The youngest of eight brothers, and a few sisters, Sam Argall was born about 1580 in Kent, England, the son of Richard Argall and Mary Scott. His father died when he was still of a tender age and his mother remarried within a few years. Her new husband was a Washington, the great uncle of the Lawrence Washington who moved to Virginia years later.
Samuel’s brothers started dying before he was an adult, and he became an heir with a yearly stipend. Soon he was a soldier in the Low Countries. And then became enamored of the sea and ships. By his mid-20s, he had a ship and was one of many captains making money in the fishing trade near Canada. In 1609, Captain Argall was in the employ of the Virginia Company of London as a ship’s captain. His assignment was two-fold, find a shorter route to Virginia and catch sturgeon, which were well known for their caviar. He did find a much faster route, sailing south to the Azores, due west to Bermuda and north north-west to the James River. He made his first trip in just over nine weeks, cutting the trip by a third.
A year later, 1610, Captain Argall saw Jamestown for the first time, bringing the Lord De La Ware from England to start his governorship. The place was a wreck. A large number of the Jamestown population had died in the “Starving Time”. The sixty or so residents left wanted to leave and were on their way to the Atlantic in ships when Argall’s ship hailed them. De La Ware insisted on all returning to the site of much suffering and the fresh people from the ship began to care for the sick and repair the fort. That fall, while the building was going on, Argall explored the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Unfortunately, by the following spring, the governor was so sick with malaria that Argall had to take him back to England.
Argall was sent back to Virginia when news came that French Catholic missionaries had moved into northern Virginia colony(now Maine). His assignment was to oust them. He crossed with his ship Treasurer in 1612. But first, before taking care of the French, he helped the new governor Dale with subduing the Indians. He went abroad, sailing into the Chesapeake, where he found friendlier natives, of the Patawomeck tribe. These people he could be on better terms with, trading for corn and other necessities. Thus, Argall developed a degree of diplomacy with the tribe and the chief, Iopassus. In 1613, he got Iopassus to help him kidnap Pocahantas. Despite the violence of such action, the result was a truce between the English and the Indians that lasted several years.
In mid 1613, Argall sailed his Treasurer along the coast up to Maine, where he found the missionaries and routed them, taking hostages. Then he sailed to Manhattan where he attacked the Dutch. By late in the year, he was back in Jamestown, where he stayed til the next summer.
He made the round trip to England, returning in February 1615. While in England, there were hearings regarding his attack on the French outposts. They determined that he acted correctly. Then he took Pocahantas and her husband, John Rolfe to England in 1616, returning with a saddened widower the next year.
This time, in 1617, Argall returned as a deputy governor, willing to follow the policies and discipline of the past two governors, Gates and Dale. Think of martial law. Many were not comfortable with him, even though he was not nearly as demanding a governor as the other two. Word got back to England that he was not acceptable and it appears that he heard word that he would be arrested when the new governor, George Yeardley landed. Two weeks or so before that, Argall left.
In England, he was questioned about his leadership and seemed to be in trouble for a while. Possibly to get out of that trouble, he manned a 24 gun ship in an expedition against Algiers. Showing his strengths and winning the questioning, Argall was knighted in 1622. He was also made a member of the Council of New England and was very faithful in his work. In 1624, he was nominated to the governorship of Virginia but was not elected. Then he was promoted to Admiral.
His last assignment was to participate in the poorly designed marine attack on Cadiz in the fall of 1625. He may have been wounded or sickened by the plague that was rampant among the sailors. In any case, he died in January 1626.
There is no record of his having ever married, but some say he left a daughter. Although she was not in his will, she supposedly inherited his land in Virginia.
Of the five primary characters in my WIP, the oldest, and most studious, was John Pory.
Born in 1572, John and his twin sister, Mary, were the children of William Pory and his wife, Anne Ball. Anne was the half sister of Martha Stanley, who married Anthony Flowerdew. Their daughter, Temperance, married George Yeardley, who became governor of Virginia in 1619. John Pory got the job of secretary to Yeardley at that time. He played a large role in the establishment of the House of Burgesses that same year.
The younger Pory was an intelligent young man and went to Cambridge for his education, where he received his bachelor’s degree at 20 and his masters at 23. Early in his career, around 1597, Pory became an associate and protégé of the geographer and author Richard Hakluyt; Hakluyt later termed Pory his “very honest, industrious, and learned friend”. It was at Hakluyt’s urging that Pory engaged in his first literary effort, a translation of a geographic work by Leo Africanus that was published as A Geographical Historie of Africa (1600).
Not being a traveler, himself, Hakluyt surrounded himself with men who had an interest in travel, geography and who urged colonization of the New World. Among them were Captain John Smith, who Hakluyt encouraged. This author assisted in setting up the plans for the first trips to Virginia in the early 1600s and was intimately involved in the establishment of the Virginia Company. We can see where Pory got his interest.
Elected a member of Parliament from the borough of Bridgwater in 1605, Pory served until 1610. But that did not stop him from traveling. In 1607, Pory travelled through France and what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. He was involved in a plan to introduce silkworm breeding to England. Returning to England, he finished his term in Parliament, then returned to the continent. Between 1611 and 1616, he travelled through Europe, including Italy and even Constantinople. There he served as secretary to the English ambassador, Sir Peter Pindar. For a few months he served as the secretary to the English ambassador to Savoy, Sir Isaac Wake. He made the acquaintance of Sir Dudley Carlton, ambassador to Venice and then The Netherlands. This man was to share many letters with Pory over the years.
Right around the time that John returned to England, his cousin’s husband was appointed governor of Virginia for a period of three years. George asked John to come with him as secretary in 1618. Soon after arriving, George informed John that they would have a board of representatives from around the colony. John helped to form the board and wrote the first rules. He assisted at the first meetings and helped regulate the tobacco trade. Pory was in town when the White Lion delivered the first twenty-odd Angolans to Jamestown in exchange for food, the beginning of the servant-slavery trade. He even went exploring Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Shore with Thomas Savage in 1620. In 1621, he returned to England.
Less than two years later, King James I of England was not happy with the poor economy of the Virginia Company’s colony. He wanted it investigated. Lord Mandeville, of the Privy Council, set up a commission. To this commission he assigned John Pory, who had spent three years there, Captain John Harvey, a man who had transported several hundred immigrants to the colony, Abraham Piersey, the colony’s cape merchant and Samuel Mathews, a prominent citizen to join together and do the investigation on the quality of the colony. They wrote reports to be sent to Lord Mandeville. Pory also bribed the new secretary to get a copy of the responses from the burgesses. He had switched from supporting the colonists to finding major faults.
That was his last trip to the colonies. He wrote books about his experiences in Virginia and about his observations when he stopped at Plymouth for a short time. They are still available to purchase 400 years later.
In London from the early 1620s on, Pory helped Nathaniel Butter, who was creating news periodicals for the English public.[6] Headquartered at Butter’s shop at the sign of the Pied Bull, Pory was a “correspondent” in the literal sense, who maintained exchanges of letters with the wide variety of prominent people he had met and cultivated in his earlier public career. Other similarly situated men of his generation, like John Chamberlin, played comparable roles in such correspondences and exchanges of news; Pory was perhaps unique in that he turned his knowledge and contacts into commercial news ventures, Butter’s early newspapers. Pory also ran his own manuscript news service, charging patrons for regular news reports.
Although John Pory is seen as a precursor to today’s journalists, his contemporaries tended to see him as an alcoholic and a gossip and a busy body who had many friends. Because he was so gossipy, John Pory left us a legacy of one-of-a-kind comments on the everyday life in the colonies at an early point.
Frances Greville was the daughter of Giles Grenville and born around 1598-1600. Frances appears to have been the oldest of seven or eight, and the only girl. She grew up in Charlton Kings, about 25 miles from the bustling city of Bristol. One can assume that Frances grew up in a middle class environment, but, reading between the lines, it seems that her family was probably the “poor” side of the family.
One of Frances’ distant cousins was Mary Conroy, the daughter of Elenor Grenville . Mary was 20 years older than Frances, so they probably were not close. Around 1601, Mary married William Tracy. Tracy had many associates who had invested in the Virginia Company, specifically, the Berkeley Hundred plantation, including his cousin, Richard Berkeley. Tracy became involved with that investment. A multi-talented man, Tracy was also a ship’s captain. In 1620, he was captain of the ship Supply. In September of 1620, the ship left Bristol with fifty passengers, and four times as much alcohol as would be expected to be used on the trip, to Virginia. Most of these people were expected to work on the Berkeley plantation. Tracy brought his wife, Mary, their children Judy and Thomas and Mary’s cousin, Frances, as well as three maid servants. The ship landed in early 1621.
It appears that the quite famous Wests, the father being the second Baron DeLaWare, and the Grenville grandfather were close friends. Some sources say that Nathaniel West, the baron’s youngest son, had been promised the hand of Frances. One view is that taking her to Virginia was simply to marry her to West. Of all the West brothers, and there were twelve children, three had plantations near Jamestown. This was perfect, from the point of view of Mary, who would be Frances’ chaperone. Westover plantation, Nathaniel’s place, was only a mile from Berkeley plantation. Within months, Frances and Nathaniel were married. Judy also married almost immediately. By April, 1621, Captain Tracy was dead. Thomas and Mary returned to England, leaving Frances alone with a new husband in a new world. Unfortunately, Judy and her husband were killed in the Indian Massacre of March 1622.
Frances’ marriage did not last very long. Nathaniel died somewhere between April 1623 and February 1624. They had a two-year-old, Nathaniel, Jr. Right after West’s death, Frances moved into the home of her brother-in-law, Francis, where she was living at the time of the census in 1624.
A beautiful young lady of probably only 24 or 25, Frances attracted the eye of Abraham Peirsey. He was one of the richest men in Jamestown, a widower with two teenaged daughters. Marrying Frances gave him control over Westover, the plantation that Frances’ baby had inherited. Peirsey had bought the large, well-endowed Flowerdew Plantation, across the river, a year before Frances and he married. It had belonged to George Yeardley, the governor, who planned on moving back to England after his tenure was up. Unfortunately, he died before that. This purchase made the Peirseys the largest landowners in the colony. They renamed it Peirsey’s Hundred and Abraham had a large stone house built to replace the smaller house on the premises. This marriage gave Frances a step-father for little Nathaniel and almost anything material she could want. However, Abraham died 16 January of 1628, at only 41. In his will, he made Frances the executrix, with orders to sell the plantation for the best price possible. He meant to have the two daughters inherit the proceeds.
Frances did not sell the land. She married again, within a year, to Captain Samuel Mathew. As a widow, she was now probably the richest woman in the colony, with two large plantations, very attractive to a prospective groom. The captain was probably the richest man in the colony. He was an attractive catch.
Frances and Samuel kept the Hundred to use as they wished, along with Westover, which belonged to her son, and Mathew’s plantation, Mathew’s Manor, later renamed Denbeigh Manor. There was much of value at Peirsey’s Hundred, not just the land. Apparently, the couple and their servants moved much of value, including Peirsey servants, to Mathew’s Manor, downriver on the north side of the James. The Hundred was not maintained well for several years while Frances and Samuel concentrated on building their family. Samuel Jr. was born in 1629/30 and Francis in 1632. Although Frances could have anything, being so rich, she could not have her health. In the end, she was dead before 1633 was over, leaving Samuel with two very little boys.
Nathaniel Jr. eventually moved back to England. His uncles watched over him carefully and guided his education. One uncle, John West, was governor for a short period after the “thrusting out” of Governor John Harvey in 1635.
Frances and Samuel’s lack of action on the Peirsey plantation lead to much hard feelings between Mathews and the orphaned daughters by 1634. Both young ladies were now married and filed suit against Mathews for possession of the plantation and all the goods which had been there. The suit was eventually dropped but not before the governor gave the sisters permission to have their agents ransack Mathew’s Manor. Mathews and his family were in London at the time, charged with treason. It was easy for the sisters to retrieve their father’s furnishings and goods.
It appears that Mathews married again, fairly soon after the death of Frances, so that his two boys would have a mother. They were raised by Sarah Hinton Mathews.
Lydia was a Farley. The Farleys were Quakers and anti-government. Her uncle was Captain George Farley. More about him, later. Her mother, Elizabeth, George’s sister, was widowed before Lydia was of marriageable age, and she remarried Thomas Bushrod, a recent widower. This Mr. Bushrod was a Quaker, which was illegal at the time. He had continually gotten into some trouble by his confession of beliefs in both Massachusetts, as a young man, and in Virginia. At the same time, he was a justice for York County as well as a burgess in 1658 and 1659. He had been married before to Mary Peirsey Hill, the sister-in-law of the notorious Governor, John Harvey.
Lydia was born around 1649. Her mother remarried in 1661 and they moved to the large plantation in York County that Bushrod had inherited from his dead wife. With Bushrod’s political ties, Lydia soon found a suitor who was acceptable. She was married within a few years to Edmund Cheesman. Edmund’s family had gotten into serious trouble when he was young, being arrested for having Quaker meetings at their house. Even his mother had been arrested. It would appear that Lydia was brought up as being sympathetic to Quaker religious thoughts.
The two married around 1670 and Edmund began building his legacy by patenting 200 acres in Charles Parish, York County on July 1, 1670. Within weeks he became a justice of the peace. In two years, he was a captain of the militia in York. During this time, Lydia and Edmund had a son, John, who died at a very early age. They had no further children. Four years later, Edmund was promoted to major. At that point, Nathaniel Bacon, a brash young immigrant, virtually declared war on the Virginia government. Not only did Edmund agree with Bacon, he joined his side. His contemporaries saw Cheesman as being a principal actor in the hostilities. His father had marched against the Pamunkey Indians in 1644, and Cheesman may have embraced Bacon’s plans to make war on Virginia’s Indians. It also appears that Lydia agreed with, or even encouraged, his actions.
This is where Lydia’s uncle George appears. George was sent to England for his education as a young boy. The rise of Cromwell coincided with George finishing his education and he joined the rebellion on the side of Cromwell. Once the king returned to power, George returned to Virginia. Apparently, fighting was in George’s blood, for he joined Bacon’s rebels around the same time as his nephew-in-law.
In November of 1676, Edmund was captured in York and accused of treason. George was captured and accused about the same time. Governor William Berkeley came for the preliminary trial. Lydia managed to sneak into the hearings and eventually was able to speak. and she pleaded with the governor to spare her husband’s life on the grounds that “if he had not bin influencd by her instigations, he had never don that which he had don.” On “her bended knees” she begged the governor “that shee might be hang’d, and he pardon’d.” Her eloquence and bravery failed to persuade the governor to release or spare him. Nor was she able to persuade him on any grounds to save her uncle. Before the trial date, Edmund died in prison, whether of sickness or exposure or grief, we will never know. She must have been quite a woman to even propose such a thought!
Two months later, George was executed in Accomac County and all his estates were forfeited to the king, or, perhaps, to the governor. His son, John, never got his family’s land back, since he, too, participated in the rebellion and was in prison at the time of his father’s execution.
In February, Governor Berkeley issued a proclamation of pardon for the treasonous actions of three men who, by coincidence, just happened to all die in prison over the winter. Edmund was one. Within three months, Governor Berkeley, having gone to London to report to the king, was dead.
A year later, Lydia claimed the estate of Edmund. It was probably held for some time after the trial. The estate consisted of 250 acres, six laborers, five black and one white, livestock and household furnishings. In June of 1678, the widow Lydia Cheesman married Thomas Harwood. She and her new husband occupied the land until her death. She died in the spring of 1694 by lightening. She was not yet 50.
After her death, Lydia’s brother-in-law, Thomas Cheesman, tried for years to gain the estate, eventually winning after the death of Harwood.
Jamestown, Virginia was settled in April, 1607. A total of 144 men, boys and mariners were in the first ships to land. These men were predominantly gentlemen adventurers, with a handful of laborers, carpenters, a minister and a barber. Twenty or more were there, temporarily, to help settle things, the ships’ crew. This was not a good beginning for a colony. It was more like a fantasy adventure event. There were not enough people to build houses, cook food, plant crops. They were left on their own in an unknown place to make due. Captain Christopher Newport took his crews away before winter.
The following January, Newport returned with one of two ships laden with supplies. The other showed up in April. This ship included a lower percentage of gentlemen (only 28 out of 73), more laborers, and some specialty workers, tailors, a jeweler, a perfume maker (not that I would know why!) and a few others. They also were given instructions to come up with some products for the Virginia Company to sell for profit. It was at this time that a fire consumed most of the stores of the colony. They had to rebuild much of the fort. Rather than planting more corn in the spring, the men went out hunting or chopping down trees for huts. The crop was late in coming.
The second supply ship arrived in October, 1608. This ship carried the first women, Thomas Forrest’s wife and her maid, Anne Burras. Captain Newport’s 70 passengers included 26 gentlemen, a number of laborers and fourteen tradesmen. Who they could sell items to was yet to be seen. Instructions were to go look for the survivors of the lost Roanoke colony. Newport returned to London with pitch, tar, clapboard, wainscotting and other items, the sale of which did not give the Virginia Company much of a return on their investments.
In the spring of 1609, Captain Samuel Argyll arrived, having found a shorter passage to Virginia from London. The colonists were again in danger of failing. A rat infestation in April had eaten all their food. Argyll sold as much of his stores as possible to Captain John Smith. He gave promises of more help and food on its way to Jamestown but he did not leave til October.
On June 2 of that year, seven ships and two pinnaces formed a flotilla to come to the aid of the failing colony. Most of the supplies were on the lead ship, while the other ships held up to 400 passengers and their personal belongings. Yellow fever broke out on two ships and “London plague” on another. Then they met a hurricane at the end of July. Almost everything was thrown overboard during the storm to lighten the load. The lead ship was blown off course to Bermuda, where it was grounded on shoals. One ship was lost. The various ships limped into Jamestown harbor over the course of two months, but without much in the way of supplies. About 300 people needed to be accommodated, without extra food. A suspicious explosion, severely burning John Smith, led to his leaving with Argyll and others on the return voyages of the ships. The death of all three council members and no firm leadership added to the difficulties of the colony. With winter coming and a drought leaving them with a poor harvest, the colony was all but doomed.
The building of homes superseded the importance of finding food. Indian attacks made fishing and hunting very difficult. By the time it was cold, not enough fishing or hunting had been done to make up for the lack of corn. And few men knew how to identify edible wild fruits. People died of starvation over the course of the cold months. One house of women survived primarily on roasted acorn seeds and other greens found in the late summer and preserved. 90% of the inhabitants had died by spring. The 60 survivors were suffering from trauma.
Those left decided they had had enough. With only a handful of people left, the desire to return to England was in most people’s minds. On May 24th, two small ships sailed into the harbor. Those on board were the survivors of the Bermuda grounding. The industrious crew had rebuilt two smaller ships out of the large ship. Interim governor Thomas Gates was among the arriving men. After meeting with the survivors of the Starving Time, Gates decided to close down the experiment, put everyone on the two ships and go back to England.
As the distraught passengers sailed down the James River towards the bay, they met up with a supply ship from England. It contained more settlers, food, supplies, and the new governor, Baron De La Warr. The new governor told Gates to turn around the ship and head back.
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