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History  of  flampton 


AND 


Elizabeth  City  County 
V irginia 


COMPILED  BY 

LYON  G.  TYLER,  M.  A.,  LL.  D. 


PUBLISHED  BY 
The  Boara  of  Supervisors  of  Elizabetn  City  County 

iTainpton,  Virginia 

1922 


Fzi4- 


Tci 


mmnr  of  coNQp^rse 


Vo 

^he  Confederate  Veterans 

of  the  Peninsula,  who  gave  up  homes  and  all  for  the 
cause  of  their  State,  for  four  long  years  on  battle- 
fields of  fame  served  the  land  they  loved  to 
the   best   of  their  great   ability   and   then 
returned  to  find  their  homes  in  ruins 
and    ashes,    this    little    volume    is 
dedicated  as  a  tribute  of  in- 
effable  remembrance. 


Composed  1912  for  the  Retail  Merchants  Association 
by  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  and  now  published 
in  pamphlet  form  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of 
Elizabeth    City    County,  Virginia,   November,    1922. 


FOREWORD 


Dear  old  Hampton,  with  its  colonial,  Eevolutionary, 
1812,  and  Civil  War  memories,  has  endured  and  survived 
much.  We  of  the  present  Hampton,  we  who  love  this  old 
place  either  because  it  is  our  home  by  inheritance  or  adop- 
tion must  carry  on  and  remember  that  we  are  its  guardians 
and  makers  and  that  the  Hampton  of  the  future  will  be  the 
sort  of  place  we  are  making  it  today. 

With  a  deep  and  abiding  love  for  the  place  of  his  birth 
and  a  keen  interest  in  her  welfare  the  first  steps  were  taken 
by  Hunter  R.  Booker,  youngest  son  of  Major  and  Mrs. 
George  Booker,  of  Sherwood  estate,  now  Langley  Field, 
Elizabeth  City  County,  who  brought  to  the  attention  of  his 
fellow  towns  and  countrymen  his  wish  that  a  history  of 
Hampton  be  compiled  as  a  matter  of  civic  concern. 

In  accord  with  this  viewpoint  the  Eetail  Merchants  As- 
sociation of  Hampton  gave  the  money  for  this  project  and 
the  history  was  written  by  Dr.  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  eminent  Vir- 
ginia genealogist  and  former  President  of  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary. 

With  commendable  public  spirit  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors of  Elizabeth  City  County  made  up  of  Messrs.  W.  R. 
Rawlins,  A.  L.  Dixon,  Hunter  R.  Booker,  as  members,  and 
H.  H.  Holt,  clerk,  made  an  appropriation  for  the  publica- 
tion of  this  history. 

In  1896  the  Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Vir- 
ginia Antiquities  put  upon  the  old  light  house  at  Cape 
Henry  a  bronze  tablet  with  these  words  upon  it:  ''Near 
this  spot  landed  April  26,  1607,  Capt.  Gabriell  Archer,  Hon. 
George  S.  Percy,  Christopher  Newport,  Bartholomew  Gos- 
nold,  Edward  Maria  Wingfield,  with  25  others,  who  calling 
the  place  Cape  Henry,  planted  a  cross  April  29,  1607. ' ' 

That  same  evening,  toward  dusk,  while  attempting  to 
enter  James  River  the  colonists  struck  what  is  now  known 
as  Willoughby  Spit,  the  eastern  end  of  Hampton  Roads, 
where  ''they  found  shallow  water  for  a  great  way." 

The  next  day  April  30,  they  rowed  to  a  point  of  land 

Page  five 


on  the  opposite  side  of  Hampton  Roads  where  they  found  a 
channel  'Svhich  put  us  in  good  comfort.  Therefore  we 
named  that  point  of  land  Cape  Comfort  (present  Old  Point 
Comfort)."  Upon  the  invitation  of  some  friendly  Indians 
to  come  ashore  to  their  town  called  by  them  Kecoughtan, 
Captain  John  Smith  says:  ''Wee  coasted  to  their  town 
running  over  a  river  running  into  the  main  where  these 
savages  swam  over  with  their  bowes  and  arrows  in  their 
mouths."  "Kecoughtan,"  continues  the  doughty  Captain, 
' '  has  a  convenient  harbor  for  fisheries,  boats  or  small  boats, 
that  so  conveniently  turneth  itself  into  Bayes  and  Creeks 
that  make  that  place  very  pleasant  to  inhabit,  their  corn- 
fields being  girded  thereon  as  peninsulars. "  "  The  abound- 
ance  of  fish,  fowls,  and  deer"  was  noted. 

To  such  a  goodly  place  some  of  the  colonists  returned 
after  three  years,  from  Jamestown,  in  1610,  making  a  perm- 
anent settlement  at  Kecoughtan.  Thus  it  is  that  the  present 
Hampton  occupying  a  place  near  the  site  of  the  Indian  vil- 
lage is  the  oldest  English  settlement  in  the  United  States  in 
continuous  existence.  Hampton  may  well  be  proud  of  this 
priority  and  others.  The  Church  came  with  the  colonists 
and  the  first  church  was  probably  erected  in  Kecoughtan 
in  1620.  The  walls  of  the  present  St.  John's  Church  have 
stood  since  1728.  The  three  old  pieces  of  communion  silver 
now  in  use  in  St.  John's  Church  bear  the  "hallmark"  of 
1618.  This  plate  has  been  in  use  in  America  longer  than 
any  English  Church  plate  now  known  to  be  in  existence. 
These  pieces  "were  given  by  Miss  Mary  Eobinson  of  Lon- 
don to  a  church  endowed  by  her  in  Smith 's  hundred  in  Vir- 
ginia which  lay  in  the  point  between  the  Chickahominy  and 
the  James  rivers.  This  church  was  endowed  especially 
with  the  hope  of  converting  the  Indians;  but  the  settle- 
ment was  almost  destroyed  by  them  in  the  great  massacre 
of  1622.  At  this  time  these  vessels  were  carried  by  Gov- 
ernor Yeardley  to  Jamestown.  Years  afterwards  they 
were  given  to  the  parish  of  Elizabeth  City."  The  present 
Syms-Eaton  School  is  a  continuation  of  the  oldest  free 
school  in  America,  there  having  been  no  break  in  its  history 
since  its  establishment  in  1634,  by  Benj.  Syms  and  Thos. 
Eaton. 

We,  of  Virginia,  are  justly  proud  that  no  matter  what 
services  were  rendered  in  raising  the  superstructure  of  our 

Page  six 


present  national  government,  the  foundation-stone  of  con- 
stitutional liberty  for  the  English  speaking  race  was  laid 
firmly  and  irremovably  at  Jamestown.  The  House  of  Bur- 
gesses convened  there  from  1619  to  1698.  In  1698  the  seat 
of  government  was  moved  from  Jamestown  to  Middle  Plan- 
tation (Williamsburg)  which  lies  half  in  James  City  and 
half  in  York  County.  Many  of  us  in  the  peninsular  counties 
had  forebears  who  sat  in  this  august  assemblage.  Repre- 
senting Kecoughtan  at  this  first  Legislative  Assembly  held 
in  the  New  World  at  Jamestown  in  1619,  were  William 
Tucker,  and  William  Capps.  These  gentlemen  were  com- 
missioned to  ask  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  a  change  of 
name  for  Kecoughtan.  Says  an  old  chronicle  concerning 
that  event:  "Some  people,  in  pious  frame  of  mind,  took  a 
spite  at  Kecoughtan  name  and  said  a  name  so  heathen 
should  not  be  for  a  people  so  pious  as  we,  and  suggesting 
some  other  names,  they  made  their  grudges  to  old  King 
James,  and  so  the  King  a  new  name  found,  for  this  fine  sec- 
tion and  all  around." 

The  name  Kecoughtan  does  not  appear  regularly  in 
legal  documents  from  1619.  The  new  name,  Elizabeth  City, 
was  called  after  the  daughter  of  King  James  I.  The  cor- 
poration of  Elizabeth  City  developed  into  Elizabeth  City 
County  in  1634.  In  1705  the  town  of  Hampton  was  founded 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature.  The  name  was  in  honor  of  the 
English  Earl  of  Southampton. 

The  American  Revolution,  the  War  of  1812,  and  the 
War  Between  the  States  left  their  impress  on  old  Hampton. 
In  1812  and  again  in  1861,  the  "Gamecock  Town"  was 
burned.  Attesting  their  loyalty  to  and  love  for  the  cause 
of  the  Confederacy,  the  inhabitants,  in  August,  1861,  set 
fire  to  their  own  homes  rather  than  have  them  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Federal  troops  who  were  approaching.  Gen- 
eral Macgruder  commanded  the  Confederates. 

"Furl  that  Banner!     True,  'tis  gory, 
Yet  'tis  wreathed  around  with  glory. 
And  'twill  live  in  song  and  story. 
Though  its  folds  are  in  the  dust." 

The  loyalty  of  Hampton  to  the  Union  has  been  tried 
and  proved  in  the  Spanish-American,  and  World  Wars. 
Side  by  side  the  descendants  of  the  followers  of  Lee  and 

Page  seven 


those  of  the  followers  of  Grant  clad  in  khaki,  a  blend  of 
the  blue  and  the  gray,  battled  for  the  same  principle,  the 
same  cause,  and  a  common  country. 

Dear  old  Hampton!  For  you,  indeed,  does  love  make 
memory  eternal.  Blessed  memories  are  yours — '^  memories 
of  images  and  precious  thoughts  that  shall  not  die,  and  can- 
not be  effaced." 

To  new  Hampton,  God  bless  her. 

Hark  forward!    Carry  on! 

BESSIE  LEE  BOOKER 


Page  eight 


HISTORY  OF  HAMPTON 
AND  ELIZABETH  CITY  COUNTY 


Old  Kecoughtan,  1607-1619 

THERE  are  few  more  picturesque  regions  in  the  world 
than  the  Peninsula  on  which  the  town  of  Hampton  is  sit- 
uated. The  wealth  of  water  scenery  is  of  mingled  advantage 
and  beauty.  On  the  east,  parallel  to  the  coast  line  of  the 
ocean,  stretches  the  noble  basin  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay 
twenty  miles  wide.  On  the  north  are  the  blue  waters  of  the 
magnificent  York  Eiver,  and  on  the  south  is  the  great  bay 
called  Hampton  Roads,  into  which  the  rushing  James  pours 
its  yellow  tide.  The  land  is  a  fertile,  sandy,  alluvial  and 
remarkably  level,  and  the  landscape  is  beautiful  with  the 
silvery  windings  of  Back  River,  Hampton  River,  Mill  Creek 
and  Harris'  Creek. 

At  the  arrival  of  the  first  white  settlers  the  conditions 
in  this  favored  region  were  quite  different  from  conditions 
elsewhere.  While  in  the  rest  of  Virginia  the  land  was  most- 
ly covered  with  great  forests  of  oak,  gum,  poplar,  hickory 
and  chestnut,  here  was  an  open  field  of  two  thousand  or 
three  thousand  acres  or  more,  quite  ready  for  extensive 
agricultural  operations.  The  waters  around  swarmed  with 
crabs  and  vEAuable  fish,  and  on  the  beds  beneath  the  sheet 
of  liquid  blue  lay  great  quantities  of  oysters,  clams  and 
mussels.  Thus,  the  means  of  subsistence  were  abundant, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  to  hear  that,  some  years  before 
the  English  arrived,  the  region  was  sometimes  the  seat  of 
as  many  as  a  thousand  Indians  and  300  wigwams.  On  ac- 
count of  their  numbers  the  Indians  were  called  Kecoughtans 
meaning  the  inhabitants  of  the  ' '  great  town, ' '  but  the  name 
Kecoughtan  applied  more  to  a  region  than  a  collection  of 
buildings.  As  a  region,  Kecoughtan  was  pretty  near  identi- 
cal with  the  modern  Elizabeth  City  and  Warwick  Counties. 
It  extended  perhaps  northward  along  the  James  as  far  as 
Skiffe  's  Creek  and  along  the  York  as  far  as  Pocoson  River, 
averaging  from  East  to  West  about  fifteen  miles,  and  from 
North  to  South,  between  the  two  rivers  five  miles. 

Page  nine 


These  Indians  were  members  of  a  Confederacy  of  about 
34  tribes  occupying  Tidewater  Virginia,  of  which  Powhatan 
was  war-chief  or  headwerowance.  They  belonged  to  the 
Algonquin  race,  and  were  far  less  barbarous  than  the  wild 
inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  region.  Like  the  other  tribes 
of  the  Powhatan  Confederacy,  they  had  a  territory  defined 
by  natural  bounds  and  their  villages  had  a  permanent  char- 
acter and  place.  They  were  composed  of  houses  oval  in 
shape  made  of  bark  set  upon  a  frame-work  of  bent  saplings. 

On  account  of  their  strength,  Powhatan  regarded  the 
Kecoughtan  tribe  with  suspicion,  which  was  much  increas- 
ed by  the  warnings  of  his  medicine  men.  It  is  said  by  Stra- 
chey'  that  Powhatan  was  informed  by  them  that  "from 
the  Chesapeake  Bay  a  nation  would  arise  that  should  dis- 
solve and  give  end  to  his  empire."  Powhatan  bided  his 
time,  and  while  things  were  in  confusion  by  reason  of  the 
death  of  the  old  Kecoughtan  werowance,  he  suddenly  in- 
vaded the  territory,  killed  the  new  chief  and  most  of  his 
people  and  settled  the  survivors  in  the  remote  region  of  the 
Pianketank.  And  it  was  not  the  Kecaughtans  only  that  he 
involved  in  slaughter,  but  the  Chesapeakes  also  who  in- 
habited on  the  south  side  of  the  bay,  and,  therefore,  "lay 
under  the  suspicion  of  the  same  phophecy."  In  the  room 
of  the  former  inhabitants  Powhatan  placed  at  these  places 
some  of  his  own  people  on  whom  he  could  rely.  At  Kecough- 
tan he  made  his  son  Pochins  werowance,  but  the  new  comers 
there  did  not  exceed  over  thirty  warriors  or  150  men,  women 
and  children. 

This  was  the  condition  of  things  in  the  Bay  region  on 
April  26, 1607,  when  the  famous  fleet  consisting  of  the  Sarah 
Constant,  the  Goodspeed  and  the  Discovery,  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Christopher  Newport,  sailed  with  the 
founders  of  the  Nation  through  the  broad  water  gateway  be- 
tween Cape  Charles  and  Cape  Henry  into  Chesapeake  Bay. 
Anchoring  three  days  off  Cape  Henry,  they  broke  the  seal 
of  the  box  which  contained  the  names  of  the  council,  ex- 
plored the  Country,  and  subsequently  set  up  a  cross,  taking 
possession  in  the  name  of  King  James  of  England.  On 
April  30th,  they  came  with  their  ships  to  a  long,  sandy  point 
of  land  which  they  called  Cape  Comfort,  because  of  the 
deep  water,  which  was  found  there,  and  which  put  the  navi- 


'  William  Strachey,  Travaile  into  Virginia  Brittannia. 
Page  ten 


gators  in  ''good  comfort"  of  being  able  to  pass  into  the 
safe  harbor  beyond.  Here  Captain  Newport  caused  the 
shallop  to  be  manned  and  rowed  to  the  mainland,  where  he 
saw  an  Indian  village  of  eighteen  wigwams.  Captain 
George  Percy,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
gives  us  this  account  of  this  first  meeting  of  the  white  men 
and  the  savages: 

* '  When  we  came  first  a  land  they  made  a  doleful  noise, 
laying  their  faces  to  the  ground,  scratching  the  earth  with 
their  nails.  We  did  thinke  they  had  beene  at  their  Idola- 
try. When  they  had  ended  their  Ceremonies,  they  went 
into  their  houses  and  brought  out  mats  and  laid  upon  the 
ground :  The  chief  est  of  them  sate  all  in  a  rank ;  the  mean- 
est sort  brought  us  such  dainties  as  they  had,  and  of  their 
bread  which  they  make  of  their  Maiz  or  Gennea  wheat. 
They  would  not  suffer  us  to  eat  unless  we  sate  down,  which 
we  did  on  a  mat  right  against  them.  After  we  were  well 
satisfied  they  gave  us  of  their  tobacco,  which  they  tooke  in 
a  pipe  made  artificially  of  earth  as  ours  are,  but  far  bigger, 
with  the  bowle  fashioned  together  with  a  piece  of  fine  cop- 
per. After  they  had  feasted  us,  they  showed  us,  in  wel- 
come, their  manner  of  dancing,  which  was  in  this  fashion. 
One  of  the  savages  standing  in  the  midst  singing,  beating 
one  hand  against  another,  all  the  rest  dancing  about  him, 
shouting,  howling,  and  stamping  against  the  ground,  with 
many  Anticke  tricks  and  faces,  making  noise  like  so  many 
Wolves  or  Devils.  One  thing  of  them  I  observed;  when 
they  were  in  their  dance  they  kept  stroke  with  their  feet 
just  one  with  another,  but  with  their  hands,  heads,  faces 
and  bodies,  every  one  of  them  had  a  severall  gesture;  so 
they  continued  for  the  space  of  halfe  an  houre.  When  they 
had  ended  their  dance,  the  Captain  gave  them  Beades  and 
other  trifling  Jewells. ' ' 

The  curious  antics  of  the  Indians  described  in  the 
above  paragraph  had  probably  a  deeper  meaning  than 
Percy  suspected.  The  religion  of  the  Powhatan  Indians 
consisted  in  a  belief  in  a  great  number  of  devils,  who  were 
to  be  warded  off  by  pow-wows  and  conjurations,  and  they 
were  inclined  to  believe  that  Percy  and  his  friends,  if  not 
devils,  were  messengers  sent  by  devils.  The  pipes  display- 
ed were  probably  the  peace  pipes,  which  were  often  of  very 
large  dimensions  and  curiously  carved. 

Page  eleven 


The  map  of  Captain  John  Smith  and  other  contempor- 
ary evidence  show  that  the  site  of  the  Indian  village  was 
very  near  the  spot  on  which  the  present  Soldiers'  Home 
is  located. 

The  settlers  on  this  visit  did  not  stay  long,  but  sailed 
up  the  river  and  established  themselves  May  14th,  on  the 
Island  of  Jamestown.  In  doing  this  they  made  a  great 
mistake,  for  the  Island  was  very  unhealthful,  very  accessi- 
ble to  Indian  attacks,  and  was  covered  with  morasses  and 
huge  trees  centuries  old.  As  Dr.  Philip  Alexander  Bruce 
observes :  ' '  The  proper  site  for  the  colony  was  the  modern 
Hampton."  The  action  of  the  settlers  was  dictated  by  the 
London  Company,  who  were  afraid  of  the  Spaniards,  but 
as  subsequent  events  proved,  a  nearer  settlement  to  the  sea- 
shore would  have  resulted  in  no  real  danger.  The  Spanish 
Kingdom  had  lost  power,  and  the  open  country  of  Kecough- 
tan  would  have  promoted  health  and  enabled  the  colonists 
to  go  to  work  at  once  in  providing  adequate  sustenance; 
moreover  the  settlement  protected  by  wide  stretches  of 
water,  could  have  been  readily  defended  against  Indian 
attacks.  In  the  midst  of  such  abundance  as  the  place 
afforded  there  could  have  been  no  Starving  Time  as  at 
Jamestown  in  1610.  It  is  true  that  a  settlement  at  Kecough- 
tan  however  would  have  involved  a  speedy  conflict  with  the 
savages,  which  the  London  Company  deprecated,  but  this 
the  colonists  did  not  avoid  by  placing  their  settlement  at 
Jamestown.    They  were  attacked  almost  immediately. 

In  December,  1607,  Captain  John  Smith  paid  a  visit 
to  these  Indians  of  Kecoughtan  for  trade,  and  returned  to 
Jamestown  with  a  good  supply  of  fish,  oysters,  corn  and  deer 
meat,  which  he  obtained  from  them  for  a  few  glass  beads. 
Smith  stopped  here  again  when  he  returned  in  July,  1608, 
after  his  exploration  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  gallant  cap- 
tain at  this  time  was  suffering  from  a  wound  inflicted  by  a 
stingray,  and  one  of  his  men  had  his  shins  bruised;  and  we 
are  told  that  the  Indians  surmised  that  they  had  had  a 
bloody  battle  experience.  The  captain  fell  in  with  their 
humor,  and  soon  the  report  spread  far  and  wide,  that  Cap- 
tain Smith  had  badly  beaten  the  Massawomekes,  the  invet- 
erate enemies  of  the  Powhatans.  On  his  departing  from 
Jamestown  for  his  second  exploration  of  the  Bay  not  long 
after,  Smith  made  another  stop  of  two  or  three  days  at 

Page  twelve 


Kecoughtan,  where  lie  was  ** feasted  with  much  mirth." 
The  next  year  a  party,  including  Captain  Francis  West, 
Captain  George  Percy  and  Captain  Smith  spent  Christmas 
week  among  these  savages.  Their  own  account  was:  ^'We 
were  never  more  merry  nor  fed  on  more  plentie  of  good 
oysters,  fish,  flesh,  and  wild  fowle  and  good  breade,  nor 
never  had  better  fires  in  England  than  in  the  dry  smoky 
houses  of  Kecoughtan." 

Fort  Algemoume 

Kecoughtan  was  recognized  as  a  strategic  situation, 
and  after  Captain  Smith's  departure  for  England,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1609,  George  Percy,  the  President,  sent  Captain  John 
Ratcliffe  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  build  a  fort.  He 
chose  the  present  site  of  Fort  Monroe,  and  called  his  stock- 
ade ''Algernourne  Fort,"  in  honor  of  President  Percy's 
ancestor  William  Algernourne  de  Percy,  who  came  to  Eng- 
land with  William  the  Conqueror.  Soon  after  began  the 
Starving  Time  at  Jamestown,  during  which  most  of  the 
settlers  died.  Captain  Ratcliffe,  while  on  a  trading  voyage 
to  the  York,  was  betrayed  and  killed  by  the  savages,  and 
his  place  at  Point  Comfort  was  supplied  by  Captain  James 
Davis.  Only  some  sixty  wretched  survivors  were  at  James- 
town when  the  Spring  of  1610  arrived,  and  these  would  have 
perished  but  for  the  almost  miraculous  arrival  of  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  and  the  passengers  of  the  Sea  Venture,  who 
had  been  wrecked  for  forty  weeks  on  the  Bermuda  Islands. 
They  reached  Point  Comfort  May  21,  1610,  and  through 
Captain  Davis,  Governor  Gates  was  first  made  acquainted 
with  the  terrible  condition  of  things  at  Jamestown. 

Here  again  was  the  stopping  place  two  weeks  later  of 
Sir  Thomas  West,  Lord  Delaware,  who  arrived  just  in  time 
to  prevent  the  desertion  of  Virginia  by  Gates.  There  was 
then  waiting  at  Point  Comfort,  a  little  pinnace  called  the 
<< Virginia,"  built  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  and  the  only  pro- 
duct of  the  colony  sent  out,  to  that  region  in  1607  by  the 
Plymouth  Company.  It  had  been  sent  down  from  James- 
town by  Governor  Gates  to  take  on  Captain  Davis  and  his 
guard;  and  the  colonists  at  Jamestown  were  momentarily 
expected.  Delaware  at  once  dispatched  the  Virginia  up  the 
river,  and  the  ships  from  Jamestown  were  met  off  Mulberry 

Page  thirteen 


Island.  Under  orders  the  departing  ships  tacked  about  and 
sailed  back  to  the  old  place  of  settlement,  and,  in  the  even- 
ing of  June  8th,  1610,  the  colonists  again  took  possession  of 
their  forlorn  habitations. 

Forts  Henry  and  Charles 

Not  long  after  their  return,  a  white  man  named  Humph- 
rey Blunt,  who  had  strayed  off  to  himself,  was  killed  by 
some  Kecoughtan  Indians,  near  the  point  on  James  River 
which  bears  his  name.  To  punish  the  murderers  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  took  a  squad  of  men,  and  on  July  9th,  1610, 
drove  the  werowance  Pochins  and  his  tribe  away  from  their 
village ;  and  built  near  the  shore  two  stockades,  called  Forts 
Henry  and  Charles,  "a  musket  shot  apart  from  one 
another."  William  Box,  one  of  the  first  settlers,  described 
these  small  defences  as  named  in  honor  of  ' '  our  most  noble 
Prince  (Henry),  and  his  hopeful  brother  (Charles)."  ''They 
stand  upon  a  pleasant  plaine,  and  neare  a  little  Revilet 
they  called  Southampton  River;  in  a  wholsom  aire,  having 
plentie  of  Springs  of  sweet  water;  they  command  a  great 
circuit  of  ground,  containing  wood,  pasture  and  marsh, 
with  apt  places  for  vines,  come,  and  Gardens;  in  which 
Fort  it  is  resolved,  that  all  those  that  come  out  of  England, 
shall  be  at  their  first  landing  quartered,  that  the  wearisom- 
nesse  of  the  Sea  may  be  refreshed  in  this  pleasing  part  of 
the  country."  In  this  opinion  of  the  attractiveness  of 
Kecoughtan,  William  Strachey,  Gate's  Secretary  concur- 
red: "It  is  an  ample  and  faire  countrie  indeed  ******  and 
is  a  delicate  and  necessary  seate  for  a  citty  or  chief  fortifi- 
cation." 

Southampton  River,  now  known  as  Hampton  River, 
was  named  in  honor  of  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, President  of  the  Virginia  Company  of  London 
from  1620  to  1625,  and  his  name  was  also  given  to  the  splen- 
did body  of  water  into  which  the  rivulet  entered  "South- 
ampton (Hampton)  Roads."  In  the  autumn  following 
(1610)  Delaware  withdrew  the  guards  at  these  two  forts, 
and  sent  the  men  on  a  fruitless  expedition  to  the  falls  of 
James  River  to  search  for  gold,  but  after  his  depaurture 
in  1611,  from  Virginia,  Sir  Thomas  Dale  restored  the  settle- 
ment. 

Fort  Henry  probably  occupied  the  site  of  the  Kecough- 
Page  fourteen 


tan  village  that  stood  in  a  field  of  100  acres  on  the  ''Straw- 
berry Bank,"  having  John's  Creek  as  its  eastern  boundary. 
Its  situation  was  thus  identical  with  that  of  the  present 
Soldiers'  Home.  A  mile  further  east  was  Fort  Charles. 
Each  of  these  forts,  in  1613,  had  fifteen  soldiers,  but  no 
ordnance;  and,  in  1614,  Captain  George  Webb  was  the 
principal  commander  of  both.  In  the  latter  year,  Hamor 
describes  them  as  ''goodly  seats  and  much  corn  about 
them,  abounding  with  the  commodities  of  fish,  fowle,  Deere 
and  fruits,  whereby  the  men  lived  there  with  halfe  that 
maintenance  out  of  the  store  which  in  other  places  is  al- 
lowed." In  1616,  John  Rolfe  reported  that  there  were  at 
Kecoughtan  twenty-one  men  including  Captain  Webb,  and 
of  the  number  Mr.  William  Mease  was  minister  and  eleven 
were  farmers,  who  maintained  themselves. 

The  year  1619  saw  great  changes  made  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Virginia.  Hitherto  the  settlers  were  only  soldiers 
and  martial  law  prevailed.  Now  the  free  laws  of  England 
were  proclaimed,  and  to  every  man  was  assigned  a  certain 
area  of  land.  On  July  30,  a  general  assembly  met  at  James- 
town, according  to  the  summons  of  the  governor,  in  which 
William  Tucker  and  William  Capps,  prominent  colonists, 
were  the  representatives  for  Kecoughtan.  Four  corpora- 
tions were  established  to  include  all  the  settlements.  The 
region  from  the  bay  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  to  Chucka- 
tuck  on  the  south  side  and  to  Skiffe's  Creek  on  the  North 
side  constituted  Elizabeth  City  Corporation,  a  name  pre- 
ferred by  the  inhabitants  to  the  heathen  name  of  Kecough- 
tan and  bestowed  in  honor  of  King  James '  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  In  pursuance  of  the  command 
of  the  London  Company  to  set  aside  certain  areas  in  each 
corporation  for  public  uses,  the  government  appropriated 
for  Elizabeth  City  the  land  from  the  mouth  of  Hampton 
River  to  the  Bay.  Three  thousand  acres  were  reserved  for 
the  Company's  own  use;  1500  acres  for  the  common  use, 
and  100  acres  for  a  glebe.  Tenants  were  placed  upon  these 
lands  for  the  public  benefit.  Of  this  stretch  of  country  the 
portion  from  Hampton  River  to  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
Mill  Creek  was  called  "Strawberry  Bank,"  a  name  sug- 
gestive of  the  abundant  growth  of  a  luscious  berry  well 
known  to  a  Virginia  table ;  and  the  portion  along  Mill  Creek 

Page  fifteen 


300  acres,  was  known  as  ' '  Buck  Roe, ' '  after  a  place  in  Eng- 
land of  that  name. 

In  1620,  the  company  sent  some  Frenchmen  to  Buck 
Eoe  to  teach  the  colonists  how  to  plant  mulberry  trees  and 
grape  vines,  raise  silkworms,  and  make  wine.  They  were 
selected  by  John  Bonnell,  silkworm  raiser  to  the  King  at 
Oakland,  from  Languedock  in  France,  and  among  them 
were  Anthony  BonnelF,  Elias  La  Guard',  James  Bonnell, 
Peter  Arundell  and  David  Poole. 

In  1621,  Capt.  Thomas  Newce  from  Newce's  Town  in 
Ireland  came  over  as  manager  of  the  Company's  lands  in 
the  different  corporations,  was  made  a  member  of  the  Vir- 
ginia council,  and  given  six  hundred  acres  at  Fort  Henry 
for  his  support. 

At  this  time  one  of  the  ministers  of  Elizabeth  City  was 
Jonas  Stockton,  son  of  William  Stockton,  parson  of  Barkes- 
well,  County  Warwick,  England;  and  in  May,  1621,  he  wrote 
a  letter  regarding  the  treacherous  character  of  the  Indians 
and  the  futility  of  any  attempt  to  convert  them  till  "their 
Priests  and  Ancients"  were  put  to  death.  He  appears  to 
have  been  the  earliest  exponent  of  the  doctrine  that  ^'the 
only  good  Indian  is  a  dead  Indian. ' '  March  22, 1622  occurred 
the  massacre  at  which  time  346  settlers  out  of  a  total  of 
1240  were  slaughtered;  and  the  warning  of  Mr.  Stockton 
may  have  served  the  people  of  Elizabeth  City  to  good  pur- 
pose, for  no  one  was  killed  there. 

After  the  first  news  Captain  Newce  called  all  his  neigh- 
bors together  at  his  home,  which  he  defended  with  three 
cannon,  and  took  measure  not  only  for  their  relief,  but  built 
two  houses  and  a  *'faire  well  of  water  mantled  with  brick" 
for  the  reception  of  immigrants  daily  expected  from  Eng- 
land ;  and,  f orseeing  the  famine  that  must  necessarily  ensue, 
caused  a  large  crop  of  corn  to  be  planted  around  the  fort. 
We  are  told  that  in  all  these  works  the  captain  acted  the 
part  of  a  sawyer,  carpenter  and  laborer,  but  met  with  many 
difficulties.  In  the  latter  part  of  June  Governor  Wyatt,  ac- 
companied by  his  council  and  many  other  gentlemen,  spent 
three  or  four  days  with  him  and  ate  up  the  crop  of  corn 
near  the  fort,  before  the  ears  were  half  grown.  However, 
Captain  Newce,  sick  and  weak  as  he  was,  never  tired  of  well 


'  Subsequently  anglicised  to  "Bonny".     '  Subsequently  anglicised 
"EUegood." 

Page  sixteen 


doing;  but  when  all  was  spent  and  the  colonists  had  to  live 
on  crabs  and  oysters,  he  distributed  among  them,  as  he  saw 
occasion,  a  little  milk  and  rice  which  he  still  had  left,  and 
behaved  with  such  ' '  tenderness  and  care ' '  that  he  obtained 
the  reputation  of  being  the  best  commander  in  Virginia. 

September  9,  1922,  his  men  were  attacked  at  their 
labors  by  the  Indians,  which  was  their  first  assault  since  the 
massacre;  and  four  men  were  slain.  The  Captain,  though 
extremely  sick,  sallied  forth,  but  the  Indians  hid  in  the  corn- 
fields at  night  and  escaped  without  any  loss.  About  this 
time  Samuel  Collier,  who  had  come,  as  a  boy,  to  Virginia 
and  was  very  useful  as  Indian  interpreter,  was  accidently 
killed  by  a  sentinel;  and  in  the  general  neglect  of  agricul- 
ture that  ensued  the  vineyards  at  Buck  Roe  were  greatly 
^'bruised"  by  the  deer.  Captain  Newce  died  the  next  year 
(1623)  and  he  was  preceded  to  the  grave  by  his  brother  Sir 
William  Newce,  who  had  come  a  very  short  time  before  as 
high  marshal  to  Virginia.  It  was  from  these  two  Newce 
brothers  that  Newport  News  (Newport  Newce)  obtained  its 
name,  its  early  title  being  Point  Hope,  as  appears  from 
Smith's  map  of  Virginia. 

The  Development  of  Elizabeth  City 

Captain  William  Tucker,  a  London  merchant,  succeed- 
ed Captain  Newce  as  commander  of  Elizabeth  City  and  as 
a  member  of  the  council  of  State,  and  in  the  revenge  taken 
upon  the  savages  by  the  government  he  played  an  import- 
ant part  in  leading  expeditions  against  them. 

In  February  1624,  a  census  was  taken  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  colony  according  to  which  it  appeared  that  Eliz- 
abeth City  Corporation  had  a  population  of  349.  In  June, 
the  charter  of  the  London  Company  was  revoked,  but 
though  great  fears  were  entertained,  no  attempt  was  made 
by  the  King  to  interfere  with  the  plan  of  government  estab- 
lished by  the  Company  for  the  colony. 

In  1625  another  census  of  the  colony  was  taken,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Elizabeth  City  Corporation  the 
following  may  be  mentioned:  Residing  at  Newport  News 
on  a  tract  of  1300  acres,  with  his  19  servants  was  Mr.  Daniel 
Gookin,  who  came  like  the  Newces  from  Newce  town  in  Ire- 
land.    On  Hampton  River  and  in  its  neighborhood  were 

Page  seventeen 


Commander  William  Tucker,  Captain  Francis  West,  brother 
of  Lord  Delaware,  John  Downman,  John  Powell,  Michael 
Willcox,  Cornelius  May,  William  Julian,  Lieut.  Thomas 
Purifoy,  Ensign  Thomas  Willoughby,  George  Keith  min- 
ister, Captain  Nicholas  Martian,  Mr.  Eobert  Salford, 
Francis  Mason,  Pharaoh  Flinton,  Lieutenant  John  Chisman, 
Mr.  Edward  Waters,  Captain  Francis  Chamberlayne,  Rev. 
Jonas  Stockton,  Mr.  William  Gany,  Thomas  Flint  and 
Anthony  Bonell. 

In  1627,  Rev.  Mr.  Stockton  had  the  lease  of  50  acres  on 
the  east  side  of  Hampton  River  River  ''within  the  Com- 
pany's land  at  Elizabeth  City,"  at  the  Indian  House 
Thicket.  It  appears  the  irony  of  fate  that  an  Indian  school, 
the  Hampton  Institute,  should  now  be  seen  near  where  once 
was  an  "Indian  thicket,"  and  the  prophetic  Stockton  an- 
nounced his  conviction  of  the  original  depravity  of  the 
Indians. 

As  a  result  of  the  massacre,  the  Indians  were  driven 
far  away  from  the  settlements,  and  the  colony,  relieved  from 
their  presence,  in  a  few  years  again  put  on  a  prosperous 
appearance.  In  1628,  we  are  told  that  there  was  a  great 
plenty  of  everything  in  the  colony  and  "peaches  in  abund- 
ance at  Elizabeth  City." 

About  1630,  Col.  William  Claiborne  set  up  on  the  very 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Hampton  a  storehouse  for  trade 
with  the  Indians  up  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  here  he  resided 
after  being  driven  out  of  Kent  Island  by  Lord  Baltimore. 
He  removed  to  West  Point  about  1661. 

In  1632,  the  French  vignerons  at  Buck  Roe  incurred 
the  resentment  of  the  general  assembly  by  dropping  into 
tobacco  raising,  and  a  law  was  passed  inhibiting  them  from 
so  doing  on  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  leases  and  having 
to  quit  the  colony. 

In  February,  1634,  Leonard  Calvert  and  his  immigrants 
stopped  here  on  their  way  to  found  the  great  State  of  Mary- 
land at  St.  Mary's. 

The  same  year  (1634)  the  colony  was  divided  into  eight 
counties,  and  ' '  Elizabeth  City ' '  was  given  to  one  extending 
on  both  sides  of  Hampton  Roads,  but,  in  1637,  the  south  side 
was  cut  off  and  made  into  New  Norfolk  County,  after  which 
the  limits  of  Elizabeth  City  County  were  pretty  nearly  as 
they  exist  at  the  present  day.    Till  very  recently  however, 

Page  eighteen 


Newport  News,  which  now  lies  wholly  in  Warwick  Count)^ 
lay  partly  in  Elizabeth  City  County  and  partly  in  Warwick 
County. 

The  Strawberry  Bank 

When,  in  1637,  Fort  Henry  was  abandoned,  the  field 
of  a  hundred  acres  in  which  it  stood,  called  ''Fort  Field," 
was  granted  to  Captain  Francis  Hooke,  Esq.,  of  the  Royal 
Navy,  commander  at  Point  Comfort  and  one  of  the 
council  of  State.  It  was  described  as  ' '  lying  on  the  Straw- 
berry Bank  beginning  at  a  well,  known  by  the  name  of 
Plackett  well,  which  is  upon  the  Creek  side,  which  runneth 
up  by  the  Gate  house  west,  and  so  to  a  place  where  a  house 
stood  where  one  Powell  lived  and  from  there  directly  to  a 
spring  in  the  banke  of  the  creek  right  against  the  house  of 
one  Thomas  Oldis  east. ' '  A  grant  in  1648  to  Major  Richard 
Moryson,  brother-in-law  of  Lucius  Cary,  Lord  Falkland, 
and  one  of  Captain  Hooke 's  successors  in  command  at  Point 
Comfort,  is  more  definite.  The  land  is  here  described  as 
''lying  south  upon  the  Main  River  from  the  mouth  of  a 
creek  commonly  called  Hooke 's  Creek  alias  John's  Creek 
unto  Sandy  Point,  bounded  on  the  west  side  from  the  Sandy 
Point  with  a  creek  that  parteth  the  land  of  Thomas  Conier 
and  the  Glebe  land  from  this  land,  bounded  on  the  north 
with  the  land  late  belonging  to  Thomas  Oldis  gent,  by 
marked  trees  to  a  tree  near  the  bridge  that  leadeth  to  the 
dwelling  house  of  said  Oldis  from  (sic)  to  the  mouth  of  said 
John's  Creek,  on  the  east  side." 

On  the  east  of  John's  Creek  was  a  tract  of  one  hundred 
acres  granted  formerly  to  Captain  Grayes  for  his  personal 
adventure  as  "an  ancient  planter"  and  assigned  by  him  in 
1635  to  Lieut.  Thomas  Purifoy,  one  of  the  council  of  State 
and  a  representative  of  the  Purifoys,  of  Drayton,  in  Leices- 
tershire; and  by  Purifoy,  about  1667,  assigned  to  Captain 
Francis  Hooke.  It  became  later  the  property  of  Thomas 
Oldis,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  who  owned 
another  tract  of  fifty  acres  adjoining  easterly,  which  in 
1622  appears  to  have  been  owned  by  Christopher  Calthorpe, 
who  came  to  Virginia  that  year.  This  last  was  second  son 
of  Christopher  Calthorpe,  Esq.,  of  Norfolk  County,  Eng- 
land, and  grandson  of  Sir  Thomas  Calthorpe  and  Barbara 
Bacon  his  wife.    In  1691,  the  whole  150  acres  was  devised 

Page  nineteen 


to  Jacob  Walker  and  George  Walker,  Jr.,  his  brother,  by 
Thomas  Oldis,  grandson  of  Sir  Thomas  Oldis. 

In  the  grant  of  Purif  oy,  his  land  is  described  as  '  *  lying 
on  a  small  creek  dividing  the  same  from  the  field  called 
Fort  Henry."  In  the  grant  to  Capt.  Hooke  in  1637,  the 
same  land  is  described  as  ''situated  upon  the  Strawberry 
Bank,  northward  upon  a  creek  next  to  the  Fort  Field,  south 
upon  the  Main  River,  east  upon  Thomas  Oldis  his  land  and 
north-east  upon  John  Neale  his  land." 

Next  to  the  lot,  formerly  Christopher  Calthorpe's  and 
afterwards  Thomas  Oldis,  on  the  ''Strawberry  Bank,"  was 
a  tract  of  fifty  acres,  leased  in  1627  to  Doctoris  Christmas, 
assigned  by  him  in  1628  to  Lionel  Rowleston,  and  assigned 
by  Rowleston  in  1630  to  John  Neale,  merchant.  At  the  east 
side  of  this  land,  on  the  shore  about  100  poles  or  500  yards 
east  of  John's  Creek,  was  in  1648  the  cedar  stump  of  the 
"lookout-tree,"  where  a  sentinel  watched  the  distant  capes 
for  approaching  vessels.  And  near  by  was  the  "round  mill" 
after  which  Mill  Creek  was  named,  its  earlier  title  being 
Point  Comfort  Creek'. 

In  1628,  Lieut.  Edward  Waters,  whose  romantic  career 
had  begun  in  1609,  with  the  wreck  of  the  "Sea  Venture," 
and  his  discovery  shortly  after  on  the  Bermuda  Islands  of 
a  vast  piece  of  ambergris  worth  three  million  dollars  leased 
100  acres  adjoining  westerly  John  Neale 's  tract.  These  two 
tracts,  making  150  acres,  or  165  acres  as  the  surveys 
showed,  became  vested  in  George  Downes  and  were  long 
known  as  Downes'  Field.  On  the  east  side  was  a  marsh  or 
gut  called  Thomas'  Creek,  still  to  be  seen  to  the  east  of 
"Roseland,"  a  residence,  near  the  town  of  Phoebus. 

This  land  is  more  than  ordinarily  interesting,  because 
of  a  great  ejectment  suit,  which  started  in  1699.  It  is  stated 
that  Downes'  Field  being  deserted  vested  in  the  Colony, 
and  it  was,  thereupon,  in  1642,  granted  to  Major  Richard 
Moryson,  one  of  Hooke 's  successors  as  commander  of  Point 
Comfort.  A  few  years  later  the  government  granted  to  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Claiborne,  wife  of  Col  .William  Claiborne,  then 
treasurer  of  Virginia,  seven  hundred  acres,  extending  along 
the  water  side  four  hundred  poles,  or  two  hundred  chains,' 


^  William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly,  IX,  90. 
^  The  chain  at  this  period  was  only  two  rods  or  poles;  i.  e.  31 
feet. 

Page  twenty 


embracing  Dowiies'  Field,  and  bounded  on  its  west  side  by 
Thomas  Oldis  land,  on  its  east  side  by  Buck  Roe  and  the 
land  of  Rev.  William  Wilkinson,  who  afterwards  emigrated 
to  Maryland  and  was  the  second  Protestant  minister  of  that 
province.  Major  Moryson's  title  descended  to  Samuel  Sel- 
den,  a  lawyer,  who  came  from  England  to  Elizabeth  City  in 
1699;  and  Mrs.  Claiborne's  right  had  at  that  time  vested  in 
Bertrand  Servant,  a  prominent  French  immigrant.  Suit 
was  entered  and  continued  for  half  a  century  involving  suc- 
cessive claimants,  including  Col.  Robert  Beverley,  James 
Gait,  John  George  and  other  prominent  citizens  of  Eliza- 
beth City. 

In  1622,  James  Nott,  of  Accomac,  planter,  patented  at 
the  mouth  of  Hampton  River  fifty  acres  of  land,  ^'bounded 
southerly  by  a  creek,  which  parteth  the  same  from  the  lands 
of  Captain  Francis  West,  and  northerly  upon  the  Glebe 
land,  together  with  the  house  commonly  called  the  Great 
Howse  and  all  other  howses."  The  purpose  of  Mr.  Nott  is 
expressed  in  the  patent  to  be  ''to  keep  a  howse  of  enter- 
tainment, whereby  strangers  and  others  may  be  well  accom- 
modated, with  great  ease  to  the  inhabitants  in  those  parts. ' ' 

''Fox  Hill,"  and  "Little  England" 

Fox  Hill  is  mentioned  as  early  as  1625,  when  Captain 
Raleigh  Croshaw  had  five  hundred  acres  between  that  place 
and  York  River.  Harris'  Creek  is  a  very  old  name  in  the 
records,  and  so  is  Back  River,  meaning  the  river  on  the 
back  of  the  plantations  first  settled.  The  old  Pocosin,  as 
its  name  signifies,  meant  in  the  Indian  tongue,  the  low, 
marshy  country  on  the  York  River  between  Back  River  and 
Pocosin  River. 

The  point  now  known  as  "Little  England"  was  pat- 
ented about  1634  by  William  Capps,  a  prominent  settler, 
and  for  over  one  hundred  years  was  known  as  Capps'  Point. 
By  William  Capps,  King  Charles  sent  over  the  memorable 
instructions  in  1627  allowing  a  general  assembly,  which 
had  been  discontinued  since  the  revocation  of  the  charter 
in  1624.  To  Capps  was  also  given  the  privilege  of  erecting 
salt  works. 

Page  twenty-one 


The  First  Glebe  and  Church 

At  the  head  of  John's  Creek  was  the  Glebe  land,  lying 
on  the  north  side  of  the  present  trolley  car  line  from  Hamp- 
ton to  the  town  of  Phoebus.  A  grant  to  Robert  Partin,  in 
1637,  locates  his  lease  of  40  acres  as  ''south  on  the  Fort 
field,  and  north  towards  the  church, ' '  and  this  was  the  same 
land  as  Thomas  Conier's,  which  was  described  in  the  patent 
to  Major  Richard  Moryson  for  Fort  Field,  as  parted  from 
the  Glebe  Land  by  a  creek  making  in  from  Sandy  Point 
(Soldier's  Home  Point.)  It  was  in  this  church,  in  January, 
1637,  that  Sir  John  Harvey,  who  had  been  expelled  from  the 
government,  read  his  commission  to  be  governor  for  the 
second  time.  There  is  an  old  graveyard  on  the  property 
of  the  late  Col.  Thomas  Tabb,  which  has  been  restored,  in- 
closed and  re-dedicated  as  the  site  of  this  original  church'. 

The  Free  Schools 

Four  years  before  John  Harvard  bequeathed  his  estate 
to  the  college  near  Boston,  Benjamin  Syms,  of  Virginia, 
left  the  first  legacy  by  a  resident  of  the  American  Planta- 
tion for  the  promotion  of  education.  By  his  will,  made  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1634- '35,  he  gave  two  hundred  acres  on  the  Pi>quo- 
sin,  a  small  river  which  enters  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  a  mile 
or  less  below  the  mouth  of  York  River,  with  the  milk  and 
increase  of  eight  cows,  for  the  education  and  instruction  of 
the  children  of  the  adjoining  parishes  of  Elizabeth  City 
and  Kiquotan,  "from  Mary's  Mount  downward  to  the 
Poquosin  river. ' '  The  money  arising  from  the  first  increase 
of  the  cattle  was  to  be  used  to  build  a  schoolhouse,  and  the 
profits  from  the  subsequent  sales  of  cattle  to  support  the 
teacher.  This  Benjamin  Syms  was  born  in  1590,  and  in 
1623  was  living  at  "Basse's  Choice,"  in  what  was  subse- 
quently known  as  Isle  of  Wight  county.  In  1624,  at  this 
point,  died  a  Margaret  Syms.  In  1629  Thomas  Warnet,  a 
leading  merchant  of  Jamestown,  bequeathed  Benjamin 
Syms  a  weeding  hoe.  Syms  was  evidently  an  honest,  religi- 
ous, and  childless  planter. 


'  Tyler,  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  248.  Recent  excavations  con- 
firm this  conjecture.  They  disclosed  the  foundations  of  a  building  in 
the  graveyard,  which  were  of  cobblestone  shovdng  that  the  superstruc- 
ture was  of  wood. 

Page  twenty-two 


In  March  1642-  '43  the  Virginia  Assembly  gave  a  solemn 
sanction  to  Syms'  will  in  the  following  words:  ''Be  it 
enacted  and  confirmed,  upon  consideration  had  of  the  godly 
disposition  and  good  intent  of  Benjamin  Syms  deceased,  in 
founding  by  his  last  will  and  testament  a  free  school  in 
Elizabeth  county,  for  the  encouragement  of  all  other  in  like 
pious  performances,  that  the  said  will  and  testament  with 
all  donations  therein  contained  concerning  the  free  school 
and  the  situation  thereof  in  the  said  county,  and  the  land 
appertaining  to  the  same,  shall  be  confirmed  according  to 
the  godly  intent  of  the  said  testator,  without  any  alienation 
or  conversion  thereof  to  any  place  or  county."  In  1647,  a 
few  years  later,  we  hear  from  an  early  writer  that  the  school 
was  in  operation  and  the  number  of  kine  greatly  increased : 
'  *  I  may  not  forget  to  tell  you, ' '  he  writes,  ' '  we  have  a  free 
school,  with  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  fine  house  upon  it, 
forty  milch  kine  and  other  accommodations.  The  bene- 
factor deserveth  perpetual  mention,  Mr.  Benjamin  Syms, 
worthy  to  be  chronicled.     Other  petty  schools  we  have."' 

On  June  5th,  1638,  Thomas  Eaton  patented  600  acres 
of  land  the  west  side  of  the  head  of  Back  River.  By  his 
deed,  dated  September  19,  1659,  he  conveyed  500  acres  of 
this  land  with  all  the  houses  upon  it,  two  negroes,  12  cows 
and  two  bulls,  twenty  hogs,  and  some  household  furniture, 
for  the  maintenance  of  an  able  schoolmaster  to  educate  and 
teach  the  children  born  within  the  county  of  Elizabeth 
City.^ 

We  have  seen  that  after  Captain  Ratcliffe's  death, 
Captain  James  Davis  had  command  of  Algernourne  Fort, 
and  in  1614  the  fort  was  described  as  a  stockade  ''without 
stone  or  brick,"  containing  50  persons,  men,  women  and 
boys,  and  protected  by  seven  pieces  of  artillery;  two  of 
thirty-five  "quintales,"  and  the  other  thirty,  twenty  and 
eighteen  all  of  iron. 

After  Percy's  departure  for  England,  in  April,  1612, 
the  name  Algernourne  Fort  was  discontinued;  and  the 
place,  for  many  years  afterwards,  was  referred  to  as  "  Point 
Comfort  Fort." 

In  1632,  the  fort  having  fallen  in  disuse,  was  rebuilt  by 
Captain  Samuel  Mathews,  afterwards  governor,  and  fur- 


'  William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly,  VI,  73. 
'Ibid  VI.,  74;  XI.,  19. 


Page  twenty-three 


nished  with  a  guard  of  eight  men;  and  Captain  Francis 
Pott,  brother  of  Governor  John  Pott,  of  the  ancient  family 
of  the  Potts  of  Harrop,  in  Yorkshire,  was  made  commander, 
and  continued  such  till  he  was  removed  by  Sir  John  Harvey 
in  1635. 

In  that  year  (1635)  Francis  Hooke,  of  the  Eoyal  Navy, 
'  *  an  old  servant  of  King  Charles, ' '  was  put  in  command. 

He  died  in  1637,  and  Captain  Christopher  Wormley, 
who  had  been  governor  of  Tortugas,  was  for  a  short  time 
in  charge. 

Then,  in  1639,  succeeded  Richard  Moryson,  son  of  Sir 
Richard  Moryson,  and  brother-in-law  of  the  noble  cavalier, 
Lucius  Cary,  Lord  Falkland,  who  married  Letitia  Moryson. 

In  1641,  he  returned  to  England,  and  left  his  brother. 
Lieutenant  Robert  Moryson,  in  charge  of  the  fort. 

In  1649,  Major  Francis  Moryson,  another  brother,  who 
had  served  King  Charles  in  the  wars  with  the  Parliament 
and  came  to  Virginia  with  Colonel  Henry  Norwood,  Colonel 
Mainwaring  Hammond  and  other  cavaliers  was  appointed 
by  Sir  William  Berkley,  captain  of  the  fort.  After  Major 
Moryson,  his  nephew.  Colonel  Charles  Moryson,  son  of  Rich- 
ard Moryson,  about  1664,  succeeded  to  the  command. 

For  the  support  of  the  Captain,  what  were  known  as 
^'castle  duties"  were  stablished  in  1632,  consisting,  at  first 
of  ''a  barrel  of  powder  and  ten  iron  shot"  required  of 
every  ship;  and  the  Captain  kept  a  register  of  all  arrivals. 

By  1665,  the  fort  was  entirely  out  of  repair,  and  the 
general  assembly  in  obedience  to  orders  from  the  king  ap- 
pointed Captain  William  Bassett  to  build  a  new  fort,  but 
the  council  constituted  Col.  Miles  Cary  and  his  son  Thomas, 
as  Bassette  lived  too  remote.  Before  the  work  was  finished, 
however,  the  great  storm  of  1667  washed  away  the  very 
foundations,  and  Col.  Cary  lost  his  life  fighting  the  Dutch, 
who  made  an  attack  the  same  year,  and  burnt  the  English 
shipping  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Then  the  king  sent  new 
orders  to  restore  the  fort,  but  the  assembly,  who  had  very 
reluctantly  obeyed  in  the  first  instance,  now  instead  of  doing 
what  the  king  required,  ordered  five  forts  to  be  built  at  five 
other  places,  viz:  Nansemond,  Jamestown,  Tindall's  Point, 
Corotoman  and  Yeocomoco.  As  an  excuse  of  this  action 
they  asserted  in  the  preamble  to  their  act  the  inefficiency 
of  a  fort  at  Point  Comfort  and  the  great  difficulty  of  getting 

Page  twenty-four 


material  to  build  a  fort  there.  Of  course,  when  the  Dutch 
came  in  1673,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  their  operations 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  shipping  had  the  mis- 
fortune of  1667  repeated  upon  them. 

The  fort  seems  to  have  been  discontinued  for  many 
years  after  this. 

The  Second  Church,  1667 

About  1667,  a  new  church  was  built  on  the  west  of 
Hampton  (at  a  place  lately  known  as  ** Pembroke  Farm"), 
and  that  year  a  burial  took  place  in  the  ''old  church"  at 
Kecoughtan,  and  another  at  the  ''new  church"'.  This  sec- 
ond church  like  the  first,  has  long  since  disappeared,  but  its 
foundations  may  be  traced  and  the  site  with  the  adjoining 
land  consisting  of  nine  acres  still  belongs  to  the  parish.  Here 
are  a  few  tombstones  of  black  marble,  which  still  retain  their 
position  over  the  graves.  They  designate  the  resting  places 
of  John  Neville,  Vice-Admiral  in  the  British  Navy,  who 
died  August  17,  1697,  aged  53  years;  Thomas  Curie,  of 
Sussex  County,  England,  who  died  May  30,  1700,  aged  60 
years;  Peter  Heyman,  Collector  of  his  Majesty's  customs, 
who  died  April  29,  1700,  and  Rev.  Andrew  Thompson,  born 
at  Stoneblue,  Scotland,  and  died  September  1,  1719,  aged 
45. 

The  list  of  ministers  who  preached  at  Elizabeth  City, 
during  the  18th  Century,  as  far  as  preserved,  is  as  follows: 
William  Mease,  1610-1620;  George  Keith,  1624;  James  Fen- 
ton,  died  Sept.  5,  1624;  Jonas  Stockton,  1624;  William  Wil- 
kinson, 1644;  Philip  Mallory,  1644-1661;  Eev.  Justinian 
Aylmer,  1667;  Jeremiah  Taylor,  1677;  John  Page,  1677- 
1687;  James  Wallace,  1692-1712. 

The  First  Court  House 

Probably  the  first  Court  House  for  Elizabeth  City 
County  was  near  the  site  of  the  first  church,  and  in  1699 
Walter  Bayley  was  paid  400  pounds  of  tobacco  ' '  for  pulling 
down  the  old  church  and  setting  up  benches  in  the  Court 
House."  The  church  at  Pembroke  farm  now  became  the 
exclusive  church  for  Elizabeth  Citv  Parish. 


^  Meade,    Old    Churches,    Ministers    and    families    of    Virginia,    I., 
1129. 

Page  twenty-five 


The  Schools  of  Syms  and  Eaton 

In  1670,  James  Ranson,  of  the  county  of  Gloucester, 
gent.,  deeded  to  Abraham  Savoy  50  acres  on  Old  Poquoson 
River,  ''extending  its  breadth  upon  the  school  land  (Sym's) 
on  one  side." 

The  schools  of  Syms  and  Eaton  were  undoubtedly  in 
operation  at  the  time  when  Berkeley  uttered  his  much- 
quoted  remark,  in  1971,  about  free  schools  in  Virginia. 

In  the  oldest  record  book  of  the  county  now  preserved 
(1689- '99)  there  are  the  following  references  to  the  schools 
of  Benjamin  Syms  and  Thomas  Eaton,  19  Xber,  1692. — 
Whereas  Mr.  Ebenezer  Taylor,  late  schoolmaster  of  Eaton's 
free-school,  his  time  being  expired  &  having  had  ye  Benefitt 
&  pquisetts  thereof,  it  is  thought  reasonable  yt  a  negroe 
woman  belonging  to  ye  sd  school  should  be  cloathed  at  ye 
charges  of  ye  sd  schoolmaster,  she  being  almost  naked.  It 
is  therefore  ordered  yt  ye  said  Taylor  doe  wthin  fourteen 
days  next  pride  and  deliver  unto  Mr.  Henry  Royall,  one  of 
ye  ffeoffees,  one  new  cotton  wastcoate  and  pettycoate,  3 
yards  of  good  new  canvis  for  a  shift,  one  pare  of  new  shoes 
&  stockings  &  alsoe  3  Barrels  of  sound  Indian  Corn  for  ye 
said  negroes  use  wth  costs  als  exon. ' ' 

Nov.  20,  1693.— 'at  is  ordered  yt  Robert  Crook  School- 
master of  Symmes  School  be  allowed  and  paid  for  his 
charges  in  repairing  ye  school  House  two  old  cowes  in  lieu 
thereof. 

May  20,  1695. — "It  is  ordered  that  a  negroe  Joan  be- 
longing to  Eaton's  free  school  by  reason  of  age  for  ye  future 
be  free  from  paying  Levyes  and  what  crops  she  makes  of 
Corne,  Tobacco  or  Pulse,  yt  shee  keepe  ye  same  to  her  owne 
use  for  her  maintenance." 

18  Nov.  1697.— "Mr.  George  Eland  with  consent  of  this 
court  is  elected  Schoolmaster  of  Eaton's  free  school  &  he  to 
continue  in  place  as  he  shall  be  approved  of  from  year  to 
year  Teaching  all  such  children  in  English  and  grammar 
learnings  as  shall  be  sent  to  him  yt  are  belonging  to  this 
county,  and  he  to  have  all  such  pquisites  as  is  belonging  to 
ye  sd  schoole." 

19  June,  1699. — "Upon  ye  petition  of  William  Williams 
wee  doe  hereby  give,  grant,  possess,  and  confirm  unto  the 
said  Williams  &  his  heirs  &c  all  that  plantation  or  tract  of 

Page  twenty-six 


land  whereon  John  Tarns  lately  lived,  belonging  to  Eaton 's 
free-school  land,  being  part  thereof,  beginning  from  Tony 
Kings  along  ye  Dam  side  &  extending  in  breadth  Eastward 
as  far  as  the  next  swamp  or  branch  of  ye  sd  dams  and  soe 
into  ye  woods  as  far  as  ye  head  lyne  (the  term  is  stated  to 
be  21  years  and  the  consideration  that  Williams  should 
build  or  cause  to  be  built  one  substantial  thirty-foot  dwell- 
ing house,  and  plant  one  hundred  apple  trees  at  usual  dis- 
tances, and  keep  the  same  well  trimmed  and  fenced,  and  pay 
yearly  200  lbs.  of  tobacco  ''unto  such  pson  as  the  same  in 
right  shall  belong  or  apptayn,  and  at  ye  expiracon  of  ye 
sd  time  the  said  Williams  should  deliver  up  the  said  plan- 
tation and  houses  tenantable.") 

Officers,  1680-1699. 

In  1680,  the  following  gentlemen  were  justices  of  the 
county  court :  Col.  Charles  Moryson,  Capt.  Anthony  Armis- 
tead,  Mr.  Bertrand  Servant,  Mr.  Thomas  Hollier,  Mr.  Bald- 
win Sheppard,  Mr.  Edward  Myhill,  Major  Matthew  Wake- 
lin,  Mr.  Thomas  Jarvis,  Mr.  Augustine  Moore,  Mr.  Thomas 
Wythe,  Mr.  William  Wilson.  During  the  same  year  the 
officers  in  the  militia  were:  Col.  Charles  Moryson,  Major 
Matthew  Wakelin,  Capt.  Anthony  Armistead  (horse). 

The  following  composed  the  county  bench  in  1699: 
William  Wilson,  Anthony  Armistead,  Pasco  Curie,  William 
Lowry,  Thomas  Harwood,  Augustine  Moore,  Coleman 
Brough,  Thomas  Curie,  Mathew  Watts,  John  Minson,  Wal- 
ter Bayley.  Charles  Jenings  was  clerk  this  year  and  Cole- 
man Brough  was  sheriff. 

The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses  elected  from  Elizabeth  City  County  dur- 
ing th  17th  century :  1619,  Captain  William  Tucker,  William 
Capps;  1623- '24,  William  Tucker,  Jaboz  Whittaker;  1629, 
Lieutenant  George  Thompson,  William  English;  1629- '30, 
the  upper  parts  of  Elizabeth  City,  Capt.  Thomas  Will- 
oughby,  William  Kempe,  Thomas  Hayrick;  the  lower  part 
of  Elizabeth  City,  Capt.  Thomas  Purifoy,  Adam  Thorough- 
good,  Lancelot  Barnes;  1631- '32,  Waters'  Creek  and  upper 
part  of  Elizabeth  City,  Capt.  Thomas  Willoughby;  the  lower 
part  of  Elizabeth  City,  George  Downes ;  1632,  the  upper  par- 
ish of  Elizabeth  City,  Capt.  Thomas  Willoughby,  (absent) 

Page  twenty-seven 


Henry  Seawell,  John  Sipsey;  the  lower  part  of  Elizabeth 
City,  Adam  Thoroughgood,  William  English,  George 
Downes;  1632- '33,  the  upper  parts  of  Elizabeth  City,  "Will- 
iam English,  John  Arundel;  the  lower  parts  of  Elizabeth 
City,  William  English,  John  Arundel;  1639,  Elizabeth  City 
County,  Thomas  Oldis,  Mr.  Straff erton;  1641,  Mr.  John 
Branch,  Mr.  Flo.  Payne;  1642,  John  Neale,  Edward  Hill; 
1642- '43,  John  Branch,  John  Hoddin;  1644,  Lieutenant  Will- 
iam Worlich,  John  Hoddin;  1644- '45,  Capt.  Leonard  Yeo, 
Capt.  Christopher  Caulthropp,  Arthur  Price;  1645,  Capt. 
Leonard  Yeo,  John  Chandler;  1646,  John  Eobbins,  Hen. 
Batt;  1652,  Peter  Eansone,  John  Sheppard;  1653,  John 
Sheppard,  Thomas  Thornbury,  Major  William  Worlich, 
1655- '56,  Peter  Ashton;  1657- '58,  Major  William  (Worlich), 
John  Powell;  1658- '59,  William  Batte,  Florentine  Payne; 
1659- '60,  Lt.  Col.  Wm.  Worlich,  Capt.  John  Powell;  1663, 
Capt.  John  Powell,  Colonel  Leonard  Yeo ;  1666,  Col.  Leonard 
Yeo,  Captain  John  Powell;  1676- '77,  Betrand  Servant,  An- 
thony Armistead;  1685,  William  Wilson;  1688,  William 
Wilson,  Thomas  Allamby;  1692- '93,  Capt.  Willis  Wilson, 
Capt.  William  Armistead;  1696,  Capt.  Anthony  Armistead, 
William  Wilson,  Matthew  Watts. 

Founding"  of  Hampton,  1680 

We  have  seen  that  in  1630  Col.  Claiborne  obtained  a 
patent  for  150  acres  at  the  present  site  of  Hampton.  In 
1680,  this  land  had  become  the  property  of  a  ship  captain 
named  Thomas  Jarvis,  who  married  Elizabeth  Duke.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Duke  and  widow  of  Nath- 
aniel Bacon,  Jr.,  who  has  lent  his  name  to  one  of  the  most 
romantic  rebellions  in  history.  The  same  year  (1680)  the 
General  Assembly  passed  an  act  condemning  fifty  acres,  in 
each  of  the  counties,  for  towns,  to  be  centers  of  trade  and 
sole  places  of  import  and  export.  For  Elizabeth  City,  the 
area  selected  was  a  part  of  Captain  Thomas  Jarvis'  prop- 
erty, which  was  vested  in  trustees  or  feoffees,  and  divided 
into  half  acre  lots.  The  limitations  of  the  act,  however, 
were  distasteful  to  both  merchants  in  England  and  planters 
in  Virginia,  and  the  act  was  soon  suspended  by  the  govern- 
ment, though  several  persons  bought  lots  and  built  houses 
at  the  new  town. 

In  1691,  the  act  was  revived,  and  the  town  for  Eliza- 
Page  twenty-eight 


beth  City  County  was  decreed  to  be  built  on  ' '  the  west  side 
of  Hampton  Eiver,  on  the  land  of  Mr.  William  Wilson, 
lately  belonging  unto  Mr.  Thomas  Jarvis,  deceased,  the 
plantation  where  he  late  lived,  and  the  place  appointed  by 
a  former  law  and  several  dwelling  houses  and  warehouses 
already  built."  Under  this  act  the  trustees  or  feoffees  for 
the  sale  of  lots  were  Thomas  Allamby,  William  Marshall 
and  Pascho  Curie. 

Again  the  limitations  caused  the  suspension  of  the  act, 
but  in  1699  another  act  revived  the  law  so  far  as  it  applied 
to  the  sale  of  lots  and  the  soundness  of  their  tenure. 

In  1694,  the  trustees  sold  a  half-acre  lot  for  178  pounds 
of  tobacco  to  Thomas  Waterson  with  the  usual  condition  of 
building,  and  the  same  year,  one  of  the  lots,  which  had  been 
previously  disposed  of,  was  transferred  to  a  purchaser  for 
7  pounds  sterling.  It  had  been  presumably  built  upon,  for 
in  1696,  when  Henry  Royal  sold  to  George  Walker  one  of 
the  lots  for  6  pds.  sterling,  the  price  was  cut  down  from  6 
pds.  to  5  pds.  15  shillings,  because  the  condition  of  build- 
ing had  not  been  fulfilled  properly.  In  this  year  no  less 
than  five  persons — John  Knox,  William  Hudson,  Thomas 
Skinner,  John  Bright  and  Coleman  Brough — were  granted 
licenses  to  keep  ordinary  at  Hampton  Town. 

Twenty-six  lots  were  soon  sold,  and  in  1698  Hampton 
was  a  place  of  sufficient  importance  to  require  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  special  constable.  The  main  street  was  known  as 
Queen  Street.  It  was  made  the  residence  of  the  pilots  for 
James  River  and  the  headquarters  of  the  custom  district, 
known  as  the  lower  District  of  James  River.  In  1695  John 
Minson  was  commissioned  pilot  and  about  the  same  time 
Peter  Heyman,  grandson  of  Sir  Peter  Heyman,  of  Summer- 
field,  County  York,  England,  was  commissioned  collector. 

These  were  royal  times  for  pirate  vessels,  which  scoured 
the  coast  and  rendered  sea  voyages  very  hazardous.  In 
1700  one  of  the  pirates  ventured  within  the  capes  and  en- 
gaged in  a  battle  with  the  fifth  class  man-of-war  Shoreham. 
The  pirate  was  beaten,  but  among  the  killed  was  Peter  Hey- 
man, the  collector,  who  was  shot  down  on  the  quarter  deck 
of  the  Shoreman  by  the  side  of  Col.  Francis  Nicholson,  the 
governor.  Heyman  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  at  the 
Pembroke  Farm,  and  a  stone  was  placed  over  his  grave  at 

Page  twenty-nine 


the  expense  of  the  governor.  In  1710  George  Luke  was  col- 
lector, and  in  1722,  Thomas  Michell. 

In  1704,  Hampton  received  a  visit  from  the  celebrated 
preacher,  George  Keith,  who  was,  it  is  believed,  a  grandson 
of  the  former  minister  of  that  name  for  Elizabeth  City 
County.  He  was  a  native  of  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  a  Master 
of  Arts,  and  had  held  high  position  among  the  Quakers  of 
Pennsylvania.  Factional  strife  broke  out  among  them,  be- 
cause of  his  extreme  views  on  the  doctrine  of  Quaker  pass- 
ivity, and,  being  finally  deserted  by  his  friends,  he  broke 
with  his  faith  and  returned  to  the  church  of  England.  In 
1702,  he  was  sent  to  America  as  a  missionary  from  "The 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. ' '  After  spend- 
ing two  years  in  the  northern  colonies,  where  he  converted 
many  Quakers,  he  visited  Hampton  with  another  minister, 
Mr.  Talbot.  There  is  this  entry  in  his  Journal:  "Mr.  Tal- 
bot preached  at  Kirketan;  we  stayed  there  about  ten 
days  at  my  daughter's  house  at  Kirketan,  by  James  Eiver; 
she  is  fully  come  off  from  the  Quakers,  and  is  a  zealous 
member  of  the  church  of  England,  and  brings  up  her  chil- 
dren, so  many  of  them  as  are  capable  through  age,  in  the 
Christian  religion,  praised  be  God  for  it."  The  daughter 
referred  to  in  this  extract  was  Amie  Keith,  wife  of  George 
Walker,  the  pilot  for  James  River,  who  lived  on  the  ' '  Straw- 
berry Bank"  near  Mill  Creek.  She  was  grandmother  of  the 
celebrated  Jurist  and  Statesman,  George  Wythe. 

In  1705,  Hampton  had  a  visit  from  another  prominent 
Pennsylvania  Quaker,  Thomas  Story,  famous  for  his  erudi- 
tion and  ability  as  a  lawyer.  In  his  Journal  may  be  read 
the  following  item:  "On  the  29th  (April)  we  went  to  Kic- 
quotan,  where  we  had  a  meeting  at  our  friend,  George 
Walker's  house,  to  which  came  Col.  Brown,  one  of  the  pro- 
vincial council  and  several  commanders  of  ships  and  others 
of  note,  who  were  generally  well  satisfied  with  the  meeting. 
George  Walker's  wife  is  one  of  George  Keith's  daughters 
and  follows  him  in  his  apostacy  and  enmity. ' ' 

Domestic  difficulties  arose  between  George  Walker  and 
his  wife,  and  in  1708  she  appealed  to  the  Council  of  State, 
complaining  that  "George  Walker,  her  husband,  violently 
restrained  her  and  her  children  from  going  to  church  to 
attend  the  worship  of  God  according  to  the  established  re- 
ligion."   After  hearing  both  sides,  the  Council  ordered: 

Page  thirty 


"That  she,  the  said  Anne,  ought  to  enjoy  the  free  exercise 
of  her  religion,  and  that  her  husband  ought  not  to  restrain 
her  from  going  to  church ;  and  as  to  that  part  of  the  petition 
relating  to  the  children,  it  not  appearing  of  what  age  these 
children  are,  nor  how  far  they  are  capable  of  choosing  a 
religion  for  themselves,  this  board  do  not  think  proper  to 
determine  anything  in  that  matter  at  this  time."  In  this 
case  the  Quaker,  whose  sect  preached  freedom  of  religion 
and  the  government,  which  usually  restricted  it,  seemed  to 
change  sides. 

July  1,  1715,  permission  was  granted  by  Alexander 
Spottswood,  the  governor,  for  the  justices  to  remove  their 
old  court  house  and  build  a  new  one  for  Hampton  Town, 
and  land  was  purchased  from  Captain  William  Boswell  for 
the  purpose.  At  this  time  Governor  Spottswood  wrote  the 
following  letter: 

Williamsburgh,  July  the  1st,  1715. 
Mr.  John  Holloway  this  Day  applyed  to  me  in  Behalfe 
of  the  justices  of  Elizabeth  City  County  for  leave  to  build 
Their  new  Court  House  att  Hampton,!  Doe  approve  of  the 
Removall  and  shall  accordingly  order  the  Sheriff  to  attend 
the  Court  there  so  soon  as  the  House  shall  be  fitt  for  the 
Reception  of  the  Justices. 

A.  Spottswood. 
Recorded  by  order  of  Court. 

Teste  Cha.  Jenings,  CI.  Cur. 

When  John  Fontaine  visited  Hampton  in  1716,  it  was 
a  place  of  100  houses  and  had  the  greatest  business  in  Vir- 
ginia. All  the  men-of-war  lay  before  this  arm  of  the  river, 
and  the  inhabitants  drove  a  great  trade  with  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania. 

Pirates  still  infested  the  coast  and  one  Edward  Teach, 
otherwise  known  as  Blackbeard,  was  notorious.  He  had  his 
headquarters  in  Pamlico  Sound,  North  Carolina,  from 
which  he  sailed  from  time  to  time  on  piratic  expeditions. 
In  1717,  Governor  Spotswood  sent  Captain  Henry  Maynard 
from  Hampton  after  him,  with  two  small  sloops.  On  Nov- 
ember 21,  a  bloody  battle  was  fought,  and  Blackbeard  was 
shot  down  by  Maynard,  and  fourteen  of  his  confederates 
were  captured.    Maynard  returned  in  triumph  to  Hampton, 

Page  thirty-one 


swinging  Blackbeard's  head  from  his  bowsprit.  He  set  it 
up  at  the  mouth  of  Hampton  River,  and  the  point  is  still 
known  as  Blackbeard's  Point.  Maynard's  prisoners  were 
tried  and  hanged  at  Williamsburg. 

Among  the  prominent  citizens  of  Hampton  and  Eliza- 
beth City,  about  1720,  were  Anthony  Armistead,  Thomas 
Wythe,  Joshua  Curie,  Samuel  Sweeney,  Joseph  Bannister, 
John  Selden,  Joseph  Selden,  James  Ricketts,  Simon  Hollier, 
John  Lowry,  Thomas  Tabb,  John  Brodie,  Alexander  Mc- 
Kenzie,  Wilson  Cary,  James  Wallace,  and  John  Smith.  The 
latter  (John  Smith)  died  in  1723,  and  his  inventory  is  par- 
ticularly rich.    Among  other  items  is  the  following: 

''Five  thousand  of  English  brick  at  12  shillings  per 
thousand. ' '  It  appears  that  there  were  two  kinds  of  build- 
ing brick  made  in  the  colony — brick  made  of  the  size  pre- 
scribed in  English  statute,  called  " English  brick"  and  brick 
made  according  to  the  Dutch  statute,  called  ' '  Dutch  brick. ' ' 
Very  little  brick  was  imported  into  the  colony,  except  as 
ballast  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  houses  in  Virginia 
were  built  of  imported  brick. 

The  Third  Church 

About  this  time  the  church  at  Pembroke  Farm  had  be- 
come ruinous,  and,  on  June  17,  1727,  Mr.  Jacob  Walker  and 
Mr.  John  Lowry  were  appointed  by  the  court  of  Elizabeth 
City  to  lay  off  and  value  an  acre  and  a  half  of  ground  on 
Queen's  Street,  joining  upon  Mr.  Boswell's  lots,  for  build- 
ing the  church  thereon.  The  same  day,  Mr.  Henry  Cary, 
by  order  of  the  minister,  church  wardens  and  the  court,  was 
permitted  to  take  wood,  "at  the  rate  of  six  pence  per  load 
to  burn  bricks  for  the  church,  from  the  School  land. ' '  But 
it  seems  that  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  parish  did  not 
desire  to  remove  from  the  old  quarters,  and  they  appealed 
the  matter  to  the  governor  and  council.  They  heard  the 
complaint  and  decided,  October  27,  1727,  that  "the  new 
church  should  be  built  in  Hampton  Town  as  the  most  con- 
venient place  in  the  said  parish." 

In  1728,  Samuel  Bownas,  a  Quaker  preacher,  told  of  a 
visit  to  Hampton  in  the  following  language:  "George 
Walker  was  very  kind,  invited  us  to  stay  at  his  house  which 
we  did  four  nights,  and  had  a  meeting  or  two  in  his  house, 

Page  thirty-two 


his  wife  being  more  loving  than  I  expected.  She  was  George 
Keith's  daughter,  and  in  her  younger  days  showed  great 
dissatisfaction  with  Friends,  but  after  her  father's  death 
the  edge  of  that  bitterness  abated,  and  her  husband  was 
very  loving  and  hearty  to  Friends,  frequently  having  meet- 
ings at  his  house."  Bownas  stayed  at  Hampton  eleven 
day,  and  left  there  May  29,  1728. 

In  1727,  Mr.  William  Hopkins  was  deputy  attorney  for 
the  King.  In  1728,  Mr.  John  Markland  was  recommended 
to  be  the  King's  deputy  attorney.  The  same  year  Alex- 
ander McKenzie  was  commissioned  to  be  lieutenant  colonel 
of  the  militia,  and  Wilson  Gary,  major. 

Learning  in  Elizabeth  City  County 

More  than  the  usual  attention  was  paid  to  learning  in 
Elizabeth  City.  The  court  and  vestry  were  particularly 
vigilant  in  seeing  that  all  poor  children  were  bound  to  use- 
ful trades  and  taught  by  their  employers  to  read  and  write. 
The  following  may  be  given  as  examples: 

16  June  1725.  Upon  the  petition  of  Ann  Grove  setting 
forth  that  James  Servant  had  not  learned  her  son,  Armis- 
teal  House,  to  read,  write  and  cipher  according  to  his  agree- 
ment when  he  took  him  by  Indenture,  The  court  are  of 
opinion  that  the  said  Indenture  is  void  and  of  no  effect  and 
it  is,  therefore,  considered  that  the  said  Armistead  House 
be  discharged  from  the  service  of  his  late  master  James 
Servant. 

17  Nov.  1723.  Thomas  Wilson  and  Mary  Randall  came 
into  Court  and  made  oath  that  Thomas  Davis  was  14  years 
of  age  the  24th  October  Last  who  not  having  Estate  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  him.  It  is  Ordered  that  he  be  bound  an 
apprentice  to  Nicholson  Parker  till  he  attain  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  who  is  to  teach  him  the  trade  of  Shoe- 
maker as  also  to  have  him  taught  to  read  and  write.  It  is 
further  ordered  that  they  sign  Indentures  before  any  justice 
of  this  county. 

15  Dec.  1725.  Francis  Berry  is  bound  apprentice  to 
Mathew  Small  til  he  is  of  Age ;  the  said  Small  obliges  him- 
self to  learn  him  the  trade  of  a  Taylor  and  to  read  and 
write.    The  Boy  is  eleven  years  of  age. 

Page  thirty-three 


16  Febry  1725.  John  Hicks  apprenticed  to  George 
Minson  to  learn  to  read  &  write  &  the  trade  of  a  carpenter. 

Ministers 

The  succession  of  ministers  were  as  follows:  After  the 
death  of  Kev.  James  Wallace,  in  1702,  Andrew  Thompson 
became  rector  of  Elizabeth  City  parish  and  continued  till 
his  death  in  1714.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  James  Fal- 
coner, who  came  to  Virginia  in  1718.  His  report  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  in  1724,  is  that  ''his  parish  is  fifty  miles 
in  circumference  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  families; 
that  the  owners  were  careful  to  instruct  the  young  negro 
children  and  bring  them  to  baptism;  that  service  is  per- 
formed every  Sunday  and  that  most  of  the  parishioners 
attend;  that  there  are  about  one  hundred  communicants; 
that  his  salary  was  about  sixty-five  pounds ;  that  there  were 
two  public  schools  in  the  parish,  whereof  John  Mason  and 
Abram  Paris  are  teachers,  and  a  good  private  school  kept 
by  Mr.  William  Fife,  in  which  besides  reading,  arithmetic 
and  writing,  Latin  and  Greek  were  taught. 

The  Free  Schools  in  1720-1776 

The  following  notice  appears  in  regard  to  the  free 
schools  of  Syms  and  Eaton: 

Aug.  17, 1720. — Upon  complt  made  by  Henry  Irvin  gent 
agt  Jno  Curie  about  Eaton's  free  schoole  land  of  waste 
made  of  the  timbers,  it  is  ordered  that  the  Clk.  bring  sd 
Eaton's  will  and  Deed  to  next  court  concerning  the  prem- 
ises and  a  copy  of  the  vestry  ordr  whereby  Curie  hath  the 
land  granted  to  him. 

Nov.  17,  1725. — Upon  the  motion  of  William  Tucker 
setting  forth  that  he  is  willing  to  take  the  school  land  and 
provide  a  schoolmaster,  it  is  ordered  that  the  said  Tucker 
have  possession  of  the  said  land  with  this  provisio  and  con- 
dition, that  he  constantly  keep  and  provide  a  schoolmaster 
to  teach  children  in  said  land. 

Dec.  18,  1728. — Ordered  that  the  quit  rents  due  for  the 
school  land  according  to  the  rent  rolls  thereof  be  paid  out 
of  the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  wood  from  the  said 
land  to  Henry  Cary. 

Page  thirty-four 


It  appears  that  in  course  of  time  much  pecuniary  loss 
befell  both  schools  from  trespassers,  who  cut  down  the  tim- 
ber, and  from  tenants  who  failed  to  pay  rents. 

To  put  Eaton's  school  on  a  better  footing,  the  General 
Assembly  thought  proper,  in  1730,  to  give  authority  for 
leasing  the  land  in  parcels,  and  when  by  reason  of  the  trus- 
tees not  being  incorporated  by  the  act,  some  doubt  was 
again  started  as  to  the  validity  of  their  authority  to  punish 
trespassers  and  delinquents  and  called  arrearages  of  rent, 
the  Legislature  incorporated  the  trustees  of  both  schools, 
under  the  name,  in  the  one  case  (1759),  of  "The  Trustees 
and  Governors  of  Eaton's  Charity  School,"  and  in  the  other 
(1753),  under  that  of  "The  Trustees  and  Governors  of 
Syms'  Free  School." 

The  trustees  were  empowered  to  have  perpetual  suc- 
cession; to  use  a  corporate  seal;  to  select  and  remove  the 
master,  who,  before  selection,  was  to  be  approved  by  the 
minister  and  by  the  government;  to  visit  the  school;  to 
order,  reform,  and  redress  all  abuses;  and  to  lease  the  school 
lands  and  the  cattle  thereon  for  a  period  not  exceeding 
twenty-one  years. 

In  1765  there  was  a  lease  of  tract  No.  1,  surveyed  by 
Robert  Lucas  in  1759,  and  containing  75  acres,  the  consid- 
eration being  an  annual  rent  of  4  pounds  10s.,  the  building 
a  dwelling  28  feet  long  by  16  feet  broad,  pitch  9  feet,  to  be 
covered  with  good  heart  pine  or  cypress  and  two  rooms 
above  and  two  below,  ,lathed  and  plastered,  and  doors 
floors  and  windows  of  good  plank,  as  also  an  orchard  of 
100  Grixon  (?)  apple  trees,  which  is  to  be  kept  fenced  and 
secure  against  all  damage. 

By  an  advertisement  in  the  Virginia  Gazette  we  learn 
that  in  1752  the  perquisites  of  Syms'  school  was  31  pounds 
annually.  The  act  of  1759  testified  to  the  good  work  per- 
formed by  the  Eaton  school,  to  which,  in  addition  to  the 
proper  objects  of  charity,  "a  great  number  of  children" 
had  been  admitted  free  "who  were  able  to  pay  for  their 
own  education." 


Page  thirty-five 


Population 

The  number  of  tithables  in  Elizabeth  City  County,  in 
1748,  was  1078,  which  was  more  than  double  what  it  was  at 
the  close  of  the  preceding  century.  In  1759,  the  number 
was  1428,  which  showed  a  population  of  4284. 

In  1752  the  list  of  the  military  officers  for  Elizabeth  City 
County  was  as  follows:  Wilson  Cary,  County  Lieutenant, 
John  Hunter,  Colonel,  John  Tabb,  Major  of  Horse,  Robert 
Armistead,  Major  of  Foot.  The  whole  militia  consisted  of 
one  company  of  foot  and  two  troops  of  horse.  The  captains 
according  to  the  dates  of  their  commissions  were  Cary  Sel- 
den,  captain  of  100  men,  Charles  King,  captain  of  a  troop 
of  66  men,  Westwood  Armistead,  captain  of  a  troop  of  60 
men. 

The  Fort  at  Point  Comfort,  1727-1749 

We  have  seen  that  the  fort  at  Old  Point  Comfort  was 
discontinued  after  1667.  In  1706  the  whole  point  of  land, 
containing  about  120  acres  being  deserted,  was  patented 
by  Robert  Beverley.  Five  years  later  Governor  Spotswood 
advised  that  the  fort  be  rebuilt  to  afford  a  retreat  for  ships, 
when  pursued  by  privateers  in  time  of  war,  or  by  pirates  in 
time  of  peace ;  but  it  was  not  until  1727  that  the  Assembly 
seriously  took  up  the  proposition.  When  finished,  which 
was  not  till  after  several  years,  it  was  mounted  by  twenty- 
two  guns,  and  about  1736  Governor  Gooch  reported  that: 
'*no  ship  could  pass  it  without  running  great  risk."  It  was 
named  Fort  George,  and  was  made  of  brick,  each  nine 
inches  long  by  four  wide  and  three  thick.  The  exterior  wall 
was  sixteen  feet  distant  from  the  interior  one,  and  the  for- 
mer was  twenty-seven  inches  thick  and  the  latter  sixteen 
inches.  Then  the  two  walls  were  connected  by  counter  walls 
ten  or  twelve  feet  apart,  forming  cribs,  which  were  prob- 
ably filled  with  sand.  During  this  time  the  fort  was  under 
the  control  of  George  Walker,  ''gunner  and  storekeeper." 

It  seems  that  the  government  built  the  work  without 
asking  the  consent  of  the  owner  of  the  land,  but  in  1744 
this  difficulty  was  quieted  by  their  giving  William  Bever- 
ley, son  of  Robert  Beverley,  then  deceased,  165  pounds  for 
his  rights.  Five  years  later  another  and  more  fatal  diffi- 
culty assailed  the  fort. 

In  1749,  a  hurricane,  which  has  been  described  as  most 

Page  thirty-six 


terrific  and  disastrous,  visited  Virginia.  The  officer  in 
command  at  Point  Comfort  was  Captain  Samuel  Barron, 
ancestor  of  a  line  of  naval  heroes  distinguished  in  three 
wars.  The  barracks  in  which  he  stayed  were  a  long  row  of 
wooden  buildings  with  brick  chimneys,  running  up  through 
the  center  of  the  roofs,  and  Captain  Barron  caused  all  his 
family  with  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  to 
muster  on  the  second  floor  with  all  the  weighty  articles  they 
could  find;  which,  it  was  supposed,  kept  the  houses  firm  on 
their  foundations,  and  so  preserved  the  lives  of  all  con- 
cerned. The  hurricane,  however,  entirely  destroyed  the 
walls  of  Fort  George,  and  Captain  Barron  removed  with 
his  family  to  the  upper  part  of  Mill  Creek,  not  far  off, 
where  he  resided  during  the  remainder  of  his  life." 

In  1756,  Governor  Dinwiddle,  commenting  on  the  fort, 
observed:  ''It  was  built  on  a  Sandy  Bank;  no  care  to  drive 
the  piles  to  make  a  Foundation;  the  Sea  and  wind  beating 
against  it  has  quite  undermined  it  and  dismantled  all  the 
Guns  which  now  lie  buried  in  the  Sand. ' '  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  the  fort  was  ever  restored,  but  as  late  as  1847 
parts  of  its  walls  were  seen  and  described. 

The  customs  district,  of  which  Hampton  was  the  sole 
port  of  entry,  included,  on  the  north  side  of  James  River, 
all  of  the  rivers  and  creeks  from  Hampton  River  to  Arch- 
er's Hope  Creek  at  Jamestown,  and  on  the  south  side  alj^.;^ 
the  rivers  and  creeks  from  Cape  Henry  to  Hog  Island.  The 
amount  of  shipping  on  the  two  sides  was,  however,  very 
unequal,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Norfolk  complained,  in 
1735,  that  whereas  the  north  side  had  only  three  ships, 
owned  by  Virginians,  and  no  other  vessels  trading  there, 
they  of  the  south  side  had  neither  a  collector  nor  a  deputy 
collector,  though  that  region  swarmed  with  vessels  owned 
by  Virginians  and  West  India  and  English  merchants. 

In  1769,  died  at  Hampton  Gabriel  Cay,  collector  of 
customs.  At  this  time  Wilson  Cary  was  naval  collector. 
The  residence  of  the  latter  was  at  ''Ceeleys"  midway  be- 
tween Hampton  and  Newport  News. 


^  Fort  George,  Virginia  Hist.  Register  I.,  23. 


Page  thirty-seven 


The  Church  Steeple  and  Bell 

In  1760,  Alexander  Kennedy  devised  land  to  the  poor 
of  Elizabeth  City  County,  and  the  sum  of  40  pds.  sterling 
towards  purchasing  out  of  England  a  bell  for  the  church 
of  Elizabeth  City  Parish,  provided  ' '  the  vestry  and  church 
wardens  will  undertake  a  belfry  within  twelve  months  after 
my  decease. ' '  A  vestry  book  tells  of  the  contracts  awarded 
for  building  and  painting  the  Belfry,  and  no  doubt  the  bell 
was  procured.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  church  had  no  bell 
previous  to  this  time. 

We  continue  the  succession  of  ministers.  In  1727,  Rev. 
Mr.  Falconer  became  a  minister  of  Charles  Parish  in  York 
County,  whereupon,  Rev.  Thomas  Peader  "took  the  oath 
to  his  majesty's  governor  and  signed  the  test."  Not  long 
after  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  William  Fife,  who  taught 
the  private  school,  already  referred  to.  He  continued  min- 
ister till  1756,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Thomas  War- 
rington, who  died  in  1770.  The  Rev.  William  Selden,  a 
graduate  of  William  and  Mary  College,  followed  and  con- 
tinued until  1783. 

List  of  the  Burgesses  from  1700-1776 

The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses  from  Hampton  and  Elizabeth  City 
County  from  1702  to  1776;  1702,  William  Wilson,  William 
Armistead;  1710-1712,  Nicholas  Curie,  William  Armistead; 
1714,  William  Armistead,  Robert  Armistead;  1718,  Henry 
Jenkins,  Thomas  Wythe;  1720-1722,  James  Rickets, 
Anthony  Armistead;  1723,  James  Rickets,  Thomas  Wythe; 
1726,  Robert  Armistead,  Thomas  Wythe;  1736,  1738,  1740, 
1742,1745,1747,1748,1749,  1752,  1753,  1754,  1755,  1756,  1757, 
1758,  William  Westwood,  Merritt  Sweeney;  1758-1761,  Wil- 
liam Wager,  John  Tabb;  1761-1765,  George  Wythe,  William 
Wager;  1765,  1766,  1768,  1769,  George  Wythe,  Wilson 
Miles  Cary;  1769-1771,  James  Wallace,  Wilson  Miles  Cary; 
1772-1774,^  1775-1776,  Henry  King,  Worlich  Westwood. 


Page  thirty-eight 


Hampton  in  the  Revolution 

At  the  time  of  the  American  Eevolution  the  population 
of  Hampton  was  probably  about  one  thousand  people. 
Tiiere,  as  elsewhere,  the  spirit  of  patriotic  resistance  had 
its  home,  and  the  following  gentlemen  chosen  23  of  Nov- 
ember, 1775,  constituted  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  Eliza- 
beth City  and  the  town  of  Hampton:  William  Eoscow  Wil- 
son Curie,  Chairman,  John  Tabb,  George  Wray,  John 
Allen,  Miles  King,  Augustine  Moore,  Edward  Cooper,  Wil- 
son Miles  Cary,  Westwood  Armistead,  George  Booker, 
James  Wallace  Bayley,  John  Parsons,  Henry  King,  Jacob 
Wray,  John  Jones,  John  King,  Joseph  Cooper,  William 
Mallory,  Simon  Hollier,  John  Cary,  Moseley  Armistead. 
Robert  Bright,  Clerk. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  members  of  the  differ- 
ent revolutionary  conventions:  Conventions  of  March  20, 
1775,  July  17, 1775,  Dec.  1, 1775,  Henry  King,  Worlich  West- 
wood;  Convention  of  May  6,  1776,  Wilson  Miles  Cary, 
Henry  King. 

After  the  rupture  of  Lord  Dunmore,  the  last  royal  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  with  the  House  of  Burgesses,  the  former 
retired  to  Norfolk,  which  he  made  his  headquarters  for 
military  operations.  Hampton  became  the  scene  of  the  first 
real  collision  in  Virginia.  Runaway  slaves  resorted  to  Lord 
Dunmore 's  ships  and  the  British  sailors  created  annoyance 
by  landing  on  the  shores  at  night  and  carrying  off  sheep 
and  other  live  stock  belonging  to  the  inhabitants  near  the 
water.  On  the  second  of  September,  1775,  a  sloop  com- 
manded by  Captain  Mathew  Squires,  who  was  charged  with 
being  a  prime  instigator  in  these  robberies,  was  driven  by  a 
storm  on  the  shore  near  Hampton.  The  officers  and  sailors 
barely  escaped  with  their  lives,  and  some  of  them  were 
entertained  at  the  house  of  one  Finn,  to  whom  they  pre- 
sented the  vessel  and  damaged  stores  as  a  reward  for  his 
hospitality.  Captain  Squires  was  separated  from  his  peo- 
ple and  wandered  about  all  night  in  the  storm,  but  man- 
aged to  escape  in  the  morning  to  the  friendly  protection  of 
Lord  Dunmore 's  fleet.  On  the  10th  Captain  Squires  made 
a  demand  on  the  committee  of  the  town  of  Hampton  for  the 
return  of  the  stores,  which  was  answered  by  a  promise  to 
return  the  same  if  he  would  deliver  up  a  negro  slave  belong- 

Page  thirty-nine 


ing  to  Mr.  Henry  King  and  cease  his  nocturnal  depredations. 
Captain  Squires  threatened  violence,  and  his  threat  reach- 
ing Williamsburg,  one  hundred  men  under  the  command  of 
James  Innis,  Captain  of  the  Williamsburg  Guard,  marched 
from  that  place  to  the  protection  of  Hampton. 

Captain  Squires,  however,  did  not  immediately  at- 
tempt to  execute  his  threat,  and  Captain  Innis  and  his 
troops  after  receiving  the  thanks  of  the  Hampton  Com- 
mittee, soon  returned  to  Williamsburg,  but  it  was  thought 
proper  to  replace  them  soon  after  by  a  like  number  of  men 
under  the  command  of  Major  Francis  Eppes. 

Captain  Squires,  however,  did  not  relinquish  his  desire 
for  revenge,  and  on  October  24  appeared  in  Hampton  River 
with  six  armed  tenders  sent  by  Dunmore,  and  a  message 
was  received  at  Hampton  that  he  would  that  day  land  and 
burn  the  town.  The  Virginia  troops,  who  were  then  in  the 
vicinity,  consisting  of  a  company  of  regulars  under  Captain 
George  Nicholas,  a  company  of  minute  men,  and  a  small 
body  of  militia,  made  the  best  disposition  they  could  to  pre- 
vent their  landing. 

The  British,  accordingly,  attempted  to  land,  but  were 
retarded  by  some  boats  sunk  across  the  channel  for  that 
purpose. 

Squires  then  commanded  a  furious  cannonade,  and 
under  that  cover  sent  armed  men  in  boats  to  make  a  land- 
ing, but  the  Virginians  sent  so  many  death  shots  that  the 
boats  were  obliged  to  return.  In  the  morning.  Col.  William 
Woodford  arrived  from  Williamsburg  with  reinforcements, 
and  when  the  enemy  resumed  their  cannonade  of  the  town, 
his  men  replied  with  a  hot  fire,  which  soon  spread  terror 
among  the  British.  Unable  to  withstand  such  a  valiant 
attack,  the  British  commander  ordered  the  cables  to  be 
slipped  and  the  vessels  to  retreat,  but  before  the  fleet  could 
get  away,  two  of  the  vessels  were  captured.  The  victory 
was  complete.    Not  a  single  Virginian  was  killed. 

Many  of  the  buildings  in  Hampton,  including  the 
church,  were  injured  by  the  fire  of  the  British,  and  one 
house,  Mr.  George  Cooper's,  was  burned.  Not  long  after 
this  incident,  when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
promulgated,  it  is  said  that  lightning  struck  the  steeple  of 
the  church  and  hurled  to  the  ground  the  insignia  of  royalty 
which  adorned  it. 

Page  forty 


The  Heroes  of  Hampton  Town 

During  this  war  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  Hamp- 
ton acquired  credit  and  renown.  Prominent  among  these 
in  political  life  was  George  Wythe,  son  of  Thomas  "Wythe 
and  Margaret  Walker,  who  attained  almost  equal  distinc- 
tion as  a  statesman,  a  jurist,  and  as  an  interpreter  of  the 
law,  being  the  preceptor  of  both  Jeiferson  and  Marshall. 
The  brick  house  in  which  he  was  born,  on  Back  River,  is 
still  standing. /William  Roscow  Wilson  Curie  was  not  only 
chairman  of  the  County  Committee  of  Safety,  and  Colonel 
of  the  County  Militia,  but  one  of  the  first  judges  of  the  Ad- 
miralty Court  of  the  new  Commonwealth.  /Miles  King, 
afterwards  mayor  of  Norfolk,  also  perforined  important 
military  services.  As  a  resort  for  seafaring  men,  it  fur- 
nished both  sailors  and  officers  to  the  gallant  State  Navy. 
Among  the  most  famous  of  these  was  Captain  Joseph  Mere- 
dith, who  commanded  the  privateer  La  Fayette,  George 
Hope,  who  superintended  the  construction  of  gunboats  at 
Warwick  near  Richmond,  Capt.  William  Cunningham,  who 
was  first  lieutenant  of  the  schooner  Liberty,  and  afterwards 
prominent  in  procuring  munitions  of  war  from  the  West 
Indies,  and  Captain  Richard  Barron  and  Captain  James 
Barron,  sons  of  Captain  Samuel  Barron,  who  commanded 
Fort  George  in  1749. 

Virginia  had,  at  one  period  of  the  war,  as  many  as 
seventy  vessels  including  frigates,  brigs,  brigantines, 
schooners,  sloops,  galleys,  armed  pilot  boats  and  barges; 
and  they  rendered  great  service  to  the  American  cause. 
They  not  only  effectually  prevented  the  incursions  of  bands 
of  plundering  Tories  on  the  bay,  but  were  useful  in  making 
prizes  of  British  merchantmen  and  in  exporting  tobacco 
and  other  produce,  and  exchanging  their  cargoes  in  the 
West  Indies  for  arms  and  military  stores.  Smollet,  in  his 
continuation  of  Hume's  History  of  England,  says  that,  "by 
the  export  of  tobacco  from  the  Chesapeake  the  credit  of  the 
colonies  was  chiefly,  if  not  wholly  supported,"  and  by  the 
inland  navigation  of  that  bay,  large  quantities  of  provis- 
ions were  conveyed  to  the  middle  colonies  for  the  subsist- 
ence of  the  American  armies." 

Many  of  these  small  vessels  were  built  at  South  Quay, 
Hampton,  which  became  headquarters  of  the  Virginia  Navy. 

Page  forty-one 


It  was  controlled  by  a  board  of  naval  commissioners,  of 
whom  Col.  Thomas  Whiting,  of  Hampton,  was  president. 
The  largest  ships  carried  thirty-two  guns  each,  and  one  of 
them — the  Gloucester — was  a  prison  ship  and  was  moored 
near  Hampton  on  Elizabeth  River.  Only  one  of  the  Virginia 
ships  survived  the  war — the  famous  Liberty — which  fig- 
ured in  twenty  gallant  encounters.' 

Undoubtedly  the  most  distinguished  of  the  naval  offic- 
ers was  James  Barron.  He  was  the  son  of  Captain  Samuel 
Barron,  and  his  wife,  Jane  Cooper,  daughter  of  Philip 
Cooper.  He  was  born  at  Fort  George  in  1749,  and  began 
sea  life  at  a  very  early  age.  He  was  sent  to  sea  at  ten  years 
in  charge  of  Captain  Barrington,  who  sailed  in  a  fine  ship 
belonging  to  London,  a  constant  trader  to  James  River. 
His  first  commission  was  over  a  small  vessel  belonging  to 
Col.  John  Hunter,  of  Hampton,  called  the  ''Kickotan,"  in 
which  he  sailed  for  some  time.  On  attaining  his  maturity 
he  was  made  commander  of  a  fine  ship  owned  by  Samuel 
Guest,  a  merchant  of  London.  At  the  first  dawn  of  the 
Revolution  he  was  captain  of  a  military  company  composed 
of  the  young  sailors  of  Hampton,  who  were  numerous  at 
that  time,  and  was  engaged  in  the  action  with  Captain 
Squires'  party  when  he  attacked  the  place  in  1775. 

After  the  navy  of  Virginia  was  organized,  James  Bar- 
ron and  his  brother,  Richard  had  commands  at  different 
times  of  the  ships  Liberty  and  Patriot. 

In  1779,  James  Barron  became  senior  officer  and  was 
placed  in  command  of  all  the  naval  forces  of  the  common- 
wealth. He  performed  many  gallant  naval  exploits,  but 
possibly  nothing  that  he  did  was  more  important  to  the 
cause  of  the  Revolution  than  his  interception  of  a  boat  sent 
by  Lord  Dunmore  in  April,  1776,  to  Annapolis  with  dis- 
patches for  Governor  Eden  from  Lord  Dartmouth,  the 
English  Secretary  of  State,  regarding  the  proposed  expe- 
dition against  the  City  of  Charleston.  James  Barron  then 
cruising  in  the  Chesapeake,  captured  the  boat  and  conveyed 
tke  papers,  which  discovered  the  whole  plan  of  British  oper- 
ations to  Williamsburg.  The  Charlestonians  had  warning 
in  advance,  and  had  time  to  concert  a  defence  which  foiled 
completely  the  formidable  British  attack  under  Sir  Henry 


'  The     Virginian     Navv     of    the     Revolution. — Southern     Literary- 
Messenger,  Richmond,  Va.,  XXIV,  I,  104,  210,  273. 

Page  forty-two 


Clinton  and  Sir  Peter  Parker.  After  the  peace  he  continued 
in  command  of  the  only  two  vessels  retained  in  the  service 
for  the  protection  of  the  revenue  until  the  year  1787,  when 
he  died,  leaving  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  his  country 
to  survive  after  him/ 

After  the  repulse  of  Captain  Squires'  force  in  1775, 
there  was  no  other  attack  made  upon  Hampton  during  the 
Revolution,  but  the  waters  and  country  in  the  vicinity  were 
the  scenes  of  conflict  at  each  invasion  of  the  British.  In 
December,  1780,  a  fleet  commanded  by  Benedict  Arnold, 
sailed  through  the  capes  and  captured  some  small  vessels 
of  the  Virginia  navy  in  Hampton  Eoads. 

During  their  stay  the  shores  of  Elizabeth  City  and 
Warwick  County  were  repeatedly  visited  by  small  parties 
of  British  troops  bent  on  plunder  and  forage,  who  had 
skirmishes  with  the  local  militia.  In  these  encounters.  Col. 
Francis  Mallory  and  his  brother  Edward,  of  Hampton,  bore 
a  conspicuous  part.  In  March,  1781,  Arnold  sent  Col.  Dun- 
das  around  to  the  York  River  with  200  men  to  surprise  the 
American  post  at  the  Halfway  House  between  Hampton  and 
Yorktown.  The  post  was  deserted,  however,  and  Dundas 
continued  his  march  to  Newport  News,  where  he  was  to 
join  the  ships  again.  On  the  way  he  fell  in  with  forty  of 
the  militia,  commanded  by  Col.  W.  R.  W.  Curie  and  Col. 
Francis  Mallory.  They  made  a  brave  resistance,  but  were 
overwhelmed  by  numbers.  Curie  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
Mallory  fell  pierced  by  numerous  musket  balls  and  bayonet 
thrusts. 

In  the  summer  of  1781  Lord  Cornwallis  took  up  his 
position  at  Portsmouth  and  his  transports  stationed  in  the 
Roads  repeated  their  annoying  depredations.  When  later 
in  the  j^ear  he  removed  to  Yorktown,  the  Elizabeth  City 
County  militia  participated  in  his  capture,  much  to  their 
own  satisfaction  and  that  of  their  friends  and  neighbors, 
who  had  been  so  tormented  by  him. 


'  A  Biographical  Notice  of  Commodore   Barron  of  the  Navy  of 
Virginia,  The  Virginia  Hist.  Register  I,  23. 


Page  forty-three 


The  Later  Barrens 

Hampton,  like  all  the  seaports  of  Virginia,  suffered 
very  much  from  the  results  of  American  Independence. 
Its  trade  with  the  West  Indies  was  cut  off  and  the  town 
made  little  advance  for  many  years  after  the  Revolution. 
It  remained,  however,  the  headquarters  of  the  pilots  of 
James  River,  who  disbursed  considerable  money.  It  con- 
tinued to  give  naval  heroes  to  History,  and  among  them 
may  be  mentioned  the  two  sons  of  James  Barron  of  the 
Revolution — James,  the  younger  and  Samuel,  who  both  be- 
came commodores  in  the  United  States  Navy  and  were  con- 
spicuous for  their  bravery  and  executive  ability. 

Samuel  Barron,  the  oldest  son,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Hampton,  September  25,  1765.  He  studied  at  a  gram- 
mar school  in  Petersburg  and  at  the  Grammar  school  at 
William  and  Mary  College.  At  fifteen  years  of  age  he  went 
as  midshipman  on  Board  the  frigate  Dragon  commanded 
by  Captain  Markham,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  war, 
shared  in  both  sea  and  land  duty  and  was  raised  to  the  rank 
of  captain.  After  the  peace  he  was  in  the  revenue  service 
of  the  State  until  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  constitution 
in  1788.  He  then  engaged  in  the  merchant  service,  but  was 
soon  employed  by  the  government  and  in  1804  had  com- 
mand of  the  Mediterranean  fleet  sent  to  the  relief  of  com- 
modore Bainbridge  and  his  companion  then  prisoners  in 
Tripoli.  He  was  taken  ill,  and  was  compelled  to  turn  over 
his  command  to  Commodore  Rogers  and  returned  to  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  put  in  command  of  the  navy  yard  at  Gos- 
port,  where  he  died  Nov.  10,  1810.'  His  son,  Samuel  Bar- 
ron, was  born  in  1802,  and  served  also  with  great  distinc- 
tion in  the  United  States  Navy  in  all  grades  to  captain; 
but,  when  the  war  broke  out  in  1861,  he  joined  the  Confed- 
erates, and  was  made  Commodore,  in  which  position  he 
gave  a  good  account  of  himself  till  the  war  was  over  and 
he  returned  to  his  home. 

His  brother,  James  Barron,  was  born  in  Hampton  in 
the  year  1768.  He  was  too  young  to  take  any  part  in  the 
Revolution,  but  after  the  peace  was  employed  like  his 
brother  and  father  in  the  revenue  service  of  the  State.    He 


'  Commodore    Samuel    Barron,    Virginia    Historical    Register    III, 
198. 

Page  forty-four 


subsequently  followed  the  merchant  line  until  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  United  States  Navy  when  he  entered  the  public 
service  as  lieutenant.  In  this  grade  he  served  with  credit 
under  Commodore  Barry  in  the  short  war  with  the  French 
Republic,  on  board  the  frigate  United  States,  in  which 
Stephen  Decatur  was  midshipman.  On  account  of  his  effici- 
ency, he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  given  the 
command  of  that  war  ship.  During  Mr.  Jefferson's  admin- 
istration the  navy  was  placed  on  a  peace  establishment  and 
most  of  the  officers  were  discharged,  but  James  Barron  and 
his  brother,  Samuel,  were  two  of  the  few  retained.  In  1804 
he  commanded  the  frigate  Essex,  one  of  the  squadron  of  ten 
vessels  sent  to  Tripoli  under  the  command  of  his  elder 
brother,  Commodore  Samuel  Barron.  In  this  service  and 
various  other  commands  he  won  much  honor  till  a  shadow 
was  cast  over  his  career  by  the  affair,  in  1808,  of  the 
Leopard  and  Chesapeake,  when  he  was  courtmartialed  and 
relieved  from  command  for  five  years  for  ''neglecting  on 
the  probability  of  an  engagement  to  clear  his  ship  for  act- 
ion." This  decision  was  a  most  unjust  one,  as  the  fault 
was  not  with  Barron,  but  with  the  Navy  department. 

After  the  war  of  1812  he  was  restored  to  the  navy,  over 
the  protest  of  Stephen  Decatur,  who  spoke  of  him  in  dis- 
paraging terms,  which  led,  in  1820,  to  a  challenge  resulting 
in  the  death  of  Decatur  and  the  wounding  of  Barron.  After 
this  Barron  was  in  command  of  the  Philadelphia  Navy 
Yard  and  had  the  honor  of  receiving  General  La  Fayette 
when  he  visited  that  place  in  1824.  He  held  command  next 
at  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard  and  the  naval  asylum  at  Phila- 
delphia, but  at  last  on  account  of  old  age  resigned  and  re- 
tired to  Norfolk,  where  he  died  April  21,  1851,  in  the  83rd 
year  of  his  age.  His  eldest  daughter,  Jane,  married  Wilton 
Hope  and  was  mother  of  James  Barron  Hope,  a  disting- 
uished Virginia  poet  and  literateur. 

Lewis  Warrington 

Another  of  the  naval  heroes  of  Virginia  was  Commo- 
dore Lewis  Warrington,  who  was  the  grandson  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Warrington,  minister  of  Hampton  Church  in  1770. 
He  entered  the  United  States  navy  in  1800  and  served  with 
great  distinction.    His  most  brilliant  performance  occurred 

Page  forty-five 


during  the  war  of  1812,  when  commanding  the  Peacock,  he 
engaged  the  British  sloop  of  war  Epervier,  convoying  a 
fleet  of  merchantmen.  In  the  battle  which  ensued  the 
Epervier  was  badly  injured  and  her  crew  surrendered.  On 
board  of  her  there  was  found  the  sum  of  118,000  pounds  in 
specie.  The  Epervier  was  sent  into  Savannah  under  com- 
mand of  J.  B.  Nicholson  and  the  Peacock  continued  on  her 
voyage  until  the  end  of  October,  when  she  arrived  at  New 
York,  having  captured,  principally  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
14  British  merchantmen. 

Hampton  in  the  War  of  1812 

In  this  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  Hampton  suf- 
fered more  severely  than  in  the  first.  Under  Admiral  Cock- 
bum,  the  British  made  an  attack  on  Craney  Island  at  the 
mouth  of  Elizabeth  River.  That  place  was  defended  by  six 
hundred  Virginia  militia,  recently  called  into  service.  With 
no  other  aid  than  a  half-finished  redoubt,  and  the  co-opera- 
tion of  a  few  volunteers  from  the  shipping  in  port,  they 
beat  back  the  British,  though  numbering  three  thousand 
men.  Foiled  in  this  first  attack,  the  British  turned  to  glut 
their  vengeance  on  the  little  hamlet  of  Hampton,  situated 
on  the  north  side  of  James  River. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1813,  he  landed  a  force  of  2500 
men  at  what  is  now  '* Indian  River,"  and  with  a  small 
squadron  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  Hampton  Creek,  from 
whence  he  shelled  the  town.  The  place  was  defended  by 
450  Virginia  militia  under  Col.  Crutchfield  stationed  at 
"Little  England"  with  seven  small  cannon.  Taken  in  the 
flank  by  the  British  land  force,  the  small  garrison  had  to 
abandon  the  place  and  retreat  up  the  peninsula.  The  Brit- 
ish occupation  was  attended  with  barbarous  circumstances, 
the  responsibility  of  which  they  afterwards  ascribed  to 
some  French  prisoners,  who  constituted  a  part  of  the  Brit- 
ish force. 

Governor  Barbour  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature 
spoke  of  the  private  houses  that  were  plundered,  the  gray 
hairs  that  were  exposed  to  wanton  insult,  the  sick  man  that 
was  murdered  in  his  bed  under  circumstances  of  peculiar 
aggravation,  the  females  that  were  publicly  borne  off  to 
suffer  the  last  degree  of  unutterable  violence,  and  the  house 
of  God  given  over  to  sacrilegious  outrage. 

Page  forty-six 


Eeligion  was  at  a  low  ebb  in  Virginia  for  many  years 
after  the  Eevolution.  The  spread  of  rationalistic  ideas  and 
the  breaking  up  of  the  old  establishment  affected  even  the 
new  sects  of  Baptists  and  Methodists,  while  it  almost  de- 
stroyed the  Episcopal  church.  The  small  congregation, 
which  assembled  in  the  old  church  in  the  parish,  hobbled 
along  under  the  ministrations  of  Eev.  William  Nixon,  Rev. 
Henry  Skyren,  who  died  in  1795,  Rev.  John  Jones  Spooner, 
who  died  in  1799,  Rev.  Benjamin  Brown,  who  died  January 
17,  1806,  and  Rev.  George  Halson,  who  officiated  till  the  war 
of  1812.  It  was  probably  by  performing  the  duties  of 
teachers  of  the  Hampton  Academy  that  these  ministers 
managed  to  obtain  a  livelihood. 

During  the  interval  between  Parson  Brown  and  the 
war  of  1812,  the  frame  work  of  the  tower  which  stood  on 
the  west  side  of  the  church  became  so  decayed  that  the  bell 
had  to  be  taken  down  and  was  placed  in  the  angle  made  by 
the  church  and  the  tower.  From  that  position  it  was  re- 
moved by  order  of  Major  Crutchfield  to  the  guardhouse  of 
the  American  Encampment  at  "Little  England,"  and  soon 
the  tongue  fell  out,  and  the  hours  were  struck  by  an  ax,  till 
the  bell  cracked.  After  the  capture  of  Hampton  by  the 
British  soon  after,  the  churchyard  was  used  by  them  for  a 
slaughter  pen  and  the  church  itself  for  a  barracks,' 

Hampton  After  the  War  of  1812 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  religion  among  the 
people  was  too  feeble  to  permit  much  interest  to  be  taken 
in  the  church,  and  the  churchj^ard  was  used  by  the  public 
as  a  grazing  ground  for  cattle,  horses  and  hogs.  Soon  not 
a  vestige  remained  of  the  doors,  windows,  floors  or  furni- 
ture. The  general  religious  awakening  began  in  Virginia 
under  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Moore  about  1824,  and  in  that  year 
Mrs.  Jane  Hope,  eldest  daughter  of  Commodore  James  Bar- 
ron, and  Mr.  Richard  B.  Servant  started  subscriptions  for 
repairing  the  church  walls. 

Shortly  after  a  vestry  was  elected,  and  money  was 
raised  to  restore  and  furnish  the  church.  Then  a  minister, 
Rev.  Mark  A.  Chevers,  was  named,  and  the  old  vestry  book 
was  dragged  from  its  hiding  place. 


'  Meade,    Bishop    William,    Old    Churches,    Ministers    and    Families 
of  Virginia,  2  Vols.,  1878. 

Page  forty-seven 


After  the  destruction  of  Fort  George,  in  1749,  nothing 
was  done  for  many  years  to  restore  the  fort  at  Point  Com- 
fort. During  the  war  of  the  Revolution  the  French  threw 
up  some  slight  fortifications  there.  The  experiences  of  the 
war  of  1812  advised  that  it  should  be  made  a  permanent 
stronghold.  The  present  Fort  Monroe  was  commenced  by 
the  Federal  government  in  1819,  and  about  1830  the  work 
began  of  sinking  rocks  on  the  Eip  Raps  opposite,  and  after- 
wards a  fort  was  erected  called  Fort  Calhoun,  and  subse- 
quently Fort  Wool.  Fort  Monroe  became  a  frequent  resort 
of  visitors,  and  for  their  accommodation  a  hotel  called  the 
Hygeia  was  built  which  was  in  later  years  moved  from  the 
first  site,  near  where  the  Fort  Y.  M.  C.  A.  now  stands  to  a 
location  on  the  beach,  on  the  East  side  of  the  street  leading 
to  the  wharf.  Immediately  opposite  The  Chamberlin  Hotel 
was  completed  in  1893.  It  was  a  hostelry  of  great  magni- 
cence  but  was  burned  to  the  ground  on  March  7,  1920.  The 
Hygeia  was  razed  by  order  of  the  War  Department.  The 
Sherwood  Inn,  another  hotel  remains,  but  has  been  taken 
over  by  purchase  by  the  Government. 

The  commercial  and  religious  interests  of  Elizabeth 
City  County  were  not  the  only  ones  which  suffered  by  war. 
After  peace  was  made  in  1783,  the  ancient  schools  of  Syms 
and  Eaton  were  much  neglected,  for,  under  the  changed 
state  of  affairs,  the  ministers  and  churchwardens  fo  Eliza- 
beth City  parish,  and  even  the  justices,  doubted  their  true 
succession  as  incorporators.  Thus  the  lands  were  again 
wasted,  and  the  schools  much  impaired.  At  length,  in 
1805,  by  virtue  of  an  Act  of  the  Legislature,  the  two  schools 
were  incorporated  in  one  as  the  ' '  Hampton  Academy, ' '  and, 
aided  by  new  contributions,  continued  for  many  years  as  a 
prosperous  institution  for  the  benefit  of  the  children  of 
Elizabeth  City  and  of  Poquoson  Parish,  York  County,  The 
following  list  of  teachers  was  furnished  by  the  late  Col. 
John  B.  Cary,  of  Richmond,  who  was  the  last  teacher  of  the 
school  previous  to  its  union  with  the  general  public  school 
system;  Prior  to  1826,  Parson  Halstead;  1826-1829,  John 
Page;  1829-1832,  C.  J.  D.  Pryor;  1832-1835,  George  Cooper; 
1837-1840,  C.  J.  D.  Pryor;  1840-1847,  John  A.  Getty;  1847- 
1852,  John  B.  Cary. 

In  the  year  1846  the  General  Assembly  adopted  the 
present  public  school  system  for  the  State,  but  its  operation 

Page  forty-eight 


was  left  in  the  cities  and  towns  to  the  council  and  in  the 
counties  to  a  popular  vote.  Elizabeth  City  was  one  of  those 
counties  which  decided  favorably  for  the  school  system.  In 
1851  it  was  divided  into  school  districts  and  Hampton  was 
comprised  in  District  No.  3.  In  1852  the  Hampton  Academy 
was  associated  with  the  school  system  and  its  treasurer, 
William  S.  Slater,  appeared  before  the  Board  of  school  com- 
missioners for  the  county  and  reported  the  fund  belonging 
to  the  school  to  amount  to  $10,706.55.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
commissioners  held  January  6,  1855,  it  was  resolved  that 
the  commissioners  of  District  No.  3  be  authorized  to  take 
charge  of  Hampton  Academy  as  the  district  school  house. 

While  the  school  system  was  not  at  this  time  adopted 
by  all  the  counties  of  Virginia,  its  operation  in  Elizabeth 
City  is  well  worthy  of  consideration.  In  his  annual  report 
for  the  year  1854  the  county  superintendent  says:  "The 
free  school  system,  taking  into  consideration  the  sparse- 
ness  of  our  population  in  some  parts  of  the  county,  and  the 
consequent  increased  size  of  some  of  the  districts,  appears 
to  be  working  remarkably  well.  I  think  it  is  realizing  the 
expectation  of  some  of  its  most  sanguine  friends  and  rapid- 
ly securing  favor  among  its  former  opponents." 

In  another  report  he  advances  some  ideas  as  to  school 
architecture,  which  have  been  put  forward  anew  in  recent 
days  and  approved  by  the  public.  He  has  hopes  ''that  for 
the  future,  in  the  erection  of  school  houses,  the  wretched 
plan  of  school  architecture,  which  now  so  generally  obtains 
in  Virginia,  will  be  rejected,  and  that  ornament  as  well  as 
comfort  will  be  consulted  in  their  structure." 

During  the  era  of  improved  public  education,  John  B. 
Cary,  the  last  teacher  of  the  old  Hampton  Academy,  estab- 
lished a  military  school  of  his  own,  which  was  attended  by 
young  men  from  all  parts  of  Virginia,  and  other  Southern 
States.  Among  his  pupils  were  Captain  James  Barron 
Hope,  of  Norfolk,  who  attained  much  distinction  as  a  poet, 
Capt.  W.  Gordon  McCabe,  of  Richmond,  former  President 
of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  and  the  late  Col.  Thomas 
Tabb,  of  Hampton,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers 
of  Virginia.' 

Mr.  Cary  was  an  enthusiastic  teacher  and  had  excellent 
courses  in  Latin  and  Greek  as  well  as  music  and  mathe- 


'  Armstrong,  Syms-Eaton  Academy,   1902. 

Page  forty-nine 


matics.  His  discipline  was  strict,  and  the  motto  of  the 
school  was:  "Order  is  Heaven's  first  law."  The  young 
men  had  a  literary  society  called  "The  Old  Boys,"  which 
was  addressed  by  eminent  men  on  suitable  occasions.  In 
1859,  the  orator  was  Ex-President  John  Tyler,  who  for  sev- 
eral years  before  the  war  passed  the  summer  in  a  villa 
which  he  caused  to  be  erected  on  a  point  of  land  opposite 
to  the  town,  on  the  east  side  of  Hampton  River,  and  called 
the  "Villa  Margaret." 

Still  another  school  advanced  the  educational  condi- 
tion of  the  county.  In  1854,  Rev.  Martin  Forey,  a  Baptist 
minister,  erected  near  Hampton  the  Chesapeake  Female 
College,  which  in  1859  appears  to  have  been  converted  into 
a  boy's  school. 

Between  1850  and  1860  Eastern  Virginia  greatly  im- 
proved under  the  new  system  of  farming  introduced  by 
Edmund  Ruffin,  which  restored  the  fertility  of  the  over- 
worked soil.  Millions  of  dollars  were  added  to  the  value 
of  the  lands.  Hampton  and  Elizabeth  City  County  shared 
in  the  prosperity,  and  there  were  fewer  places  in  the  United 
States  where  the  people  lived  in  greater  comfort.  From 
the  plantations  were  obtained  abundant  crops  of  corn  and 
wheat  and  from  the  gardens  almost  all  of  the  best  vege- 
tables. From  the  waters  of  the  running  creeks  and  inlets 
were  taken  the  most  delicious  fish  and  oysters;  and  wild 
ducks  and  geese  not  infrequentl)''  contributed  to  the  de- 
lights of  the  table. 

There  were  all  kinds  of  amusements,  such  as  fishing  in 
the  creeks,  sailing  on  the  rivers,  fox-hunting,  card-playing 
and  dancing.  Yearly  the  town  was  paraded  by  a  numerous 
troop  of  masked  riders,  who  attired  in  all  kinds  of  quaint 
disguises,  moved  quietly  down  the  streets  at  night  to  dis- 
appear no  one  seemed  to  know  where. 

The  Hotels  at  Old  Point  Comfort  were  frequent  resorts 
of  visitors,  and  the  band  at  the  fort  not  only  discoursed 
sweet  music  to  the  troops,  but  was  used  by  the  officers  in 
serenades  and  to  furnish  music  at  the  military  balls. 

The  population  of  Elizabeth  City  County  in  1791  was 
3450,  of  whom  1876  were  negro  slaves,  18  were  free  negroes, 
and  1556  were  white  people.  In  1800  the  population  was 
only  2778,  of  whom  1522  were  negro  slaves,  18  were  free 
negroes,  and  1238  were  white  people.    In  1810  the  popula- 

Page  fifty 


tion  made  up  more  than  its  losses,  and  was  3598,  of  whom 
1734  were  negro  slaves,  75  were  free  negroes,  and  1789  were 
whites.  In  1820  the  population  was  3789  and  in  1830,  5033. 
In  the  last  year  (1830)  the  population  of  Hampton  was 
1120.  It  contained  at  that  time  about  130  dwelling  houses, 
two  Baptist  churches,  one  Methodist  and  an  Episcopal 
church,  one  Academy  and  one  private  school,  six  dry  goods 
stores,  ten  grocery  stores,  two  taverns  and  three  castor  oil 
manufactories.  The  principal  mechanical  pursuits  were 
shoemaking,  blacksmith's  work,  house  carpentering  and 
ship  building.  It  enjoyed  a  considerable  emolument  from 
the  money  circulated  by  the  Federal  government  in  the 
building  and  maintenance  of  Fort  Monroe  and  the  Rip- 
Raps.  There  were  two  lawyers  resident  in  the  town  and 
four  physicians.  In  1840  the  population  of  Elizabeth  City 
County  was  3706,  of  whom  1708  were  negro  slaves,  44  were 
free  negroes,  and  1954  were  white  people.  In  1860  the  pop- 
ulation of  Elizabeth  City  County  was  5798,  of  whom  2417 
were  negro  slaves,  201  were  free  negroes,  and  3180  were 
white  people.  The  population  of  Hampton  the  same  year 
was  1848,  of  w  hom  782  were  negro  slaves,  73  were  free 
negroes,  and  993  were  white  people. 

Hampton  During  the  War  of  1861-1865 

In  the  war  for  Southern  Independence,  the  people  of 
Hampton  were  warmly  for  the  Confederate  cause,  but  their 
close  proximity  to  the  most  powerful  fort  of  the  United 
States  rendered  their  position  a  most  unhappy  one.  The 
first  regular  battle  of  the  war  occurred  in  their  vicinity  at 
Big  Bethel  near  the  place  where  Colonel  Mallory  was  killed 
during  the  American  Revolution.  Nearly  all  the  families 
abandoned  the  town,  and  on  August,  1862,  the  place  was 
fired  by  order  of  General  Magruder.  The  soldiers  selected 
to  do  this  were  property  owners  in  the  town,  who  approved 
the  policy,  and  the  few  remaining  residents,  not  over  twenty 
in  all,  were  notified  in  advance.  This  drastic  and  perhaps 
useless  action  was  taken  because  of  a  dispatch  from  General 
Butler,  which  fell  into  General  Magruder 's  hands  that  the 
houses  would  be  used  for  military  purposes.  In  the  general 
conflagration  the  church  also  was  consumed,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  massive  walls  which  remained  standing.    Only 

Page  fifty-one 


five  houses  were  left,  and  the  citizens  by  thus  yielding  to 
the  flames,  property  worth  $200,000  demonstrated  ''their 
intensive  devotion  to  the  cause  they  had  espoused  and  for 
which  they  considered  no  sacrifice  too  great." 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  John  B.  Gary,  principal 
of  the  Hampton  Military  Institute,  was  commissioned  by 
General  Lee,  Major  of  all  the  Hampton  troops  and  after  the 
battle  of  Bethel,  in  which  he  took  part,  he  was  promoted 
Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  Thirty-second  Virginia  Regi- 
ment, commanded  by  Colonel  Ewell,  President  of  William 
and  Mary  College.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  paid  by 
Colonel  Cary  to  General  Butler  under  a  flag  of  truce  that  the 
latter  originated  the  expression  ''contraband,"  as  applied 
to  the  negroes.  Colonel  Cary  demanded  the  return  of  some 
negroes  on  the  ground  that  they  were  private  property,  but 
General  Butler  declared  that  they  were  "contraband  of 
war,"  and  refused  to  give  them  up.  After  the  war  was 
over  Colonel  Cary  settled  in  Richmond,  where  he  was  for 
some  time  superintendent  of  schools  and  amassed  a  fortune 
through  his  great  business  ability. 

During  the  war  the  possession  of  Fort  Monroe  by  the 
Federal  authorities  was  a  factor  of  great  value  to  them  in 
eventually  achieving  success.  It  became  the  starting  point 
of  great  naval  and  land  expeditions  against  the  South,  a 
great  depot  for  prisoners  and  armaments,  and  a  place  of 
refuge  from  disaster.  It  was  formidable  guns  of  Fort  Mon- 
roe that  probably  saved  the  Federal  fleet  in  1862  from  entire 
destruction  by  the  Merrimac.  It  was  here  that  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  President  of  the  Confederacy,  was  confined  after 
one  of  the  most  gallant  resistances  ever  put  up  by  any  peo- 
ple in  defence  of  self-government.  The  cell  in  which  he 
was  shackeled,  like  an  ordinary  criminal,  is  pointed  out, 
but  it  conveys  no  pleasant  ideas  of  the  magnanimity  of  his 
conquerors. 

During  this  period  the  country  between  Fort  Monroe 
and  the  present  grounds  of  the  Hampton  Institute  was  occu- 
pied by  a  wilderness  of  tents  called  Camp  Hamilton.  The 
old  Chesapeake  Female  Institute  was  used  as  a  Hospital. 
This  was  connected  by  a  bridge  with  Hampton  Hospital,  the 
great  receiving  place  for  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  of  the 
Federal  army  in  Virginia.  This  last  building  occupied  the 
site  of  the  present  Hampton  Institute. 

Page  fifty-two 


The  neighborhood  was  the  refuge  place  of  hundreds  of 
negroes,  and  the  burned  section,  where  Hampton  once  stood, 
was  filled  with  their  rude  shelters  propped  up  against  the 
brick  chimneys,  which  survived  the  fire. 

Hampton  After  the  War  of  1865-1910 

In  1865,  the  war  ended  and  the  old  Hampton  families 
flocked  back  to  the  ruins  of  their  once  beautiful  homes.  The 
streets  and  lots  were  marked  out  again  and  house  building 
commenced. 

The  courthouse  reverted  to  the  county  authorities,  and 
the  graded  school  for  freedmen  was  transferred  to  the  Lin- 
coln School,  which  had  been  built  of  old  hospital  wards. 

The  few  survivors  of  the  congregation  of  the  old  church 
served  more  or  less  irregularly  in  the  Odd  Fellows  Hall  on 
Court  Street,  known  as  Patrick  Henry  Hall.  The  first  regu- 
lar rector  after  the  war  was  Eev.  J.  B.  McCarty,  who  had 
been  a  chaplain  in  the  Federal  army.  In  less  than  five  years 
the  church  was  again  restored,  and  it  has  at  present  a 
flourishing  congregation.  A  tablet  on  the  walls  gives  a 
short  history  of  the  edifice  and  its  ministers  followed  by 
this  quotation  from  the  psalms:  *'0  give  thanks  unto  the 
Lord,  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever. ' ' 

Among  the  relics  of  the  past,  which  are  the  prized  pos- 
sessions of  the  church  is  the  old  vestry  book  to  which  refer- 
ence has  been  made,  and  a  cup,  chalice  and  patten  of  beauti- 
ful and  antique  work.  The  communion  cup  is  by  long  odds 
the  oldest  church  plate  in  the  United  States.  It  bears  the 
hall  mark  of  1617,  and  was  given  by  Mrs.  Mary  Eobinson, 
of  London,  in  1619,  to  the  "church  in  Smith's  Hundred  in 
Virginia,"  as  the  inscription  upon  it  testifies.  This  hun- 
dred lay  on  the  north  side  of  James  Eiver  between  Weya- 
noke  and  Sandy  Point,  but  was  wiped  out  by  the  massacre 
in  1622.  The  name  of  the  hundred  was  changed,  in  1619, 
from  ''Smith's  Hundred,"  which  was  its  title  during  Sir 
Thomas  Smith's  presidency  of  the  London  Company  to 
''Southampton  Hundred,"  when  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
succeeded  Smith.  As  Hampton  was  named  from  the  same 
great  friend  of  Virginia,  it  is  properly  the  custodian  of  this 
elegant  and  unique  treasure. 

Among  the  tombstones  still  to  be  seen  in  the  church- 
Page  fifty-three 


yard,  perhaps  the  most  interesting  are  those  of  Captain 
George  Wray,  who  died  April  9,  1758,  and  Captain  Henry 
Mowatt,  of  the  British  Navy,  who  in  October,  1775,  burned 
the  town  of  Portland,  Maine,  because  it  refused  to  give  him 
provisions. 

The  school  comes  next  after  the  church  in  importance, 
and  as  soon  as  order  was  restored  out  of  chaos,  this  question 
enlisted  the  attention  of  the  people  of  Hampton.  The  old 
Hampton  Academy  building  had  perished  in  the  fire  of  1862, 
but  the  mortgage  bonds  in  which  its  endowment  fund  of 
10,000  had  been  invested  were  preserved  by  Col.  J.  C.  Phil- 
lips, who  took  them  to  Richmond  with  him,  when  he  re- 
fugeed  there.  A  small  school  building  was  put  up,  this  time 
of  brick,  which  performed  a  valuable  service  for  many 
years.  In  1902  this  building  made  way  for  the  present 
handsome  modern  up-to-date  structure.  A  tablet  placed  in 
the  entrance  hall  proclaims  the  name  of  the  school  as  the 
' '  Syms-Eaton  Academy, ' '  thus  perpetuating  the  memory  of 
the  two  noble  benefactors,  who  considered  aright  that  they 
could  find  no  better  way  of  attaining  true  glory  than  edu- 
cating their  fellow  men. 

In  March,  1866,  Captain  Wilder  had  been  succeeded  by 
General  Samuel  C.  Armstrong  as  superintendent  of  contra- 
bands and  ofiicer  in  charge  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  From 
the  beginning  he  took  special  interest  in  the  colored 
schools,  having  charge  of  those  in  ten  counties  in  eastern 
Virginia.  It  was  his  suggestion  that  Hampton  would  be  a 
fitting  spot  for  a  permanent  training  school  for  colored 
teachers. 

In  1870,  the  old  Chesapeake  Female  College,  which  had 
been  used  as  a  hospital  during  the  war,  was  purchased  for 
the  government  together  with  the  forty  acres  of  land  owned 
by  General  B.  F.  Butler  for  $50,000,  as  a  home  for  disabled 
soldiers.  The  number  of  buildings  was  increased  to  nearly 
seventy  and  the  government  purchased  forty-three  acres  of 
land  in  addition  to  the  original  forty.  Three  large  build- 
ings have  been  erected  for  hospital  purposes  and  are  sup- 
plied with  every  modern  appliance  for  the  sick.  Nearly 
17000  veterans  have  been  cared  for  since  the  Home  was 
established,  and  about  9000  of  these  rest  in  the  National 
Cemetery  nearby.      As  a  result  of  the  expenditure  made  by 

Page  fifty-four 


these  Federal  veterans  of  every  nationality  a  town  between 
Hampton  and  Fort  Monroe  has  grown  up  called  ''Phoebus," 
named  in  honor  of  Mr.  Harrison  Phoebus,  a  successful 
hotel  man.    Its  population  is  over  3000. 

During  the  war  the  old  Hygeia  Hotel  was  carted  away, 
because  it  interfered  with  the  training  of  guns  in  the  Fort. 
After  the  war,  the  Hygeia  was  at  once  rebuilt  on  its  later 
site  close  to  the  beach,  but  it  was  only  a  small  building.  In 
1867,  Mr.  Phoebus  purchased  it,  fitted  it  with  all  the  modern 
conveniences  and  greatly  enlarged  it,  till  it  had  capacity 
enough  to  accommodate  1200  guests.  It  became  a  great 
resort  for  pleasure  seekers,  and  Mr.  Phoebus  became  very 
wealthy.  Some  years  ago  the  Federal  government  decreed 
its  removal,  and  as  a  substitute  the  splendid  brick  building 
known  as  the  Chamberlin  Hotel  superseded,  but  unfortu- 
nately burned  as  stated  elsewhere. 

In  keeping  with  the  growth  of  the  vicinity,  since  the 
war,  has  been  the  enormous  development  of  Fort  Monroe. 
The  present  fortifications  embrace  a  parapet  wall  a  mile 
and  a  quarter  long,  enclosing  eighty-six  acres  and  costing 
over  $2,000,000.  The  fortress  is  partially  washed  by  the 
waters  of  Hampton  Roads  and  is  separated  from  the  main- 
land by  a  wide  and  deep  moat.  It  is  equipped  with  disap- 
pearing guns,  which  have  a  range  of  twelve  miles  or  more. 
Some  consider  it  next  in  strength  to  the  celebrated  fortress 
of  Gibraltar,  though  probably  the  fortifications  of  Quebec 
from  their  natural  advantages  are  more  impregnable. 

Fort  Wool,  on  the  Rip  Raps  opposite  to  Fort  Monroe, 
has  also  been  immensely  strengthened.  Like  the  other,  it 
is  equipped  with  immense  disappearing  guns  and  the  latest 
machinery  for  defence  in  time  of  war. 

Indeed,  the  whole  region  of  what  was  known,  in  1619, 
as  "Elizabeth  City  Corporation"  has  greatly  improved 
in  the  forty-five  years  since  the  war,  and  its  appearance  is 
a  monument  to  the  industry  of  the  inhabitants.  From  the 
west  end  of  Newport  News  to  Old  Point  Comfort  there  is  a 
population  close  on  to  50,000  people  compared  with  about 
5000  in  1860.  The  population  of  Elizabeth  City  County  is 
upwards  of  26000  and  that  of  Hampton  very  near  8000.  The 
town  has  handsome  paved  streets  and  sidewalks,  electric 
lights,  electric  cars,,  fine  stores  and  bank  buildings,  and  is 

Page  fifty-five 


connected  with  Richmond  by  one  of  the  best  railroad  lines 
in  the  Union,  while  the  wharf  at  Old  Point  is  the  stopping 
place  of  steamers  to  Norfolk,  to  Washington,  and  to  Balti- 
more and  New  York.  It  is  connected  with  Newport  News, 
three  and  a  half  miles  distant,  by  railroad  and  street  rail- 
way service,  and  with  Norfolk,  fifteen  miles  distant,  by  a 
number  of  steamship  lines  and  three  fast  ferries. 

Statistics  compiled  by  a  prominent  physician  indicate 
climatic  conditions  in  the  county  as  equal  to  any  found  in 
the  State.  The  water  supply  is  abundant  and  truck  farm- 
ing in  the  immediate  vicinity  is  extensively  carried  on. 
The  manufactories  consist  of  saw  mills,  iron  foundries,  and 
shoe,  sash  and  blind,  oil  and  crab  factories.  The  pluck  of 
its  inhabitants  exhibited  under  so  many  vicissitudes  of  for- 
tune in  the  past  has  won  for  the  town  the  name  of  the 
"game-cock  town." 


Page  fifty-six 


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