp. 52, 53.
Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 79.
249




XXII
DUELLING
IN a life so frequently marked by controversies and
brawls on the occasions when the people came together, it was to be expected that every now and then a duel
would occur, which would end in a tragedy. As early
as 1619 Captain William Eppes killed Captain Stallinge
in a private quarrel. At a later period, owing to heated words that had passed between them while together
making a journey to Jamestown, a duel took place between Richard Stephens and George Harrison, in
which Harrison received a cut in the knee from his
opponent's sword. At the end of two weeks he was
dead, but the autopsy showed that he could not have
lived long even if he had come off uninjured in the duel
with Stephens.' Actual or threatened duels must not
have been uncommon about 1643, as in the course of
that year an order was adopted that, should a justice
of the peace send a challenge to a member of the Council, he should be disabled from holding office.2 This
special order was, no doubt, called forth by a particular instance in which such an offence had been committed by a judge of one of the county courts.
A decade had hardly passed when we find a justice
in the position of the councillor in this case. About
1653 Richard Denham, acting for his father-in-law,
1Letter of George Menifie to John Harrison in England, April 27,
1624, British Colonial Papers, Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 15.
2Robinson Transcripts, p. 238.
250




IN 53HE S6e9N'ENrq3H ceNG3UYe


Captain Thomas Hackett, delivered a challenge to Mr.
Daniel Fox at the very moment he was sitting with his
fellow justices on the bench of Lancaster county court.
Denham admitted, when sternly questioned by the
court, that he was aware that he bore a challenge, and
he boldly demanded of Fox what answer he proposed
to return to Captain Hackett. One of the justices here
spoke up in sharp reproof: "An action of that nature,"
he exclaimed, "I would not be ye owner of for ye
world." To which Denham replied in a slighting manner. The court then very emphatically declared that
Denham was a "party in ye crime" of Captain Hackett,
and that for bringing the challenge, whose character
he well knew, and for delivering it while the justices
were sitting, as well as for his contemptuous manner
and peremptory words, he should receive on his bare
shoulder six strokes of a whip at the hands of the sheriff. The latter officer was also entrusted to arrest Captain Hackett and hold him without privilege of bail until he should "answer for his crimes" at the next session of the General Court at Jamestown. The cause
of the challenge seems to have been a reflection cast
upon Hackett by Fox during a session of the county
court, which Hackett asserted had its origin in "malice
and an evil disposition." He invited Fox to meet him
at eight o'clock in the morning at a point situated on
the line bounding their two estates, where, as it lay in
a valley, the combatants would be removed from observation or interruption. Hackett selected the rapier as
his weapon, and the only particular in which he failed
to follow the regulations was in not leaving the choice
to his opponent; but he was scrupulous to inform Fox
of the length of the special rapier he proposed using in
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G3He SOeIAL LIFE OF VRGINIA


the duel. He requested Fox to bring his second with
him. "If you please," he adds with great courtesy.3
Some of the servants appear to have been as fiery
in nature as their masters, and as quick to resent an
affront, real or imaginary. In 1661 a servant belonging to Christopher Calvert, who resided on the Eastern
Shore, sent a peremptory challenge to Goslin Van Neten, a citizen of Dutch origin. The challenge was acetpted, a duel fought, and the servant badly wounded.
Calvert was ordered by the county court to pay for the
present all the fees which Dr. George Nicholas Hacke
should charge for medical attendance on the injured
man, but they were ultimately to be shared equally
with Van Netsen, who had inflicted the wound. Calvert was to be finally compensated by the extension of
the servant's term.4 It is probable that, in this case,
the servant sending the challenge really belonged to a
higher social grade than would appear from the entry in
the records. Some of those bound by articles of indenture were young men of gentle connections, whose social antecedents were inconsistent with the position in
3Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1652-56, p. 64. "The challenge
ran as follows: 'Mr. Fox, I wonder ye should so much degenerate
from a gentleman as to cast such an aspersion on me in open Court,
making nothinge appear but I knowe it to be out of malice and an
evil disposition which remains in your hearte, therefore, I disyre
ye if ye have anything of a gentleman or of manhood in ye to meet
me on Tuesday morninge at ye marked tree in ye valey which partes
yr lande and mine, about eight of ye clocke, where I shall expect ye
comeinge to give me satisfaction. My weapon is rapier, ye length I
send ye by bearer; not yours at present, but yours at ye time appointed. THOMAS HACKETT. Ye seconde bringe along with ye
if ye please * * * I shall finde me of ye like'."
"Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, orig., p. 132.
252




IN q3H SeVN etNee3H CEN3URY


which they had placed themselves; or it may be they
had signed the articles in order to learn some special
pursuit, like tobacco planting, before embarking in it
on their own independent account. It is not likely that
Van Netsen would have accepted a challenge from an
ordinary domestic or agricultural servant, as that
would have signified a confession on his part that he did
not hold himself higher than the lowest social class in
the community.
A curious instance is recorded in the history of the
Insurrection of 1676 of a wish on the part of one of its
leaders to have recourse to the old custom of single
combat in order to find out with which side lay the true
equity of the quarrel between the two parties. On one
occasion, when the opposing soldiers were facing each
other, Major Bristow, a supporter of Governor Berkeley, offered to fight any follower of Bacon who had a
right to be considered a gentleman. Ingram, one of
the most conspicuous officers in the popular army,
promptly accepted the challenge, but when he made a
motion to advance, with sword and pistol in hand, his
own man caught hold of him and forced him back, because, as the chronicler of the event slyly observes, they
were doubtful of the justice of their side, but more
probably because they saw that Ingram was no match
in physical strength for his proposed antagonist.5
Giles Bland, who was destined to end his life on the
gallows for the part he took in the Rebellion of 1676,
had on one occasion a heated altercation with one of
the Ludwells, which ended in an exchange of gloves,
and an appointment to fight a duel on the following
5Ingram's Proceedings, p. 40, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. I.
258




3gHE SOCIAL LIFE OF UVIIGINIA


morning. Bland appeared punctually at the hour
agreed upon, but Ludwell failed to come. In his resentment Bland nailed the glove to the door of the StateHouse.
Neither the transplanted Englishmen nor the native
Virginians were, when angry, scrupulous respecters of
persons or places, however distinguished or sacred. In
1684 a quarrel arising in the court-house of Lower Norfolk county during a session of the justices, two brothers, John and Henry Gills, drew their swords on their
opponents, and but for the prompt interference of the
by-standers a bloody combat would have been fought
on the floor of the room. Both brothers were at once
committed to prison.6
Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1675-86, Orders, May 15,
1684. "So many horrid murders and duels were committed about
this time as were never before heard of in England, which gave
much cause of complaint and murmurings." See Evelyn's Diary,
Dec. 18, 1684. Again he writes: "Many bloody and notorious duels
were fought about this time."-Diary, Feb'ry 18, 1686.
254




XXIII
CONCLUSION
Now that the varied aspects of the purely social life
of Virginia in the seventeenth century have passed
under review, it is seen that the most remarkable general feature of that life was its close resemblance to
the social life of England in the same age, in spite of
the modifying influences of a new and developing country remotely situated from the Old World. There were
several reasons why this close resemblance should
have been maintained* long after the community had
had time to acquire a distinct character of its own.
These reasons, which have been incidentally touched
upon in the preceding pages in other connections, may
now be grouped together in conclusion.
First, the great bulk of the population was of unmixed English blood. At no period during the contury did the alien element, whether Dutch, French, or
Celtic, become important from the point of view of
number, although individuals of foreign origin, from
time to time, exercised great influence.' In nearly
every instance the person of foreign birth intermarried with a Virginian, or English man or woman. Not
only was his alien temper and sympathies thus moderated unconsciously to himself, but the chance of his
transmitting his own national traits to his offspring
was thus lessened, if not destroyed. His descendants
in the third generation, if not in the second, gave no
For a detailed account of the foreign elements, see Appendix.
255




qH6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


indications whatever of foreign descent. The original
foreign strain had in them at least been practically obliterated. They were as thoroughly English in instinct, feeling, aspiration, moral standards, and general attitude of mind, as if no alien blood whatever
coursed in their veins.
a     In the second place, the population was not only of
pure English blood as a whole, but also distinctively
representative of the mass of persons residing in the
Mother Country. Virginia was not, like New England,
settled by people out of sympathy in their religious observances, social customs, and general views of life
with the majority of Englishmen. The emigrants were
drawn almost entirely from that majority, and as they
shared all the social, religious, and political leanings
that characterized it as a body, they, from the very beginning, planted in Virginia all the immemorial habits,
customs, and traditions of their native land. Wave following wave simply confirmed these habits, customs,
and traditions, because forming a part of their own
lives before finding a home in the West.
The English spirit prevalent in that age is reflected
in a more or less vivid degree in all the peculiarities of
Virginian social life, from the sharp division into
classes down to the indoor and outdoor diversions of
the people. The gentleman was as distinctly differentiated from the yeoman, and the yeoman from the agricultural servant or mechanic, as in England itself.
Such men as William Byrd, Richard Lee, Adam
Thoroughgood, and the elder Nathaniel Bacon, men
who owned many slaves and thousands of acres of land,
besides filling the principal political offices, occupied in
their respective parts of Virginia the same position of
256




INX reH S~~Vwe );eNG H eCEGU9R


influence as that occupied by the largest landowners
in the English shires. The social barriers which separated these men, and men of the same class, from persons belonging to a lower rank, were as clearly recognized in Virginia as in the Mother Country. From the
beginning there was never there any of that rude social equality which characterizes all pioneer communities in our own times. All the ceremonial terms indicating social superiority, all the badges and signs long
adopted as marks of gentle descent, were in constant
use in the Colony from its foundation. It is true that
an unrestricted suffrage prevailed for many decades,
but as soon as the aristocratic influence became completely predominant the right to cast a vote was made
dependent upon the conditions which had long been
enforced in England.
The English spirit was reflected not simply in the
strict preservation of social differences. It was equally
conspicuous in all the social habits and customs of the
Virginians,-in the manner in which they celebrated
their funerals and weddings; in the general character
of all their public gatherings; in the nature of their indoor diversions, such as card-playing, betting, dancing
and the like; in their love of horse-racing; in their
taste for hunting and fishing, and in their cheerful
recognition of all the claims of hospitality.
V/ The third influence promoting a close social resemblance to England was the corollary of the first and
second, namely, with few exceptions, the most conspicuous citizens of Virginia in the seventeenth century
had been born, reared, and educated in the Mother
Country. By the time they emigrated to the Colony
their characters had been formed and their opinions
257




L3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


fixed in the English mould, to which they had been
subjected during their childhood, youth, and early manhood. They were Englishmen, not simply by descent
and nativity, but also by constant and intimate personal
associations during the most susceptible and receptive
period of their lives. Under English skies they had
obtained, unconsciously to themselves, a thorough
knowledge of all the social laws of their nation; had
become familiar with all that nation's forms of social
diversion; had acquired all the culture which the English schools could impart, and had become versed in all
that the Anglican Church could teach of religious dogma and religious ceremony. In short, all their preferences in the matter of ecclesiastical, political, and social
government had all been finally shaped before they saw
the shores of Virginia. Their readiness to leave their
old home in order to try their fortunes in the remote
West was a proof that they were possessed of an unusual degree of self-reliance, energy, and enterprise;
and men of that character were the very ones who were
least likely to be disloyal to the impressions of their
formative years. It was these men who were most instrumental in giving direction to the history of the
Colony in the seventeenth century, whether religious,
social, or political, and not unnaturally their influence,
after their emigration, was cast on the side of all those
ideals which had prevailed in the Mother Country for
immemorial generations.
V' A fourth influence promoting the Colony's social resemblance to England was the existence within its
settled area of a system of extensive landed estates.
This system had its principal origin in the needs of the
tobacco plant. A virgin soil was required for the
258




IN q'3H S6Z~5Nr6NH CEN5T3UY


production of that plant in its highest perfection, and
to secure this the landowner was constantly compelled
to increase his holdings. But the tendency towards
the engrossment of the soil did not spring entirely from
economic influences; it sprang, in part from a feeling
which the landed proprietor had either brought over
from England, or inherited from an English father,
namely, that the possession of a large landed estate
was the firmest basis on which the social distinction
of his family could rest. Moreover, it would enable
him to gratify one of the strongest of his inherited
social instincts; that is to say, his desire to maintain a
strict privacy in the surroundings of his home.t Love
of isolation in the situation of his dwelling house has
always been a characteristic of the Englishman. I If
his estate is small, he plants a hedge or erects a wall
to shut out the public gaze; if large, he builds his house
behind groups of trees. There was no need to grow
hedges or to build walls in Virginia to conceal the mansion from public view. A site could always be found
where the most complete privacy was assured by the
natural screen of hill or grove. This secluded life confirmed in the emigrant all those moral and intellectual
tendencies Which he had inherited or imbibed in his
native land. Indeed, those tendencies really expanded
and flourished more freely in the atmosphere of Virginia than they could have done had he remained in
England, because the atmosphere of the Colony was
less conventional and less artificial in its pressure than
the atmosphere of the Mother Country. The life of the
plantation simply accentuated all his native traits. He
became only more jealous of his personal and political
freedom; only more intense in his love of home and
259




IGHE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


family; only more scrupulous in his recognition of the
claims of hospitality, and if religiously disposed, only
more obedient to the authority of the church, and more
submissive to the dictates of his early religious training.
A fifth influence promoting the Colony's social resemblance to the Mother Country sprang from the presence of the slave and indentured servant. The system
of indentured service in its social effects differed but
little, if at all, from the system of slavery. It really
accentuated the social divisions among the whites more
distinctly than the presence of the institution of slavery
itself did. The indentured servants were as much a
legalized lower class in Virginia as the noblemen were
a legalized highest class in England. It gave purely
class distinctions a recognized standing in the Colonial
Courts of Law. It was not until the end of the century
that negro bondsmen became numerous on the plantations, and yet in social spirit the seventeenth century in
Virginia did not differ from the eighteenth. The everincreasing multitude of African slaves after 1700 simply confirmed the social tendencies which had previously been fostered by the presence of the indentured
whites. The black slave took the place of the white
servant, with the result of strengthening and extending, and not of modifying and narrowing, the prevailing social conditions.
Finally, the Colony's social resemblance to the Mother Country was promoted by the fact that its whole system of government, whether as relating to its religious
and legal affairs, or to its military and political, was
modelled on the system prevailing in England. Virginia, like England, was divided into parishes under
260




IN H6e SEveNrENH eGurY


the control of vestries composed of the foremost citizens of their respective communities; and, like England, it supported an Established Church subject to all
the Anglican canons and regulations. Like England,
it had placed the administration of the law in the
hands, first, of a County Court, and, finally, of a Supreme Court; only in Virginia there was but one Supreme Court, which enjoyed all the powers of the English co-ordinate highest courts combined. Like England, also, Virginia relied chiefly upon a militia for defence; and like England, too, her political affairs were
directed by a single Executive and an Upper and Lower
Legislative Assembly. The immigrant saw around him
all the institutions which he had been accustomed to
over-seas, only modified slightly in their application to
a less populous and less wealthy community. It was in
agriculture alone that he observed an important departure, but the social influence of this divergence was diminished by the presence of the indentured servant and
slave, which, as we have seen, had such an important
effect in maintaining the class differences inherited
from England.
To the cursory glance the social life of Virginia in
the seventeenth century seems doubly narrow and provincial; first, because it was a community occupying
a site only comparatively recently stolen from the primeval forest; and, secondly, because it was a Colony lying several thousand miles away from the Old World,
and all the controlling currents of those times. But
that life at once assumes its true character of universal
interest and importance when it is recalled that this
was the beginning of a social system which was to
make a lasting impression upon the history of the
261




S1H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIIGINIA


Western Hemisphere, and which was to produce that
memorable body of men,-Washington, Henry, Mason,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Marshall,-the transmitted influence of whose political careers has, with
the growth of the United States in power, steadily
broadened until it has now come to touch the affairs
of the entire globe.


262




APPENDIX
As early as 1658, a very liberal naturalization law
was passed by the Virginia Assembly in order to encourage foreign immigration. This law was renewed
in 1671, and again in 1680. But at no time during the
seventeenth century was the number of citizens of alien
birth residing in the Colony so great as to exercise a
marked influence on its general history. Long before
the persecution of the Huguenots in France became
systematic and pitiless, a considerable number of persons of French origin had settled in Virginia. It was
most probable that, in nearly all these cases, the French
immigrant himself had either himself lived for some
time in England, or was sprung from parents who had
done so. If the former, he had stopped there long
enough to become largely anglicized in spirit; if the
latter, he was certain to have been to all intents an Englishman, as he had been born under English skies,
brought up in an English community, and educated in
an English school. His name alone in this last case
betrayed the original seat of his family.
Among the few Frenchmen arriving at any early
date in Virginia from their native country, were the
vignaroons, whom the London Company were, by the
luxuriant growth of the indigenous grape, encouraged
in 1619 to bring over in order to test the capacity of
the soil for the production of the finest varieties of
wines. Others emigrating to the Colony about this
time, by way of London, were John and Peter Arundell. Peter Arundell was a native of Normandy, and
263




3H6 SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


this was probably the case also with John. Martin
Slatier emigrated by way of Canada previous to 1624.
At a later period (about 1652), we find in Northumberland county a family of Roziers; in York, families bearing the names of Sebrell and De Long respectively. In
1656 there resided in Lower Norfolk county Hugh
Wood, originally Dubois, and John Forbesson; in York
county, in 1666, John Pettit, Peter Godson, and Francois a Pluvier; in Surry, during the same year,
John Legrand; in Lower Norfolk, Roger Fonteine;
in Northumberland, in 1669, (about which time there
was a close trade connection between the Northern
Neck and the Channel Islands, so largely inhabited by
people of French origin and names), John Montone, a
prominent physician, Andrew de la Briere, John Contanceau, son of a Frenchman naturalized in England,
Michael de Contee, Andrew Pettigru, John Cralle,
and Clement Lempriere.
One of the most conspicuous and useful citizens of
Lower Norfolk county about 1680 was James Thelaball,
a native of France. Dr. John Fontaine, residing in
Virginia in 1686, was a native of Rochelle. About the
same date, a band of Frenchmen, driven from their
country by religious persecution, settled at Brenton,
but the greater number in a short time removed to
Maryland. Among the clergy of Virginia at this time
were Revs. Stephen Fouace, James Boisseau, and Lewis
Latane. In 1688, John Foissin, who was born in Paris,
owned a store in Henrico county, which contained a
varied assortment of rare French goods, such as muslin neck-cloths, silk-fringed gloves, embroidered waistcoats, lace and velvet caps, lace shirts and ruffles, and
the like. During the same year, Bertram Servant, a
264




IN?3HE SN3NYH CNGUIY


wealthy planter of French origin, resided in Elizabeth
City county; among other citizens of the same county,
in 1692, were David Du Puy, Gyles Du Berges, and
James Lascelles. Philip Pardoe and Richard de Barry
owned plantations in Isle of Wight county.
The largest number of Frenchmen who ever emigrated to Virginia in a single body, came out in 1700, and
settled at Monacan above the Falls of the James River,
but they arrived too late to exercise any social or political influence on the history of the Colony during the
seventeenth century.
Although there was a continuous commercial intercourse between Virginia and Holland down to the passage of the Second Navigation Act, neither the Dutch
nor the German emigration to the Colony in the seventeenth century attained the proportion even of the
French. In the first place, Holland was a Protestant
country, and religious persecution played no part in
prompting many of its people to remove to alien colonies over sea; in the second place, New Amsterdam
naturally attracted to itself nearly all those Dutchmen
who sought fortune in the West. Nevertheless, a considerable number of both Dutch and Germans settled
in Virginia from time to time, drawn thither, no doubt,
in the course of the tobacco trade. In 1653, there were
so many natives of the low countries residing on the
Eastern Shore that Deputy-Governor Claiborne found
it necessary to protect their lives and property from
the hostility aroused against them among the people at
large by the war which had just broken out between
England and Holland. In 1657, the most highly educated citizen of Northampton county was, perhaps,
Dr. George Nicholas Hacke, a native of Cologne. John
265




q3HE SOCIAL LIFE OF VIRGINIA


Sigismond Cluverius, probably also of German birth,
was at this time the owner of a considerable estate in
York county. Among the residents of the Eastern
Shore in 1660 were Hugh Cornelius Corneulison, Hendrick Wageman, Daniel Derrickson, Peter Jacobson,
Abram Van Slot and Abram Jansen. Five years later,
a large addition was made to the laboring population
by the arrival of the Dutch soldiers, who were captured
when New Amsterdam fell into English hands. These
were distributed among the planters. In 1666 Henrick
Van Doveracke resided in York county. Among those
obtaining naturalization at this time were Andrew
Herbert of Hobart, John Young, William Martin, Bartholomew Engelbockson, Lawrence Van Slott, Henry
Wagemaan, Nicholas Koch, Thomas Harmanson, Mindert Doodes, Hendrick Fayson, Herman Kelderman,
John Peterson, and Michael Vallandigham. Thomas
Harmanson, a native of Brandenburg, became a citizen
about 1622. A considerable number of the Dutch immigrants had been citizens of England before they settled
in Holland, or were sprung from Englishmen who had
become Dutch citizens. This was the case, apparently,
with John and William Custis, of Accomac, and William Moseley, of Lower Norfolk county.
Traces of the presence among the English population
of the Colony of other Continental peoples besides the
Dutch and German are hardly observable. One of the
persons arriving with the first supply was Edward
Gargana, probably of either Italian or Portuguese descent. Of undoubted Italian origin were Bernardo and
Vincenzo, the two Venetians imported by the London
company in order to manufacture glass. Albino Lupo,
whose brother was a merchant of London, was perhaps
266




IN eGH8 S6VENEEH CeNS3URY


of Portuguese blood. Amaso de Tores was probably
a Spanish Jew. Among the persons residing in Lancaster county in 1652, were John Pedro, and Silvedo
and Manuel Rodreguez; in Rappahannock county, Giacimo Debello, Edward Mazingo, and Richard Iago.
In 1690, many Irishmen captured at the Battle of
the Boyne, were imported into Virginia as agricultural
servants. A like addition to the population had been
made during the supremacy of Cromwell at an earlier
-date. But the most important emigrants from Ireland
settling in the Colony in the seventeenth century were
men of English blood, whose fathers had received
grants of confiscated lands in that unfortunate country,
or who had removed thither in the course of business.
Such was Daniel Gookin, who, in 1622, patented lands
at Newport News, and such, no doubt, were Anthony
Lawson, of Lower Norfolk, and others whose names
might be mentioned.


267








Index


Abbot, 29
Adams, 207
Addison, 188
Alford, 236
Alington, 125
Allerton, 84, 96, 185, 186
Allington, 38
Andros, 8
Archer, 28
Argall, 55, 59
Arlington, 43
Armiger, 53
Arundell, 125, 263
Ashton, 67, 85, 153
Aston, 39
Awburne, 200
Ayscough, 246
Bacon, 41, 42, 47, 49, 58, 75, 91,
100, 106, 112, 114, 122, 156,
162, 177, 256
Bailey, 91, 186, 187, 190
Baker, 204
Ball, 93, 133
Ballard, 139
Barber, 119, 205
Bargrave, 68
Barham, 95
Barkham, 53
Barkshyre, 242
Barlowe, 207
Barton, 225
Bascom, 197
Baskerville, 89
Bassett, 47, 114
Bathurst, 55, 95
Batte, 68, 86, 112, 211
Bayley, 29
Beadle, 29
Beauchamp, 92
Beckingham, 156
Bennett, 43, 86, 112
Bentley, 29
Berkeley, 20, 36, 48, 59, 75, 76,
100, 112, 161, 183, 184, 191,
253
Bernard, 43


Beverley, 41, 65, 106, 112, 121,
122, 139, 162, 167, 178, 180,
220, 221, 228
Bishop, 70, 71
Blackstone, 95
Blair, 212, 236, 237
Blake, 95
Blanchard, 32
Bland, 51, 86, 112, 153, 254
Bloomfield, 95
Boisseau, 264
Bolling, 89, 112
Bolton, 69
Booker, 85
Booth, 39, 91, 112
Bouchier, 35
Bouldin, 121
Boulware, 229
Bowman, 118
Braddock, 80
Bradshaw, 95
Brain, 194
Branch, 57, 212
Branker, 170
Brent, 51, 242
Brett, 51
Brewer, 80, 84
Brewster, 28, 96
Bridger, 70
Bristow, 253
Broadhurst, 63
Brodnax, 70, 71, 74, 194
Brooke, 36, 83
Brookes, 55
Brough, 125
Broughton, 96
Brown, vi, 65
Browne, 28, 129
Bruce, 95, 136
Buckner, 90, 139
Bullock, 22, 125, 199, 232
Burgoyne, 95
Burnham, 125
Burrus, 235
Burwell, 112, 139
Bushrod, 83, 158, 241, 242


269




INDEX


Byrd, v, 58, 66, 73, 86, 112, 128,
129, 130, 131, 134, 140, 141,
150, 151, 155, 167, 174, 179,
180, 185, 195, 214, 228, 256
Cade, 95
Caesar, 53
Call, 43
Calthorpe, 41, 112
Calvert, 94, 153, 252
Capel, 95
Carew, 95
Carleil, 57
Carter, 58, 66, 120, 228
Cary, 52, 74, 89, 106, 112, 119, 120,
139
Chamberlaine, 101, 140, 141, 194,
209, 214
Chamberlayne, 57, 58
Charlton, 239
Cheate, 189, 190
Cheeseman, 125, 152
Chesley, 154
Chesney, 92
Chew, 81, 119, 120
Chicheley, 43
Chichely, 49, 112
Childers, 209
Chilton, 195
Churchill, 95
Claiborne, 39, 82, 83, 112, 125, 265
Clamm, 104
Clarendon, 56
Clarke, 51, 52, 89, 152, 169
Clawson, 242
Clayton, v, 55, 112
Clemens, 205
Clement, 122
Clerk, 197
Clopton, 90
Cluverius, 266
Cocke, 97, 112, 120, 126, 138, 178,
193, 209, 211, 212, 214
Codd, 51
Codrington, 29
Coke, 110
Cole, 114, 158, 227
Collin, 91
Colston, 71


Contanceau, 201, 264
Corbin, 64, 84, 139, 185, 186
Corneliuson, 266
Cottington, 51, 86
Cotton, 95
Cox, 67, 104
Cralle, 264
Crashley, 189
Crews, 92
Cromwell, 95
Crosby, 155
Croshaw, 37, 124, 127, 165
Culpeper, 53, 70, 100
Curle, 125
Curtis, 91, 266
Dade, 57
Dale, 36, 46
Danby, 54
Danneline, 229
Darby, 191
Darrell, 56
Davison, 36
Day, 146
Dearlove, 197
Death, 84
Debello, 267
De Barry, 265
De Contee, 264
De la Briere, 264
De Long, 264
De la Warr, 29, 30, 108, 109
Denham, 142, 250, 251
Derrickson, 266
De Tores, 267
De Warre, 59
Dewey, 96
Dickenson, 170
Digges, 46, 47, 57, 112, 162, 163,
164, 165, 167, 169
Diggs, 43
Dimthorne, 121
Dixon, 121, 220
Dodds, 189
Doe, 187
Doodes, 93, 266
Du Berges, 266
Dubois, 264
Dudley, 131
70




INDEX


Duke, 58
Dunn, 193
Du Puy, 265
Dymoke, 42
Each, 94
East, 195
Eaton, 122
Edwards, 68
Effingham, 100
Elam, 118, 198
Elrington, 154
Emerson, 156
Empson, 95
Engelbockson, 266
Eppes, 126, 127, 138, 212, 214, 225,
250
Evans, 233
Evelyn, 63, 64, 156, 183
Fairfax, 187, 188
Falkland, 41
Farnefold, 59
Farrar, 97
Fauntleroy, 112, 162, 182
Fawsett, 191
Fayson, 266
Featherstone, 28, 197
Felgate, 32, 84, 125, 127, 216
Fellowes, 92
Ferrar, 81, 82, 83, 112, 138
Fielding, 68
Filmer, 55, 56, 60
Finch, 40
Fisher, 196
Fitzhugh, v, 22, 53, 67, 86, 106,
112, 113, 134, 150, 151, 161,
165, 166, 167, 185, 232, 242
Fleet, 36, 59, 112
Foissin, 264
Fontaine, 264
Fonteine, 264
Foote, 91
Forbesson, 264
Forrest, 235
Fortescue, 95
Fouace, 264
Fowke, 73, 74, 95
Fox, 70, 251, 252


Foxcroft, 94
Francis, 152
Freeman, 90
Frith, 28
Gange, 93
Gardiner, 204
Gargana, 266
Gastwick, 53
Gawin, 197
Gerard, 185, 186
Gibbes, 34
Gilbert, 56
Gills, 254
Godby, 121
Godson, 264
Godwin, 194
Goode, 117
Goodrich, 54, 95
Gookin, 66, 267
Goring, 95
Gorsuch, 56, 73
Gower, 28, 95
Graham, 88
Graver, 34, 155
Green, 62
Griffin, 156, 167
Griffith, 87
Griggs, 266
Grosvenor, 64
Grove, 225
Grymes, 57
Hacke, 252, 265
Hackett, 142, 251, 252
Hall, 149, 188
Hamor, 82, 125, 129
Hardiman, 213
Harmanson, 266
Harmer, 68
Harrington, 41, 95
Harris, 146
Harrison, vii, 29, 65, 66, 70, 71,
120, 139, 212, 236, 250
Harper, 29
Hartley, 205
Hartridge, 203, 205
Hartwell, 195
Harvey, 5, 33, 40, 43, 100


271




INDEX


Harwar, 90, 206, 207
Harwood, 125
Hatcher, 210, 211
Hayden, vi
Haynie, 202
Hayward, 196
Haywood, 84
Helline, 243
Henry, 35
Herbert, 266
Herne, 56
Hethersall, 149
Heyman, 54, 130
Higginson, 83
Hinton, 40
Hill, 55, 170
Hodge, 156
Holland, 121
Holt, 29
Honeywood, 47, 70, 74
Hooke, 122
Hopegood, 145
Horsemanden, 55
Howard, 46, 146, 191
Howe, 170
Huddlesey, 212
Humphrey, 201, 202, 205
Hurst, 236
Hutchings, 121
Hyde, 56, 95
Iago, 267
Ingram, 263
Isham, 50, 163
Jackson, 34
Jacob, 200
Jacobson, 266
James, vi
Jansen, 266
Jefferson, 213
Jennings, 52, 53, 106, 112
Johnson, 121, 189
Johnston, 235
Jones, 70, 85, 117, 179, 239
Jordan, 94, 153, 179, 226, 230, 23:
232
Juxon, 34, 69


Keith, vi
Kelderman, 266
Kemp, 42, 43, 47
Kenner, 201, 202, 205, 206
Kennon, 118, 129
Killingbeck, 29
Kingsmill, 112, 114
Knight, 154
Knox, 95
Koch, 266


Lamsden, 121
Landon, 73
Langley, 226
Langston, 70
Lascelles, 265
Latane, 264
Lawson, 121, 267
Laydon, 235
Layton, 51
Lear, 63
Lee, 44, 45, 48, 55, 64, 75, 85, 89,
106, 112, 113, 129, 152, 185,
186, 256
Legge, 88
Legrand, 264
Leigh, 29, 139
Lempriere, 264
Lightfoot, 68, 139
Ligon, 195, 209, 210, 211, 214
Lisle, 95
Littleton, 43, 129, 163
Litton, 95
Lloyd, 81
Lomax, 68
Lord, 96
Lovelace, 56
Lovell, 152
Lowther, 39, 95
Ludlow, 58, 112, 165
Luddington, 95
Ludwell, 8, 51, 86, 112, 254
Luke, 53
Lunsford, 49, 53, 70, 74, 112
1, Lupo, 87, 266
Lyddall, 48
Lytcott, 43
272




INDEX


McCarty, 170
Macarty, 104
Madison, 230
Major, 243
Mallory, 68, 123
Manning, 238
Maplesdin, 152
Marable, 139
Markham, 238
Marlow, 95
Marshall, 33, 97, 197
Martin, 37, 210, 266
Mason, 35, 72, 74, 151, 152
Mathews, 40
May, 152
Mayplis, 249
Mazingo, 267
Meader, 206
Menifie, 81, 122, 129, 250
Meriwether, 148
Michael, 226
Milburn, 94
Milner, 112, 198
Milton, 95
Molesworth, 70, 74
Mollineux, 29
Montague, 58, 69, 133
Montgomery, 94
Montone, 264
Moon, 54, 154
Morpeth, 95
Morris, 97
Mortimer, 95
Moryson, 8, 41
Moseley, 158, 266
Mountney, 121
Munford, 87
Napier, 95, 212
Nelson, 59
Newell, 196
Newman, 69
Newton, 93
Nicholson, 249
Norton, 29
Norwood, v, 24, 46, 70, 74, 176
Nottingham, 95
Noy, 40


Offley, 85
Opie, 94
Osborne, 55, 85, 90, 95
Page, 64, 65, 106, 112, 156, 185
Paget, 95
Panewell, 200
Pardoe, 196, 265
Pargiter, 152
Parke, 63, 112, 175, 179, 180
Parker, 41, 157, 187, 188, 211
Parkes, 33, 206, 207
Parks, 130
Parr, 95
Patrick, 135
Pawlett, 34
Peachy, 63
Peake, 48
Pedro, 267
Pennington, 28
Perceval, 95
Percy, 28
Perkins, 29
Perrin, 97
Perry, 88, 89
Peterson, 266
Pettigru, 264
Pettit, 264
Peverill, 95
Peyton, 51, 55, 90, 112
Phelps, 29
Philpot, 29
Pierce, 5
Piersey, 81, 161
Piggott, 197
Pinder, 69
Pitt, 95
Place, 55, 130
Pleasants, 195
Pluvier, 264
Pocahontas, 104, 235
Poole, 125
Pooley, 230, 231, 232
Pope, 121, 122
Porter, 194
Pory, 34
Poulter, 152
Powell, 121
Powhatan, 104


278




INDEX


Prat, 29
Price, 207, 208
Pritchard, 109
Proctor, 184, 207
Pryor, 68
Puckett, 101
Purifoy, 168
Pyle, 58
Quiney, 81
Randolph, 50, 71, 72, 106, 112, 119,
126, 127, 138, 139., 186, 197,
212, 214
Ranson, 94
Rateliffe, 95
Ravenscroft, 96
Reade, 42
Richardson, 238
Ridley, 95
Roane, 66
Robin, 97
Robine, 193
Robinson, 68, 106, 112, 154, 158
Rodreguez, 267
Rolfe, 36, 37, 89, 104, 235
Roscoe, 95, 236
Rossingham, 34
Rowlett, 197
Royall, 196
Rozier, 264
Russell, 29
Rydeing, 62
Saffin, 158
Salford, 121
Salisbury, 95
Sandford, 91
Sandys, 28, 56, 124
Saunders, 125
Sawies, 121
Scarborough, 52
Scott, 59, 60
Sebrell, 264
Servant, 264
Sewell, 90
Sharpe, 193
Sheldon, 69
Shelley, 35


Shelly, 95
Sherman, 96
Shipworth, 229
Shrewsbury, 95
Sibsey, 121
Simons, 152
Singleton, 69
Skipwith, 43, 49, 74
Slader, 199
Slatier, 264
Slaughter, vi
Smalley, 96
Smith, 8, 13, 29, 30, 47, 129, 229
Soane, 197, 212, 213
Somerset, 95
Sommerville, 95
Stallinge, 250
Stanard, vi, vii, viii, 35, 38, 44.,
100, 120, 121
Stanford, 87
Stanley, 95
Stephens, 54, 250
Stevens, 70, 74, 225
Steward, 213
Stewart, 196
St. John, 95
St. Leger, 55
Stone, 194, 202, 203
Story, 90
Strachey, 36
Street, 11 7
Sturgis, 96
Spelman, 35, 125
Spencer, 53, 106, 112, 121, 130, 131,
185
Sullivant, 204
Sully, 121
Sutton, 214
Swaney, 123
Swann, 206, 207
Swem, vii
Swinburne, 95
Tanner, 209
Tatham, 95
Taylor, 121, 129, 139, 153., 243
Teackle, 59, 73, 187, 188
Tempest, 89
Temple, 59
174




INDEX


Tench, 123
Terrill, 69
Thelaball, 264
Thomas, 104, 245
Thompson, 38, 43, 81, 125, 177
-.Thoroughgood, 40, 85, 107, 112, 122,
123, 256
Thorpe, 35, 92
Throckmorton, 28, 36, 46, 112
Thurston, 112
Timson, 92
Tiplady, 134
Townsend, 101
Travers, 205
Trellman, 206
Tucker, 34, 81, 112, 125
Tyler, vi, vii, 71
Tyrrell, 58
Utie, 125
Vallandigham, 266
Van Doveracke, 266
Van Netsen, 252, 263
Van Slot, 266
Vaulx, 87, 104, 206
Vincent, 225
Vincenzo, 266
Wagemaan, 266
Wageman, 266
Wall, 224
Waller, 28
Wallis, 152
Walke, 97
Walker, 152
Walpole, 53, 95
Walthrop, 28
Walsingham, 57
Ward, 167, 193, 213
Wardley, 90
Warnet, 168
Warren, 59, 94, 161, 227
Washburn, 96
Washburne, 96
Waters, 125, 148
Watkin, 157
Watson, 215


Washington, 42, 50, 73, 88, 112,
203
Webb, 101, 196, 212
Welsford, 49
Wentworth, 95
West, 29, 34, 35, 40, 112
Westgate, 242
Whalley, 122
Wharton, 95
Whitaker, 35
Whitby, 56
Whiting, 130
Whittingham, 92
Whittington, 95
Wilkinson, 191
Williams, 55, 133, 243
Willis, 162
Willoughby, 93, 112, 125, 127,
163
Wilson, 117
Windebanke, 42
Wingfield, 28, 57, 122
Womack, 209
Wood, 264
Woodenoth, 82
Woodhouse, 40, 41, 112
Woodward, 47
Woorey, 54
Worley, 29
Wormeley, 45, 46, 49, 106, 130,
131, 162
Worsley, 37
Wotton, 28
Wraxall, 80, 95
Wyatt, 36, 49, 59, 60, 112, 119
Wythe, 123
Yarington, 29
Yate, 32
Yeamans, 54, 176
Yeardley, 33, 97, 124, 125
Yeates, 238
Yeo, 63
Yewell, 202, 203
Young, 266
Zouch, 39
275
















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