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YE 
KINGDOME  OF  ACCAWMACKE 

OR  THE 

EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA 

IN  THE 

SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

JENNINGS  CROPPER  WISE 

MEMBER 

Virginia  Historical  Society 


THE  BELL  BOOK  AND  STATIONERY  CO. 

RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 
1911 


tT; 


Copyright,  1911  by 
Jennings  Cropper  Wise 


©Q.A2 


DEDICATED   TO    THE    MEMORY    OF 

MY  GRANDFATHER 

HENRY  ALEXANDER  WISE 

OF 

Virginia  and  Accomack, 

WHOSE   CHARACTER    AND    CAREER    FIND    EXPRESSION    IN    HIS 
FAMOUS  REMARK  : 

"  I  have  met  the  Black  Knight  with  his 

visor  down,  and  his  shield  and 

lance  are  broken." 


PEEFACE 

The  author  of  this  volume,  which  purports  to  be  a  History 
of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury, submits  the  completed  work  to  the  public.  He  can 
only  say  that  he  has  not  failed  where  others  have  succeeded, 
for  the  little  peninsula  has  had  no  former  historian.  The 
task  was  undertaken  in  the  hope  that  the  very  deficiencies 
in  his  own  narrative  might  urge  a  more  competent  pen  to 
action  and  inspire  a  better  history  of  this  long-neglected 
region  of  the  Old  Dominion.  If  this  volume  accomplish 
no  other  result  than  to  impress  a  more  able  writer  with  the 
valuable  material  for  such  a  work,  if  it  call  attention  to 
events  of  all-absorbing  interest  as  yet  inadequately  described, 
and  bring  to  light  from  among  the  musty  archives  of  Acco- 
mac  and  Northampton  but  a  few  facts  bearing  upon  the 
history  of  our  State,  then  will  the  author  rest  content  in  the 
feeling  that  while  he  has  not  succeeded  as  a  historian,  yet 
he  has  induced  a  more  accurate  portraiture  of  a  country 
and  a  people. 

It  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  such  historic  documents  as 
the  Pledge  to  the  Commonwealth,  The  Northampton  Pro- 
test, The  Northampton  Grievances,  Bacon's  Appeal  to  Ac- 
comac,  and  the  Accomac  Memorial,  addressed  to  Berkeley 
after  the  Rebellion  of  1676,  should  all  have  been  utterly 
neglected  by  the  historians  of  Virginia,  for  these  documents 
are  not  simply  matters  of  local  interest,  but  have  a  direct 
bearing  upon  the  general  history  of  the  State.  Indeed,  the 
texts  of  these  instruments  have  never  before  been  collected 
in  a  single  volume.  Yet,  the  disregard  of  such  significant 
matters  in  our  State  annals  is  no  more  unaccountable  than 
the  absence  from  the  histories  of  any  mention  of  the  remark- 


vi  PREFACE 

able  industrial  and  trade  development  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
prior  to  the  middle  of  the  Seventeenth  Century;  of  the 
flourishing  mercantile  intercourse  between  that  region  and 
New  England,  New  Netherlands,  Holland,  England  and  the 
West  Indies;  of  the  powerful  colony  of  Dutch,  German  and 
New  England  citizens  upon  the  soil  of  Virginia  in  its 
earliest  days,  and  of  the  fact  that  the  King's  forces  were 
equipped,  provisioned  and  paid  with  money  loaned  to  the 
King  by  the  loyal  gentry  of  Accomac  and  Northampton  in 
1676.  The  author  does  not  demand  that  matters  of  purely 
local  import  should  fill  the  pages  of  a  general  State  history. 
He  does  maintain,  however,  that  no  work  can  justly  claim 
to  be  an  accurate  and  complete  history  of  Early  Virginia 
which  disregards  such  fundamental  facts  as  those  above 
mentioned. 

In  the  writing  of  this  brief  sketch,  the  temptation  was 
ever  present  to  dwell  upon  the  genealogy  of  the  people,  to 
intrude  facts  of  family  history  and  tradition  into  its  pages, 
but  the  author  has  succumbed  only  where  it  seemed  neces- 
sary to  illumine  historical  facts  by  reference  to  family  con- 
nections, reserving  a  full  genealogical  history  of  the  people 
for  a  subsequent  work,  which  will  also  deal  with  the  period 
from  1700  through  the  War  of  1861-65. 

To  Eastern  Shoremen,  the  death  of  Mr.  Thomas  T.  Up- 
shur, of  Northampton,  in  January,  1910,  was  a  sad  loss,  for 
had  he  lived  to  weave  into  the  form  of  a  history  the  vast 
knowledge  of  his  people  which  he  had  acquired  by  a  long 
life  of  research  among  their  records,  no  need  of  this  work 
would  have  existed. 

The  author  desires  to  express  the  deepest  indebtedness  to 
Mr.  Griffin  C.  Callahan,  of  Philadelphia,  who,  though  he 
had  for  years  been  collecting  historical  data  concerning  the 
Eastern  Shore,  unselfishly  placed  the  fruits  of  his  research 


PEEFACE  vii 

at  another's  disposal ;  to  Mr.  Philip  Alexander  Bruce,  the 
greatest  of  Virginia's  historians,  who,  besides  offering  many 
valuable  suggestions,  performed  the  laborious  task  of  read- 
ing and  correcting  the  manuscript;  to  Mr.  Wm.  G.  Stanard 
of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  and  Mr.  Earl  G.  Swem, 
Assistant  Librarian  of  the  Virginia  State  Library,  both  of 
whom  materially  assisted  the  author  in  the  collection  of 
authorities  and  rendered  research  in  their  libraries  both 
pleasant  and  simple ;  and  lastly,  to  Mr.  John  Hart,  of  Rich- 
mond, who  has  been  an  ever  appreciated  adviser  in  many 
phases  of  this  work. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  add  that  the  wealth  of  his- 
torical matter,  brought  together  by  the  tireless  energy  of 
Mr.  Bruce,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  student  in  his 
"Immortal  Trilogy,"  has  been  lavishly  drawn  upon. 
Indeed,  no  writer  of  Virginia  history  may  hope  to  succeed 
without  trespassing  upon  those  priceless  pages. 

At  the  great  risk  of  unduly  cumbering  this  book  in  the 
eyes  of  the  casual  reader,  the  text  of  many  statutes  and 
abstracts  of  old  records  have  been  set  forth  verbatim,  in 
order  that  the  student  may  have  the  authorities  at  hand. 
The  spelling  of  various  Indian  names  throughout  the  work 
has  been  purposely  varied  in  order  to  illustrate  the  unset- 
tled orthography  of  native  nomenclature.  The  name  selected 
for  this  first  volume  of  Eastern  Shore  History  involves  the 
title  applied  to  the  little  peninsula  by  the  Sovereigns  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  who  frequently  addressed  their  de- 
crees to  "Ye  Colony  of  Virginia  and  Ye  Kingdome  of  Ac- 
cawmacke." 

And  now  the  author,  at  the  completion  of  his  Preface, 
rests  his  pen,  inviting  criticism,  but  with  the  conceit  of 
human  nature,  hopeful  that  with  censure  may  come  some 
meed  of  praise.  Jennings  Cropper  Wise. 

Richmond,  Va.,  March  1,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.     Verrazano    Discovers    the    Eastern    Shore — 1524. 

The  Massacre  of  Gilbert— 1603 1 

II.  The  Coming  of  the  English  and  Smith's  Explora- 
tions—1607-8  11 

III.  Argoll's  Visit  and  Dale's  Gift— 1613-20 21 

IV.  The  Plantation  of  Accomack— 1620-34 27 

V.     The  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke  and  the  Aborigines     49 

VI.     Origin  of  the  People 68 

VII.     The  County  or  Shire  of  Accomack.    Kent  Island 

—1634-42   81 

VIII.     The    County  of    Northampton.     Indian  Scares — 

1642-1652   96 

IX.  The  Dutch  War*  The  Eastern  Shore  under  the 
Commonwealth.  The  Northampton  Protest — 
1652-1659   124 

X.     The  Quakers.   Maryland  Boundary  Troubles.  The 

Assateague  War— 1659-1660 153 

XI.  The  Restoration.  Accomack  Formed  from  North- 
ampton. The  Calvert-Scarburgh  Line.  The 
Pirates— 1660-1674   164 

XII.     The  Arlington-Culpeper  Grant.     Bacon's  Rebel- 
lion—1674-1677  191 

XIII.     Towns  and  Courthouses  Built.    Tobacco  Troubles. 

Jacobitism— 1677-1700   223 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XIV.     The  Early  Church  on  the  Eastern  Shore.    Puritan 

Ministers.     Makemie 250 

XV.     The  Negro  and  the  Slave 285 

XVI.     Trade.     Commerce.     Industries 289 

XVII.     Horses.     Stock.     Game.     Fish,  Etc 307 

XVIII.     Social  Conditions.    Customs  and  Traditions 316 


*■ 


Verrazano    Discovers    the    Eastern    Shore.       The 
Massacre    of    Gilbert 

Between  latitude  37°  and  39!/20  north  and  running  almost 
due  north  and  south  at  about  76°  west  longitude,  is  a  penin- 
sula formed  by  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  Atlantic  Ocean  and 
Delaware  Bay,  which,  embraces  the  greater  part  of  the  State 
of  Delaware,  about  one  third  of  Maryland,  and  two  counties 
of  Virginia.  That  portion  at  present  included  within  the 
limits  of  Virginia  is  about  seventy  miles  in  length,  extend- 
ing from  the  Pocomoke  River,  near  where  it  is  intersected 
by  the  thirty-eighth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  to  Cape 
Charles,  and  having  a  mean  breadth  of  about  eight  miles. 
It  is  a  flat  and  sandy  tract,  largely  covered  with  pines  and 
swept  by  breezes  of  the  Atlantic  and  Chesapeake,  whose 
waters  lave  it  on  either  side.  The  monotony  of  the  country, 
due  to  the  absence  of  mountains,  hills  or  broken  surface,  is 
relieved  by  the  picturesque  bays  and  creeks  which  make  up 
into  the  mainland  at  frequent  intervals  along  its  coasts. 

The  Indians  gave  this  isolated  peninsula  the  name  of 
"Acchawmake,"  or  Accomac,1  which  in  our  tongue  signifies 
"land  beyond  the  water,"  a  meaning  that  has  reference  to 
the  location  of  the  peninsula,  separated  as  it  is  from  the 
mainland  of  Virginia  by  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 

^pelt  variously,  Accomack,  Accomacke,  Accawmake,  Acchawmacke, 
Accomac,  Achomat.  (Algonquin  for  "a  broad  bay"  or  "the  other  side- 
land.")  Chesapeake — a  superior  or  greater  salt  bav.  Pocomoke — 
"Knobby." 


2  EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  two  counties,  which  together  make  up  this  peninsula, 
known  as  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  are  Accomac  and 
Northampton,  the  latter  lying  to  the  south  of  and  being  a 
little  more  than  half  as  large  as  the  former.  Together  they 
formerly  comprised  that  section  of  Virginia  known  to  the 
first  English  Colonists  as  "Ye  Antient  Kingdome  of  Ac- 
cawmake." 

On  account  of  the  physical  character  of  our  little  penin- 
sula, the  English  Sovereigns  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  are 
said  to  have  called  it  by  the  peculiarly  appropriate  name  of 
"Chersonesus  Orientalis,"  for  it  resembles  not  only  in  physi- 
cal features,  but  in  fertility  of  soil,  the  famous  peninsula  of 
the  Thracian  Hellespont. 

Not  only  during  the  period  embraced  in  these  pages,  but 
down  to  a  comparatively  recent  date,  in  spite  of  the  salubrity 
of  its  climate,  the  astonishing  fertility  of  its  soil,  the  fame 
of  its  scholars,  soldiers  and  statesmen,  the  Eastern  Shore 
remained  a  terra  incognita,  a  dim  and  shadowy  land  some- 
where towards  the  rising  sun.  The  denizens  of  this  remote 
Kingdom  were  supposed  to  be  a  primitive  race  of  fishermen 
and  oystermen,  grown  drowsy  through  years  of  basking  in 
the  tempered  rays  of  the  sun  or,  like  the  land  itself,  over- 
come by  the  ennui  of  a  perpetual  sea  bath.  But  no  man  can 
feel  the  vigorous  pulse  of  its  history,  without  realizing  that 
the  best  blood  of  the  "Old  Dominion"  coursed  in  undiluted 
form  through  the  veins  of  the  Accawmackians. 

When  Captain  Smith  wrote  that  "Heaven  and  earth  seemed 
never  to  have  agreed  better  to  have  framed  a  place  for  man's 
commodious  and  delightful  habitation,"  his  mind  no  doubt 
dwelt  in  sweet  meditation  upon  the  little  Kingdom  which  he 
described  as  a  place  of  pleasant  clayey  soil  and  for  which  he 
ever  evinced  a  tender  affection. 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY  3 

The  soil  of  the  peninsula,  which  is  of  post-tertiary  forma- 
tion, is  a  portion  of  that  great  alluvial  marine  plain,  which 
extends  from  Martha's  Vineyard  in  Massachusetts  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  consists 
of  a  rich  sandy  loam  that  yields  with  great  facility  to  culti- 
vation. Densely  wooded  by  nature,  innumerable  clearings 
had  been  made  by  the  natives,  along  the  margin  of  creek  and 
marsh,  when  the  first  white  men  took  up  their  abode  there. 
Luxuriant  fields  of  Indian  corn  and  tobacco  filled  the  clear- 
ings and  rustled  in  the  breezes  from  the  sea  and  bay,  and 
owing  to  the  mildness  of  the  climate  and  the  consequent 
length  of  the  growing  season,  the  earth,  even  with  the  primi- 
tive methods  of  native  husbandry,  was  able  to  produce  two 
crops  in  a  single  year. 

From  Pocomoke  to  the  Cape,  the  land  was  as  level  as  the 
sea  which  refreshed  it  with  her  cooling  breath,  nor  did  stone 
or  rocks  of  any  kind  oppose  the  plowshare  of  the  planter. 
The  sombre  forest  mingled  the  pungent  odor  of  pine  with 
the  delicate  scent  of  wild  flowers,  woven  by  nature  into  a 
variegated  carpet  on  the  ground  beneath.  Innumerable 
springs  trickled  from  the  earth,  their  cool  water  forced  up 
by  the  pressure  of  the  tide ;  the  waves  which  washed  the 
shores  paused  not  at  their  watery  limits  but  swept  on  from 
a  sea  of  blue  through  the  boundless  meadows  of  the  marge. 

The  discovery  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia  was  the 
result  of  a  long  search  for  a  northwestern  passage  to  Cathay. 
Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  there  was  in  the  employ  of 
Francis  the  First,  King  of  France,  a  soldier  or  sailor  of 
fortune,  named  Giovanni  de  Verrazano,  whom  the  French- 
men of  Dieppe  called  Jean  Verrassen,  or  Juan  Florin.  Ver- 
razano was  born  about  1480,  in  Florence,  of  distinguished 
parents.  Fired  by  the  tales  of  adventure  and  discovery 
which  filled  men's  minds  at  the  time,  he  perfected  himself 


4  EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

in  the  sciences  of  navigation  and  geography,  and  became  a 
skilful  pilot  and  a  learned  navigator.  He  soon  entered  the 
service  of  France,  and  with  headquarters  at  Dieppe,  suc- 
cessfully preyed  upon  the  commerce  of  Spain,  winning 
royal   favor   by   capturing   much   gold   and    other   treasure. 

Columbus  had  labored  under  the  mistaken  belief  that  the 
shores  on  which  he  had  landed  were  the  shores  of  Asia,  and 
his  last  voyage  was  made  in  quest  of  the  Strait  of  Malacca, 
which  he  believed  to  be  near  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Other 
voyages,  however,  following  close  thereafter,  disclosed  an 
unbroken  coast  line  from  Patagonia  to  Florida,  and  the  fact 
that  the  land  of  Columbus  was  a  new  world  had  begun  to 
dawn  upon  navigators  and  geographers  by  1521.  They  saw 
in  it  a  barrier  between  Europe  and  Asia,  and  the  return  of 
Magellan's  exhausted  expedition  in  1522  satisfied  them  of 
the  impracticability  of  the  Cape  Horn  route  to  the  East. 

Verrazano  having  been  commissioned  by  the  French  King 
to  explore  the  coast  of  the  New  World  in  search  of  a  north- 
western passage,  in  the  autumn  of  1523  set  sail  from  Dieppe 
with  two  ships.  After  several  mishaps,  one  of  which  caused 
the  loss  of  a  vessel,  he  sighted  the  coast  of  North  Carolina 
on  March  10,  1524,  and  named  the  country  "Dieppa,"  an 
Italianized  form  of  Dieppe.  After  making  a  landing  a  lit- 
tle north  of  Cape  Fear,  he  proceeded  northward,  ever  in 
search  of  an  easy  route  to  Cathay,  and  in  some  unaccount- 
able way  passed  the  Virginia  Capes.  When  Verrazano  next 
landed,  it  was  upon  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  about 
ten  miles  north  of  Cape  Charles,  and  he  no  doubt  has  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  white  man  to  set  foot  upon  that  soil, 
unless  preceded  by  the  Vikings,  or  by  the  Welchmen  of 
Prince  Madoc's  Band,  who  are  said  to  have  infested  the 
neighboring  shores  in  the  dim  ages  of  the  past. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY  5 

During  the  three  days  which  Verrazano  spent  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  he  penetrated  inland  from  the  sea  coast  and 
viewed  the  majestic  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  This  first 
sight  of  what  appeared  to  be  an  almost  boundless  body  of 
water  led  to  a  world-wide  error,  requiring  three  generations 
for  its  correction ;  for  confident  that  he  had  seen  the  western 
sea,  Verrazano  returned  to  his  ship,  La  Dauphine,  and  coast- 
ing northward,  entered  the  Hudson  and  the  Penobscot  in 
quest  of  the  much-desired  passage.  Disappointed  in  his 
search,  but  with  experience,  and  just  enough  knowledge  to 
mislead  the  geographers,  he  returned  to  Europe  and  with 
his  brother  Hieronimo  or  Giralamo  de  Verrazano,  in  1529, 
based  upon  his  discoveries  a  map  which  exercised  great  in- 
fluence upon  subsequent  navigation  and  exploration.  This 
map  and  the  one  of  Vesconte  Maggiolo,  drafted  about  the 
same  time,  depicted  Florida  as  connected  with  Mexico  and 
also  with  Labrador  by  a  long,  narrow  isthmus.  Between 
Mexico  and  the  continental  mass  to  the  north,  through  which 
the  Hudson  and  Penobscot  were  supposed  to  flow,  was  rep- 
resented an  immense  sea,  a  reach  of  the  Pacific ;  and  at  the 
point  where  Verrazano  landed  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  a  nota- 
tion informs  us  that  here  the  isthmus  is  but  six  miles  wide. 
This  sea  of  Verrazano,  spreading  over  what  is  really  the 
western  and  central  portion  of  the  United  States,  was  re- 
garded as  a  reality  for  years,  and  continued  to  be  represented 
on  maps  until  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
de  Soto  and  Coronado  proved  the  existence  of  land  from 
Florida  to  California;  but  even  then  land  was  supposed  to 
continue  only  to  the  40th  parallel.1 

'For  reduced  copy  of  the  map  of  Hieronimo  de  Verrazano  see  Windsor, 
Narr.  and  Crit.  History,  Vol.  IV,  p.  26.  The  original  is  in  the  college  of 
the  Propaganda  at  Rome. 


6     EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  Verrazano  ever  made  such 
a  voyage  as  he  claimed  to  have  made  in  1524,1  and  the 
student  of  history  must  study  the  authorities  and  satisfy 
himself  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  claims.2  It  will  be 
hard,  however,  to  shake  the  faith  of  Eastern  Shoremen  in 
Verrazano's  veracity  after  they  peruse  the  following  extract 
taken  from  his  letter  to  Francis  the  First: 

"Departing  hence,  and  always  following  the  shore,  which 
stretched  to  the  north,  we  came,  in  space  of  fifty  leagues,  to 
another  land,  which  appeared  very  beautiful  and  full  of  the 
largest  forests.  We  approached  it,  and  going  ashore  with 
twenty  men,  we  went  back  from  the  coast  about  two  leagues, 
and  found  that  the  people  had  fled  and  hid  themselves  in 
the  woods  for  fear.  By  searching  around  we  discovered  in 
the  grass  a  very  old  woman  and  a  young  girl  of  about 
eighteen  or  twenty,  who  had  concealed  themselves  for  the 
same  reason.  The  old  woman  carried  two  infants  on  her 
shoulders,  and  behind  her  neck  a  little  boy  eight  years  of 
age;  when  we  came  up  to  them  they  began  to  shriek  and 
make  signs  to  the  men  who  had  fled  to  the  woods.  We  gave 
them  a  part  of  our  provisions,  which  they  accepted  with  de- 
light, but  the  girl  would  not  touch  any ;  everything  we  offered 
to  her  being  thrown  down  in  great  anger.  We  took  the  little 
boy  away  from  the  old  woman  to  carry  with  us  to  France, 
and  would  have  taken  the  girl  also,  who  was  very  beautiful 
and  very  tall,  but  it  was  impossible  because  of  the  loud 
shrieks  she  uttered  as  we  attempted  to  lead  her  away ;  having 
to  pass  some  woods,  and  being  far  from  the  ship,  we  de- 
termined to  leave  her  and  take  the  boy  only.  We  found  them 
fairer  than  the  others,  and  wearing  a  covering  made  of  certain 

"The  Voyage  of  Verrazano.     Murphy,  X.  Y.,  1875. 
*For  authorities  concerning  Verrazano,  collected  by  Mr.  Fiske,  see  as 
follows : 

"Verrazano  the  Navigator,"  Brevoost,  N.  Y.,  1874. 
Asher's  Henry  Hudson,  London,  1860,  pp.  197-228. 
Kohl's  "Discovery  of  Maine,"  Chap.  VIII. 

De   Costa,   Verrazano   the  Explorer,  N.   Y.,    1881,   with   full   bio- 
graphical note. 
Winsor.  Narr.  and  Crit.  History,  Vol.  IV,  1-30. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY  7 

plants,  which  hung  down  from  the  branches  of  the  trees, 
tying  them  together  with  threads  of  wild  hemp ;  their  heads 
are  without  covering,  and  of  the  same  shape  as  the  others. 
Their  food  is  a  kind  of  pulse  which  there  abounds  different  in 
color  and  size  from  ours,  and  of  a  very  delicious  flavor. 
Besides,  they  take  birds  and  fish  for  food,  using  snares  and 
bows  made  of  hard  wood,  with  reeds  for  arrows,  in  the  end 
of  which  they  put  the  bones  of  fish  and  other  animals.  The 
animals  in  these  regions  are  wilder  than  in  Europe,  from 
being  continually  molested  by  the  hunters.  We  saw  many 
of  their  boats  made  of  one  tree  twenty  feet  long,  four  feet 
broad,  without  the  aid  of  stone  or  iron  or  other  kind  of 
metal.  In  the  whole  country,  for  the  space  of  two  hundred 
leagues,  which  we  visited,  we  saw  no  stone  of  any  sort.  To 
hollow  out  their  boats,  they  burn  out  as  much  of  a  log  as  is 
requisite,  and  also  from  the  prow  and  stern  to  make  them 
float  well  on  the  sea.  The  land,  in  situation,  fertility  and 
beauty,  is  like  the  other,  abounding  also  in  forests  filled 
with  various  kinds  of  trees,  but  not  of  such  fragrance,  as  it 
is  more  northern  and  colder. 

"We  saw  in  this  country  many  vines  growing  naturally, 
which  entwine  about  the  trees,  and  run  up  upon  them  as 
they  do  in  the  plains  of  Lombardy.  These  vines  would 
doubtless  produce  excellent  wine  if  they  were  properly  cul- 
tivated and  attended  to,  as  we  have  often  seen  the  grapes 
which  they  produce  very  sweet  and  pleasant,  and  not  unlike 
our  own.  They  must  be  held  in  estimation  by  them,  as  they 
carefully  remove  the  shrubbery  from  around  them,  wherever 
they  grow,  to  allow  the  fruit  to  ripen  better.  We  found  also 
wild  roses,  violets,  lilies,  and  many  sorts  of  plants  and  fra- 
grant flowers  different  from  our  own.  We  can  not  describe 
their  habitations  as  they  are  in  the  interior  of  the  country, 
but  from  various  indications  we  conclude  they  must  be 
formed  of  trees  and  shrubs.  We  also  saw  many  grounds  for 
conjecturing  that  they  often  sleep  in  the  open  air,  without 
any  covering  but  the  sky.  Of  their  other  customs  we  know 
nothing;  we  believe,  however,  that  all  the  people  we  were 
among  live  in  the  same  way."1 

1Early  voyages  to  America.     By  Conway  Robinson,  p.  307. 


8  EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that  of  the  host  of  navigators  who 
eagerly  sought  for  a  northwestern  passage  to  the  East,  as  a 
result  of  Magellan's  voyage,  two  of  the  first  landed  upon 
Virginian  soil,  and  are,  as  far  as  known,  the  first  white  men 
to  visit  Virginia. 

About  the  time  Verrazano  was  cruising  along  the  Atlantic 
Coast  (in  1524),  Lucas  Vasquez  d'Ayllon  entered  the  Capes 
of  Virginia  in  search  of  the  passage.  Attracted  by  the 
equable  climate  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  failing  to 
find  the  route  to  Cathay,  d'Ayllon  secured  from  his  King, 
Charles  V,  a  grant  of  the  new-found  land,  and  in  1526  built 
the  town  of  San  Miguel  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River, 
near  where  Jamestown  was  founded  eighty-one  years  later. 

The  attempt  of  the  Spaniards  to  found  a  permanent  set- 
tlement in  Virginia  proved  abortive.  Internal  strife  and 
disease  wiped  out  San  Miguel,  and  the  few  survivors  of 
what  might  be  called  an  expedition,  sailed  away  from  Vir- 
ginia's shores  in  search  of  other  adventure,  leaving  the  task 
of  the  colonization  of  the  country  to  the  hardy  and  enterpris- 
ing sons  of  Britain. 

One  event  in  the  history  of  San  Miguel  was  ominous  of 
the  future.  The  first  white  inhabitants  of  Virginia  suffered 
sorely,  as  a  result  of  the  insurrection  of  negro  slaves  whom 
they  brought  with  them.  Ninety-three  years  before  the 
Dutch  deposited  their  unfortunate  cargo  of  negroes  at  James- 
town, slavery  had  existed  on  Virginia  soil,  destroying  the 
happiness  of  the  first  white  occupants  of  the  land,  imperil- 
ing their  safety,  and  ultimately  leading  to  the  destruction 
of  their  colony.  The  Dutch,  however,  are  in  no  wise  exon- 
erated for  having  imposed  the  awful  burden  of  the  negro 
upon  the  English  Colonists  of  Virginia,  by  the  mere  state- 
ment of  this  fact,  a  fact  too  often  ignored  by  the  historians. 

Whether  d'Ayllon  set  foot  upon  Virginia  soil  before  Ver- 
razano landed  on  the  Eastern  Shore  is  not  known,  nor  is  it 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY    9 

known  whether  d' Ay  lion  or  any  of  his  colonists  visited  the 
"Land  across  the  water."  It  is  hardly  possible,  however, 
that  Spanish  ships  passed  in  and  out  between  the  capes  with- 
out investigating  the  region  to  the  north,  as  John  Smith  did 
in  1608,  especially  when  we  consider  the  inquisitive  nature 
of  the  early  Spaniards,  and  their  practical  seamanship  and 
methods  of  exploration.  Surely  d'Ayllon  in  search  of  the 
northwest  passage  would  never  have  sailed  about  the  northern 
reaches  of  Chesapeake  Bay  without  landing  to  obtain  water 
or  to  investigate  the  natives,  great  numbers  of  whom  usually 
lined  the  beaches  to  welcome  strange  visitors  to  their  shores. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  history  records  nothing  in  connection  with 
the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia  until  1G03. 

The  traditions  handed  down  to  their  sons  and  grandsons 
by  the  Accawmacke  Indians,  who  welcomed  Verrazano  to 
their  shores  in  1524,  could  not  have  been  very  pleasant  ones. 
Perhaps  some  of  that  explorer's  men  had  treated  the  natives 
roughly  or  in  some  manner  imposed  upon  them ;  or  perhaps 
other  white  men,  of  whom  we  have  no  knowledge,  had  landed 
upon  the  peninsula  and  aroused  the  enmity  of  the  natives. 
Whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  when  the  next  white 
men  of  whom  we  know,  after  Verrazano,  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Accawmacke,  they  were  not  received  in  a  friendly  or 
hospitable  way. 

Bartholomew  Gilbert,  the  son  of  the  noted  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  after  a  voyage  to  the  New  England  coast,  which 
lasted  from  March  26th  to  July  23rd,  1602,  was  seized  with 
a  great  desire  to  search  the  more  southern  coasts  of  Virginia 
for  the  lost  Colonists  of  Roanoke  Island. 

Accordingly,  he  set  sail  in  a  bark  of  fifty  tons,  manned  by 
a  small  crew,  and  being  caught  in  a  storm  in  July,  1603,  off 
the  Capes  of  Virginia,  entered  the  bay  in  quest  of  a  good 
harbor.     Seeing  to  the  north  an  inviting  country,  lined  with 


10        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

great  trees  at  the  mouth  of  what  appeared  to  be  a  river,1  they 
headed  for  the  Eastern  Shore  peninsula,  and  anchored  about 
a  mile  on0  the  beach.  Being  in  great  need  of  water  and  fuel, 
Captain  Gilbert,  accompanied  by  Master  Thomas  Canner,  a 
gentleman  of  Bernard's  Inne,  as  he  styled  himself,  Richard 
Harison,2  the  master's  mate,  Henry  Kenton,  their  "Chiru- 
gion,"  all  well  armed,  went  ashore,  leaving  two  small  boys 
on  the  beach  to  care  for  the  boat.  The  party  had  gone  only 
a  short  distance  when  the  Indians  fell  upon  them,  killing 
Captain  Gilbert  and  one  other.  With  much  difficulty  the 
rest  succeeded  in  saving  the  boat  and  reaching  their  comrades. 
From  this  unpromising  neighborhood,  and  satisfied  in  their 
minds,  no  doubt,  as  to  the  fate  of  Sir  Walter's  unfortunate 
colonists,  the  crew  of  the  good  ship  Elizabeth  weighed  an- 
chor and  reached  London,  their  home  port,  in  September, 
1603,  only  to  find  the  city  "grievously  infected  with  a  terri- 
ble plague." 

The  superstitious  would  say  that  the  ill  fortune  of  the 
venture  was  due  to  the  day  of  landing,  which  was  Friday. 
(29th  of  July,  1603.  )3 

'Probably  Bullock's  Channel  between  Smith's  Island  and  the  Ma  in- 
land. 

-First  of  the  Harrisons  in  Virginia? 

3A  Voyage  to  Virginia  in  1603.  Written  by  Master  Thomas  Canner. 
See  Purchas's  Pilgrimes,  p.  1656,  Vol.  IV. 


II 

The  Coming  of  the  English  and  Smith's  Explorations 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1602,  one  Captain  Bartholomew 
Gosnold  visited  the  new  world,  and  returned  to  London  con- 
vinced of  the  great  public,  not  to  say  personal,  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  the  planting  of  a  Colony  on  the  soil  of  Virginia. 
Not  discouraged  by  the  previous  failures  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  to  colonize  Virginia,  Gosnold  secured  the  support  of 
John  Smith,  a  soldier  of  fortune  and  of  great  repute,  Edward 
Maria  Wingfield,  Parson  Hunt,  and  others,  and  together 
they  parleyed  and  lobbied  about  the  Court  of  King  James, 
spending  much  time  and  money  among  courtiers  and  influ- 
ential persons  in  the  hope  of  bringing  their  influence  to  bear 
upon  the  King.  Persistence  conquered  at  last,  and  on  April 
10,  1606,  letters  patent  were  issued,  authorizing  the  estab- 
lishment of  two  colonies  in  Virginia. 

We  shall  concern  ourselves  only  with  the  southern  colony, 
the  plantation  of  which  was  entrusted  to  a  company  composed 
of  Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  George  Somers,  Knights ;  Rich- 
ard Hackluyt,  Clerk,  prebendary  of  Westminster,  Edward 
Maria  Wingfield,  and  others,  mostly  residents  of  London. 
This  Company  was  authorized  to  plant  a  Colony  wherever 
they  might  choose  between  34°  and  41°  of  north  latitude; 
and  the  King  vested  in  them  a  right  of  property  in  the  land 
extending  along  the  sea  coast  fifty  statute  miles  on  each  side 
of  the  place  of  their  first  plantation,  and  reaching  into  the 
interior  one  hundred  miles  from  the  sea  coast,  together  with 
all  islands  within  one  hundred  miles  of  their  shores. 


11 


12        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

At  length,  three  vessels  were  fitted  out  for  the  expedition, 
a  pinnace  of  twenty  tons,  and  two  ships  of  forty  and  one 
hundred  tons  respectively,  and  placed  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Christopher  Newport,  a  navigator  experienced  in 
voyages  to  the  New  World. 

In  the  charter  granted  to  Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  his  asso- 
ciates, it  was  provided  that  the  colony  should  have  a  council 
of  its  own,  subject  to  a  superior  council  in  England;  and  on 
November  20,  160G,  instructions  were  given  by  the  King  fur 
the  government  of  the  two  colonies,  directing  that  the  council 
in  England  should  be  approved  by  the  Crown,  and  the  local 
council  by  the  superior  one  in  England.  It  was  further  pro- 
vided that  the  members  of  the  junior  council  were  to  elect 
their  own  president  annually  from  among  their  number. 
Orders  were  enclosed  in  a  sealed  box,  which  was  put  on  boa  rd 
the  Commander's  ship ;  and  it  was  ordered  that  this  box  was 
not  to  be  opened  until  a  landing  in  Virginia  was  effected. 

The  little  expedition  set  sail  from  Blaekwall,  December 
19,  1606,  and  after  a  long  and  tedious  voyage,  not  without 
adventure,  however,  "God,  the  guider  of  all  good  actions,  did 
drive  them  by  his  providence  to  their  desired  port,"  on  April 
26,  1607,  which  happened  in  this  case  to  be  a  low  and  sandy 
point,  which  they  named  Cape  Henry,  after  their  Royal 
Prince.  A  number  of  the  weary  voyagers,  who  landed  upon 
the  Cape  to  investigate  the  new  land,  were  angrily  received  by 
the  natives,  who  showered  arrows  upon  the  intruders,  wound- 
ing two  of  the  party.  Justly  considering  Cape  Henry  an 
inhospitable  coast,  the  expedition  departed  therefrom  in  quest 
of  a  suitable  spot  for  their  settlement.  That  night  the  sealed 
orders  were  opened  and  it  was  found  that  Bartholomew  Gos- 
nold,  John  Smith,  Edward  Maria  Wingfield,  Christopher 
Newport,  John  Ratcliffe,  John  Martin  and  George  Kendall 
were  to  compose  the  first  council.     For  seventeen  days  the 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        13 

expedition  cast  about  for  a  suitable  landing  place,  and  finally, 
on  May  13,  1607,  it  was  determined  to  disembark  upon  what 
was  afterwards  known  as  Jamestown  Island.  Wingfield  was 
immediately  chosen  President  by  the  council,  and  under  his 
command  the  work  of  settlement  commenced.  The  foregoing 
account  has  been  given  by  way  of  introduction  to  Captain 
John  Smith,  who  after  Verrazano,  Gilbert,  and  possibly 
d'Ayllon,  was  the  next  white  man  to  visit  the  Eastern  Shore. 

It  was  very  natural  that  the  enthusiastic  Gosnold  should 
desire  to  enlist  Smith's  interest  in  behalf  of  his  colonization 
scheme.  A  man  of  such  great  experience  and  prowess  would 
be  invaluable  in  the  organization  and  establishment  of  a  set- 
tlement in  the  wilderness  of  the  New  World,  for  trials  and 
difficulties  calculated  to  discourage  and  overcome  the  average 
man  would  merely  lend  zest  to  the  venture,  so  far  as  Smith 
was  concerned. 

If  we  read  Smith's  own  account  of  his  adventures  in  this 
and  the  Old  World,  while  we  may  admire  his  courage  and 
ability  as  a  leader,  yet  we  are  forced  to  confess  that  he  was 
somewhat  of  a  braggart  and  given  to  self-exploitation.  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  if  Smith  were  more  of  a  boaster  than  other 
navigators  and  adventurers  of  his  time,  yet  he  seems  to  have 
aroused  the  jealousy  of  his  companions,  for  soon  after  leaving 
the  Canary  Islands,  where  the  ships  replenished  their  supply 
of  water  on  the  way  to  Virginia,  he  was  accused  of  plotting 
to  usurp  the  command  of  the  expedition  and  make  himself 
King.  For  thirteen  weeks,  he  was  held  in  duress,  and  at  the 
election  of  the  President  of  the  council,  on  the  13th  day  of 
May,  the  day  of  disembarkation  at  Jamestown,  it  was  ex- 
plained at  the  meeting  why  he  could  not  act  as  one  of  the 
council,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  in  the  sealed  orders. 
The  President  offered  to  send  him  back  to  England  with 
Captain  Newport  and  let  the  charges  against  him  drop,  but 


1  I         K  ASTERN  SHORE  OF  V1R< !  I  X  I A  HISTORY 

Smith  seeing  Wingfleld's  jealous  desire  to  dispose  of  him, 
refused  the  offer,  and  by  upright  conduct,  and  the  invaluable 
services  which  his  experience  and  ability  enabled  him  to  per- 
form in  behalf  of  the  settlement,  overcame  all  jealousy  and 

picion,  and  disconcerted  the  machinations  of  his  enemies, 
and  through  the  good  offices  of  Parson  Hunt,  was  soon  re- 
stored to  the  Council,  and  a  reconciliation  ensued. 

During  the  first  year  at  Jamestown,  Smith  was  busily 
engaged  in  exploring  the  James  River  and  in  negotiating  and 
making  friends  with  King  Powdiatan,  who  had  caused  his 
capture  and  liberated  him  at  the  instance  of  Pocahontas.  In 
his  dealings  with  the  savages,  he  had  shown  a  master's  hand ; 
and  having  made  himself  indispensable  to  the  settlers,  became 
their  real  leader. 

The  second  of  June,  1608,  John  Smith  left  Jamestown 
with  a  small  body  of  men,  bent  upon  the  exploration  of  the 
great  bay,  across  the  mouth  of  which  they  had  sailed  the  year 
before,  and  upon  the  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  low 
lying  land  north  of  Cape  Henry. 

The  company  was  made  up  as  follows : 

"Captain  John  Smith,  Commander. 
Walter  Russell,  Dr.  of  Physicke. 

GENTLEMKX 

Rolf  Alurton  Richard  Fetherston 

Thomas  Momford  James  Bume 

William  Comtrill.  Michell  Sicklemore 

SOULDIERS 

Jonas  Profit  James  Watkins 

Anas  Todkill  John  Powell 

Robert  Small  James  Read 

Richard  Keale  " 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOEY        15 

The  account  of  the  expedition  from  now  on,  as  written 
or  approved  by  Captain  John  Smith  himself,  is  too  interest- 
ing to  omit,  so  it  is  inserted  in  full  so  far  as  it  concerns  the 
Eastern  Shore.  Referring  to  the  above  gentlemen  and  sol- 
diers, he  writes : 

"These  being  in  an  open  barge  neare  three  tuns  burthen, 
leaving  the  Phoenix  at  Cape  Henry,  they  crossed  the  bay  to 
the  Eastern  Shore,  and  fell  with  the  Isles  called  Smiths  Isles, 
after  our  Captaines  name.1  The  first  people  we  saw  were 
two  grim  and  stout  Salvages  upon  Cape  Charles,  with  long 
poles  like  Javelings,  headed  with  bone,  they  boldly  demanded 
what  we  were,  and  what  we  would ;  but  after  many  circum- 
stances they  seemed  very  kinde,  and  directed  us  to  Acco- 
mack,2 the  habitation  of  their  Werowance,  where  we  were 
kindly  intreated.  This  King  was  the  comliest,  most  proper, 
civill  Salvage  we  incountered.  His  Country  is  a  pleasant 
fertile  clay  soyle,  some  small  creekes ;  good  harbours  for 
small  Barks,  but  not  for  Ships.  He  told  us  of  a  strange 
accident  lately  happende  him,  and  it  was,  two  children  being 
dead ;  some  extreame  passions,  or  dreaming  visions,  phan- 
tasies, or  affection  moved  their  parents  againe  to  revisit  their 
dead  carkases,  whose  benumbed  bodies  reflected  to  the  eyes 
of  the  beholders  such  delightful  countenances,  as  though 
they  had  regained  their  vitall  spirits.  This  as  a  miracle 
drew  many  to  behold  them,  all  which  being  a  great  part  of  his 
people,  not  long  after  dyed,  and  but  few  escaped.3  They 
spake  the  language  of  Powhatan,  wherein  they  made  such 

aThe  island,  still  called  Smith's  Island,  situated  about  two  miles  to 
the  east  of  Cape  Charles,  and  which  is  about  twelve  miles  long  and 
about  two  miles  broad,  must  have  been  the  principal  island  here 
alluded  to. 

2It  is  evident  from  Smith's  map,  inserted  in  his  book,  that  this 
place,  above  alluded  to,  denominated  by  him  in  his  said  map,  Accow- 
mack,  was  situated  within  the  interior  part  of  Cape  Charles,  and  on  or 
near  the  place  called  Cherryton,  in  Northampton  county. 

3The  medicine  men  of  the  tribe  may  have  embalmed  the  bodies  in 
some  way.  It  is  probable  that  the  children  died  of  smallpox  or  some 
other  contagious  disease  which  was  contracted  by  the  curious  visitors. 


16         EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

descriptions  of  the  Bay  Isles,  and  rivers,  that  often  did  us 
exceeding  pleasure.  Passing  along  the  coast,  searching  every 
inlet,  and  Bay,  fit  for  harbours  and  habitations.  Seeing 
many  Isles  in  the  midst  of  the  Bay  we  bore  up  for  them,  but 
ere  we  could  obtaine  them,  such  an  extreme  gust  of  wind, 
rayne,  thunder,  and  lightening  happened,  that  with  great 
danger  we  escaped  the  unmerciful  raging  of  that  Ocean-like 
water.  The  highest  land  on  the  Mayne,  yet  it  was  not  low, 
we  called  Keales  hill,1  and  these  uninhabited  Isles,  Russell 
Isles.2  The  next  day  searching  them  for  fresh  water,  we 
could  find  none,  the  defect  whereof  forced  us  to  follow  the 
next  Easterne  channell,  which  brought  us  to  the  river  of 
"Wighcocomoco.  The  people  at  first  with  great  fury  seemed 
to  assault  us,  yet  at  last  with  songs  and  daunces  and  much 
mirth  became  very  tractable,  but  searching  the  habitations 
for  water,  we  could  fill  but  three  barricoes,  &  that  such  pud- 
dles, that  never  till  then  we  ever  knew  the  want  of  good 
water.  We  digged  and  searched  in  many  places,  but  before 
two  daics  were  expired,  we  would  have  refused  two  barri- 
coes of  gold  for  one  of  that  puddle  water  of  Wighcocomoco. 
Being  past  these  Isles  which  are  many  in  number,  but  all 
naught  for  habitation,  falling  with  a  high  land  upon  the 
mayne,  we  found  a  great  pond  of  fresh  water,  but  so  exceed- 


'From  Smith's  location  of  this  "hill"  on  his  map,  it  must  have  been 
some  high  land  or  rising  ground  on  the  bay-coast  of  Northampton 
County;  perhaps  somewhere  about  Onancock.  He  appears  throughout 
his  exploration  of  the  Chesapeake  to  have  given  names  to  several  places 
in  compliment  to  individuals  of  his  crew;  probably  from  some  incidental 
circumstances  attending  their  discoveries,  not  mentioned  in  the  narra- 
tion of  his  voyage.  Richard  Keale,  one  of  his  "souldiers,"  might  possibly 
have  first  observed  or  discovered  this  "hill,"  and  Smith  called  it  after 
him. 

'These  isles,  which  Smith  called  Russell's  Isles  (probably  in  com- 
pliment to  his  friend  and  present  companion,  Doctor  Russell),  were  the 
lowest  cluster  within  the  bay.  It  is  a  very  ordinary  circumstance,  how- 
ever, that  in  the  latest  and  best  maps  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  a  dis- 
agreement  occurs  in  the  denomination  given  to  these  lower  Islands.  In 
Griffith's  map  of  Maryland,  published  in  1794,  they  are  called  Tangier 
Islands:  but  in  that  of  Virginia,  published  by  Bishop  Madison  in  1807, 
these  same  islands  are  denominated  Watt's  Islands.  The  later  denomina- 
tion we  may  suppose  to  be  the  most  correct. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY         17 

ing  hot  that  we  supposed  it  some  bath ;  that  place  we  called 
Poynt  Ployer,  in,  honor  of  that  most  honourable  house  of 
Mousay  in  Britaine,  that  in  an  extreame  extremities  once 
relieved  our  Captaine.  From  Wighcocomoco  to  this  place, 
all  the  coast  is  low  broken  Isles  of  Moras,  growne  a  myle  or 
two  in  breadth,  and  ten  or  twelve  in  length,  good  to  cut  for 
hay  in  Summer,  and  to  catch  fish  and  foule  in  Winter;  but 
the  land  beyond  them  is  all  covered  with  wood,  as  is  the  rest 
of  the  Country. 

''Being  thus  refreshed  in  crossing  over  from  the  mayne  to 
other  Isles,  we  discovered  the  winde  and  waters  so  much 
increased  with  thunder,  lightening,  and  raine,  that  our  mast 
and  sayle  blew  overboard  and  such  mighty  waves  overrackes 
us  in  that  small  barge  that  with  great  labour  we  kept  her 
from  sinking  by  freeing  out  the  water.  Two  days  we  were 
inforced  to  inhabite  these  uninhabited  Isles  which  for  the 
extremities  of  gusts,  thunder,  raine,  stormes,  and  ill  wether 
we  called  Limbo.  Repairing  our  saile  with  our  shirts,  we 
set  sayle  for  the  maine  and  fell  with  a  pretty  convenient 
river  on  the  East  called  Cuskarawack,  the  people  ran  as 
amazed  in  troups  from  place  to  place,  and  divers  got  into 
the  tops  of  trees,  they  were  not  sparing  of  their  arrowes,  nor 
the  greatest  passion  they  could  expresse  of  their  anger.  Long 
they  shot,  we  still  ryding  at  an  Anchor  without  there  reatch 
making  all  the  signes  of  friendship  we  could.  The  next  day 
they  came  unarmed,  with  every  one  a  basket,  dancing  in  a 
ring,  to  draw  us  on  shore ;  but  seeing  there  was  nothing  in 
them  but  villany,  we  discharged  a  volley  of  muskets  charged 
with  pistoll  shots,  whereat  they  all  lay  tumbling  on  the 
grownd,  creeping  some  oneway,  some  another  into  a  great 
cluster  of  reeds  hard  by;  where  their  companies  lay  in 
Ambuscade.  Towards  evening  we  wayed,  &  approached  the 
shoare,  discharging  five  or  six  shot  among  the  reedes,  we 
landed  where  there  lay  a  many  of  baskets  and  much  bloud, 
but  saw  not  a  Savage.  A  smoke  appearing  on  the  other  side 
the  river,  we  rowed  thither,  where  we  found  two  or  three 
little  houses,  in  each  a  fire,  there  we  left  some  peeces  of  cop- 
per, beads,  bells,  and  looking  glasses,  and  then  went  into  the 


18         EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

bay,  Inn  when  it  was  darke  we  came  back  agine.  Early  in 
the  morning  foure  Salvages  came  to  us  in  their  Canow,  whom 
wo  used  with  such  courtesies,  not  knowing  what  we  were, 
nor  had  done,  having  been  in  the  bay  a-fishing,  bade  us  stay 
and  ere  long  they  would  returne,  which  they  did  and  some 
twentie  inure  with  them;  with  whom  after  little  conference, 
two  or  three  thousand  men,  women  &  children  came  cluster- 
ing about  us,  every  one  presenting  us  with  something,  which 
a  little  bead  would  so  well  requite,  that  we  became  such 
friends  they  would  contend  who  should  fetch  us  water,  stay 
with  us  for  hostage,  conduct  our  men  any  whither,  and  give 
us  the  best  content.  Here  doth  inhabite  the  people  of  Sara- 
pinagh,  Xause,  Arseek,  and  Xantaquak  the  best  Merchants 
of  all  other  Salvages.  They  much  extolled  a  great  nation 
called  Massawomekes,  in  search  of  whom  we  returned  by 
Limbo;  this  river  but  onely  at  the  entrance  is  very  narrow, 
and  the  people  of  small  stature  as  them  of  Wightcocomoco, 
the  Land  but  low,  yet  it  may  prove  very  commodious,  because 
it  is  but  a  ridge  of  land  betwixt  the  Bay  and  the  maine 
Ocean.  Finding  this  Easterne  Shore,  shallow  broken  Isles, 
and  for  most  part  without  fresh  water,  we  passed  by  the 
straites  of  Limbo  for  the  Western  shore;  so  broad  is  the  bay 
here,  we  could  scarce  perceive  the  great  high  cliffs  on  the 
other  side:  by  them  we  anchored  that  night  and  called  them 
Riccards  Cliftes ;  30  leagues  we  sayled  more  Northwards 
no1  finding  any  inhabitants  leaving  all  the  Easterne  Shore, 
lowe  Islandes,  but  overgrowne  with  wood,  as  all  the  coast 
beyond  them  so  farre  as  we  could  see."1 

From  the  foregoing  account  it  will  be  seen  that  Smith 
and  his  companions  cruised  along  the  western  shore  of  the 
Accomack  peninsula,  which  is  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  until  they  reached  what  is  now  called  Pocomoke 
River,  near  the  present  boundary  between  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  The  distance  is  between  seventy  and  eighty  miles. 
The  reason  Smith  assigns  for  the  long  cruise  was  the  need  of 

ill's  History  of  Virginia. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        19 

fresh  water,  but  to  those  who  know  the  abundant  springs  of 
Accomac  and  Northampton,  this  statement  is  surprising. 

Overtaken  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pocomoke  by  one  of 
those  summer  thunder-storms,  which  are  so  prevalent  about 
the  Capes,  and  which  are  so  terrifying  in  their  suddenness, 
Smith's  boat  was  blown  across  the  Chesapeake.  This  squall 
caused  his  companions  to  lose  courage,  and  to  beg  to  be  taken 
back  to  Jamestown.  Nothing  daunted  by  the  tempestuous- 
ness  of  the  elements,  our  brave  Captain  deemed  it  wise  to 
address  his  men  as  follows: 

"Gentlemen,  if  you  would  remember  the  memorable  his- 
tory of  Sir  Ralph  Layne,  how  his  company  importuned  him 
to  proceed  in  the  discovery  of  Moratico,  alleadging  that  they 
had  yet  a  dog,  that  being  boyled  with  Sazafras  leaves,  would 
richly  feede  them  in  their  returnes ;  then  what  a  shame  it 
would  be  for  you  (that  have  bin  so  suspitious  of  my  tender- 
nesse)  to  force  me  returne,  with  so  much  provision  as  we 
have,  and  scarce  able  to  say  where  we  have  beene,  nor  yet 
heard  of  that  we  were  sent  to  seeke  ?  You  can  not  say  but  I 
have  shared  with  you  in  the  worst  which  has  past ;  and  for 
what  is  to  come,  of  lodging,  dyet,  or  whatsoever,  I  am  con- 
tended you  allott  the  worst  part  to  myself e.  As  for  your 
feares  that  I  will  lose  my  selfe  in  these  unknown  large 
waters,  or  be  swallowed  up  in  some  stormie  gust;  abandon 
these  childish  feares,  for  worse  than  is  past  is  not  likely  to 
happen ;  and  there  is  as  much  danger  to  returne  as  to  pro- 
ceede.  Regaine  therefore  your  old  spirits  for  returne  I  will 
not  (if  God  Please)  till  I  have  seen  the  Massawomeka, 
found  Patawomek,  or  the  head  of  this  water  you  conceiv 
to  be  endless." 

Smith's  determination,  coupled  with  prospects  of  fairer 
weather,  overcame  the  fears  of  his  crew.  The  bay  was  fur- 
ther explored,  the  Potomac  discovered,  and  then  and  not 
until  then  was  he  satisfied  to  return.     On  their  voyage  back, 


20         EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

cnii  ling  what  is  now  called  Hampton  Roads,  and  passing  by 
the  low  sand-spit,  where  the  ramparts  of  Fortress  Monroe 
now  frown  and  the  gay  summer  resorts  are  built,  they  stop- 
ped at  the  Indian  Village,  Kickotan,  located  upon  the  pres- 
ent site  of  Hampton.  Obtaining  there  a  goodly  supply  of 
food  from  the  Indians,  they  returned  to  Jamestown  settle- 
ment, about  forty  miles  up  the  river,  then  called  Powhatan, 
now  known  as  the  James.  "In  this,  as  in  all  things,  the 
Englishman  appropriated  what  belonged  to  the  Indians,  and 
King  James  supplanted  King  Powhatan."1 

It  was  on  this  return  voyage  that  Smith,  while  practicing 
the  art  acquired  from  Kicktopeake,  the  Accomac  King,  im- 
paled a  fish  upon  his  sword,  in  the  shallow  waters  about  the 
mouth  of  the  Rappahannock  River.  Unaware  of  the  danger- 
ous character  of  his  captive,  he  received  in  his  wrist  a  very 
painful  wound  from  the  spike-like  fin  upon  the  tail  of  the 
fish.  This  wound  caused  much  soreness  and  such  swelling 
that  he  thought  he  was  like  to  die,  and  his  whole  party  going 
ashore,  laid  Smith  under  a  tree  where  he  made  his  will. 
"But,"  says  he,  "by  night-time  the  swelling  and  soreness  had 
so  assuaged  that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  eating  that  fish  for 
supper."  The  next  morning  the  journey  was  resumed,  and 
the  place  where  the  accident  occurred,  in  remembrance  of  the 
incident,  was  named  Stingray  Point.  To  this  day,  that  point 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rappahannock  River  is  called  Stingaree 
Point,  and  that  fish  is  still  called  Stingaree  by  the  people 
along  Chesapeake  Bay. 

After  this  famous  cruise,  John  Smith  made  his  excellent 
map  of  Virginia,  showing  the  Capes  and  Islands,  the  points 
and  rivers,  which  he  visited.  In  this  map  the  Kingdom  of 
Accawmake  occupies  a  most  conspicuous  place. 

^End  of  An  Era,  Jno.  S.  Wise. 


Ill 

Argoli/s  Visit  and  Dale's  Gift 

Bearing  in  mind  the  stories  brought  back  from  the  coast  by 
Smith  and  his  men,  Sir  Samuel  Argoll,  in  1613,  determined 
to  visit  the  Kingdom  of  Accawmack  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing supplies  of  fish  for  the  starving  colonists  along  the  James 
River.    The  following  is  his  own  description  of  the  trip : 

"I  departed  out  of  the  River  in  my  shallop,  the  first  of 
May,  for  to  discover  the  East  side  of  our  Bay,  which  I  found 
to  have  many  small  Rivers  in  it,  and  very  good  harbours  for 
Boats  and  Barges,  but  not  for  ships  of  any  great  burthen; 
and  also  great  store  of  Inhabitants,  who  seemed  very  desir- 
ous of  our  love,  and  so  much  the  rather,  because  they  had 
received  good  reports  from  the  Indians  of  Pembrock  River, 
of  our  curteous  usage  of  them,  whom  I  found  trading  with 
me  for  come,  whereof  they  had  great  store.  We  also  dis- 
covered a  multitude  of  Islands  bearing  good  meadow  ground^ 
and  as  I  think,  Salt  might  easily  be  made  there,  if  there  were 
any  ponds  digged,  for  that  I  found  Salt  Kerned  where  the 
water  had  overilowne  in  certain  places.  Here  is  also  a  great 
store  of  fish,  both  shel-fish  and  other.  So  having  discovered 
along  the  shore  fortie  leagues  Northward,  I  returned,  etc."1 

From  this  description  of  the  islands  and  their  meadows,  it 
is  quite  certain  that  Argoll  landed  upon  Smith's  Island,  upon 
the  Eastern  beach  of  which  the  Atlantic  hurls  her  lines  of 
foaming  breakers  with  appalling  fury.  At  no  place  along 
the  coast  would  the  waters  be  more  briny,  or  less  polluted  by 

^Extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Sir  Samuel  Argoll  to  Master  Hawes 
in  June,  1613.     Purchas  IV,  pp.  1764-65. 

21 


22        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIR< :  I X I A  II I  STORY 

the  drift  of  the  inner  waterways.  In  view  of  the  scarcity  of 
provisions  in  the  settlements  of  the  western  shore,  it  was  a  nat- 
ural consequence  of  Argoll's  discovery,  that,  in  June,  1614, 
John  Porv,  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  should  send  Lieutenant 
Craddock,  with  about  twenty  men,  to  Smith's  Island  to  boil 
the  sea  water  down  to  salt  and  catch  fish  for  the  people  of  the 
James  River.1  Two  years  later,  Rolfe  wrote  that  at  Dale's 
Gift  near  Cape  Charles,  there  were  seventeen  men  under 
Lieutenant  Craddock.2  This  statement  of  Rolfe's  has  led 
many  to  believe  that  the  salt  colony  was  not  established  until 
1616.  Much  confusion  also  seems  to  exist  as  to  whether 
this  little  settlement  was  located  on  the  mainland  or  on 
Smith's  Island.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  salt 
house  or  works,  as  they  are  frequently  styled,  were  erected 
on  the  Island,  and  details  of  men  were  sent  over  from  the 
settlement  on  the  mainland  to  carry  on  the  work.  The  set- 
tlement on  the  mainland  was  planted  on  the  banks  of  what 
is  now  called  Old  Plantation  Creek,  which  flows  into  the  bay 
about  nine  miles  north  of  the  point  of  Cape  Charles.  So  im- 
portant was  the  work  considered,  that  the  detachment  of  men 
at  Dale's  gift  was  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  Company. 
To  what  extent  the  Governor  contributed  to  the  erection  of 
the  works  is  not  known,  but  in  the  minutes  of  the  Quarter 
Court,  held  February,  1619-20,  we  find  the  following  sig- 
nificant passage: 

"Whereas,  during  the  time  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale's  residence 
in  Virginia  there  was  by  his  means  sundry  salt  works  set  up, 
to  the  great  good  and  benefit  of  the  plantation,  since  which 
time  they  are  wholly  gone  to  rack  and  let  fall,  insomuch  that 
by  defect  thereof  the  inhabitants  are  exceedingly  distempered 
by  eating  pork  and  other  meats  fresh  and  unseasoned ;  there- 

^he  First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  227. 
2Rolfe's  Relation,  in  Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  111. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        23 

fore  it  was  referred  to  a  committee  to  consider  with  all  speed 
for  the  setting  np  again  of  said  salt  works,  that  is  to  Sir  John 
Dauers,  Sir  Nathaniel  Rich,  Mr.  John  Wroth,  Mr.  Dr.  Win- 
stone,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Wrote,  to  meet  at  two  of  the  clock  at 
Mr.  Treasurer's  house,  Mr.  Baldwin  is  desired  at  the  same 
time  to  be  there  to  further  the  committee  with  his  best  ser- 
vice."1 

Whether  or  not  the  Governor  contributed  more  than  his  au- 
thority to  the  support  of  this  enterprise  when  it  was  founded, 
the  settlement  was  named  in  his  honor,  Dale's  Gift. 

When  Sir  Thomas  Dale  left  the  colony  in  1616,  there  were 
but  three  hundred  and  fifty  settlers  or  heads  of  families,  and 
the  only  settlements  were  those  at  Henrico,  Bermuda,  West 
and  Shirley  Hundred,  Jamestown,  Kiquotan  and  the  one  at 
Cape  Charles ;  so  we  see  that  Dale's  Gift  was  one  of  the  old- 
est settlements  in  the  Colony. 

We  may  well  imagine  that  the  task  assigned  the  first  salt 
boilers  was  far  from  being  a  grateful  one  to  the  little  band. 
Their  residence  on  the  far-away  peninsula  was  looked  for- 
ward to,  no  doubt,  as  the  equivalent  of  exile  or  solitary  con- 
finement in  a  dangerous  locality.  At  Jamestown,  the  set- 
tlers were  located  upon  an  island.  This  fact  and  their  num- 
bers gave  them  comparative  security  from  the  savages.  On 
the  peninsula,  however,  the  new  plantation  or  post  was  located 
on  the  shore  of  a  great  sea,  with  trackless,  unexplored  forests, 
to  the  north  and  east.  So  few  were  the  men  assigned  to  this 
remote  post,  that  their  situation  would  indeed  have  been  a 
perilous  one  in  case  of  attack,  separated  from  their  friends 
as  they  were,  by  the  great  Chesapeake.  It  was  therefore, 
doubtless,  in  the  spirit  of  satire  that  the  party  named  the 
place  at  which  they  first  located  upon  the  Eastern  Shore, 

Virginia  Company,  Va.  Hist.  Collect.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  47. 


24        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Dale's  Gift.1  At  any  rate,  such  was  the  humble  beginning 
of  that  portion  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  the  character  of 
which  has  been  greatly  influenced  by  the  peculiar  isolation 
of  its  territory ;  such  was  the  inception  of  a  mission  destined 
to  Anglicize  the  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke,  "the  land  of  the 
Myrtle  and  the  Pine."2 

For  the  evaporation  of  the  salt  water,  the  men  sent  to 
Smith's  Island,  in  1614,  appear  to  have  relied  at  the  outset3 
principally  on  the  heat  of  the  sun.  Until  Argoll  assumed 
the  administration  of  affairs,  the  people  obtained  their  sup- 
plies of  salt  from  this  source  ;4  but  in  the  common  wreck  pre- 
cipitated by  his  government,  the  little  band  of  salt  boilers 
were  dispersed  and  their  crude  appliances  fell  into  decay.5 
This  led  to  much  suffering,  as  the  settlers  were  forced  to  eat 
their  pork  and  other  meats  in  a  fresh  state.  The  distempers 
resulting  from  such  a  practise  were  so  severe  that  action  was 
taken,  as  we  have  seen,  with  a  view  to  reestablish  the  works, 
which  was  done  in  1620,  and  the  following  year,  Miles 
Pirket,  a  man  skilled  in  salt  making,  was  sent  to  Virginia  to 
manage  the  works.6  The  object  which  the  Company  had  in 
view  was  not  only  to  furnish  the  people  of  the  Colony  with 
the  necessary  supply  of  salt,  but  in  time  to  produce  so  great 
a  quantity  that  all  the  fisheries  on  the  American  coast  might 
be  supplied  with  the  article  at  a  handsome  profit  to  the 
Company.7  In  1621,  John  Pory  was  instructed  by  Gover- 
nor Yeardley  to  visit  the  Eastern  Shore  and  select  a  spot 

'End  of  An  Era,  Wise. 

2The  phrase  of  Henry  A.  Wise;    see  Seven  Decades  of  The  Union. 
3For  following  facts  as  to  salt  making  on  the  peninsula,  see  Bruce's 
Economic  History  of  Va.  in  17th  Cent. 
4Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  180. 

6Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  Vol.  I,  p.  55. 
•Company's  Letter,  Sept.  11,  1621;  Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  249. 
'Abstracts  of  Pro.  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  Vol.  I,  p.  68. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        25 

combining  the  most  conveniences  for  the  new  works,1  what 
remained  of  the  works  on  Smith's  Island  being  soon  moved 
by  Pory.  The  supervision  of  the  erection  of  the  salt  plant 
was  assigned  to  Maurice  Berkeley,  whose  principal  subordi- 
nate was  Miles  Pirket  and  whose  second  assistant  was  also  a 
trained  salt-boiler.2  In  a  subsequent  chapter,  we  shall  fol- 
low the  course  of  salt-making  on  the  peninsula.3  Enough  has 
been  said  to  show  that  the  need  of  salt  brought  about  the  set- 
tlement of  "Dale's  Gift"  and  the  Eastern  Shore,  plantations 
so  isolated  and  remote  from  the  other  settlements  that  the 
Kings  of  England  for  many  years  addressed  their  decrees  to 
the  people  of  Virginia,  "To  our  faithful  subjects  in  ye 
Colonie  of  Virginia  and  ye  Kingdome  of  Accawmacke." 

Like  many  another  venture  undertaken  reluctantly  and  in 
ignorance,  this  settlement  upon  the  remote  peninsula  proved 
to  be  anything  but  an  irksome  and  dangerous  undertaking. 
The  party  of  Dale's  Gift  found  the  Accawmacke  Indians, 
though  speaking  the  language  of  the  Powhatans,  in  other 
respects  totally  unlike  their  war-like  and  treacherous  con- 
federates across  the  bay,  and  from  that  time  forth  there 
never  was,  not  even  at  the  time  of  the  general  outbreak  of 
the  Savages,  in  1622  and  1644,  any  serious  trouble  between 
the  whites  and  the  Accawmacke  Indians.  The  climate  was 
also  much  more  salubrious  than  that  of  the  swampy  regions 
along  the  James  River,  where  the  brackish  water  and  stag- 
nant ponds  bred  malaria  and  other  fatal  diseases.  As  for 
sustenance,  they  found  the  place  an  earthly  paradise.  In  the 
light  and  sandy  soil,  corn,  vegetables,  and  many  varieties  of 

'Works  of  Capt.  John  Smith,  p.  567. 

2Letter  of  Governor  and  Council  to  Company,  January,  1621-22; 
Xeill's  Virginia  Company  of  London,  p.  283.  Pirket  is  sometimes 
referred  to  as  Pickett,  sometimes  as  Prickett. 

3See  chapter  on  Trade,  Commerce,  etc. 


26         EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

fniit  grew  in  abundance  at  the  cost  of  but  slight  labor.  Fish 
and  shell-fish  of  every  description  abounded  in  the  ocean, 
bays  and  inlets,  as  they  do  to-day.  Wild  fowls  of  many 
sorts,  from  the  lordly  wild  goose  to  the  tiny  teal,  swarmed  in 
the  marshes  along  the  coast.  Game  in  great  abundance, 
furred  and  feathered,  could  be  had  for  the  shooting  of  it 
upon  the  land.  The  fig  and  the  pomegranate  throve  upon 
this  generous  soil.  The  influence  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  which, 
in  passing  the  Virginia  Capes,  approaches  within  thirty 
miles  of  the  coast,  and  then  turns  abruptly  eastward,  made, 
as  it  still  makes,  residence  upon  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Vir- 
ginia most  charming  and  delightful.  The  exiles  of  the  salt 
works,  pitied  at  first,  soon  became  the  epicures  of  the  colony 
and  aroused,  by  their  very  failure  to  complain,  the  curiosity 
of  the  James  River  settlers.1  Upon  investigation,  the  latter 
found  no  cause  for  further  pity;  the  conditions  surrounding 
the  exiles  were  far  from  lamentable ! 

'End  of  An  Era,  J.  S.  Wise. 


IV 
The  Plantation  of  Accomack 

There  is  a  tradition  that  a  number  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Virginia  crossed  the  Chesapeake  in  a  canoe  in  1610  and 
landed  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  We  are  told  that  these  first 
comers  intermarried  with  the  Nassawattox  Indians  and  were 
found  living  among  them  in  a  state  of  semi-civilization  and 
savagery  when  Dale's  Gift  was  first  established  in  1614.1  If 
this  tradition  be  founded  upon  fact,  it  is  strange  that  no 
reference  was  made  to  the  matter  by  the  discursive  John 
Smith  in  his  history,  nor  by  Argoll  nor  Pory,  who  both 
visited  the  peninsula  and  wrote  of  their  adventures  among, 
and  their  observations  upon,  the  Indians.  It  is  most  im- 
probable that  Englishmen  could  have  been  dwelling  among 
the  Indians  without  these  writers  knowing  it.  Yet  we  should 
not  dismiss  the  tradition  without  according  it  reasonable 
weight. 

At  a  Court  held,  in  1635,  in  Accomac  County,  it  was  re- 
corded, "Forasmuch  as  Henry  William  did  make  it  appear 
that  he  had  lived  on  his  land  twenty  years,  and  did  much 
service  for  the  country,  it  was  certified  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  etc."2  At  a  Court  held  in  1643  in  the  same  County, 
there  was  recorded  "a  deed  for  land  granted  by  Sir  John 
Harvey  on  February  20,  1639,  to  Henry  Williams  because 
he  was  an  ancient  planter  in  the  time  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale 

'See  an  article  on  Early  Episcopacy  in  Accomack,  Va.  Mag.  of  History 
and  Biography,  Vol.  V,  p.  128. 

2See  Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  I;  Brown's  First  Republic, 
p.  421. 

27 


28        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

as  evidenced  by  a  grant  to  him  from  the  Treasurer  and  Com- 
pany in  1618."  Williams  came  to  Virginia  on  the  "Treas- 
urer" in  1615,  and  may  have  settled  at  Dale's  Gift  that  year, 
but,  says  Dr.  Brown,  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  resided  on 
the  Eastern  Shore  for  twenty  consecutive  years,  for  in  1625 
he  was  living  on  his  land  in  the  corporation  of  Charles  City.1 
Williams  can  not,  therefore,  be  called  the  first  settler. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Thomas  Savage,  said  by  many 
authorities  to  be  the  first  permanent  white  settler  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,2  is  the  only  one  of  those  advent- 
urous spirits  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1607  with  Smith, 
whose  descendants  can  be  authentically  traced  to  the  present 
generation.  Thus  the  Savages,  many  of  whom  live  in  Acco- 
mac  and  Northampton  to-day,  represent  the  oldest  American 
family  in  the  United  States. 

Thomas,  afterwards  Ensign  Thomas  Savage,  came  to  Vir- 
ginia with  the  first  settlers  when  but  thirteen  years  old,  and 
in  1608  was  given  to  Powhatan  by  Captain  Newport  in  ex- 
change for  Namotacke,  an  Indian.3  He  remained  for  some 
years  with  the  Powhatans  and  learned  their  language,  so  that 
he  was  able  to  render  the  Colony  much  service  as  an  inter- 
preter. 

John  Pory  tells  us  how  Savage,  "with  much  honestie  and 
successe  served  the  publique,  without  any  publique  recom- 
pense, yet  had  an  arrow  shot  through  his  body  in  their  ser- 
vice." On  one  occasion,  when  at  Opechancanough's  town 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  captive — Thomas  Graves — some 
difficulty  arising,  Savage  and  three  others  offered  to  fight 
thirteen  of  the  Indians  at  once,  but  the  Indians  declined  the 

'First  Republic  in  America,  Brown  p.  421. 
2First  Republic  in  America,  Brown  p.  421. 

sSee  Smith's  History  of  Va. ;  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  L.  G.  Tyler,  p. 
•254. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        29 

invitation.  Powhatan  loved  the  little  white  man,  which  no 
doubt  aroused  Opechancanough's  jealousy.  This,  coupled 
with  the  unfortunate  incident  narrated,  probably  caused  Sav- 
age to  leave  Powhatan  and  move  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  where 
Debedeavon,  the  Laughing  King,  gave  him,  in  1619,  a  large 
tract  of  land  lying  between  Cheriton  Creek  and  King's  Creek, 
known  as  Savage's  Neck.1 

It  is  possible  that  Savage  may  have  been  living  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Eastern  Shore  before  1619,  for  when  Captain 
John  Martin  visited  them  in  April,  1619,  he  found  him  well 
established  in  their  councils.  Captain  Martin  says  that  being 
somewhat  cut  off  from  the  main,  "necessity  had  made  the 
natives  of  the  Eastern  Shore  more  industrious  than  any  other 
Indians  in  our  bay."  He  also  said  that  "the  trade  with  the 
Indians  was  discovered  not  long  before  Sir  George  Yeardley 
came  in  by  my  Aunchient  (Ensign)  Thomas  Savage  and  ser- 
vants, when  they  saw  at  one  time  forty  of  their  great  canowes 
laden  with  their  commodities,  and  obtained  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  corn  to  relieve  the  Colonists,"  who  were  then  in  want, 
owing  to  the  failure  of  the  crops  the  previous  year  on  the 
Western  Shore.  So  we  see  that  at  a  very  early  date  the  set- 
tlers along  James  River  had  learned  the  value  of  the  remote 
peninsula  as  a  source  of  food  supply.2 

When  John  Pory  visited  the  Eastern  Shore  in  1621,  he 
found  young  Savage  dwelling  happily  among  the  Indians  and 
thoroughly  ingratiated  in  the  good-will  of  the  Laughing  King, 
and  of  his  Prime  Minister  and  brother,  Kictopeake.  Han- 
nah Tyng,  Savage's  wife,  came  to  Virginia  in  1621  in  the 
good  ship  "Sea  Flower,"  with  Captain  Hamor,  and  the  rec- 
ords show  that  on  December  1,  1627,  she  was  granted  fifty 

irrhe  First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  421. 
2The  First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  288. 


30        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

acres  of  land  in  the  Plantation  of  Accomack,  by  way  of 
dividend  for  having  defrayed  the  expenses  of  her  own  trans- 
portation. This  grant  is  described  as  a  small  neck  of  land 
abutting  northward  on  the  main  river  (Cheriton  Creek), 
eastward  on  the  creek,  called  Long  Creek,  and  westward  on 
Curtaile  Creek,  dividing  the  same  from  the  land  of  Clement 
Dilke.  Thomas  Savage  died  in  1627  and  left  an  only  son, 
Captain  John  Savage,  of  "Savage's  Neck,"  born  1624;  Bur- 
gess for  Northampton,  1666-1667.  Hannah,  the  widow  of 
Thomas,  married  Daniel  Cugley.  Captain  John  Savage  mar- 
ried first,  Ann  Elkington ;  second,  Mary,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Obedience  Robins  of  "Cherrytone."1  Thomas  Savage  being 
the  first  settler,  this  much  of  his  history  is  not  thought  to  be 
out  of  place. 

Among  the  old  records  of  the  Virginia  Company  for  the 
year  1620,  we  find  the  following  item  in  reference  to  "The 
Allowance  of  John  Pory,  Secretary:" — 

"Itt  was  agreed  and  confirmed  att  this  Court  that  Mr. 
Pory  the  Secretary  and  his  successors  in  that  place  should 
have  five  hundred  acres  of  land  belonging  to  that  Office,  and 
twenty  Tenants  to  be  planted,  thereupon,  whereof  Tenn  to  be 
sent  this  year  and  Tenn  the  next  yeare  and  the  Secty.  then 
from  henceforward  should  receive  no  fees  for  himself,  etc."2 

John  Pory,  who  seems  to  have  been  much  interested  in 
and  attracted  by  the  Eastern  Shore,  at  once  laid  out  his  lands 
along  King's  Creek,  and  sent  over  his  first  ten  tenants  in 
1620,  the  year  of  the  grant.3 

'See  Va.  Mag.  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  I,  pp.  443-44.  Cheri- 
ton, the  original  Indian  name,  was  corrupted  to  Cherrytone  and  is  now 
called  Cherrystone. 

"Records  of  Va.  Company,  Vol.  I,  1619-1622,  p.  241). 
"First  Republic  in  America,  Brown. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        31 

The  following  year  he  sent  over  his  other  ten  tenants  and 
Captain  John  Willcox  also  planted  near  the  Secretary's  set- 
tlement with  a  small  number  of  men.1  The  site  of  the  Sec- 
retary's settlement  was  upon  the  farm  now  known  as  "Town 
Fields,"  which  lies  between  Cheriton  or  Cherry  tone  and 
King's  Creeks,  divided  by  the  latter  creek  from  the  present 
town  of  Cape  Charles  City,  about  14  miles  north  of  the  Cape 
or  extremity  of  the  peninsula.  This  settlement  was  called  by 
its  first  tenants,  "The  Plantation  of  Accomack,"  and  for 
many  years  the  town  went  by  that  name,  as  a  result  of  which 
much  confusion  has  arisen,  since  the  writers  of  the  time  in 
referring  to  the  Eastern  Shore  at  large,  even  after  the  penin- 
sula was  named  Northampton  County,  had  in  mind  the 
single  village  of  the  peninsula  or  the  town  of  Accomack. 

Dale's  Gift,  on  account  of  being  the  older  settlement  of  the 
two,  was  from  now  on  referred  to  as  the  old  plantation,  and 
hence  the  name  "Old  Plantation  Creek,"  upon  the  shores  of 
which  the  first  settlement  was  located. 

The  new  town  prospered  at  the  expense  of  the  old  planta- 
tion, and  seems  to  have  absorbed  its  inhabitants  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  although  persons  still  resided  in  the  older 
quarter. 

During  the  same  year  the  generous  King  Debedeavon  gave 
to  the  Governor,  Sir  George  Yeardley,  all  the  land  between 
Hungar's  Creek  and  Cheriton  Creek. 

At  a  Court  held,  in  1668,  in  Northampton  County: 

"About  Esquire  Yardley's  and  John  Savage's  Land — The 
deposition  of  Win.  Jones,  aged  59,  Sayeth,  That  being  at  the 
house  of  the  late  Col.  Robins  about  thirty-five  years  since 
(when  Laughing  King  came  annually  to  visit  him  in  the 
Spring)  was  desired  by  Col.  Eobin's  to  ask  the  said  King, 

*First  Republic  in  America,  Brown. 


32         EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

whose  land  such  a  neck  of  land  was  ?  He  replied,  that  he  had 
given  that  neck  of  land  from  Wissaponson  Creek  to  Hungar's 
Creek  to  Sir  George  Yardley,  and  the  south  side  of  Wissa- 
ponson to  his  son  Thomas  Newport  (that  is,  Thomas 
Savage)."1 

In  1621,  when  Pory's  party  visited  the  Laughing  King, 
the  old  chief  described  the  Eastern  Shore  to  the  English, 
telling  them  of  the  abundance  of  fish  and  fowl,  and  gave 
Lieutenant  Marmaduke  Perkinson  some  of  the  earth  called 
terra  lemnia  (there  to  be  had  in  great  abundance),  which  was 
said  by  Perkinson  to  be  as  good  as  that  of  Turkey.2  Pory 
returned  to  Jamestown,  leaving  a  hundred  men  happily  set- 
tled, through  whom  he  hoped  that  a  flourishing  fur  trade 
would  soon  spring  up.3  But  the  charms  of  the  country  drew 
the  settlers  away  from  the  little  settlement  and  they  spread 
along  the  creeks  and  bays  to  the  north  and  east,  scattering 
their  homes  and  clearings  over  a  wide  area.  Elbow  room  was 
their  cry,  and  since  there  was  nothing  to  be  feared  at  the 
hands  of  the  Accawmacke  Indians,  there  was  no  reason  so 
far  as  they  could  see  why,  simply  to  please  the  authorities, 
they  should  remain  huddled  together  on  the  banks  of  Old 
Plantation  Creek.  By  the  end  of  the  year  1621,  there  re- 
mained but  nine  men  at  the  old  settlement,  and  there  was  no 
guarantee  that  they  too  would  not  soon  desert.  John  Pory, 
the  god-father  of  the  little  Colony,  in  great  alarm,  petitioned 
the  Governor  and  the  Council  of  State  for  aid,  both  men  and 
means,  to  help  maintain  the  plantation  of  Accomack,  for,  as 
a  result  of  removals,  desertions  and  deaths,  and  the  great 
tendency  of  his  settlers  to  scatter  over  the  peninsula,  there 

JFirst  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  421. 
2First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  pp.  461-462. 

3Ibid.  p.  420.  Va.  Col.  Records,  1621-23.  Va.  Mag.  of  History  and 
Biography,  Vol.  XV,  p.  34. 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        33 

were  but  few  tenants  left  and  he  feared  lest  they  might  be 
destroyed  by  the  Indians.1  Owning  lands  there  himself,  Sir 
George,  the  Governor,  was  not  disinterested  in  the  plantation, 
and  very  unselfishly  took  care  of  the  petition;  as  a  result  of 
which,  "certain  fees  were  allowed  for  the  employment  and 
maintenance  of  tenants  at  Accowmack."  Thus  the  little  Col- 
ony became  one  of  the  plantations  of  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany.2 

In  June,  1622,  the  good  Sir  George  himself,  accompanied 
by  his  council  and  "a  number  of  the  greatest  gallants  in  the 
land,"  went  to  Accomack  to  inspect  the  settlement  and  inci- 
dentally his  own  properties.  So  pleased  was  he  with  what 
he  found  that  he  spent  six  weeks  on  the  peninsula,  bringing 
home  with  him  some  corn,  but  says  Smith,  "as  he  adventured 
for  himself,  he  accordingly  enjoyed  the  benefit."3  From 
this  it  would  seem  that  the  trip  was  in  the  nature  of  a  semi- 
official excursion.  From  then  on,  all  was  prosperity.  We 
may  be  sure  that  the  less  fortunate  settlers  at  Jamestown, 
Smithfield,  Flower  de  Hundred  and  the  Falls  of  the  James, 
were  not  long  in  finding  out  the  delights  of  this  at  first 
despised  settlement  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  Indeed  in  1622, 
the  most  trying  year  to  the  early  colonists,  beset  with  Indian 
tomahawks,  starvation  and  disease,  the  forlorn  and  desperate 
settlers  on  the  western  shore  looked  with  longing  eyes  upon 
the  peace  and  plenty  enjoyed  by  their  brothers,  the  exiles  of 
Accomack. 

All  through  this  period  of  early  settlement,  the  pioneer 
days  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  the  Indians  there  remained  the 
staunch  friends  of  the  whites.  They  shared  with  the  in- 
truder their  stores  of  corn  and  gave   freely  of  their  rich 

JYa.  Colonial  Records,  1621-23. 
"Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  282. 
3Smith's  General  History. 


3-t        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

lands  to  the  white  brother  from  across  the  sea.  Young 
Savage  had  won  the  heart  of  the  old  King,  who  through  his 
great  love  for  the  youth  grew  to  love  all  of  his  kind,  and 
persistently  refused  to  combine  with  his  confederates,  the 
Powhatans,  to  work  their  destruction.  Such  a  task  would 
have  been  an  easy  one,  and  in  view  of  its  very  simplicity,  all 
the  more  credit  is  due  Debedeavon.  In  1621,  the  old  war- 
rior, alarmed  at  the  perilous  position  of  his  white  friends, 
informed  Governor  Yeardley,  through  Savage  and  Colonel 
Robins,  both  of  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  visit  at  their 
homes,  that  many  Indians  had  assembled  at  the  ceremony 
of  the  taking  up  of  Powhatan's  bones,  and  that  Opechanca- 
nough  had  plotted  with  them  for  a  general  uprising  and 
massacre  of  the  whites,  both  on  the  western  and  eastern 
shores.  At  first  the  Governor  was  highly  incredulous,  but 
being  further  warned  by  Savage  and  Robins,  that  the  Laugh- 
ing King  knew  whereof  he  spoke  and  that  his  undoubted 
affection  for  them  precluded  any  motive  but  that  of  friend- 
ship in  reporting  the  designs  of  Opechancanough,  by  which 
action  he  compromised  himself,  the  Governor  became  greatly 
alarmed.  Thereupon  Yeardley  himself  went  in  person  to 
every  plantation  in  the  colony,  held  musters,  provided  what 
arms  the  general  stores  afforded,  and  commanded  that  strict 
ward  and  watch  be  kept.1  When  charged  by  the  Governor 
with  the  foul  design  of  massacring  the  English,  Opechanca- 
nough stoutly  denied  any  such  intent,  and  as  time  wore  on 
and  no  overt  act  occurred  to  confirm  the  rumor,  the  colonists 
relaxed  their  vigilance.  The  warning,  however,  and  the 
prompt  steps  taken  to  put  the  various  plantations  in  a  state 
of  defense,  did  much  to  prevent  the  complete  annihilation  of 
the  colony  the  following  year ;  for  just  as  Debedeavon  re- 

1  First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  465. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        35 

ported  they  would  do,  the  savages  rose  en  masse  and  fell 
upon  the  whites  on  the  western  shore.  Ushered  in  by  the 
blood-chilling  war-cry  of  the  frenzied  savages,  for  days  a 
reign  of  terror  continued  when  the  torch  and  the  bloody 
scalp  knives  did  their  horrid  work.  Few  indeed  were  the 
frontier  homes  unvisited  by  the  murderous  red  men.  But 
upon  the  Eastern  Shore  the  colonists  rested  secure  under  the 
protecting  arm  of  their  native  ruler.  Not  only  Eastern 
Shoremen,  but  all  Virginians,  should  ever  revere  the  memory 
of  the  "Laughing  Kiug  of  Accowmacke"  whose  timely  warn- 
ing and  unselfish  friendship  during  the  dark  days  of  1622 
saved  the  whites  from  a  more  awful  fate. 

Coincident  with  this  period  of  massacre  was  the  spreading 
of  a  "foull  distemper"  among  the  people  of  the  western  shore, 
the  germs  of  the  disease  having  been  imported  with  the  fresh 
supplies  of  immigrants.  The  mortality  resulting  from  this 
epidemic,  which  spread  with  astonishing  rapidity  through 
the  plantations,  was  appalling.  Five  hundred  persons,  or 
about  half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony,  died  in  a  short 
period  of  time,  and  so  panic  stricken  became  many  of  the 
survivors  that  the  proposition  to  desert  the  rivers  and  their 
sickly  swamps  for  the  Eastern  Shore  met  with  much  favor.1 
At  any  rate,  a  commission  was  issued  to  Sir  George  Yeardley 
on  June  20th,  1622,  to  visit  the  peninsula  and  make  a 
thorough  survey  of  the  country  with  such  a  step  in  view  and 
no  such  action  would  have  been  taken  unless  the  step  were 
at  least  contemplated,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Colony,  George  Sandys,  denied  any  intent  of  the 
authorities  to  make  such  a  move.2     Be  that  as  it  may,  the 

Virginia  Vetusta,  Neill,  pp.  122-127.  Letter  of  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil of  Va.  to  London  Co.,  Jan.  20,  1623.  Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London, 
p.  367.  Bruce's  Economic  History  of  Va.  in  17th  Cent.,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
272-273. 

2Va.  Colonial  Records,  1622-23;  Va.  Mag.  Hist.  &  Bio.,  Vol.  XVI,  p.  6. 


36         EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

many  advantages  offered  to  the  distressed  settlers  along  the 
fetid  banks  of  the  James  by  the  healthful  peninsula,  the 
fertility  of  its  soil,  its  delightful  breeze-tempered  climate, 
the  friendship  of  the  savages,  all  together,  comprised  an  in- 
ducement strong  enough  to  justify  a  general  migration  to  its 
shores.1 

Although  an  official  removal  of  the  colonists  along  the 
James  River  did  not  occur,  many  people  of  their  own  accord 
moved  to  the  peninsula  about  this  time,  among  whom  was 
Lady  Elizabeth  Dale,  widow  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  who  left 
lands  on  the  Eastern  Shore.2 

The  muster  of  Lady  Dale's  plantation  on  the  Western 
Shore,  just  prior  to  the  massacre  of  1622,  shows  twenty 
persons,  eight  of  whom  were  boys.  There  was  very  little 
ammunition  and  but  six  match-locks  on  the  place.  This  must 
have  been  the  condition  of  many  of  the  plantations  at  the 
time  of  the  threatened  massacre  and  small  wonder  it  is  that 
many  of  the  defenseless  people  should  have  deserted  their 
homes  and  sailed  across  the  bay  to  the  kingdom  of  Accaw- 
macke.  Whatever  the  cause,  people  were  beginning  to  flock 
to  the  peninsula,  as  evidenced  by  the  following  list  made  out 
February  16th,  1623  :3 

'Brown's  First  Republic  in  Am.  Neill's  Va.  Company. 
2Neill's  Va.  Company  of  London,  p.  368.     Brown's  Genesis  of  U.  S., 
pp.  452-453-454.     For  interesting  papers  relating  to  Dale,  see  Appendix. 
3Colonial  Records  of  Va.  Senate  Document  (Extra),  1874. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        37 


'LISTS   OF   THE  LIVINGE  &  DEAD   IN    VIRGINIA 
AT    THE    EASTERN    SHORE 


Capt.  Wm.  Epps 
Mrs.  Epps 
Peter  Epps 
William 
Edmund  Cloake 
William  Bribby 
Thomas  Cornish 
John  Fisher 
William  Dry 
Henry  Wilson 
Peter  Porter 
Christopher  Carter 
John  Simnill  (Sumsill) 
Nicholas  Graunger 
James  Vocat  Piper 
Edward 
John 
Thomas 
George 

Charles  Farmer 
James  Knott 
John  Ascomb 
Peregree  Wattkins 
Daniell  Watkins 
John  Blower 
Goody  Blower 
John 

A  boy  of  Mr.  Cans 
John  How 
John  Butterfield 
*AVilliam  Davies 
Peter  Longman 
John  Wilkins 
Thomas  Powell 
William  Beane 
John  Washborne 

William 


Robert  Fennell 
Phillips 
Daniel  Cugley 
Thomas  Graves 
John  Wilcocks 
Thomas  Crampe 
William  Andrews 
William  Coomes 
John  Parsons 
John  Coomes 
James  Chambers 
Robert  Ball 
Thomas  Hall 
ismale  Hills 
John  Tyers 
Walter  Scott 
Goodwife  Scott 
Robert  Edmonds 
Thomas  Hitchcocke 
John  Evans 
Henry  Wattkins 
Thomas  Parke 
William   Smith 
Edward  Drew 
Nicholas  Hoskins 
And  his  child 
William  Williams 
Mrs.  Williams 
John  Throgmorton 
Bennanine  Knight 
Chad  Gunston 
Abram  Analin 
Thomas  Blacklocke 
John  Barnett 
Thomas  Savage 
Salomon  Greene 
Quills,, 


38        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

This  list  shows  a  total  of  nearly  eighty  settlers  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  in  1G23.  Of  those  named,  many  must  have 
been  dead  or  have  wandered  off  to  the  northern  confines  of 
the  unexplored  peninsula  very  soon  after  the  muster,  for  the 
census  of  1624-5  gives  "The  Eastern  Shore  over  the  Baye" 
a  total  of  but  fifty-one  souls.  The  latter  is  very  probable, 
for  the  untrampled  forests  to  the  north  must  have  been  most 
inviting  to  the  more  adventurous  spirits.  What  treasures 
of  fur,  skins,  game  and  fish  must  they  have  found,  awaiting 
the  coming  of  the  white  man  !  An  examination  of  the  names 
included  in  the  census  of  1624-5  will  show  that  a  majority 
of  those  listed  came  from  across  the  bay  and  that  they  did 
not  emigrate  direct  to  the  peninsula  from  the  Old  World.1 
This  census  shows  that  there  were  on  the  Eastern  Shore  at 
that  time : 

"44  males. 
1  females. 
19  houses. 

16  storehouses,  sheds,  etc. 
1  fort. 
22iy2  lbs.  corn. 

5  boats  including  1  shallop. 
150^  lbs.  powder. 
601  lbs.  lead  and  shot. 

30  pieces-fixt.   (match-locks). 
1  pistoll. 

3  swords. 

23  complete  armors. 

4  coats  of  mail  and  head  pieces." 

In  the  census  given  by  Brown  as  of  1625,  the  above  items 
vary  slightly  and  two  hogs  are  included.  The  population  is 
reported  at  the  same  total  figure,  but  thirty-two  free  inhabit- 
ants, seventeen  servants,  and  two  children  are  specified.2 

'Hotten's  Immigrants,  p.  262. 

'First  Republic  in  America,  Brown,  p.  625. 


EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        39 

It  is  very  likely,  as  has  been  said,  that  this  census  ap- 
plied only  to  the  settlements  and  their  immediate  vicinity, 
and  that  there  were  houses  as  well  as  people  in  the  upper 
parts  of  the  peninsula.  At  this  time  there  were  but  1,209 
colonists  in  Virginia,  269  of  whom  were  women. 

The  small  settlement  on  the  Eastern  Shore  comprised  "St. 
George's  Hundred,"  of  which  Captain  William  Epps  was  the 
Commander.  St.  George's  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
"Hundred"  on  the  peninsula.1  It  was  from  this  designa- 
tion that  St.  George's  Parish  in  Accomac  later  took  its  name. 

Captain  Epps,  no  doubt,  fought  in  the  first  duel  between 
Englishmen  in  America,  for  about  1619  he  killed  Captain 
Stallinge  in  a  private  quarrel.  In  1633,  he  moved  to  Mary- 
land, to  which  quarter  there  was  a  general  movement  at  the 
time.2 

Of  the  list  of  the  inhabitants  of  1624,  there  are  but 
twenty-two  of  the  names  represented  on  the  Eastern  Shore 
to-day.  These  are:  Rodgers,  Knight,  Wilson,  Andrews, 
Parsons,  Hall,  Scott,  Williams,  Edmunds,  Evans,  Powell, 
Parks,  Watkins,  Davis,  Wilkins,  Smith,  Barrett,  Savage, 
Fisher,  Piper,  Parramore,  and  Gascoyne.3  Many  of  these 
names  are  quite  common  at  the  present  time. 

The  first  representatives  of  Accomack  in  the  Assembly 
were  Captain  John  Wilcocks  and  Henry  Watkins,  both  of 
whom  signed  a  paper  as  Burgesses  from  the  Eastern  Shore 
in  1624.4     The  plantation,  as  such,  did  not  exist  in  1619, 

Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  July  28,  1645. 

2There  is  among  the  Accomac  Records  (Northampton  Court  House) 
a  power  of  attn'y  from  Wm.  Epps  of  the  Island  of  St.  Christopher,  to 
William  Stone,  in  regard  to  Epps'  property  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Va. 
It  is  dated,  July  18,  1633,  and  Epps'  name  is  spelt  Epes. 

3See  Census  referred  to  in  Brown's  First  Rep.  in  Am. 

♦Hening  I,  pp.  121-9;  First  Rep.  in  Am.,  p.  580;  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist, 
and  Bio.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  189. 


40        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

when  the  first  Assembly  was  held.  Up  to  the  year  1626,  the 
only  patents  of  land  issued,  was  one  to  John  Blower  for  140 
acres,  the  tract  known  as  Savage's  Neck,  to  "Ensign  Thomas 
Savage,"  called  his  "Divident" ;  and  one  for  3,700  acres 
along  Hungar's  Creek,  or  Wissaponson  Creek,  as  it  was  then 
known,  by  order  of  the  Court  at  James  City,  to  the  Governor, 
Sir  George  Yeardley.  "Certain  others  have  planted  there 
(on  Eastern  Shore)  but  no  Pattents  have  been  graunted 
them,  the  Companyes  and  Secretary es  Tennants  were  alsoe 
there  seated,  but  no  land  ordered,  to  bee  laid  out  for  them, 
as  in  the  4  Corporacons."1 

From  1626  on,  land  patents  were  issued  in  great  numbers.2 
Many  of  those  then  living  on  the  peninsula  received  grants 
of  land  and  many  new  settlers  began  to  arrive.  Small  tracts 
of  the  Secretary's  land  were  leased  for  short  terms,  several 
of  the  first  lessees  being  Nicholas  Hoskins,  yeoman,  20  acres, 
Feb.  1st,  1626;  Clement  Dilke,  Gent.,  20  acres,  Feb.  6th, 
1626;  John  How,  Gent.,  30  acres,  Sept.  20th,  1628;  Wil- 
liam Smith,  planter,  100  acres,  Oct.  15th,  1629.  Most  of 
the  leases  were  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  Some  of  the  first 
patents  were:  Captain  Thomas  Graves,  Ancient  Planter, 
March  14th,  1628,  200  acres ;  William  Andrews,  planter,  and 
Roger  Saunders,  mariner,  100  and  50  acres  respectively,  in 
March,  1628.  In  1632  John  Neale  received  a  grant  and 
Thomas  Savage,  carpenter,  was  granted  100  acres.3 

By  this  time,  people  had  begun  to  flock  to  the  Eastern 
Shore  and  take  up  the  rich  land  there.  The  more  independ- 
ent pushed  far  up  the  peninsula  and  settled  along  the  many 
creeks  and  bays,  both  on  the  sea-side  and  bay-side  of  the 
peninsula.    So  numerous  had  the  inhabitants  become  by  1629 

'Hotten's  Immigrants,  Patents  Granted  up  to  1626,  p.  274. 
2See  Abstracts  from  Va.  Land  Patents  in  Appendix. 
There  were  two  Thomas  Savages  then  on  the  peninsula. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        41 

that  regular  representatives  were  sent  to  the  Assembly  from 
that  time  on.  In  the  Assembly  of  1629,  "For  the  Easterne 
Shoare  noe  burgesses  did  appear,"1  but  in  the  Assembly  of 
1629-30,  Accomac  was  represented  by  Captain  Thomas 
Graves,  Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh,  Obedience  Robins  and 
Henry  Bagwell.2  The  Assembly  of  1631-2  (in  which  Acco- 
mac was  represented  by  Captain  Scarburgh  and  John  Howe3) 
enacted  a  law,  restricting  intercourse  between  the  people  and 
the  Indians,  and  imposing  a  penalty  of  one  month  of  service 
upon  any  free  man  and  twenty  stripes  upon  any  servant  who 
should  break  the  law.  The  "Easterne  Shoare,"  however,  was 
excepted  from  the  scope  of  this  rigid  statute,  but  the  com- 
manders of  the  settlements  in  Accomac  were  cautioned  to  be 
friendly  with  the  natives,  yet  on  their  guard.4  This  is  but 
additional  evidence  of  the  amicable  relation  which  existed 
between  the  Indians  of  the  peninsula  and  the  whites. 

Great  inconvenience  was  now  experienced  by  the  people 
of  the  Eastern  Shore  by  reason  of  their  having  no  court.  It 
was  necessary  for  them  to  go  to  James  City  or  Elizabeth 
City,  a  monthly  court  having  been  established  at  the  latter 
place  in  1624,  whenever  they  desired  to  seek  redress  at  the 
hands  of  the  law.  As  a  result  of  such  a  condition,  poor  per- 
sons found  themselves  without  redress  in  many  cases,  and 
their  inability  to  defend  themselves  being  known,  they  were 
frequently  imposed  upon  by  their  stronger  brothers.  The 
need  of  local  adjudication  in  small  matters,  wherein  the 
parties  could  ill  afford  to  repair  to  the  courts  across  the  bay, 
grew  with  the  increasing  population,  and  in  1632  a  Monthly 
Court  was  established  in  Accomack.5 

Weiring,  I,  pp.  137-9. 

2Hening,  I,  pp.  147-9. 
'Hening,  I,  p.  153. 
4Hening,  I,  p.  167. 
5Hening,  I,  p.  168. 


42        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  Court  consisted  of  a  presiding  officer,  styled  at  first 
the  Commander  of  Acchawmacke,  and  six  Commissioners, 
who  were  his  coadjutors.  In  the  absence  of  the  Commander, 
one  of  the  Commissioners  presided.  Obedience  Robins  was 
the  first  Commander.  He  was  succeeded  after  several  years 
by  William  Roper  and  he  by  Nathaniel  Littleton.  At  later 
periods,  Robins  served  two  other  terms  as  Commander.  The 
first  Commissioners  were  Captain  William  Clayborne,  Cap- 
tain Thomas  Graves,  John  Howe,  Gent.,  Captain  Edmund 
Scarburgh,  Roger  Saunders,  Gent.,  and  Charles  Harmer, 
Gent.1  Henry  Bagwell,  Gent.,  was  the  first  Clerk  of  Court 
and  held  office  continuously  until  1640.  The  Commissioners 
were  assigned  to.  the  command  of  the  various  plantations  or 
districts  and  were  men  of.  high  military  authority,  though, 
there  was  no  such  thing  at  the  time  as  a  regular  army  organi- 
zation. The  Commander,  in  addition  to  the  performance 
of  his  Court .  duties,  was  required  to  provide  ammunition 
and  to  levy  forces  to  repel  the  attacks  of  the  Indians  from 
the  North ;  to  drill  the  men  under  his  command,  and  to  hold 
musters  of  the  men,  women  and  children  of  the  Plantation 
on  "holy  dayes."2  The  form  of  commission,  issued  to  the 
Commanders  or  Justices,  had  quite  a  military  phraseology, 
for  they  were  authorized  to  "command  the  several  planta- 
tions and  inhabitants  within  the  same."  They  were  also 
given  the  authority  "to  doe  and  execute  whatever  a  Justice 
of  Peace  or  two  or  more  Justices  of  the  Peace,  may  doe."3 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  in  which  they  sat  as  Justices 
was  limited  to  petty  cases  arising  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  in 
which  the  amount  in  controversy  did  not  exceed  one  hundred 

'ITening,  II,  p.  170.    Also  Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  I,  623-40,  at 
East villr  and  copy  in  Va.  State  Library. 
'Hening,  I,  pp.  126,  127,  140,  175. 
'I  Icning,  I,  p.  132. 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        43 

pounds  of  tobacco,  and  to  the  punishment  of  offenses  not 
involving  life  nor  limb.  The  Court  was  able,  however,  to 
exercise  much  ingenuity  in  the  selection  of  punishments. 
Fines,  stripes,  ducking,  stocks,  the  pillory,  lying  neck-and- 
heels  together  at  the  church  door,  doing  penance  by  making 
confession  while  standing  in  white  sheets  on  stools  in  the 
church ;  these  and  like  devices  made  up  to  the  Court  the 
power  denied  it  over  life  and  limb.1 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  first  pages  of  the  Accomac 
Court  Records  are  not  filled  with  any  grotesque  decrees.  On 
the  contrary,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  was 
devoted  to  more  lofty  matters.  Since  the  following  is  a 
copy  of  the  first  page  in  the  oldest  court  record  in  Virginia, 
and  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Plymouth  Records, 
the  oldest  in  English  America,  it  is  set  out  in  full. 

"a  court  held  at  acchawmacke 

7th    DAY    OF    JANUARY,    1632 

Present,    Capt.  Thomas  Graves 

Capt.  Edmund  Scarborrow 
Mr.  Obedience  Robins 
Mr.  John  Howe 
Mr.  Roger  Saunders 

"It  is  ordered  by  this  court  that  the  now  church  wardens 
shall  have  power  to  distrayne  upon  goods  and  chattels  of  all 
such  of  the  inhabitants  of  Achawmacke  that  have  not  yet 
fully  paid  their  duties  of  come  &  tobacco  unto  the  minister 
according  to  an  Act  made  by  the  last  Genall  Assembly  dated 
the  4th  of  September,  1631,  and  that  the  said  church  war- 
dens deteyne  the  said  goods  &  chattels  until  satisfaccon  be 
made  according  to  the  tenner  and  intent  of  the  said  Act."2 

Mustice  in  Colonial  Virginia,  Chitwood,  p.  89. 

2Acconiac  County  Records,  Vol.  1632-40,  pp.  1-2  (Eastville  and  the 
copy  in  Va.  St.  Library ) . 


44        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

While  the  oldest  records  of  the  County  have  been  burned 
or  lost,  the  proceedings  of  the  Court  from  1632,  ten  years 
before  the  name  of  the  peninsula  was  changed  to  Northamp- 
ton and  thirty  years  before  it  was  divided  into  two  counties, 
have  been  preserved,  and  are  now,  as  has  been  stated,  pos- 
sibly the  oldest  court  records  in  Virginia.  Those  who  ex- 
amine these  records,  says  Bishop  Meade,  are  struck  with 
nothing  so  much  as  the  penitentiary  discipline  which  they 
exhibit,  more  like  that  of  the  early  ages  than  is  to  be  found 
in  Protestant  times  and  countries.1  They  abound  in  legal 
curiosities.  The  court  was  strict  and  never  failed  to  admin- 
ister justice  to  the  best  of  its  ability.  The  scandal-monger, 
the  liar,  the  drunkard  and  the  common  scold,  fared  badly. 
The  facts  of  a  number  of  these  remarkable  old  cases  are  given 
in  order  to  throw  light  on  the  character  of  the  people  of  the 
time. 

"Itt  is  thought  fitt  &  soe  ordered  by  this  Cort  that  John 
Parramore  for  his  unlawful  swearing  in  a  contemptuous 
manner  in  the  fface  of  the  Cort  shall  set  by  the  heeles  in  the 
stockes  for  the  space  of  one  Complete  houre"  and  on  June 
9th,  1638,  it  was  "Ordered  that  John  Parramore  shall  sett 
by  the  heeles  in  the  stockes  att  the  tyme  ofe  Devyne  Serviss 
upon  the  next  Saboth  daye  ffor  being  drunke  in  the  fface  of 
the  Cort." 

Upon  the  2nd  day  of  August,  1641,  Goody  Curtis  was 
trying  to  milk  her  cow  in  the  cowpen  of  the  Widow  Taylor, 
but  the  cow  was  not  used  to  that  pen  and  became  restive. 
Goody  lost  her  temper  and  cross  words  passed  between  her 
and  Mrs.  Taylor,  who  was  looking  on  and  no  doubt  making 
silly  suggestions  as  women  are  wont  at  times  to  do.  There- 
upon the  good  ladies  fell  to  calling  each  other  bad  names, 

'Meade's  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Va. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        45 

ending  in  Mrs.  Taylor  smacking  Mrs.  Curtis's  face,  for 
which  breach  of  the  peace,  the  Court  "Ordered  that  the 
Widow  Taylor  shoall  pay  unto  John  Curtis  or  anie  other 
for  his  use,  one  potte  of  milk  per  daye,  at  the  cowpen  of  the 
AViddowe  Taylor  until  the  last  of  September  next,  and  pay 
all  charges  expended  in  this  suite." 

On  February  19th,  1634,  "John  Wattam,  aged  24,  Ran- 
dall Revell,  aged  21  years,  and  John  Ford,  aged  25  years  or 
thereabouts,  sworne  and  examined,  saye  they  heard  Henry 
Charlton  saye,  that  if  he  had  had  Mr.  Cotton  (the  minister) 
without  the  church  yeard  he  would  have  kickt  him  over  the 
pallyzados,  calling  of  him  black  rotted  raskoll.  Upon  the 
complaynt  of  Mr.  Cotton  agst  the  sayd  Charlton,  and  the 
depositions  above  expressed,  it  is  ordered  that  the  syd  Charl- 
ton shall  for  the  syd  offense  buyld  a  pare  of  stockes  and  sett 
in  them  three  sevral  Sabot  h  dayes  in  the  tyme  of  Devyne 
serviss,  and  there  ask  Mr.  Cotton  forgiveness." 

In  the  records  for  the  8th  of  September,  1634,  we  find: 

"At  this  Cort  Edward  Drew  preferred  a  petition  against 
Joane  Butler  for  calling  his  wife  .  .  .  and  upon  a 
dew  examination  &  the  depositions  of  John  Halloway  and 
Win.  Baseley  who  affirmith  the  same  on  oath  to  be  true,  that 
the  sayd  Joane  Butler  used  these  words.  Upon  dew  exami- 
nation it  is  thought  fitt  by  this  Board,  that  syd  Joane  But- 
ler doe  acknowledge  to  have  called  Marie  Drew 
&  hereby  I  confess  I  have  done  her  manifest  wronge,  where- 
fore I  desire  before  this  Congregation  that  the  said  Marie 
Drew  will  forgive  me,  and  also  that  this  Congregation  will 
joyne  and  pray  with  me  that  God  may  forgive  me."  The 
penalty  provided  by  the  Court  in  case  Joane  should  fail  to 
retract  her  rash  statements  as  directed  was  that  she  should 
be  "drawne  across  King's  Creek,  at  the  starne  of  a  canew." 
She  evidently  preferred  the  latter  punishment,  for  at  the 
very  next   Court,   Thomas   Butler,    the   husband   of  Joane, 


46        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

caused  Marie  Drew's  arrest  and  upon  trial  the  same  sentence 
was  meted  out,  "Or  else  she  was  to  undergo  the  same  pun- 
ishment which  Joane  Butler  hath  suffered." 

June  3rd,  1642 :  "Whereas  Robt.  Wyard  hath  in  a  most 
disgraceful  and  barbarous  manner  blemisht  the  reputation  of 
Alice  Traveller  the  wife  of  George  Traveller  in  the  most 
base  and  ignominious  language,  by  which  defamation  hath 
taken  away  the  reputation  of  the  syd  Alice.  It  is  therefore 
thought  FFitt  and  requisite  and  accordingly  ordered  that 
the  syd  Robert  Wyard  shall  stand  three  several  Sandayes  in 
the  time  of  Devyne  serviss  before  the  face  of  the  whole  Con- 
gregation in  a  white  sheet  with  a  white  wand  in  his  hande 
which  are  to  be  provided  by  the  Church  wardens  of  this 
County  and  there  shall  aske  the  said  Alice  forgiveness  in 
form  and  manner  as  shall  be  dictated  unto  him  by  the  min- 
ister of  this  County  of  Northampton."  This  same  Robert 
Wyard  later  stole  a  pair  of  pantaloons  and  was  sentenced  to 
appear  in  church  for  three  Sundays  with  a  pair  of  breeches 
tied  around  his  neck,  with  the  word  "Thief"  written  upon 
his  back.  Mrs.  Traveller,  must  have  been  a  very  fascinat- 
ing woman.  She  was  married  four  times,  in  each  instance 
to  a  very  prominent  man ;  first,  to  George  Traveller ;  second, 
to  William  Burdette ;  third,  to  Captain  Peter  Walker ;  and 
fourth,  to  General  John  Custis  of  "Arlington."  She  died 
about  1658-60.  Concerning  her  second  husband,  there  is  a 
remarkable  entry  in  the  records.  "Thomas  Butler,  aged  27 
yeercs ;  William  Payne,  aged  27  yeeres,  sworne  and  examined 
as  followeth:  These  deponents  sayeth  that,  Mr.  George  Sco- 
vell  did  laye  a  wager  with  Mr.  Moimtney,  10b.  starlinge  to 
5b.  starlinge,  calling  us  to  witness  the  same,  that  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Burdette  should  never  mach  in  wedlocke  with  the  Wid- 
dowe  Sanders  while  they  lived  in  Virginia.  Soe  the  syd 
Scovell,  not  contented,  but  would  laye  40b.  starlinge  more 
to  10b.  starlinge  that  the  syd  Mr.  William  Burdett  should 
never  have  the  Widdowe  Sanders." 

In  1643  the  court  inflicted  punishment  on  one  Richard 
Ruckland  for  writing  a  slanderous  song  on  one  Ann  Smith, 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOEY        47 

by  ordering  that  "at  the  next  sermon  preached  at  Nassawat- 
tocks,  he  shall  stand  during  the  lessons,  at  the  church  door 
with  a  paper  on  his  hat,  on  which  shall  be  written  'Inimicus 
Libellus,'  and  that  he  shall  ask  forgiveness  of  God  and  also 
in  particular  of  the  said  defamed  Ann  Smith." 

In  1655  the  witch  craze  seems  to  have  extended  to  the 
peninsula  and  was  duly  taken  cognizance  of  by  the  court, 
for  at  that  time  the  Rev.  Francis  Doughty  had  Barbara  Win- 
brow  brought  before  the  Justices  and  charged  her  with  the 
"guilt  of  witchery."  She  had  already  been  acquitted  by  the 
General  Court  of  a  charge  of  sorcery.1 

In  1664,  Captain  John  Custis  being  High-Sheriff,  there 
were  eight  presentments  for  violations  of  the  seventh  com- 
mandment, one  for  swearing,  one  for  not  attending  church, 
and  two  for  playing  cards  on  Sunday.  For  more  serious 
offenses  the  accused  was  sent  to  James  City  to  be  tried  by  the 
Governor  and  Council,  who  constituted  the  Court  of  Appeals. 
There  appears  to  have  been  but  one  sentence  of  death  imposed 
by  the  authorities  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  prior  to  1690. 

The  first  board  of  Commissioners  met  in  a  log  cabin  at 
Old  Plantation,  but  soon  after  the  creation  of  the  Monthly 
Court  in  Accomac,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  was  instituted, 
whereupon  the  cabin  could  not  conveniently  accommodate 
the  increased  number  of  persons  in  attendance  upon  the  terms 
of  court.  From  this  time  on,  the  Dinner  or  Poynt  House 
at  Old  Plantation  and  the  ordinary  of  Walter  Williams  at 
Nassawattocks,  or  Bridgetown,  as  it  is  now  called,  were  used 
as  temporary  court-houses,  until  the  regular  County  Court 
Houses  were  built.2  The  Holt  House,  which  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  old  Taylor  House  in  Eastville,  was  frequently 
employed  as  a  place  of  meeting  for  the  Court.     The  site  of 

Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.   1657-64,  p.  18. 
2See  subsequent  chapter  for  building  of  Court-Houses. 


48        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Eastville  was  then  known  as  "The  Horns"  from  the  fact  that 
Hungar's  Creek,  near  which  it  is  situated,  has  two  branches 
or  horns.  The  one  nearest  Eastville  was  called  by  the  In- 
dians, Wissaponson  or  YYiscaponson  Creek,  the  other,  Rocky 
Branch.1 

On  December  10th,  1633,  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony 
was  given  power  to  lease  his  lands  in  Accomack  for  periods 
not  to  exceed  twenty-one  years ;  and  during  the  same  year 
the  first  land  was  patented  on  the  sea-side.  It  should  be 
understood  that  locality  on  the  peninsula  is  designated  as 
bay-side  or  sea-side,  according  to  which  body  of  water  the 
nearest  creeks  flow  into.  From  the  earliest  times,  there  have 
been  thoroughfares  known  as  the  bay-side  and  sea-side  roads, 
running  from  Cape  Charles  into  Maryland,  which  in  places 
are  several  miles  from  either  shore. 


'Chancery  Proceedings,  Vol.  I,  Land  Causes,  p.  267.  Northampton 
County  Records.  Also  Deed,  March  1688,  Vol.  XI,  Deeds,  Wills,  Etc., 
p.  207. 


The  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke  and  the  Aborigines 

Accomac  means  the  "other-side-place,"  or  "on-the-other- 
side-of-water-place."1  In  the  Massachusetts  language 
"ogkome"  or  "akawine"  means  "beyond";  and  "ac,"  "aki," 
or  "ahki,"  in  various  Algonquin  dialects,  means  "land." 
According  to  Dr.  Wm.  Jones,  the  term  is  probably  akin  to 
Chippewa  "ugaming,"  "the  other  shore,"  and  to  the  Sauk, 
Fox,  and  Kickapoo  "ug'amahegi,"  "ing"  in  the  one  case  and 
"-gi"  in  the  other  being  variations  of  the  same  suffix  express- 
ing "place  where."2 

The  Virginia  peninsula  was  not  the  only  locality  named 
Accomack  by  the  Indians,  for  referring  to  different  places  in 
New  England  in  1614,  Smith  called  the  present  site  of 
Plymouth,  "Accomack."  In  referring  to  the  various  Indian 
Settlements  along  the  New  England  coast,  he  wrote : 

"The  next  I  can  remember  by  name  are  Mattahunk,  then 
Tottans,  then  Accomack,  then  Chowan.3  And  in  his  general 
description  of  the  country  is  to  be  found  the  following  pas- 
sage: 

"  'Then  come  you  to  Accomack,  an  excellent  good  harbor, 
good  land  and  no  want  of  anything  but  industrious  people.'* 
Later  on  Smith  mentions  that  Prince  Charles  changed  the 
name  of  Accomack  to  Plimouth.5    As  late  as  1640,  the  name 

Trumbull. 

2Hand  book  of  American  Indians,  Vol.  I.  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology. 

3Smith's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  192. 
4Ibid.  p.  205. 
6Ibid.  pp.  699-700. 

49 


50        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Accomack  as  applied  to  the  country  about  Plymouth,  Massa- 
chusetts, was  in  use  among  the  New  Englanders  and  Indians 
as  illustrated  by  the  following: 

"  'Owsamekin,  the  sachem  of  Acooemack  on  this  side  of 
Connecticut,  came  to  the  governor,  etc'  m 

This  similarity  in  the  names  of  the  New  England  and 
Eastern  Shore  Indians  indicates  a  close  relationship  between 
the  Powhatans  and  the  Massachusetts. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  two  oldest  sets  of  court 
records  in  the  United  States  to-day  are  to  be  found  in  the 
two  Accomacks.  Those  of  Plymouth  are  said  to  date  from 
1629,  but  are  not  complete  for  the  first  few  years,  while  those 
at  Eastville,  the  present  seat  of  Northampton  County,  Vir- 
ginia, date  from  1632  without  a  break. 

To  the  early  colonists  of  Virginia,  the  Indians  of  the 
Eastern  Shore  peninsula  were  commonly  known  as  Accaw- 
niacks.  That  one  name  embraced  all  of  the  divisions  and 
sub-divisions  into  families  through  which  the  peninsula 
natives  as  a  tribe  had  passed.  Unfortunately  Verrazano  did 
not  mention,  in  either  of  the  two  letters  which  he  wrote  in 
1524  describing  his  visit  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  the  name 
which  the  natives  bore,  nor  a  single  word  of  their  language.2 

When  Smith  first  landed  at  Cape  Charles  in  1608,  he  was 
met  by  Kictopeake,  the  brother  and  Prime  Minister  of 
Debedeavon,  the  Werowance,  the  "laughing  King  of  the 
Accomacks,"  whose  principal  village,  Accomack,  was  prob- 
ably located  some  distance  inland  from  the  bay  on  the  shore 
of  Cherrystone  Creek.3  Smith  tells  us  of  another  tribe  on 
the  Eastern  Shore,  the  Accohanocks,  whose  town  was  also 

'Winthrop's  History  of  New  England.  Vol.  I,  p.  317.  Ibid.  Vol.  XI, 
p.  476. 

2Early  Voyages  to  America.     Conway  Robinson. 
"Jefferson's  Notes. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        51 

of  the  tribal  name.  The  Accomacks,  he  says,  were  able  to 
muster  eighty  and  the  Accohanocks  forty  warriors.1  Both 
tribes  spoke  the  language  of  Powhatan,  who  ruled  over  them 
as  King,  but  this  rule  or  dominion  over  them  by  Powhatan, 
though  expressly  stated  by  Smith,  must  obviously  have  been 
more  in  the  nature  of  an  alliance  than  an  absolute  dominion. 
The  breadth  of  the  Chesapeake,  at  this  part  of  it,  between 
Powhatan  and  the  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke,  must  have  ren- 
dered his  power  over  it  very  feeble,  especially  when  we  reflect 
upon  the  difficulty  of  navigating  such  a  water  with  Indian 
canoes.  This  receives  some  confirmation  by  the  following 
remark,  "there  may  be  on  this  Shore  (meaning  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Virginia)  about  two  thousand  people.  They  on 
the  west  would  invade  them,  but  that  they  want  boats  to 
cross  the  baye."2 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  Powhatan  might,  at  some  time 
before,  have  made  a  conquest  of  the  Accawmackes.  He  did 
not  gain  them  by  inheritance,  if  it  be  true,  as  is  said,  that 
the  countries  inherited  by  him  from  his  ancestors  lay  only 
about  James  River  and  Pamaunkee.3 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  Nantiquaks  (Nanticokes),4 
whom  Smith  mentions  as  inhabiting  the  country  adjacent  to 
the  Cuskarawaock  River  (Nanticoke),  were  once  a  tribe  of 
the  great  Lenape  Nation,  forced  northward  by  the  Powhatans. 
From  the  fact  that  Smith  expressly  mentions  that  the  natives 
who  inhabited  that  part  of  the  peninsula,  which  is  now  a 
portion  of  Virginia,  belonged  to  the  Powhatan  Confederacy 
and  spoke  that  language,  it  would  seem  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  Indians  living  in  what  is  now  Maryland  were  not  of 

'Smith's  History  of  Va.,  Vol.  I,  p.   120,  ed.  1819. 
Smith's  History  of  Va.,  Vol.  II,  p.  64. 
3Smith's  History  of  Virginia,  Vol.  I,  p.  142. 
4Nanticokes — "Tide-Water  People."      (Hendren.) 


52        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  same  race.  But  as  Smith  did  not  explore  any  part  of 
the  present  territory  of  Maryland  on  the  Eastern  Shore  im- 
mediately adjacent  to  the  present  division  line  between  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  nearer  than  the  Nanticoke  River,  we  are 
unable  to  tell  exactly  how  far  Powhatan's  territories  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  extended  northward,  or  whether  they  com- 
prehended any  of  the  Indians  north  of  the  present  Virginia 
boundary.  Although  Beverley  tells  us  that  the  Indians  who 
inhabited  Gingoteage  ( Chincoteague  Island),  in  1705,  were 
joined  with  a  nation  of  Maryland  Indians,  he  did  not  men- 
tion any  difference  between  their  language  and  that  of  the 
other  Indians  of  Accomac  and  Northampton.1 

Now  if  Verrazano  had  mentioned  the  name  of  the  Indians 
inhabiting  the  peninsula  in  1624,  we  would  have  at  least 
known  whether  or  not  the  Powhatans  came  before  or  after 
that  date  and  whether  the  natives  of  his  time  were  of  Lenape 
or  Algonquin  extraction. 

The  student  who  desires  to  study  the  ethnology  of  the 
Accomack  and  Accohanock  Indians  will  be  disappointed  and 
surprised  by  the  meagreness  of  the  information  at  his  com- 
mand. Practically  nothing  is  known  of  their  origin  except 
that  they  were  of  Algonquin  descent.  Nothing  is  known  of 
their  history  prior  to  1608. 

When  Smith  first  visited  Accomack,  Debedeavon,  the 
Laughing  King,  was  Lord  of  all  he  surveyed,  for  the  western 
shore,  where  his  overlord  Powhatan  headed  the  great  Indian 
Confederacy,  was  just  beyond  the  reach  of  human  eyes.  The 
occasional  glimpse  which  he  caught  of  Cape  Henry  served, 
no  doubt,  to  remind  him  of  a  certain  dependency  which 
otherwise  he  would  have  forgotten.     The  Accawmacke  In- 

'Beverley's  History  of  Virginia  (Edit,  of  1722),  p.  199. 
For  full  treatment  of  preceding  subject,  Bozman's  History  of  Mary- 
land, Vol.  I,  p.  162  et  seq. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        53 

dians,  in  their  isolated  country,  were  troubled  very  little  by 
the  cares  and  worries  of  their  brothers  across  the  bay  and 
intercourse  with  them  was  almost  impossible,  for  the  light 
canoes  of  the  natives  were  not  suited  to  voyages  across  the 
broad,  and  at  times  angry,  waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  The 
peninsula  Indians  were  then,  though  kin  by  blood  and  gov- 
ernmental ties  to  the  natives  of  the  Western  Shore,  a  tribe 
all  to  themselves.  The  conditions  obtaining  in  their  little 
kingdom  were  such  as  would  naturally  calm  the  fiery  and 
warlike  character.  Life  with  them  was  not  one  long  strug- 
gle for  existence  against  marauders  from  other  regions.  They 
were  not  born  upon  the  warpath,  reared  amidst  the  din  and 
strife  of  contending  tribes,  nor  of  necessity  tutored  from  in- 
fancy in  the  cruel  arts  of  savage  warfare.  Their  villages 
seem  to  have  been  more  or  less  permanent,  for  their  restricted 
territory  did  not  afford  unlimited  acres  over  which  they 
might  rove.  Soon,  therefore,  the  nomadic  habits  of  their 
forefathers  were  out-bred  as  the  result  of  their  territorial 
circumstances,  and  with  this  element  of  native  character 
went  many  essential  qualities  of  the  nomad.  They  neither 
intruded  upon  the  domains  of  others,  nor  by  reason  of  their 
isolation  were  they  intruded  upon;  hence  the  causes  which 
made  a  warrior  of  every  native  on  the  mainland  were  absent 
in  their  case. 

The  foregoing  reasons  for  the  peaceful  nature  of  the  East- 
ern Shore  Indians  are  not  the  only  ones.  Proper  weight 
must  be  given  to  the  effect  of  the  mild  climate  of  the  penin- 
sula and  the  generous  soil,  which  yielded  abundant  supplies 
of  grain  and  tobacco,  with  little  or  no  work.  And  when  the 
crop  failed  from  some  cause  or  other,  they  were  not  forced 
to  make  forays  against  their  neighbors  nor  send  out  their 
young  men  on  foraging  expeditions  into  the  territory  of  the 
enemy,  a  practice  which  was  a  potent  factor  in  the  training 


54        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

of  the  warrior.  What  need  of  such  measures  when  their 
whole  coast  was  one  long  line  of  oyster  rocks  and  clam  banks ; 
when  every  marsh  and  island  was  alive  with  wild  fowl !  The 
familiar  honk  of  geese  had  hardly  ceased  before  the  shrill  cry 
of  the  Curlew  announced  his  Northern  flight.  Ducks  of 
every  variety  congregated  along  the  sea-side  during  the  win- 
ter, and  early  in  the  spring  were  supplanted  by  the  Willet, 
the  Plover  and  the  Snipe.  Unlimited  shoals  of  fish  passed 
through  the  inlets,  into  the  creeks  and  the  nets  of  the  natives. 
Terrapin  and  shrimp  abounded  in  the  marshes  and  neighbor- 
ing waters.  Even  deer  and  bear  found  their  way  down  from 
the  North. 

When  we  consider  then  how  lightly  the  iron  hand  of  win- 
ter rested  upon  the  peninsula;  how  bountifully  nature  sup- 
plied these  natives  with  every  luxury ;  the  absence  of  enemies 
to  disturb  their  quiet  and  happy  life ;  it  is  small  wonder  that 
they  differed  from  their  hard-pressed  brothers  across  the 
water.  As  savages,  they  were  degenerates.  As  a  people  for 
pioneers  to  come  in  contact  with,  their  mildness  and  lack  of 
resistance  made  them  a  most  desirable  pattern  for  their  race 
in  the  eyes  of  the  white  man. 

In  1621,  when  John  Pory  visited  Debedeavon,  he  found 
that  the  tractable  old  fellow  shouldered  upon  himself  very 
few  of  the  cares  of  government,  but  left  the  management  of 
affairs  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Kictopeake,  his  bro- 
ther. Perhaps  after  all  the  King  was  more  lazy  than  humor- 
ous and  befriended  the  whites  because  it  was  easier  than 
fighting  them.  He  explained  to  Pory  that,  seeing  his  people 
were  better  controlled  by  his  younger  brother  than  himself, 
he  voluntarily  surrendered  the  reigns  of  government  and 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  husbandry  and  hunting.1    Ah, 

'Observations  of  Master  John  Pory,  Smith's  History  of  Va. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        55 

indeed,  he  was  a  true  Virginian  of  the  old  school !  Yet  ex- 
plained the  old  Indian,  Kictopeake  is  as  faithful  and  vigi- 
lant a  councilor,  as  he  is  an  affectionate  brother,  bearing  the 
greater  burden  in  government,  though  the  lesser  honour.1 

The  name  of  Okiawampe  appears  frequently  in  the  county 
records  of  the  early  days,  as  that  of  a  native  ruler.  The 
Indians  were  superstitious  about  their  secret  or  religious 
names,  and  it  may  be  that  Okiawampe  was  the  same  person 
as  Debedeavon ;  but  the  public  acts  of  the  two  relating  to  the 
whites  are  so  intermingled,  that  it  is  difficult  to  determine 
whether  they  were  the  same  personage,  or  whether  Okia- 
wampe was  the  heir  and  successor  of  Debedeavon,  or  brother 
and  co-ruler,  as  was  Kictopeake.2  At  any  rate,  Okiawampe 
died  in  1657,  and  his  will  is  on  record  in  Eastville.3  It  is  a 
short  but  pathetic  instrument  by  which  he  directed  that  his 
daughter  should  rule  his  people,  and  that  certain  of  his  great 
men  should  counsel  and  advise  her  so  that  she  might  rule  her 
kingdom  well.  Even  though  the  poor  old  King  had  been  dis- 
turbed in  his  hunting  by  Richard  Hill,  who  pointed  a  gun  at 
him,4  he  cautioned  his  daughter  to  preserve  the  good  will  of 
their  white  friends  as  he  had  done.  "What  a  travesty  upon 
friendship  was  that  of  the  white  confiscators  who  were  fast 
driving  his  people  from  the  face  of  the  earth !  Call  it 
friendship  or  good  judgment,  as  you  please,  on  the  part  of 
Debedeavon,  his  entire  energies  seem  to  have  been  bent  upon 
the  maintenance  of  amicable  relations  between  his  people 
and  the  whites.  This  was  shown  by  an  instance  when  a  white 
man  and  a  boy  were  killed  by  some  prowling  Indians  up  the 

Observations  of  Master  John  Pory,  Smith's  History  of  Va. 
2See  address  of  T.  T.  Upshur,  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio.,  Vol.  IX, 
p.  91. 

3See  Vol.  1657-1666,  Northampton  County  Records.  Will  dated 
April  22,  1657. 

Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  Ill,  May  7,  1650. 


56        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

bay.  The  King  at  once  sent  a  deputation  of  his  warriors 
from  Nandua  to  Accomack  with  two  Indians  as  a  reparation. 
They  brought  also  quantities  of  roanoke  and  beaver  skins  as 
a  peace  offering.  When  the  interpreter  delivered  the  King's 
message  to  the  commander,  Col.  Obedience  Robins,  the  latter 
said,  aGod  forbid  that  I  should  take  an  Indian  for  a  white 
man,"  and  ordered  the  deputation  to  embark  in  their  canoes 
with  the  human  sacrifices.  The  Indians  hesitated  to  return 
without  having  complied  with  the  royal  mandate,  and  seeing 
them  tarry  about  the  settlement  for  several  days,  Daniel 
Cugley,  who  married  Hannah  Tyng,  the  widow  of  Thomas 
Savage,  and  at  whose  place  the  Embassy  had  landed,  appro- 
priated the  roanoke  and  pelts  and  set  the  peace  Ambassadors 
to  work  on  his  farm.  When  the  Commander  heard  of  Cug- 
ley's  act,  he  was  furious,  arrested  Cugley  and  sent  him  to 
Jamestown  for  trial.  Poor  Cugley  died  shortly  after  this 
unfortunate  affair,  and  never  forgave  the  court  and  Colonel 
Robins  for  their  treatment  of  him.1 

The  settlers  in  turn  evidently  appreciated  the  advantage 
of  Debedeavon's  Friendship,  as  shown  by  the  following: 

"Whereas  Wathiwamp  (the  same  name  as  Okiawampe 
and  Wachiwampe)  Kinge  of  the  Occahannocks  Indyans,  he 
sent  his  complt  to  this  Cort  that  Richard  Hill,  Overseer  unto 
Mr.  Edm.  Scarburgh,  his  servants  inhabiting  all  Occahan- 
nocke,  has  lately  presented  a  gun  at  the  breast  of  the  Sd 
Kinge  of  Occahannocke,  whereby  he  was  disturbed  in  his 
hunting,  Upon  consideration  of  ye  badd  Consequences  wch 
maye  ensue  upon  such  unadvised  p'actices,  it  is  thought  fitt 
&  ordered  that  for  future  tyme  noe  Englishman  shall  dis- 
turb, molest,  or  act  anything  ag'st  the  sd  Indyan  Kinge  to 
hindr  him  in  his  huntinge,  as  they  will  answer  the  same."2 

'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  II. 

Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  207-212.     May  7,  1650. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        57 

Colonel  Scarburgh  seems  to  have  had  the  propensity  of 
disturbing  the  Indians,  and  some  of  his  hatred  of  them  was, 
no  doubt,  transmitted  to  his  servants. 

As  early  as  1640,  the  authorities  had  shown  their  desire  to 
protect  the  Indians,  for  that  year  Philip  Taylor,  of  Kent 
Island  fame,  attempted  to  encroach  on  a  tract  of  land  along 
Mattawaman  Creek  which  had  been  laid  out  for  the  Indians. 
Upon  their  complaint,  the  matter  was  investigated,  and  we 
find  the  following  entry  in  the  court  records  of  the  year : 

"It  is  thought  fit  &  ordered  by  this  Court  That  Philip 
Taylor  nor  any  other  person  or  persons  belonging  to  him,  the 
said  Taylor,  shall  disturb  or  molest  the  Indians,  formerly 
seated  at  Mattawan  Creek,  neither  for  any  cause  or  reason, 
to  clear  or  work  upon  the  ground,  whereon  they  are  now 
seated,  by  reason  Nath'l  Littleton,  Argal  Yeardley,  Capt. 
Wm.  Stone,  Mr.  Wm.  Stone,  &  Capt.  Wm.  Koper  have  taken 
special  charge  of  the  place,  Therefore  if  the  said  Indians  be 
displaced  of  the  2,000  acres  of  Land,  which  Mr.  Taylor  doth 
lay  claim  to,  they  can  in  no  wise  permit ;  and  furthermore 
that  the  plantation  of  Phillip  Taylor,  can  not  be  impaired 
thereby,  he  being  seated  on  one  side  of  the  Creek  &  they  on 
the  other  side,  &  not  hitherto  hath  either  built  on  that  side 
the  Indians  are  appointed  to  dwell  on." 

While  there  were  a  number  of  small  communities  or  vil- 
lages of  Indians  (referred  to  hereafter,  for  convenience,  as 
tribes),  the  Eastern  Shore  was  really  a  Kingdom  under  one 
ruler,  who  held  his  court  at  Great  Nusswattocks,  or  Nandua, 
as  it  is  now  called.  There  the  King  summoned  his  great 
men  or  tribal  chiefs  to  meet  in  council ;  and  there  he  received 
his  royal  tribute  of  eight  bushels  of  corn  and  three  arrow- 
heads per  year  from  each  tribe.  It  was  at  these  state  coun- 
cils that  the  various  policies  of  the  Kingdom  were  discussed 
and  determined  upon,  and  no  doubt  ambassadors  were  there 


58        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

appointed  to  attend  the  court  of  Powhatan.  History  tells  us 
that  in  1622  Opecancanough  sent  messengers  to  the  Acco- 
mack Councils,  with  orders  for  his  dependents  or  confeder- 
ates to  gather  a  certain  poisonous  herb,  which  grew  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  and  nowhere  else,  and  send  it  to  him,  so  that 
he  could  poison  the  wells  of  the  white  men.  But  a  friendly 
policy  had  already  been  defined  by  the  King,  who  not  only 
refused  to  aid  in  the  massacre,  but  informed  the  whites  of  the 
impending  storm.1 

It  seems  that  the  friendship  of  the  natives  was  further 
secured  about  this  time  by  a  promise  on  the  part  of  the  whites 
to  aid  the  Accomacks  in  making  war  upon  their  enemies,  the 
Wicocomocoes,  who  dwelt  far  up  the  great  bay. 

The  disposition  of  the  various  families  who,  in  the  old 
records,  are  frequently  graced  with  the  name  of  "nations,"  is 
interesting. 

In  Northampton,  as  now  distinguished  from  Accomac, 
were  the  Gingaskins  or  Gingascos,  probably  the  largest  tribe 
on  the  peninsula  and  the  last  to  disappear.  Their  main  vil- 
lage or  town  was  located  upon  the  "Pocahontas"  farm,  re- 
cently in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  McNutt ;  and  their  territory 
extended  from  the  Indiantown  landing  on  that  farm,  past 
the  present  site  of  Eastville  Station,  some  distance  towards 
the  "Horns."2 

Very  few  traces,  if  any,  of  these  Indians  remain,  but  it  is 
recounted  how  as  late  as  1862,  one  Mollie  Stephens — when 
she  became  tipsy,  as  she  frequently  did — would  shout,  "I'm 
the  Ingin  Queen !"  and  persons  much  older  than  herself  said 
that  she  was  doubtless  the  daughter  of  the  last  Gingaskin 

aSee  previous  chapter  on  the  Plantation  of  Accawmacke. 
2Eastville. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        59 

King — a  queen  without  maids  of  honor  to  minister  unto 
her — a  sovereign  without  vassals  or  kingdom.1 

The  Gingaskins  seem  to  have  had  several  branches  or  out- 
lying families.  First,  near  Cape  Charles,  on  Magothy  Bay,2 
was  a  small  band  believed  to  be  the  Magothas.  Though  the 
name  of  their  King  is  unknown,  their  home  was  on  the  farm 
formerly  known  as  the  Edward  Fitchett  place.  Next  were 
the  Mattawames  under  King  Pomoccomon,  a  very  small  and 
poor  band  who  were  settled  about  Old  Town  or  Hungar's 
Neck.  They  soon  became  a  charge  upon  the  whites  and  dis- 
appeared. Then  there  was  King  Tepiapon  who  ruled  the 
small  band  of  Nuswattocks  of  Elliot's  Neck.3 

Over  the  present  boundary  of  the  two  counties  were  the 
Accohanocks4  and  Curratocks,5  the  subjects  of  King  Andia- 
man.  Their  villages  were  near  the  extremities  of  Scarburgh's 
and  Cradock  Necks.  "Until  recently,"  says  the  late  Mr. 
T.  T.  Upshur,  our  authority  on  these  Indians,  "I  have  be- 
lieved that  Craddock  Neck  was  so  called  in  honor  of  Lieu- 
tenant Craddock,  who  commanded  the  first  detail  of    salt 

'Upon  one  occasion,  when  decidedly  unsteady  from  too  many  pota- 
tions of  "fire-water,"  and  when  she  had,  judging  by  the  dusty  and  muddy 
appearance  of  her  gown,  been  down  in  the  road,  she  came  dancing 
through  the  piazza  of  the  hotel  in  Eastville,  where  some  gentlemen  were 
sitting.  Among  them  was  a  certain  gentleman,  afterwards  a  judge, 
attired  as  usual,  in  the  most  tidy  and  careful  manner  in  white  linen 
trousers  and  Marseilles  vest.  As  Mollie  passed  him  she  shouted,  "Ugh! 
ugh !  I'm  the  Ingin  Queen !  I'm  the  Ingin  Queen ! "  and  losing  her 
balance  at  that  moment,  sat  down  suddenly  in  his  lap.  This  raised  a 
great  laugh  at  his  expense,  and  he  became  so  much  incensed  that  he 
caused  her  arrest  and  incarceration,  but  soon  recovered  his  temper  and 
had  her  released. 

2Pronounced  Mag-goty.  There  is  a  beautiful  flowering  pea  which 
grows  along  the  sea-side  of  the  peninsula,  known  as  the  Magothy  Bay 
Bean.  The  blossom  is  yellow.  It  is  considered  a  valuable  fertilizer 
when  plowed  under. 

3Nuswattocks,  Nassawaddox,  etc. — A  stream  between  two  streams 
(Brinton). 

*Accohanock  or  Occohannock — Narrow  and  winding  stream. 

"Cruddox. 


60        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

makers  at  Dale's  Gift  in  1616,  but  I  have  seen  an  item  in  our 
court  records,  the  original  of  which  was  evidently  written  by 
Parson  Teakle — in  which  he  mentioned  his  plantation  on 
Curratock — showing  that  the  same  is  really  the  Indian 
word." 

Next  came  the  village  of  Debedeavon,  situated  on  Nandua 
Creek,  State  seat  of  ye  Emperor  of  ye  Easterne  Shoare  and 
King  of  ye  Great  Nusswattocks,  as  he  is  styled.  Then  comes 
the  village  of  Ekeeks,  King  of  the  Onancocks,  on  the  present 
Onancock  Creek.1 

Ekeeks,  judging  from  the  frequency  with  which  his  name 
appears  in  the  court  records,  was  probably  the  most  import- 
ant King  after  Debedeavon,   Kictopeake  and   Okiawampe. 

Nowmetrawen  ruled  the  Chesconnessex,  on  Chesconnessex 
Creek.  Parahokes  was  King  of  the  Chincoteagues,  on  Chin- 
coteague  Bay.  Awascecencas  was  King  of  the  Kickotanks, 
Conantesminoc  of  the  Matchateagues,  and  Matom  of  the 
Matomkins,  their  respective  localities  being  indicated  by  the 
tribal  names.  These  were  all  small  bands.  The  sea-side 
tribe  of  Matchipungoes  was  comparatively  large  and  had 
several  villages,  one  at  or  near  Wachapreague,  another  lower 
down  the  neck,  and  yet  another  on  the  Woodlands  and  Brown- 
ville  farms  in  Northampton.2 

Although  the  Matchipungoes  were  famous  for  the  manu- 
facture of  roanoke,  or  rawrenoke,3  extensively  employed  by 
the  natives  even  on  the  Western  Shore  for  currency,  they 
were  very  poor.    All  along  the  sea-side  the  Indians  conducted 

'Foggy  Place. 

2Dr.  Brinton  says  that  Matchapungo  means  fine  dust,  or  flies,  and, 
as  the  name  belonged  to  Hog  Island  as  well  as  to  the  river  and  to  the 
Indian  tribe,  we  may  reasonably  infer,  in  the  absence  of  anything  to  the 
contrary,  that  the  sand  or  mosquitoes  on  Hog  Island  gave  rise  to  the 
name.      ( Upshur. ) 

3Roanoke — thing  or  place  of  shells.      (Hendren.) 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        61 

a  regular  mint  for  turning  out  this  shell  money;  yet  their 
chief  articles  of  traffic  with  the  whites  were  beaver  skins. 
The  wealth  of  these  poor  sea-side  savages  was  all  in  nature's 
storehouse,  and  while  that  was  filled  with  luxuries  to  over- 
flowing, the  very  ease  with  which  life  was  surrounded 
seemed  to  sap  the  energies  of  the  sea-side  Indians  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  were  destitute  of  any  material  means.  They 
lived  mainly  on  fish,  oysters  and  clams,  as  the  great  piles  of 
shells  near  the  native  villages  still  attest.  Yet  deer,  bears, 
wolves,  wildcats,  and  small  game  were  plentiful,  and  in  one 
place  it  is  recorded  that  an  Indian  sold  three  moose  skins.1 
Game  rapidly  diminished  after  the  arrival  of  the  whites 
with  their  fowling  pieces  and  shot,  and  hunting  became  un- 
profitable on  the  part  of  the  natives. 

Lying  on  the  East  and  extending  well  north  of  Chingo- 
teague  Island,  is  the  Island  of  Assateague.  Between  the 
upper  end  of  this  large  Island  and  the  Maryland  Shore,  is 
what  was  known  as  Assateague  bay,  but  now  called  Chingo- 
teague  Sound.  The  Indians  who  inhabited  this  region  were 
unquestionably  nearly  related  to  the  Nanticokes  and  not 
connected  with  the  Powhatan  Confederates  of  the  lower 
peninsula.  Being  more  warlike,  they  resisted  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Accomack  settlers  from  the  first.  At  an  early 
date  they  complained  to  the  Land  Commission  of  Maryland 
that  one  William  Whittington,  who  claimed  that  the  lower 
end  of  Assateague  Island  was  in  Virginia,  had  settled  among 
them  and  upon  their  lands.2  These  Indians  appear  very 
little  in  the  records  of  Accomac  or  Northampton,  but  are 
constantly   referred   to   in   the   Maryland  records,   for   they 

^hese  skins  must  have  been  brought  from  the  far  Xorth. 
2See  Maryland  Archives,  Proceedings  of  Council,  1667-1687-8. 


62        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

frequently  sought  the  aid  of  that  province  to  stop  the  advance 
of  the  white  man  from  the  South.1 

An  early  record  describes  the  Assateague  tribe  as  composed 
of  the  Assateagues,  Transquakin,  Choptico,  Moteawaughkin, 
Quequashkecaquick,  Hatsawap,  Wachetak,  Marauqhquaick 
and  Manasksons,  all  under  the  Emperor  of  Assateague.2  It 
was  these  Indians  who  gave  Colonel  Scarburgh  and  the  East- 
ern Shoremen  so  much  concern  in  the  early  days.  Then  there 
was  another  tribe  located  along  the  Pocomoke  River  and  the 
northern  boundary  of  Accomac,  which  gave  some  trouble  to 
the  whites  of  the  Eastern  Shore.  These  Indians  also  sought 
aid  from  Maryland.  There  were  five  several  branches  of 
this  tribe,  viz. :  Pocomokes,  Annamessex,  Manoakin,  Nasswat- 
tox,  and  Aquintica  seated  at  a  place  called  Askiminokonson. 
This  Nassawattox  branch  may  have  been  related  to  the  fam- 
ily of  similar  name  in  Northampton  and  Accomac,  but  at  any 
rate  was  separated  from  it  in  their  alliance  with  the 
more  northern  tribes.  On  May  6th,  1686,  the  Kings  of 
Pocomoke  and  Assateague,  with  other  important  men  of  the 
northern  Indians,  presented  themselves  to  the  Land  Office 
Commissioners  of  Maryland,  and  after  exchanging  presents, 
etc.,  complained  that  Chas.  Scarburgh,  of  Accomac,  and 
others,  had  seated  upon  a  part  of  their  lands  called  Askimi- 
nokonson Neck;  that  Captain  Osbourne  and  Mr.  Whitting- 
ton  had  taken  up  land  within  their  bounds;  and  that  their 
crops  were  constantly  injured  by  the  white  men's  cattle  which 
crossed  the  two  bridges  over  the  Pocomoke.  But  these  In- 
dians did  not  fall  back  upon  peaceful  resort  to  the  Maryland 
Courts  until  Conjurer  Scarburgh,  "the  bad  white  chief," 
had  exhausted  their  military  prowess.  His  name  was  a  ter- 
ror along  the  border.  The  mere  mention  of  it  cast  a  magic 
spell  over  the  red  men. 

'Maryland  Archives,  Proceedings  of  Council,  1667-1687-8,  p.  480. 
2Il»id'. 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOBY        63 

"In  the  moon  of  Roasting-Ears  (August)  palefaces  from 
the  land  of  the  Accomacks  wanted  war.  The  black  wampum- 
belt,  the  red  hatchet  painted  on  it,  was  sent  from  chief  to 
chief  along  the  sea-side  and  over  beyond  to  Pocomoke.  The 
King  of  the  bad  whites  was  angry,  and  came  with  horse  and 
guns.  After  awhile  the  cloud  went  down.  The  Quackels 
(Quakers)  came  into  our  land.  'The  bad  white  chief  and 
his  friends  had  driven  them  there.  They  loved  peace.  But 
at  one  time  he  put  on  his  war  paint  and  swam  the  Pocomoke 
and  followed  them  to  Pocomoke.  He  hated  Quackels.  Once 
we  thought  of  killing  all  the  whites  when  in  a  quarrel  and 
divided.  But  the  Quackels  were  kind  to  Indians.  Then  the 
great  father  across  the  bay  said  the  bad  white  chief  must 
stay  beyond  the  marked  trees."1 

The  foregoing  is  supposed  to  be  the  narrative  of  a  Poco- 
moke Chief  who  refers  to  Conjurer  Scarburgh.2 

The  number  of  Indians  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  stated 
by  Smith  to  be  about  two  thousand  at  the  time  of  his  visit  in 
1608.  If  this  estimate  was  correct,  there  was,  for  natives,  a 
fairly  dense  population  at  the  time,  when  we  consider  the 
size  of  the  peninsula.  But  as  the  white  men  came  in  ever 
increasing  numbers,  the  Indians  gradually  disappeared.  Vice 
and  disease  did  their  work  and  the  irresistible  surge  of  civili- 
zation wore  away  the  native  population.  In  1667,  a  sailor 
from  the  Bermudas  landed  at  Accomack,  ill  of  smallpox. 
He  was  isolated  by  the  chirurgeons  and  placed  in  a  log  house 
in  the  woods ;  but  in  a  time  of  delirium  he  escaped  from  the 
cabin,  and,  wandering  to  the  Indian  town,  inoculated  that 
tribe  or  village,  and  from  there  the  disease  spread  all  over 
the  Eastern  Shore,  leading  to  an  awful  mortality  among  the 
natives.3    It  is  said  that  the  Indians  ever  afterwards  believed 

JDays  of  Makemie,  L.  P.  Bowen. 

2See  Chapters  on  Maryland  Boundary  and  Quakers. 
3See    Order    of    Sir    Wm.    Berkeley,    Northampton    County    Records. 
Vol.  VIII,  p.   19. 


64         EASTEEN  SHOKE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

that  the  sailor  had  been  sent  among  them  by  the  whites  to 
kill  them. 

But  if  the  sea-side  Indians  were  a  race  of  lazy  fishermen 
and  huntsmen,  and  like  the  poorer  class  of  clam  diggers  and 
oystermen,  pot-hunters  and  'longshoremen,  who  live  along 
the  marshes  and  on  the  islands  to-day,  were  improvident  and 
shiftless,  the  other  Indians  of  the  peninsula  were  not.  We 
have  seen  how  Captains  Martin  and  Savage  found  great  sup- 
plies of  grain  among  them,  when  the  western  country  was 
starving,  at  a  time  when  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Virginia 
Indians  in  general  to  raise  only  enough  maize  each  season  to 
last  through  the  year.  The  Eastern  Shore  Indians  alone 
seem  to  have  exercised  remarkable  prudence  and  foresight 
in  this  respect,  and  to  have  laid  by  generous  stores  of  grain 
as  an  emergency  supply.  Their  methods  of  husbandry  seem 
to  have  been  more  improved  than  usual  among  the  natives, 
and  they  exercised  far  better  judgment  in  the  tilling  of  their 
soil.  No  doubt  this  was  due  to  the  permanency  of  their  resi- 
dence. The  Indians  of  the  western  shore  never  knew  when 
an  enemy  would  swoop  down  upon  them,  destroying  their 
crops  and  seizing  their  stores.  Hence  they  did  not  care  to 
expend  any  more  labor  in  the  cultivation  of  crops  than  was 
necessary  to  give  them  a  present  supply. 

It  was  not  always  an  Indian  enemy  who  preyed  upon  the 
natives.  In  Northampton,  where  the  Indians  were  ever 
friendly  and  generous  in  their  dealings  with  the  whites  and 
gave  no  trouble  even  through  the  dark  and  bloody  days  of 
1622  and  1644,  the  settlers  so  encroached  upon  their  rights, 
that  in  1654,  by  general  consent  of  the  people,  they  were 
given  the  fullest  protection  against  all  intrusions  on  their 
grounds;  and  the  right  was  granted  to  them  to  dispose  of 
their  lands  by  sale,  upon  certain  conditions.1     On  account, 

'Pfennig's  Statutes,  Vol.  I,  p.  456. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        65 

quite  probably,  of  the  fact  that  the  narrow  extent  of  the 
Eastern  Shore  placed  the  tribe  inhabiting  that  part  of  the 
Colony  more  at  the  mercy  of  unscrupulous  white  persons  who 
were  anxious  to  intrude  on  their  hunting  grounds,  the  assem- 
bly exhibited  throughout  the  seventeenth  century  unusual 
care  in  furnishing  them  the  protection  they  needed  so  much. 
In  1660,  the  Indians  of  Accomac  complained  that  they  had 
been  deprived  of  their  lands  to  such  an  extent  that  they  were 
in  a  straightened  condition,  and  they  asked  that  proper 
measures  be  adopted  to  raise  a  barrier  against  the  further 
advance  of  the  English  upon  their  property.  The  action  of 
the  authorities  in  response  to  this  petition  was  highly  sig- 
nificant. They  were  not  content  that  the  grounds  should  be 
laid  off  for  the  Accomack  tribe  by  a  surveyor  of  the  Eastern 
Shore.  Thinking  that  such  a  surveyor  might  perform  the 
work  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Aborigines,  instructions  were 
given  that  the  services  of  a  resident  of  the  Western  Shore 
should  be  obtained,  who  would  have  no  motive  in  determin- 
ing the  lands  beyond  a  desire  to  execute  the  task  conscien- 
tiously. The  extent  of  the  country  to  be  assigned  was  to  be 
sufficient  to  afford  the  Indians  an  ample  subsistence  without 
regard  to  what  they  could  earn  by  hunting  and  fishing,  and 
they  should  have  no  power  to  alienate  it.1  This  prohibition 
upon  the  alienation  of  their  lands  was  not  extended  in  its 
scope  to  the  Aborigines  on  the  Western  Shore  until  1662. 

In  March,  1676,  when  the  prospects  of  an  Indian  war 
greatly  alarmed  the  people,  it  was  provided  that  all  who  sup- 
plied the  natives  with  arms,  powder,  and  shot,  should  not 
only  forfeit  their  whole  estate,  but  suffer  death  in  addition, 
The  only  persons  allowed  to  furnish  friendly  Indians  with 
match-coats,  hoes  and  axes  were  such  as  had  been  nominated 

herring,  Vol.  I,  p.  456. 


66        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

by  the  county  courts.1  One  of  the  first  laws  passed  by  the 
Assembly,  controlled  by  Bacon,  made  all  trade  with  the  In- 
dians illegal,  unless  they  were  serving  in  the  war  with  the 
English,  in  which  case,  also,  no  weapon  nor  ammunition  was 
to  be  given  to  them.2  In  the  following  year  the  right  of 
absolute  free  trade  was  granted  to  the  Indian  population  of 
the  Eastern  Shore.3  Certain  places  were  now  appointed  as 
Indian  marts,  to  which  all  Indians  who  were  at  peace  with 
the  whites  were  invited  to  come  at  specified  times.  These 
marts  were  situated  respectively  in  Henrico,  Isle  of  Wight, 
New  Kent,  Rappahannock,  Lancaster,  Stafford,  Accomac 
and  Northampton,  and  were  to  be  open  in  March,  April  and 
May  and  in  September  and  November  in  the  fall  of  the  year, 
the  occasion  for  each  being  restricted  to  a  day.  For  each 
mart  an  account  was  kept  by  a  clerk  appointed  by  the  Gover- 
nor.4 

In  1677,  each  of  the  Indian  towns,  under  the  terms  of  a 
treaty  of  peace  with  the  whites,  with  whom  difficulties  had 
existed  for  about  twenty-five  years,  paid  three  Indian  arrow- 
heads for  their  land,  and  twenty  beaver  skins  for  protection 
from  the  Indians  of  Maryland.5 

The  peaceful  Indians  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  among  whom 
the  first  colonists  of  the  peninsula  settled,  had  greatly  dimin- 
ished by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  dying 
out  of  the  Savages  was  followed  by  the  arrival  of  negroes 
in  large  numbers,  of  whom  up  to  that  time  there  had  been 
but  few.  Robert  Beverley,  who  wrote  about  that  time,  tells 
us  that  "in  1700,  the  Indians  of  Eastern  Virginia  were  almost 

'Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  337. 

2Hening,  Vol.  I,  pp.  350-351. 

3Ibid.,  p.  403.     Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  410-12. 

4Ibid.,  p.  403. 

'Beverley's  History  of  Va..  p.  184. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        67 

wasted,  but  such  towns  and  people  as  retain  their  names  and 
live  in  bodies  are  hereunder  set  down;  all  of  which  together 
can't  raise  500  fighting  men."  In  Accoraac,  he  says  there 
are  eight  towns: 

1. — "Gingoteague. — The  remains  of  this  town  are  joined 
with  a  Nation  of  Maryland  Indians. 

2. — Metomkin. — Which  was  much  decreased  of  late  by 
smallpox  that  was  carried  thither. 

3. — Kicquotank. — Is  reduced  to  a  very  few  men. 

4. — Matchapungo. — Has  a  small  number  yet  living. 

5. — Ocahannock. — Has  a  small  number  yet  living. 

6. — Pungoteague. — Governed  by  a  Queen,  but  a  small 
nation. 

7. — Onancock. — Has  four  or  five  families. 

8. — Chisconessex. — Has  a  very  few,  who  just  keep  the 
name. 

9. — Nandua. — A  seat  of  the  Empress — not  above  twenty 
families — but  she  has  all  the  nations  on  the  Shore  under 
tribute. 

10. — In  Northampton  the  Gangascoe  (Gingaskins),  which 
is  almost  as  numerous  as  all  the  foregoing  put  together."1 

As  late  as  1812,  however,  there  were  a  few  of  the  Gin- 
gaskins holding  land  in  common,2  but  by  this  time  all  tribal 
identity  had  been  lost,  and  so  mixed  did  the  miserable  rem- 
nant become  by  1833,  that  they  were  driven  off  during  the 
excitement  subsequent  to  the  Nat  Turner  Insurrection.3 

Beverley's  History  of  Va.,  p.  184. 

2Schoolcroft,  Vol.  V,  p.  36.     (Ed.  1855.) 

3For  valuable  information  as  to  customs  and  habits  of  Early  Vir- 
ginia Indians,  see  Robert  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia.  Also  see 
Norwood's  interesting  account  of  his  stay  with  the  Kickotank  Indians 
of  Assateague  Bav,  Vol.  III.     Force's  Collect,  of  Historical  Tracts. 


VI 

Origin  of  the  People 

The  pioneers  of  Accomack  were,  without  exception,  sprung 
from  a  sturdy  English  stock.  A  decade  or  more  elapsed  be- 
fore the  English  gentry  made  its  appearance.  After  1630 
large  numbers  of  the  latter  class  poured  into  the  little  sea- 
girt land.  The  influx  of  settlers  was  so  sudden  that  the  bet- 
ter class  was  not  forced  through  the  usual  levelling  process, 
when  social  barriers  fall  before  the  stress  of  common  danger 
and  enterprise.  In  general,  it  is  only  after  the  pioneer  has 
been  through  the  sieve,  a  period  of  toil  and  deprivation,  that 
the  elements  of  society  become  refined  and  segregated.  But 
on  the  Eastern  Shore,  the  generous  hand  of  nature  and 
aborigine,  alike,  combined  to  do  away  with  the  elementary 
process  of  colonization.  The  gentleman  immigrant  assumed 
his  accustomed  role  from  the  first  upon  this  virgin  soil. 

As  a  result  then,  of  the  easy  conditions,  a  number  of  dis- 
tinct social  classes  were  to  be  found  among  the  inhabitants 
as  early  as  1625-30.  First  there  were  the  large  planters, 
many  of  whom  came  from  Northampton  and  Norfolk.  They 
monopolized  all  the  offices  and  controlled  affairs  generally. 
Next,  came  a  class  of  carpenters,  ship-builders,  and  mechan- 
ics of  all  trades,  who  acquired  small  land  holdings,  and  grad- 
ually became  planters  of  a  second  social  order,  comprising 
a  sturdy  yeomanry  which  exists  to  this  day.  The  third  class, 
and  one  which  increased  rapidly  after  the  flood  tide  of  im- 
migration set  in,  was  that  of  the  huntsmen,  fishermen,  oyster- 
men,  and  islanders,  a  race  of  dauntless  seamen,  unexcelled 

68 


EASTERN  SHOKE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        69 

in  their  special  pursuits  by  any  people  in  the  world.  Their 
very  peculiarity  brought  them  into  such  striking  prominence 
that  they  seem  to  have  impressed  the  historians  to  the  utter 
exclusion  of  the  other  elements  of  Accomack  society.  The 
romance  of  the  sea  has  ever  proved  attractive  to  the  Eastern 
Shoreman,  even  of  the  higher  classes,  but  the  liberty  of  the 
vast  marshes,  the  isolated  islands,  the  secluded  inlets,  stocked 
as  they  were  with  fish  and  fowl,  early  attracted  a  class  of 
lazy  ne'er-do-wells,  who  soon  degenerated  into  a  lower  order 
of  'longshoremen.  A  fourth,  and  small  class,  was  that  of  the 
white  servant.  In  general,  the  distinction  was  ephemeral, 
for  but  few  whites  who  entered  the  service  of  another  re- 
mained for  a  long  period  in  this  menial  condition.  Accord- 
ing to  his  individual  character,  the  servant,  at  the  termina- 
tion of  his  servitude,  attached  himself  to  the  yeomanry  or  the 
'longshoremen.  It  is  impossible  to  judge  accurately  of  the 
size  of  this  class  from  the  immigration  records,  for  gentlemen 
were  frequently  listed  as  servants,  and  many  young  men  of 
superior  social  position  entered  the  service  of  another  for  a 
period  long  enough  to  defray  by  their  labor  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation. 

Owing  to  nearly  three  centuries  of  isolation,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Eastern  Shore  remains  more  purely  English  in 
origin  than  that  of  any  part  of  the  world  with  the  exception 
of  England  itself.1  The  county  records  of  recent  years  con- 
tain names  which  centuries  ago  were  identified  with  the  social 
and  political  history  of  England  and  not  to  be  found  even 
on  the  western  shore  of  Virginia. 

In  these  records  for  the  seventeenth  century,  we  find  such 
names  as  Washington,  Scarburgh,2  Goffigan,   Tully,   Spady, 

*First  Railroad  connection  with  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  the  North 
was  established  in  1884. 

frequently  spelt  Scarborough  and  Scarbrugh. 


70        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Whittington,  Paulson,  Costin,  Tatham,  Carew,  Goring, 
Southey,  Wraxall,  Parramore,  Satchell,  Fowke,  Fitchett,  Sal- 
isbury, Wise,  Walpole,  Hallet,  Capel,  Luddington,  Cropper, 
Joynes,  Severn,  Sommerville,  Dalby,  Empson,  Ratcliffe,  Der- 
by, Cade,  Pitt,  Mortimer.  Fortesque,  Somerset,  Bloomfield, 
( Joxton,  Foxcroft,  Marlow,  Custis,  Charlton,  Horsey,  Waples, 
Leatherbury,  Upshur,  Nottingham,  and  others  of  unmistak- 
able origin,  the  majority  of  which  are  to  be  found  to-day  on 
the  peninsula,  and  few  of  them  elsewhere,  unless  directly 
traceable  to  the  Eastern  Shore. 

The  first  mention  of  the  name  of  Washington  in  any  of  the 
records  of  America  appears  in  those  of  Northampton  for 
September  5,  1636,  when  Jacob  Washington  was  granted  an 
execution  upon  the  goods  and  chattels  of  John  Forbush. 
Captain  Roger  Marshall  had  also  lived  there  from  early  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  Ann  Southey,  the  wife  of  Na- 
thaniel Littleton,  stood  as  god-mother  at  the  christening  of 
his  eldest  son.  The  name  of  the  first  member  of  the  Bushrod 
family  to  settle  in  Virginia  appears  in  the  records  of  North- 
ampton as  a  merchant  in  1644. 

Many  of  the  earliest  names  appear  elsewhere  in  Virginia 
and  in  the  United  States  in  general,  such  as  Robins,  Kendall, 
Bayley  or  Bayly,  Gillet,  Blackstone,  Savage,  Bowman,  West, 
Fletcher,  Finney,  White,  Bowdoin,  Wilkins,  Douglas,  Lit- 
tleton, Harrington,  Blake,  Stanley  Kell'am,  Kellar,  Pitts, 
Waddy,  Edmunds,  Bell,  Oldham,  Doughty,  Browne,  Ames, 
Ayrs,  Nelson,  Mears,  Mapp,  Hopkins,  and  Hunt.  The  pre- 
ceding are  but  a  few  typical  Eastern  Shore  names.  It 
would  be  impracticable  to  cite  them  all. 

Observe  that  in  these  large  lists  of  names  not  a  Mac  nor  an 
Irish  "O"  appears.  Indeed,  Douglas  is  the  only  name  of 
Celtic  origin. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        71 

After  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  association  with  the 
social  and  political  life  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  the  Notting- 
ham family  continues  to-day  to  be  one  of  the  most  prominent 
families  on  the  peninsula.  Yet  the  name  is  practically  un- 
known elsewhere  in  America.  So  numerous  are  the  branches 
of  this  ancient  family,  that  it  has  been  said  that  one  can  make 
no  mistake  by  addressing  an  Eastern  Shoreman,  if  a  gentle- 
man, by  that  name,  for  if  it  is  not  his  own  name,  it  will 
probably  be  that  of  a  near  relative ;  and  if  he  happens  not  to 
be  a  gentleman,  he  will  be  flattered. 

If  we  examine  the  lists  of  inhabitants  and  tithables  given 
in  preceding  chapters,  it  will  be  seen  that,  at  an  early  date,  a 
Frenchman  or  two,  and  a  few  Dutchmen  and  Germans  had 
made  their  appearance;  and  before  1650,  there  was  an  enter- 
prising Turk  on  the  peninsula  who  was  engaged  in  trade.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  if  this  character  found  his  way 
into  Accomack  via  the  sea-islands  where  pirates  and  "light- 
fingered  gentlemen"  of  all  nations  were  wont  to  assemble. 

By  the  year  1640,  the  Dutch  traders  had  found  the  penin- 
sula out,  and  a  brisk  trade  immediately  sprang  up  with  the 
West  Indies,  and  the  Low  Countries,  as  a  result  of  which 
Dutch  immigrants  began  to  arrive  in  large  numbers.  We 
shall  see  that  in  1653  there  were  so  many  natives  of  the  Low 
Countries  residing  on  the  Eastern  Shore  that  it  was  necessary 
to  take  steps  to  protect  them  from  the  hostility  aroused  by  the 
war  with  Holland.  In  1653,  one  of  the  most  highly  respected 
citizens  of  Northampton  was  Dr.  George  Nicholas  Hacke,  a 
native  of  Cologne.  He  had  himself  declared  to  be  a  German 
by  the  Court  to  avoid  the  obloquy  of  appearing  before  the 
undiscriminating  citizens  as  a  Dutchman.  Some  of  the 
Dutch  residents  in  1660  were  Hugh  Cornelius  Corneliuson, 
Hendrick  Wageman,  Daniel  Derrickson,  Peter  Jacobson, 
Abram  Van  Slot  and  Abram  Jensen.     Many  of  the  immi- 


72        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

grants,  though  Englishmen,  had  settled  in  Holland  before 
coming  to  Virginia;  and  such  was  the  case  with  John  and 
William  Custis  who  arrived  about  1640.  These  people  must 
have  brought  numbers  of  the  Hollanders  with  them.  To  this 
day,  traces  of  Dutch  blood  are  to  be  found  on  the  peninsula, 
and  there  are  a  few  Dutch  names  such  as  Sloat  from  Van 
Slot,  and  Eeloat  from  Billiot. 

In  view  of  the  extensive  trade  with  the  Dutch,  both  in  New 
Netherlands  and  in  Holland,  it  is  a  simple  matter  to  account 
for  their  presence  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  Indeed,  Delaware, 
but  a  few  miles  north  of  Accomack,  was  claimed  by  the  Dutch 
and  the  population  there  was  largely  composed  of  Hollanders. 

While  we  search  the  pages  of  Virginia  history,  in  vain,  for 
more  than  a  casual  mention  of  this  large  foreign  element  of 
the  Eastern  Shore,  and  therefore  of  the  population  of  the 
colony,  yet  there  is  another  element,  though  of  English  ex- 
traction, which  seems  to  have  been  totally  neglected.  It  has 
long  been  the  practise  of  Virginians  to  disregard  any  fact 
which  seems  to  indicate  the  presence  of  any  but  cavaliers 
among  their  early  colonists.  Such  an  attitude  is  as  absurd 
as  the  assertion  by  some  that  there  were  few  cavaliers  in  the 
colony. 

If  one  consults  the  various  authorities,  on  the  great  Puritan 
movement,  of  the  early  seventeenth  century,  which  led  them 
to  seek  new  homes  in  America,  a  movement  which  had  its 
inception  in  a  spirit  of  unrest,  dating  back  for  centuries  be- 
fore the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth,  one  must  see  that  no 
common  standard  to  which  religion  should  conform  had  been 
established  among  them.  Close  upon  their  final  liberations 
from  the  conventions  and  toils  of  Europe  followed  a  process 
of  segregation  into  small  groups  among  the  hordes  of  Puri- 
tan immigrants  who  had  braved  the  Atlantic  and  landed  upon 
the  inhospitable  shores  of  New  England.    Years  of  wrangling 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        73 

among  the  factions  followed,  with  the  result  that  new  settle- 
ments were  established  by  the  various  discordant  elements 
which  branched  off  from  the  parent  body. 

While  the  New  Englanders  then,  were  splitting  up  into 
groups  and  groping  in  the  frozen  forests  of  the  north  for  new 
homes,  trading-ships  from  the  sunny  south  were  plying  to 
their  ports,  exchanging  the  grain  of  the  older  colony  for  the 
Cod  Fish  of  New  England,  and  as  we  shall  see,  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter,  much  trade  was  in  progress  between  Accomack 
and  New  England  as  early  as  1634. 

In  1635,  the  whole  Massachusetts  colony  was  agitated  by 
the  migration  of  the  inhabitants  of  Newtown,  Watertown, 
and  Dorchester  to  the  Connecticut  Valley.  The  attempts  of 
the  magistrates  to  divert  the  movement  proved  abortive,  and 
many  families,  dissatisfied  with  present  conditions,  went  forth 
in  search  of  fairer  fields  and  pleasanter  surroundings.1  No 
attempt  will  be  here  made  to  discuss  the  causes  which  led  to 
this  great  movement  and  those  to  follow  close  upon  its  heels. 
They  are  simply  mentioned  to  call  attention  to  the  state  of 
unrest  of  the  New  Englanders  at  this  time.2  Co-existent  with 
this  spirit  of  unrest,  due  to  the  asperities  of  life  in  New  Eng- 
land, both  physical  and  social,  there  was  unquestionably  some 
strong  influence  which  led  numbers  of  the  Massachusetts  col- 
onists farther  south  than  the  Connecticut  Valley.  While  the 
subject  is  not  mentioned  by  the  authorities,3  yet  there  is  some- 
thing too  suggestive  about  the  appearance  of  such  surnames 
as  Cotton,  Hutchinson,  Charlton,  Eyre,  Eaton,  Oldham, 
Stone,  Neale,  Andrews,  Blackstone,  How,  and  such  christian 

Osgood's  American  Colonies  in  17th  Century,  Vol.  I,  p.  431. 

2Ibid.     Beginnings  of  New  England,  Fiske. 

3The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England  and  America,  Douglas  Campbell; 
Beginnings  of  New  England,  John  Fiske.  American  Colonies  in  17th 
Century,  Osgood.     Neale's  Puritans  and  others. 


74    EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

names  as  Obedience,  Nathaniel,  Joane  and  Prudence,  in  the 
records  of  Accomack  about  1632-5,  or  at  the  time  of  general 
disruption  and  migration  in  New  England,  to  be  dismissed 
without  careful  consideration. 

In  the  chapter  on  the  Early  Church,  we  shall  see  that  Na- 
thaniel Eaton,  the  first  principal  of  Harvard  College,  fled  to 
Accomack  from  Massachusetts.  John  Gookin,  who  sat  as  one 
of  the  arbitrators  in  a  dispute  between  Eaton  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Rozier,  was  the  brother  or  uncle  of  Daniel  Gookin,  buried 
in  the  Cambridge  graveyard,  and  John  Congan  or  Cogan,  who 
brought  suit  against  Eaton  in  1646,  was  from  Boston.1  Cap- 
tain John  Stone,  who  behaved  so  badly  at  Boston  and 
Plymouth,  and  was  killed  on  the  Connecticut  River  while 
returning  to  Virginia,  had  an  estate  on  Hungar's  Creek  in 
Northampton  County.  He  was  the  father  of  William  Stone 
of  Northampton,  who  became  Governor  of  Maryland.  On 
September  15,  1634,  Parson  Cotton  made  complaint  to  the 
court  that  the  administrator  of  Captain  Stone  had  declined 
to  pay  back  tithes  due  the  minister,  thus  proving  that  Stone 
had  lived  on  the  peninsula.  As  early  as  1619,  a  small  party 
of  English  Puritans  had  come  over  to  Virginia;  and  says 
Charles  Campbell,  a  larger  number  would  have  followed 
them  had  they  not  been  prevented  by  a  royal  proclamation. 
In  1642  a  deputation  was  sent  from  some  Virginia  dissenters 
to  Boston,  soliciting  a  supply  of  pastors  from  New  England 
churches,  and  three  clergymen  were  sent  with  letters  of 
recommendation  to  Sir  William  Berkeley.  While  these  mis- 
sionary preachers  were  not  supported  by  the  government,  yet 
it  is  quite  certain  that  they  influenced  numbers  from  their 
New  England  folds  to  follow  them  to  Virginia. 

*New  England  Genealogical  Register,  Vol.  XL,  p.  294. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        75 

Many  of  the  early  decrees  of  the  peninsula  courts,  espe- 
cially the  sentences  imposed  upon  the  liar,  scandal-monger, 
the  drunkard  and  the  petty  thief,  breathe  a  spirit  of  puri- 
tanical harshness  unlike  anything  in  other  parts  of  the  colony, 
and  in  the  stern  character  of  the  early  justices  there  was 
much  of  the  New  England  severity.  Obedience  Robins  and 
Stephen  Charlton,  early  justices  of  Accomack,  typified,  both 
in  name  and  character,  the  Massachusetts  Puritan.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  one  of  the  earliest  towns  in  New  England 
was  named  Charlton,  a  name  which  appears  nowhere  else  in 
Virginia  except  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  Obedience  Robins,  a 
supposed  cavalier  with  a  puritanical  name,  has  long  presented 
a  puzzling  question.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  sympathies 
were  with  the  cavaliers,  it  seems  highly  probable  that  he 
received  his  name  from  a  Pilgrim  father.  Indeed,  royalist 
tendencies  on  his  part  may  have  been  the  very  cause  which 
led  him  to  the  more  congenial  quarter  of  Virginia. 

When  we  come,  therefore,  to  trace  the  origin  of  our 
Eastern  Shore  colonists,  while  we  should  not  dogmatically 
state  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  many  of  them  came  from  New 
England,  yet  we  should  bear  in  mind  the  strong  evidence 
that  points  in  that  direction.  The  very  fact  that  the 
peninsula  was  so  far  removed  from  the  antagonistic  atmos- 
phere of  James  City,  would  have  rendered  it  the  most  desir- 
able part  of  the  colony  for  the  Puritans  of  a  more  liberal 
order  to  settle  in.1  To  the  remote  shores  of  Accomack, 
where  a  population  of  a  different  sentiment  was  as  yet  scanty 
and  where  slight  connection  with  the  other  parts  of  the  colony 
existed ;  there,  where  the  richest  lands  remained  untenanted, 
where    trade,  ever  attractive    to  the  Puritan    element,  was 

xFor  cavaliers  in  New  England,  see  New  France  and  New  England, 
Fiske. 


76        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

already  prospering,  where  religious  freedom  might  be  en- 
joyed, the  New  England  renegades  would  naturally  look  for 
a  new  home.  The  traders,  the  seamen,  the  merchants,  who 
had  established  and  maintained  intercourse  with  New 
England,  were  the  very  ones  who  would  most  quickly  per- 
ceive the  contrast  between  the  rigours  of  New  England  life 
and  the  freedom  of  Accomack,  and  it  was  due  to  their 
influence,  no  doubt,  that  many  of  the  restive  settlers  of  the 
north  sought  the  southern  clime.  Indeed,  as  the  adventurous 
fishermen  of  the  New  England  coasts  followed  the  schools 
of  blue-fish  south,  in  the  spring,  to  the  shores  of  Accomack, 
just  as  the  Plymouth  fleet  does  to-day,  what  could  have  been 
more  natural  than  that  they  should  have  landed  upon  the 
peninsula  to  fill  their  water  casks  and  replenish  their 
supplies  of  food  V  And  after  the  rigours  of  winter  at  home, 
how  delightful  to  them  must  have  seemed  this  favored  land 
where  no  treacherous  headlands  jutted  far  out  into  the  sea 
nor  jagged  rocks  concealed  their  heads  among  the  foaming 
waves !  What  sunny  tales  of  peace  and  plenty,  of  ease  and 
wealth,  must  they  have  carried  back  to  New  England,  where 
the,  savage  cry  of  the  Indian  reverberated  through  the  frozen 
forest  and  barren  fields  of  winter,  warning  the  settlers  of  an 
ever  present  menace;  of  massacre,  of  the  relentless  murder 
of  their  loved  ones.  In  such  circumstances,  what  could  have 
been  more  natural  than  that  Massachusetts  should  have  sent 
her  sons  to  people  the  domains  of  Virginia  ? 

1The  first  governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  was  Matthew 
Cradock,  who  owned  fishing  vessels  and  was  active  in  the  fish  industry. 
It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  there  may  be  some  connection  between 
Cradock's  Neck  and  Matthew  Cradock.  The  name,  spelt  with  a  single 
"d",  appears  nowhere  else  in  Virginia.  Matt  how  Cradock  died  in  1644, 
leaving  descendants  in  Boston.  Cradock's  Creek  would  have  supplied  a 
_good  harbor  for  his  vessels. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        77 

Now  let  us  examine  the  character  of  the  early  Eastern 
Shoreman.  It  was  only  recently  that  a  distinguished  scholar 
remarked  in  conversation  with  the  author,  "I  know  not  the 
cause,  but  one  thing  is  certain:  the  Eastern  Shoreman  is 
different  from  other  Virginians."  This  remark  but  voices 
the  general  verdict.  If  unlike  his  brothers  now,  how  much 
more  marked  was  the  dissimilarity  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  His  history  bears  abundant  testimony  to  this  truth, 
and  in  the  light  of  uncovered  facts,  let  us  say  with  Douglas 
Campbell,  that  in  the  Dutch  influence  lies  the  solution  of  the 
problem.  That  eminent  scholar  has  contributed  to  the  world 
the  true  introduction  to  American  history  and  explained 
away  many  of  the  mysteries  which  enshrouded  the  pioneers 
of  our  Country.  Without  a  proper  appreciation  of  his  argu- 
ment no  man  may  hope  to  understand  the  American  character 
and  the  institutions  of  the  new  world.  Let  us  read  at  length 
from  the  preface  of  his  work: 

"Many  persons  besides  Carlyle  have  probably  wished  for 
a  history  of  English  Puritanism.  But  this  Heroism,  like 
that  of  the  making  of  the  United  States,  will  remain  unex- 
plained and  unintelligible  just  so  long  as  it  is  looked  upon 
as  a  mere  chapter  of  English  history,  and  not  as  an  outcome 
or  continuation  of  that  great  Continental  movement,  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual,  which,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  revo- 
lutionized the  world.  Neither  can  be  understood,  unless  we 
recognize  the  true  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  condition 
of  the  English  people,  out  of  which  their  Puritanism,  with 
all  its  faults  and  virtues,  was  evolved,  and  appreciate  the 
influence  which  must  have  been  exerted  upon  such  a  people 
by  the  close  proximity  of  a  republic  the  leader  of  the  world 
by  at  least  a  century  in  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manu- 
factures, and  by  more  than  two  centuries  in  all  ideas  relating 
to  civil  and  religious  liberty. 


78        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

"To  the  American  this  appreciation  should  not  be  a  task 
of  difficult j  if  he  enters  upon  the  subject  with  a  mind  free 
of  prejudice.  He  has  seen  how,  in  his  own  time,  the 
existence  of  the  American  Republic  has  effected  the  people 
of  Central  and  South  America,  and  how  its  influence  has 
been  exerted  even  across  the  ocean  upon  the  nations  of 
Continental  Europe.  He,  therefore,  of  all  others,  should  be 
capable  of  understanding  how  the  Dutch  Republic  must  have 
affected  those  heroic  men  in  England  and  America  who,  in 
their  newly  awakened  intellectual  life,  were  trying  to  break 
the  shackles  of  civil  and  religious  tyranny. 

"Writing  the  History  of  English  Puritanism  without  an 
allusion  to  this  influence  is  much  like  writing  the  early 
history  of  England  without  referring  to  the  ideas  brought  in 
by  the  iSTornian  conquerors,  or  a  history  of  the  Renaissance 
in  Italy  without  mentioning  the  influence  of  the  classic 
authors  of  Greece.  But  in  the  case  of  America  and  its 
Puritans  even  these  comparisons  are  inadequate.  Another 
illustration  will,  perhaps,  be  more  apposite. 

"Let  the  reader  imagine  that  Japan,  instead  of  sending  a 
few  score  of  students  to  the  United  States,  had  sent  over 
many  thousand  families,  and  had  kept  five  or  six  thousand 
soldiers  in  our  army  for  some  forty  years;  and  that  during 
the  same  period  a  hundred  thousand  Americans  had  settled 
in  Japan  itself.  Imagine,  further,  that  at  the  end  of  the 
forty  years  a  number  of  the  Japanese  settlers  in  America  had 
started  out  to  found  a  colony  in  some  newly  discovered  land, 
and  that  there  had  been  added  to  their  ranks  a  large  number 
of  Americans  and  some  twenty  thousand  other  Japanese, 
some  of  whom  had  lived  in  America,  and  most  of  the  others 
going  from  sections  in  which  Americans  had  been  living  for 
many  years.  These  colonists  found  a  mighty  state,  whose 
people  speak  Japanese,  but  have  almost  no  Japanese  institu- 
tions, having  established  a  republic,  and  copied  their  institu- 
tions mainly  from  the  United  States.  The  writer  who  after 
two  centuries  should  sit  down  to  compose  a  history  of  this 
new  republic,  and,  omitting  all  reference  to  the  United  States, 
credit  these  settlers  with  the  invention  of  their  un-Japanese 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        79 

institutions,  would  be  simply  following  the  example  of  the 
English,  and  most  of  the  American  authors  who  have  written 
of  America  and  her  institutions."1 

What  Campbell  has  written  concerning  America  applies 
with  peculiar  force  to  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  for 
we  must  not  only  remember  the  large  numbers  of  the  Dutch 
actually  settled  upon  the  peninsula,  but  the  territorial 
proximity  of  and  the  daily  intercourse  with  New  Nether- 
land|.  Then  again,  we  must  consider  the  probability  that 
large  numbers  of  the  early  colonists  of  Accomack,  even  though 
English,  came  from  New  England  and  Holland,  already 
subject  to  the  Puritan  and  the  Dutch  influence. 

In  a  subsequent  chapter  it  will  be  shown  that  while 
religion  was  established  by  the  most  rigid  laws  in  the  parishes 
on  the  western  shore,  yet  on  the  peninsula  the  liberty  of 
conscience  was  such  that  the  Anglican,  the  Calvinist  of  New 
England,  and  the  Reformed  Churchman  of  Holland,  wor- 
shipped side  by  side,  not  only  under  a  common  roof  but 
guided  in  their  spiritual  groping  by  Puritans,  dissenters, 
non-conformists.  And  further,  it  will  be  shown  that  condi- 
tions were  such  as  to  offer  a  foothold  for  the  first  Quakers 
in  Virginia,  soon  to  be  followed  by  the  father  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  America.2  Indeed,  our  little  land  beyond  the 
water  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  western  shoreman  a  hotbed  of 
religious  heretics  and  free  thinkers.  It  is,  then,  small  wonder 
that  the  character  of  the  people  was  moulded  along  different 
lines  from  that  of  the  church-ridden  Episcopalians  across 
the  bay. 

It  has  long  been  the  custom  of  the  Eastern  Shoreman  to 
hold  out  with  pride  to  the  world  the  fact  of  his  unadulterated 

1The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England  and  America,  Douglas  Campbell, 
Volume  I. 

2Early  Church. 


80        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

English  blood.  Although,  even  in  the  upper  classes,  the 
admixture  of  Dutch  blood  must  have  been  great  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  we  are  not  prepared  to  deny  an  over- 
whelming preponderance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  strain.  The 
love  of  the  mother  country  is  an  inheritance  to  all  Vir- 
ginians, but,  however  admirable  their  pride  of  descent  may 
be,  let  not  the  Eastern  Shoreman  be  blinded  by  affection,  for 
to  Holland  he  clearly  owes  the  individuality  of  his  early 
character,  an  individuality  still  marked. 


VII 

The  County  or  Shire  of  Accawmack.     Kent  Island 

When  the  Colony  was  divided  into  counties  or  shires  in 
1634,  the  population  of  the  Eastern  Shore  was  sufficiently 
large  to  entitle  it  to  become  one  of  the  original  eight  shires, 
which  were  James  City,  Henrico,  Charles  City,  Elizabeth 
City,  Warwick  River,  Warrosquyoake,  Charles  River  and 
Accomack.1  The  old  commanders  of  hundreds  gave  way  to 
the  new  officers,  a  Lieutenant  for  each  shire,  "to  take  care  of 
the  war  against  the  Indians"  and  to  provide  for  the  defense 
of  the  shire.  The  government  of  the  shires  was  to  be  the 
same  as  in  England,  and  sheriffs,  sergeants  and  bailiffs  were 
to  be  elected.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  commissioners  was 
enlarged  from  five-pound  to  ten-pound  causes,  and  one  of 
the  council  was  to  attend  and  assist  at  each  Court.2 

The  population  of  Accomack  now  numbered  three  hundred 
and  ninety-six  whites,  a  rapid  increase  (when  we  consider 
the  total  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  Colony),  during  the 
twenty  years  from  the  time  when  Dale's  Gift  was  established.* 

When  Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh,  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  opened  the  first  court  of  Accawmacke,  The  Laughing 
King  had  no  doubt  ceased  to  laugh ;  the  humor  of  his  situa- 
tion as  King  of  the  peninsula  was  too  subtle  for  his  native 
wit,  for  he,  like  many  another  Savage  chief  before  him,  had 
by  this  time  felt  the  fangs  of  the  British  bull-dog  sink  deep 

Veiling,  Vol.  I,  p.  224. 

2Ibid. 

"Virginia  Carolorum,  Neill. 

81 


82        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

into  the  vitals  of  his  kingdom,  and  had  become  sensible  of 
the  fact  that  it  was  a  grip  which  once  fastened  upon  the 
prey    never  relaxed  its  hold.1 

The  great  popularity  of  the  Accomac  peninsula  is  strik- 
ingly attested  by  the  increase  of  population  between  1634 
and  1643,  for  in  those  nine  years  there  was  a  gain  of  over 
six  hundred  inhabitants,  making  a  total  population  for  the 
latter  year  of  about  one  thousand  for  the  Eastern  Shore  as 
compared  to  a  population  of  not  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
for  the  entire  Colony.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  population 
of  the  Eastern  Shore  from  1634  on  may  be  explained  in  a 
measure  by  the  fact  that  in  1638-9  the  General  Assembly 
adopted  a  regulation  that  a  tax  of  six  pence  per  capita  should 
be  levied  on  passengers  arriving  at  Point  Comfort,  the  port 
of  entry  of  the  western  shore,  but  excepted  the  Eastern 
Shore  from  the  scope  of  the  act.2  The  act  was  repealed 
later  on,  but  in  the  meantime  the  authorities  of  Accawmacke 
made  the  most  of  their  exemption,  and  incoming  ships  with 
fresh  supplies  of  colonists  were  encouraged  to  land  their 
cargoes  on  the  free  shores  of  the  peninsula.  The  tax  was 
small,  it  is  true,  but  it  was  a  tax  nevertheless,  and  the  immi- 
grants, who  had  left  their  British  homes  to  seek  fortune  and 
freedom  in  the  New  World,  did  not  fail  to  see  the  advan- 
tages enjoyed  by  the  isolated  Accomack  country,  which 
escaped  many  other  stringencies  by  being  so  far  removed 
from  the  authorities  at  Jamestown.  Indeed  Accawmacke 
was  known  to  the  ship-masters  and  seamen  of  the  time  as  an 
almost  independent  colony,  for  it  was  a  difficult  reach  for 
the  arm  of  the  law  from  Jamestown  across  the  Bay.     There 

'End  of  an  Era,  Wise. 

2Bruce's  Economic  History  of  Va.,  Vol.  I,  p.  fi31.  Hening,  Vol.  I, 
p.  246. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        83 

were  also  certain  provisions  in  the  Act  of  16421  as  to  trade 
exemptions  on  the  part  of  the  Eastern  Shore  leading  to  freer 
traffic  between  the  people  of  the  peninsula  and  foreign  ports, 
and  these  naturally  encouraged  immigration.  The  people 
of  the  peninsula,  while  favored  in  many  ways  by  its  remote- 
ness, were  subjected  thereby  to  some  inconveniences.  For 
instance,  on  February  20,  1640-41,  on  account  of  the  great 
distance  of  Accomack  from  James  City,  it  was  enacted  that 
the  local  Commander  and  Commissioners  should  have  power 
to  determine  all  causes  between  the  inhabitants  of  the 
peninsula  when  the  amount  in  controversy  did  not  exceed 
the  sum  of  twenty  pounds  sterling  or  four  hundred  pounds 
of  tobacco,  provided  Argoll  Yeardley  and  Nathaniel  Little- 
ton, Esquire,  or  either  of  them,  was  present.2  It  was  well 
enough  to  give  the  court  such  large  jurisdiction,  and  this  act 
in  itself  really  saved  litigants  much  inconvenience  and 
expense,  but  shortly  thereafter  it  was  provided  by  the 
assembly  that  in  view  of  the  remoteness  of  the  peninsula 
from  James  City,  no  appeal  should  lie  from  the  decision  of 
the  local  court  to  the  Quarter  Court  if  the  amount  in  con- 
troversy were  under  thirty-two  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco 
or  thirty  pounds  sterling.3  This  act  put  the  people  more  in 
the  power  of  their  Justices  than  were  the  people  of  the  other 
parts  of  the  Colony.  It  also  explains  in  great  measure  the 
dignity  and  respect  which  the  office  of  Justice  carried  with 
it  on  the  Eastern  Shore. 

During  the  years   1634-7  many  of  the  founders  of  the 
influential  Eastern  Shore  families  migrated  to  the  peninsula. 

^ening,  Vol.  I,  p.  246. 

'Decision  of  Va.  Genl.  Court  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biography,  Vol. 
IV,  p.  367. 

"Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  520. 


84        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Already  the  Searburghs  had  settled  there.  Colonel  Robins 
was  seated  at  "Cherrystone,"  and  Captain  Argoll  Yeardley, 
the  son  of  Governor  George  Yeardley,  had  established  him- 
self nt  Matrawaman,  upon  the  paternal  lands.  The  Savages 
of  "Savages  Keck"  had  become  old  residents.  In  1634, 
Nicholas  Harwood,  a  cooper,  patented  50  acres  in  the  lower 
end  of  the  peninsula.  In  1635,  Charles  Harmer  patented 
1,050  acres  near  Old  Plantation  Creek  and  brought  with 
him  his  wife  and  nineteen  servants.1  William  Berriman 
patented  150  acres  on  Old  Plantation  Creek,  known  as 
"Fishing  Point  Neck,"  and  Daniel  Cugley,  400  acres  called 
"The  Hog  Pen  Neck,"  both  in  1635.  Francis  Stockley  and 
Henry  Wilson  each  patented  50  acres  along  Old  Plantation 
Creek,  and  John  Neale  1,500  acres  along  the  seaside  in 
1636.  The  same  year  he  received  a  grant  of  500  acres  on 
Smith's  Island.  Other  patentees  of  1636  were :  William 
Melling,  100  acres  at  the  head  of  Old  Plantation  Creek: 
James  Berry,  350  acres  along  Magothy  Bay ;  John  Forbush, 
100  acres  on  the  Bayside;  Thomas  Smith,  160  acres  near 
the  land  of  William  Berryman  on  Fishing  Point  Neck ;  and 
William  Bibby,  400  acres  on  the  north  side  of  King's  Creek. 
One  of  the  largest  grants  of  the  year  in  Accomack  was  that 
of  1,300  acres  to  John  Wilkins,  of  which  50  acres  were  due 
for  his  own  personal  adventure,  and  the  remainder  for  the 
transportation  of  twenty-five  other  persons,  rated  as  servants, 
one  of  whom  was  a  negro. 

It  should  be  understood  that  it  was  a  common  practice 
for  an  immigrant  to  bring  a  number  of  other  persons  to 
Virginia  at  his  expense  in  order  to  secure  their  head  rights 
or  the  fifty  acres  allotted  to  each  new  comer.     It  is  not  safe, 

'Neill's  Virginia  Carolorum. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        85 

therefore,  to  judge  of  a  man's  station  or  wealth  by  the 
number  of  persons  set  down  in  his  retinue  as  servants.  The 
following  year,  Edmund  Scarburgh  patented  200  acres  on 
Magothy  Bay,  and  William  Cotton,  the  successor  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bolton,  350  acres  between  the  horns  of  Hungar's 
Creek.  The  largest  land  holders  at  the  time  were  the  Scar- 
burghs  and,  since  we  are  to  meet  with  their  name  so  fre- 
quently, and  it  has  confused  certain  historians,  it  will  be 
well  to  have  some  knowledge  of  the  family. 

Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh,  the  immigrant  from  Norfolk, 
and  the  father  of  the  famous  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh, 
was  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  first  Accomac  Court  in  1631-2. 
He  settled  on  the  Eastern  Shore  at  an  early  date ;  probably 
about  1628  to  1630.  He  represented  Accomac  in  the 
Assemblies  of  1629,  1631  and  1632,  and  died  in  1635.  His 
son  Edmund  patented  vast  tracts  of  land  and  they  both  held 
the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  their  people.  Colonel  Ed- 
mund Scarburgh's  brother  was  Sir  Charles  Scarburgh, 
physician  to  Charles  II,  James  II,  and  King  William.  He 
was  knighted  in  1669  and  was  also  a  member  of  Parliament. 
Colonel  Edmund  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesse3 
in  1642,  1644,  1645,  1647,  1652,  and  1659,  and  from  1660 
to  1671;  Speaker  of  the  House  in  1645;  Justice  of  North- 
ampton; Sheriff  in  1660  and  1661;  appointed  Surveyor 
General  of  Virginia  in  1655,  and  held  the  office  during  life.1 

Scarburgh's  immunity  from  substantial  punishment  by  the  Colonial 
authorities  on  many  occasions  was  undoubtedly  due  in  large  measure  to 
his  great  influence  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  where  his  brother  Charles 
stood  high  in  the  good  graces  of  the  king.  While  the  records  show  that 
he  served  as  Surveyor  General  from  1655,  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
was  regularly  commissioned  until  1666.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  his 
commission: 

"Warrant  from  the  King  to  Edward  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor to  cause  Letters  Patents  under  the  Great  Seal  to  be  passed  to  the 
following   effect: — The   King  grants   to   Edmund   Scarburgh   the   Office 


86        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

He  was  a  warm-hearted,  fearless,  pugnacious,  enterprising 
man,  highly  educated,  and  the  equal  of  any  Virginian  of  his 
day  as  a  soldier,  scholar,  or  useful  citizen.  He  died  about 
1671.  His  eldest  son,  Colonel  Charles  Scar  burgh,  was  also 
the  proprietor  of  much  land,  owning  three  thousand  and  fifty 
acres  en  Pungoteague  Creek  alone,  in  1652.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  1688  and  also  in  other 
years;  and  of  the  Council  from  1691  until  his  death.  In 
1692,  he  was  Councillor,  Collector  of  the  Eastern  Shore, 
Naval  Officer  of  the  same,  and  Commander-in-Chief  of 
A<(  omac,  and  presiding  Justice  of  that  County.  He  married 
the  daughter  of  Governor  Bennett,  and  died  in  1703,  leaving 
a  number  of  sons,  who  were  nearly  as  prominent  as  their 
father,  grandfather,  and  great-grandfather.  This  much  con- 
cerning the  Scarburghs  has  not  been  given  by  way  of  family 
history,  but  in  order  that  the  reader  may  appreciate  the  great 
influence  of  the  family,  a  family  of  almost  feudal  powers. 
The  frequent  appearance  of  the  name  Scarburgh  in  the 
following  pages  will  now  be  better  understood,  for  it  is  in- 
separably interwoven  with  the  history  of  the  Eastern  Shore. 
Of  this  family,  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  was  probably 
the  most  prominent  member.  There  are  many  traditions 
concerning  him  and  he  was  early  named  "Conjurer"  by  the 
Indians  who  greatly  feared  him.  The  court  records  abound 
in  references  to  this  unscrupulous  man.  His  charges  against 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Teackle,  the  rector  of  old  Saint  George's 
Church,   are  there  for  one  item;    his  share  in  the  family 


and  Place  of  his  Maj.  Surveyor  General  of  the  Plantation  of  Virginia, 
with  all  the  fees  profits  and  advantages  thereunto  belonging  and  the 
rewith  heretofore  usually  received  and  enjoyed.     (Privy  Seals  19  Chas. 
II,  No.  366.)" 

For  copy  of  this  commission  see  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and 
Biography,  Vol.  XVII.  p.  292.     Sainsbury  Abstracts. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        87 

troubles,  which  is  said  to  have  occasioned  the  name  of  "Slut- 
kill  Neck,"  is  another.1  It  is  said  that  some  Indians  who 
lived  near  his  estate  had  been  stealing  his  sheep,  hogs  and 
cattle,  for  some  time.  After  vain  attempts  to  detect  the 
thieves,  he  decided  to  break  up  the  practice.  He  thereupon 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  surrounding  Indians  to  tell  them 
that  the  Great  Spirit  would  preach  them  a  sermon  if  they 
would  gather  in  a  certain  ditch  on  Scarburgh's  Neck,  upon 
the  following  Sunday  morning.  When  the  Indians,  who 
feared  to  disobey  the  "Conjurer,"  assembled  as  directed, 
Scarburgh  fired  a  great  cannon  loaded  with  shot  which  he 
had  concealed  at  the  other  end  of  the  ditch,  and  the  Great 
Spirit  spoke  so  forcibly  unto  the  natives  that  but  few  re- 
mained alive  after  his  introductory  remarks.2 

The  remains  of  Hedric  Cottage,  Scarburgh's  home,  still 
stand  on  the  north  side  of  Occahannock  Creek.  The  neck  of 
land  included  between  this  creek  and  Cradock's  Creek  to  the 
north  is  called  Scarburgh's  Neck  to  this  day.  Hedric 
Cottage  is  almost  opposite  the  present  Concord  Wharf.  It 
was  at  this  point  where  Scarburgh's  storehouses,  shoe-factory, 
malt-house,  and  other  plants  were  located. 

John  Wise,  of  Devonshire,  the  progenitor  of  the  Wise 
family  in  Virginia,  sailed,  according  to  Hotten,  from 
Gravesend  in  the  ship  Transport,  bound  for  Virginia,  July 
4,  1635,  and  settled  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  He  was  a  mere 
youth  when  he  arrived  in  Accomac,  but  soon  married 
Hannah,  the  daughter  of  Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh,  and 
from  him  five  consecutive  generations  of    John  Wises  de- 

'Said  by  some  authorities  to  be  named  after  one  Sleuthkill,  who 
owned  property  on  the  neck  of  land.  This  is  a  more  reasonable  explana- 
tion of  the  name. 

2Address  of  late  T.  T.  Upshur,  Va.  Mag.  of  History  and  Biography, 
Vol.  IX,  p.  95.     (This  is  a  familiar  tradition  on  the  Eastern  Shore.) 


88    EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

scended,  each  in  turn  occupying  high  positions  among  their 
people.  The  immigrant  purchased  one  thousand  acres  of 
land  lying  along  Chesconnessex  and  Onancock  Creeks,  from 
Ekeeks,  the  Onancock  King.  This  tract,  with  other  land 
added  thereto,  was  known  for  many  years  as  the  Dutch 
Blanket  tract,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  consideration 
named  in  the  deed  was  seven  Dutch  Blankets.1  Out  of  this 
tract  were  carved  the  two  family  estates  of  Clifton  and  Fort 
George  on  Chesconnessex  Creek;  and  there  lived  the  Wises 
during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Most  of 
them  were  both  planters  and  lawyers,  three,  including  the 
immigrant,  being  Justices  of  the  Accomac  Courts.  The  will 
of  the  first  John  Wise,  who  was  a  very  pious  man,  is  recorded 
in  the  Court  of  Accomac,  and  is  a  curious  instrument,  the 
greater  portion  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  disposition  of  his 
"Imortal  Soul."2  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  great 
ability,  indomitable  energy,  dauntless  courage  and  strict 
integrity.3  Judging  from  the  trade  which  he  made  with 
King  Ekeeks,  he  must  have  been  something  of  a  business  man 
as  well,  and  his  religion  evidently  did  not  interfere  with  his 
land  transactions. 

The  same  year  Colonel  Nathaniel  Littleton,  a  scion  of  the 
famous  Shropshire  family  of  that  name,  came  to  Accomac 
and  took  up  land  along  Nandua  Creek.  He  was  the  son  of 
Sir  Edward  Littleton,  the  brother  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
and  the  father  of  Colonel  Southey  Littleton  of  Accomac. 
From  this  early  date,  the  Littletons  have  been  one  of  the  most 
influential  families  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  Colonel  Nathaniel 
Littleton  was  Chief  Magistrate  of  Accomac  in  1640  and  a 
Burgess  in  1652. 

1Accomac  Records,  1668. 
2  Accomac  Records,  1695. 
"Virginia  Hist.  Collect,,  Vol.  XI,  p.  188. 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        89 

Another  early  settler  in  Accornac  and  progenitor  of  a  dis- 
tinguished line  of  descendants,  was  Edmund  Bowman,  an 
English  gentleman  of  wealth  and  position.  He  also,  like 
John  Wise,  was  a  Justice  of  Accornac  in  1663,  after  the 
peninsula  had  been  divided  into  two  counties.  Captain, 
afterwards  Major  Bowman,  settled  upon  Folly  Creek,  which 
flows  into  Metomkin  Inlet  on  the  seaside,  and  built  the  first 
of  the  famous  old  mansions  known  as  "Bowman's  Folly."  He 
was  sheriff  and  a  Burgess  of  Accornac.  One  of  his  daughters 
married  Colonel  Southey  Littleton,  and  another  married 
John  Cropper,  a  young  Scotchman,  and  also  one  of  the  first 
settlers.  His  son,  Sebastian  Cropper,  married  the  daughter 
of  Peter  Parker.  Bowman's  Folly  passed  to  their  son  Bow- 
man, and  from  him  to  his  son  Sebastian,  Jr.,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Coventon  Corbin  of  Chingoteague,  one 
of  the  most  prominent  men  of  his  time.  For  a  sketch  of  the 
Parkers  the  reader  must  consult  the  various  genealogical 
records.  The  foregoing  history  of  the  various  families  has 
been  given  merely  to  show  how  constantly  the  early  landed 
gentry  intermarried,  thereby  sustaining  their  prestige  and 
augmenting  their  power  among  the  people  of  the  peninsula. 
The  Scarburghs,  Yeardleys,  Wises,  Bowmans,  Eyres,  Cor- 
bins,  Upshurs,  Wests,  Littletons,  Parkers,  Croppers,  Baylys, 
Joyneses,  Custises,  and  a  number  of  others,  comprised  an 
isolated  aristocracy  in  the  early  seventeenth  century,  whicfy 
perpetuated  itself  for  years  with  no  appreciable  admixture 
of  outside  blood,  and  their  names  will  be  frequently  met 
with  from  now  on,  as  it  was  from  their  ranks  that  the  leaders 
and  officers  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were  taken. 

During  the  years  1627,  1628  and  1629,  the  governors  of 
Virginia  gave  authority  to  William  Clayborne,  who  was 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  Colony,  and  a  Justice  of  Accornac 


90        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

in  1632,  to  explore  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  any  part  of  the 
country  from  34°  to  the  41°  of  North  Latitude,  which 
authority  was  confirmed  by  Charles  I,  in  1631.  Being  also 
authorized  to  establish  trade,  Claybome  established  a  port 
on  Kent  Island  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  settlement 
flourished  from  the  first,  and  by  1632  the  population  was 
sufficiently  large  to  entitle  it  to  a  Burgess;  and  in  1632  a 
warehouse  was  established  in  Southampton  River  for  the 
inhabitants  of  Kent  Island,  Accomac,  Elizabeth  City,  and 
Mary's  Mount.  It  must  be  understood  that  up  to  the  time  of 
the  grant  to  Baltimore,  the  enterprising  whites  who  had 
pushed  up  into  the  present  Maryland  country,  east  of  the 
Chesapeake,  were  considered  to  be  Accomackians.  They 
were  principally  Indian  traders  and  fur  dealers,  and  their 
settlements  springing  up  to  the  north  of  the  Pocomoke  exer- 
cised much  influence  upon  the  settlement  of  the  northern 
part  of  Accomac. 

Soon  after  the  port  at  Kent  Island  was  established,  the 
King,  on  June  20,  1632,  confirmed  the  patent  to  Cecilius, 
Baron  of  Baltimore,  which  he  had  promised  to  the  elder 
Lord,  his  father.  The  new  province  created  from  the  terri- 
tory of  Virginia  was  named  Maryland.  The  grant  to  Lord 
Baltimore  very  naturally  aggrieved  the  Virginians  and  led 
to  serious  remonstrance  on  their  part  and  an  appeal  to  the 
King  in  1633.  The  Star  Chamber  decided  to  allow  Balti- 
more to  retain  his  patent,  recommending  friendly  intercourse 
between  the  people  of  the  two  colonies,  pending  a  decision 
in  the  controversy.  Clayborne,  however,  refused  to  surrender 
his  claim  to  Kent  Island,  or  to  recognize  the  authorities  of 
Maryland. 

In  1634,  Leonard  Calvert,  the  brother  of  Lord  Baltimore, 
with   about  twenty  gentlemen    and  two  or  three    hundred 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY        91 

colonists,  most  of  them  Catholics,  reached  Maryland.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia,  in  the 
following  March,  Clayborne  sought  for  instructions  as  to 
Kent  Island  and  was  informed  that  since  the  controversy 
over  the  grant  had  not  yet  been  determined,  it  was  their  duty 
to  protect  the  territory  of  Virginia,  but  at  the  same  time  to 
remain  on  good  terms  with  the  Marylanders,  if  possible. 

Clayborne's  subsequent  resistance  to  the  newcomers  and 
the  rising  hostility  of  the  Indians,  which  they  attributed  to 
his  influence,  led  to  an  order  for  his  arrest,  and  open  hos- 
tilities commenced.  < 

The  goods  of  a  trader  named  Harmon  were  seized,  and  a 
pinnace  called  the  "Long  Tail"  belonging  to  Clayborne  was 
captured  by  the  Marylanders.  Clayborne  then  sent  a  vessel 
with  an  armed  crew  of  thirteen,  under  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant Ratcliffe  Warren,  to  recapture  his  vessel.  On  April 
23,  1634,  Lieutenant  Warren  met  Captain  Cornwallis  in 
command  of  two  pinnaces,  the  St.  Margaret  and  St.  Helen,, 
and  thereupon  the  first  naval  fight  to  occur  in  American 
waters  between  the  colonists  and  representatives  of  British 
Authority  took  place  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pocomoke  River, 
which  was  then  considered  to  be  in  the  Kingdom  of  Accaw- 
macke.  This  struggle  was  the  precursor  of  many  others  in 
the  following  century.  In  this  small  but  significant  affair, 
Warren  and  two  of  his  men  were  killed,  and  several  days 
later  Cornwallis  captured  Thomas  Smith  of  Kent  Island, 
who  was  tried  for  piracy  and  sentenced  to  be  hung. 

When  the  people  of  Virginia  learned  that  Harvey,  their 
governor,  approved  the  action  of  the  Marylanders,  great 
excitement  prevailed  among  them.  A  public  meeting  was 
called  at  Yorktown,  and  an  Assembly  was  summoned  to  meet 
on  the  7th  of  May,  1635,  to  hear  complaints  against  Governor 


92        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Harvey,  who,  it  seems,  was  guilty  of  many  other  offenses 
against  the  people.  On  the  28th  of  April,  1635,  before  the 
Assembly  convened,  the  Council  took  matters  in  their  own 
hands  and  deposed  the  Governor,  who  had  consented  to  stand 
trial  in  England;  and  thereupon  Captain  John  West,  a 
brother  of  Lord  Delaware,  was  chosen  acting  Governor. 

While  the  examination  of  Harvey  was  proceeding  in 
England,  Clayborne,  who  had  been  attainted,  and  whose 
property  had  been  confiscated  by  Calvert,  remained  in  un- 
disturbed possession  of  Kent  Island,  until  1637,  when  he 
too  repaired  to  England,  where  the  Commissioners  of  Planta- 
tions reported  the  right  and  title  to  the  Isle  of  Kent  to  be 
absolutely  invested  in  him.  But  Harvey  returned  to  Vir- 
ginia as  Governor  in  1636;  and  in  April,  1639,  the  author- 
ities in  England  finally  decided  the  controversy  between 
Clayborne  and  Lord  Baltimore,  against  the  former,  who  re- 
turned to  Virginia  and  sought  in  vain  to  recover  the  property 
of  which  he  had  been  despoiled.1 

The  dispute  over  this  territory  was  the  beginning  of  a  long- 
drawn-out  boundary  controversy  between  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land which  deeply  concerned  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  which 
led  to  repeated  difficulties  between  the  people  of  the  two 
colonies  living  in  that  quarter.  Clayborne  himself  owned 
land  in  Accomac,  and  many  of  the  men  who  adhered  to  his 
standard  in  the  Kent  Island  affair  were  residents  of  the 
county,  as  for  instance  Philip  Taylor,  who  was  Clayborne's 
chief  lieutenant.  The  letter  of  Marque  and  Reprisal  issued 
to  Taylor  by  Clayborne  was  probably  the  first  instrument  of 
the  kind  issued  in  America.     The  text  follows : 


founders  of  Maryland,  Neill. 

Chalmer's  Annals. 

Campbell's  History  of  Virginia. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        93 

"Philip  Taylor,  I  understand  yt  the  Marylanders  have 
taken  my  Pinnyce  the  Longe  Tayle,  with  her  company,  and 
some  other  of  my  men  trading  in  other  places,  Now  Whereas 
his  maties  Commission  to  myself e  warranteth  me  in  trade 
with  the  natives  and  for  as  much  alsoe  as  his  Maties  Gracious 
Lord  in  America  doe  declare  his  expresse  pleasure  and  con- 
trary to  justice  and  true  intent  of  his  Maties  grant  to  ye  Lord 
Baltimore  These  are  to  desire  you,  that  you,  would  with  the 
first  opportunity,  with  such  company  as  are  appoynted  for 
you,  sett  sayle  to  Patawmack  and  Patuxant  Rivers  or  else- 
where, and  to  demand  of  them  my  sd.  Pinnace  and  men :  and 
if  you  can  obtaine  them  take  possession  of  them  for  my  use 
and  bring  them  again  unto  this  place,  or  missing  of  them, 
may  stay  of  such  boates  of  theirs  as  you  can  light  on. 
Wherein  I  beseech  you  proceede  without  violence  unless  yt 
bee  in  lawful  necessary  defence  of  your  selfe,  especially 
alsoe  to  avoyd  any  bloodshed  or  making  any  assault  upon 
any  of  them  and  to  this  end  I  require  all  your  company  to 
be  obedyent  and  assistant  unto  you  as  if  I  were  there  myselfe. 
Given  at  the  Isle  of  Kent  under  my  hand  and  seale  this 
Eleventh  day  of  May  Anno  Die  1635. 

"W.  Claiborne.     Seal. 

"Record  decimo  quinto  die  mensis  July,  1642."1 

In  1637,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  strong  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  inhabitants  to  move  to  Maryland.  Baltimore 
was  offering  every  inducement  to  draw  people  to  his  settle- 
ments and  fabulous  tales  were  spread  concerning  the  liberties 
and  great  wealth  of  the  new  country  to  the  north.  In  other 
words,  there  was  a  "land  boom"  going  on  in  Maryland ;  rich 
and  poor  alike  deserted  their  old  homes  in  quest  of  "easy" 
wealth.  As  a  result,  numbers  of  the  poorer  people  lost  not 
only  what  land  they  had  acquired  in  Accomack,  but  all  their 
savings,  in  a  vain  search  for  the  elusive  gold  of  the  boomers. 

'Northampton  County  Records. 


94        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Such  a  condition  led  the  Court  to  prohibit  both  freemen, 
servants  and  any  other  persons  to  depart  from  the  plantation 
of  Accomack  without  the  Assembly  license  of  Captain  John 
Howe,  the  Commander.  The  excitement  soon  passed  over, 
but  recurred  in  1648,  as  we  shall  see  later. 

In  1638,  the  first  deed  was  recorded,  the  parties  thereto 
being  Edmund  Scarburgh  and  Esquire  Littleton,  and  in 
September,  1640,  orders  came  from  James  City  for  all  land 
patents  and  bounds  of  land  to  be  sent  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. The  King's  rent  of  land  was  one  shilling  for  fifty 
acres.  The  same  year,  the  first  license  to  keep  an  ordinary 
was  granted  to  Anthony  Hoskins.  Dame  Elizabeth  Dale's 
will   was   registered   and   the    first   Bill    of   Exchange   was 

recorded  and  was  drawn  on of  Amsterdam,  Holland, 

in  favor  of  Wm.  Douglas  &  Company,  for  forty  pounds 
sterling.  Argoll  Yeardley  employed  Edmund  Scarburgh  to 
survey  his  father's  land  at  Mattawaman  creek.1 

The  first  election  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  held  at  the 
Sheriff's  House,  February  15,  1636,  and  the  first  real  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  of  the  peninsula  were  John  Howe 
or  How,  and  William  Roper,  the  Burgesses  chosen  at  this 
election.  John  Howe  had  already  been  a  Burgess  in  1631-2, 
1632,  1632-3.  The  salary  paid  Howe  and  Roper  as  legis- 
lators was  1,500  pounds  of  tobacco. 

Tobacco  had  already  become  the  staple  crop ;  much  ship- 
building was  going  on ;  a  profitable  fur  trade  with  the 
natives  was  in  progress,  and  the  population  was  growing 
rapidly.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  tobacco,  that,  in 
1639,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  appoint  experienced  men 
of  high  standing  in  the  community  to  inspect  the  consign- 

^rom  the  Court  Records  of  Northampton. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        95 

ments  to  the  warehouses  and  see  that  certain  provisions  of 
the  Assembly  were  carried  out.1  The  peninsula  was  there- 
fore divided  into  tobacco  inspection  districts,  and  the  official 
viewers  appointed  were  as  follows : 

"For  Hungars:  Captain  Wm.  Stone,  Armstrong  Foster, 
John  Major. 

From  Mr.  Cugley  to  the  King's  Creek:  Mr.  William 
Andrews,  John  Webster,  James  Barnaby. 

From  the  King's  Creek  to  the  Old  Plantation  Creek  on 
that  side :  Captain  Wm.  Roper,  Elias  Hastue,  Jonathan 
Gibbs. 

From  Mr.  Neale's  upwards  to  Mr.  Littleton's :  Mr.  Nathan 
Littleton,  Luke  Stubbins,  Henry  Weede. 

From  Mr.  Littleton's  and  all  on  that  side :  Mr.  Wm.  Bur- 
dett,  Henry  Bagwell,  William  Berryman."2 

Such  records  throw  much  light  on  the  character  of  the 
times,  and  from  them  we  can  see  that  affairs  were  rapidly 
becoming  settled ;  the  way  was  being  prepared  for  an  exten- 
sive intercourse  with  the  outer  world,  and  the  transition 
from  a  state  of  savagery  to  civilization  had  appreciably 
progressed  by  the  year  1642. 

*See  Subject  of  Tobacco  in  subsequent  chapter. 

2Acts  of  Assembly,  1639,  Robinson,  M.  S.,  Va.  Mag.  of  History  and 
Biography,  Vol.  V,  pp.  339,  340. 


VIII 

Noiri uampton  County.     Indian  Scares.     Stone  in 
Maryland 

In  1642,  Sir  William  Berkeley  became  Governor  of 
Virginia.  Among  the  many  salutary  measures  which  he 
inaugurated  was  the  division  of  many  of  the  existing 
counties,  thus  reducing  the  vast  areas  over  which  the  county 
organizations  were  supposed  to  extend  their  control.  The 
peninsula  was  not  yet  to  be  divided  into  two  counties,  but 
the  distinguished  and  ambitious  Colonel  Obedience  Robins, 
of  Cherrytone,  took  advantage  of  the  general  shake  up  and 
secured  the  passage  of  the  following  Act  on  March  18,  1642 : 

"Be  it  further  enacted  and  informed  that  the  plantation 
and  county  known  as  Achomack  shall  be  knowne  and  called 
by  the  county  of  North'ton."1 

Colonel  Robins  was  from  Longbuckie,  Northamptonshire, 
England,  and  it  has  been  frequently  stated  that  he  had  the 
whole  peninsula  named  after  the  county  in  England  from 
which  he  came.2  He  was  one  of  the  most  influential  citizens 
of  his  time,  representing  Accomac  in  the  Assembly  during 
the  years  1629-30,  1639  and  1642;  three  times  a  Justice 
and  owner  of  2,0003  acres  on  Cheriton  Creek,  and  while  it 
is  true  that  he  secured  the  Act  changing  the  county  name 

'Act  XIII,  Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  249.  North'ton  was  the  abbreviated 
form  of  Northampton. 

'Virginia  County  Names,  Long,  p.  66. 
'Patented  in   1640. 

96 


EASTEBN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOEY        97 

to  the  name  of  his  home  shire,  we  must  attribute  a  higher 
motive  to  him  in  so  doing  than  the  gratification  of  mere 
personal  conceit.  Shortly  after  the  time  at  which  the  change 
of  name  was  effected,  the  brave  royalist,  Spencer  Compton, 
second  Earl  of  Northampton,  at  the  head  of  the  King's 
troops,  gave  his  life  to  the  royal  cause,  on  Hopton  Heath, 
March  19,  1643.  He  had  been  a  devoted  partisan  of 
Charles  I  and  the  loyal  Virginians  worshipped  his  name. 
Even  before  his  death,  the  naming  of  a  Virginia  County 
after  him  was  but  an  expression  of  their  attachment  and 
loyalty  to  the  royal  cause.1  This  certainly  seems  to  explain 
the  change  satisfactorily,  a  change  which  had  evidently  been 
contemplated  for  several  years,  for  mention  of  Northampton 
appears  in  the  records  as  early  as  1640.2  The  name  Acco- 
mack had  become  too  familiar  to  the  distant  Virginians 
along  the  James  River  to  be  given  up  very  easily  by  them, 
and  to  the  present  day,  the  entire  Eastern  Shore  country  is 
frequently  referred  to  as  Accomack. 

The  first  court,  after  the  change  of  name,  was  held  on  the 
18th  day  of  July,  1642.3  The  Justices  present  were  Argoll 
Yeardley,  Esq.,  Commander,  etc. : 

Col.  Obedience  Robins  William  Andrews 

Capt.  William  Roper  Philip  Taylor 

John  Wilkins  Edward  Douglas 

At  the  first  sitting  of  the  court,  a  certificate  was  granted 
to  Win.  Waters,  son  and  heir  of  Lieutenant  Edward  Waters, 
in    which  it  is  stated    that  three  men    were  killed    at  the 


Wa.  County  Names,  Long,  p.  66. 
Northampton  County  Records   (Accomac),   1640. 
3Accomac    County    Records,    Vol.    1640-1645,    p.    152.       (Va.    State 
Library. ) 


98        EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

massacre  and  four  men  and  a  maid  were  cast  away  in  the 
Bay.  Sheriff  Taylor  was  empowered  to  take  a  company  of 
men  with  arms  and  ammunition  and  go  to  an  Indian  Town 
named  Ginguhcloust,  to  do  what  should  appear  best  for 
the  welfare  of  the  county.1  The  people  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  seem  to  have  had  some  fear  that  the  spirit  of  restless- 
ness and  disaffection,  among  the  natives  of  the  Western 
Shore,  was  spreading  to  the  Accomac  Indians,  for  during 
the  preceding  year  an  order  was  published  prohibiting  per- 
sons from  leaving  their  homes  or  plantations  without  arms 
and  ammunition.  Early  in  1643  an  order  came  from  Sir 
William  Berkeley  appointing  Captain  Francis  Yeardley 
("inmander  of  the  troops  of  Accomack,  with  orders  for  train- 
ing his  men.  The  territory  under  his  command  extended 
from  the  lower  side  of  Hungar's  Creek  to  King's  Creek,  and 
along  the  bay  shore.  This  was  the  most  thickly  inhabited 
portion  of  the  peninsula  at  the  time,  and  the  only  area  in 
which  anything  resembling  a  "settlement"  was  to  be  found. 
There  were  no  towns  nor  even  villages.  A  few  dwelling 
houses,  a  small  ship-chandler's  store,  a  tobacco  warehouse,  all 
clustered  about  the  public  wharf — of  which  there  was  one, 
as  a  rule,  on  each  navigable  creek — comprised  the  centers  of 
trade  and  intercourse  between  the  scattered  planters.  It  is 
true  that  farm  after  farm  was  being  taken  up  and  improved, 
even  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  county,  but  the  county 
organization  and  government  as  such  were  inadequate  to 
reach  the  confines  of  the  peninsula.  The  governmental 
energy  was  expended  almost  entirely  upon  the  thickly  settled 
area  before  mentioned.  In  fact  the  great  planters,  who  es- 
tablished themselves  along  Occahannock,  Cradock,  Nandua, 


'Ibid. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY        99 

Pungoteague  and  Onancock  Creeks  on  the  bayside,  and  at 
Matomkin,  Watchapreague  and  Machipungo  Inlets,  and 
along  Magothy  Bay  and  Bullocks  Channel  on  the  seaside, 
resented  the  interference  of  the  court  and  the  county  officials. 
They  were  a  law  unto  themselves,  ruling  their  tenants  and 
conducting  their  affairs  in  a  primitive  though  generally  a 
just  manner.  Tobacco  and  corn  were  their  main  crops,  and 
tobacco  and  beaver  skins  were  the  commodities  that  corre- 
sponded to  our  silver  and  gold.  All  taxes,  fines,  and  busi- 
ness transactions,  except  those  of  a  very  large  amount,  were 
based  upon  these  commodities.  Occasionally  sterling  money 
was  used. 

Although  the  peninsula  was  re-christened  in  1642,  the 
Court  of  Northampton  was  not  established  until  the  follow- 
ing year;  hence  we  discover  some  confusion  as  to  the  date 
of  the  change,  and  we  also  find  in  the  records  of  the  Acco- 
mack Court  at  Eastville  a  record  of  the  events  of  1642  even 
after  the  change  of  name  had  occurred. 

When  the  County  Courts  were  first  established  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  Governor  appointed  the  clerks.1  Later  this  power 
was  given  to  the  County  Courts  themselves,2  with  the  pro- 
vision that  incumbents  at  the  time  of  the  Act  should  not  be 
arbitrarily  removed.  Until  this  time,  clerks  were  regarded 
as  the  deputies  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  power  to 
appoint  them  did  not  remain  in  the  courts  long  and  was 
soon  given  back  to  the  Secretary,  who  retained  it  through- 
out the  Colonial  period.3 

The  office  of  County  Clerk  being  a  highly  remunerative 
position  and  also  one  of  dignity  and  importance,  was  much 

Ulening,  Vol.  I,  p.  305. 

2Ibid,  p.  448. 

'Justice  in  Colonial  Virginia,  p.  114. 


100      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

sought  after.1  The  appointees  were  usually  men  of  superior 
character  and  standing  in  the  community,  and  "upon  no 
official  in  the  entire  county  was  imposed  the  performance  of 
more  important  functions,  of  whom  was  required  the  exer- 
cise of  so  many  virtues,  or  who  were  more  distinguished  for 
the  endowments  of  mind  and  heart  than  was  the  Virginia 
Clerk,  then  called  Clarke."2 

The  reputation  of  the  early  clerks  gave  character  to  the 
office  long  after  it  became  elective,  and  for  years  the  same 
high  standard  was  adhered  to.  Once  chosen,  they  remained 
in  office  for  life,  as  a  rule,  and  in  many  cases  public  opinion 
seemed  to  regard  the  position  as  hereditary,  for  it  was  not 
uncommon  for  a  worthy  son  to  succeed  his  worthy  sire.3  On 
the  Eastern  Shore,  the  Justices  and  Clerks  were  peculiarly 
respected,  even  more  than  elsewhere  in  Virginia. 

Henry  Bagwell,  Gent.,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  appointed 
Clerk  of  the  monthly  Court  at  Old  Plantation  in  1632,  re- 
tained the  office  after  the  court  became  the  shire  court  of 
Accomac.  The  second  clerk  was  George  Dawe,  1640-42,  and 
the  third  was  Edwyn  Conway  in  1642.  Conway  came  to 
Accomack  in  1640  from  the  County  of  Worcester,  England. 
He  did  not  remain  long  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  but  moved 
to  Lancaster  County  about  1652,  where  he  took  as  his  second 
wife  the  sister  or  sister-in-law  of  John  Carter  of  Corotoman. 
He  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Conway  family  in  Virginia. 
The  following  are  the  other  clerks  of  Northampton  County 
from  1 642  to  the  end  of  the  century  :4 

Mustice  in  Colonial  Virginia,  p.   114. 

•Address  of  Judge  Waller  1!.  Staples,  Va.  Bar  Asm...  1894,  Vol.  VII, 
p.  144.    Barton's  Introduction  to  Va.  Colonial  Decision.  Vol.  I,  p.  201. 

'Barton's  Introduction  to  Va.  Col.  Doc.  Vol.  I,  p.  201. 

'Johnston's  Memorials  of  Va.  Clerks  from  4  to  14.  For  Conway,  see 
Virginia  TTeraldica. 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY      101 

4th.  Thomas  Cook,  1642-1646 

5th.  Edward  Matthews,  1646-1655 

6th.  Robert  Howson,  1655  

7th.  G.  Poke, 

8th.  John  Boggs,  1659 

9th.  Eobt.   Hutchinson,  1659-1644 

10th.  Jeta  Kirkman,  1644 

11th.  William  Mellings,  1644-1670 

12th.  Daniel  Neech,  1670-1671 

13th.  John  Culpeper,   ,  1671-1674 

14th.  Daniel  Neech,  1674-1703 

The  first  clerks  seem  to  have  been  very  proud  of  their 
intellectual  acquirements  and  particularly  of  their  knowl- 
edge of  Latin.  They  frequently  interlarded  their  manu- 
scripts with  Latin  words  and  nearly  all  of  them  were  prone 
to  use  peculiar  abbreviated  forms,  which  add  to  the  difficulty 
of  deciphering  their  ancient  records. 

William  Michael  was  perhaps  the  first  attorney  to  practice 
his  profession  in  Northampton  County,  and  in  1657  was  one 
of  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  bar.  For  many  years  Colonel 
Edmund  Scarburgh  seems  to  have  shared  honors  with 
Michael.  The  former's  argument  in  the  famous  Gettering's 
Controversy,  which  arose  out  of  a  bequest  to  the  church  by 
Stephen  Charlton,  is  a  masterly  exposition  of  the  law  of 
wills.1 

Other  distinguished  lawyers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
were:  Thomas  Harmonson,  Francis  Pigott,  Daniel  Foxcroft, 
John  Tankard,  Charles  Holden,  William  Spencer,  John 
Luke,  Ambrose  White,  George  Watson,  John  Stratton,  John 
Parker,  James  Watts,  and  Colonel  John  Custis.  Custis 
ably   defended   the   Rev.    Mr.    Teackle   against   certain   un- 

VNorthampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1657-64,  p.  157. 


102       EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

grounded  bul  serious  charges  brought  against  him  by  Scar- 
burgh,  the  latter  accusing  Teackle  of  improper  relations  with 
Lady  Scarburgh  and  combining  with  her  to  poison  him. 
Mu-i  of  the  attorneys  named  were  exceptionally  well  versed 
in  the  law  and  skillful  practitioners.  The  volume  of  litiga- 
tion was  surprisingly  large,  and  while  the  practice  of  law 
must  have  been  highly  lucrative,  yet  the  lawyers  invariably 
indulged  in  the  planting  of  tobacco. 

About  this  time  the  first  mention  of  the  trouble  in  England 
was  made.  It  seems  that  the  court  having  broken  the  seals 
of  a  certain  letter,  excused  itself  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
understood  that  certain  valuable  information  as  to  England 
and  the  Colony  was  contained  therein,  and,  "whereas  the 
times  do  seem  perilous"  and  the  letter  had  been  forwarded 
to  the  addressee,  no  harm  had  been  done.  In  other  words, 
the  gentlemen  who  assembled  about  the  improvised  court- 
house to  discuss  the  impending  crisis  at  "home,"  were,  as 
humanity  is  wont  to  be,  most  curious,  and  all  incoming 
letters  paid  them  toll  of  news.  One  of  these  old  letters  was 
written  by  Andrew  White,  who  had  returned  to  England  on 
business ;  in  it  he  said,  "we  are  in  great  fear  of  Turmoils 
&  Convulsions,  and  I  wish  I  was  in  the  Colony."  Can  we 
not  see  such  men  as  Colonel  Scarburgh  and  Edmund  Bow- 
man riding  each  morning  to  the  public  landing  in  eager  quest 
of  the  latest  intelligence  from  "home?"  Ah,  how  these  old 
transplanted  royalists  must  have  longed  to  draw  their  swords 
for  the  King !  How  they  must  have  sighed  as  they  gazed 
out  over  the  blue  Atlantic  and  pictured  the  ruin  which  was 
soon  to  befall  their  kith  and  kin  in  old  England!  And  as 
these  self-exiled  royalists  stood  upon  the  shores  of  their 
American  homes,  and  in  reflective  mood  dwelt  upon  the 
seething,  irrepressible  questions  of  the  day,  there  must  have 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOEY       103 

been  something  suggestive  to  them  in  the  wild  lines  of  tur- 
bulent breakers,  mounting  higher  and  higher,  their  proud 
white  crests  glinting  in  the  sun,  only  to  fall  with  awful 
suddenness  and  fury  upon  the  implacable  shoals.  But  this 
is  only  a  slide  in  our  lantern,  a  flickering  shadow  picture  on 
the  sheet  of  the  past  to  draw  our  minds  back  to  the  early 
days,  and  enable  us  to  see  the  times  as  they  were.  We  must 
return  to  material  facts. 

In  1043,  Sheriff  Philip  Taylor,  who  had  barely  escaped 
the  clutches  of  Lord  Baltimore  during  the  Kent  Island  dis- 
turbance, and  who  no  doubt  had  been  made  sheriff  on  account 
of  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  frontier  and  the  Indians, 
petitioned  the  court  for  a  jail.  It  was  not  until  two  years 
later,  on  the  7th  of  November,  that  mention  is  made  of 
action  thereon,  when  the  court  accepted  the  offer  of  John 
Badlam  and  John  Dixon  of  the  Point  House  at  Old  Planta- 
tion Creek,  which  they  kept  as  an  ordinary,  to  guard  and 
feed  the  prisoners. 

In  April,  1644,  the  alarm  of  Indian  massacre  was  general, 
and  the  natives  who  were  openly  resisting  the  encroachments 
of  the  whites  to  the  north  being  distrusted,  the  settled  portion 
of  the  lower  peninsula  was  again  divided  into  military 
districts.  The  country  from  the  north  side  of  Nassawattocks 
to  the  north  side  of  Hungar's  comprised  one  district,  under 
command  of  Wm.  Andrews  and  Stephen  Charlton ;  and 
that  from  the  south  side  of  Hungar's  to  the  north  side  of 
Mattawaman  Creek,  was  a  district  under  Captain  Wm.  Stone. 
Captain  Argoll  Yeardley  commanded  the  district  from 
Mattawaman  Creek  to  Thos.  Dimner's  House  and  the  Petit 
house,  and  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  Cheriton  Creek  was 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Obedience  Robins  and 
Captain  Philip  Taylor.     Captain  Wm.  Roper  and  Edward 


104      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Douglas  commanded  the  district  from  King's  Creek  to  the 
tatter's  house.  The  seaside  district  from  Colonel  Littleton's 
to  Magothy  Bay  Point  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
John  Neale  and  Edmund  Scarburgh.  Any  persons  who 
failed  to  execute  the  proper  orders  of  the  district  Captains 
were  to  be  committed  to  the  custody  of  the  sheriff  and  sent 
to  Janus  City.  Sonic  trouble  with  refractory  inhabitants 
soon  arose,  and  on  July  12th  John  Wise  was  called  before 
the  court  to  testify  as  a  witness  against  them.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  Colonel  Scarburgh's  activity  led  to  the  acquisition 
of  the  jail  the  following  year. 

The  County  ( !our1  was  held,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous 
chapter,  at  various  places,  according  to  the  convenience  of 
the  J  usi  ices  and  the  litigants,  so  we  find  the  house  of  Stephen 
Charlton  designated  as  the  meeting  place  in  1646.  For  the 
further  convenience  of  the  Bench,  a  bar  was  established  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood,  for  Walter  Williams  was 
licensed  March  22nd  to  keep  an  ordinary  and  victualling 
house,  and  "to  sell  strong  water."  The  same  year  orders 
were  issued  tor  the  erection  of  bridges  across  Hungar's  and 
other  Creeks;,  showing  an  increasing  intercourse  between  the 
people  of  the  lower  peninsula. 

Tn  the  early  days  of  the  Colony,  the  area  under  cultiva- 
tion was  so  limited,  and  the  tendency  of  the  planters  to  invest 
in  the  most  profitable  crop  was  so  strong,  that  at  times  the 
food  supply  was  insufficient  to  maintain  the  colonists. 
There  being  no  yast  wheat  and  corn  fields  in  the  west  to  put 
their  surplus  supply  upon  the  Eastern  Exchanges,  the  Vir- 
ginians were  forced  to  the  alternative  of  self-maintenance  or 
starvation.  The  day  when  the  Indian  storehouses  could  be 
depended  upon  to  maintain  the  whites  in  case  of  emergency 
was  past,  and  the  General  Assembly  was  frequently  compelled 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       105 

to  take  cognizance  of  the  economic  questions  of  supply  and 
demand.  A  law  was  enacted,  prescribing  the  amount  of  corn 
each  planter  should  produce,  apportioned  according  to  his 
acreage;  and  at  the  June  Court  of  Northampton,  in  1647, 
it  was  ordered  that  the  constables  of  the  various  precincts 
should  visit  the  planters'  farms  to  see  whether  or  not  the 
requirements  of  the  law  were  being  fulfilled.  The  constables, 
however,  were  wide  awake  to  their  own  interests,  and  a  hogs- 
head or  two  of  tobacco  secured  a  favorable  report  on  the 
corn  crop.  In  fact,  the  officials  at  this  early  day  were  not 
overscrupulous  in  their  dealings,  and  frequently  enriched 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  general  government.  As  a 
result  of  the  defaults  and  neglects  of  the  sheriffs,  who  had 
ii]>  to  this  time  collected  most  of  the  taxes,  and  who  had 
caused  "much  blemish  to  the  reputation  and  credit  of  the 
Colonie,"  the  Assembly,  in  1648,  appointed  official  revenue 
collectors.  Colonel  Scarburgh  and  Colonel  Nathaniel  Little- 
ton were  selected  for  Northampton.1 

Lord  Baltimore,  as  we  have  seen,  was  an  energetic 
colonizer  from  the  very  first,  and  did  everything  in  his 
power  to  turn  the  tide  of  immigration  to  the  shores  of  Mary- 
land. We  have  seen  how  Accomack  suffered  by  loss  of 
population  during  the  excitement  of  the  first  Maryland 
boom  and  now  Northampton  was  to  lose  many  of  her  citizens 
through  emigration  to  that  colony. 

By  1645,  a  powerful  Protestant  party  had  developed  in 
Baltimore's  domains.  Profiting  by  the  distractions  of  the 
mother  country  and  the  absence  of  Governor  Calvert,  who 
had  repaired  to  England  to  consult  with  Baltimore,  William 
Clayborne  at  the  head  of    a  body  of    insurgents,  many  of 

'Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  356. 


106       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

whom  were  recruited  in  Northampton,  seized  the  reins  of 
government  and  usurped  the  control  of  the  colony.  As  a 
result  of  this  demonstration  of  Protestant  strength,  only  the 
greatest  influence  which  Baltimore  could  bring  to  bear 
prevented  Parliament  from  rescinding  his  charter.  Calvert 
promptly  returned  to  Maryland  in  August,  1646,  and  soon 
regained  control,  yet  even  Baltimore  was  unable  to  bring 
Claybornc  to  justice.  In  1648,  the  proprietor  revoked  all 
former  commissions  and  established  a  new  government,  based 
upon  more  liberal  principles,  thereby  acknowledging  the 
power  of  the  Protestants  within  his  colony.  On  August 
8th,  1648,  William  Stone  of  Northampton  County,  Virginia, 
was  commissioned  Governor  of  Maryland.  Captain  Stone 
was  the  nephew  of  a  London  haberdasher;  was  born  in 
Northamptonshire,  England,  and  settled  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Virginia  about  1632.  He  was  the  son  of  Captain 
John  Stone  of  Massachusetts,  who  later  moved  to  North- 
ampton. This  was  the  Captain  John  Stone  who  behaved  so 
badly  at  Boston  and  was  killed  by  the  Pequods  on  the 
Connecticut  River,  while  returning  to  his  home  in  Virginia.1 
William  Stone  was  a  prominent  Protestant,  having  been 
Justice  of  Accomac  in  1633,  a  vestryman  in  1635,  and  the 
first  sheriff  of  Northampton  in  1640.  He  owned  large  tracts 
of  land  between  Hungar's  and  Mattawaman  Creeks,  which 
he  inherited  from  his  father.  Being  closely  affiliated  with 
Clayborne,  his  influence  with  Parliament  was  very  great. 
His  appointment  by  Baltimore  was  therefore  in  the  nature 
of  a  conciliatory  measure.2     Stone  was  the  brother-in-law  of 


1Winthrop's  Hist,  of  New  England. 

2The  English  Colonization  of  America  in  17th  Cent.,  Neill,  p.  253. 
Osgood's  Am.  Col.  in  17th  Cent.,  Vol.  IT,  p.  319  et  seq.  Campbell's  Hist. 
of  Va.,  p.  205.     Va,  Carolorum,  pp.  416-17. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       107 

Francis  Doughty,  a  non-conformist  minister  who  later  came 
to  Northampton  from  Flushing,  and  the  son-in-law  of  the 
Rev.  William  Cotton  of  Hungar's  Parish.1  Perhaps  no 
other  citizen  of  Northampton  has  ever  been  honored  with 
such  a  title  as  that  conferred  upon  him  by  Baltimore,  which 
read  as  follows :  "Lieutenant  chief  Governor  General  Ad- 
miral Marshall  chief  Captain  and  Commander  as  well  by  sea 
as  by  land  of  our  Said  Province  of  Maryland."2  In  return 
for  all  this  Stone  agreed  to  transport  to  Maryland  at  least 
five  hundred  settlers  of  English  or  Irish  descent,  and  judg- 
ing from  the  frequent  references  in  the  Maryland  records 
of  this  time  to  Virginians  "late  of  Accomack,  now  called 
Northampton  County,"  it  is  quite  certain  that  large  numbers 
of  the  Puritans  of  the  lower  peninsula  migrated  to  Mary- 
land with  Stone.  These  people  took  up  lands  along  the 
Pocomoke  River  and  in  the  boundary  country,  from  which 
it  appears  that  they  retained  a  desire  to  keep  in  touch  with 
their  old  homes.  Many  of  them  improved  their  condition 
along  with  the  acquisition  of  this  new  land  and  a  change  of 
allegiance.  Job  Chandler,  a  brother  of  a  London  merchant 
and  who  had  lived  in  Northampton,  became  a  State  Coun- 
cillor in  Maryland. 

Under  the  favorable  terms  which  Baltimore  extended  to 
patentees  of  land  at  this  time,  numerous  Eastern  Shoremen 
who  never  forswore  their  allegiance  to  Virginia  nor  resided 
in  Maryland,  took  up  lands  in  the  latter  colony.  Both 
Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  and  his  son  Charles  patented 
large  tracts  there,  as  did  John  Custis  and  Francis  Yeardley. 

In  1654,  Governor  Stone,  by  proclamation,  acknowledged 
Cromwell  as  Protector,  but    ignored  the  authority  of    the 

'See  Chapter  on  Early  Church. 

Proceeding  of  Council  of  Maryland,  1636-37,  p.  201. 


108      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Parliamentary  Commissioners,  which  so  infuriated  his  for- 
mer ally,  Clayborne,  that  influences  were  brought  to  bear 
which  forced  Stone  to  resign.  He  at  once  set  about  the 
organization  of  an  armed  force  to  overthrow  the  new  govern- 
nii  nt.  After  various  adventures,  including  the  seizure  of 
the  State  Records,  the  undisciplined  band  of  Stone's  ad- 
herents was  met  by  Captain  William  Fuller,  at  the  head  of 
120  planters  bearing  the  colors  of  the  Commonwealth,  and 
totally  defeated  at  Severn.1  He  himself  was  captured  and 
sentenced  to  death  but  was  subsequently  pardoned.  Thus 
ended  this  Eastern  Shoreman's  resistance  to  Parliament.2 
How  his  brothers  to  the  south  fared,  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  chapter. 

In  1653,  Governor  Stone,  who  was  then  living  at 
Nanjemie,  Maryland,  sold  his  house  on  Hungar's  Creek  to 
Captain  William  Whittington  of  Northampton.  He  died 
about  1695  at  his  manor  of  "Avon"  in  Charles  County, 
Maryland.  Among  his  descendants  was  Thomas  Stone, 
Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence. 

The  oath  which  Stone  subscribed  to  as  first  sheriff  of 
Accomack  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  sheriff's  oath  in 
America.3    The  full  text  follows : 

"Ye  shall  sweare  that  well  and  truely  ye  shall  serve  the 
King's  Magistie  in  the  office  of  the  Sheriff  of  the  County  of 
Acchawmacke,  and  doe  the  King's  yffitt  in  all  things  that 
belongeth  to  you  to  doe  by  way  of  yor  office  as  ffar  as  you 
can  or  say. 

"You  shall  truely  kepe  the  King's  Right  and  all  that 
belongeth  to  the  Crowne. 

1Severn  was  the  early  name  of  Annapolis. 

2English  Colonization  of  America  in  17th  Cent.,  Neill.  p.  255. 

*Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       109 

"You  shall  truely  and  rightfully  treate  the  people  of  the 
Sheriffwicke,  and  do  right  as  well  to  the  poore  as  to  the 
Hitch  in  all  that  belonged  to  yor  office. 

"You  shall  doe  no  wrong  to  anie  man  for  anie  guift  or 
other  behest  or  promise  of  goods  for  favour  nor  hate. 

"You  shall  disturb  noe  man's  rights.  You  shall  truely 
returne  and  truely  serve  all  the  King's  Writts  as  ffarr  forthe 
as  shall  be  to  you  coming. 

"You  shall  take  noe  Bayliffe  into  your  service  but  such 
as  you  will  answere  for. 

"You  shall  make  such  of  yor  Bayliffes  to  take  such  oathe 
as  you  make  yorseffe  in  that  belongeth  to  yor  occupation. 

"You  shall  be  dwelling  in  yor  own  yyn  (proper)  ysons 
(persons)  within  yor  Bayliewicke  for  the  tyme  that  you 
shall  be  in  the  same  office,  Except  you  are  otherwise  licensed 
by  the  Governor  and  Counsell  of  this  Colony.  And  you  shall 
diligently  and  truely  doe  all  of  the  things  appertaining  to 
yor  sayd  office  of  Sheriffwicke  to  the  uttermost  of  yr  power. 
Soe  holpg  yor  God  ye." 

Stone's  under-sheriff  was  Thomas  Hatton ;  without  doubt 
the  same  who  in  1648,  with  his  wife  and  two  sons,  Robert 
and  Thomas,  went  to  Maryland. 

In  1649,  the  County  Court  of  Northampton  was  held  at 
the  tavern  of  Walter  Williams  of  Nassawattocks,  and  also  at 
the  tavern  and  pseudo-jail  at  Old  Plantation,  called  the 
Point  House  or  Dinner  House.  In  the  designation  of  such 
places  for  the  sitting  of  the  Justices,  we  can  see  the  origin 
of  the  famous  Virginia  Court  day  and  the  many  customs  that 
sprang  up  around  the  occasion.  At  these  very  sessions  of 
1649  mention  is  made  of  fighting  and  disorder  and  one 
litigant  was  forced  to  defend  himself  with  a  truncheon  in  a 
tavern  brawl.  Another,  Robert  Warder  by  name,  was 
ordered  to  stand  at  the  church  door  at  Nassawattocks  with 
a  great  pot  tied  around  his  neck,  thereby  signifying  the 
measure  of  his  offense  for  being  drunk,  etc. 


110       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  Justices  themselves  seem  to  have  grown  delinquent 
under  the  influence  of  court  day,  for  the  Assembly  was 
forced  to  enact,  about  this  time,  a  law  prescribing  a  fine 
of  three  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  for  absence  from  court. 

During  the  last  few  years  of  which  we  have  been  treating, 
affairs  had  come  to  a  sorry  pass  in  England.  King  Charles 
the  First,  after  having  been  a  prisoner  for  several  years, 
was  beheaded  in  front  of  Whitehall  Palace,  on  the  30th  day 
of  January,  1648.  The  noble  manner  in  which  he  faced 
death  confirmed  the  royalist  planters  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
in  their  loyalty  to  his  cause.  His  faults  were  forgotten,  his 
transgressions  were  atoned  for  by  the  blood  of  the  royal 
martyr.  It  was  impossible  for  the  men  of  Accomac  to 
understand  the  seriousness  of  the  home  situation.  While 
they  knew  full  well  of  the  downfall  of  their  party  in  Eng- 
land before  the  determined  onslaughts  of  the  Cromwellians, 
yet  they  could  not  conceive  of  such  a  possibility  as  the  exe- 
cution of  the  King  himself.  The  news  of  the  sentence  and 
its  execution  fell  upon  them  like  lightning  from  a  clear 
sky.  They  were  dazed  by  the  shock,  and  upon  their  recovery 
sought  to  give  expression  to  their  sentiments  of  loyalty.  In 
the  old  records  we  find  under  date  of  December,  1649,  the 
following  entry: 

"A  proclamation  By  the  Commandr  and  Commissionrs 
of  Accomack : 

"Whereas,  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  suffer  us 
to  be  deprived  of  our  Late  Dread  Sovraigne  of  blessed 
memorye,  wee  the  Commandr  and  Commissionrs  of  Acco- 
macke  doe  by  these  presents  proclayme  Charles  the  un- 
doubted Heyre  of  our  Late  Sovraigne  of  Blessed  memorye, 
to  bee  King  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Virginia 
And  all  other  Remote  Provinces  &  Collonyes,  New  England 
and  the  Caribda  Islands.  And  all  other  Hereditamts  and 
Indowmts  belonging    unto  our  Late   Sovraigne  of    blessed 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       111 

memorye.  Willing  and  Requiringe  all  his  Maties  Lege 
people  to  acknowledge  their  Alledgance  And  with  genrall 
consent  &  Applause  pray  God  to  bless  Charles  the  Second 
King  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  Virginia, 
New  England,  ye  Caribda  Islands,  and  all  other  provinces 
and  subjects  to  the  English  Crowne;  and  soe  God  save 
Kinge  Charles  the  Second.     Amen,  Amen,  Amen. 

"Recordat  priino  die  Mense  Ffebrur,  Ano  1649,  p'me 
Edm:    Mathews  Cler.     Cur." 

The  above  proclamation  did  not  voice  the  sentiments  of  all 
the  people  on  the  peninsula.  One  can  picture  the  resent- 
ment of  the  Puritans  when  they  heard  of  this  Act  on  the 
part  of  the  Court.  They  were  greatly  in  the  minority  among 
the  higher  classes,  however,  and  this  was  a  time  when  might 
ruled  absolute  as  illustrated  by  the  Commonwealth  itself. 
During  the  two  years  following  the  execution  of  the  King, 
fugitive  Cavaliers  poured  by  hundreds  into  Virginia. 

About  the  fifteenth  day  of  September,  1649,  the  "Virginia 
Merchant,"  Captain  John  Locker,  a  ship  of  three  hundred 
tons  burden,  sailed  for  Jamestown  with  many  passengers. 
Among  those  who  engaged  passage  were  Colonel  Norwood,  a 
relative  of  Governor  Berkeley;  Major  Francis  Morison,  a 
sympathizer  with  the  King,  and  Major  Stevens,1  who  had 

^Major  William  Stevens  probably  for  some  time  remained  in  Accomac, 
where  Yeardley  and  others  held  his  political  sentiments,  and  was  perhaps 
the  same  person  who  in  March  1651  declared  his  fealty  to  the  "common- 
wealth of  England  as  it  is  nowe  established  without  Kins:  or  House  of 
Lords."  He  may  have  been  the  one  who  settled  near  the  spot,  where 
he  was  cast  away,  in  1650,  and  thus  became  a  citizen  of  Maryland.  In 
the  records  of  Somerset  County,  Maryland,  is  the  following:  "Richard 
Stevens,  brother  to  William  Stevens  of  Somerset  County,  in  ye  Province 
of  Maryland,  was  youngest  son  of  John  Stevens  of  Lebourn  in  ye  Parish 
of  Buckingham  in  England,  died  at  the  house  of  his  brother  William 
aforesaid,  ye  22d  day  of  April,  1667,  and  was  buried  at  his  plantation 
called  Rehoboth  in  ye  county  and  province  aforesaid,  in  America,  ye 
25th  day  of  April." 

In  1679,  Col.  William  Stevens  entered  a  tract  of  two  thousand  acres 
on  the  shores  of  the  upper  part  of  Assateague  Bay  near  where,  in  1650, 
the  "Virginia  Merchant's"  passengers  landed  in  distress. 


112       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

served  under  Waller  in  the  Parliamentary  Army  when  it 
besieged  Exeter,  then  held  by  Sir  John  Berkeley,  the  Gov- 
ernor's brother.  Driven  by  a  storm,  the  ship  found  itself 
on  the  12th  of  January,  1650,  among  the  islands  of 
Assateague  Bay,  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Maryland.  Upon 
one  of  these,  Colonel  Norwood,  Major  Morison,  Stevens, 
Francis  Gary,  and  others  landed,  and  after  several  days, 
crossed  over  to  the  main  land  and  were  hospitably  treated  by 
the  Indians.  A  white  fur  trader,  Jenkin  Price,1  arrived, 
and  under  his  guidance  they  began  their  journey  to 
Nathaniel  Littleton's  plantation,  the  nearest  in  Accomac. 
Toward  night  of  the  first  day,  they  reached  a  point  opposite 
Chincoteague  Island,  and  at  the  close  of  the  second  day, 
after  twenty-five  miles  of  travel,  they  came  to  Price's  post 
on  the  Littleton  Plantation.  From  thence  they  proceeded  to 
the  Plantation  of  Stephen  Charlton,  who  gave  them  fresh 
clothing.  Lower  down  in  Accomac,  now  Northampton 
County,  they  visited  Argoll  Yeardley,  the  son  of  the  former 
Governor,  who  was  born  at  Jamestown,  in  1621,  and  had 
recently  married. 

Norwood  in  his  narrative  writes : 

"It  fell  out  very  luckily  for  my  better  welcome, 
that  he  had  not  long  before  brought  over  a  wife,  from 
Rotterdam,2  that  I  had  known  almost  from  a  child. 
Her  father,  Custis  by  name,  kept  a  victualling  house 
in  that  town,  lived  in  good  repute,  and  was  the  general  host 


'In  October,  1650,  the  Assembly  gave  5,000  pounds  of  tobacco  to 
Jenkin  Price  for  the  preservation  of  certain  persons.  Price  was  now 
poor  and  evidently  this  was  a  gratuity  for  his  kindness  to  Norwood, 
now  become  Treasurer  of  Virginia. 

2Yeardley's  father  used  to  send  his  tobacco  to  Rotterdam. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       113 

of  our  nation  there.  The  Esquire  knowing  I  had  the  honour 
to  be  the  Governor's  kinsman,  and  his  wife  knowing  my 
conversation  in  Holland,  I  was  received,  caress'd  more  like 
a  domestick,  and  near  relation,  than  a  man  in  misery,  and  a 
stranger.  I  stay'd  there  for  a  passage  over  the  Bay,  about 
ten  days  welcomed  and  feasted  not  only  by  the  Esquire  and 
his  wife,  but  by  many  neighbours  that  were  not  too  remote."1 

About  the  middle  of  February,  Colonel  Norwood  crossed 
Chesapeake  Bay,  in  a  sloop,  and  landed  at  Esquire  Ludlow's, 
who  curiously  enough  was  a  cousin  of  the  regicide  and 
became  with  Yeardley  a  Councillor  under  the  Common- 
wealth. 

Stephen  Charlton,  mentioned  by  Norwood,  was  an  able, 
hospitable  man,  and  owned  the  plantation  now  known  as  the 
"Glebe,"  situated  about  three  miles  from  Bridgetown,  down 
"Church  Neck."  He  left  this  plantation  to  Hungar's  Parish 
to  aid  in  the  maintenance  of  a  clergyman.2 

The  name  of  John  Custis  first  appears  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  about  1640.  He  was  born  in  Gloucester  County,  Eng- 
land, but  moved  to  Rotterdam,  where  he  was  a  famous  host, 
keeping  the  tavern  which  the  English  made  their  head- 
quarters. 

During  a  visit  to  Rotterdam,  Argoll  Yeardley,  son  of  Sir 
George,  married  Ann  Custis,  and  no  doubt  induced  John 
and  Joane,  her  parents,  to  return  with  him  to  Virginia.3 
John  Custis,  son  of  the  immigrant,  was  an  enterprising  man, 
and  like  Scarburgh,  engaged  in  salt  making  on  one  of  the 
sea-side  islands.     He  was  foremost  in  all  civil  and  ecclesi- 

1A  Voyage  to  Virginia.    Force's  Collect,  of  Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  III. 

2See  Chapter  on  Early  Church. 

3Custis  was  not  born  in  Ireland,  as  stated  by  Bishop  Meade.  See 
Virginia  Heraldica,  p.  47.  Also  Yeardlev  Genealogy  by  T.  T.  Upshur, 
p.  4. 


114      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

astical  matters  and  was  a  great  favorite  of  Lord  Arlington 
in  the  time  of  Charles  II,  naming  his  estate  on  Old  Planta- 
tion Creek,  "Arlington,"  in  honor  of  his  patron.  He  was  a 
true  royalist,  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Edmund  Scar- 
burgh,  and  was  appointed  Major  General  of  the  King's 
forces  by  Governor  Berkeley  in  1676.  In  all,  there  were 
five  John  Custises,  the  last  being  the  first  husband  of 
Martha  Dandridge,  who  afterwards  married  General  Wash- 
ington. Here  again  we  see  two  of  those  family  connections, 
between  the  Yeardleys  and  the  Custises,  and  the  Custises  and 
the  Scarburghs,  upon  which  we  have  already  dwelt. 

All  through  the  period  of  1644,  a  period  of  general  up- 
rising on  the  part  of  the  Indians  of  the  Western  Shore,  when 
the  streams  were  red  with  the  blood  of  the  colonists,  the 
natives  of  the  peninsula  had  remained  passive.  It  is  true 
that  prompt  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  Eastern  Shoremen 
to  protect  themselves  and  overawe  the  Indians  who  found 
themselves  so  circumscribed  by  the  whites  that  there  was  but 
slight  temptation  to  disobey  the  advice  of  Debedeavon  and 
their  rulers.  Appreciating  the  attitude  of  the  peninsula 
natives,  Sir  William  Berkeley  in  April,  1650,  addressed 
the  Court  as  follows: 

"The  Commissioners  of  Northampton  County  there. 
"Gentl :  Having  been  frequently  informed  by  testimony 
of  undeniable  credit,  that  the  Indians  commonly  called  by 
the  name  of  the  Laughing  King  Indians,  have  been  most 
faithful  to  the  English,  and  especially  neither  they  nor  their 
King  in  the  last  bloody  massacre  could  be  induced  to  engage 
with  our  enemies  against  us  &  so  by  consequence  kept  the 
remote  Indians,  at  least  none  broke  in  at  a  time  when  a 
general  combination  against  us,  had  been  ruinous,  at  least 
of  insupportable  expense  to  us,  and  considering  that  we 
cannot  reasonably  for  the  like  effect  of  their  friendship,  in 


EASTERN"  SHOBE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       115 

case  we  should  again  need  it  (which  God  knows  how  soon  it 
may  be)  unless  we  correspond  with  them  in  acts  of  charity 
and  amity,  Especially  unless  we  abstain  from  acts  of  rapine 
&  violence,  which  they  say  we  begin  to  do,  by  taking  away 
their  land  from  them,  by  pretence  of  the  Sale  of  a  patent. 
My  desire  therefore  to  you  is  and  I  make  it  in  the  name  of 
the  peace  &  safety  of  the  Colony,  that  you  suffer  no  land  to 
be  taken  from  them  but  what  shall  be  allowed  both  in  justice 
&  convenience  by  the  full  court.  And  in  case  the  Com- 
missioners disagree  in  their  opinion,  that  you  refer  the  whole 
matter  to  be  considered  by  a  full  court  at  James  City. 

"Your  humble  Servant, 

"Wm.  Berkeley." 

Here,  indeed,  is  a  testimonial  to  the  Laughing  King. 
With  such  a  certificate  he  may  justly  appear  before  the 
Tribune  of  Fame  and  demand  recognition  from  posterity. 
O  Fame,  how  many  deserving  names  remain  ungilded  in 
your  hall  to  make  space  for  those  of  the  less  worthy !  What 
an  opportunity  there  is  for  our  ladies  and  their  Societies  to 
do  justice  to  Debedeavon,  the  noble  Laughing  King  of 
Accawmacke !  Two  generations  of  our  fore-fathers  were  be- 
friended and  shielded  by  this  chief,  whose  single  word  would 
have  brought  down  the  horrors  of  a  massacre  upon  the  un- 
protected flank  of  the  infant  Colony.  The  wilds  of  Mary- 
land would  have  poured  forth  an  unrestrained  horde  of 
savages,  thirsty  for  blood  and  rapine,  had  he  not  held  them 
back  and  interposed  the  bar  of  his  sacred  command. 

During  the  massacre  of  1644,  and  subsequent  thereto, 
numerous  reports  of  the  intended  uprising  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  Indians  greatly  disturbed  the  people  of  the  peninsula. 
At  last,  on  July  25,  1650,  a  council  of  war  was  held  and 
various  witnesses  examined  in  regard  to  the  rumors  of  war. 
Robert   Berry   swore   that   an   Indian   named   Ornaws   had 


116       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

declared  to  him  that  "the  Indians  were  not  good ;  that  King- 
Tom,  of  the  Gingasgoynes,  told  the  other  English  what  the 
Indians  said  and  did  ;  that  they  were  appointed  to  poison 
the  English."  Berry  replied  that  he  did  not  believe  it,  be- 
cause the  bayside  Indians  had  sold  all  their  corn,  but  to  this 
Ornaws  answered  "they  sold  their  corn  for  truck  to  pay  the 
Indians  that  were  to  come  over  the  bay,  whom  they  had  hired 
to  fight  against  the  English." 

The  court  at  once  gave  orders  for  the  people  to  stand 
under  arms,  etc.,  and  continued  the  examination  of  other 
witnesses.  Two  negroes  being  then  examined,  one  of  them 
testified  that  King  Tom  had  carried  roanoke  unto  the 
Nanticoke  King;  that  he  said  the  roanoke  was  for  bribing; 
that  the  King  of  Gingoteague  and  the  King  of  Matchateague 
intended  to  fall  upon  the  English,  and  that  they  had  all  con- 
sulted together,  except  the  King  of  Kikotank.  At  a  court 
held  the  same  month  Robert  Berry's  deposition  was  taken 
again  and  a  party  of  able  men  were  ordered  to  go  among 
the  Indians  and  make  inquiries.1 

What  danger  was  reported  by  those  who  went  among  the 
Indians  does  not  appear,  but  on  October  9th,  1651,  the 
county  was  again  divided  into  military  precincts,  and  com- 
manders appointed  as  follows: 

"Captain  Peter  Walker  was  to  command  the  Regiment  of 
Horse  to  be  raised. 

From  the  lower  end  of  Magothy  Bay  to  the  South  side  of 
Old  Plantation  Creek,  Captain  Edward  Douglas. 

From  the  house  of  Lewis  Whyte  to  Old  Plantation  Creek, 
including  John  Little's  house  at  Seaside,  Colonel  Obedience 
Robins. 

'Northampton  County  Records,  1650,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  217. 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       117 

From  the  house  of  Lewis  Whyte,  including  Savage's  Neck, 
Captain  John  Savage. 

Hungar's  Creek:    Captain  William  Andrews. 
Occahannock  Creek:    Col.  Edmund  Scarburgh. 
Nandua  Precinct:    Capt.  Samuel  Goldsmith." 

The  Military  rendezvous  called  Nuswattocks  is  now  called 
Bridgetown,  doubtless  so  renamed  because  it  is  not  on  Nus- 
wattocks  Creek,  but  is  at  the  bridge  over  Hungar's  Creek 
near  its  head  waters.  The  place  is  indiscriminately  referred 
to  in  the  records  as  "the  bridge  at  Nuswattocks,"  "the  bridge 
at  Hungars,"  "the  bridge  over  Hungars  Creek  at  Nuswat- 
tocks,"  but  the  context  shows  that  the  present  site  of  Bridge- 
town was  where  the  Commissioners'  or  Justices'  Court  for 
the  upper  part  of  the  county  met  alternately  with  "Old 
Plantation." 

In  April,  1651,  Colonel  Scarburgh  could  no  longer  restrain 
his  desire  to  punish  the  Indians  along  the  northern  boundary 
of  Accomac  for  a  number  of  trifling  depredations,  and  for 
their  reported  conspiracy  to  massacre  the  whites.  Collecting 
a  band  of  well  armed  and  experienced  Indian  fighters,  among 
whom  were  Thomas  Johnson,  Richard  Vaughan,  John  Doll- 
ings,  John  Robinson,  Toby  Norton,  Richard  Bayly,  Ambrose 
Dixon,  Richard  Hill,1  Tomlin  Price,  besides  other  inhabi- 
tants of  Northampton,  he  set  out  from  Occahannock  Creek 
on  the  29th  of  the  month,  to  capture  or  kill  the  King  of 
Pocomoke,  the  leading  spirit  of  the  supposed  conspiracy.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  formidable  mounted  band  fell  upon 
the  natives,  whom  they  shot  at,  and  slashed  with  their  sabres 
and  long  hunting  knives.  Capturing  a  number  of  the  amazed 
natives,  Scarburgh  ordered  that  their  bows  be  cut  and  that 

*The  same  man  who  disturbed  Okiawampe  in  his  hunting.    See  Chap- 
ter on  Indians. 


118       EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  two  whom  he  believed  to  be  ringleaders  be  bound  neck 
and  heels  with  a  chain.  Not  knowing  what  was  coming 
next,  it  was  very  natural  for  the  Indians  to  collect  in  great 
numbers  along  the  border,  and  of  course  it  was  said  that  they 
intended  to  invade  the  Accomac  country.  Whether  it  was 
their  intention  to  do  so  or  not  before  Colonel  Scarburgh 
made  his  raid  among  them  is  not  really  known.  At  any 
rate,  rumors  of  impending  war  had  been  rife  for  some  time, 
and  having  much  property  exposed  to  their  mercy,  Colonel 
Scarburgh  was  unwilling  to  sit  quietly  at  home  and  take  the 
chance  of  its  being  destroyed.  Numbers  of  the  frontiersmen 
and  fur  traders  had  no  doubt  come  to  him  with  tales  about 
the  Indians,  which  led  to  his  assault  upon  them.  After  a 
short  while,  the  bands  of  frightened  Indians  dispersed,  and 
Scarburgh  and  his  raiders  returned  to  their  homes. 

At  the  next  court,  May  10th,  the  Sheriff  was  ordered  to 
arrest,  to  the  number  of  fifty  or  all  those  who  went  upon  this 
expedition,  and  confine  them  until  they  gave  security  for 
their  appearance  at  James  City  before  the  Governor  and 
Council.  The  court  then  sent  over  Argoll  Yeardley  and 
William  Andrews  to  prosecute  the  defendants,  and  in  order 
that  these  distinguished  representatives  of  law  and  order 
might  appear  at  the  Capital  in  proper  style,  it  was  directed 
that  a  boat,  well  stocked  with  provisions  and  manned  by 
three  men,  should  be  placed  at  their  disposal. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  it  was  commanded  by  the 
authorities  that  diligent  ward  and  watch  be  kept  throughout 
the  county  in  order  to  discover  and  prevent  the  execution  of 
the  supposed  plot  or  conspiracy  of  the  Indians.  With  a  view 
to  placating  the  injured  spirit  of  the  Pocomokes,  Mr. 
Andrews  was  enjoined  to  send  to  Onecren  of  Pocomoke,  100 
arms'  length  of  roanoke ;   to  the  King  of  Metomkin,  10  weed- 


EASTERN"  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       119 

in«'  hoes;  to  the  two  Indians  that  were  bound  neck  and 
heels,  and  to  the  Indian  shot  by  the  wife  of  Toby  Selby,  20 
arms'  length  of  roanoke ;  Andrews  to  be  satisfied  out  of  the 
next  crop  of  tobacco.  From  this  order  of  the  court,  it  would 
appear  that  the  ladies  had  joined  in  the  chase.  The  Indians 
were  great  thieves,  however,  and  Mrs.  Selby  probably  shot 
this  one  while  he  was  prowling  about  her  place. 

It  does  not  appear  that  anyone,  implicated  in  the  raid, 
appeared  before  the  council  of  war  held  at  James  City  for 
their  prosecution,  except  Colonel  Scarburgh  and  Thomas 
Johnson.  These  two  gentlemen  were  indicted  for  "going  in 
a  hostile  manner  among  the  Indians  and  doing  them  outrages 
contrary  to  the  known  laws  of  Virginia."  An  investigation 
ensued,  "but  upon  scanning  the  business,  the  charge  was 
found  to  be  untrue,"  and  the  court  considered  that  the 
defendants  acted  as  careful  and  honest  men  ought  to  have 
done.  From  this,  it  would  appear  that  the  raid  was  justified 
by  the  facts ;  and  convincing  evidence  must  have  been  intro- 
duced as  to  the  plans  of  the  Indians.  After  Governor 
Berkeley's  proclamation,  enjoining  amity  and  courtesy  on 
the  part  of  the  whites  in  their  dealings  with  the  natives  of 
the  peninsula,  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  would 
have  been  infuriated  by  such  an  act,  as  Scarburgh's  raid, 
unless  justifiable.  That  he  was  not,  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing, written  immediately  after  the  trial : 

"To  Colonel  Littleton. 

"I  pray  (upon  sight  hereof)  deliver  unto  Mr.  Edmund 
Scarburgh  Towe  (two)  of  yor  best  Ewe  Lambe  wch  I  have 
given  him,  for  his  daughters  Tabitha  &  Matilda,  charge  ye 
same  to  Accott.  fr 

"Yor  Llovinge  frend. 

"William  Berkeley." 


120      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Upon  Scarburgh's  return,  the  following  entry  was  made 
in  the  records  of  the  court  held  July  29th: 

"Whereas  there  is  great  probability  that  the  Indians  have 
concluded  a  confederacy  of  acting  a  sudden  massacre  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  county,  It  is  therefore  provided  that  a 
company  of  Horse  shall  be  pressed  for  present  service  to 
discover  and  prevent  the  threatened  danger,  and  that  no 
delay  be  used.  These  are  in  his  Majesties  name  to  authorize 
the  officers  employed  to  press  such  horses,  men  and  other 
necessaries  as  fitly  conduce  to  the  execution  of  this  design 
and  hereunto  let  no  man  fail  of  observing  as  he  or  they 
will  answer  to  the  court  at  their  peril." 

This  commission  was  signed  by  Stephen  Charlton  and  the 
two  gentlemen  recently  tried  at  James  City,  Colonel  Scar- 
burgh  and  Thos.  Johnson.  First:  observe  that  the  court  of 
Northampton  does  not  recognize  the  authority  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, but  regards  Charles  II  as  their  ruler.  Second: 
observe  that  Scarburgh  and  Johnson  made  out  such  a  strong 
case  against  the  Indians  that  they  were  not  only  thought  to 
be  justified  in  their  raid,  but  the  very  court  which  had  in- 
dicted them  was  led  to  issue  orders  for  aggressive  action 
against  the  natives.  Then  follows  a  letter  from  one  of  the 
most  conservative  and  law-abiding  men  in  the  county : 

"Gent.  I  have  received  your  order  &  I  think  it  fitting 
that  you  all  meet  at  Mr.  Charlton's  upon  the  31st  of  this 
month  and  thereunto  give  Mr.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Yeardley 
notice  of  your  meeting,  and  what  you  shall  there  agree  for 
the  Good  &  safety  of  the  County,  I  do  willingly  condescend 
to.  I  pray  you  be  careful  not  to  engage  us  in  a  war  but 
upon  good  grounds,  etc. 

"Your  friend, 

"Nath'l  Littleton." 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      121 

Mr.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Yeardley  were  the  two  gentlemen 
but  recently  sent  to  James  City  to  prosecute  the  raiders. 
They  are  now  about  to  confer  as  to  another  raid,  just  three 
months  subsequent  to  the  one  made  by  Scarburgh,  which  had 
no  doubt  disorganized  the  natives,  and  prevented  concerted 
action  among  them  during  the  early  part  of  the  summer,  at 
which  time  they  would  have  commenced  hostilities  if  a 
massacre  had  been  contemplated ;  for  at  that  time  the  woods 
are  well  screened  with  leaves  and  stocked  with  food,  and  the 
sun  is  not  too  hot  for  rapid  movements. 

For  the  execution  of  the  foregoing  order  of  the  July 
Court,  it  was  provided  that  twenty-five  horses  and  mares, 
with  saddles  and  bridles,  were  to  be  provided  by  the  planters ; 
and  if  enough  volunteers  did  not  appear,  men  were  to  be 
pressed  into  service  by  the  sheriff  on  the  following  Monday 
afternoon  at  three  o'clock  at  the  house  of  Richard  Bayly,  of 
Nuswattocks.  Each  man  was  to  bring  with  him  half  a  pound 
of  powder,  with  shot  and  bullets  and  rations  for  a  week,  and 
was  to  be  armed  with  pistols,  carbine  and  short  sword; 
and  they  were  authorized  to  take  such  arms  and  harness  from 
the  planters,  wherever  they  happened  to  find  them. 

Such  warlike  preparations  seem  to  have  completely  over- 
awed the  restless  natives,  and  there  is  no  record  for  some 
years  of  further  disturbances.  Exactly  one  year  after  these 
preparations  to  meet  the  Indians  were  made,  in  July,  1652, 
it  is  recorded  that  "divers  Indians  from  the  Town  of  Oanan- 
cocke,  have  declared  unto  the  Court,  that  through  the  affec- 
tionate love  they  have  bourne  unto  our  Nation,  have  from 
time  to  time  suffered  us  to  locate  upon  their  land  for  small 
satisfaction  received  of  us  for  the  said  land,  insomuch  that 
the  Indians  are  now  straightened  from  their  hunting  (a 
great  part  of  their  relief  consisting  thereupon),  and  also  they 


122       EASTEBN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

have  declared  that  lately  divers  of  our  own  people  have 
seated  even  unto  the  very  Town  of  Oanancocke,  which  if 
tiny  should  part  with  they  should  wholly  destroy  the  in- 
heritance of  themselves  &  their  posterity."  The  court  imme- 
diately ordered  that  no  man  should  seat  upon  the  north  side 
of  Pungoteague  Creek  unless  just  compensation  be  made  to 
the  Indians  and  be  acknowledged  as  such  by  one  of  their 
chiefs  or  great  men.1 

As  a  result  of  this  order,  we  find  Tepitiascon,2  King  of 
Great  Nussawattocks  calling  in  John  Wise,  a  neighboring 
planter,  to  witness  his  deed  of  one  thousand  acres  north  of 
Pungoteague  Creek,  on  October  27,  1653 ;  and  the  same 
month  the  great  men  of  Onancock  made  complaint  to  the 
Court  that  Randall  Revell,  Hugh  Yeo,  and  John  Jenkins 
refused  to  give  them  satisfaction  for  their  land  on  Pungo- 
teague Creek.  The  court  ordered  them  to  make  payment, 
or  appear  at  the  next  court  to  be  held  at  Occahannock. 
Andiamon,  King  of  the  Occahannocks  and  Curratucks,  also 
complained  that  Thos.  Teackle,  Jenkins  Price  and  Richard 
Hill,  had  not  paid  for  the  land  they  bought  from  the  Indians, 
and  upon  which  they  were  then  seated.3  They  were  also 
ordered  to  pay  or  appear  before  the  court. 

In  April,  1654,  the  King  of  Matomkin  voluntarily 
deposited  one  hundred  arms'  length  of  roanoke  in  part  pay- 
ment for  the  killing  and  stealing  of  hogs  by  his  young  men ; 
and  it  was  ordered  by  the  court  that  he  should  further  pay 
"one  hundred  and  fifty  arms'  length  of  good  and  current 
roanoke,  and  sixty  sufficient  Indian  mats  to  be  made  ready 
in  three  months."  The  King  of  Machipungo  was  similarly 
fined  upon  his  own  confession. 

'See  Chapter  on  Aborigines. 

'Same  as  Tepiapon. 

r,\\>  have  met  Jenkins  Price  and  Richard  Hill  before. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       123 

Such  records  very  clearly  show  the  great  desire  of  the 
Indians  of  the  lower  peninsula  to  maintain  peace,  and  prove 
what  has  been  asserted  before,  that  the  natives  who  gave  all 
the  trouble  were  the  border  tribes. 


IX 
The  Dutch  War.     The  Eastern  Shore  Under  the  Com- 
monwealth.    The  Northampton  Protest 

In  October,  1650,  the  Long  Parliament  passed  an 
ordinance  prohibiting  trade  with  Barbadoes,  Bermuda, 
Antigua  and  Virginia.  The  act  recited  that  "these  colonies 
were,  and  of  a  right  ought  to  be,  subject  to  the  authority  of 
Parliament;  that  divers  acts  of  rebellion  had  been  committed 
by  many  persons  inhabiting  Virginia,  whereby  they  had 
most  traitorously  usurped  a  power  of  government,  and  set 
themselves  in  opposition  to  this  Commonwealth."  It  there- 
fore declared  such  persons  notorious  robbers  and  traitors, 
and  forbade  all  correspondence  or  commerce  with  them.1 

The  following  year,  in  October,  1651,  the  first  of  the 
famous  Navigation  Acts  was  passed,  forbidding  any  goods, 
wares  or  merchandise,  to  be  imported  into  England  except 
in  English  ships,  or  in  ships  of  the  country  where  the  com- 
modities were  produced — a  blow  aimed  at  the  carrying-trade 
of  the  Dutch,  which  eventually  led  to  war  between  England 
and  Holland.  The  passage  of  the  Act  of  1650,  forbidding 
trade  with  Virginia,  greatly  offended  the  Dutch  inhabitants 
of  the  peninsula;  and  the  Dutch  settlements  to  the  north 
of  Virginia  were  naturally  not  very  kindly  disposed  towards 
the  English  flag. 

While  the  Indian  matters  of  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1651  were  in  progress,  Colonel  Scarburgh  had  sent  one  of 

Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  215-216. 

124 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       125 

his  vessels,  "The  Sea  Horse,"  up  the  coast  and  into  the 
Delaware  River  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  While  in  that 
neighborhood,  the  Dutch  Commander,  Andreas  Hudde  or 
Andrew  Hudson,  Deputy  Governor  General  of  New  Nether- 
lands, seized  the  vessel  by  force,  lowered  the  King's  colors, 
ran  the  Dutch  flag  up  to  the  mast  head,  and  carried  the  ship, 
John  Ames,  the  Skipper,  William  Scott,  the  pilot,  and  the 
entire  crew  to  Fort  Nassau,  pretending  that  they  had  vio- 
lated the  customs  laws,  although  Governor  Stuyvesant1  had 
invited  Scarburgh  to  trade  there.2 

Such  an  act  aroused  the  enmity  of  Scarburgh,  who,  besides 
being  an  Indian  fighter  and  a  planter,  was  the  largest  mer- 
chant on  the  peninsula.  He  at  once  took  the  depositions  of 
his  men  before  the  Northampton  Court;  and  bringing  the 
matter  to  the  attention  of  the  Governor  and  Council  at  James 
City,  eventually  recovered  his  ship,  it  is  supposed.  But  such 
redress  was  not  sufficient  for  Scarburgh,  who  bided  his  time 
to  revenge  himself  upon  the  Dutch.  Any  and  all  Dutchmen 
were  responsible  for  this  outrage  upon  his  property,  and  the 
whole  nation  was  the  victim  of  his  ire. 

Charles  the  Second,  whom  the  Eastern  Shoremen  had 
declared,  by  proclamation,  to  be  the  successor  of  his  father, 
had,  at  the  head  of  a  Scottish  Army,  invaded  England  and 
had  been  utterly  overthrown  at  Worcester,  September  3, 
1651.  Charles  himself,  not  long  after,  with  difficulty  and  in 
disguise,  had  escaped  to  France.  In  that  same  month  the 
Council  of  State  appointed  Robert  Dennis,  Mr.  Richard 
Bennett,  Mr.  Thomas  Stegg  and  Captain  William  Clayborne, 
commissioners,  to  reduce  the  Colony  of  Virginia  and  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  to  their  due  obedience  to  the  Common- 

'Called  Stephesant  in  Northampton  Records. 
JSee  also  mention  of  this  affair  in  Va.  Carolornm. 


126       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

wealth.  The  commissioners  at  once  took  steps  to  accomplish 
the  task  assigned  them.  Richard  Bennett,  Clayborne  and 
Stegg,  had  all  been  residents  of  Virginia.  Bennett  being 
a  non-conformist  and  Round-head,  had  moved  to  Maryland 
when  the  troubles  in  England  commenced;  but  dis- 
satisfied with  Baltimore's  proprietary  government,  had 
returned  to  England.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  Virginia  in  1646.  Oddly  enough,  the  daughter  of  this 
old  Puritan  married  Colonel  Chas.  Scarburgh,  the  son  of 
the  noted  royalist,  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh. 

In  1652,  the  war  which  had  been  brewing  for  several  years 
between  England  and  Holland,  as  a  result  of  the  former's 
unjust  restriction  upon  commerce,  broke  out.  Hostilities 
commenced  in  May  and  a  series  of  brilliant  naval  engage- 
ments continued  through  the  summer  and  fall,  victory  gener- 
ally crowning  the  Dutch  fleets.  No  part  of  Virginia  was  as 
much  affected  by  this  war  as  Northampton  County,  for  the 
thread  of  Dutch  influence  was  intimately  woven  into  the 
fabric,  political,  social,  and  commercial,  of  the  Eastern 
Shore.  Not  alone  were  they  dependent  to  a  greater  extent 
upon  the  Dutch  trade,  so  highly  developed  in  that  quarter, 
than  the  people  elsewhere  in  the  Colony,  but  a  large  portion 
of  the  Eastern  Shore  population  was  Dutch.  One  must 
readily  see  then  how  closely  this  war  concerned  the  little 
peninsula. 

Immediately  upon  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  the  States 
General  sent  messengers  to  New  Netherlands  and  the  West 
Indies,  advising  their  good  subjects  that  a  state  of  war 
existed.  The  West  India  Company  in  turn  advised  the 
government  in  Holland  to  send  a  number  of  fast  frigates  to 
the  Atlantic  Seaboard  to  prey  upon  English  Commerce,  but 
as  the  English  colonies  were  more  than  a  match  for  New 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       127 

Netherlands,  it  was  suggested  that  no  attack  upon  them  be 
made.  In  August,  the  Directors  of  the  Company  sent  Stuy- 
vesant, the  Governor  at  New  Amsterdam,  full  instructions 
as  to  defense,  etc.,  and  suggested  the  employment  of  the 
natives  as  allies  in  case  of  emergency. 

The  ship  which  bore  these  instructions  was  by  ill-chance 
captured  by  the  English.  Again  the  Company  sent  instruc- 
tions to  Stuyvesant,  this  time  advising  him  to  avoid  con- 
flicts, if  possible,  with  the  English  to  the  north  and  south 
of  him.  Upon  the  intelligence,  gained  by  the  capture  of  his 
first  orders,  that  Stuyvesant  was  instructed  to  ally  himself 
with  the  Indians,  wild  rumors  spread  like  fire,  up  and  down 
the  coast.  It  was  said  that  a  general  massacre  of  the  English 
colonists  was  to  be  instigated  by  the  Dutch,  who  had  already 
shown  signs  of  aggression  by  certain  acts  of  retaliation  upon 
the  English  as  a  result  of  their  restrictions  upon  trade.  The 
Governor,  however,  although  urgent  measures  were  adopted 
to  put  New  Netherlands  in  a  state  of  defense,  made  no 
attempt  to  incite  the  Indians  to  war  upon  the  English.  On 
the  contrary,  appreciating  the  weakness  of  his  dominions,  he 
wrote  to  the  authorities  in  New  England  and  Virginia,  ex- 
pressing the  most  friendly  feelings,  both  of  New  Netherlands 
and  the  West  India  Company,  and  proposed  that  the  Dutch 
and  English  colonies  should  continue  on  a  peace  footing  in 
spite  of  the  hostile  relations  existing  between  the  mother 
countries.  But  the  excitement  in  the  English  colonies  was 
too  great  to  permit  the  people  to  see  in  such  friendly  ad- 
vances anything  but  Dutch  treachery,  and  the  offer  was 
repelled. 

Shortly  after  the  first  report  that  the  Dutch  were  inciting 
the  Indians  to  rise  against  the  English,  the  Northampton 
Court  took  cognizance  of  the  threatened  danger   and  pub- 


128       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

lished  an  injunction  against  the  Dutch  inhabitants  of  the 
county  trading  with  the  natives,  and  a  heavy  fine  of  500 
pounds  of  tobacco  was  imposed  upon  any  Hollander  who 
should  "trade,  truck,  or  barter"  with  the  Indians  for  "skins 
or  furs."  There  seem  to  have  been  numerous  complaints  to 
the  Court  that  the  Dutch  "do  incite  the  Indians"  to  disorder 
and  acts  of  enmity  against  the  Accomackians,  all,  no  doubt, 
unfounded  upon  fact  and  prompted  in  a  measure  by  the 
jealousy  of  the  English  Indian  traders  of  whom  there  were 
a  great  number. 

While  it  does  not  appear  that  Bennett  was  appointed 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  until  April 
30th,  1652,  in  the  preceding  January,  and  before  the  Old 
Dominion  had  surrendered  to  the  representatives  of  Parlia- 
ment, an  order  was  received  by  the  Court  of  Northampton 
from  him,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  England  had  declared 
war  upon  Holland  and  that  the  militia  of  the  county  was  to 
be  mustered  and  assembled.  The  same  month  a  command 
was  received  from  the  General  Assembly  to  seize  any  Dutch 
ships  that  came  into  the  Northampton  waters,  as  the  penin- 
sula was  in  great  danger  from  the  Dutch.  Another  com- 
munication soon  followed  from  Governor  Bennett,  ordering 
such  vessels  to  be  seized,  particularly  one  then  riding  in  the 
roads  at  "Accomac."  This  was  what  the  injured  Scarburgh 
was  waiting  for.  His  vengeance  could  now  be  satisfied 
under  screen  of  the  law.  Indeed,  was  he  not  directed  to 
proceed  against  his  friends,  the  Dutch,  by  the  highest 
authority  in  the  land! 

It  seems  that,  about  February,  1652,  a  New  England 
merchant  vessel,  owned  by  several  persons  of  Boston,  and 
under  the  command  of  Captain  John  Jacob,  a  German,  was 
ridins  at  anchor  in  a  creek  near  Nominv  on  the  Potomac. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       129 

The  good  ship,  "Ye  Hobby  Horse,"  owned  by  Colonel  Scar- 
burgh  and  manned  by  eight  well  armed  men  under  Mark 
Magge,  the  Master,  had  been  privateering  about  the  bay, 
under  Scarburgh's  orders,  looking  for  Dutchmen.  The  sole 
authority  vested  in  the  Colonel  was  that,  incident  to  the 
orders  mentioned,  and,  to  protect  himself,  he  had  thoughtfully 
borrowed  the  commission  of  the  Admiralty  of  England, 
issued  to  Captain  Peter  Wraxall  of  the  British  ship  "Speed- 
well," lying  in  Occahannock  Creek,  when  the  "Hobby  Horse" 
set  out.  To  wait  for  a  letter  of  Marque  and  Reprisal  would 
have  been  tedious,  and  so  long  as  friend  Wraxall  was  willing 
to  loan  his  commission  the  matter  was  satisfactory  to 
Scarburgh. 

Dutch  prizes  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  scarce,  the 
nearest  approach  to  one  being  the  New  England  vessel  com- 
manded by  a  German  Master ;  so  the  bold  Magge,  not  being 
particular  and  in  order  not  to  return  to  the  Colonel  empty- 
handed,  boarded  the  Bristol  merchantman  in  the  opportune 
absence  of  her  Captain  and  took  possession  of  the  ship  and 
the  cargo  in  the  name  of  England !  Upon  returning  to  his 
vessel,  Captain  Jacob  was  naturally  surprised  to  find  her  in 
the  hands  of  strangers  and  demanded  to  see  the  commission 
under  which  the  seizure  was  authorized.  Expressing  an 
entire  willingness  to  comply  with  all  orders  of  the  English 
government,  yet  he  said  that  in  the  absence  of  proper  author- 
ity, the  boarding  of  his  vessel  was  an  act  of  piracy.  In 
this  the  Captain  was  right,  but  the  pirates  became  angry, 
sensible,  no  doubt,  of  their  unlawful  conduct,  and  one  of 
them  would  have  shot  Jacob,  had  not  Magge  prevented  him. 
Alarmed  by  the  violence  of  his  visitors,  Captain  Jacob 
entered  his  cabin  to  get  a  gun  to  protect  himself  with,  and 
upon   returning  to  the  deck  was  struck  over  the   head  by 


130      EASTEKX  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Richard  Wayman,  one  of  the  boarders.  The  poor  Captain, 
ing  himself  helpless,  begged  that  his  ship  and  cargo  be 
alone,  but  was  promptly  informed  that  he  had  had  a 
knock  on  one  side  of  his  head,  and  unless  he  remained  silent, 
he  would  have  his  brains  knocked  out  on  the  other  side. 
Magge  and  his  crew  then  took  the  ship  away  from  Nominy 
and  seem  to  hare  disposed  of  much  of  the  cargo  at  their 
pleasure,  Jacob  protesting  all  the  while  against  such  conduct. 
Magge  now  became  alarmed  at  his  own  unlawful  acts,  and 
decided  to  return  with  the  questionable  prize  to  his  master, 
i(  lling  Jacob  that  he  might  go  with  him  to  Northampton  and 
protest  against  the  seizure  of  the  vessel  if  he  desired  to. 
When  the  two  vessels  came  to  anchor  in  Occahannock  Creek 
at  the  stern  of  the  "Speedwell,"  Captain  Jacob  went  aboard 
the  British  ship  and  demanded  that  his  vessel  and  goods  be 
returned  to  him,  but  mr.  Davis,  the  Master's  Mate,  declared 
that  he  had  no  authority  to  return  them  and  in  fact  had  been 
ordered  by  Captain  Wraxall  not  to  do  so.  Thus  we  see  that 
Wraxall  must  have  been  in  cahoot  with  Scarburgh.  Despair- 
ing of  recovering  his  vessel,  Jacob,  it  seems,  collected  certain 
evidence,  and  in  the  records  of  the  county  for  February, 
1652,  a  long  deposition  appears  about  the  seizure  of  the 
ship.  Tn  the  investigation  which  followed  the  deposition, 
Mark  Magge,  the  Master  of  Scarburgh' s  vessel,  swore  that 
"he  came  down  from  Occahannock  and  found  the  vessel 
anchored  by  the  Mills  (Nominy?)  and  that  after  they  were 
anchored  by  the  'Speedwell'  came  aboard  Argall  Yeardley, 
Obedience  Robins,  Captain  John  Stringer  and  Mr.  Lamber- 
ton,  and  as  they  were  leaving  the  chirurgeon  abused  the 
master,  and  said  'that  he  had  a  horse  at  home,  and  thought 
to  bring,  but  he  was  afraid  they  would  have  made  him  a 
< lolonel,  Major,  or  Justice  of  the  Peace',  and  that  he  further 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       131 

declared  that  most  all  of  them  here  were  Rogues  or  whores, 
or  vagabonds,  or  thieves,  or  beggars";  and  many  other 
scandalous  names.1  From  this  deposition  of  Magge's  it 
would  seem  that  upon  arriving  in  Occahannock,  Captain 
Jacob  sought  the  aid  of  the  County  Justices,  Yeardley, 
Robins  and  Stringer,  and  that  upon  their  failure  to  turn 
over  to  him  his  ship  without  further  investigation,  the  sur- 
geon of  the  New  England  vessel  abused  them,  making  light 
of  their  various  titles  and  the  fact  that  they  all  rode  horses. 
At  any  rate,  Colonel  Robins,  by  that  time  at  war  with  Scar- 
burgh,  filed  the  following  complaint  about  a  year  after  his 
visit  to  the  captured  vessel,  or  in  February,  1653 : 

"Capt.  John  Jacob,  a  High  Germayne  of  Frankendall  in 
the  Palatinate,  who  in  ye  yeare  1651,  engaged  to  ye  State 
of  England  &  embarked  himselfe  theire  in  a  London  or  New 
England  shipp  whereof  Capt.  Robt.  Thurston  was  com- 
mander &  with  a  good  quaintity  of  English  goods  came  into 
New  England,  and  thence  with  Mr.  Cuttin  unto  Severne 
(now  Annapolis)  &  returned  to  New  England  with  John 
Bennett  unto  Boston,  in  New  England,  and  by  infailable 
testimony  imployed  unto  Virginia  by  Mr.  Samll  Mauericke, 
Mr.  Robert  Knight  &  Mr.  Nathll  Gardner  three  principal 
merchants  livinge  in  Boston  in  New  England  came  unto 
mee,  and  complained  that  beinge  in  a  New  England  belong- 
inge  unto  ye  above  Mr.  Rob't  Knight,  at  Nominy  in 
Patomack  River  att  Anker,  in  a  small  creeke,  aground  there, 
came  a  vessell  called  ye  hobby  horse  belonging  unto  &  sett 
forth  by  Left.  Coll.  Scarburgh  with  eight  armed  men ;  &  in 
his  absence  did  seize  his  vessel  as  they  s'd  for  the  State  of 
England." 

This  complaint  was  laid  before  the  Council  by  Robins ; 
with  what  result  we  shall  see  later. 

'Massachusetts  Historical  Register,  Vol.  XL,  p.  8. 
Virginia  Carolorum,  p.  419. 
Northampton  County  Records,  1652. 


132      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

As  a  result  of  Bennett's  orders,  and  the  order  from  the 
General  Assembly  in  January,  1652,  the  Dutch  merchants 
and  residents  on  the  Eastern  Shore  were  subjected  to  many 
hardships,  and  were  treated  roughly  throughout  the  period 
of  the  Dutch  War.  Suspected  of  complicity  in  the  general 
plot  to  massacre  the  English,  they  were  regarded  with 
suspicion  by  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula,  and 
instead  of  the  belief  in  such  a  foul  design  upon  their  part 
growing  less  general,  it  had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  the 
events  which  occurred  in  rapid  succession  in  the  more 
northern  Colonies. 

In  1653,  Uncas,  the  Mohegan  ally  of  the  English  in  New 
England,  had  spread  a  report  that  Stuyvesant  had  been  plot- 
ting to  incite  the  Narragansetts  against  the  New  England 
Colonies,  in  accordance  with  the  suggestion  of  the  West 
India  Company.  The  report  received  some  confirmation 
from  the  fact  that  nine  Manhattoe  sachems  sent  messengers 
in  March  of  that  year  to  Stamford  to  apprise  the  authorities 
that  about  a  month  before,  the  Dutch  Governor  had  solicited 
them  to  massacre  the  English.  Excitement  became  more 
intense  and  an  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Commissioners 
of  the  United  Colonies  was  accordingly  held  at  Boston,  in 
April.  Witnesses  were  examined,  and  while  but  slight  evi- 
dence tending  to  corroborate  the  terrifying  reports  was  ad- 
duced, yet  preparations  were  made  to  defend  the  Colonies; 
agents  were  sent  to  Manhattan  to  investigate  matters;  and 
rumors  of  the  hideous  Dutch  plot  again  spread  along  the 
coast.  Before  long,  the  first  report  had  been  so  exaggerated 
and  magnified  that  the  people  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
especially  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  firmly  believed  that  they 
were  in  imminent  danger  of  being  massacred  by  the  com- 
bined forces  of  the  Dutch  and  Indians.     In  the  meantime, 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       133 

Doughty,  the  English  pastor  in  Flushing,  who  later  moved 
to  Northampton,  and  Van  der  Donck,  his  son-in-law,  added 
to  the  general  alarm  by  various  insinuations  as  to  the  inten- 
tions of  the  Dutch. 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  1652,  not  satisfied  with  the 
trade  restrictions  which  had  been  imposed  upon  the  Dutch 
inhabitants  of  the  Colony,  the  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
were  hatching  up  a  plot  of  their  own  to  prevent  the  execu- 
tion of  Stuyvesant's  supposed  design.  Colonel  Scarburgh 
took  the  lead  in  this  affair,  and,  if  there  were  to  be  an  Indian 
uprising,  and  massacre,  he  proposed  to  be  the  chief  execu- 
tioner. So  alarming  became  the  situation  of  the  innocent 
Dutch  inhabitants,  that  the  cooler  heads  who  deprecated 
violence  against  the  latter  appealed  to  the  court  to  protect 
them.  An  investigation  was  held  by  the  Commissioners  of 
the  County  and  many  witnesses  examined  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain the  plans  of  those  persons  who  conspired  against  the 
Dutch.  Charles  Scarburgh,  who  was  forced  to  testify  under 
oath,  said  that  his  father  could  prove  the  Dutch  plot  and 
that  Colonel  Scarburgh  claimed  that  the  English  were 
justified  in  setting  upon  them  as  a  measure  of  self-protection. 
With  the  rash  Scarburgh  at  the  head  of  the  excited  people, 
the  Dutch  were  truly  in  great  danger,  for  he  would  have 
been  delighted  to  commence  their  extermination.  Appre- 
ciating this  serious  state  of  affairs,  the  Justices  exerted  their 
best  efforts  to  counteract  the  danger,  and  what  further  action 
they  took  to  protect  the  Dutch,  we  shall  see  later. 

In  March,  1652,  Captain  Dennis  arrived  at  Jamestown 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  Colony  to  Parliament, 
and  after  a  slight  delay,  and  no  resistance,  the  capitulation 
was  ratified  on  the  12th  of  the  month.  The  articles  of 
capitulation  provided  that  the  Colony  of  Virginia  should  be 


10 


134      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Bubjecl  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England;  that  the  submis- 
sion should  be  considered  voluntary,  not  forced  or  con- 
strained by  a  conquest  upon  the  country;  that  the  people 
should  have  and  enjoy  such  freedoms  and  privileges  as  be- 
longed to  the  free-born  people  of  England ;  that  the  Assembly 
should  meet  as  formerly  and  transact  the  business  of  the 
Colony,  nothing,  however,  to  be  done  contrary  to  the  govern- 
ment of  England  ;  that  full  indemnity  should  be  granted 
for  all  the  offenses  against  the  Parliament  of  England ;  that 
Virginia  should  have  the  ancient  bounds  and  limits  granted 
by  the  charters  of  former  Kings;  that  Virginia  should  seek 
a  new  charter  from  the  Parliament  to  that  purpose,  ''against 
any  that  have  entrenched  on  the  rights  thereof,"  an  allusion, 
no  doubt,  to  Lord  Baltimore's  intrusion  into  Maryland ;  that 
the  privilege  of  having  fifty  acres  of  land  for  every  person 
transported  to  the  colony  should  continue  as  formerly 
granted ;  that  the  people  of  Virginia  should  have  free  trade, 
like  the  people  of  England,  to  all  places,  and  with  all  nations, 
according  to  the  laws  of  that  Commonwealth;  and  that 
Virginia  should  enjoy  all  privileges  equally  with  any  English 
plantation  of  America.1 

The  council  appointed  for  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia 
included  two  members  from  Northampton  County,  namely, 
Colonel  Nathaniel  Littleton  and  Colonel  Argoll  Yeardley, 
and  they  were  immediately  dispatched  to  the  strongly  dis- 
affected County  of  Northampton  to  obtain  the  signatures  of 
the  inhabitants  to  the  following  engagement  dated  the  11th 
of  March,  the  day  before  the  ratification  of  the  articles  of 
surrender.  During  the  next  thirty  days,  the  signatures  of 
one  hundred  and  sixteen  of  the  people  of  Northampton  were 
secured : 

'Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  217,  218. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       135 

"The  Engagm't  tendered  to  ye  Inhabitants  of  North- 
ampton County,  Eleaventh  of  March,  1651  (O.  S.) 

"Wee  whose  Names  are  subscribed;  doe  hereby  Engage 
and  promise  to  bee  true  and  faithfull  to  the  Commonwealth 
of  England  as  it  is  nowe  Established  without  Kinge  or  House 
of  Lords. 


25  of 

MARCH 

Nathan'll  Littleton 

Nich.  Scott 

Obedience  Robins 

Anth.  Hodgskins 

-Edm.  Scarburgh 

Jno.  Nuthall 

Edm.   Douglas 

Wm.  Whittington 

Peter  Walker 

Wm.  Coake 

Wm.  Andrews,  Sen'r 

Ben.   Cowdrey 

Allex.   Addison 

Levyne  Denwood 

James  Barnabye 

Robert  Andrews 

Jno.  Pannell 

Ben.  Mathews 

Sam'll  Sone 

Jno.  Stringer 

Jno.  Denman 

Allex.  Harryson 

James  Berry 

Rich.  Vaughan 

Phillip  Farrant 

Thos.  Johnson 

•Jno.  Tilney 

Dan'll  Baker 

Sampson  Robins 

Thomas  Hint 

Jno.  Ellis 

Thos.  Higby 

Jeffery  Minshatt 

Jno.  Parkes 

Georgine  Hacke 

Wm.   Stanley 

Rich.  Hamby 

Jno.  Ayers 

Edw.  Harrington 

Robert  Harryson 

Nich.  Waddelone 

Luke  Billington 

Argoll  Yeardley 

Randolfe  Hutchinson 

Wm.  Waters 

Nich.  Granger 

Wm.  Jones 

Thos.  Truman 

Thos.   Sprigge 

Allex.  Madoxe 

Jno.  Dye 

Henr.   Armitradinge 

X'ofer  Major 

Steph.  Charlton 

Wm.  Munds 

Jno.  Parramore 

Francis  Flood 

Jno.  Robearts 

Steph.  Stringer 

X'ofer  Dixon 

X'ofer  Jarvis 

Robert  Marryott 

136       EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY 


TKICESIMO  DIE   MARTY  1651    (o.   S.) 


Edm.  Mathews 
Jno.  Custis 
Jno.  Johnson,  Jim. 
Farmer  Jones 
Jno.  Dixon 
Jno.  Taylor 
Mathew  Stone 
Tobine  Selve 
Rich.  Nottingham 
Nehemiah  Coventon 
Francis  Morgan 
Wm.  Ward 
Jno.  Johnson,  Senr. 
Edw.  Southren 
Jno.  Merryfin 
Dan'll  Chadwell 
Jno.  Teeslocke 
Jno.   Conlson 
Jno.  Michaell 
Jno.  Cornley 
Eich.  Newell 
Jno.  Lee 
Phill.   Merrydayr 
Edw.  Moore 
Jno.  Brillyant 
Ambrose  Dixon 
Wm.  Horose 
Robt.  Blake 
Rich.  Hill 
Jno.  Hott 
Edw.  Marshall 
Jno.   Dolling 
Charles   Scarbnrgh 
Walter  Williams 
Wm.  Stephens 
Jno.  Thatcher 


James  Johnson 
Elial  Hartree 
Charles  RatlifTe 
Jno.  Graye 
Jno.  Willyams 
Randall  Revell 
Wm.  Smyth 
Wm.  Custis 
Tho.  Miller 
Robert  Baily 
Jno.  Whitehead 
Armstrong  Foster 
Wm.  Andrews,  Jim'r 
Sam'l   Calvert 
Francis  Goodman 
Jno.  Willyams 
Wm.  Corner 
Rich.  Smyth 
Jno.  Rutter 
Andrew  Hendrye 
Antho.  Carpenter 
^Jno.  Wise 
Wm.  Taylor 
Jno.  Waleford 
Mick  Richett 
Rich.  Bruducke 
Thos.   Clarke 
Thos.  Crecro 
Sam'l  Jones 
Hen.  White 
X'ofer  Calvert 
James  Adkinson 
Wm.  Gower 
Wm.  Boucher 
Jno.  Johnson,  Jr. 
Wm.  Jordan 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       137 


Rich.  Smyth 
David  Wheatley 
Robert  Berry 
Wm.  Preeninge 
Tho.  Butterie 
Jno.  James 
Tho.  Price 
Rich.  Baily 
Rich.  Hudson 
Rich.  Alleyn 
-Jno.  Lewis 
Jno.  Johnson,  Senr. 
Wm.  Gaskins 
Nicholas  Jueyre 
Stephen  Horsey  ' 
Jno.  Robinson 
Symon  Bailey 
Jno.  Hinman 
Jno.  Coulson 
Phill.  Mathews 


X'ofer  Kirke 
Thos.  Savage 
Sam'll  Smothergall 
Wm.  Colebourne 
Alex.  Maddoxe 
Sam'l  Powell 
James  Brewce 
Wm.  Luddington 
Sam'll  Robins 
Jno.  Garnell 
David  Kiffyn 
Jno.  Browne 
Rich.  Kellam 
Jno.   Edwards 
Wm.   Mellinger 
Raph'll  Hudson 
Rich.  Teggar 
Samuel  Goldfine 
Wm.  Monitor 
Wm.  Browne 


Edw.  Leene 

Recordantur  vicesimo  die  Augusty  Ano.  1652. 
W/Wv\Ar^A       Teste  Edm.  Mathews.  Cloc.  Cur." 


In  1647,  when  the  order  to  return  Burgesses  was  issued 
by  the  Governor,  no  call  for  representatives  was  made  upon 
Northampton  County.  Indeed,  from  that  time  the  County 
had  had  no  representative  in  the  Assembly  except  one  Bur- 
gess in  1651.  Yet  a  tax  of  forty-six  pounds  of  tobacco  per 
poll  had  been  levied  upon  the  Eastern  Shoremen,  of  which 
they  had  bitterly  complained.  But  these  were  not  the  only 
sources  of  dissatisfaction.  Parliament,  which  at  first  had 
found  much  support  on  the  peninsula,  especially  among  the 
middle  classes  and  the  tradesmen,  soon  lost  favor. 

Such  laws  as  the  one  of  1650,  prohibiting  Dutch  trade  and 
the  Navigation  Act  of  the  following  year,  had  almost  entirely 


138       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

destroyed  the  Parliamentary  Party  in  Northampton.  The 
small  planters  who  did  not  own  their  own  vessels  were  forced 
to  pay  exorbitant  freight  rates  on  their  tobacco,  and  even  then 
accept  a  much  diminished  price  for  the  staple.  The  Indian 
scare  had  created  the  wildest  excitement  among  the  people, 
and  the  policy  which  the  court  officers  had  adopted  of  pro- 
tecting the  Dutch  and  threatening  to  punish  those  who  com- 
mitted acts  of  hostility  against  them,  infuriated  the  more 
restive  spirits  of  the  community.  For  some  time,  the  belief 
had  been  quite  general  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  pen- 
insula, that  Northampton  was  to  become  a  separate  province, 
the  conviction  being  heightened  by  the  failure  of  the  Gov- 
ernor to  call  for  Burgesses.  An  intense  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence had  therefore  grown  up  among  the  people  and 
nothing  in  common  was  felt  to  exist  between  Northampton 
and  the  Western  Shore.  The  royalist  party,  now  greatly 
predominant,  took  advantage  of  such  conditions  to  strengthen 
its  hold.  Appreciating  the  weakness  of  the  Parliamentary 
forces  in  Virginia,  Scarburgh,  who  hated  Puritans,  seconded 
by  other  influential  royalists,  appealed  to  the  people  to  resist 
the  unjust  burdens  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Assembly  at 
James  City,  and  to  assert  their  independence  of  a  govern- 
ment, in  which  their  sole  participation  was  to  defray  its 
expense.  The  agitators  did  not  fail  to  extoll  the  virtues  of 
royalty  and  the  old  government,  and  the  people,  already  in 
an  ugly  mood,  daily  assembled  at  the  wharfs  and  public 
houses  to  listen  to  the  harangues  of  the  incendiaries.  After 
several  days  of  such  excitement,  six  prominent  citizens  of 
the  County  were  selected  by  vote  of  the  people  to  draw  up  a 
protest  against  their  present  condition  and  to  act  in  all  things 
as  the  best  interest  of  the  people  might  demand.  Accord- 
ingly, on  March  30th,  when  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       139- 

was  but  eighteen  days  old,  the  following  protest  was  drawn 
up  by  the  People's  Committee,  whicfe,  while  not  signed  by 
Colonel  Scarburgh,  may  be  attributed  largely  to  his  influence. 
This  obscure  but  historic  instrument  deserves  the  attention 
of  those  sons  of  other  sections  of  America  who  proclaim 
themselves  with  so  much  candor  to  be  the  fathers  of 
Independence : 

"The  xxxth  of  March,  Ano.  1652. 

"Wee  whose  names  are  und  written  this  daye  made  choyce 
of  by  the  Inhabitants  of  Northampton  Countie  in  Virginia 
to  give  Informacons  and  Instruccons  to  ye  gent  Ellected 
Burgesses  for  this  prsent  Grand  Assemblie  (in  relacon  to 
such  matters  as  conduce  to  our  peace  &  Saftie).  And  for 
ye  Redresse  of  those  aggreevances  wch  (att  prsent)  wee  are 
capable  &  sensible  of  in  our  Countie  of  Northampton. 

"Imprmis.  Wee  the  Inhabitants  of  Northampton  Countie 
doe  complayne  that  from  tyme  to  tyme  (pticular  yeares 
past)  wee  have  been  submitted  &  bine  obedient  unto  the 
paymt  of  publeq  Taxacons.  Butt  after  ye  yeare  1647,  since 
yt  tyme  wee  Conceive  &  have  found  that  ye  taxes  were  very 
weightie.  But  in  a  more  espetiall  manner  (undr  favor)  wee 
are  very  sensible  of  the  Taxacon  of  fTorty  sixe  pounds  of 
tobacco  p.  poll  (this  present  yeare).  And  desire  yt  ye  same 
bee  taken  off  ye  charge  of  ye  Countie;  furthermore  wee 
alledge  that  after  1647,  wee  did  understand  &  suppose  or 
Countie  or  Northampton  to  bee  disioynted  &  sequestered 
from  ye  rest  of  Virginia.  Therefore  that  Llawe  wch  re- 
quireth  &  inioyneth  Taxacons  from  us  to  bee  Arbitrarye  & 
illegall ;  fforasmuch  as  wee  had  neither  summons  for  Ellecon 
of  Burgesses  nor  voyce  in  their  Assemblye  (during  the  time 
aforesd)  but  only  the  Singlur  Burgess  in  September,  Ano., 
1651.  Wee  conceive  that  wee  may  Lawfullie  ptest  agt  the 
pceedings  in  the  Act  of  Assemblie  for  publiq  Taxacons  wch 
have  relacon  to  Northmton  Countie  since  ye  year  1647. 

"The  Gent  who  are  (att  prsent)  to  speak  in  our  behalf e 


140      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

can  sufficiently  declare  what  is  necessary  to  bee  expressed  to 
this  effect  wch  wee  referr  to  them. 

"Our  desire  is  that  there  may  bee  an  annual  Choyce  of 
.Magistrates  in  Northmton.  And,  if  our  Countie  may  not 
have  ye  privilege  of  a  pcculir  govrmt  &  propriety  (att  prsent) 
granted  wth  in  our  prcincts  that  then  you  Request  and  plead 
that  all  Causes,  Suite  of  Trvalls  (of  what  nature  soevr)  may 
bee  concerned  (for  future  tyme),  determined  in  our  sd 
Countie  of  Northampton. 

"If  there  bee  a  free  &  genr  all  vote  for  a  Governor  wherein 
they  shall  Ellcct  Mr.  Richard  Bennett  Wee  the  inhabitants 
of  Northampton  Countie  wth  unanimous  consent  &  plenary, 
aprobacon  Rendr  our  voyce  for  the  sd  Esq.  Bennett. 

"The  people  doe  further  desire  that  ye  Taxacons  for  fforty 
sixe  pounds  of  tobac  a  heead  maye  not  bee  collected  by  the 
sheriffs  (until  ansrw  of  the  questions  from  the  Grand 
Assemblie  nowe  summoned). 

"Witness  our  hands  subscribed  the  day  &  yeare  aforesd. 
Stephen  Charlton  Wm.  Whittington 

Llevyne  Denwood  Jno.  Ellis 

Jno.   Nuthall  Steph.  Horsey 

"Recordatr  Decimo  Mense  May,  1652,  p.  me  Edm. 
Mathews,  Clic.  Cur." 

This  then  was  the  Northampton  Protest.  Whatever  may 
be  the  claims  of  other  sections  of  the  country  to  priority  of 
concerted  remonstrance  against  Great  Britain  in  the  follow- 
ing century,  whether  the  palm  be  accorded  the  adherents  of 
the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  of  the  Fincastle  Resolutions, 
or  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  the  first  organized  remon- 
strance against  British  Authority  in  the  form  of  a  protest 
against  taxation  without  representation  was  made  by  the 
people  of  Northampton  County,  Virginia,  March  30,  1652, 
antedating  all   the  others  by  one  hundred   and  twenty-odd 


EASTERN  SHOKE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY       141 

years;  and  yet,  not  a  single  historian  of  onr  country  has 
dwelt  upon  the  importance  of  this  Protest.  It  may  be  said 
that  such  a  remonstrance,  directed  against  local  authority, 
is  unworthy  of  the  significance  which  the  writer  claims  for 
it.  And  here  let  us  ask,  to  whom  was  the  Northampton 
Protest  directed  ?  Was  it  directed  to  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia  ?  No.  It  was  a  direct  protest  against  the 
authority  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  which,  from 
March  12th,  to  April  30th,  1652,  was  represented  by  Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners,  not  chosen  by  the  people,  nor  any 
section  of  the  people  of  Virginia. 

Events  the  next  few  months,  however,  only  aggravated  the 
complaint.  On  the  13th  of  June,  1652,  Richard  Husband, 
master  of  the  ship  "Hopeful  Adventure,"  seized  the  ship  of 
Mr.  Walter  Chiles,  "who  on  January  24th,  1651-2  had  sett 
sayle  with  his  owne  shipp"  called  the  "Fame  of  Virginia," 
to  Rotterdam  and  was  "in  the  Road  of  Accomac"  on  the 
return  to  James  City  when  the  said  Husband  came  up. 
Husband's  pretext  was  that  Chiles  had  no  license  from  the 
Parliament  and  was  bound  with  the  cargo  to  Brazil.  Chiles 
petitioned  the  Court  of  Northampton  for  relief,  maintaining 
that  the  seizure  was  "contrary  to  ye  peace  of  this  countrye. 
And  also  contry  to  ye  agreemt  made  by  ye  Comrs  that  were 
appointed  by  ye  keeprs  of  the  Liberty es  of  England  and  to 
ye  damage  of  ye  petr  towe  thousands  pounds  sterl." 

The  Court,  thereupon,  ordered  Husband  to  restore  the 
ship  and  cargo,  the  seizure  of  which  was  pronounced  •"con- 
trary to  the  treaty  with  the  Parliamentary  Comrs."  But 
Husband  sailed  away  with  his  prize,  and  the  Court  ordered 
such  writings  to  be  dispatched  "as  may  be  necessary  to 
prosecute  Husband  before  the  Honble  State  of  England." 

While  such  important  events  were  transpiring,  the  Court 


142       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

had  been  busying  itself  with  protecting  the  demoralized 
Dutch  inhabitants.  The  people,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
fiery  Searburgh,  were  now  getting  beyond  the  control  of  the 
<  "lnmissioners  who  were  forced  to  lay  the  unhappy  state  of 
affairs  before  the  Council  of  1652  and  acknowledge  their 
inability  to  handle  the  alarming  situation: 

"Wee  the  Commissioners  of  Northampton  County  re- 
ceived from  the  Dutchmen  in  generall  (inhabitants  of  this 
County)  wherein,  they  do  not  only  complain,  of  a  ruinous 
violence,  suddenly  to  be  acted  upon  them  to  their  utter  ruin, 
But  also  desire  a  declaration  to  your  honors,  the  sense  of 
their  present  condition,  and  their  compliance  and  ready 
obedience  to  the  State  of  England  and  all  the  laws  estab- 
lished in  this  Colony.  We  do  therefore  certify  that  they  do 
and  have  behaved  themselves  like  honest  men  and  legal  sub- 
jects to  the  government  they  live  under,  having  subscribed 
the  Engagement,  and  performed  all  things,  that  is  required 
of  them  in  order  to  their  obedience,  from  whereunto  (in 
reason)  they  might  expect  protection.  We  are  also  of  opin- 
ion, that  unless  they  have  an  order  now  to  secure  them,  not 
only  they  but  the  whole  County  (if  not  the  whole  Country) 
will  be  in  danger  of  disturbance  how  sad  consequences  that 
may  produce.  We  refer  together  with  our  opinions  to  your 
.     judgment." 

This  report  was  signed  by  Obedience  Robins,  Edward 
Douglas,  Wm.  Andrews,  Thos.  Johnson,  Jno.  Stringer,  Wm. 
Jones,  and  3ir.  Whittington.  Effective  steps  seem  to  have 
prevented  any  concerted  action  against  the  unfortunate 
Dutchmen,  whose  departure  would  have  been  a  desirable 
end  to  many,  since  much  money  was  due  them  as  merchants. 

In  May,  1653,  Governor  Stuyvesant  of  New  Netherlands, 
in  obedience  to  instructions  from  Holland  to  arrange,  if 
possible,  a  treaty  with  Virginia,  sent  Van  Tienhoven,  the 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      143 

Treasurer,  and  Van  Hattern,  one  of  the  burgomasters  of 
New  Amsterdam,  to  James  City  to  negotiate  with  Governor 
Bennett,  but  the  Virginia  authorities  were  not  at  liberty  to 
make  any  such  arrangements  with  the  Dutch,  and  informed 
the  Commissioners  that  the  matter  would  have  to  be  referred 
to  the  Council  of  State  in  England.1  Not  only  were  these 
Commissioners  sent  to  negotiate  a  treaty,  but  to  seek  pro- 
tection for  the  Dutch  citizens  of  Northampton,  grave  fears 
for  the  safety  of  whom  had  been  entertained  by  their  friends 
of  Manhattan.  The  Commissioners  assured  the  Governor 
that  no  possible  foundation  for  the  rumors  of  an  offensive 
alliance  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Indians  existed,  and  as 
a  result  of  this  the  danger  which  had  confronted  the  Dutch 
inhabitants  of  the  peninsula  was  in  large  measure  averted. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Justices  had  become  involved  in  a 
disagreement  among  themselves,  and  Captain  Johnson  re- 
fused to  join  in  their  measures.  So  acute  became  the  dis- 
sention  of  the  Commissioners  that  the  people  themselves  took 
up  the  matter,  looking  upon  Johnson  as  their  champion. 
The  trouble  came  to  a  climax  in  June,  1653,  when  Captain 
Johnson  assembled  the  people  in  Dr.  George  Hacke's  old 
field  and  read  aloud  to  them  certain  orders  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  which  he  disapproved.  Wild  disorder  followed, 
and  Stephen  Horsey,2  who  was  one  of  the  People's  Com- 
mittee, and  who  had  subscribed  his  name  to  the  Protest  in 
^heir  behalf,  cried  out  that  the  Commissioners  were  a  "com- 
pany of  asses  and  villyanes,"  and  thereupon  the  throng 
voiced  his  sentiments  by  cheering  vociferously  and  assumed 

^rodhead's   Hist,   of   N.   Y.,    p.    559.      O'Callaghan's   Hist,    of   New 
Netherlands.    Albany  Records. 

2 Afterwards  a  prominent  Quaker  and  citizen  of  Maryland. 


144      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

a  very  defiant  attitude  towards  the  authorities.1  Becoming 
greatly  alarmed  by  such  proceedings  and  realizing  their 
inability  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such  gatherings,  the 
(  '"mmissioners  determined  to  call  upon  the  government  at 
James  City  for  support.  The  affair  in  Dr.  Hacke's  field 
was  represented  as  a  revolt  and  evidence  was  collected  to 
bring  the  instigators  to  justice.  Those  citizens  of  the  County, 
who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  Protest  nor  in  the  subsequent 
disorders,  now  became  greatly  alarmed.  Things  were  mov- 
ing too  rapidly  in  the  wrong  direction  to  suit  the  conserva- 
tives, who  in  turn  met  and  selected  a  committee  to  protect 
their  interests.  Forthwith  a  petition  was  drafted,  denying 
that  the  reported  revolt  was  general  among  the  citizens  of 
Northampton,  and  setting  forth  that  the  disturbances  of  the 
preceding  month  were  all  due  to  the  rumor  that  a  great  sum 
of  money  was  to  be  raised  by  the  Commissioners,  in  order 
to  satisfy  Mr.  Walter  Chiles  for  the  loss  of  the  ship  taken 
by  Captain  Richard  Husband.2  But  things  had  progressed 
to  a  dangerous  state,  and  whether  the  revolt  had  become 
general  or  not  the  county  authorities  were  utterly  unable  to 
cope  with  it,  and  appealed  to  the  government  again  for 
immediate  aid,  whereupon  the  following  measures  were  taken 
by  that  body  in  July: 

"Whereas  the  paper  subscribed  by  name  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Northampton  Countie  is  scandalous  and  seditious  and 
hath  caused  much  disturbance  in  the  peace  and  government 
of  that  County,  It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this  present  Grand 
Assembly,   That   all    the  subscribers  of  the  said  paper  bee 

'See  in  Northampton  Records,  June  1653,  affidavits  of  Thos.  Harman- 
son,  and  Dr.  John  Severne.  An  Act  of  Assembly  naturalizing  Thos. 
Harmanson:  "a  German  born  in  the  Dominion  of  Bradenburg  but  now 
an  inhabitant  in  Northampton  County,  professing  Protestant  Religion." 
Dated  24th  of  Oct.  1684. 

"Northampton  County  Records.  Hening's  Statutes.  William  and 
Mary  Quarterly,  Vol.  I,  p.  189-193. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      145 

disabled  from  bearing  any  office  in  this  country,  and  that 
Leift.  Edmund  Scarburgh,  who  hath  been  an  assistant  and 
instrument  concerneing  the  subscribeing  of  the  same  bee  also 
disabled  from  bearing  any  office  until  he  hath  answered 
thereunto,  and  the  honourable  Governor  &  Secretaire  be 
intreated  to  go  over  to  Accomack  with  such  assistants  as 
the  house  shall  think  fitt,  for  the  settlement  of  the  peace  of 
that  countie,  and  punishinge  delinquents.  (This  order  re- 
versed by  an  order  of  Assembly,  26th  March,  1658. )x 

"According  to  an  order  of  this  Assembly,  upon  the  peti- 
tion of  Coll.  Nathaniel  Littleton,  Coll.  Argoll  Yeardley, 
Major  William  Andrews,  and  some  other  commissioners  of 
Northampton  County,  Master  Speaker,  Left.  Coll.  Edward 
Major.  Left.  Coll.  Geo.  Fletcher,  Coll.  Thomas  Dew,  and 
Left,  Coll.  Rob't  Pitt  are  nominated  as  assistants  to  attend 
the  Governour  and  Secretarie  for  the  settlement  of  the  peace 
of  that  county,  and  the  punishments  of  delinquents  there 
according  to  their  demerits,  the  appointment  of  all  officers 
both  for  peace  and  warr,  the  division  of  that  county,  and  the 
hearing  and  determineing  of  the  businesse  of  damages  between 
Capt.  Daniel  How  and  Left.  Coll.  Edm'd  Scarburgh,  As 
also  between  Capt.  John  Jacob  and  the  said  Edmund  Scar- 
burgh, with  all  other  matters  and  things  necessary  and  inci- 
dent for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  of  that  place,  ffor 
which  this  shall  be  their  commission,  The  charges  which  the 
said  Commissioners  shall  be  at,  both  in  goeing,  stayinge 
there  and  returneiug,  to  be  levied  upon  those  persons  that 
occasioned  their  repair  thither."2 

A  few  days  after  the  passage  of  the  foregoing  acts  by  the 
Assembly,  Governor  Bennett,  and  the  party  of  gentlemen 
selected  to  attend  him  in  his  investigation  of  affairs  on  the 
Eastern  Shore,  left  James  City  for  Northampton.  One 
authority  states  that  an  armed  force  was  taken  over  by  the 
Governor  to  suppress  the  disturbance  which  Scarburgh  had 

'Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  380. 
2Hening.  Vol.  I,  p.  384. 


146       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

caused  among  the  royalists,1  but  of  such  action  no  mention 
is  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  County.  If  such  was  the 
case  the  force  must  have  been  a  small  one,  in  the  nature  of 
a  military  escort,  as  befitting  the  dignity  of  the  Governor 
and  his  commission,  and  there  was  certainly  no  threatened 
conflict  between  the  guard  and  the  agitators. 

Upon  arriving  in  Northampton,  the  Governor  immediately 
instituted  a  court  of  investigation  on  July  29th,  and  com- 
plaints were  laid  before  this  court  as  to  the  mutinous  and 
seditious  actions  of  certain  individuals  of  the  county,  as 
being  repugnant  to  the  Government  of  the  Parliamentary 
Commission.  A  number  of  the  agitators  were  presented  and 
fined  three  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  held  to  be  in- 
capacitated from  holding  further  oflice  under  the  previous 
Act  of  Assembly.  Among  them  was  Captain  Thomas 
Johnson,  whose  offense  must  have  been  more  serious  than 
that  of  the  others,  for  he  was  fined  five  hundred  pounds  of 
tobacco  and  bound  over  to  keep  the  peace.  At  this  same 
meeting  of  the  court  the  Governor  approved  the  sale  of  a 
Dutch  prize  ship,  the  "St.  John  of  Amsterdam,"  for  fifty 
thousands  pounds  of  tobacco.  This  ship  with  another  had 
been  captured  on  July  5th. 

An  order  had  already  been  sent  to  the  court  from  James 
City  to  arrest  Colonel  Edmund  Searburgh,  who  had  been 
reported  to  have  a  large  store  of  arms  and  ammunition  on 
board  of  one  of  his  Indian  trading  ships.  The  selling  of 
arms  to  Indians  was  at  this  time  a  grave  violation  of  the 
law.  Troubles  were  springing  up  about  the  Colonel  on  all 
sides.  He  was  getting  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  mire.  A 
less  brilliant  and  less  able  man  would  have  assuredly  suc- 
cumbed beneath  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  him  by 

^rank  P.  Brent,  Vol.  XI,  Va.  Hist.  Collect.,  p.  188. 


EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      147 

his  enemies.  Shorn  of  his  political  offices  by  the  Assembly, 
charged  with  seditious  conduct,  indicted  for  a  grave  breach 
of  the  law,  with  the  "Hobby  Horse"  affair  still  hanging  over 
him,  and  a  serious  suit  for  damages  brought  by  Captain 
Howe  still  pending,  he  was  in  a  sad  predicament.  The 
aspect  of  affairs  was  too  threatening  for  the  Colonel's  liking, 
so  he  decided  to  leave  the  jurisdiction  for  a  time.  Entrust- 
ing his  aifairs  to  the  care  of  his  friends,  to  be  untangled  by 
them  as  best  they  could  manage  in  his  absence,  he  disap- 
peared from  the  county.  The  various  charges  and  suits 
against  Scarburgh,  and  the  task  of  quieting  the  inhabitants, 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  Governor  for  over  a  year ;  the 
greater  part  of  which  time  he  spent  with  his  suite  on  the 
peninsula.  Scarburgh  himself,  it  is  thought,  proceeded  to 
New  Amsterdam  and  then  to  Boston,  at  both  of  which  places 
he  had  commercial  interests.  It  is  very  probable  that  he  was 
the  agent  of  the  Northampton  planters  who  in  November, 
1653,  notified  the  Dutch  in  Manhattan,  that  if  they  would 
send  their  ships  to  Smith's  Island,  just  off  the  Cape,  a  large 
supply  of  tobacco  would  be  found  awaiting  shipment.  At 
any  rate,  as  the  Dutch  were  as  anxious  to  buy  as  the 
desperate  planters  were  to  sell,  arrangements  were  imme- 
diately made  by  the  former  to  secure  the  crop. 

The  following  month,  the  Governor  and  Council  of  New 
Amsterdam  "resolved  for  the  promotion  of  so  laudable  an 
object,  as  the  continuation  of  peace,  increase  of  commerce 
&  cultivation  of  correspondence  between  old  friends  and  co- 
religionists," to  send  once  more  a  commissioner  to  Virginia 
and  authorized  and  commanded  "the  Reverend  and  very 
learned  Mr.  Samuel  Drisius,  Minister  of  the  Gospel,"  to  go 
and  inquire  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia 
whether  they  had   heard  from  England  in  relation  to  the 


148       EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

proposition  which  had  been  made  in  the  early  summer. 
They  deputed  him  to  propose  that  if  no  directions  had  been 
received,  "a  provisional  continuation  of  commerce  and  inter- 
course  between  the  two  places"  might  be  made,  to  be  ter- 
minated after  six  days'  notice  to  merchants  and  traders,  to 
protect  them  from  loss.  While  Drisius  was  unable  to  secure 
a  treaty,  an  understanding  was  arrived  at  between  New 
Netherlands  and  Virginia,  and  the  way  was  paved  for  a 
formal  treaty  in  1660.1  Not  altogether  disappointed  by  his 
failure  to  secure  the  treaty  which  he  was  sent  to  negotiate, 
the  good  Doniine  repaired  to  the  peninsula,  where  he  was 
assured  of  a  kind  reception  and  not  only  preached  the  Gospel, 
but  arranged  for  the  purchase  of  the  tobacco  crop,  then  stored 
on  Smith's  Island;  a  deal,  mutually  advantageous  to  the 
planters  and  the  Dutch,  though  in  direct  violation  of  the 
law,  and  a  more  or  less  questionable  proceeding  on  the  part 
of  a  minister.2  His  mission  to  the  Eastern  Shore  at  this 
time  was  no  doubt  in  part  due  to  the  desire  of  the  Dutch  to 
protect  their  people  there.  It  is  possible  that  the  explanation 
of  this  reformed  churchman  being  allowed  to  preach  in 
Hungar's  Parish  is  that  he  was  allowed  to  do  so  in  order 
that  he  might  explain  to  the  people  the  false  light  in  which 
his  countrymen  had  been  placed  by  the  unfounded  reports 
as  to  their  designs.  At  any  rate,  his  mission,  so  far  as  it 
regarded  the  tobacco  crop,  had  a  conciliating  effect,  if  his 
words  from  the  pulpit  had  none,  and  we  hear  no  more  of 
troubles  with  the  Dutch  inhabitants. 

On  May  29,  1654,  a  committee  of  magistrates  appointed 
to  investigate  the  matter  of  selling  arms  to  the  Indians  re- 

^rodhead's  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  562,  683.  O'Callaghan's  Hist,  of  New 
Netherlands,  Vol.  II,  236,  237.  Albany  Records,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  100,  107, 
111,  117.     Vol.  VII,  p.  328.    Vol.  IX,  pp.  57-59. 

2See  Chapter  on  Early  Church. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      149 

ported  that  certain  ships  and  the  house  of  Colonel  Scarburgh 
had  been  carefully  searched  and  that  no  powder,  shot,  nor 
arms  had  been  discovered,  except  a  chest  of  fowling  pieces 
belonging  to  a  Mr.  Bateman.  Scarburgh  had,  no  doubt, 
succeeded  in  concealing  the  contraband  goods. 

During  the  preceding  year,  the  inhabitants  had  requested 
that  the  Court  should  be  held  in  turn  at  Cheriton  Creek, 
Occahannock  and  Hungar's,  or  the  Horns,  and  so  on  in 
turn,  and  that  these  should  be  the  polling  places  for  the 
election  of  Burgesses.  It  was  at  the  Court  of  July  8th, 
1654,  convening  at  the  last  named  place,  Governor  Bennett, 
the  Secretary  and  eight  Justices  being  present,  that  the 
Sheriff  complained  that  "whereas  there  are  divers  orders, 
sequestrations  &  executions,  against  the  estate  and  person  of 
Lieft.  Col.  Edmund  Scarburgh,  yet  the  said  Scarburgh  hath 
in  great  contempt  carried  part  of  his  estate  so  sequestered 
out  of  the  Colony,  and  withall  gone  out  of  the  Colony,  and 
wholly  neglected  either  to  pay  his  debts,  or  answer  the  suits. 
Therefore  the  said  Sheriff  humbly  prayeth  that  he  may  be 
impowered  to  attach  the  estate  of  the  said  Scarburgh  any 
where  remaining  in  the  County  of  Accomacke;  which  the 
Court  condescends  unto." 

Before  leaving  the  County,  Scarburgh  had  leased  his 
estate  called  "Occahannock"  and  sold  a  number  of  his 
vessels  to  a  Mr.  Bunton  of  Boston.  The  lease  was  for  four- 
teen years  or  until  his  son  Edmund  arrived  at  his  majority. 
Such  hasty  preparations  for  departure  seem  to  indicate 
that  the  time  of  his  return  was  very  uncertain.  While  in 
New  Amsterdam  or  Boston,  however,  it  is  quite  certain  that 
he  received  assurances  as  to  a  favorable  adjustment  of  his 
affairs,  should  he  return  to  his  home,  otherwise  he  would 
not   have   placed   himself   within   reach   of   the    authorities. 


i  i 


150       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

with  such  serious  charges  outstanding  against  him.  Then, 
too,  an  alliance  between  his  son,  Colonel  Charles  Scarburgh, 
and  the  Governor's  daughter,  bore  some  weight  in  the  delib- 
erations of  the  Court.  It  is  true  that  the  governor  had  ap- 
pointed John  James  in  October,  1653,  to  fill  the  office  of 
County  Surveyor,  which  Scarburgh  had  previously  held; 
but  this  was  because  of  the  disability  imposed  upon  him  by 
the  Assembly  and  his  absence  from  the  County.  Land 
boundaries  had  become  much  confused  and  gave  rise  to  such 
unending  contentions,  that  a  new  surveyor  became  necessary 
and  he  was  ordered  to  make  a  record  for  the  court  of  all 
bounds.  One  of  his  first  entries  was,  "cursed  be  the  man 
that  removeth  the  mark  of  his  neighbor's  land."  It  does 
not  take  much  of  an  imagination  to  see  in  this  entry  an 
admonition  to  Scarburgh  himself,  who  had  evidently  been 
careless  in  the  keeping  of  his  records. 

By  August,  1654,  Scarburgh  had  returned  to  take  charge 
of  matters  himself,  and  with  rare  skill  he  made  a  flanking 
move  to  divert  the  attack  of  his  enemies.  In  other  words, 
he  at  once  instituted  suit  against  Major  General  Edward 
Gibbons,  a  Bostonian,  a  New  Englander,  a  foreigner,  with 
whom  he  had  owned  the  trading  ship  "Artillery,"  which 
Gibbons  had  kept  without  making  returns.  Gibbons'  prop- 
erty in  Northampton  was  forthwith  attached.  And  what 
did  this  mean  ?  The  Colonel's  ship,  "The  Ann  Clear,"  while 
loading  in  Occahannock  Creek  with  tobacco,  had  been  robbed 
of  certain  goods,  during  his  absence  ?  Can  it  be  that  Captain 
Jacob,  another  despised  foreigner,  had  retaliated  ?  At  any 
rate  the  court  was  asked  to  investigate  the  outrage  to  a 
citizen  of  Northampton,  and  proceeded  to  do  so.  The  famous 
Colonel,  skilled  in  mathematics,  trade,  politics,  and  human 
nature,  was  too  much  for  them  all.      The  allied  forces  of 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      151 

Parliament  and  the  Dutch  were  out-maneuvered  and  utterly- 
routed  by  the  generalship  of  Scarburgh,  and  by  the  Grand 
Assembly  held  at  James  City,  March  26,  1655,  before  which 
he  appeared  on  a  warrant,  he  was  "acquitted  of  all  charges 
&  crimes  made  against  him  for  matters  of  trade,  &  etc.,  and 
further  reinvested  in  such  offices  &  employment  as  he  before 
held  in  the  Colony."1 

Unscrupulous  have  we  called  Colonel  Edmund  Scar- 
burgh ?  Yes.  But  brilliant  too ;  exceedingly  brilliant,  and 
a  power  in  his  day.  The  charges  of  piracy,  mutiny,  sedition, 
selling  weapons  to  the  Indians,  and  debt,  rolled  from  his 
back,  and  again  we  find  him  as  Surveyor  General  of  the 
Colony  taking  up  the  duties  of  his  office;  but  this  time 
under  the  authority  of  a  new  master,  Parliament.  Scar- 
burgh's  reputation  was  not  a  local  one.  His  ships  had 
touched  at  every  port  in  New  England,  had  frequently 
visited  New  Amsterdam;  had  traded  upon  the  Hudson,  the 
Delaware,  and  as  far  south  as  Florida.  The  owner  of  these 
vessels  had  an  inter-colonial  reputation  as  the  most  enter- 
prising merchant  in  the  mother  colony  of  Virginia;  and 
he  himself  had  spent  much  time  at  the  various  ports  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast,  while  establishing  and  building  up  his  trade. 
The  sweeping  decree  of  the  Assembly,  which  released  him 
from  his  tormentors  and  rehabilitated  him  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law,  enabled  him  to  set  out  for  New  Amsterdam  to  reinstate 
himself  in  the  good  graces  of  the  Dutch,  who  were  naturally 
much  offended  by  his  treatment  of  them.  Although  his 
fame  had  preceded  him  to  Manhattan,  during  the  summer 
he  succeeded  in  reestablishing  himself  in  that  quarter,  by 
buying  there  a  large  number  of  slaves,  thus  placating  the 
greedy   Hollanders,   who   carried   on   a   profitable   traffic  in 

^ening,  Vol.  I,  p.  380.    Also  Act  of  Assembly,  1668. 


152      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

human  flesh.  But  the  Dutch  authorities  were  wise  enough 
to  appreciate  what  might  happen  if  Scarburgh  were  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  Delaware  River,  in  view  of  the  treatment 
his  ship,  the  "Seahorse,"  had  received  there  four  years  be- 
fore; so  while  he  was  extended  the  privilege  of  trade  with 
Manhattan,  he  was  not  allowed  to  take  his  slaves  away  with 
him  until  he  had  given  bond  that  he  would  not  enter  the 
Delaware,  nor  stop  on  his  way  south  to  trade  with  any  of  the 
other  Dutch  plantations.1 

1Neill's  Virginia  Carolorum,  p.  240.     Northampton  County  Records. 


X 

The    Quakers.    The  Maryland  Boundary  Troubles  and 

THE  ASSATEAGUE  War 

The  population  of  Northampton  County  in  1653,  may  be 
closely  estimated.  The  white  tithables  at  that  time  num- 
bered five  hundred  and  included  only  males  over  eighteen 
years  of  age.1  Four  times  the  number  of  tithables  would  be 
considered  a  safe  estimate  of  the  population,  giving  the 
county  about  two  thousand  inhabitants  exclusive  of  the 
Indians.  From  this  estimate  we  see  that  the  population  had 
doubled  in  ten  years. 

The  feeling  of  independence,  common  to  the  people  of 
Northampton,  had  increased,  rather  than  diminished,  since 
the  suppression  of  the  disturbances  incident  to  the  protest 
of  1652.  The  grievances  set  forth  in  the  protest  had  made 
some  impression  upon  the  Assembly  in  spite  of  the  general 
condemnation  of  that  paper,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  it  had 
been  characterized  as  seditious,  for  by  Act  II  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1655,  dated  March  10th,  it  was  provided  that 
the  people  of  Northampton  were  to  have  the  liberty  of 
constituting  laws  and  customs  amongst  themselves  and  to 
proceed  according  to  their  own  convenience  with  respect  to 
manufactures  and  the  Indians,  so  long  as  their  regulations 
were  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England,  provided  that  all 
such  regulations  should  be  confirmed  by  the  Assembly.2     On 

Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  V,  p.  125. 
2Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  396. 

153 


154       EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY 

March  31st,  of  this  same  year,  the  Assembly  ordered  that 
the  Court  of  Northampton  should  be  held  on  the  28th  day 
of  the  month,  alternately  in  the  upper  and  lower  part  of  the 
county.  From  the  head  of  Hungar's  Creek  to  the  widow 
Billiott's  house  was  to  be  the  dividing  line,  this  house  being 
in  the  lower  precinct;  and  distinct  commissioners  for  each 
division  were  to  be  designated.1  On  March  7,  1658,  the 
Assembly  passed  the  following  act: 

"Whereas  an  act  of  Assembly  had  formerly  provided,  that 
in  regard  of  the  greate  distance  between  Northampton 
Countie  and  James  Cittie,  that  noe  appeale  should  lie  from 
the  said  Countie,  to  the  quarter  courte,  under  the  value  of 
three  thousand  two  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  or  thirty 
pounds  sterling,  It  is  Hereby  Enacted  and  Confirmed,  That 
for  the  reasons  aforesaid  no  appeale  be  hereafter  made,  from 
thence,  nor  admitted  in  the  quarter  courte,  unless  it  exceed 
the  valew  aforesaid."2 

On  May  7,  1655,  before  the  meeting-house  designated  for 
the  court  for  that  month,  the  Act  of  Assembly  of  the  previous 
March  requiring  a  place  of  mart  was  read  to  the  people  of 
Northampton.  After  much  debate  and  consultation,  a  vote 
was  taken,  and  Occahannock  Creek  was  selected  as  the  place 
for  the  official  port  and  as  the  site  for  the  church  or  meeting- 
house, the  Clerk's  and  Sheriff's  offices  and  the  prison  and 
other  public  buildings  directed  by  the  Assembly.  It  was 
determined  to  buy  the  land  of  Richard  Kellam  as  the  best 
site  for  these  structures. 

Into  such  close  relations  were  many  of  the  people  of 
Northampton  thrown  with  the  Marylanders  that  it  became 
necessary  for  Governor  Digges  to  issue  a  proclamation,  dated 

aHening,  Vol.  I,  p.  409. 
2Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  520. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      155 

June  9,  1655,  forbidding  Virginians  to  meddle  with  the 
troubles  of  the  adjoining  colony.  Already  disputes  as  to 
the  boundary  were  giving  much  trouble  to  the  authorities  of 
Northampton,  for  many  persons  were  really  unable  to  tell 
whether  they  were  citizens  of  Maryland  or  Virginia ;  and 
others  took  advantage  of  the  situation  to  elude  the  tax  col- 
lectors and  the  sheriff. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  1657,  a  ship  arrived  at  James- 
town with  Thomas  Thurston  and  Josiah  Cole,  the  first 
preachers  of  the  Society  of  Friends  to  come  to  Virginia. 
They  were  promptly  arrested  as  disturbers  of  the  peace  and 
imprisoned,  but  being  soon  released  they  repaired  to  Mary- 
land. Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Thurston  and  Cole,  Quakers 
began  in  great  numbers  to  make  their  appearance  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  and  in  the  northern  part  of 
Northampton,  where  population  was  comparatively  scarce 
and  where  they  could  establish  themselves  without  much, 
interference.  \ 

The  enmity  of  the  churchmen  of  Northampton  was  early 
aroused  by  these  newcomers,  and  vigorous  measures  were 
taken  to  drive  them  out  of  the  county.  It  was  made  an 
offense  to  hold  any  friendly  intercourse  with  them  or  to  deal 
with  them  in  any  way.  On  January  29,  1657,  before 
Thurston  or  Cole  had  arrived  in  the  Colony,  Henry  Vaux 
was  arrested  and  brought  before  the  court  of  Northampton 
for  entertaining  William  Robinson,  Quaker,  at  his  house  \ 
and  Robinson  was  ordered  to  be  sent  across  the  Bay  to  the 
Governor  in  custody  of  the  Sheriff.  Vaux  himself  was  to 
be  dispatched  with  him  in  case  he  persisted  in  his  relations 
with  the  Quakers. 

William  Robinson  was  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous 
Quaker  Missionary  in  Northampton,  and  held  conventicles 


156      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

in  many  of  the  planters'  homes.  His  influence  must  have 
been  very  great,  for  it  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  Colony. 
He  seems  to  have  met  with  the  usual  trials  of  the  missionary 
in  a  hostile  land,  for  six  of  the  fourteen  months  he  spent  in 
Virginia  were  passed  in  jail.  Robinson  continued  his 
activity  in  importing  his  brethren  whenever  he  was  at  liberty, 
and  under  the  pretense  of  transporting  them  to  Paxtuxuent, 
he  would  land  them  at  Nassawaddox,  where  they  were  re- 
ceived by  Levin  Denwood,  who  provided  a  ten-foot  log  cabin 
for  a  house  of  worship.  This  was  probably  the  first  Quaker 
meeting-house  in  Virginia,  and  continued  to  be  used  as  such 
until  converted  into  a  wheat  barn.  A  much  better  structure 
was  erected  later  at  Nassawaddox,  for  after  the  Act  of  Toler- 
ation, passed  in  1688,  George  Brickhouse,  of  Northampton, 
left  to  the  Quaker  sect  an  acre  of  land  surrounding  the 
meeting-house,  and  Mrs.  Judith  Patrick  bequeathed  thirty 
shillings  for  the  repair  of  the  building.1 

The  Quaker  Colony  on  the  Eastern  Shore  must  have  in- 
creased rapidly,  for  in  March,  1660,  the  Virginia  Assembly 
passed  very  stringent  laws  against  these  strange  people  who 
were  accused  by  the  Accomackians  of  slandering  the  clergy, 
of  defying  the  laws,  and  of  uttering  blasphemy.  The  records 
show  evidence  against  them  all  of  denying  the  incarnation 
of  Christ,  and  against  some  of  speaking  of  God  as  "a  foolish 
old  man."  Such  words  very  naturally  aroused  the  bitter 
opposition  of  the  other  settlers  and  brought  down  upon  the 
Quakers'  heads  all  the  harsh  treatment  of  which  religious 
hatred  and  intolerance  are  capable. 

The  preamble  of  the  Act  of  1660  describes  the  Quakers 
as  "an  unreasonable  and  turbulent  sort  of  people,  who  daily 

Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1683-89,  p.  400;  Vol.  1689-98, 
p.  435. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      157 

gather  together  unlawful  assembles  of  people,  teaching  lies, 
miracles,  false  visions,  prophecies,  and  doctrines  tending  to 
disturb  the  peace,  disorganize  Society,  and  destroy  all  law, 
and  government,  and  religion."  Masters  of  vessels  were 
prohibited  by  the  act  from  bringing  in  any  of  that  sect, 
under  penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco;  and  if 
any  were  imported  they  were  to  be  apprehended  and  com- 
mitted until  they  should  give  security  that  they  would  leave 
the  Colony.  If  they  should  return,  they  were  to  be  punished, 
and  upon  returning  a  second  time  they  were  to  be  proceeded 
against  as  felons.  No  person  should  entertain  Quakers  that 
had  been  questioned  by  the  Governor  and  Council ;  nor  per- 
mit any  assembly  of  them  in  or  near  his  house,  under  the 
penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling ;  and  the  publication 
of  their  writings  was  prohibited.1  For  the  violation  of  this 
law,  William  Colbourne,  Henry  White,  Thomas  Leatherbury 
and  Ambrose  Dixon  were  arrested  and  sent  to  James  City 
for  a  hearing  before  the  Council. 

Behind  such  a  law,  it  is  easy  to  detect  the  influence  of 
our  devout  and  tolerant  clergy.  It  was  only  human  nature, 
however,  that  these  teachers  of  God's  word  should  exemplify 
their  maxims  of  love  and  charity  by  striving  to  destroy  all 
who  did  not  conform  to  the  established  church.  This  law 
not  only  countenanced  public  persecution,  but  directly  en- 
couraged it,  until  the  poor  Friends  cried  out  in  the  wilder- 
ness with  much  truth  that  "the  Indians,  whom  they  judged 
to  be  heathen,  exceeded  the  whites  in  kindness,  in  courtesies, 
in  love,  and  mercy  unto  them,  who  were  strangers."  Are 
we  not  constrained  to  cry  out  with  them,  O  Christ,  what 
sins  are  committed  in  thy  merciful  name ! 

Weiring,  Vol.  1,  p.  532-3. 


158       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

So  harsh  was  their  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Aceo- 
mackians  that  most  of  these  poor  persecuted  creatures  moved 
across  the  boundary  into  Maryland,  where  they  were  handled 
not  less  tenderly  by  their  brethren,  the  Catholics.1 

By  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  those  who  withstood 
the  trials  imposed  upon  them  seem  to  have  won  the  respect 
of  the  Accomackians,  for,  between  1680  and  1690,  there 
Mere  Quakers  living  quietly  and  unmolested  in  Accomac. 
It  is  on  record  that  Thomas  Brown  and  his  wife,  though 
Quakers,  were  yet  of  such  known  integrity  that  their  affirma- 
tion was  received  instead  of  their  oath.  Their  home  was 
"Brownville,"  on  the  seashore  of  Northampton,  where  they 
were  visited  by  many  distinguished  Friends  from  Philadel- 
phia, who  came  to  have  fellowship  with  them  in  their 
peculiar  mode  of  worship.2  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  Eastern  Shore  Upshurs,  one  of  whom,  the 
late  T.  T.  Upshur,  frequently  quoted  in  these  pages,  lived 
at  "Brownville,"  where  he  died  in  January,  1910. 

During  the  year  1659,  the  Indians  seem  to  have  given 
much  trouble  to  the  authorities  of  Northampton  County,  or 
perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  the  Acco- 
mackians were  a  source  of  great  trouble  to  the  Indians.  The 
records  of  Maryland  and  Northampton  County  contain 
numerous  complaints  from  the  natives  who  were  being 
pushed  farther  and  farther  north  by  the  whites.  They 
declared  that  their  land  was  taken  from  them  and  that  their 
crops  were  destroyed  by  the  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  which 
roamed  over  the  country  at  large.  Receiving  no  redress, 
some  of  the  Assateagues  committed  depredations  upon  the 
whites  by  way  of  retaliation. 

*See  Founders  of  Maryland,  Neill. 
2Meade's  Old  Churches,  etc. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      159 

The  Assateagues  inhabited  the  country  about  where  the 
Accomack  and  Maryland  boundary  is  described  on  the  map. 
The  larger  portion  of  the  tribe  lived  on  the  Maryland  side. 

What  particular  offenses  they  were  guilty  of,  at  the  time 
in  question,  is  not  known,  but  on  the  28th  of  August,  1659, 
Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  wrote  the  Governor  of  Maryland 
from  Occahannock  that  he  had  been  ordered  by  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  to  inform  him  of  his  plans  of  campaign  against 
the  Assateagues,  and  to  seek  his  support  and  cooperation. 

"In  ten  days/'  wrote  Scarburgh,  "I  shall  leave  here  with 
three  hundred  men  and  sixty  horses,  sloops,  and  all  other 
things  necessary  for  the  campaign,  and  arrangements  have 
been  made  for  a  similar  supporting  party." 

Since  the  Indians  were  harder  to  catch  than  to  conquer, 
it  was  his  plan  of  campaign  to  establish  a  garrison  on  the 
seaside  near  the  head  of  the  Wicocomoko1  River  and  main- 
tain himself  in  the  heart  of  their  country,  and  while  pre- 
venting them  from  planting  corn,  hunting  and  fishing,  he 
would  also  try  to  prevent  other  Indians  from  receiving  the 
Assateagues,  so  as  eventually  to  starve  them  into  submission. 
Scarburgh  suggested  that  for  the  present  it  would  be  well 
to  make  war  upon  the  Assateagues  only,  but  thought  it  might 
be  well  also  for  the  Governor  of  Maryland  to  awe  the 
Nanticokes  and  assist  him  in  preventing  all  intercourse 
between  them  and  the  Assateagues.  He  then,  assuring  the 
Governor  of  his  earnest  support,  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  was  a  most  auspicious  opportunity  to  execute  the 
foregoing  plans.2 

'Wicocomoko — Where  the  houses  are  building. 
Proceedings  of  Maryland  Council,   1657-60,  p.  379. 


160      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  Governor  of  Virginia  had  a  few  days  before  dis- 
patched the  following  communication : 

"For  the  honnoble  Governor  and 

Secretary  of  Maryland.  These. 
"The  concearne  of  saftie  depending  on  those  persons  in 
trust  directed  the  Intelligence  of  our  present  designes  against 
the  Assateague  Indians  and  Confederats,  which  we  have 
accommodated  with  sufficient  forces,  now  presumeing  the 
advantages  of  this  opportunity  lying  before  you  reasons 
politicall,  will  press  your  Endeavours  to  assault  the  comon 
Enemy  who  soe  long  triumphed  in  the  ruines  of  Christian 
bloud,  the  Warr  on  the  Sea  Side  wilbe  on  our  parts  prosected, 
and  if  the  Nanticoke  and  Confederats  be  the  subject  of  your 
like  Designe,  it  may  if  not  utterly  Extinguish  yet  sufficiently 
Subject  the  Insolencies  of  those  Indians  who  now  despise 
the  English  Honnour:    Use  and  improve  this  from 

Yorn  humble  Servant, 

Samuel  Matthewes. 

For  the  honnoble  Josias  ffendall 

Governor  of  Maryland.  These."1 

It  took  this  communication  a  month  to  reach  Governor 
Fendall,  who  immediately  replied  that  he  hoped  his  failure 
to  give  a  definite  answer  then  would  not  be  taken  amiss,  for 
before  he  committed  himself  he  would  like  to  lay  the  matter 
before  his  council.2 

The  following  month,  after  the  matter  had  been  submitted 
to  the  council,  Governor  Fendall  wrote  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  to  the  effect  that,  since  Virginia  only  contemplated 
a  war  upon  the  Assateagues,  and  had  not  asked  for  assistance 
against  them,  he  did  not  see  what  he  could  do,  for  the  Mary- 
landers  had  no  just  cause  of  war  against  the  Nanticokes. 

Proceedings  of  Maryland  Council,  1657-1660,  p.  379,  380. 
2Ibid. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      161 

Furthermore,  he  did  not  know  the  cause  of  war  between  the 
Virginians  and  the  Assateagues,  but  assured  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  of  assistance  on  all  just  and  proper  occasions. 

The  expedition  upon  the  part  of  the  Virginians  was  not 
abandoned,  and  the  Assembly  at  Jamestown  on  March  13, 
1660,  made  an  appropriation  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
"late  war  in  Accomack." 

"Ordered  that  seventy  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  of 
tobacco,  the  same  allowance  of  the  souldiers  that  were  car- 
ried over  to  Accomack,  be  also  paid  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Accomack  for  the  full  charge  of  all  the  late  warr,  Provided 
that  twenty-two  thousand  six  hundred  eighty-one  pounds  of 
tobacco  be  deducted  out  of  the  same,  It  being  paid  for  the 
debt  long  since  due  from  the  said  county  to  the  publique."1 

From  the  above,  it  would  seem  that  some  of  the  men  of 
Scarburgh's  force  were  sent  from  the  Western  Shore.  That 
such  a  step  was  necessary,  seems  highly  improbable.  The 
Assateagues  could  not  have  numbered  more  than  two  hundred 
warriors  at  the  most.  But  Colonel  Scarburgh  loved  war,  as 
we  have  seen,  and  was  determined  to  extirpate  the  Indians, 
and  no  doubt  used  his  influence  at  Jamestown  to  secure  the 
government's  assistance. 

In  accordance  with  Lord  Baltimore's  directions  to  colonize 
the  lower  part  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  Philip 
Calvert,  in  1661,  appointed  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  of 
Accomac,2  John  Elzey,  and  Randall  Revell,  Commissioners, 
to  grant  lands  there  to  such  persons  as  would  take  the  oath  of 
fidelity  to  Lord  Baltimore.  About  this  time,  settlers  were 
taking  up  the  land  on  the  Accomac  side  and  driving  the 
Quakers  across  the  boundary.  This  line  was  not  really  well 
defined.    It  had  been  a  subject  of  dispute  for  years.     Shortly 

'Hening's  Statutes,  Vol.  I,  p.  551. 

2Archives  of  Maryland,  Council  Proceedings,  1636-1667.  p.  452. 


162       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

after  the  Maryland  Colony  was  planted,  there  seem  to  have 
been  encroachments  upon  the  Accomac  territory  south  of 
Watkin's  Point.  It  appears  that  Governor  Harvey  acquiesced 
in  this  trespass  on  Virginia's  land,  for  in  1638,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  Council,  he  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  the  East- 
ern portion  of  the  boundary  of  Virginia  (that  between  Mary- 
land and  Accomac)  to  be  the  river  Anancock,1  and  command- 
ing the  inhabitants  not  to  trade  with  the  Indians  north  of  this 
limit,  which  was  far  south  of  Watkin's  Point,  Soon  after 
this,  Virginia  took  unopposed  possession  of  Smith  Island, 
which  lies  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  far  north  of  any  possible 
line  described  in  the  Maryland  charter.  Virginia  still  holds 
a  portion  of  this  island. 

A  letter  from  the  Protector  to  the  Virginia  authorities, 
written  just  previous  to  the  downfall  of  the  Commonwealth, 
contained  an  injunction  against  further  contentions  concern- 
ing the  matter.2 

The  laws  of  conformity  had  pressed  so  hard  upon  the 
Quakers  in  Accomac  that  they  were  driven  to  the  north  and 
west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Pocomoke.  This  river  runs  from 
the  northeast  of  the  peninsula  to  a  point  just  east  of  Cedar 
Straits,  and  then  it  suddenly  broadens  out  into  a  sound  of 
considerable  width  at  its  mouth.  That  part  of  its  north  bank 
embraced  by  the  lands  of  the  Little  Annamessex  River,  be- 
tween that  and  Pocomoke  Sound,  consists  mainly  of  salt 
marshes,  not  then  desirable  for  settlement,  and  not  easily 
accessible  from  Accomac.  The  Quaker  refugees  from  Acco- 
mac congregated  in  the  Little  and  Big  Annamessex  terri- 
tories as  far  up  as  Manokin  River.  But  eight  square  miles 
of  this  territory,  claimed  by  Virginia,  was  terra  firma  or 

'Onancock  Creek. 
2Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  426. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      163 

arrable  land,  a  difficult  place  for  the  Accomac  Sheriff  to 
reach  for  the  collection  of  taxes  or  other  purposes.  Lord 
Baltimore's  deputies  knowing  this,  began  to  encourage  this 
settlement  and  to  grant  patents  in  that  region.  No  patents 
were  sought  by  the  Quaker  refugees  east  of  the  Pocomoke 
River,  and  thus  on  that  side  of  the  stream  no  dispute  arose 
in  later  years.  Colonel  Scarburgh,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  one  of  Baltimore's  Commissioners  to  issue  these  patents, 
finding  that  he  was  aiding  in  stripping  Virginia  of  her  terri- 
tory, and  that  his  employment  by  Maryland  was  incompati- 
ble with  his  official  duty  as  Surveyor  General  of  Virginia, 
exposed  the  policy  of  Lord  Baltimore  to  acquire  that  terri- 
tory by  settlement;  and  Virginia  soon  took  action,  as  we 
shall  see  later,  to  protect  her  rights.  Colonel  Scarburgh  was, 
unquestionably,  trying  to  extend  the  northern  boundary  of 
Northampton  as  he  did  the  southern  boundary  of  Accomac 
in  1662,  when  that  county  was  formed,  for  he  owned  a  tract 
of  three  thousand  acres  in  the  disputed  territory  which  was 
subsequently  held  to  be  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  bound- 
ary. His  employment  by  the  Governor  of  Maryland  was 
due  to  the  fact  of  his  ownership  of  this  land.1 

'For  land  in  Maryland  owned  by  Accomac  citizens,  see  Proceedings 
of  Maryland  Council,  Vol.  II. 


XI 

The   Restoration.      Accomack    County    Formed    From 

Northampton.     The  Calvert-Scarburgh  Line. 

The  Pirates 

The  administration  of  the  Colonial  government,  under  the 
Commonwealth  of  England,  was  judicious  and  beneficent; 
the  people  were  free,  harmonious,  and  prosperous  as  a  whole, 
and  while  Cromwell's  sceptre  commanded  the  respect  of  the 
world,  he  exhibited  towards  the  infant  Colony  of  Virginia, 
in  spite  of  its  known  royalist  sentiment,  a  generous  and 
politic  lenity,  thereby  disarming  opposition.1 

Governors  Bennett,  Digges  and  Matthews  were  generally 
popular  executives  and  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
Virginians.  Opposition  to  the  authority  of  Parliament  on 
the  Eastern  Shore  gradually  died  out  as  a  result  of  Bennett's 
prolonged  presence  on  the  peninsula  and  the  determined, 
yet  just,  manner  in  which  he  controlled  the  situation.  Ben- 
nett had  been  quick  to  realize  the  danger  of  the  smouldering 
fuse,  which,  allowed  to  burn,  would  soon  spread  to  the  maga- 
zines of  pent-up  loyalty.  The  task  of  extinguishing  the 
spark,  however  remote  and  insignificant  it  may  seem  to  have 
been,  was  not  deputed  to  others,  and  in  such  a  course  the 
Governor  was  unquestionably  wise. 

Richard  Cromwell  resigned  the  Protectorate  on  the  22nd 
day  of  April,  1659.  Virginia  had  actually  been  under  the 
Parliamentary  Government  but  seven  years,  one  month  and 
ten  days.     Governor  Matthews  had  died  in  January,  1659. 

'Campbell's  History  of  Virginia. 

164 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      165 

England  was  without  a  monarch  and  Virginia  without  a 
Governor.  The  Virginia  Assembly,  convening  on  the  third 
day  of  March,  1660,  declared  by  their  first  act  that  as  there 
was  then  in  England  no  resident,  absolute,  and  generally 
acknowledged  power,  therefore  the  supreme  government  of 
the  Colony  should  rest  in  the  Assembly.  By  the  second  act, 
Sir  William  Berkeley  was  elected  Governor,  March  21st, 
and  for  the  first  time  represented  the  people,  who,  for  a  little 
more  than  a  year,  had  been  technically  independent  of  Eng- 
land. In  electing  Berkeley  Governor,  to  hold  again  the  office 
which  he  had  formerly  occupied  as  the  appointee  of  the  King, 
the  Assembly  took  the  precaution  to  throw  about  him  some 
restriction  of  his  power,  for  he  was  required  to  call  an  As- 
sembly once  in  two  years  at  least  and  was  forbidden  to  dis- 
solve the  Assembly  without  its  consent.  Thus  it  will  be  seen, 
that,  while  the  people  were  influenced  by  their  royalist  senti- 
ments in  the  selection  of  their  governor,  they  were  not  so 
blinded  by  their  enthusiasm  as  to  lose  sight  of  their  rights. 
Indeed,  such  has  been  the  history  of  Virginia.  All  hail  to 
the  King  when  the  King  was  with  them,  but  let  him  overstep 
his  bounds,  and  his  loving  and  loyal  subjects  were  quick 
enough  to  raise  their  hands  and  voices  against  him. 

In  the  Assembly  of  1659-60,  referred  to,  Northampton 
County  was  represented  by  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh, 
Major  William  Waters  and  Lieut.-Col.  John  Stringer.1 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1660,  Charles  II  was  proclaimed 
King  of  England,  and  on  the  29th  of  May,  transmitted  a 
new  commission  dated  July  31st,  1660,  to  his  faithful  ad- 
herent, Sir  William  Berkeley.  From  that  date,  the  Colony 
was  under  a  royal  Governor  and  no  longer  had  its  own  rep- 
resentative executive. 

'Hening,  Vol.  I,  pp.  9-16. 


12 


166       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

There  is  no  list  of  members  of  the  first  Assembly  called  by 
the  royal  Governor  which  convened  October  11th,  nearly  four 
months  after  the  Restoration,  but  in  view  of  the  short  period 
which  intervened  between  this  and  the  preceding  Assembly, 
it  is  highly  probable  that  the  same  Burgesses  appeared  from 
Northampton. 

The  second  Assembly  after  the  Restoration,  which  con- 
vened March  23,  1661,  and  is  known  as  the  Assembly  of 
1661-1676,  lasted  by  various  prorogations  and  adjournments 
for  fifteen  years.  Though  there  was  no  general  election  dur- 
ing this  period,  the  membership  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
changed  from  time  to  time  owing  to  deaths,  resignations,  etc. 
The  records  of  the  membership  are  incomplete,  but  we  find 
Burgesses  from  the  Eastern  Shore  in  the  session  of  Septem- 
ber 10,  1663,  as  follows:  Northampton — Lieut.-Col.  Win. 
Kendall,  Major  Win.  Andrews;  Accomac — Devoreux 
Browne,  Hugh  Yeo.1  Tn  the  session  of  October  23,  1666, 
Northampton  was  represented  by  Lieut.-Col.  Wm.  Kendall 
and  Captain  John  Savage,2  and  Accomack  by  Colonel  Ed- 
mund Scarburgh  and  Hugh  Yeo.3 

Observe  that  representatives  from  two  counties  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  appear.  This  fact  alone  should  clear  up  the 
doubts  existing  as  to  the  date  when  Accomac  County  was 
formed.  Even  Mercer  in  his  general  abridgment  of  the 
Laws  of  Virginia4  states  that  Accomac  Comity  was  formed 
fiom  Northampton  in  1672;  and  many  other  writers  have 
fallen  into  the  common  error/' 

^ening,  Vol.  II,  pp.  196-197. 

2Capt.  John  Savage  of  Savage's  Neck,  son  of  Ensign  'i'lios.   Savage. 

"Hening,  Vol.  II,  pp.  249-250. 

4Mercer's  Abridgment,  p.  61. 

'.Martin's  Gazetteer  of  Va.,  p.  111.  Howe's  Hist.  Collection,  p.  163. 
Johnston's  Memorials  of  Va.  Clerks,  pp.  1,  256.  Long's  Va.  County 
Nairn's,  Green's  Genesis  of  the  Counties,  and  Hening  himself  in  a  note 
on  page  197,  Vol.  II. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      167 

"Error  in  history,"  says  Charles  Campbell,  "is  like  a  flock 
of  sheep  jumping  over  a  bridge ;  if  one  goes,  the  rest  all  fol- 
low."1 And  so  it  has  been  with  many  of  our  historians  and 
writers  on  the  point  in  question.  Not  one  of  them  has  taken 
the  trouble  to  weigh  the  facts,  each  preferring  to  evade  the 
point  altogether,  slur  over  it,  or  continue  a  palpable  error 
upon  the  pages  of  history  by  accepting  without  question  what 
another  has  written.  Hening,  in  a  foot-note  to  the  list  of 
Burgesses  for  1663,  which  is  contained  in  a  manuscript  pur- 
chased by  Thomas  Jefferson  from  the  executor  of  Richard 
Bland,2  does  his  best  to  overcome  the  evidence  he  himself  has 
given  us  as  to  the  existence  of  two  counties  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  at  that  time. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  that  no  definite  and  specific  record 
of  the  formation  of  Accomack  County  from  Northampton  is 
to  be  found,  but  the  facts  seem  to  be  as  follows : 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Eastern  Shore  peninsula  was  com- 
monly referred  to  as  Accomack,  while  its  official  name  was 
Northampton.  Even  in  the  Acts  of  the  Assembly,  North- 
ampton had  been  called  Accomack.3  Such  a  practice  ob- 
scured the  facts  and  has  led  to  a  general  misunderstanding. 
We  have  also  seen  how,  when  the  Assembly  ordered  the  Gov- 
ernor to  proceed  to  the  Eastern  Shore  in  July,  1653,  he  was 
directed  to  look  into  the  "division  of  the  County."4  As  a 
result  of  the  Governor's  recommendations,  the  act  of  March, 
1655-6,  providing  for  two  jurisdictions  on  the  peninsula, 
followed.  There  was  clearly  some  necessity  for  a  court  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  peninsula.  In  addition  to  this,  there 
was  unquestionably  a  strong  party  feeling,  between  the  roy- 

H^arnpbell's  History  of  Va.,  p.  243. 
2Hening,  Vol.  II,  pp.  196,  197. 
3Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  409. 
4Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  384. 


168      EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

alists  and  the  Parliamentary  sympathizers,  and  the  facts 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  former  were  more  numerous  in  the 
upper  section.  Another  factor  entering  into  party  align- 
ments was  the  antagonism  between  the  Puritans  and  the 
Cavalier  element,  the  former  being  composed  of  the  middle 
classes,  more  numerous  to  the  south  where  population  was 
the  densest.  It  will  be  interesting  here  to  look  into  the  dis- 
position of  the  great  families,  who,  almost  without  exception, 
were  royalists. 

There  seems  to  have  been,  at  this  time,  a  serious  split  in 
the  royalist  party.  Colonel  Argoll  Yeardley,  Obedience 
Robins,  Nathaniel  Littleton  and  others  claimed  that  so  long 
as  Parliament  had  overthrown  the  King,  and  was  in  actual 
control  of  the  Colony,  the  best  interests  of  the  County  de- 
manded that  they  should  uphold  the  government  de  facto. 
Accordingly,  Yeardley  and  Littleton  served  in  the  Council 
under  the  Commonwealth  and  opposed  the  extreme  royalist 
faction,  headed  by  Scarburgh,  who  desired  to  secure  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Eastern  Shore  from  the  Colony  of  Virginia. 
Such  a  division  among  the  royalists  was  not  restricted  to  the 
Eastern  Shore,  and  for  many  years  two  factions  of  that  party 
were  to  be  found  in  the  Colony,  until  Bacon  caused  a  new 
alignment.  With  their  loyalty  to  the  King  in  no  degree 
diminished,  Yeardley  and  his  party  contended  with  much 
truth  that  by  serving  under  the  new  government  in  high  offi- 
cial positions  they  were  better  able  to  serve  the  interests  of 
their  party  than  by  sulking  at  home.  Whatever  their  senti- 
ments may  have  been,  Yeardley  and  Robins  were,  first  and 
last,  law  and  order  men,  and  were  determined  to  overthrow 
Scarburgh   and  depose  him  from  his  rash  leadership.      In 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      169 

other  words,  their  party  was  composed  of  the  conservatives, 
while  Scarburgh  led  the  radicals.1 

Before  the  momentous  task,  which  Yeardley  in  particular 
set  himself  about,  could  be  accomplished,  both  he  and  Na- 
thaniel Littleton  died  in  1655  and  1654  respectively.  Their 
sons,  Argoll  and  Southey,  both  inclined  to  the  extreme  royal- 
ist wing,  so  that  Colonel  Obedience  Robins  was  left  to  contend 
single-handed  with  Scarburgh.  But  while  he  lived,  the  good 
Colonel  was  equal  to  the  task,  and  as  we  have  seen,  never 
hesitated  to  bring  his  powerful  adversary  to  justice  when  the 
facts  warranted  such  action.  Such  uncompromising  opposi- 
tion to  Scarburgh  naturally  won  Colonel  Robins  the  support 
of  the  Puritan  element  of  the  middle  classes,  which  greatly 
augmented  his  strength.  After  the  death  of  Yeardley  and 
Littleton,  well  might  Scarburgh  have  dwelt  upon  the  lines: 

"Knowledge,  will — 
These  twain  are  strong,  but  stronger  yet  the  third, 
Obedience; — 'tis  the  great  tap-root  that  still, 
Knit  'round  the  rock  of  duty,  is  not  stirred. 
Though  heaven-loosed  tempests  spend  their  utmost  skill." 

In  lower  Northampton,  the  leading  royalists  were  now  the 
Yeardleys,  seated  on  Mattawaman  Creek,  the  Savages  on 
King's  Creek,  the  Robinses  on  Cheriton  Creek,  the  Kendalls, 
Whittingtons  and  Charltons  about  Hungar's  Creek,  and  the 
Upshurs  at  Wilsonia  on  Nassawattocks  Creek.  North  of 
Nuswattocks  Creek  and  in  the  section  of  the  peninsula  which 
afterwards  became  Accomac  County,  the  disposition  was  as 
follows : 

The  King  himself,  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh,  held  court 
on   Occahannock  Creek.     Next   came  the   Lord   Bishop   of 

'For  full  facts  as  to  the  descendants  of  Gov.  Sir  Geo.  Yeardley,  see 
interesting  pamphlet  prepared  by  Thomas  Teackle  Upshur,  Amer.  Hist. 
Mag.,  Nashville,  Tenn..  Oct.  1896. 


170      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Cradock's  Creek,  or  the  Rev.  Thomas  Teackle,  champion 
of  the  Anglican  faith,  and  who  was  later  accused  by  his 
royal  master  of  trying  to  poison  him,  and  make  off  with 
the  Queen,  Lady  Scarburgh.1  The  various  Barons  or  feudal 
lords  of  the  upper  peninsula  were  seated  as  follows :  The 
Littletons  on  Nandua  Creek,  the  Prince  or  Charles  Scar- 
burgh on  Pungoteague  Creek,  the  Wests  and  the  Joyneses  on 
Onancock  Creek,  and  the  Wises  on  Chesconessex  Creek.  On 
the  sea-side  were  the  Corbins  at  Chincoteague,  and  the  Bow- 
mans,  Croppers,  Baylys  and  Parkers  along  Matompkin  inlet 
and  Folly  Creek.  From  the  foregoing,  it  will  be  seen  that 
by  far  the  greater  number  of  royalists  had  pushed  to  the 
north,  where  lands  were  obtainable  at  the  time  of  their  arri- 
val in  the  County.  It  is  easy  to  understand  then,  how,  with 
the  partial  segregation  of  the  royalists  themselves  in  the 
upper  portion  of  the  County,  the  party  was  more  powerful 
in  that  quarter  than  to  the  south,  where  the  concentration  of 
the  Puritan  element  led  to  a  further  demarcation.  We  have 
seen  that  these  so-called  feudal  families  were  so  intimately 
connected  by  marriage,  one  with  the  other,  that  their  influence 
was  unbounded  on  the  peninsula,  and  the  rising  opposition 
in  the  lower  peninsula  was  not  to  be  brooked  by  them.  As  a 
result  then,  of  his  conduct  in  1652-3,  both  with  respect  to 
the  Commonwealth  and  the  Dutch,  Scarburgh  had  become 
persona  non  grata  in  the  latter  quarter,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  his  influence  had  secured  his  return  to  the  Assembly  in 
1659.  He  hated  the  Northampton  Court,  dominated  by 
Robins,  which  had  called  him  to  account  so  often,  and  de- 
termined  to  cast  off  its  yoke  by  establishing  a  county  of  his 
own,  in  which  he  and  the  royalists  might  manage  things  as 
they  pleased,  and  he  improved  his  time  in  the  Assembly  with 

*See  Chapter  on  Early  Church. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      171 

that  end  in  view.  So  far,  the  royalists  had  carried  all  before 
them  in  spite  of  the  opposition.  In  1652,  they  had  secured 
a  parochial  division  which  gave  them  as  their  religious  strong- 
hold all  that  part  of  the  peninsula  north  of  Hungars  Creek, 
which  was  officially  designated  Occahannock  Parish,  but 
which  they  called  Accomack  Parish.1  Later,  after  the  death 
of  Yeardley,  Scarburgh  had  secured  from  the  Assembly  an 
Act  creating  a  new  jurisdiction,  coterminous  with  the  Par- 
ish of  Accomac,  so  that  by  1658  the  royalists  of  the  upper 
peninsula  had  not  only  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  establishment, 
but  a  secular  one  as  well. 

When  Berkeley  came  back  to  his  own,  after  the  interim 
during  which  he  had  been  ousted  by  Parliament,  he  found 
the  population  of  the  colony  greatly  increased  and  much  new 
territory  occupied.  There  were  at  that  time  seventeen  coun- 
ties in  Virginia,2  many  of  which  embraced  large  areas  over 
which  the  exercise  of  County  authority  had  become  un- 
wieldy, so  it  was  not  difficult  for  Scarburgh,  the  Surveyor 
General  of  the  Colony,3  to  gain  the  Governor's  ear  and  im- 
press upon  him  the  need  of  a  new  county  on  the  Eastern 
Shore. 

Colonel  Robins,  who  for  several  years  had  maintained 
the  opposition  alone,  died  in  1662,  and  there  was  no  one  left 
to  take  his  place,  capable  of  protecting  Northampton  against 
the  schemes  of  Scarburgh.  The  Assembly  undoubtedly  au- 
thorized the  division  that  year,  though  the  act  is  not  on  record. 
As  clearly  seen,  Accomac  County  did  not  exist  in  16614  and 
did  exist  in  1663.5 

JSee  Chapter  on  Early  Church. 
2Mercer's  Abridgment,  p.  61. 

Succeeded  Thomas  Lovinge.  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  46. 

4Mercer's  Abridgment. 
"Hening,  II,  pp.  249-250. 


172       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  people  of  the  northern  peninsula,  thoroughly  in  accord 
with  Scarburgh's  designs,  selected  him  as  their  Commis- 
sioner, and  Colonel  William  Waters,  one  of  their  Burgesses, 
was  selected  by  the  people  of  the  lower  peninsula  to  act  for 
them.1 

The  dividing  line  which  these  two  commissioners  estab- 
lished between  the  counties  of  Accomack,  on  the  north,  and 
the  county  of  Northampton,  on  the  south,  was  highly  unsat- 
isfactory to  the  people  of  the  latter  county.  The  relative 
portions  of  the  peninsula  allotted  the  two  counties  were 
243,314  acres  to  Accomack  and  103,255  acres  to  Northamp- 
ton, contained  within  the  present  limits,  or  considerably 
more  than  twice  as  much  territory  to  the  upper  county. 
Whether  Waters  was  won  over  by  Scarburgh  or  not  is  un- 
known, but  if  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  out- 
witted, as  declared  by  the  people  of  Northampton.  In  the 
Northampton  Grievances  of  1676,  it  was  stated  that  the 
people  of  the  county  "do  feel  aggrieved  that  in  the  division 
of  the  peninsula,  Accomack  should  have  gotten  so  much  the 
greater  share  and  we  do  conceive  that  it  was  occasioned  by 
Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh,  the  Commissioner  on  the  part 
of  Accomack,  having  outwitted  Colonel  William  Waters,  the 
Commissioner  on  the  part  of  Northampton."2 

Scarburgh's  design  is  apparent,  and  we  can  rest  assured 
that  nothing  deterred  him  in  its  execution.  Just  as  he  en- 
deavored to  stretch  the  county  limits  to  the  north  to  embrace 
his  land  in  Maryland,  so  he  now  endeavored,  but  more  suc- 
cessfully, to  extend  the  southern  limit  to  Occahannock  Creek, 
for  if  an  equal  division  of  the  land  had  been  made,  his  home 
on  the  northern  bank  of  that  Creek  would  still  have  remained 

'See   Northampton    Grievances,    subsequent    chapter   on    Bacon's    Re- 
bellion. 
2Ibid. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      173 

under  the  jurisdiction  of  Northampton.  Scarburgh  sustained 
his  position  on  the  ground  that  the  division  should  have  been 
made  in  accordance  with  population  and  not  with  respect  to 
territory,  and  since  Accomack  was  more  sparsely  populated 
than  Northampton,  the  division  was  a  just  one.  This  argu- 
ment, if  based  upon  the  existing  facts  as  to  population,  cer- 
tainly paid  little  attention  to  the  future.  Scarburgh  had  car- 
ried his  point  and  that  was  all  he  cared  about.  Colonel 
Waters  was  severely  criticised  and  did  not  appear  further 
as  a  Burgess.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  exactly  how 
long  after  the  death  of  Colonel  Obedience  Eobins,  the  Cham- 
pion of  Northampton,  the  final  approval  of  the  division  was 
secured. 

One  more  circumstance  disproves  the  claim  of  the  authori- 
ties that  Accomack  was  formed  from  Northampton  in  1672. 
According  to  the  people  of  the  latter  county,  as  set  forth  in 
the  Grievances  of  1676,  Colonel  Scarburgh  with  Waters  ran 
the  boundary  line.  He  could  not  have  run  it  in  1672,  for 
he  died  in  1670  or  1671.1 

As  we  have  seen,  a  court  for  the  upper  part  of  the  county 
of  Northampton  with  its  commissioners,  had  been  established. 
This  court,  now  in  Accomac,  continued  probably  as  a  branch 
court  of  the  older  one  in  Northampton.  The  earliest  records 
of  the  Accomack  Court  bear  the  date  of  1663,  and  begin  with 
the  following  preface: 

"At  a  court  held  in  Accomack  County  ye  21st  Aprill  by 
his  Majesty's  justices  of  the  Peace  for  ye  said  county  in  ye 
fifteenth  year  of  the  Raigne  of  our  Sovreign  Lord  Charles 
ye  Second  by  ye  Grace  of  God  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland — King  defender  of  ye  faith,  and  in  ye  year  of  our 
Lord  God  1663.  Present,  Anto.  Hodgkins,  Captain  George 
Parker,  Mr.  Eev.  Brown,  Mr.  West,  Mr.  John  Wise." 

'See  any  Scarburgh  Genealogy,  and  Northampton  and  Accomac 
Records. 


174      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Such  a  record  sustains  the  contention  very  thoroughly  that 
Accomack  County  was  formed  before  1672.  Here  is  a  state- 
ment of  the  court  itself  to  that  effect. 

There  is  no  reference  to  the  appointment  or  commission  of 
Robert  Hutchinson,  whose  first  signature  as  clerk  appears 
May  23,  1G63,  and  his  last  September  26,  1670.  He  prob- 
ably qualified  before  the  Northampton  Court,  since  in  the 
records  of  the  first  court,  reference  is  made  to  the  preceding 
court  held  in  Northampton,  March  23,  1663. 

The  assumed  independence  of  the  Accomack  Court  was  for 
a  long  time  resented  by  the  older  court  of  Northampton,  as 
illustrated  by  the  following  entry  of  1674:  "At  a  court  held 
for  ye  upper  part  of  Northampton  County,  formerly  called 
Accomack,  November  16,  1670,  Upon  the  Honourable  Sec- 
retary's word  to  Col.  John  Stringer,  that  Mr.  Robert 
Hutchinson,  late  clerk  of  the  county  of  Accomack,  should 
desist  from  being  any  longer  in  the  said  office,  and  that  the 
records  of  the  said  county  should  be  delivered  to  the  clerk 
of  the  court  of  the  county  of  Northampton,  which  the  said 
Hutchinson  being  unwilling  to  do,  without  an  order  from 
this  court  to  impower  the  clerk  of  Northampton  county  to 
give  him  a  discharge  from  the  same.  It  is  therefore  ordered 
by  the  Court  that  the  said  Mr.  Hutchinson  forthwith  deliver 
all  the  said  records  to  Mr.  Win.  Meetinge,1  clerk  of  the 
Court  of  Northampton,  hee  giving  a  discharge  for  the  same 
accordingly." 

This  would  seem  to  indicate  a  strong  attempt,  and  a  some- 
what successful  one,  on  the  part  of  the  Northampton  Court 
to  maintain  its  supremacy  over  the  Accomack  Court,  in  spite 
of  the  division  of  the  counties.  During  the  period  of  1670- 
72,  the  Accomack  records  are  signed  by  Daniel  Neech,  deputy 

'Probably  Wm.  Mellings. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      175 

clerk  of  Northampton,  and  John  Culpeper,  clerk  of  North- 
ampton. After  1672,  they  are  signed  by  Neech  and  Francis 
Lord,  both  as  deputy  clerks  of  Accomac. 

Another  strong  indication  that  the  two  courts  were  distinct 
by  1674,  is  that  John  Culpeper  states  that,  in  appointing 
Lord  his  deputy  for  Accomack  that  year,  he  acted  by  virtue 
of  a  commission  from  Honorable  Thomas  Ludwell,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Colony,  to  officiate  as  clerk,  either  by  himself  or 
his  deputies,  in  any  court  or  courts  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of 
Virginia.  This  may  also  explain  the  absence  of  a  reference 
to  the  new  court  in  Accomac  in  any  of  the  early  statutes. 
since  it  appears  that  such  matters  were  more  or  less  in  the 
hands  of  the  Secretary.  Hutchinson  was  clerk  of  Accomack, 
whether  as  deputy  a  part  of  the  time  or  not,  from  1662  to 
1670.  Francis  Lord  from  1670  to  1672 ;  and  John  Wash- 
bourne  from  1674  to  1703. 

For  some  years  after  the  new  jurisdiction  of  Accomack 
was  established,  the  justices  held  court  in  Pungoteague  in 
the  tavern  of  John  Cole.  When  in  1677,  fifteen  years  after 
the  creation  of  Accomack  County,  it  was  decided  to  erect  a 
court  house  at  such  place  as  the  majority  of  the  freeholders 
should  prefer,  Cole  reminding  the  people  of  his  liberality 
in  not  charging  for  the  use  of  his  tavern,  asserted  that  having 
recently  purchased  the  Freeman  Plantation,  he  was  sure  that 
it  would  offer  a  very  convenient  site  for  the  projected  county 
seat.  Mine  host  depended  largely  upon  the  attraction  of  the 
court  for  the  patronage  of  his  tavern  and  as  an  added  induce- 
ment towards  the  acceptance  of  his  offer,  he  announced  his 
readiness  to  furnish  thirty  thousand  bricks  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  new  building  and  all  necessary  timber.  These 
bricks  were  to  be  burnt  on  the  spot  by  James  Ewell,  who 
already  stood  in  Cole's  debt  to  that  extent.  The  offer  of  the 
tavern-keeper  does  not  appear  to  have  been  accepted,  for  in 


176       EASTERN  SHOKE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

1680  an  order  of  court  directed  Major  Charles  Scarborough 
to  proceed  with  the  building  of  a  court  house  on  the  land 
chosen  by  the  General  Assembly  for  the  county  town,  which 
we  shall  see  later  was  to  be  located  at  Onancock.  Exactly 
when  the  building  was  erected  is  not  known,  for  court  was 
held  at  the  residence  of  John  Wise  on  Chesconessex  Creek 
as  late  as  1683.1 

There  was  an  improvised  prison  at  Pungoteague  as  early 
as  1666,  for  during  that  year  John  Cross  was  committed  to 
the  county  "bridewell."  In  1674  the  justices  contracted 
with  John  Barnes  for  the  building  of  a  more  satisfactory  jail, 
which  was  to  be  fifteen  feet  in  length  and  ten  in  width, 
and  it  was  to  stand  within  one  hundred  feet  of  the  court 
house.  This  structure,  which  cost  only  eight  hundred  pounds 
of  tobacco,  was  deserted  after  being  used  for  ten  years.2 

In  all  these  arrangements,  Colonel  Scarburgh  had  a  hand 
and  took  particular  interest  and  pride  in  the  managing  of 
affairs.  He  still  owned  land  in  Northampton,  however,  and 
was  the  King's  Collector  of  Quit  Rents.  Against  his  name 
we  find  the  following  record  :3 

"Anno  1663. 

Colnell  Como  Scarburgh,  dr : 

To  ye  Quitt  Rents  of  53313  acres  in  Accomack 

at  12  p.  ct.  6396  lbs.  tobo. 

To  ye  Quitt  Rents  of  25728  acres  in  Northampton 

at  12  p.  ct.  3087  lbs.  tobo." 

Much  of  the  land  upon  which  these  rents  were  due  was 
located  in  the  disputed  territory  along  the  Pocomoke  River. 
As  a  result  of  Scarburgh's  importunities  and  the  information 

'Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1676-8,  p.  97.  Bruce's  Institutional 
History  of  Va.,  etc. 

'Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1673-76,  p.  155. 
8Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  46. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      177 

he  had  given  the  Governor  as  to  Baltimore's  policy,  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  on  September  10,  1663,  passed  an  act 
"concerning  the  bounds  of  this  Colony  on  the  Eastern  Shore." 
This  ordinance  commanded: 

"That  publication  be  made  as  soon  as  possible  by  Colonel 
Edmund  Scarburgh,  His  Majesties  Surveyor  General  of  Vir- 
ginia, commanding  in  his  majesty's  name,  all  inhabitants  of 
the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  from  Wattkin's  Point,  where 
the  Lord  Baltimore's  southermost  bounds  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  is  situate,  this  Grand  Assembly  by  the  care  and  special 
inquiry  of  five,  able,  selected  surveyors  and  two  burgesses, 
and,  on  the  due  examination  thereof,  conclude  the  same 
place  of  Wattkin's  Point  to  be  the  north  side  of  Wicomico 
River  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  neere  unto  and  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Streight  Limbe,  opposite  to  Pastuxent  River. 
Which  place  according  to  Captain  John  Smith  and  discov- 
erers with  him  in  the  year  1608  was  so  named." 

A  conference  with  Lord  Baltimore's  commissioners  was 
proposed  in  case  he  should  be  dissatisfied,  and  Colonel  Scar- 
burgh, Mr.  John  Catlett  and  Mr.  Richard  Laurence1  were 
appointed  commissioners  on  the  part  of  Virginia.  The  Sur- 
veyor General  was  further  directed  "to  improve  his  best 
abilities  in  all  other  his  majesty's  concerns  of  land  relating 
to  Virginia,  and  especially  that  to  the  northward  of  forty 
degrees  of  latitude,  being  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  said  Lord 
Baltimore's  grant,  and  to  give  an  account  of  his  proceedings 
therein  to  the  right  honorable  governor  and  council  of  Vir- 
gmia. 

Colonel  Scarburgh's  report  of  his  proceedings  on  this 
occasion  is  preserved.3     While  the  foregoing  Act  gave  him 

1A  noted  character  in  Bacon's  Rebellion. 

'Hening,  II,  p.  183. 

s"The  account  of  Proceedings  in  his  Majt's  affairs  at  Annamessecks 
and  manokin,  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia."  Accomack  County 
Records.     Also  see  Report  of  Va.  and  Md.  Boundary  Commission,  1872. 


178      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

great  authority,  even  thai  was  transcended  in  his  execution 
of  its  chief  provision.  The  act  provided  that  a  conference 
should  be  held  with  Lord  Baltimore's  representatives  to  de- 
termine ihe  location  of  Watkin's  Point,  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence of  Scarburgh  having  sought  such  a  conference.  His 
own  report  leads  us  to  believe  that  he  did  not  seek  to  carry 
out  his  orders,  for  he  says,  "I  suppose  according  to  ye  Act 
of  Assembly,  there  ought  to  have  been  a  meeting  on  Ye  East- 
ern Shore,  w'ch  ye  Quakers  say  is  contemned,  whatever  my 
own  person  may  be,  I  presume  ye  officer  I  pr'sent  is  not  so 
unworthy,  nor  ye  persons  of  those  joyned  with  mee,  nor 
when  they  come  to  try  all  shall  finde  ye  affair  negotiated 
with  less  repute  than  becomes  such  a  concerne."  Colonel 
Scarburgh  hated  Quakers  intensely,  and  was  so  unscrupu- 
lously jealous  of  Virginia's  rights  and  his  own,  that  he  made 
oath  that  Watkin's  Point  was  above  the  mouth  of  the  Anna- 
messecks  and  not  of  the  Pocomoke  River;  also  that  the  Poco- 
nioke  had  never  been  known  as  the  Wighco.  This  oath  plainly 
varied  with  Smith's  map,  which  placed  the  point  on  the 
mouth  of  the  Wighco,  which  was  undoubtedly  the  Poco- 
moke.1 

But  let  us  see  how  he  executed  the  commands  of  the  As- 
sembly. He  set  out  with  "some  of  the  commission"  and 
about  forty  horsemen,  an  escort  which  he  deemed  necessary 
"for  pomp  of  safety"  and  also  in  order  "to  repel  the  con- 
tempt" which,  as  he  was  informed,  "Some  Quakers  and  a 
fool  in  office  had  threatened  to  obtrude." 

The  party  reached  Annamessecks  on  Sunday  night,  the 
eleventh  of  October.  On  the  next  day,  at  the  house  of  an 
officer  of  Lord  Baltimore,  the  Surveyor  General  began  to 


'"Tlie    Maryland    and    Virginia    Boundary    Controversy."    1088-1894, 
Louis  N.  Whealton. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      179 

publish  the  Assembly's  commands  by  repeatedly  reading  the 
act  to  the  officer,  who  labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  being 
imable  to  read.  He  declared  that  he  would  not  be  false  to 
the  trust  put  in  him  by  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Maryland. 
To  this,  Colonel  Scarburgh  replied,  "that  there  could  be  no 
trust  where  there  was  no  intrust  [interest]."  The  officer, 
declining  to  subscribe  his  obedience  lest  he  might  be  hanged 
by  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  was  arrested  and  held  to  secur- 
ity (given  by  some  of  Scarburgh's  party)  to  appear  before 
the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia,  and  the  "broad  arrow" 
was  set  on  his  door.  This  matter  being  so  satisfactorily  ad- 
justed, the  colonel  and  his  company  proceeded  to  the  house 
of  a  Quaker  where  the  act  was  published  "with  a  becoming 
reference;"  but  the  Quakers,  scoffing  and  deriding  it,  and 
refusing  their  obedience,  were  arrested,  to  answer  "their 
contempt  and  rebellion,"  and  it  being  found  impracticable 
to  obtain  any  security,  "the  broad  arrow  was  set  on  the  door." 
At  Manokin  the  housekeepers  and  freemen,  except  two  of 
Lord  Baltimore's  officers,  subscribed.  "One  Hollinsworth, 
merchant,  of  a  northern  vessel,"  at  this  juncture  "came  and 
presented  his  request  for  liberty  of  trade,"  which  Scarburgh 
suspecting  to  be  "some  plan  of  the  Quakers"  to  defeat  their 
design,  "presumed,  in  their  infant  plantation,  to  give  free- 
dom of  trade  without  impositions."  Scarburgh  drew  up  a 
descriptive  list  of  those  who  stood  out  against  submitting  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia ;  one  was  "the  ignorant  yet  inso- 
lent officer,  a  cooper  by  profession,  who  lived  long  in  the 
lower  parts  of  Accomac;  once  elected  a  Burgess  by  the  com- 
mon crowd,  and  thrown  out  of  the  Assembly  for  a  factious 
and  tumultous  person."1  George  Johnson  was  "the  Proteus 
of  Heresy,"   notorious   for   "shifting  schismatical   pranks." 

'Randall  Revell,  after  whom  Revell's  Island  was  named. 


180       EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

He  stands  arrested,  and  "bids  defiance."  "Thomas  Price,  a 
creeping  Quaker,  by  trade  a  leather-dresser,"  and  "saith 
nothing  else  but  that  he  would  not  obey  government,  for 
which  he  also  stands  arrested."  "Ambrose  Dixon,  a  caulker 
by  profession,"  "often  in  question  for  his  Quaking  profes- 
sion," "a  prater  of  nonsense,"  stands  arrested,  and  "the  broad 
arrow  at  his  door,  but  bids  defiance."  "Henry  Boston,  an 
unmannerly  fellow,  that  stands  condemned  on  the  records 
for  fighting  and  contemning  the  laws  of  the  country ;  a  rebel 
to  government,  and  disobedient  to  authority,  for  which  he 
received  a  late  reward  with  a  rattan,  and  hath  not  subscribed ; 
hides  himself,  so  scapes  arrest."  "These  are  all,  except  two 
or  three  loose  fellows  that  follow  the  Quakers  for  scraps, 
whom  a  good  whip  is  fittest  to  reform." 

On  the  10th  day  of  November,  1663,  the  County  Court  of 
Accomac  authorized  Captain  Wm.  Thorn  and  others  to  sum- 
mon the  good  subjects  of  Manokin  and  other  parts  of  the 
country,  "so  far  as  Pocomoke  River,  to  come  together  and 
arm  themselves  for  defense  against  any  that  might  invade 
them,  in  consequence  of  the  rumors  that  Quakers  and  factious 
fools  have  spread,  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  and  terror 
of  the  less  knowing." 

Colonel  Scarburgh's  conduct  seems  to  have  aroused  the  ire 
of  the  Marylanders,  for  they  described  his  progress  through 
the  fields  of  Annamessex  and  the  Manokin  as  that  of  a  dash- 
ing, haughty,  domineering  Cavalier,  arresting,  threatening, 
denouncing,  and  proscribing  by  the  "broad  arrow  of  confisca- 
tion" marked  upon  their  doors  all  who  would  not  submit. 
Remonstrance  against  Scarburgh's  conduct  in  beating  and 
imprisoning  the  people  of  Annamessecks  and  Monanoakin, 
was  made  in  June,  1664,  by  Governor  Calvert  to  Governor 
Berkeley ;  who  replied  that  Scarburgh  had  no  authority  to 
act  alone  or  to  proceed  by  force. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      181 

Soon  after  this,  Calvert  appointed  Commissioners  to  meet 
the  representatives  of  Virginia ;  and  upon  the  failure  of  the 
latter  to  appear  at  the  appointed  time,  he  sent  his  Chancel- 
lor in  person  to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia  to 
treat  concerning  Watkin's  Point,  to  demand  justice  against 
Scarburgh  for  attempting  to  mark  a  tree  thirty  miles  north 
of  Watkin's  Point;  and  also  for  his  conduct  in  Annames- 
secks  and  Manoakin.1  The  complaint  against  Scarburgh,  how- 
ever, had  but  little  effect,  for  he  was  again  appointed  by  the- 
Virginia  authorities  to  join  Calvert,  the  Maryland  Commis- 
sioner, and  run  a  boundary  line  between  the  two  colonies. 
By  their  commission  they  were  instructed  "to  meet  upon  the 
place  called  Watkin's  Point,  and  thence  to  run  the  divisional 
line  to  the  ocean."  These  instructions  were  partly  carried 
out  and  in  June,  1688,  the  commissioners  rendered  a  report 
of  their  proceedings.2 

The  agreement  signed  by  both  parties  states,  "that  after 
full  and  perfect  view  taken  of  the  point  of  land  made  by  the 
north  side  of  Pocomoke  Bay  and  the  south  side  of  Annames- 
sex  Bay,  we  have  and  do  conclude  the  same  (boundary)  to 
be  Watkin's  Point,  from  which  said  Point  so  called,  we  have 
run  an  East  Line  agreeable  with  the  extreamest  part  of  the 
Westermost  Angle  of  the  said  Watkin's  Point  over  Pocomoke 
River,  to  the  land  near  Robert  Holston's,  and  there  have 
marked  Certain  Trees,  which  are  so  continued  by  an  East 
Line  Running  over  Swansecute  Creek  into  the  marsh  of  the 
Seaside  with  apparent  marks  and  Boundaries,  which,  by  our 
mutual  Agreement  according  to  the  qualifications  aforesaid, 
are  to  be  received  as  the  Bounds  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Chesapeake  Bay." 

^Archives  of  Maryland,  Proceedings  of  the  Md.  Counc,  1636-67.     The 
Md.  and  Va.  Boundary  Controversy,  1660-1894,  Whealton. 
"Proceedings  of  Council  of  Md.,  1667-68,  p.  44. 


13 


182      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Scarburgh  and  Calvert  also  drew  up  another  agreement 
which  settled  in  advance  of  final  action  by  the  authorities  of 
the  two  colonies,  the  pending  controversies  about  land  hold- 
ings, in  consequence  of  the  line  which  they  had  run.  These 
two  instruments,  signed  by  the  Commissioners,  were  submit- 
ted to  and  subsequently  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  the  two 
colonies.  This  bare  record,  part  of  which  has  been  cited,  is 
all  that  remains  of  their  transactions,  for  the  commissioners 
apparently  kept  no  journal,  made  no  maps,  nor  certificates 
of  survey,  and  never  mentioned  the  names  of  any  other  sur- 
veyors, as  assisting  in  the  work. 

The  line  run  by  the  Commissioners,  known  as  the  Calvert- 
Scarburgh  Line,  was  the  first  attempt  of  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land, acting  together,  to  define  their  common  bounds.  The 
line  was  poorly  and  inaccurately  run,  for  only  a  part  of  it 
was  actually  surveyed,  and  the  commissioners  seem  to  have 
agreed  as  to  the  location  of  the  point  under  controversy,  and 
to  have  guessed  where  a  line  extending  eastward  from  it 
would  cut  the  Pocomoke  River,  some  four  miles  away.  Only 
between  this  stream  and  the  ocean  did  they  actually  survey 
and  mark  the  boundary.1 

The  Marylanders  had  not  dropped  their  charges  against 
Scarburgh,  and  now  pressed  them  vigorously.  He  was  ordered 
to  appear  before  the  General  Court  and  after  a  long-drawn- 
out  prosecution,  an  injunction  was  entered  against  Scarburgh, 
September  16,  1670,  prohibiting  him  from  altering  the  bounds 
between  Maryland  and  Virginia.2  It  appears  that  council 
was  assigned  him,  interpreters  sworn,  a  long  examination 
and  many  depositions  taken,  and  a  judgment  entered  against 
him,  and  that  numerous  petitions  were  filed  by  the  inhabitants 

JMd.  and  Va.  Boundary  Controversy,  Whealton. 

*Notes  from  Council  and  Gen.  Court  Rec.,  1641-78,  Va.  Mag.  Hist, 
and  Bio. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      183 

of  the  Annamessex  country,  complaining  of  his  high-handed 
and  unlawful  confiscations  of  their  property.1 

The  second  war  between  England  and  the  Dutch  within  a 
period  of  fifteen  years  was  forced  upon  Holland  by  the 
arrogance  of  Charles  II.  The  restored  monarch  was  fast 
losing  the  affection  of  his  Virginia  subjects,  for  rumors  were 
rife  concerning  his  Catholic  inclinations.  Indeed,  the  Dutch 
war  of  1665  was  directly  attributed  by  them  to  his  desire  to 
strike  a  blow  at  Protestantism,  of  which  Holland  was  an  un- 
comprising  champion.  Upon  the  outbreak  of  this  new  war, 
the  Dutch,  as  usual,  active  upon  the  sea,  destroyed  a  fleet  of 
English  merchant  ships  in  the  mouth  of  James  River.  In 
view  of  the  great  danger  to  which  Virginia  shipping  was  ex- 
posed, the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia  took  immediate 
steps  to  protect  their  merchant  marine  and  coasts.  Orders 
were  promptly  issued  for  the  better  organization  of  the  mili- 
tia and  all  officers  were  ordered  to  stand  prepared  to  march 
upon  two  days'  notice.  For  the  protection  of  the  ships  in 
Chesapeake  Bay,  four  havens  were  designated,  where  vessels 
pursued  might  seek  refuge.  These  points  were  "at  James 
City  in  James  River  on  the  south  side  over  against  Tyndall's 
Point ;  in  York  River,  in  Rappahannock  River  in  a  place  as 
shall  be  judged  fit  by  the  council  and  justices  inhabiting  that 
river ;  and  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  at  Pungoteague,  such  places 
there  as  their  justices  shall  think  fit,  and  that  they  ride  with 
hasers  on  the  shore  ready  to  hall  on  shore  upon  any  approach- 
ing danger,  and  it  is  further  ordered  that  there  be  ten  men 
out  of  every  County's  Company  choosen  and  sent  with  tools 
and  necessary  provisions  to  be  paid  for  by  the  public,  to  the 
said  respective  places  of  riding,  there  to  build  a  platform  for 
a  battery  and  lines  for  small  shott  to  defend  the  ships,  and 

^bid. 


184      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

to  begin  the  said  work  on  the  tenth  of  September  next  and  to 
finish  it  according  to  such  directions  as  they  shall  receive 
from  the  Governor,  and  with  all  possible  speed,  and  because 
we  have  not  ordnance  and  ammunition  of  our  own,  it  is  or- 
dered that  the  Governor  be  desired  to  represent  that  our  want 
to  his  Majesty  and  most  humbly  beseech  him  either  to  supply 
us  out  of  his  own  store  with  ordnance,  or  to  give  us  power  to 
take  two  out  of  every  ship  to  furnish  our  said  batteries, 
either  to  be  returned  to  them  at  their  departure  or  else  be 
paid  for  out  of  the  two  shillings  p.  hogshead."1 

The  mart  which  had  been  established  on  Occahannock 
Creek  in  1655  was  not  considered  by  the  Council  to  be  as 
desirable  as  the  one  at  Pungoteague.  As  yet  no  settlement 
had  actually  sprung  up  there,  while  Pungoteague  was  not  only 
the  seat  of  the  new  county  but  the  site  of  the  "Ace  of  Clubs" 
church. 

In  this  old  order  of  the  General  Court,  mention  is  made  of 
guns  being  taken  from  the  ships.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  from  the  earliest  period  vessels  employed  in  the  Virginia 
trade  were  under  the  necessity  of  carrying  guns.  In  1633, 
the  number  of  guns  carried  by  one  ship  ranged  from  twenty 
to  twenty-four;  and  later  on,  in  1691,  the  danger  at  the  hands 
of  pirates  became  so  great  that  the  Governor  established  by 
proclamation  places  of  refuge  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  In 
1684,  the  English  Government  took  steps  to  protect  the  Vir- 
ginia coast  as  well  as  to  break  up  illicit  trading.  Occasions 
arose  when  government  assistance  was  much  needed,  as  when 
in  1699  the  "Maryland  Merchant,"  while  at  anchor  off  the 
coast,  was  seized  and  plundered  by  an  unknown  ship  carrying 
thirty  guns  and  manned  by  a  large  crew.  The  people  of 
Accomac  and  Northampton  were  always  promptly  warned  of 

'Genl.  Court  Dec.  1664-70,  Va.  Mag.  Hist,  and  Bio. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      185 

the  presence  of  these  dangerous  outlaws,  and  patroles  were 
posted  along  the  shores  of  the  peninsula,  so  that  the  County 
Commanders  or  Lieutenants  might  be  informed  of  their  ap- 
proach in  time  to  call  out  the  militia  to  defend  the  people 
against  the  attacks  of  the  pirates.1 

As  an  unfortunate  consequence  of  the  remoteness  of  the 
Eastern  Shore,  the  sea-side  islands  were  occupied  for  many 
years  by  pirates,  at  their  own  pleasure.  Indented  as  the 
Atlantic  side  of  the  peninsula  is  by  numerous  coves  and  in- 
lets, formed  by  the  chain  of  islands  which  stretches  from  the 
utmost  point  of  the  Cape  to  Delaware,  it  afforded  them  a  safe 
refuge  when  pursued  by  enemies,  and  was  a  most  desirable 
place  for  refitting  and  repairing  after  a  long  cruise.  Here, 
too,  they  would  bring  their  prizes,  and,  according  to  tradition, 
bury  their  treasures  among  the  sand  dunes  of  the  islands. 
The  coast  was  a  veritable  wilderness,  inhabited  only  by  a  few 
lazy,  overfed  savages,  and  once  within  the  inland  waterway 
between  the  islands  and  the  mainland  of  the  peninsula,  the 
ruffians  of  the  sea  were  protected  from  the  interference  of 
the  law  as  well  as  from  the  dangers  of  the  tempest.  Thus 
secluded  they  could  plot  their  nefarious  schemes  at  leisure.2 

The  ships  of  Captain  Kid  seem  to  have  frequently  visited 
the  neighboring  coast  islands,  although  the  buccaneers  do  not 
appear  to  have  made  incursions  upon  the  peninsula.  In  1699, 
Thomas  Wellburn,  the  Sheriff  of  Accomack,  notified  Gover- 
nor Nicholson  that  Matthew  Scarburgh  had  recently  met 
persons  who  had  been  visiting  one  of  Captain  Kid's  ships, 
then  lying  off  the  coast.     The  vessels  were  reported  to  be 

truce's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.,  Vol.  II,  p.  346,  for  collected  authori- 
ties. 

2Carolina  Pirates.  P.assett.  Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  our  coast. 
Stockton.  Wheeler's  History  of  North  Carolina.  Williamson's  History 
of  North  Carolina.  Martin's  History  of  North  Carolina.  Various 
Histories  of  Virginia. 


18G      EASTEKX  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

heavily  manned,  one  carrying  forty-two  and  another  eighteen 
cannon.  Wellburn's  informants  stated  that  an  enormous 
treasure  of  gold  and  jewels,  amounting  to  not  less  than  five 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  was  stored  in 
the  holds  of  these  ships.1 

In  1688,  the  danger  at  the  hands  of  the  Pirates  was  so 
great  that  the  Council  ordered  one  Gilbert  Moore  to  patrol 
the  seaside  of  the  peninsula,  for  which  service,  for  a  period 
of  three  months,  he  was  awarded  four  pounds  ten  shillings. 
Later  Colonel  Custis  was  ordered  to  establish  look-outs,  and 
in  1699  the  commanders  of  the  militia  of  Accomac  and  North- 
ampton were  ordered  to  have  the  coast  patrolled  until  late 
in  the  season.  A  patrol  was  accordingly  established,  one  man 
for  each  of  the  counties,  and  a  third  to  keep  a  look-out  on 
Smith's  Island.  In  October  of  this  year,  Colonel  Custis  re- 
ported that  a  pirate  ship  had  anchored  near  Smith's  Island, 
probably  in  Bullock's  or  the  Great  Eastern  Channel,  between 
Smith's  and  Mock  Horn  Islands,  and  that  a  band  of  twelve 
well-armed  men  had  landed  and  shot  down  many  hogs  and 
beeves,  which  they  carried  off  to  their  vessel.  Colonel  Custis 
urged  the  Governor  to  detail  a  frigate  to  duty  as  a  guard  ship 
in  these  waters,  and  thus  capture  these  "villians"  who  were 
compelled  to  anchor  off  Smith's  Island  when  they  desired  to 
go  upon  the  mainland.2 

The  famous  Blackboard,  driven  to  bay  and  killed  by  Lieu- 
tenant Maynard  in  1718,  is  said  to  have  hailed  from  Acco- 
mack.3 Blackboard's  real  name  was  Edward  Teach,  and  there 
are  possibly  some  of  his  descendants  living  on  the  peninsula 

'Letter  of  Wellburn.  dated  "Chincateague,  June  29,  1699,"  B.  T.  Va. 
See  Bruce's  Institutional  Hist,  of  Va.,  etc.     Vol.  II.  p.  211. 

2Custis's  Report,  B.  T.  Va.  lii,  p.  42.     Bruce,  Ibid. 

'See  address  of  late  T.  T.  Upshur,  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio.,  Vol. 
IX,  p.  95.  Biographical  Sketch  of  Edward  Teach,  by  Dr.  Stephen  B. 
Weeks,  Sante  Fe,  New  Mexico. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      187 

at  the  present  time.  In  1887-8,  one  Mrs.  Mary  Teach,  nee 
Justice,  died  near  Marionville,  Northampton  County.  She 
and  her  husband  were  originally  from  Accomack.1 

The  population  of  the  peninsula  in  1666  may  be  closely 
estimated  from  the  following  list  of  tithables  of  Northampton 
for  August  of  that  year,  about  three  years  after  the  forma- 
tion of  Accomack  County.  According  to  races,  the  tithables 
stood  372  whites  and  52  negroes.  Estimating  the  tithables 
at  one-third  of  the  total  population,  would  make  Northamp- 
ton's population  in  August,  1666,  1,116  whites  and  156 
negroes,  or  a  total  of  1,272. 2  If  we  estimate  the  population 
of  Accomack  as  equal  to  that  of  Northampton,  based  upon 
Scarburgh's  statements  as  to  relative  equality  of  population 
in  the  two  counties,  the  total  population  of  the  peninsula  at 
this  time  would  be  2,544  persons,  of  whom  312  were  negroes. 
But  if  we  allow  Accomack  a  population  bearing  the  same 
relation  to  its  area  as  that  in  Northampton,  Accomack  would 
have  had  2,544  inhabitants,  thus  making  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  peninsula  3,816.  The  mean  of  the  two  estimates 
is  3,180,  and  this  figure  is  not  far  from  correct.  Now  if  we 
add  several  hundred  Indians,  and  the  shifting  element  of 
'longshoremen  and  Islanders,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Eastern 
Shore  was  more  densely  populated  than  any  other  portion  of 
Virginia  in  1666. 

The  mortality  during  the  next  few  years  was  very  great, 
due  to  an  epidemic  of  smallpox.  The  germs  of  the  fatal 
malady  were  said  to  have  been  imported  by  a  stricken  sea- 
man, the  cause  of  whose  illness  was  at  first  unknown.  Large 
numbers  of  the  whites  died  during  the  plague,  and  the  dis- 
ease became  general  among  the  Indians,  who  had  been  driven 

'Ibid.,  Upshur. 

2See  list  of  Tithables  in  Appendix. 


188      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

together  upon  reservations  in  remote  sections  of  the  penin- 
sula. These  crowded  native  settlements  were  almost  de- 
populated, the  inhabitants  dying  like  sheep  with  the  fright- 
ful disease.  The  poor  natives,  huddled  together  in  their 
squalid  villages,  were  powerless  to  cope  with  the  situation. 
The  customary  treatment,  which  the  medicine  men  prescribed 
for  the  more  simple  maladies,  but  added  to  the  fatality  of 
the  epidemic.  Panic  stricken,  the  Indians  sought  relief 
among  the  whites,  thus  spreading  the  disease  with  the  most 
disastrous  effects.  The  condition  of  the  whites  became  so 
alarming  that  in  1667  the  Colonel  and  Commander  issued 
a  proclamation  warning  all  families  affected  to  allow  no 
member  "to  go  forth  their  doors  until  their  full  cleansing, 
that  is  to  say,  thirtie  days  after  their  receiving  the  sd  small- 
pox, least  the  sd  disease  shoulde  spreade  by  infection  like 
the  plague  of  leprosy .  .  .  Such  as  shall  no-things  notice 
of  this  premonition  and  charge,  but  beastlike  shall  p'sume 
to  act  and  do  contrarily,  may  expect  to  be  severely  punished 
according  to  the  Statute  of  King  James  in  such  case  provided 
for  their  contempt  herein ;    God  save  the  King."1 

At  last  the  epidemic  abated,  having  ravaged  the  land  for 
several  years,  but  not  until  the  population  had  been  seriously 
reduced  and  numbers  of  the  best  citizens  had  perished. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  county  militia,  both  in  con- 
nection with  Scarburgh's  trip  to  Annamessex  and  the  de- 
fense of  Pungoteague.  The  military  organization  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  was  the  same  as  that  in  other  parts  of  the 
Colony.  All  freemen  capable  of  bearing  amis  were  required 
by  law  to  muster  once  a  month  at  the  court  house  or  such 
other  place  as  the  Commander  designated  for  the  assembly. 
In  1670,  Governor  Berkeley  reported  to  the  Lord  Commis- 

' Northampton  County  Records.  Vol.  1655-58,  last  part,  folio  p.  19. 
Orders,  Jan.  7,  1667. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      189 

sioners  of  Foreign  Plantations  that  the  entire  militia  force 
of  the  Colony  consisted  of  upwards  of  8,000  horsemen,  and 
that  there  were  five  forts,  two  on  the  James  River,  and  one 
at  each  of  the  three  rivers,  Rappahannock,  York  and  Poto- 
mac. He  must  have  overlooked  the  fort  at  Pungoteague,  or 
else  it  was  never  completed.  The  latter  is  more  probable,  as 
Berkeley  would  not  have  omitted  any  item  which  would  have 
presented  a  more  favorable  condition.  Then  again,  the  Dutch 
War  was  of  such  short  duration,  that  the  real  necessity  for 
the  fort  ceased  to  exist  before  it  could  have  been  completed. 

In  1670,  there  were  40,000  inhabitants  in  the  Colony,  of 
which  number  2,000  were  slaves  and  6,000  white  servants. 
Such  a  force  as  named  by  Berkeley,  if  properly  equipped, 
was  an  excellent  showing.  But  we  must  remember  that  the 
proportion  of  fighting  men  in  a  new  colony,  or  in  frontier 
settlements,  is  always  greater  than  in  established  communi- 
ties of  long  standing  and  settled  conditions. 

If  the  proportion  of  slaves  and  servants  which  existed  as 
to  the  whole  colony  extended  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  where 
there  was  a  total  population  of  about  4,000,  there  must  have 
been  about  800  men  liable  for  service  in  the  militia  of  North- 
ampton and  Accomack.  That  any  such  number  ever  mus- 
tered at  one  time  is  out  of  the  question.  The  very  pursuits 
of  such  a  sea-faring  people  would  cause  the  absence  of  large 
numbers  of  the  able-bodied  men  at  any  given  time.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  when  Scarburgh  assembled  a  force  of  but 
300  in  1659,  it  was  necessary  to  recruit  his  ranks  in  part  on 
the  Western  Shore. 

In  1686,  the  House  of  Burgesses  endeavored  to  reorganize 
the  militia,  to  create  a  more  efficient  force  for  the  defense  of 
the  colony.  The  military  quota  of  Northampton  and  Acco- 
mack was  fixed  at  one  troop  of  horse  for  each  county,  forty 
men  in  addition  to  the  officers  composing  a  troop.     Prior  to 


190      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

this,  there  were  companies  of  foot  troops  as  well  as  mounted 
men  serving  in  the  militia.  Francis  Yeardley  was  the  first 
regularly  appointed  Captain  of  the  militia  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  receiving  his  Commission  in  1642.  He  was  then 
ordered  to  organize  the  freemen  of  the  county  and  drill  them 
at  least  one  a  month,  reporting  all  persons  liable  to  sendee 
who  failed  to  attend  the  exercises.  Small  military  districts 
were  later  created,  each  under  command  of  a  Captain,  the 
senior  officers  of  the  peninsula  bearing  the  rank  of  Colonel, 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Major.  The  assemblies  or  musters 
in  Northampton  were  regularly  held  at  Argoll  Yeardley's 
plantation  on  Mattawaman  Creek.  Absentees  from  the  county 
musters  were  fined.  In  Accomack,  in  1664,  thirteen  persons 
were  mulcted  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  apiece  for  neglecting 
to  attend  the  April  meeting,  and  twenty-two  for  absence  from 
the  muster  held  in  August.  The  amount  of  the  fine  was  later 
increased  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco. 

In  1670-1,  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  died,  succumbing, 
it  is  thought,  to  the  prevalent  disease.  It  is  not  certain 
where  he  was  buried,  but  probably  on  his  estate  on  Occahan- 
nock  Creek.  May  the  many  good  deeds  of  this  indomitable, 
fearless,  uncompromising  man,  overbalance  the  bad.  Added 
to  the  words  "the  good  which  men  do  lives  after  them" 
should  be  the  words,  "but  the  bad  becomes  more  notorious." 
Such  is  certainly  true  in  the  case  of  Edmund  Scarburgh. 
Had  he  lived  but  a  few  years  longer,  he  would  undoubtedly 
have  joined  Bacon,  as  his  son  Charles  did,  for,  in  view  of  his 
radical  character,  his  love  of  war  and  his  hatred  of  Indians, 
it  is  not  likely  that  he  would  have  thrown  his  support  to  the 
cause  of  Berkeley  as  being  that  of  the  King.  Had  Scar- 
burgh lived  to  join  forces  with  Bacon,  Berkeley's  tenure  of 
the  Eastern  Shore  would  have  been  a  more  precarious  one. 


XII 

The  Arlington-Culpeper  Grant.      Bacon's   Rebellion 

In  the  dark  days  following  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  his 
wandering  son  on  the  continent,  who  was,  theoretically,  King 
of  England,  had  granted  to  some  "distressed  cavaliers"  of 
the  time,  the  section  of  Virginia  called  the  "Northern  Neck," 
between  the  Rappahannock  and  the  Potomac,  as  a  place  of 
refuge  from  the  ire  of  the  Commonwealth' s-men.  This  grant 
was  afterwards  recalled;  but  in  1673  the  King  granted  to  the 
Earl  of  Arlington  and  Lord  Culpeper,  two  of  his  favorites, 
"all  that  entire  tract,  territory,  region,  and  dominion  of  land 
and  water  commonly  called  Virginia,  together  with  the  ter- 
ritory of  Accomack,"  to  be  held  by  the  said  noblemen  for  the 
space  of  thirty-one  years,  at  a  yearly  rent  of  forty  shillings 
to  be  paid  on  "the  feast  day  of  St.  Michael  the  Arch  Angell." 
They  were  to  have  all  the  quit-rents  and  lands  escheated  to 
the  crown ;  and  were  empowered  to  make  a  conveyance  in  fee 
simple,  and  to  manage  all  things  after  their  pleasure.  No 
holder  of  land  by  valid  title  was  to  be  disturbed,  but  with  this 
single  exception  they  were  to  be  the  masters  in  Virginia. 

This  portentous  grant  raised  a  great  outcry.  The  two 
English  lords  had  become  the  proprietors  of  Virginia  with 
her  forty  thousand  people.  All  the  persons  honestly  in  posses- 
sion of  escheated  lands  were  liable  to  be  turned  out  of  their 
houses  at  a  moment's  warning.  The  revenues  of  the  colony 
were  to  be  received  by  the  new  owners  of  it.  They  were  to  ap- 
point public  officers,  to  lay  off  new  counties,  and  present  min- 
isters to  the  parishes.  In  broad  sweep  and  minute  detail,  the 

191 


192      EASTERN"  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

King's  patent  was  an  enormity.  By  a  scratch  of  the  royal  pen, 
Virginia,  which  had  been  so  faithful  to  him,  was  conveyed 
away  as  a  man  conveys  away  his  private  estate,  to  two  of  the 
most  unscrupulous  courtiers  of  the  English  Court. 

The  Burgesses  promptly  sent  commissioners  to  protest 
against  this  outrage.  There  was  a  long  wrangle  with  the 
King's  officials,  but  Charles  II  was  too  careless  to  feel  ill- 
humored.  He  had  no  desire  to  wrong  his  faithful  Virginians : 
"Those  quit  rents  had  never  come  into  the  royal  exchequer," 
he  said ;  he  had  meant  them  for  "the  benefit  of  that  our  col- 
ony." He  was  "graciously  inclined  to  favor  his  said  sub- 
jects of  Virginia,"  and  would  grant  them  a  new  charter  for 
"the  settlement  and  confirmation  of  all  things"  after  their 
wishes.  But  suddenly  the  perverse  Virginians  took  matters 
into  their  own  hands.1  They  lost  all  patience  waiting  for  the 
King  to  redress  their  injuries,  and  a  revolt  nearly  occurred 
in  1674,  but  no  person  of  note  taking  the  lead  the  trouble 
subsided  for  the  time  being.  The  threatened  outbreak  was 
not  without  effect,  for  justices  of  the  peace  were  prohibited 
from  levying  taxes  for  their  own  emolument.2  The  Assem- 
bly now  determined  to  make  an  humble  address  "to  his  sacred 
majesty,"  praying  for  a  revocation  of  the  forementioned 
grants  to  Arlington  and  Culpeper,  and  for  a  confirmation  of 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  colony.  Commissioners  were 
appointed  to  repair  to  England  and  endeavor  to  secure  a  new 
charter  for  Virginia,  but  all  negotiations  failed.  Matters  in 
the  Colony  in  1675  were  going  from  bad  to  worse.  The  price 
of  tobacco  had  been  depressed  by  the  monopoly  of  the  English 
navigation  act  and  the  cost  of  imported  goods  had  increased. 
The  Indian  incursions  on  the  western  frontier,  which  occurred 
at  this  time,  filled  the  measure  of  panic  and  exasperation. 

'Cooke's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  232-234. 
2Hening,  II,  p.  519. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      193 

Groaning  under  many  exactions  and  their  own  peculiar 
grievances,  though  free  from  the  danger  of  Indian  massacre, 
the  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were  in  a  desperate  frame  of 
mind. 

The  Assembly,  in  an  endeavor  to  put  the  colony  in  a  state 
of  defense  against  the  Indians,  passed  long  and  carefully  con- 
sidered laws  in  March,  1676,  but  something  more  than  laws 
was  needed  to  reassure  the  exposed  planters  on  the  Western 
Shore.  Forts  were  ordered  to  be  erected  at  various  places  on 
the  frontier,  and  one  even  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  between 
John  Bedding's  house  and  the  Pocomoke  River,  or  at  such 
other  place  as  the  militia  officers  of  the  two  counties  should 
deem  wise.1 

For  a  full  account  of  the  events  of  this  period,  of  the  revo- 
cation of  the  Arlington-Culpeper  Grant,  and  the  causes  which 
led  Bacon  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Indians,  and  to  resist 
the  oppressions  of  the  Assembly  and  Berkeley's  orders,  the 
reader  must  consult  a  more  general  work.  No  attempt  will 
be  made  in  these  pages  to  justify  nor  to  condemn  Bacon, 
called  the  rebel. 

By  general  consent,  however,  the  most  important  event  in 
the  history  of  Virginia  prior  to  the  American  Revolution  was 
the  rebellion  led  by  the  younger  Nathaniel  Bacon  and  growing 
out  of  the  disturbed  conditions  in  the  colony  at  the  time  of 
which  we  have  been  treating.  It  was  the  first  armed  resist- 
ance offered  by  Americans  to  the  constituted  authorities  of 
the  mother  country ;  and  interest  in  the  movement  is  still  fur- 
ther enhanced  by  the  fact  that  it  occurred  just  one  hundred 
years  before  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.2 

JHening,  Vol.  II,  p.  328. 

2F.  P.  Brent,  Va.  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography.  Frequent  use 
of  Mr.  Brent's  article  is  made  in  this  chapter. 


104      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

During  the  early  summer  of  1676,  while  momentous 
events  were  transpiring  on  the  Western  Shore,  the  people  of 
Northampton  met  (in  June,  1676),  and  drafted  a  list  of 
grievances,  which  clearly  described  the  particular  hardships 
to  which  they  had  been  subjected,  and  the  unjust  burdens 
which  they  desired  to  cast  off.  This  petition,  known  as  the 
'•Northampton  Grievances,"  was  promptly  forwarded  to  the 
Governor  and  Council,  but  no  action  was  taken  thereon, 
except  with  respect  to  Clause  IX,  by  the  Assembly,  which 
convened  June  5,  1676.  With  regard  to  appeals,  this,  the 
last  General  Assembly  before  the  outbreak  of  Bacon's  Re- 
bellion, enacted  the  following  law: 

"act  xviii 

'Be  it  enacted  by  the  governour,  council  and  burgesses  of 
this  Grand  Assembly,  and  by  the  authorities  thereof,  that  all 
lawes  prohibiting  appeals  from  the  counties  of  Northampton 
and  Accomack,  soe  farr  forth  as  it  relates  to  the  said  coun- 
ties be  repealed,  and  that  appeals  from  the  county  courts  of 
Northampton  and  Accomack  aforesaid  lye  open.'1 

NORTHAMPTON    GRIEVANCES 

The  Agreevances  of  ye  Inhabitants  in  Genii  to  say  House- 
keepers and  ffreeholders  of  Northampton  County  committed 
unto  theire  Burgesses  to  prsent  unto  yor  Richt  Honble  Govrs 
his  councell  and  Burgesses  humbly — 

PETITIONING    FOR    REDRESS 

1.  Whereas  our  country  som  yeares  since  was,  contrary 
to  our  expectation,  divided  into  two  counties  to  our  great 
detriment  and  Loss  notwithstanding  ye  great  advantage  of 
Coll.  Scarborough,  yu  made  and  p'cured  to  ye  county  of 
Accomack  agnt  Leutnt  Coll.  Waters  yu  his  ffellow  Burgess; 

lHening,  Vol.  II,  p.  362. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      195 

ye  premises  dewly  considered  desire  (as  we  humbly  con- 
ceive) but  Reasonable,  yt  our  County  may  be  answerably 
Inlarges  as  theirs. 

2.  That  we  may  have  liberty  graunted  us  to  choose  a  new 
vestry,  and  yt  every  three  years  a  new  vestry  may  be  chosen. 

3.  That  ye  act  concerning  paying  for  killing  of  Wolves, 
Bears,  Wilde  Cats  &  Crows,  or  ye  Like,  may  be  Repealed 
since  no  man  but  will,  for  his  own  good  &  security,  Indeavour 
to  ye  utmost  to  destroy  all  possably  he  can. 

If..  That  any  housekeepers  may  have  a  coppy  at  any  time 
of  ye  clerk  of  ye  Lists  of  Tithables,  and  by  ye  s'd  clerk  at- 
tested, paying  Reasonably  for  ye  same. 

5.  That  no  p'son  may  be  sett  Tax  ffree  but  by  a  full  board, 
and  not  by  any  magistrates  p'ticular  favor  to  ye  great  op- 
pression of  other  poore  p'sons. 

6.  That  it  may  graunted  us  to  make  a  free  choyse  of  six 
housekeepers,  without  Interposing  of  any  over  Ruling  Magis- 
trate and  to  continue  yt  Numbr  who  may  be  admitted  and 
authorized  to  sitt,  vote,  assess  and  examine  ye  Lists.of  Tith- 
ables yearely  at  ye  Laying  of  ye  county  Leavy,  giving  them 
Lawfull  Notice  of  ye  same  to  prevent  future  oppression  and 
abuses,  as  we  humbly  suspect  and  conclude  to  have  Received 
heretofore,  wch  Reasonable  Request,  if  deny'd  us,  must  and 
will  submit.  Then  crave  (by  ye  Reason)  we  have  a  court  of 
Brothers;  Priviledge  may  be  granted  us  and  confirmed  (if 
they  continue)  to  have  our  choyce  of  ye  s'd  foure  Brothers, 
two  of  them  only  to  sitt  at  our  s'd  yearly  assessing  ye  County 
Leavy. 

7.  That  our  County  Records  may  be  free  open  for  every 
man  to  search  and  Require  coppies  as  their  occasions,  from 
time  to  time,  shall  and  may  Require  at  ye  apoynted  place 
anf  office,  paying  ye  Clerk  his  just  fees. 

8.  That  courts  may  be  kept  more  duly  according  to  Act 
of  Assembly,  without  often  Ressuringment  at  pleasure,  with- 
out apparent  just  cause  of  ye  great  charge  &  detriment  of  ye 
People,  as  allso  sitting  at  ye  apoynted  hours;  ye  contrary 
forcing  peop.,  Especially  in  Winter,  to  Return  home  at  to 


196      EASTEEX  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Committ  theirs  business  unto  others  Loss  and  Dissatisfac- 
tion, or  else  expose  themselves  to  trouble  and  be  Bourthen- 
some  to  theire  Neighbours  housen,  w'ch  possable  may  be  pre- 
vented by  early  sitting. 

9.  That  we  may  have  Liberty  to  appeale,  in  any  Dubius 
case,  though  depending  upon  a  far  smaller  value  than  Three 
Thousand  pounds  of  Tobacco  wch  would  not  heretofore  be 
p'mitted. 

10.  That  no  Drink  may  be  sold  within  a  mile  of  ye  Court- 
house at  any  of  ye  court  sitting  days,  Considering  ye  Detec- 
tion of  time  and  ye  Rudeness  of  people  where  Drink  is  sold 
at  courts,  neglecting  theire  business,  spending  and  wasting 
theire  Estates,  abusing  themselves  and  Authority,  Quarrel- 
ing and  fighting  with  all  Imagenary  Illconveniences,  and 
evill  concequences  thereby  accruing. 

11.  That  no  ordinary,  or  petty  Tipling  house  may  be  al- 
lowed in  our  county ;  a  means  to  keep  young  freemen  and 
others  from  Running  into  Maryland. 

12.  That  there  may  be  a  considerable  fine  and  stricter  In- 
junction Inserted  or  added  to  the  act  concerning  ye  court  to 
examine  theirs  orders  in  open  court  and  not  any  pticular 
Majestrate  to  presume  ye  same  Private  at  his  house  wch  ye 
clerk  contrary  to  the  true  tenure  of  Law  (in  force)  when 
often  yt  Majestrate  so  doing  is  not  prst  at  half  of  ye  orders 
entered,  whereby  possable  many  111  conveniences  may  arise 
and  corruption  practised  as  heretofore  on  our  Eastern 
Shore. 

IS.  The  mooving  of  ye  s'd  act,  as  upon  Just  complaint,  that 
Sheriffs  and  clerks  may  be  ordered  to  doe  something  ex 
officio  as  well  as  magistrates  and  other  officers,  as  for  intend- 
ing  ye  orphants  court  when  often  done  or  few  accompts  be 
brought  in ;  and  usually  done  at  the  county  court  time.  Ditto 
as  to  order  and  coppy  of  orders ;  so  constables,  survayers  of 
highways  summoning  ye  people  to  choose  Burgesses,  Re- 
turning them,  summonsing  of  Juries  before  need,  when  often 
times  in  '■'>  or  1  courts  not  one  cause  is  put  to  a  Jury,  or  at 
Least  to  moderate  theire  fees,  wch  by  these  means  and  ye 
Like  they  Raise  often  unreasonable  sums  and  allowed  them. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      197 

IJf.  That  ye  Indians  of  ye  Eastern  Shore  in  Virginia 
may  be  obliged  to  kill  a  certaine  Numbr  of  wolves  yearly, 
having  a  dayly  opportunity  by  Ranging  ye  woods ;  for  such 
Satisfaction  as  may  be  thought  fit  without  ye  p'fit  of  p'ticular 
men. 

15.  That  no  Sheriff  may  officiate  two  yeares  together. 

16.  That  no  p'son  may  be  admitted  to  beare  any  office 
until  he  hath  bin  an  Inhabitant  five  years  in  ye  Place  where 
he  shall  officiate,  and  yt  all  those  not  of  that  continuance  may 
be  Dismissed  until  further  Tryall  of  theire  Fidelity  and 
Trust. 

11.  That  whereas  our  shore  is  Incompassed  wth  Shoales 
Insomuch  yt  no  ships  but  of  small  burden  can  come  to  Trade 
and  those  yt  come  but  few  and  Inconsiderable.  It  may  be 
tacken  in  consideration  and  accordingly  ordered  yt  no  psons 
in  our  country  may  be  suffered  to  Ingross  any  commodaties 
(as  formerly)  to  ye  great  prjudice  of  ye  communtry;  to  say 
yt  no  man  shall  within  six  weeks  or  wt  time  may  be  thought 
convent  after  ye  ships  or  vessell  moveing  in  ye  creek  Buy 
more  than  his  crop  doth  amount  unto  ay  any  store. 

Wee  ye  Inhabitants  of  Northampt  County,  In  Virginia, 
having  given  in  our  aggrevances  to  our  Burgasses  do  make 
choyce  of  these  tenn  men  as  Trusttes  to  draw  our  Agree- 
vanees  in  full  and  Ample  manr.  To  be  by  them  Delivered  to 
our  Lawfull  Burgasses. 

Signed.  Jno.  Michael,  Senyr. 

Thos.    Harmanson 
John  Waterson 
Richard  Lamby 
Thomas  Huntt 
Will  Spencer 
Jn.  Custis,  Jr. 
Argoll  Yeardley 

The  marke  of 
Arthur  A.  Apsher 

The  marke  of 
Wm.  W.  Slapting/' 


14 


198      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

While  this  appeal  forcefully  presented  the  grievances  of 
the  people  of  Northampton,  it  does  not  appear  that  any 
armed  resistance  was  threatened  in  that  quarter,  nor  were 
the  people  of  the  peninsula  in  sympathy  with  Bacon's  Re- 
bellion so  far  as  it  was  an  armed  attack  upon  the  Governor. 
Indian  incursions,  the  very  cause  which  precipitated  Bacon 
in  his  course,  was  a  danger  foreign  to  the  Eastern  Shore; 
and  while  the  Navigation  Act  would  have  borne  hard  upon 
them,  had  it  been  enforced,  the  remoteness  of  the  peninsula 
rendered  the  evasion  of  the  law  a  simple  matter.  For  that 
reason,  neither  of  these  matters  is  mentioned  among  the 
grievances.  Had  the  Eastern  Shore  been  exposed  to  merci- 
less inroads  of  the  Savages  of  Maryland,  and  had  Berkeley 
prohibited  the  people  from  protecting  themselves,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  they  would  have  taken  up  arms  in  their  own 
defense  and  turned  upon  the  Governor,  had  he  attempted  to 
interfere.  But  this  was  not  the  case,  and  being  entirely  cut 
off  from  the  Western  Shore,  the  people  of  the  peninsula 
could  not  appreciate  the  necessity  of  Bacon's  course  and  had 
hardly  an  interest  in  common  with  the  rebels.  There  was 
little  more  to  induce  them  to  take  up  arms  than  if  they  had 
been  residents  of  Maryland.  Bacon  himself  did  not  take 
up  arms  with  the  original  object  of  ridding  the  people  of 
the  hardships  which  bore  upon  them  as  a  result  of  the  As- 
sembly's refusal  to  grant  them  relief  from  their  govern- 
mental burdens,  but  merely  because  weapons  were  necessary 
to  repel  and  punish  Indians.  The  idea  of  pressing  other 
demands  upon  the  Governor  by  means  of  force,  never  occur- 
red to  Bacon  in  the  first  stages  of  the  rebellion. 

In  view  of  the  highly  developed  spirit  of  independence 
among  the  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  it  is  more  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  they  would  have  quickly  resisted  Berke- 
ley,   had   circumstances    prompted   such    a   course,    than    to 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      199 

attribute  such  intense  loyalty  to  them  as  would  have  secured 
their  unwavering  support  to  a  tyrannical  governor.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Accomac  as  a  county  took  no  part  in  the 
petition  of  Northampton,  although  the  burdens  complained 
of  in  that  appeal  were  largely  common  to  the  people  of  the 
peninsula. 

At  this  time,  Argoll  Yeardley,  John  Custis  II,  and  Wil- 
liam Kendall  were  the  leading  men  of  Northampton.  Yeard- 
ley was  the  son  of  a  former  Councillor  under  the  Common- 
wealth. John  Custis,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  favorite  of 
Lord  Arlington,  an  ardent  royalist,  and  a  warm  friend  of 
Berkeley's,  if  not  in  accord  with  all  his  policies.  William 
Kendall  had  represented  Northampton  in  the  first  assembly 
after  the  restoration,  which  was  naturally  strongly  royalistic 
in  temper.  The  fact  that  Custis  and  Yeardley,  belonging  to 
different  parties,  were  selected  as  trustees  to  secure  the 
redress  of  their  grievances  by  the  people  of  Northampton, 
and  that  Kendall,  hitherto  an  avowed  royalist,  joined  Bacon, 
clearly  shows  that  the  people  of  Northampton  were  not 
arrayed  along  the  party  lines  previously  existing.  The  in- 
dication is  that  they  were  fircnly  united  in  an  effort  to  im- 
prove matters,  but  that  a  few,  like  Kendall,  who  had  spent 
much  time  at  James  City,  and  fallen  under  the  influence  of 
the  Bacon  sentiment,  took  more  violent  means  to  secure  re- 
dress. 

In  Accomac,  a  similar  absence  of  factional  alignment  was 
to  be  found.  The  leading  figures  there,  since  the  death  of 
Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh,  were  Major  John  West,  Ma- 
jor Edmund  Bowman,  Colonel  John  Wise,  Colonel  Southey 
Littleton,  and  Colonel  Charles  Scarburgh.  West  was  the 
son  of  Lieut.-Col.  John  West,  of  Northumberland  County, 
who  had  married  Matilda  Scarburgh,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Edmund  Scarburgh.     Colonel  West  was  an  ardent  supporter 


200      EASTERN   SHORE  OF  VIK'dl.MA  HISTORY 

of  Berkeley's  in  suppressing  the  rebellion.  1 1  is  son  allied 
himself  with  Colonel  Bowman,  AVise,  and  Littleton  in  their 
policy  of  loyalty  to  Berkeley.  Littleton  was  the  son  of  a 
former  member  of  the  Council  tinder  the  Commonwealth, 
and  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  ha\Te  entertained  his 
father's  views.  Charles  Scarburgh,  son  of  the  noted  royalist 
partisan,  joined  Bacon,  as  did  his  cousin  William  Scarburgh, 
while  Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh,  younger  brother  of 
Charles,  remained  loyal  to  Berkeley.  So  we  see  that  the 
King  played  but  a  small  part  in  the  course  which  the  people 
of  Accomack  pursued. 

Upon  hearing  of  the  dissatisfaction  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
the  Governor  threw  a  sop  to  the  malcontents,  by  promising 
that  lie  would  redress  their  wrongs  so  soon  as  circumstances 
permitted,  and  thereby  rendered  further  remonstrance  on 
their  part  unnecessary. 

When,  on  the  29th  of  July,  the  Governor  found  it  neces- 
sary to  desert  the  Western  Shore,  he  did  not  repair  to  the 
peninsula  on  account  of  the  great  loyalty  of  the  country  to 
his  cause,  but  because  it  was  the  only  remaining  part  of  the 
colony  in  which  he  would  be  safe  from  sudden  capture  by 
Bacon.  He  knew  when  he  went  there  that  the  petitioners 
were  waiting  impatiently  for  response  to  their  appeal,  and 
that  something  more  than  promises  would  have  to  be  yielded 
to  win  their  support.  His  only  hope,  however,  lay  in  assemb- 
ling a  sufficient  force  about  his  standard  to  take  the  aggres- 
sive against  Bacon,  and  with  that  object  in  view  and  in  order 
to  fully  commit  Custis  and  other  prominent  men  to  his 
cause  and  secure  the  aid  of  the  people  through  the  influence 
of  their  leaders,  he  dispensed  various  royal  commissions 
among  them,  appointing  Custis,  Major  General  of  the  King's 
forces,  and  established  his  headquarters  at  "Arlington"  on 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      201 

Old  Plantation  Creek.1  That  Berkeley  should  establish  him- 
self at  this  point  was  most  natural.  It  afforded  the  best 
harbor  convenient  to  the  Western  Shore,  and  was  near  the 
village  of  "Old  Plantation,"  and  also  the  village  of  Acco- 
mack. These  places  though  boasting  but  a  handful  of  peo- 
ple, were  the  only  settlements  of  any  size  south  of  "The 
Horns"  or  "Peachburg,"  as  it  had  now  come  to  be  known. 
Besides,  "Arlington"  was  the  home  of  Major  General  Custis, 
who  was  engaged  in  collecting  the  forces  for  Berkeley,  and 
the  governor  was  naturally  to  be  found  at  the  scene  of  such 
activity. 

Moreover,  since  words  cost  nothing,  Berkeley  promised 
to  exempt  the  two  counties  from  all  taxation  for  a  period  of 
twenty-one  years,  should  they  remain  faithful  to  him.  While 
the  Governor  was  not  always  politic,  he  was  shrewd,  and  by 
such  promises  he  won  the  passive,  if  not  in  all  cases  the 
active,  support  of  the  masses. 

Immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  Berkeley  in  Northamp- 
ton, steps  were  taken  to  muster  the  militia  of  the  two  coun- 
ties and  augment  the  regular  forces.  Commissaries  were 
commissioned  and  sent  out  to  collect  supplies  and  recruits 
for  the  King's  army,  as  Berkeley  called  his  force.  Berkeley 
no  doubt  visited  all  the  principal  points  in  Accomack  as 
well  as  in  the  lower  peninsula,  for  he  soon  enlisted  through 
personal  appeal  many  of  the  leading  citizens  in  his  cause. 
Tradition  says  that  he  established  his  headquarters  near 
Pungoteague,  and  again  at  a  house  on  Onancock  Creek.  Un- 
questionably he  was  at  these  places  but  only  temporarily. 

While  Berkeley  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  endeavoring  to 
rally  to  his  banner  a  force  capable  of  overcoming  Bacon,  and 

^ening,  II,  p.  552.     Also  Winder  Papers.    Va.  State  Library.    Va. 
Mag.    of   History   and   Biography,   Vol.    X,   pp.    69-70. 
Cradle  of  The  Republic,  Tyler,  p.  70. 


202      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

dispatching  messengers  to  England,  begging  for  troops  and 
other  aid,  Bacon  was  not  inactive  on  the  Western  Shore.  The 
flight  of  the  Governor  had  decided  many  persons  in  their 
course,  hitherto  neutral,  and  large  numbers  went  over  to 
Bacon. 

Campbell  tells  us  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Eastern  Shore  committed  depredations  on  the  estates  of  the 
planters  on  Bacon's  side  of  the  bay.1  It  is  possible  that  some 
of  the  free-booters  whom  Berkeley  assembled  about  him 
took  advantage  of  the  Governor's  authority  to  loot  and  pil- 
lage. Some  of  the  "free  and  easy"  gentlemen  from  the  sea- 
side islands,  who  in  no  sense  could  be  called  Accomackians, 
would  have  found  the  occasion  a  congenial  one. 

After  attending  to  matters  at  Middle  Plantation,  Bacon 
dispatched  Giles  Bland,  "a  gentleman  of  an  active  and  stir- 
ring disposition,  and  no  great  admirer  of  Sir  William's 
goodness,"  to  the  Eastern  Shore  to  capture  the  old  Governor 
and  confine  him.  Bland  was  ordered  to  go  and  "block  up" 
his  foe,  Sir  William,  or  induce  the  people  to  surrender  him 
— "thinking  the  country,  like  the  Friar  in  the  Bush,  must 
needs  be  so  mad  as  to  dance  to  their  pipe."  So,  General 
Bacon,  hoping  that  his  Lieutenant,  Bland,  might  "go  forth 
with  an  empty  hand  but  return  with  a  full  fist,"  placed  mat- 
ters in  his  charge  and  went  after  the  Indians.2 

Lieutenant  General  Bland,  a  man  of  courage  and  haughty 
bearing,  set  forth  on  his  enterprise.  He  had  250  men,  and 
one  ship  with  four  guns,  under  command  of  an  old  sailor, 
Captain  Carver,  who  was  "resolved  to  adventure  his  old 
bones"  for  the  rebel  cause.  This  one  ship  was  insufficient, 
however,  and  Bland  seized  another,  lying  in  York  River, 
which  belonged  to  a  Captain  Laramore,  probably  a  trader 

'Charles  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  305. 
2See  Cooke's  History  of  Virginia. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      203 

and  a  friend  of  Berkeley's.  This  seizure  irritated  Laramore 
and  was  the  source  of  many  woes.  He  had  been  arrested 
and  confined  in  his  cabin,  but  dissembling,  professed  sym- 
pathy, and  was  restored  to  the  command  of  his  ship ;  and 
then  Bland  sailed  for  Accomac.  On  the  way  he  captured 
two  other  vessels,  making  four  in  all,  and  with  this  fleet, 
anchored  off  "Old  Plantation." 

At  the  appearance  of  the  four  ships  mounted  with  can- 
non, Sir  William  was  almost  in  despair.  He  found  himself 
threatened  with  capture  by  a  rebel  fleet,  and  his  situation 
was  not  unlike  that  of  his  master  Charles  I,  in  his  darkest 
days.     An  incident  changed  everything. 

Laramore's  mind  was  still  rankling  with  resentment  at 
the  seizure  of  his  ship ;  and  he  privately  sent  word  to  Berke- 
ley that  if  assistance  were  given  him  he  would  betray  Bland. 
At  the  time,  the  vessels  were  at  anchor,  and  Captain  Carver 
of  the  four-gun  ship,  Bland's  second  in  command,  had  gone 
on  shore  to  see  Berkeley.  Laramore's  offer  resembled  a 
trap,  but  a  friend  of  the  Governor's,  Colonel  Philip  Lu dwell, 
offered  to  vouch  for  him,  and  to  lead  the  party  to  assist  in 
Bland's  capture.  Sir  William  thereupon  agreed  to  every- 
thing, and  Ludwell  prepared  an  armed  boat  in  Old  Planta- 
tion Creek,  but  out  of  sight.  At  the  time  appointed,  he 
rowed  toward  Laramore's  ship ;  supposed  to  be  coming  to 
parley;  and  Bland  did  not  fire  on  him.  The  sequel  quickly 
came.  The  boat  ran  under  the  ship's  stern,  and  one  of  Lud- 
well's  men  leaped  on  board,  and  putting  a  pistol  to  Bland's 
breast  said,  "You  are  my  prisoner."  The  rest  followed  and 
disarmed  the  crew,  who  were  said  to  be  drunk,  but  were  prob- 
ably Laramore's  friends;  and  Carver  soon  returning,  he  and 
Bland  were  "amazed  and  yielded."  No  further  resistance 
was  made,  and  Colonel  Ludwell  returned  in  triumph  with 
his  prisoners  to  Berkeley.     Thus  ended  in  gloomy  disaster 


304      EASTERX  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  attempt  to  make  the  Accomackians  dance  to  the  rebel 
piping.  Bland,  with  all  his  courage  and  activity,  had  been 
caught  in  a  trap,  and  Berkeley  put  him  in  irons  and  other- 
wise ill-treated  him.1  Poor  old  Carver  was  honored  by  his 
excellency,  as  we  are  told,  with  the  gift  of  a  halter,  and  was 
hung  on  the  shore  near  "Old  Plantation"  a  few  days  after- 
wards. General  Bland  was  spared  for  the  time  being  and 
held  in  prison  on  the  Eastern  Shore  until  March.  He  was 
a  man  of  too  much  influence  at  court  to  be  dispatched  in  the 
summary  way  in  which  Carver  had  been  executed.  After 
Bland's  capture,  Laramore's  men  joined  the  forces  of 
Berkeley. 

At  this  juncture  it  will  be  interesting  to  examine  into 
the  army  which  Berkeley  was  able  to  gather  about  him  on  the 
Eastern  Shore. 

We  know  that  Major  John  West  of  Accomac  raised  a 
force  of  men  in  this  county,  forty-four  of  whom  served  under 
Berkeley  for  thirty-four  days.2  How  many  of  the  better 
element  of  Northampton  enlisted  for  service  under  Berkeley, 
we  have  no  way  of  determining,  but  it  is  known  that  some  of 
them  did  enlist,  and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  accredit  them 
with  a  force  equal  to  that  from  Accomac.  Supposing  this 
to  be  the  case,  Berkeley  must  have  had  one  hundred  fairly 
good  men. 

Historians  unite  in  telling  us  that  Captain  Gardener,  a 
follower  of  Berkeley,  arrived  about  this  time  at  Accomac  in 
his  ship  the  Adam-and-Eve,  with  ten  or  twelve  sloops  which 
he  had  collected  along  the  coast.  Bland's  captured  ships 
made  in  all  about  seventeen  vessels.  When  Bland  set  out 
for  Accomac,  he  had  a  force  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

JCooke,  p.  275. 

"Petition  of  Maj.  John  West,  Accomac  County  Records,  Sept.  14,  1677. 
See  Appendix. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      205 

Add  to  this  number  the  crew  of  Laramore's  ship,  and  those 
of  the  two  other  vessels  of  Bland's  fleet,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  Bland  must  have  had  about  three  hundred  men  with 
him  when  captured.  Most  of  these  men  joined  Berkeley's 
army,  and  added  to  the  men  from  Accomac  under  Major 
West,  and  an  equal  number  from  Northampton  made  up  a 
force  of  about  five  hundred. 

Some  authorities  put  the  number  of  men  which  Berkeley 
had  when  he  crossed  the  bay  as  high  as  one  thousand,1  while 
others  claim  but  eight  hundred."  In  view  of  the  usual  ex- 
aggeration of  such  estimates,  the  smaller  number  is  probably 
more  nearly  correct.  The  crews  of  Gardener's  vessel  and 
the  sloops  would  normally  number  about  two  hundred  men. 
The  balance  of  one  hundred  was  probably  made  up  of  the 
'longshoremen  to  whom  the  historians  invariably  refer.  If 
the  force  were  composed  as  we  have  supposed,  it  was  indeed 
a  motley  crew,  but  should  not  be  accredited  to  the  Eastern 
Shore.  To  this  force  naturally  devoid  of  all  discipline,  the 
Governor  offered,  so  it  is  said,  the  estates  of  all  who  had 
taken  ''Bacon's  Oath,"  and  further  proclaimed  that  the  serv- 
ants of  all  gentlemen  fighting  under  Bacon  should  have  their 
master's  property  in  case  they  enrolled  themselves  under  the 
King's  flag. 

Such  extravagant  promises  were  not  calculated  to  instill 
order  and  discipline  into  the  ranks  of  the  Governor's  nonde- 
script army. 

Berkeley  sailed  for  Jamestown  and  reached  it  safely  Sep- 
tember 7,  1676,  the  news  of  his  approach  "outstripping  his 
canvass  wings."  The  place  was  held  by  Colonel  Hansford, 
one  of  the  youngest  and  bravest  of  Bacon's  lieutenants,  with 
eight  or  nine  hundred  men.     Berkeley,  anchoring,  summoned 

1T.  M.  Manuscript. 
2Winder  Papers. 


206      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Hansford  to  surrender,  promising  amnesty  to  all  but  Law- 
rence and  Drummond,  then  in  the  town.  Hansford  refused, 
but  upon  the  advice  of  these  two  leaders,  determined  to 
evacuate  the  place,  which  he  did  during  the  night.  About 
noon  the  next  day,  Governor  Berkeley  landed  on  the  island, 
and  ''knelt  down  and  rendered  thanks  to  God  for  his  safe 
arrival."1 

Lawrence,  Drummond,  and  Hansford  had  galloped  off  to 
the  north  to  report  the  loss  of  the  town  to  Bacon,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  the  York  River.  They  told  Bacon  that  the  whole 
"Kingdom  of  Accomac"  had  declared  for  the  Governor  and 
that  a  great  army  had  been  raised  there  and  transported 
across  the  bay. 

Bacon's  proceedings  were  those  of  a  soldier.  He  had  only 
a  body-guard  with  him,  but  he  mounted  in  hot  haste  and  set 
out  for  Jamestown.  Couriers  scattered  in  all  directions  to 
summon  his  followers  to  join  him.  As  he  advanced,  his  force 
steadily  increased,  and  inarching  with  "a  marvellous  celer- 
ity, outstripping  the  swift  wings  of  fame,"  he  came  in  sight 
of  Jamestown,  at  the  head  now  of  a  force  of  several  hundred 
men. 

Sir  William  was  ready  to  receive  him.  A  strong  earth- 
work and  palisade  had  been  erected  across  the  neck  of  the 
island,  and  Bacon  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre.  He  then 
ordered  his  trumpets  to  sound  and  a  volley  to  be  fired  into 
the  town.  But  no  response  came  back.  Berkeley,  it  is  said, 
expected  that  his  enemy  would  retire  for  want  of  provisions ; 
but  in  this  he  was  disappointed.  Bacon  was  a  rough  cam- 
paigner, and  supplied  himself  from  the  Governor's  own 
larder,  as  the  Governor  had  supplied  himself  from  thought- 
ful Mr.   Lawrence's  cupboard.     He  made  his  headquarters 

Cooke's  History  of  Virginia. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      207 

at  "Greenspring,"  the  mansion  of  Sir  William;  and  cattle, 
grain,  horses,  and  stores  of  every  description  were  appro- 
priated without  scruples.1 

Bacon,  after  a  careful  survey  of  the  ground,  proceeded  to 
throw  up  a  breastwork  in  front  of  Berkeley's  palisade.  It 
is  said  that  in  order  to  accomplish  this  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  he  seized  the  wives  of  a  number  of  his  prominent 
adversaries  and  notified  Berkeley  and  the  husbands  that  if 
an  attempt  were  made  to  stop  the  entrenching,  the  ladies 
would  be  mounted  upon  the  works  to  stop  the  bullets.  Not 
heeding  the  threat,  an  attacking  party  sallied  out  of  James 
City  at  daylight  the  next  morning  and  fell  upon  the  work- 
men ;  the  sally  was  repulsed ;  and  the  ladies  were  mounted 
upon  the  half  completed  works  and  kept  there  until  the 
breastwork  was  completed.  As  soon  as  the  ladies  retired, 
Governor  Berkeley  ordered  a  general  attack,  but  his  undis- 
ciplined army,  it  must  be  admitted,  did  not  push  forward 
with  much  vigor  and  was  promptly  driven  back.  Historians 
do  not  give  much  credit  to  the  followers  of  Berkeley  for  their 
conduct  in  this  fight.  His  army  was  necessarily  an  unor- 
ganized band.  While  there  were  many  fine  men  from  the 
Eastern  Shore  with  him,  and  a  handful  of  followers  like 
Ludwell  from  the  Western  Shore,  the  large  majority  of  his 
men  were  sailors  and  irregulars  and  cared  little  for  Berke- 
ley or  his  cause.  No  doubt  the  latter  had  joined  the  Gover- 
nor for  the  sake  of  promised  plunder,  and  "finding  cold 
steel  to  encounter  instead  of  larders  to  rifle,"  they  suddenly 
ceased  fighting  and  fled  to  Jamestown.  Thus  deserted,  the 
better  portion  of  Berkeley's  army  was  forced  to  retreat, 
leaving  a  dozen  of  their  number  killed  or  wounded  before 
Bacon's  trenches. 

Cooke's  History  of  Virginia. 


208      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

This  was  the  end  for  the  moment  of  Sir  William  Berkeley 
and  the  royal  cause.  The  stormy  old  leader  was  "extremely 
disgusted,  and  expressed  in  some  passionate  terms"  his 
wrath  and  mortification.  But  there  was  no  help  for  it.  His 
following  was  plainly  too  lukewarm  to  run  any  risk  in  his 
cause ;  and  when  Bacon  brought  up  three  guns  and  opened 
a  cannonade  on  the  town  and  ships,  Sir  William  Berkeley 
lost  all  heart,  embarked  during  the  night,  and  he  and  his 
army  sailed  away  from  Jamestown  and  returned  to  Accomac. 

llncon  immediately  entered  the  deserted  capital,  and 
ordered  it  to  be  burned  so  as  to  prevent  Berkeley  from  occu- 
pying it  again. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Berkeley's  attempt  to  overcome 
Bacon.  It  had  accomplished  nothing.  The  advance  had 
ended  in  retreat.  Sir  William  had  fled  to  his  ships,  and  his 
ships  had  fled  down  James  River  and  back  to  the  Eastern 
Shore.  There  was  no  more  spirit  left  in  the  army  which 
has  been  so  generally  accredited  to  Accomac. 

The  Governor's  fleet  of  transports  probably  landed  the 
disheartened  expedition  at  Pungoteague  or  Occahannock, 
for  an  entry  in  the  Accomack  records  shows  that  a  hospital 
was  established  at  the  house  of  Henry  Reade  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  county,  where  the  sick  and  wounded  were  received 
and  kindly  treated.  If  the  expedition  had  returned  to  "Old 
Plantation"  in  Northampton  it  is  not  likely  that  the  wounded 
would  have  been  taken  such  a  great  distance  as  to  Accomac. 

Though  Berkeley,  and  the  host  of  invaders  which  had 
descended  upon  James  City,  had  been  driven  off,  Bacon  felt 
that  something  should  be  done  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  this 
invasion.  He,  therefore,  no  doubt  upon  the  advice  of  Scar- 
burgh  and  Kendall,  dispatched  agents  to  distribute  a  proc- 
lamation among  the  people  of  the  peninsula  in  which  he 
appealed  to  them  to  desist  from  further  acts  of  enmity  to- 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      209 

wards  him  and  begging  them  to  forsake  Berkeley.  The  step 
was  a  wise  and  opportune  one  so  far  as  it  concerned  the  mass 
of  the  people,  though  it  had  no  effect  upon  the  better  element 
of  the  Governor's  supporters.  The  overwhelming  disasters 
which  had  befallen  the  first  expedition  were  certainly  cal- 
culated to  discourage  further  enlistment  in  Berkeley's  army, 
and  a  loyalty  already  lukewarm  was  not  intensified  by  such 
results. 

Even  Bacon  was  misled  as  to  the  true  nature  of  the  invad- 
ing army,  attributing  its  personnel  entirely  to  Accomac,  as 
will  be  seen  from  the  following  text  of  his  appeal: 

bacon's  appeal  to  the  people  of  accomac k 

"Of  part  of  our  victory,  and  the  misery  of  your  own  and 
Sr.  Wm.  Berkeley's  Condition,  your  selves  are  Judges,  how 
unjust  your  cause  was,  how  base  and  sordid  the  invitation 
that  tempted,  how  unheard  of,  his  and  your  manner  of  pro- 
ceedings against  yor  neighbors  and  friends,  to  invade  this 
poor  Colony  and  bee  the  first  beginners  of  Bloodshed  amongst 
his  Maties  subjects,  for  hopes  of  Plunder:  does  T  believe  by 
this  time  gall  your  consciences  and  reasons  to  reflect  upon, 
and  consider  how  you  have  been  deluded  and  gulled  by  that 
abominable  Jugler:  whose  cheates  and  base  Actions  you  were 
all  acquainted  with,  and  whose  oppressions  you  have  a  long 
time  groaned  under,  which  that  you  may  more  clearly  see 
and  understand,  read  without  prjudice  and  considr. 

"Know  that  I  have  done,  has  bin  in  defence  of  his  Majties 
interest  (by  a  power  derived  from  his  Maties)  as  authen- 
tique  and  immediate,  as  in  this  part  of  the  world  can  be — 
being  a  Commission  signed  by  Sr.  Wm.  Berkeley  att  the 
request  of  yor  Assembly,  and  ratified  by  an  Act  of  Assembly, 
whereby  the  said  Sir  Wm.  Berkeley  amply  and  fully  ex- 
presseth  his  confidence  of  my  Loyalty  to  his  Matie  to  bee 
one  of  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  this  intrusting  mee  with 
soe  great  a  charge,  which  doth  fully  and  absolutely  acquitt 
me  of  that  violence  whereby  he  pretends  the  Commission  to 


210      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

be  extorted,  for  that  all  the  world  may  imagine  that  noe  man 
of  honour  in  his  place,  would  bee  compelled  to  Act  against 
reason,  soe  that  noe  reasonable  man  can  imagine  Compulsion 
otherwise  than  a  Ridiculous  Evasion. 

"For  in  Taxing  mee  contrary  to  the  tenor  of  my  Commis- 
sion hee  taxeth  himself  of  treason  to  our  Soveraigne,  wch  no 
pretence  of  compulsion  can  excuse,  for  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  his  Matie  would  entrust  either  a  Coward,  or  a 
ffolle,  soe  that  it  doth  necessarily  follow  that  if  my  Commis- 
sion were  Just  and  granted  for  reasonable  grounds  (as  by 
tenor  thereof  under  his  hand  doth  appeare)  then  the  Com- 
plaint by  him  agst  us,  was  unjust  and  abominable  or  if  I 
were  what  hee  prtends  hee  doth  att  once  confess  himself  both  a 
Coward  and  a  Traitor  which  hee  very  well  knows,  and  it  is 
on  that  score,  that  by  his  folly  and  passion  together,  hath  in- 
volved himself,  and  this  poore  Colony,  in  such  a  Laborinth 
of  mine,  for  that  hee  very  well  knows,  that  hee  never  can 
Answer  what  hee  hath  done  before  his  Matie,  should  his 
doings,  and  what  he  was  alwaies  desirous  of,  come  to  the 
eares  of  our  Soveraigne  Lord  (as  by  our  former  declaration 
may  appeare)  for  he  knows  and  will  consider,  that  by  his 
own  handwriting  all  his  accusations  agst  his  Maties  Loyall 
Subjects,  which  were  with  such  haste  dispatched  for  Eng- 
land, are  frustrates,  when  that  it  will  appeare  that  hee  hath 
granted  me  Commission  of  an  Afterdate  to  his  Accusation, 
hee  therefore,  perceiving  that  all  his  damnable  Plotts  and 
devices  agst  the  people  although  by  all  his  Artifices,  Lyes 
and  Juggles  must  of  necessity  turne  on  himself e,  not  daring 
to  trust  himselfe  to  the  Justice  of  our  Soveraigne,  whose 
interest  with  our  loves  wee  have  defended,  resolved  rather 
to  trust  his  Cause  to  the  rash  Conduct  of  his  madd  party,  to 
the  wisedom  of  a  discerning  Prince,  who  must  needs  count 
him  unfitt  to  Governe,  who  neither  had  the  principle  to  doe 
what  was  just,  nor  the  courage  to  oppose  what  was  unjust. 

"Again  consider  also,  that  hee  has  Acted  beyond  his  com- 
mission or  power,  granted  from  his  Matie  wh  impowers  him 
to  Act  with  foure  of  his  Council  Jointly,  when  in  this  late 
disturbance,  hee  hath  had  two  (Cole  &  Ludwell). 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      211 

"Againe  considr  that  hee  Levyed  forces  without  an  As- 
sembly or  the  consent  of  the  Country,  against  the  people  who 
have  hitherto  been  of  the  defensive  party. 

"Lastly  considr  how  closely,  constantly  and  diligently 
wee  have  acquitted  ourselves  of  our  trust,  and  taken  all  pos- 
sible advantage  of  our  Indian  Enemy. 

''Considr  also  what  considerable  victoryes  wee  have  ob- 
tained, in  two  marches  agst  them  and  how  we  have  been 
pursued  and  prosecuted  in  both. 

"Considr  also  what  ill  successe  hee  and  his  party  have 
had,  and  what  little  reason  you  have  to  boast  of  your  pur- 
chase or  any  your  attempts,  or  actions  in  our  Rivers. 
"Gent. 

"If  therefore,  sence,  reason  or  humanity  can  invite  you 
(bee  unbeguiled  betimes)  and  attend  what  is  seriously 
spoken  to  you  and  propounded  by  the  people  of  Virginia,  that 
if  you  doe  within  fifteen  days  after  the  arrival  of  this  paper 
on  yr  shore,  send  some  of  yr  discreetest  persons  in  the  name 
of  your  countrey,  to  make  us  satisfaction  for  your  Losses 
(which  by  your  Pyracyes)  wee  have  sustained,  and  to  de- 
liver up  to  us  the  Ringleaders,  to  bee  sent  into  England, 
there  to  havr  their  Tryall,  that  is  to  say,  Custis,  Stringer, 
ffoxcraft,  Littleton;  as  also  shall  howrly  convey  to  us  what 
persons  of  our  party  are  there  detained  as  Prisoners,  then 
out  of  the  tender  desires  we  have  to  preserve  peace  and 
Amnity  among  ourselves,  that  his  Maties  Colony  might  not 
bee  ruined  by  yor  rashness ;  wee  will  rather  treat  with  you  as 
Brothers  and  friends  and  endeavour  that  our  sad  difference 
may  be  composed. 

"And  that  this  section  of  yors  may  be  reckoned  as  the 
seducement  of  Abominable  Jugler  Sr whose  oppres- 
sions you  have  formerly  known  then  any  wayes  revive  the 
memory  of  it  to  the  Breach  and  discontinuance  of  that  peace 
which  wee  hitherto  have,  and  ought  to  maintaine  (wch  if  you 
deny)  I  appeale  over  to  yourselves,  if  you  can  justly  blame 
us,  iff  we  prosecute  you  with  all  extremity  of  warr,  to  the 
utmost  of  our  powers,  which  you  must  expect  from  them, 


212      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

whom  nothing  but  your  own  folly  and  Injustice  has  or  can 
make  your  Enemies. 

""Subscribed  thus, 

Xatii.  Bacon." 

While  this  remarkable  exposition  of  his  claims  to  right 
and  the  support  of  the  Accomackians  did  not  win  Bacon  the 
active  enlistment  of  the  Eastern  Shoremen  in  his  cause,  yet 
a  threat  was  clearly  expressed  in  the  body  of  this  appeal. 
Indeed,  Bacon  was  already  planning  to  take  the  aggressive 
against  Berkeley  and  to  punish  the  people  of  the  peninsula 
for  their  invasion  of  the  Western  Shore. 

The  poor  old  Governor  was  much  alarmed,  for  the 
apathetic  loyalty  of  the  masses  to  his  cause  could  not  possi- 
bly delude  him  into  a  belief  that  they  would  offer  such  oppo- 
sition to  Bacon  as  would  lead  to  the  devastation  and  destruc- 
tion of  their  farms  and  homes.  While  the  influence  of  the 
gentry  was  very  great,  yet  even  they  could  not  assure  Berke- 
ley of  his  safety  among  them.  If  Bacon's  transports  were  to 
heave  in  sight,  but  one  course  was  open  to  the  Governor,  and 
that  was  to  desert  the  soil  of  Virginia  for  a  safer  place  of 
refuge.  The  bitter  conflict  between  Bacon  and  Berkeley,  so 
far  as  personal  rancour  was  concerned,  was  not  reflected  in 
the  breasts  of  their  supporters,  and  such  men  as  Kendall 
and  Charles  Scarburgh  in  the  former's  army,  would,  from 
self-interest,  see  that  no  desolation  of  their  homes  ensued  at 
the  hands  of  the  invaders.  A  meeting  of  the  leaders  of  the 
two  parties  would  have  been  more  in  the  nature  of  a  saluta- 
tion between  friends  and  brothers  than  a  parley  between 
enemies. 

At  any  rate,  the  fear  that  the  rebels  might  land  upon 
the  peninsula  and  take  up  a  triumphant  march  accompanied 
by  fire  and  sword,  caused  much  alarm  among  the  common 
people,   so  that  Berkeley's  orders  to  patrol   the  coasts   and 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      213 

watch  for  Bacon's  sails,  were  readily  complied  with.  Pa- 
trols were  posted  along  the  shores  and  near  the  mouth  of 
every  navigable  creek,  and  as  the  eyes  of  the  self-interested 
watchers  scanned  the  horizon  and  noted  with  apprehension 
every  craft  that  appeared  upon  the  bosom  of  the  blue  bay, 
the  uneasy  Governor  no  doubt  kept  within  easy  reach  of  a 
fleet  craft,  standing  prepared  to  spread  her  sails  at  the  first 
signal  of  departure. 

This  deplorable  situation  must  have  been  equally  alarm- 
ing to  the  loyal  Custis,  Major  General  of  a  vanished  army, 
and  who  had  loaned  large  sums  of  money  to  Berkeley  on  the 
King's  account.  'No  doubt  the  Governor's  word  was  Custis's 
sole  security  and  that  was  not  negotiable  collateral  in  the 
clearing  house  of  the  rebels.  The  loyal  Custis,  however,  as 
well  as  the  other  creditors  of  the  King  among  the  gentlemen 
of  the  Eastern  Shore,  seem  to  have  acted  with  magnanimity 
during  the  crisis  of  Berkeley's  affairs,  and  to  have  continued 
to  aid  and  succor  him  when  all  seemed  lost. 

Hope  flared  up  afresh,  when  the  loyal  Colonel  Brent,  with 
one  thousand  men,  made  a  demonstration  in  Gloucester  in 
favor  of  the  royal  cause,  but  almost  simultaneously  with  the 
news  of  the  undertaking  came  the  sad  tidings  of  its  farcical 
end.  Fortune  again  favored  the  downcast  Berkeley,  for  even 
while  Bacon  was  completing  his  preparations  to  invade  the 
peninsula,  his  strength  waned  under  a  consuming  fever  and 
dysentery,  contracted  in  the  trenches  at  Jamestown,  and 
after  a  few  weeks'  illness,  he  expired  in  October,  1676. 

Contemporaneous  writers,  laboring  under  the  excitement 
of  the  time,  hinted  at  foul  play  on  the  part  of  Berkeley  and 
his  sympathizers,  but  as  yet  evidence  sufficient  to  justify  the 
charge  of  poisoning  has  not  been  adduced. 

Appreciating  the  fact  that  "Bacon's  Rebellion"  was  in- 
spired and  maintained  by  the  great  personal  influence  of 


15 


214      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  deceased  leader,  and  that  with  him  died  the  spirit  of 
fearless  resistance  to  the  King's  authority,  Berkeley,  so  soon 
as  he  heard  of  Bacon's  death,  determined  to  strike  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  mutiny.  Robert  Beverley,  who  had  remained 
with  the  Governor  during  his  exile,  was  accordingly  dis- 
patched with  a  party  of  reliable  men  to  York  River,  to  cap- 
ture as  many  of  the  demoralized  leaders  of  the  rebel  force 
as  possible.  They  succeeded  in  capturing  Colonel  Hansford 
and  about  twenty  of  his  men  near  where  Yorktown  now 
stands.  They  were  taken  captive  to  Accomack.  Hansford 
was  summarily  tried  by  the  Governor  at  the  head  of  a  make- 
shift court,  sentenced  to  be  hung  and  duly  executed  on  the 
bay-shore,  about  a  mile  from  the  place  of  his  confinement, 
November  13,  1676.1  Captain  Wilford,  Captain  Farloe  and 
several  others  of  less  note  were  also  put  to  death  on  the  East- 
ern Shore. 

Sir  William  Berkeley  now  repaired  to  York  River  with 
four  merchant  ships,  two  or  three  sloops  and  150  men.  On 
January  29,  1677,  a  fleet  with  an  English  Regiment  arrived 
and  Berkeley  was  commissioned  to  try  rebels. 

Since  James  City,  the  former  seat  of  Government,  was 
no  more,  a  court-martial  was  instituted  on  board  Captain 
John  Martin's  ship  in  Yorke  River,  January  11,  1677,  and 
adjourned  from  time  to  time  to  the  house  of  the  Governor 
at  "Green  Spring"  and  other  important  points  thereabout. 
This  court  was  composed  of  the  Right  Honourable  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley,  Knt.  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  following  gentlemen: 


'Ingram's  Proceedings,  33:  Force's  Collection  of  Historical  Tracts, 
Vol.  I.  For  a  sketch  of  Thomas  Hansford,  the  first  native  martyr  to 
American  Liberty,  as  he  has  been  frequently  styled,  see  Virginia  Histori- 
cal  Collections,  Vol.   IX,   p.   193. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      215 

Coll.  Nathl.    Bacon    (elder)   Coll.  Win.   Claiborne 

Coll.  Tho.   Ballard  Coll.    Southey  Littleton 

Coll.  Phill.   Ludwell  Lt.  Coll.  John  West 

Coll.  Augustine   Warner         Maj.   Law.   Smith 

Maj.  Bobert  Beverley  Capt,    Anth.   Armistead 

Coll.  Math.   Kemp  Capt.  Danl.  Jenifer 

A  revel  of  blood  ensued,  but  in  justice  to  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  court,  it  should  be  said  that  they  opposed  as  best 
they  could  the  violent  measures  of  the  Governor.  Nothing 
could  deter  him,  however.  His  thirst  for  the  blood  of  his 
enemies  was  apparently  insatiable.  At  last,  after  he  had 
executed  ten  of  the  rebels,  the  King's  Commissioners,  Col- 
onel Herbert  Jeffries,  Sir  John  Berry,  and  Colonel  Francis 
Morryson,  arrested  the  proceedings  of  the  bloody  drum- 
head court. 

A  civil  court,  of  which  the  commissioners  were  members, 
was  instituted  at  "Green  Spring,"  and  held  its  first  session 
March  1st.  The  commissioners  had  brought  with  them  from 
England  the  King's  Proclamation  authorizing  the  court  to 
pardon  all  rebels  who  would  take  the  oath  of  obedience  to 
his  Majesty  and  give  security  for  their  good  behavior. 

On  the  3rd  of  March,  the  Governor  was  not  present  at 
the  session  of  the  court,  whereupon  Charles  Scarburgh  and 
William  Kendall  presented  themselves  for  judgment.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  they  had  been  apprised  of  the  Governor's 
intended  absence.  After  claiming  the  benefit  of  the  King's 
proclamation  and  taking  the  oath  of  obedience  to  his  Maj- 
esty, the  following  judgment  was  passed  upon  them  by  the 
court  i1 

"Itt  being  most  evident  that  Captain  Charles  Scarburgh 
hath  uttered  divers  scandalous  and  mutinous  words  tending 
to  the  dishonour  of  the  right  honourable  the  Governour ;  but 

^ening,  II,  p.  549. 


216      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  said  Captain  Scarburgh  submitting  himself,  and  being 
ready  to  comply  with  what  fine  the  court  shall  adjudge 
against  him,  the  court  have  thought  fit  and  do  order  that  the 
said  Captain  Scarburgh  be  fined  or  amerced  fowerty  pounds 
sterling,  to  be  paid  upon  demand  to  the  right  honourable  the 
governour,  which  the  said  Scarburgh  willingly  submits  to." 
"Itt  being  evident  that  Coll.  Wm.  Kendall  hath  uttered 
divers  scandalous  and  mutinous  words  tending  to  the  dis- 
honour of  the  right  honourable  the  governour;  but  the  said 
Coll.  Kendall  submitting  himselfe,  and  offering  fifty  pounds 
sterling  as  a  fine  for  his  soe  great  crime;  and  the  right  hon- 
ourable governour  desiring  the  court  to  pass  the  same  into 
order,  they  have  therefore  thought  fit  and  doe  order  that  he 
pay  the  said  somme  upon  demand  to  the  right  honourable 
the  governour,  which  he  willingly  submits  to,  and  hath 
accordingly  performed  the  same." 

From  this,  the  measure  of  Kendall's  offense  seems  to  have 
been  greater  than  Scarburgh's. 

At  the  session  of  the  court  held  March  8th,  Giles  Bland, 
the  leader  of  the  expedition  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  was  con- 
victed of  treason  and  sentenced  to  be  hung,  which  sentence 
was  executed  on  the  15th.  At  the  sessions  of  the  9th,  10th, 
15th  and  16th,  a  number  of  prominent  rebels  were  sentenced 
to  death,  raising  the  total  number  executed  to  twenty-three, 
twelve  of  whom  had  been  sentenced  by  Berkeley's  Court- 
martial.  On  the  last  date  above,  William  Scarburgh  was 
sentenced  to  death.1 

The  Assembly  and  court  which  convened  February  20th 
had  by  this  time  repealed  Bacon's  laws  and  Berkeley's  tri- 
umph was  absolute. 

Our  Virginia  historians,  misled  by  the  contemporaneous 
accounts  of  the  Rebellion  as  contained  in  the  "T.  M."  manu- 
script, the  Winder  Papers,  Bacon's  appeal  and  other  papers, 

Mining,  II,  p.  553. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      217 

have  without  exception  misconceived  and  misrepresented 
the  part  played  by  the  Eastern  Shore  in  connection  with 
Bacon's  Rebellion.  All  of  them  agree  that  only  the  rougher 
element  of  'longshoremen  and  adventurers,  whom  desire  for 
plunder  drew  to  his  banner,  supported  Berkeley  against 
Bacon.1  They  have  referred  to  the  part  played  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Eastern  Shore,  during  the  Rebellion,  in  most  dis- 
paraging terms.  They  have  unjustly  charged  the  people  of 
the  peninsula  with  the  acts  of  every  free-booter  and  ruffian 
who  flocked  there  at  Berkeley's  call,  for  the  purpose  of 
adventure  and  in  the  hope  of  plunder.  They  have  been  led 
into  the  error  by  contemporaneous  writers,  who,  ignorant  as 
to  the  true  situation,  indiscriminately  referred  to  Berkeley's 
motley  host  as  Accomackians.  The  people  of  the  Western 
Shore,  at  that  time,  knew  very  little  about  the  peninsula  or 
its  inhabitants ;  and  after  all  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
believe  the  rabble  which  descended  upon  them  from  across 
the  bay,  to  be  composed  of  natives  of  the  peninsula. 

An  examination  of  the  records  of  the  peninsula  will  con- 
trovert the  general  view  of  historians  and  convince  any  un- 
biased mind  that  while  large  numbers  of  Eastern  Shoremen 
did  not  accompany  Berkeley  in  his  expedition  to  James  City, 
they  very  generally  hazarded  their  fortunes  for  the  success 
of  his  cause. 

When  Berkeley  first  sent  out  a  call  for  supplies,  many  of 
the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  men  on  the  peninsula 
responded. 

With  the  exception  of  the  orders  for  the  raising  of  troops 
and  the  impressment  of  provisions,  no  mention  is  made  of 
the  Rebellion  in  the  records  that  cover  the  period  of  hostili- 
ties.    As  Sir  Wm.  Berkeley  was  present  on  the  peninsula 

JFor  similar  error,  see  Bancroft's  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  465. 


218      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  greater  part  of  the  time,  he  evidently  took  affairs  into 
his  own  hands,  and  adopted  such  measures  as  he  deemed 
best  adapted  to  insure  his  own  safety  and  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  his  fortunes.  Hence  we  find  that,  during  the  Re- 
bellion, the  court  records  of  Accomac  and  Northampton  are 
scanty.  Of  the  proceedings  of  Sir  Wm.  Berkeley  and  his 
Council  while  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  no  record  has  been  pre- 
served; and  it  is  not  probable  that  any  was  made.  As  soon, 
however,  as  the  Rebellion  collapsed  by  reason  of  Bacon's 
untimely  and  mysterious  death  and  the  civil  courts  resumed 
their  duties,  the  old  county  records  teem  with  entries  that 
fix  the  attitude  of  the  Eastern  Shoremen  in  the  great  strug- 
gle and  attest  the  services  rendered  by  them  to  the  cause  of 
Berkeley.1  While  Berkeley  is  known  to  have  executed  a 
number  of  the  rebels  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  the  sole  mention 
of  an  execution  in  the  Accomac  Records  is  contained  in  the 
petition  of  lone  Occahone.2 

The  document  which  above  all  others  fixes  beyond  a  doubt 
the  attitude  of  the  Eastern  Shore  people  in  Bacon's  Rebel- 
lion is  the  memorial  addressed  to  Sir  William  Berkeley  by 
the  justices  of  the  peace  and  other  leading  citizens  of  Acco- 
mac shortly  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  asking  for  cer- 
tain favors  he  had  promised  them  in  consideration  of  their 
loyalty.     The  text  of  the  petition  follows: 

"Wee  his  Majesties  Justices  here  underwritten,  and  others, 
the  Inhabitants  of  Accomack  County,  in  obedience  to  his 
most  sacred  Majesties  command  directing  us  to  send  over  to 
them  sealed  all  grievances  and  pressures,  especially  such  as 


*For  interesting  abstracts  from  Accomac  Records  see  Appendix, 
2See  Appendix. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      219 

have  been  the  grounds  of  the  late  troubles  and  disorders 
among  us,  being  deeply  sensible  of  the  Late  Rebellion  hatched 
and  acted  on  the  Western  Shore  by  Nath.  Bacon,  dec'd,  and 
complices,  to  our  great  prejudices,  expenses  and  Losses  of 
many  men  and  crops  by  watching  and  warding  on  all  parts- 
of  the  Shoare  to  hinder  the  Landing  and  invasion  of  the  said 
Rebells  on  our  coast,  where  we  have  received  into  our  pro- 
tection the  bodies  of  the  Right  Honourable  Sr.  Wm.  Berke- 
ley and  severall  other  good  and  Loyall  subjects  of  his  Majty, 
fled  to  our  parts  from  the  fury  and  rage  of  the  said  Bacon 
&  Complices,  doe. 

"First,  hereby  acknowledge  that  we  nor  any  of  us  knew 
any  reason  for  any  such  Rebellion,  &  some  or  all  of  us  did 
protest  against  his  actions  as  rebellious. 

"Secondly,  we  humbly  desire  his  Majty  to  continue  Sr. 
Wm.  Berkeley  Governor  in  Virginia  as  long  as  God  shall 
spare  him  life. 

"Thirdly,  Whereas  the  Right  Honourable  Sr.  Wm.  Berke- 
ley upon  his  first  coming  to  us  and  our  readiness  to  assist 
him  to  the  hazard  of  our  own  lives  and  fortunes  against  the 
said  Rebell  Bacon  &  Accomplices,  did  promise  as  well  as  our 
county  of  Accomack  as  the  rest  of  the  Eastern  Shore  in  Vir- 
ginia should  bee  free  from  all  county  tax  for  these  twenty- 
one  years  ensuing. 

"Wee  humbly  therefor  pray  ye  Honourables  to  be  a  means 
the  same  may  be  confirmed  first  in  Virginia  and  afterwards 
by  his  Ma  j  ties  Roy  all  grant. 

"Fourthly,  Whereas  wee  are  deeply  sensible  of  the  vast 
charge  this  unhappy  warr  and  Rebellion  hath  put  the  coun- 
try to,  and  it  may  be  expected  to  be  defrayed  out  of  the 
country :  Wee  desire  wee  may  be  excluded  from  all  and  every- 
part  of  the  same,  wee  being  in  no  way  the  cause  of  it. 

"Lastly,  Whereas  we  have  been  informed  that  this  Royall 
Majty  hath  or  was  about  to  give  the  country  their  Quit  Rents 
for  many  years  to  come,  wh:  wee  doubt  this  unhappy  warr 
hath  now  broke  off,  wee  humbly  desire  it  may  still  remaine 
good  to  us,  and  being  in  no  way  the  cause  of  knowing  of  the 


220      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

same,  to  wh :  wee  subscribe  or  hands  in  open  court,  and  pray 
for  his  Majties  and  ye  Honourable  Governr  health  long  to 
continue. 

(Signed)     Edm'd  Bowman 

Robt.  Hutchinson 
William  Whittington 
Jno.  Wise 
Tho.  Riding 
Rich.  Hill 
Edm'd  Scakbukgh1 
Jno.  Wallop 
Obedience  Johnson 
&  many  others." 

The  names  subscribed  to  the  foregoing  memorial  afford  a 
sufficient  guarantee  for  the  truth  of  all  the  statements  it 
contains.  They  are  the  names  of  the  foremost  men  then 
living  on  the  Eastern  Shore. 

Then  comes  the  report  of  the  King's  own  Commissioner, 
Sir  John  Berry,  appointed  to  assist  in  the  settlement  of  mat- 
ters in  Virginia.  In  summing  up  the  sufferers  by  Bacon's 
Rebellion  he  writes: 

"iN    ACCOMACK 

"The  Gentlemen  of  this  Province  were  very  Loyal  to  his 
Majestie  and  Faithfull  and  constant  to  the  Governor,  and 
must  therefore  of  consequence,  be  greate  suffers  since  the 
place  was  the  onely  shelter  for  the  Governour  and  his  Party 
during  the  Troubles  in  other  Parts  of  his  Majesties  Colony 
of  Virginia ;  from  which  this  is  separated  seven  leagues  dis- 
tance. 

"The  Persons  of  Particular  Emmency  were  these,  vizt: 
Col.  Stringer,  Col.  Littleton,  Mr.  Foxcroft,  Major  Jenifer 
and  in  the  first  Place. 

'Son  of  Col.  Edmund,  who  died  in  1670-71,  and  brother  of  Col.  Charles 
Scarburgh. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      221 

"Major  Genii.  Jo.  Custis  whose  house  was  Sir  William 
Berkeleys  continued  Quarters,  a  person  who  at  all  tymes 
and  Places  boldly  asserted,  &  supported  to  his  power  the 
Governours  honour  &  cause  in  his  Maties  behalfe  against  the 
Rebells.  This  worthy  Gentlemen  upon  consulting  severall 
of  the  most  eminent  and  able  persons  in  Virginia  for  victual- 
ling his  Majestyes  ships  there,  most  frankly  engaged  to  lend 
the  King  a  Thousand  pounds  sterling  on  his  owne  account, 
to  promote  and  advance  thereof,  if  it  possible  have  been  per- 
formed answerable  to  his  Maties  on  their  Exigency,  which 
none  would  undertake  to  do. 

"(Signed)        John  Berry. 

"Ed.  in  Oct,  15,  1677." 

This  contemporaneous  writing  should  settle  beyond  ques- 
tion the  fact  that  the  governor  made  "Arlington"  and  "Old 
Plantation"  his  permanent  headquarters  during  the  rebel- 
lion. 

We  have  seen  how  Sir  William  Berkeley  left  nothing 
undone  to  punish  those  who  had  taken  sides  with  Bacon. 
The  following  extract  from  the  records  of  Accomac  in  refer- 
ence to  Jenifer  show  that  in  punishing  his  enemies  the  Gov- 
ernor did  not  forget  to  reward  his  friends. 

"By  his  Majesties  Governr  and  Captain  Generall  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

"Whereas,  Capt.  Daniel  Jenifer  of  Accomac  county  of 
Virginia  hath  fully  approved  himselfe  a  good  and  loyall 
subject  of  his  Most  Sacred  Majties  Govr,  being  always  ready 
to  serve  and  obey  me  his  Majties  Govr  in  suppressing  the 
present  Rebellion,  and  understanding  the  said  Capt.  Jenifer 
was  added  to  the  Commission  for  the  peace  for  the  sd  court 
held  for  the  sd  County,  admitted  to  the  same  place  he  was 
put  in  the  sd  Commission,  he  first  taking  the  oathe  of  alle- 
giance and  the  oathe  of  a  justice  of  the  peace. 

"Given  under  my  hand  this  ye  8th  day  of  December,  in 
the  eight  and  twentieth  years  of  the  reigne  of  our  Sovereigne 
Lord  King  Charles  the  Second,  Annoque  Dom.,  1676." 


•!■!■!      EASTEEX  SHOBE  OF  YIEGIXIA  HISTOEY 

The  attitude  of  the  Eastern  Shore  during  Bacon's  Rebel- 
lion may  now  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words,  and  the  facts 
set  forth  in  this  chapter  should  convince  the  reader  that  our 
historians  have  erred  grievously  in  their  "slap-dash"  ac- 
counts of  the  Eastern  Shore  at  this  time. 

First :  The  grievances  of  the  Eastern  Shoremen  were  local 
in  character  and  not  such  as  would  lead  to  the  taking  up  of 
arms. 

Second :  The  gentry,  among  whom  were  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the  Colony,  did  not  array  themselves 
along  any  hitherto  existing  party  lines.  The  large  majority 
of  them  adhered  to  Berkeley  and  devoted  their  swords  and 
means  to  his  support,  but  those  who  joined  Bacon  denied 
that  they  did  so  out  of  a  spirit  of  disloyalty  to  the  King. 

Third :  The  masses  were  indifferent  as  to  the  Rebellion 
at  first,  but  won  over  by  promises  of  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion and  the  influence  of  the  gentry,  a  few  of  the  common 
people  enlisted  for  service  against  Bacon. 

Fourth:  Contemporaries  and  Historians  have  generally 
erred  in  charging  the  Eastern  Shore  with  the  disorderly  mob 
of  freebooters  which  gathered  about  Berkeley,  because  the 
point  of  assembly  was  on  the  peninsula. 


XIII 
Towns    and    Courthouses    Built.      Tobacco    Troubles. 

Jacobitism 

The  troublous  period  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  and  the  con- 
stant excitement  incident  thereto  had  proved  too  much  for 
the  fierce  old  Governor.  His  health  as  well  as  his  temper 
had  been  so  overstrained  that  he  was  unequal  to  the  task  of 
governing  the  colony.  He  was  recalled  by  the  King,  April 
27,  1677,  and  leaving  the  scenes  of  his  glory  and  trouble 
soon  after,  died  in  England  (in  July)  without  seeing  his 
royal  master  whom  he  had  endeavored  to  serve  so  faithfully. 

The  General  Assembly  which  met  at  Middle  Plantation, 
on  October  10,  1677,  at  the  call  of  Lieut. -Governor  Herbert 
Jeffreys,  continued  its  sittings  for  one  month,  and  in  that 
time  undertook  to  settle  the  Indian  troubles  and  many  other 
pressing  questions.  We  have  no  record  of  the  Burgesses 
from  the  Eastern  Shore,  but  representatives  were  sent  to 
this  assembly.  General  Custis,  of  Northampton,  was  ele- 
vated to  the  Council.  The  Burgesses  of  Acconiac  introduced 
a  most  important  matter  bearing  upon  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  not  only  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  but  of  the  whole  col- 
ony. Until  this  time,  witnesses  were  frequently  allowed  to 
testify  without  being  sworn,  and  the  accused  was  forced  to  - 
testify  against  himself,  or  to  have  his  silence  construed  as  a 
confession  of  guilt.  In  order  to  correct  so  grievous  a  prac- 
tise, contrary  to  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  people,  the 
question  was  raised,  with  the  result  that  the  Assembly  took 
cognizance  of  the  matter  and  ordered  as  follows: 

223 


22-1      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

*  I  pon  a  motion  from  Accomac  County,  sent  by  the  Bur- 
gesses, it  is  answered  and  declared,  that  the  law  has  provided 
that  a  person  summoned  as  a  witness  against  another,  ought 
to  answer  upon  oath,  but  no  law  can  compel  a  man  to  answer 
against  himself  in  any  matter  wherein  he  is  liable  to  cor- 
poral punishment."1 

This,  indeed,  was  a  great  service  on  the  part  of  the  Acco- 
mac Burgesses  and  they  should  be  credited  for  the  stand 
they  took  in  the  matter.  Furthermore,  they  pressed  with 
great  energy  the  claim  of  that  county  to  exemption  from 
taxes  in  accordance  with  Governor  Berkeley's  promise;  but 
this  was  not  the  only  promise  of  the  departed  Governor's 
which  was  not  fulfilled. 

In  1679,  the  Governor  of  Virginia  was  invited  to  send 
representatives  to  a  general  council  to  be  held  in  New  York, 
in  order  that  the  various  colonies  might  confer  through  their 
commissioners  with  Governor  Andros  as  to  Indian  affairs 
generally  and  the  Six  Nations  more  particularly.  These 
Indians  had  proved  a  great  source  of  disturbance  to  the  out- 
lying tribes,  and  extended  their  influence  as  far  south  as 
Virginia.  As  much  of  the  trouble  of  1676  was  directly 
attributable  to  the  activities  of  the  New  York  Indians,  Gov- 
ernor Chicheley  commissioned  Colonel  William  Kendall  and 
Colonel  Southey  Littleton,  of  Northampton  and  Accomac 
respectively,  to  attend  the  conference.  On  the  31st  of  July, 
the  commissioners  arrived  in  New  York  with  their  creden- 
tials, and  it  was  arranged  to  hold  a  council  in  the  autumn  at 
Albany,  with  the  Onandagas  and  other  bands  of  the  Iroquois. 
The  policy  adopted  by  the  colonies  of  acting  in  concert  in 
their  dealings  with  the  Five  Nations  resulted  in  much  good. 
Hitherto,  each  colony  had  safeguarded  its  own  interests 
merely  by  diverting  the  Indians  from  attack  upon  itself, 

Miming,  Vol.  II,  p.  422. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      225 

without  thought  of  the  other  colonies.  Now,  by  united 
efforts,  the  Indians  were  to  be  gradually  urged  westward.1 

We  are  told  that  the  Virginia  Commissioners  accomplished 
very  little  except  with  respect  to  the  Mohawks,  but  Mary- 
land, being  more  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the  Five  Nations, 
persisted  in  her  efforts  and  finally  negotiated  successful 
treaties  with  them. 

While  in  New  York,  Colonel  Southey  Littleton  died  at 
the  house  of  Robert  Livingstone  on  the  Hudson  River  near 
Albany.2 

The  feeling  at  this  time  that  the  Eastern  Shore,  or  Acco- 
mack, as  it  was  generally  called,  was  a  more  or  less  separate 
province,  in  more  ways  than  its  geographical  position,  is 
illustrated  by  Act  IX  of  the  Assembly  which  convened  in 
April,  1679.  After  authorizing  Major  Smith  and  Captain 
William  Byrd  to  seat  certain  lands  at  the  head  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock and  James  River,  and  mentioning  the  colony  in 
a  general  way,  the  act  prescribes: 

"And  it  is  further  enacted  by  the  present  Grand  Assembly 
and  the  authority  thereof,  And  it  is  hereby  enacted,  that  the 
like  privilege  and  immunities  on  like  conditions  and  with 
like  exceptions  be  granted  to  such  one  or  more  persons,  who- 
soever shall  be  willing  to  undertake  the  same  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  at  the  frontiers  thereof  at  such  places  as  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Grand  Assembly,  etc."3 

JFor  full  account  of  Indian  Councils  of  this  period,  see  Osgood's 
American  Colonies  in  17th  Cent.,  Vol.  II.  pp.  422,  et  seq.  Colden,  Five 
Nations,  p.  50.     Heckewelder,  Hist,  of  Indian  Nations,  Introduction. 

2The  will  of  Col.  Littleton,  for  years,  could  not  be  found.  Very 
recently,  the  late  John  Cropper,  of  Washington,  discovered  a  record  of 
the  will,  which  had  been  filed  in  Albany.  He  mentioned  the  fact  to  his 
host,  Mr.  Oliver  Livingstone,  and  was  informed  by  him  that  the  testator 
had  died  in  the  house  of  the  Livingstones  on  the  Hudson  River. 

3Hening.  Vol.  II,  p.  434. 


22ri      EASTERX  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  act  grew  out  of  the  desire  to  extend  the  settled  portions 
of  the  Colony,  thus  rewarding  adventurous  persons  who  were 
willing  to  risk  the  danger  of  contact  with  the  Savages.  But 
no  such  danger  was  to  be  anticipated  on  the  peninsula.  The 
Maryland  frontier  was  as  well  settled  as  any  portion  of  Acco- 
mac,  and  the  few  Indians  remaining  there  were  in  a  state  of 
perfect  subjugation.  Such  an  offer  must  have  been  made 
under  a  misapprehension  of  the  facts,  unless  the  policy  of 
the  government  was  to  repudiate  the  Calvert-Scarburgh 
boundary  and  secure  a  better  title  to  the  disputed  territory 
by  occupation.  If  such  was  the  design,  it  was  abandoned 
soon  after  1679,  for  in  1688  the  Calvert-Scarburgh  line  was 
recognized  by  the  colony,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  landmark 
throughout  years  of  contention,  finally  resulting  in  an  adjust- 
ment by  arbitration  in  1894. 

As  further  illustration  of  the  peculiar  view  entertained 
with  respect  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  we  find  this  Act  of  1679 : 

"And  to  the  end  that  the  Eastern  Shore  may  not  alto- 
gether be  left  without  defense  against  the  Indian  Enemy, 
if  any  shall  attempt  thereon,  or  any  such  attempt  shall  arise 
among  the  inhabitants  there;  be  it  enacted  by  this  grand 
assembly,  and  the  authority  thereof,  and  is  hereby  enacted, 
that  the  inhabitants  on  the  Eastern  Shore  may  have,  and  it 
is  hereby  declared  that  they  have,  the  same  liberty  to  make 
garrisons  and  raise  soldiers  in  a  manner  and  form  as  it  is 
allowed  to  the  several  counties  on  the  Western  Shore,  or  to 
raise  and  employ  their  soldiers  in  ranging  as  they  may  find 
occasion."1 

The  great  desire  of  the  King  for  many  years  had  been  to 
see  populous  towns  and  villages  scattered  over  his  Virginia 
domains.  The  Acts  encouraging  frontier  posts  not  only  in- 
volved purposes  of  general  defense  and  the  opening  up  of 

'Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  439. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      227 

new  territory,  but  were  also  designed  to  promote  the  forma- 
tion of  centers  of  population.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  New 
England  towns  misled  the  King  into  believing  that  a  similar 
development  could  be  brought  about  in  Virginia,  and  from 
an  early  date  he  had  proceeded  to  legislate  towns  into  exist- 
ence. But  the  towns  so  far  had  remained  011  paper,  giving 
their  names  only  to  large  stretches  of  wilderness. 

The  seductive  sweetness  of  life  upon  the  healthy  soil  of 
the  peninsula,  with  its  many  coves,  bays,  inlets  and  nav- 
igable creeks,  enticed  the  settlers  to  its  shores,  and  in  spite 
of  the  wishes  of  the  King,  the  settlers  spread  out  along  the 
coast  and  nothing  could  induce  them  to  give  up  the  placid 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  their  sea-side  farms  in  exchange 
for  life  in  crowded  towns  yet  to  be  founded.  Xo  argument 
could  persuade  the  planter  of  the  Eastern  Shore  to  give  up 
his  acres  on  the  banks  of  the  creeks  and  the  shores  of  the 
bay,  where  ships  that  sailed  across  the  seas  might  tie  up  to 
his  own  little  wharf  of  pine  poles  and  oyster  shell  ballast, 
in  sight  of  the  growing  products,  which  were  to  make  up  the 
foreign-bound  cargoes. 

The  General  Assembly  showed  great  willingness  to  en- 
courage the  growth  of  towns  in  compliance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  English  Government,  although  its  members  must  have 
perceived  very  clearly  the  impracticability  of  their  measures. 

In  the  session  of  1661-2,  the  law  requiring  that  every  ship 
which  arrived  in  James  River  should  sail  to  Jamestown  and 
there  obtain  a  license  to  trade  was  reenacted,1  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  such  a  measure  would  add  nothing  to  the  growth 
of  that  place,  as  had  been  already  proved  by  previous  ex- 
perience, and  must  enhance  to  an  appreciable  extent  the 
cost  of  all  imported  articles  in  consequence  of  the  longer 

lHening,  Vol.  II,  p.   135. 


228      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

voyage  and  unavoidable  delay  in  delivering  them,  for  the 
expenses  of  the  vessel  had  to  be  recouped  by  the  higher  prices 
demanded  from  the  purchaser  of  the  goods.  There  was  but 
one  justification  for  the  action  of  the  Assembly  in  taking 
steps  to  compel  all  vessels  bringing  cargoes  of  goods  into  the 
colony  to  go  to  Jamestown  and  there  obtain  a  license  to  sell, 
namely,  the  endeavor  to  keep  the  volume  of  revenue  undi- 
minished, since  all  liquors,  if  landed  elsewhere,  escaped  the 
burden  of  the  import  tax.  But  if  this  was  the  motive  gov- 
erning the  Assembly,  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  regulation 
was  impracticable.  A  determined  effort  was  now  made  to 
carry  out  the  instructions  that  a  town  should  be  built  upon 
every  river  to  serve  as  a  port  of  entry.  In  the  session  of 
1662,  there  was  passed  the  most  detailed  and  carefully  con- 
sidered measure  which  had  as  yet  been  brought  forward.1 
This  law  constitutes  one  of  the  most  interesting  acts  of  legis- 
lation in  colonial  history,  and  might  be  regarded  as  a  re- 
markable "triumph  of  legislative  hope  over  practical  ex- 
perience," were  it  not  for  the  statement  of  the  preamble 
that  the  Assembly  had  undertaken  to  encourage  the  building 
of  towns  because  they  looked  upon  it  as  their  duty  to  conform 
to  the  wishes  of  their  sovereign  in  England.  There  is  a 
brief  reference  to  the  probable  economic  advantages  to  accrue 
to  themselves.  The  determination  to  establish  these  towns 
had  its  origin  almost  exclusively  in  a  feeling  of  loyalty,  a 
poor  justification  for  so  momentous  a  step.  The  hand  of 
Berkeley  is  detected  in  the  whole  framework  of  the  statute 
and  his  preference  is  evidently  consulted. 

A  full  synopsis  of  this  act  will  be  found  interesting  as 
revealing  the  procedure  of  the  General  Assembly  in  the 
seventeenth   century  when  it  sought  to  build  up  a  town  in 

'Ibid,  pp.  172-170. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      229 

the  face  of  a  powerful  combination  of  hostile  influences.  The 
best  means  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  capital  was  the 
problem  which  was  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  colony 
during  the  first  year  after  the  passage  of  the  statute,  and  at 
the  end  of  that  time  the  public  energies  were  to  be  devoted 
to  establishing  a  town  on  the  York,  Kappahannock,  and 
Potomac  respectively,  and  on  the  Eastern  Shore.1 

As  was  to  be  expected,  no  town  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of 
any  size  sprang  up  as  a  result  of  such  fostering  methods,  and 
the  matter  was  dropped  until  1680,  when  an  elaborate  meas- 
ure was  drawn  up  by  the  Assembly  to  encourage  town  build- 
ing, known  as  the  Act  of  Cohabitation.  Under  the  terms  of 
this  statute,  it  was  provided  that  fifty  acres  should  be  pur- 
chased by  the  authorities  of  each  county  within  its  own 
boundaries,  to  be  held  by  duly  appointed  feofees  in  trust. 
Calvert's  Neck  was  selected  as  the  town  site  for  Accomac, 
and  the  Secretary's  Plantation  on  King's  Creek  for  North- 
ampton. As  an  inducement  to  build  on  these  sites,  a  lot, 
half  an  acre  in  extent,  was  granted  in  fee  simple  to  any  one, 
provided  he  would  build  a  residence  or  store  on  it;  the 
conveyance  to  be  subject  to  the  additional  condition  that  the 
beneficiary  should  pay  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  to  the 
county. 

The  failure  to  build  within  three  months  operated  as  a 
forfeiture  of  the  lot.  If  half  an  acre  appeared  insufficient 
for  his  purpose  to  any  settler  who  wished  to  establish  him- 
self in  any  of  these  towns,  he  might  secure  an  acre  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  erect  on  it  two  residences  or  two  ware- 
houses, and  should  pay  to  the  county  an  additional  one  hun- 
dred pounds  of  tobacco.  The  tobacco  was  forfeited  if  in  the 
course  of  three  months  he  neglected  to  erect  the  houses  agreed 

truce's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  539  to  554. 


16 


230       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

upon.  The  surveyors  who  determined  the  boundaries  were 
to  receive,  on  the  delivery  of  the  plats,  twenty  pounds  of 
tobacco  for  every  half-acre  laid  off.  If  a  surveyor  refused 
when  requested  to  make  a  survey  of  a  lot,  he  subjected  him- 
self to  the  forfeiture  of  five  hundred  pounds  of  the  same 
commodity  to  the  person  seeking  his  services.  All  the  pro- 
ducts of  native  growth  and  manufacture  were  to  be  brought 
to  these  towns,  there  to  be  sold,  and  then  to  be  carried  on 
board  for  exportation.  The  penalty  imposed  for  a  failure 
to  comply  with  this  order  was  the  forfeiture  of  the  articles. 
All  forms  of  merchandise,  all  English  servants  and  negro 
slaves  imported  into  the  Colony,  were  to  be  landed  and  to  be 
disposed  of  only  at  these  towns,  under  the  pain  of  confisca- 
tion if  the  regulation  was  violated.  Cattle  and  provisions 
were  excepted  from  the  operation  of  this  rule.  The  cost  of 
hiring  a  sloop,  the  only  means  of  transporting  the  tobacco 
from  the  plantation,  was  fixed  at  twenty  pounds  of  that  com- 
modity for  each  hogshead,  provided  the  distance  to  be  trav- 
ersed did  not  exceed  thirty  miles;  if  it  were  greater  than 
this,  the  charge  was  to  be  forty  pounds,  and  should  the  owner 
of  the  sloop  demand  more,  he  was  to  be  punished  by  the  for- 
feiture of  one  hundred  pounds  for  each  hogshead  conveyed 
by  him  at  the  illegal  rate.  The  expense  of  storage  in  a  ware- 
house was  to  be  the  same  for  a  single  day  and  a  single  month, 
namely,  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  a  hogshead.  Tf  the  period 
ran  beyond  a  month,  the  additional  charge  for  each  month 
was  fixed  at  six  pounds.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  tobacco  belonging  to  persons  whose  plantations 
were  situated  at  a  distance  from  the  nearest  site  chosen  for 
a  town,  these  persons  were  permitted  to  appropriate  land  at 
the  most  convenient  point  for  the  dispatch  of  vessels,  on 
which  a  rolling-house  was  to  be  erected  to  furnish  accom- 
modation for  all  the  producers  in  their  neighborhoods.  When 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      231 

the  planter  had  prepared  his  crop  for  shipment,  he  could 
convey  his  hogsheads  to  this  house  for  safe-keeping  until  a 
sloop  or  shallop  arrived  to  transport  them  to  the  nearest 
port  of  entry.  If  he  had  a  sloop  or  shallop  of  his  own,  he 
could  either  carry  his  tobacco  to  the  rolling-house  by  water 
or  directly  to  the  legal  port  and  there  have  it  deposited  in 
the  public  warehouse.  The  rolling-house  was  expected  to  be 
a  shelter  not  only  for  the  tobacco  in  the  course  of  transporta- 
tion to  the  port  of  entry,  but  also  for  the  goods  which  had 
been  unloaded  at  the  latter  place  and  had  afterwards  been 
brought  to  the  rolling-house  for  distribution  among  the 
planters  residing  in  the  neighborhood.  It  can  be  seen  how 
seriously  a  provision  of  this  kind,  if  carried  fully  into  effect, 
would  have  added  to  the  expenses  of  the  planter.  Instead  of 
dropping  his  anchor  at  his  wharf  and  there  discharging  a 
cargo  of  goods  and  taking  on  a  cargo  of  tobacco,  the  trading- 
vessel  would  have  stopped  at  a  point  ten,  twenty,  or  even 
fifty  miles  away.  Whether  the  planter  was  compelled  to 
reach  this  by  transporting  his  tobacco  in  a  hired  shallop  or 
sloop,  or  in  a  vessel  of  his  own,  he  would  have  been  put  to 
an  expense  for  which  he  could  expect  no  return.  The  inter- 
vention of  a  rolling-house  would  have  been  favorable  to  his 
convenience,  but  would  not  have  diminished  the  charge  im- 
posed by  the  system  of  ports  of  entry.  Under  the  terms  of 
this  law,  the  tobacco  conveyed  thither  was  to  be  exempted 
in  the  course  of  transportation,  and  after  it  reached  its  desti- 
nation, from  the  process  of  law  for  any  debt  which  might 
have  been  contracted  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  statute, 
and  the  same  privilege  was  extended  to  the  bodies  and  estates 
of  the  new  town.  In  neither  case,  however,  was  it  to  con- 
tinue for  a  longer  period  than  five  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
time,  the  creditors  of  such  persons  might  bring  suit  without 
any  apprehension  lest  the  statute  of  limitations  should  be 


232       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

offered  in  bar.  To  enjoy  this  protection,  it  was  necessary 
that  the  debt  should  not  have  been  contracted  within  the 
bounds  of  one  of  the  proposed  corporations.  After  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Act,  all  mechanics  residing  in  the  new  com- 
munities were  to  be  exempted  for  a  period  of  five  years  for 
the  payment  of  levies,  on  condition  that  they  neither  planted 
nor  tended  tobacco.  In  order  to  diminish  the  expense  en- 
tailed in  establishing  a  town,  it  was  provided  that  two  coun- 
ties might  unite  and  erect  it  upon  a  site  equally  convenient 
to  the  inhabitants  of  both. 

This  Act  was  as  judicious  and  as  far-seeing  in  its  details 
as  any  law,  with  so  impracticable  an  object  in  view,  could 
have  been.  No  influence  was  omitted  that  was  likely  to  im- 
press the  minds  of  persons  who  were  in  a  position  to  build 
in  the  towns  projected.  The  offer  of  a  lot  for  a  small  amount 
of  tobacco  and  the  exemption  within  the  boundaries  of  each 
town  of  the  person  and  property  of  its  citizens  from  the  pro- 
cess of  law  for  the  recovery  of  debts  which  had  been  con- 
tracted previously  elsewhere,  were  in  themselves  inducements 
of  the  highest  importance.  The  law  of  1680  was  not  open 
to  the  objection  which  could  be  very  justly  urged  against 
the  statute  of  1G71,  for  it  did  not  seek  to  establish  one  port 
on  each  of  the  four  large  rivers  of  the  Colony ;  on  the  con- 
trary, a  port  of  entry  was  appointed  for  each  county  on  a 
site  admitted  to  be  the  most  convenient  for  a  majority  of  its 
inhabitants. 

In  accord  with  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Cohabitation, 
steps  were  taken  by  the  authorities  of  all  the  counties  to  lay 
off  sites  for  towns  at  the  different  places  designated  by  law. 
Records  of  this  fact  have  come  down  to  us  in  a  few  instances 
only.1 

'Bruce's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  549-552. 


EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      233 

Later  on,  the  failure  of  the  Cohabitation  Act  to  create 
flourishing  ports  led  to  the  enactment,  in  1691,  of  the  Act 
for  Ports,  practically  the  same  town  sites  being  designated 
as  in  the  previous  measure.  The  new  act  provided  for  the 
forfeiture  of  all  goods  not  cleared  through  one  of  the  estab- 
lished ports.  The  statute  proved  so  unpopular  that  it  was 
suspended  in  the  session  of  1692-93. 

The  site  for  a  town  in  Accomac,  designated  by  the  Act  of 
1680,  was  particularly  described  as  "Calvert's  Neck  on  the 
northwest  side  at  the  head  of  an  Anchor  Creeke."1  This 
town  was  called  Onancock  after  the  creek  upon  which  it  was 
located,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  on  the  peninsula.  Pur- 
suant to  the  Act  creating  the  town,  the  first  county  court 
house  was  erected  there,  and  also  a  warehouse.  During  the 
next  few  years,  several  dwellings  were  built  near  the  public 
buildings,2  and  a  Clerk's  Office  was  added  to  the  settlement. 
Onancock  was  the  county  seat  until  about  1786,  when  a  new 
court  house  was  erected  on  the  land  of  Kichard  Drummond, 
midway  between  the  sea-side  and  bay-side  of  the  peninsula.3 
The  old  county  seat  was  abandoned  in  order  that  the  new 
court  house  might  be  equally  convenient  to  all  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  county,  and  with  that  end  in  view  it  was  located 
at  a  central  point,  and  called  Accomac  Court  House.  A 
cluster  of  houses  soon  sprang  up  about  the  court  house,  and 
by  reason  of  Kichard  Drummond  owning  the  land,  the  town 
became  known  as  Drummondtown.  To  this  day  the  place  is 
called  both  Accomac  Court  House  and  Drummondtown. 

While  the  court  house  was  taken  from  Onancock  in  1786, 
the  clerk's  office  was  not  moved  until  a  later  date.4 

'Purvis  mistook  the  name  Onancock  for  the  name  an  Anchor. 
Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  473. 

2Hening,  Vol.  IV,  p.  53-59. 

3See  Petition  of  Inhabitants  of  Accomac,  Dec.  7,  1786-18,  Abstracts 
of  MS.  in  Va.  State  Library. 

Abstracts  of  MS.  in  Va.  State  Library,  Petitions  A-19  and  A-20, 
Oct.  22,  1787. 


234      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  site  first  selected  for  the  town  in  Northampton  was 
described  as  being  "at  the  north  side  of  King's  Creeke,  be- 
ginning at  the  mouth,  and  soe  along  the  creeke  on  the  land 
belonging  to  Mr.  Secretaryes  office."1  Thus  we  see  that  the 
original  site  of  the  town  of  "Accomack,"  founded  in  1620, 
was  selected  in  preference  to  Old  Plantation,  King's  Creek 
affording  better  depth  and  anchorage.  This  site  was  in  turn 
abandoned  and  in  1691  the  town  was  ordered  to  be  located 
"upon  one  of  the  branches  of  Cherrystone  Creek  on  the  land 
of  Mrs.  Anna  Lee,  daughter  of  Captain  Hancock  Lee,  now 
in  the  tenure  of  the  widow  of  Andrew  Small."2  This  town 
was  known  as  Cherrytone  and  was  not  far  removed  from 
"Huntington,"  the  estate  of  Colonel  Obedience  Robins.  The 
only  town  to-day  of  any  size  in  this  part  of  the  peninsula 
is  just  south  of  King's  Creek  and  on  the  site  designated  in 
1680.  It  is  known  as  Cape  Charles  City,  though  ten  miles 
north  of  the  true  cape. 

The  first  court  house  in  Northampton  County  was  built 
just  after  the  division  of  the  peninsula  and  was  located  at  a 
place  called  Town  Fields,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
on  the  site  of  the  original  Accomack  town  on  Secretary 
Pory's  land.  According  to  the  old  records,  it  was  located  on 
the  west  side  of  a  "gutt  that  empties  into  King's  Creek  near 
the  present  city."  This  building  was  completed  after  March 
2,  1664,  since,  on  that  date,  Court  was  held  at  the  house  of 
Jacob  Dalby. 

The  structure  was  but  a  temporary  one  and  very  small, 
being  only  twenty  feet  long  by  twenty  wide  and  nine  feet 
in  pitch.     The  work,  which  was  undertaken  by  Colonel  Wil- 

'Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  473. 
2Hening,  Vol.  IV,  p.  53-59. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      235 

liam  Waters,  must  have  been  finished  by  1671,  for,  in  the 
course  of  that  year  the  court  gave  an  order  for  the  erection 
of  a  bar,  as  a  great  pressing  forward  of  the  attendants  dis- 
turbed the  quiet  and  decorum  of  the  sittings.  Six  years 
later,  an  Act  of  Assembly  having  authorized  the  erection  of 
a  new  court  house,  the  freeholders  and  householders,  who 
alone  enjoyed  the  suffrage,  were  summoned  by  the  justices 
to  meet  at  the  old  court  house,  on  an  appointed  day,  to  select 
a  new  site.1  The  first  building  cost  7,122  lbs.  of  tobacco, 
which  was  advanced  by  Colonel  Waters  and  refunded  to  him 
by  order  of  the  court. 

Peachburg,  located  between  the  Horns  of  Hungar's  Creek, 
was  selected  as  the  site  for  the  new  court  house  built  in  1680. 
This  structure  cost  7,127  lbs.  of  tobacco,  and  was  erected 
on  the  land  of  Colonel  William  Kendall,  who  gave  300  acres 
to  the  county  for  the  purpose  of  building  the  court  house 
thereon.  In  the  deed  of  gift,  it  was  specified  that  the  court 
house  should  be  25  feet  long  and  18  feet  wide,  with  a  chim- 
ney on  the  outside.  The  site  selected  for  this  building  was 
near  the  present  court  house,  and  was  chosen  because  equi- 
distant between  "Old  Plantation"  and  Bridgetown  or  Nas- 
sawattocks,  the  only  two  villages  in  the  lower  peninsula  in 
1680.  More  than  one  hundred  years  ago  the  present  court 
house  and  clerk's  office  were  erected,  and  having  no  use  for 
the  older  building,  the  county  leased  it  to  a  Mr.  Nottingham 
for  one  dollar  per  annum,  provided  he  would  put  a  new  roof 
on  it,  and  the  lease  was  to  run  as  long  as  the  new  roof  lasted 
and  the  rent  was  paid.  Nottingham  is  said  to  have  soaked 
his  shingles  in  linseed  oil,  and  until  recently  the  roof  was 
almost  as  good  as  ever,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  Notting- 
ham's heirs,  who  annually  paid  their  rental.     Peachburg  is 

Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1645-51,  p.  173;  Vol.  1654-55, 
p.  4;   Vol.  1657-64,  folio,  p.  191;   1664-74,  p.   110;  Vol.   1674-79,  p.  203. 


836      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

now  called  Eastville,  which  was  the  metropolis  of  the  East- 
ern Shore  of  Virginia,  until  the  N.  Y.  P.  &  N.  E.  E.  estab- 
lished a  terminus  at  Cape  Charles  City  in  1884. 

While  the  original  towns  were  building  on  paper  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  tottering  upon 
"sandy  foundations,"  many  little  villages  sprang  up  about  the 
wharves  and  creeks,  none  of  which,  for  many  years,  aspired 
to  corporate  existence.  The  wharf  from  which  the  planters 
loaded  their  tobacco  or  the  simple  store  where  the  ship- 
chandlers  bartered  their  ropes  and  anchors,  formed  the 
nucleus  of  these  settlements.  Or  perhaps  some  skillful  ship- 
builder, like  Walter  Price  or  Christopher  Stribling,  who 
bought  land  in  Northampton  between  1666-1675,  plied  their 
trade  along  the  shores  of  a  creek  where  good  anchorage 
might  be  had,  and  offered  the  attraction  of  a  diminutive 
port. 

These  old  carpenters  and  ship-builders  seem  to  have  been 
constantly  occupied  and  prosperous,  for  we  read  of  William 
Foster  of  Northampton,  and  Eobert  Wilson  of  Accomac,  sell- 
ing, between  1669  and  1690,  fifteen  hundred  and  twelve  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  respectively,  all  acquired,  no  doubt,  with 
the  profits  of  their  trade.1  That  the  ship-builders  and  car- 
penters of  the  Eastern  Shore  at  that  time  belonged  to  a  class 
enjoying  unusual  advantages  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  many 
could  sign  their  names,  an  accomplishment  which  was  by  no 
means  general  at  that  day.2  Even  to  this  day,  the  ship-builders 
and  mechanics  of  the  Eastern  Shore  enjoy  a  higher  social 
position  than  elsewhere  in  the  State. 

The  Act  of  1680  for  establishing  towns,  and  which  required 
vessels  to  be  laden  at  certain  specified  places,  worked,  as  we 

•Records  of  Northampton  County,  Vol.  1668-1685,  p.  1.  Records  of 
Accomac  Co.,  Vol.    1676-1690,  p.   9. 

"Bruce's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.,  Vol.  II,  p.  424. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      237 

have  seen,  great  hardships  upon  the  planters  when  the  time 
came  to  ship  tobacco,  for  any  law  which  affected  this  great 
crop  and  medium  of  exchange  instantly  reflected  upon  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  While  not  as  much  tobacco  was  raised 
on  the  Eastern  Shore  as  in  the  other  counties  of  Virginia,  yet 
it  was  the  staple  crop,  and  at  an  early  date  received  the  atten- 
tion of  the  authorities  at  James  City.  We  have  seen  in  a 
previous  chapter  that  warehouses  were  established,  and  that, 
in  1639,  it  was  necessary  to  appoint  official  viewers  to  see 
that  the  staple  came  up  to  the  legal  specifications.1 

On  February  20,  1640,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  Gov- 
ernor Francis  Wyatt,  prohibiting  tobacco  from  being  shipped 
without  examination,  much  loss  having  occurred  the  year 
before  by  dishonest  people  mixing  new  and  old  leaf.  Ship- 
masters were  required  to  give  an  account  of  the  number  of 
hogsheads  they  accepted  for  transportation. 

In  1641,  all  other  crops  had  been  so  sadly  neglected  in 
favor  of  tobacco  that,  on  June  25th  of  that  year,  in  order 
to  encourage  more  attention  to  grain  and  other  products,  a 
proclamation  was  issued  forbidding  the  setting  out  of  more 
than  1,000  tobacco  plants  by  any  one  planter;  and  the  com- 
mission merchants,  buying  on  foreign  accounts,  as  well  as  the 
masters  of  ships,  were  prohibited  from  taking  tobacco  except 
from  the  established  warehouses.  Such  a  restriction  not  only 
discouraged  the  planting  of  tobacco  but  enabled  the  customs 
officers  to  collect  the  revenue  with  ease. 

The  duty  of  two  shillings  per  hogshead  on  tobacco,  repealed 
in  1659,  was  revived  in  1662,  and  was  for  a  long  time  a 
source  of  much  revenue.  During  the  interval  between  1662 
and  1679  it  was  found  necessary  to  pass  a  special  law  for  the 
collection  of  this  duty  on  the  Eastern  Shore  as  well  as  in  the 

'See  chapter  on  County  or  Shire  of  Accomack. 


338      EASTEBN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

other  parts  of  the  Colony.  Many  ships  arriving  in  the  Ches- 
apeake, anchored  along  the  shores  of  the  peninsula,  and 
sloops  and  shallops  transferred  the  tobacco  of  the  local  plant- 
ers over  the  boundary  to  Maryland,  where  it  was  re-shipped 
to  foreign  ports  on  these  same  ships.  Planters  were,  there- 
fore, required  to  inform  the  tax  collector  as  to  the  amount 
of  their  crops,  and  the  persons  to  whom  these  crops  had  been 
sold.     This  ordinance  remained  in  force  for  seventeen  years.1 

In  a  petition  offered  by  Colonel  Edmund  Scarburgh  in 
1663,  it  is  affirmed  that,  at  this  time,  each  planter  was  re- 
quired to  take  an  oath  that  he  would  give  a  true  statement  as 
to  the  amount  of  tobacco  which  he  had  produced  during  the 
session  just  closed,  to  whom  it  was  sold,  and  by  what  ship  or 
means  it  was  transported  out  of  the  county.2  A  short  time 
before  this,  five  Dutchmen,  who  formed  a  part  of  the  crew  of 
the  "Northampton,"  having  been  put  on  shore  in  order  to 
comply  with  the  act  which  prescribed  that  three-fourths  of 
the  Sailors  manning  an  English  vessel  should  be  English- 
men, the  court  ordered  the  payment  to  these  alien  mariners 
of  their  full  wages  and  an  additional  sum  to  meet  the1  expense 
of  their  passage  to  Europe.3 

There  is  evidence  that  even  the  customs  officers  sometimes 
connived  at  the  violation  of  the  act.  Thus,  in  1663,  the 
"Royal  Oak"  was  seized  in  the  waters  of  Accomac  because 
it  had  come  directly  from  Holland  with  a  cargo  of  merchan- 
dise. The  owners  appear  to  have  made,  with  little  difficulty, 
an  arrangement  with  Colonel  Scarburgh,  the  customs  officer 
of  the  Eastern  Shore,  by  which  he  consented  to  allow  the  ves- 
sel to  be  loaded  with  tobacco  and  sail  directly  to  the  Low 
( !ountri<  s.4 

'Ilening.  Vol.  II,  p.  443. 

2Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1663- 16(5(5,  p.  48. 
'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.   1657-1664,  p.  86. 
'Accomac  County   Records,  Vol.  1663-1666,  p.  46. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      239 

In  1699,  there  were  eight  districts  where  taxes  on  export 
tobacco  were  collected.  Of  the  eight  districts,  Accomac  pro- 
duced by  far  the  smallest  amount  of  tobacco.1 

The  Act  of  1680,  so  far  as  it  attempted  to  regulate  the 
shipment  of  tobacco,  was  found  impracticable  and  was  openly 
disobeyed.  The  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore  rose  en  masse 
to  protect  against  the  hardships  of  the  law;  and  in  compli- 
ance with  the  petitions  of  several  of  the  counties  on  the 
Western  Shore,  an  Assembly  was  called  together  in  April, 
1682,  by  Sir  Henry  Chicheley,  who  was  acting  as  Deputy 
Governor  in  the  absence  of  Lord  Culpeper.  After  much  use- 
less debate,  the  Assembly  was  dissolved,  nothing  having  been 
accomplished.  The  next  month,  the  people  in  certain  sec- 
tions of  Eastern  Virginia  and  on  the  Eastern  Shore  began 
a  crusade  of  "tobacco  cutting,"  or  destruction  of  the  plants 
in  the  beds.  The  entire  crop  for  the  next  season  was  threat- 
ened, and  in  vain  the  Deputy  Governor  endeavored  to  put  an 
end  to  the  practise. 

Robert  Beverley,  clerk  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  a 
man  who  had  rendered  valuable  service  to  Berkeley  during 
the  Rebellion,  was  charged  with  the  instigation  of  tobacco 
cutting,  and  other  offenses,  and  was  arrested  in  May,  and 
confined  on  a  vessel  lying  in  the  Rappahannock.  On  June 
15th,  he  was  ordered  to  be  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  to  be  conveyed  by  a  guard  and  the  sheriff  of  York 
on  board  Colonel  John  Custis's  sloop  and  delivered  to  the 
sheriff  of  Northampton.2  But  before  Colonel  Custis's  sloop 
set  sail,  Beverley  escaped,  probably  with  the  assistance  of 
the  guard.  He  was  re-captured,  however,  at  his  home  in 
Middlesex,  and  on  June  25th  he  was  again  sent  on  board 
Custis's  sloop  to  be  transported  to  Northampton,  where  he 

1Bruee's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.,  Vol.  I,  p.  456. 
2Hening,  Vol.   Ill,  p.  545-547. 


240      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

was  con  lined.  The  privilege  of  guarding  Beverley,  was,  no 
doubt,  an  unpleasant  one  for  the  sheriff  of  Northampton,  for 
a  number  of  the  principal  citizens  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were 
implicated  in  ''tobacco  cutting,"  and  were  even  now  fugitive 
from  justice.  Besides,  Beverley  had  spent  much  time  on 
the  Eastern  Shore  as  an  officer  of  the  King  during  the  Rebel- 
lion, and  being  affable  and  courteous  he  had  made  many 
friends  at  the  Northampton  Court.  On  September  25th, 
Beverley  petitioned  the  general  court  through  the  court  in 
Northampton,  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  but  was  denied 
the  right.1  But  the  authorities  were  afraid  to  proceed  fur- 
ther against  him,  and  waited  impatiently  for  the  return  of 
Lord  Culpeper.  Early  in  November  the  Governor  returned 
and  convened  the  Assembly  on  the  25th  of  the  month.  In  the 
meantime,  the  Deputy  Governor  had  not  handled  all  of  the 
i  lant  cutters  with  as  much  deference  as  he  had  shewn  Bever- 
ley. Many  of  the  ringleaders  had  been  apprehended  and  some 
of  them  hanged.  An  Act  prescribing  others  and  making  the 
offense  high  treason  had  put  an  end  to  tobacco-cutting  and 
forced  the  guilty  to  flee  the  jurisdiction.  Among  these  were 
Richard  Bayly,  who  had  escaped  after  being  condemned; 
John  Hayley,  Henry  Ismon  and  John  Wise,  all  of  Accomac. 

In  the  proclamation  of  amnesty  which  the  Governor  issued 
in  May,  1683,  all  offenders  were  pardoned  except  Beverley, 
a ii>l  a  few  others."  Beverley  in  the  meantime  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  York  and  was  proceeded  against  under  various 
charges.  The  trouble  blew  over  in  a  short  time  and  soon 
the  guilty  Accomackians  returned  to  their  homes. 

About  this  time,  the  counties  were  sub-divided  into  divi- 
sions, subject  to  rules  and  alterations  of  the  local  court. 
Precincts  or  burroughs  were   formed,   and  a  constable  ap- 

I  lining.  Vol.  Ill,  p.  545-547. 
liming,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  563-564. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      241 

pointed  for  each ;  and  each  precinct  or  walk  had  its  county 
road  surveyor.  Then  the  entire  colony  was  divided  into  five 
great  escheat  districts,  the  limits  of  which  were  the  natural 
ili visions  of  tide-water  Virginia  formed  by  the  peninsulas  be- 
tween the  great  rivers. 

The  district  of  the  Eastern  Shore  was  divided  into  five 
sub-divisions  or  necks  of  land,  each  with  its  escheat  master. 

Another  great  division  of  the  colony  was  that  into  six 
revenue  districts  according  to  the  navigable  waters  and  ship- 
ping. Each  district  was  commanded  by  a  naval  officer, 
usually  a  member  of  the  Council ;  and  for  each  district  there 
was  a  Collector  of  Customs.  At  first,  the  Pocomoke  River 
was  a  separate  district  from  that  of  the  lower  peninsula,  but 
they  were  subsequently  united  into  one.1 

The  naval  officer  and  collector  for  the  Eastern  Shore,  under 
Governor  Andros,  from  1692  to  1698,  was  Colonel  Chas. 
Scarburgh.  He  was  preceded  by  his  father  in  the  office  of 
Collector  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  one  of  the  complaints  in  the  North- 
ampton petition  grew  out  of  the  irregularity  with  which 
courts  were  held.  This  was  also  a  source  of  much  complaint 
in  Accomack.  In  October,  1686,  a  law  was  passed  appoint- 
ing the  third  Tuesday  of  June,  September,  November,  De- 
cember, February  and  March,  as  court  days,  and  providing 
for  at  least  six  sittings  of  the  court  each  year.2  But  even  this 
arrangement  did  not  prove  adequate,  and  in  September, 
1696,  it  was  repealed,  and  the  first  Tuesday  of  each  month 
appointed  as  Court  Day.3  A  monthly  court  day  for  North- 
ampton was  also  established. 

Beverley's  History  of  Va.,  p.  195. 
*Hening,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  30. 
3Henin-,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  140. 


242      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY 

The  Assembly  of  1685,  of  which  Colonel  William  Kendall 
of  Northampton  was  Speaker,  was  a  stormy  one.1  This  was 
the  period  of  Jacobitism  in  Virginia.2  James  II,  at  first 
hailed  with  delight  by  Virginians  as  King,  soon  fell  into  dis- 
favor among  his  colonial  subjects.  He  laid  a  new  tax  upon 
their  tobacco;  discouraged  their  efforts  to  establish  factories 
which  would  make  them  more  independent  of  the  mother 
country;  forced  a  large  number  of  military  prisoners  inta 
Virginia,  and  vented  his  spleen  in  numerous  ways  upon  the 
Colony  when  the  Burgesses  refused  to  legislate  as  he  directed. 

For  some  time  the  Burgesses  had  been  able  to  accomplish 
nothing  in  the  way  of  needed  legislation.  The  Assembly 
had  been  frequently  prorogued.  Its  clerk,  Robert  Beverley, 
had  been  disfranchised  and  prosecuted,  and  at  last  in  May, 
1687,  the  body  was  dissolved.  The  inherited  loyalty  of  the 
Virginians  to  the  Stuarts  was  overtaxed  by  such  proceedings. 
The  early  colonists  had  entertained  great  affection  for  the 
monarchy,  and  as  Virginia  was  but  little  affected  by  the 
misgovernment  of  James  I  and  Charles  I,  the  colonists  were, 
with  few  exceptions,  loyal  to  the  Crown  and  Stuart  family. 
Loyalty  in  the  main,  however,  is  but  a  sentiment  after  all, 
and  few  sentiments  thrive  when  contrary  to  the  interest  of 
the  sentimentalist.  Oppressive  measures,  high  taxation, 
avaricious  and  law-contemning  governors,  low  prices  of  to- 
bacco, and  the  entire  disregard  of  the  wishes  and  opinions  of 
the  Virginia  people,  as  evidenced  by  the  grants  to  Arlington 
and  Culpeper,  left  only  a  feeble  sentiment  of  loyalty  by  the 
year  1688. 

'Col.  Va.  Register,  p.  84.  McDonald  Papers,  Va.  St.  Library  (copied 
from  English  public  record).  See  error  as  to  representatives  of  Acco- 
mac  and  Northampton. 

"See  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  389,  for  interesting  facts. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      243 

In  addition  to  his  other  offenses,  the  King  was  charged 
with  the  desire  to  re-establish  the  Church  of  Rome  in  his 
domains.  The  ground  which  Catholicism  was  rapidly  re- 
gaining in  England  under  James's  fostering  hand,  was  a 
source  of  the  greatest  alarm  to  the  Protestants  in  Virginia, 
whether  Church  of  England  men  or  Non-Conformists.  The 
clergy  had  become  inflamed  and  were  preaching  a  holy  war, 
actually  inciting  the  people  of  one  county  to  take  up  arms. 
As  early  as  1686,  the  excitement  had  spread  to  the  Eastern 
Shore,  where  the  Anglican  Church  had  been  thoroughly  re- 
established, after  years  of  laxity.  So  palpable  were  the 
designs  of  the  King,  that  Colonel  Edmund  Bowman,  a 
magistrate  of  Accomac,  lost  his  head  and  cried  out  in  public 
against  the  popish  allies  of  his  Sovereign.1  He  was  promptly 
summoned  before  the  Council  on  a  charge  of  treason,  but 
being  a  wealthy  and  influential  man  and  of  the  same  views 
as  many  of  the  Council,  he  escaped  with  a  fine.2 

A  number  of  appointees  of  the  King  were  suspected  of 
being  papists  ;3  in  fact  two  new  members  of  the  Council 
were  said  to  have  been  selected  by  the  King  on  account  of 
their  Catholic  inclinations.  This  led  Colonel  Charles  Scar- 
burgh,  of  Accomac,  a  man  as  bold  and  fearless  as  his  father 
before  him  and  an  aspirant  to  the  office  of  Councillor,  to 
exclaim  in  great  anger  in  the  presence  of  the  Governor,  Lord 
Howard,  "that  his  Majesty  King  James  would  wear  out  the 
Church  of  England,  for  that  when  there  were  any  vacant 
offices,  he  supplied  them  with  men  of  a  different  persua- 
sion !"4     The  indiscreet  Scarburgh  was  at  once  arrested  for 

Turk's  History  of  Virginia,  Vol.  II,  p.  297. 
2See  Article  on  Jacobitism  in  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog. 
3Burk's  History  of  Virginia,  Vol.  II,  p.  297. 

4Campbell  attributes  this  remark  to  Col.  John  Scarburgh.  p.  342. 
Cooke  to  Col.  Edmund,  p.  301. 


24A       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

such  treasonable  utterances,  but  not  until  he  had  voiced  the 
sentiments  of  the  colonists  in  general,  which  no  other  had 
had  the  courage  to  do.  He  at  once  became  the  hero  of  the 
people,  who  impatiently  witnessed  his  martyrdom  in  their 
behalf.  On  October  18th,  the  Governor  reported  to  the 
Council  that  he  had  removed  Scarburgh  from  his  various 
offices  for  treason  to  the  crown,  and  he  was  forthwith  ordered 
to  appear  for  trial  on  such  a  charge.1  The  prosecution,  how- 
ever, like  the  one  to  which  his  kinsman,  Colonel  Bowman,  had 
been  subjected,  was  more  or  less  of  a  farce,  for  the  temper 
of  the  people  was  not  such  as  to  permit  of  harm  to  their 
champion.  Scarburgh  was  soon  discharged  and  reinstated 
in  his  offices.  This  action  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  was 
an  acknowledgement  of  their  disapproval  of  the  present  state 
of  affairs  and  for  it  the  Council  would  no  doubt  have  been 
reprimanded  had  not  the  King  been  intently  absorbed  with 
more  pressing  affairs  at  home. 

At  a  most  opportune  time,  so  far  as  Virginia  was  con- 
cerned, the  despicable  James  II  abdicated  during  the  early 
winter  of  1688,  and  the  excitement  in  the  Colony  at  once 
abated,  and  finally  disappeared  upon  the  ascension  of 
William  and  Mary  to  the  throne  in  February,  1689.  Lord 
Howard  was  relieved  and  succeeded  by  Nicholson  as 
Lieutenant  Governor;  who,  in  turn,  was  succeeded  by  Sir 
Edmund  Andros,  in  1692. 

As  an  indication  of  how  intensely  James  was  hated  by  the 
hitherto  loyal  gentry  of  Accomac,  an  interesting  case  is  cited. 
hi  March,  1689,  when  a  party  of  gentlemen  were  dining 
with  Colonel  John  Custis,  a  toast  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  proposed.     Henry  Pike,  one  of  the  guests,  as  he  raised 

'Notes  from  Colonial  Papers,  American  and  West  Indies,  1685-1688. 
Minutes  of  Council  of  Virginia,  Oct.   18,  1688. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      245 

his  bumper,  exclaimed,  "God  save  the  King,"  whereupon 
he  was  immediately  arrested  by  his  host  and  companions. 
The  news  of  the  King's  abdication  and  the  accession  of 
William  had  not  then  been  received. 

Now  that  Protestantism  had  conquered,  Colonel  Charles 
Searburgh  was  rewarded  for  his  fearless  and  uncompromis- 
ing resistance  to  the  schemes  of  King  James  and  Effingham, 
and  was  appointed  to  the  Council  in  1691,  remaining  in  that 
office  until  succeeded  by  Colonel  John  Custis  III,  in  1699. 

While  the  religious  excitement  was  in  progress,  Colonel 
John  Custis,  of  "Arlington,"  Sheriff  of  Northampton,  had 
been  guilty  of  misconduct  in  office,  in  that  he  had  taken 
unlawful  fees  from  the  people  in  May,  1688.  It  does  not 
appear  that  there  was  any  question  of  dishonesty  on  his  part, 
but  simply  that  he  claimed  certain  fees  which  the  people 
maintained  were  not  due  him,  and  that  he  made  his  returns 
accordingly.  A  complaint  was  thereupon  forwarded  to  the 
Assembly,  who  referred  it  to  the  Governor  and  Council. 
The  Council  refused  to  take  cognizance  of  the  matter,  and 
on  May  9th,  the  Governor  "gave  a  soft  answer"1  to  the  com- 
plaint against  Custis  and  promised  the  Burgesses  to  rebuke 
him.  The  Burgesses,  however,  were  not  willing  to  be  put 
off  in  this  way,  and  after  they  had  demanded  that  they  be 
given  the  opportunity  to  prove  the  charges  against  Custis, 
he  was  ordered  to  be  tried.  On  April  18th,  of  the  following 
year,  he  was  fined  2,000  pounds  of  tobacco  for  making  false 
returns  as  sheriff.2 

On  June  3,  1699,  the  Militia  officers  appointed  for  the 
Eastern  Shore  under  Nicholson's  new  regime  were  :3 

*A  very  expressive  phrase. 

historical  Memoranda  Relating  to  The  House  of  Burgesses  1685-91. 
Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  V. 

Congressional  Library  Manuscript.  Records  of  Va.  Council,  1698- 
1700. 


17 


246      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

"Accomack — Charles  Scarburgh,  Col.  &  Com'dr  in  Chief, 
Richard  Bayly,  Major. 

Northampton — John  Custis,  Col.  &  Com'dr  in  Chief, 
Nathaniel  Littleton,  Lieut.  Col., 
Wm.  Waters,  Major." 

The  population  of  the  Eastern  Shore  by  1700  had  greatly 
increased,  and  Acconiac  had  far  outstripped  Northampton. 
In  the  former  county  there  were  about  1,000  tithables,  and 
in  the  latter  about  700,  with  a  total  population  for  the 
peninsula  of  about  5,000  souls.  There  were  practically  no 
Indians  left.  The  following  Board  of  Trade  Reports  for 
this  period  are  interesting  as  well  as  instructive.  In  it  we 
find  the  principal  offices  of  the  Eastern  Shore  filled  by  the 
sons  and  grandsons  of  the  first  settlers. 

"Board  of  Trade— 1699 

On  the  Eastern  Shore — Henry  Scarburgh,  Collector. 

John  Custis,  Naval  Officer  and  Receiver  of  the  Virginia 
duties. 

For  the  Eastern  Shore — Charles  Scarburgh,  Esq.,  one 
of  his  Ma'tys  honble  Council,  was  appointed  Collector  by 
the  honble  Comrs  of  the  Customs,  Naval  Officer  and  Receiver 
of  the  Virginia  duties,  by  Sr.  Wm.  Andros,  &c. 

NORTHAMPTON    COUNTY 

Civ. 

Coll.   John   Stringer  Mr.  Argoll  Yeardley 

Lt.  Coll.  Wm.  Waters  Mr.  Hancock  Lee 

Coll.  Wm.  Kendall  Mr.  John  Custis 

Capt.  John  Robins  Mr.  Tho.  Harmanson 

Maj'r  Wm.  Spencer  Mr.  John  Eyre 

Capt.   ffra.  Piggott  ('apt.  Wm.   Whittington 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      247 


Coll.  John  Custis 
Coll.  John  Stringer 
Lt.  Coll.  Wm.  Waters 
Maj'r  Wm.  Spencer 
Capt.  Wm.  Whittington 
(Horse) 


Mil. 


Capt.  John  Robins 
( 'apt.  ffra.  Piggott 
Capt.  Hancock  Lee 


ACCOMACK    COUNTY 

Civ. 


Maj'r  Charles  Scarborou(gh) 
Lt.  Coll.  John  West 
Maj'r  Edmund  Bourn  (an) 
Capt.  Danll  Jennifer 
Capt.  Wm.  Custis 
Capt.    Edmund   Scarborough 
Mr.    George    Nicholas    Haak 
(Hack?) 


Capt.  Rich'd  Hill 

Mr.  Rich'd  Bayly 

Mr.  Obedience  Johnson 

Mr.  John  Wallop 

Mr.  Hillary  Stringe(r) 

Mr.  Tho.  Wilbourne 


Mil. 


Coll.  Wm.  Kendall 
Lt.  Coll.  John  West 
Maj'r  Charles  Scarborgh 


Capt.  Edmund  Scarburg 
Capt.  Danll  Jenifer 
Capt.  Obedience  Johnson 


The  name  of  other  Counties,  the  names  of  the  Justices  of 
the  Peace  for  the  same,  the  date  of  their  Commission,  the 
name  of  the  severall  Sheriffs  for  this  present  yeare,  1699, 
And  the  names  of  the  severall  Clerks  of  the  County  Courts 
in  this  his  Majties  Colony  and  Dominion  of  Virginia,  are 
as  followeth:1 


Northampton — 8  June,  1699 


John  Robins 
John  Custis 
Philip  Fisher 


Obedience  Johnson 

(Sheriff)    Nathaniel  Littleton 

William  Waters 


Wa.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  229-231. 


248      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

QUORUM 

Ralph  Pigot  Jacob  Johnson 

Wm.  Harmanson  Thomas  Savage 

John  Powell  (irorge  Harmanson 

Daniell  Neech,  Cl'k  Court  Northampton 

ACCOMACK 

Edmond  Scarburgh  (Sheriff)   Tho.  Welbourne 

George  Nicholas  Hack  Edmond  Custis 

Richard  Bayly 

QUORUM 

George  Parker  Robert  Pitt 

Robert  Hutchinson  John  Watts 

Edward  Moore 

John  Washburne,  Cl'k  Accomack 

Escheator  for  Eastern  Shore — Col.  John  Custis. 

Surveyor,  Northampton  and  Accomac — Edmond  Scar- 
burgh. 

Board  of  Trade  Report — 17021 

Indians:  Pungotege,  Matompkin,  Gingotege,  Kiquotank, 
Matchapungo,  Occhanock,  Chisonessex,  Gingase. 

Navigable  Rivers:  Eastern  Shore,  Northampton,  Accomac 
Rivers. 

Navigable  Creeks  and  Members  thereunto  belonging: 
Smith's  Island  R.,  Cherrystone  C,  Hungars  C,  Naswarock 
C,  Occohannock  C,  Cradock  C,  Nandua  C,  Pungotege  C, 
Ononcock  C,  Checonesick  C,  Deep  C,  Hunting  C,  Poco- 
mock  R. 

*Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  364,  370. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      249 

ACCOMACK    COUNTY 

Acres  of  land— 200,861. 

Tithables— 1,141. 

Burgesses — Tho.  Welburn,  Tully  Robinson. 

Justices  of    the  Peace — Edmd    Scarbrough,  Geo.    Nich. 
Hack,  Richd    Bayly,  Tho.    Welburn,  Bennitt    Scarbrough,  l 
Geo.  Parker,  Robt.  Hutchinson,  Edwd  Moore,  Robt.   Pitt, 
Jno.  Watts,  Southey  Littleton. 

Escheator — Edmd  Scarbrough. 

Coroners — Edmd  Scarbrough;  Tho.  Welburne. 

County  Clerk — Jno.  Wasburne. 

Surveyor — Edmd  Scarbrough.  v 

NORTHAMPTON     COUNTY 

Acres  of  land— 102,099. 

Tithables— 693. 

Burgesses — Wm.  Waters,  Jno.  Powell. 

Justices  of  the  Peace — Jno.  Robins,  Phill.  ffisher,  Obed: 
Johnson,  Nath:  Littleton,  Wm.  Waters,  Jno.  Custis,  junr., 
Ralph  Piggott,  Wm.  Harmanson,  Jno.  Powell,  Jacob  Robin- 
son, Tho:  Savage,  Geo.  Harmanson,  Littleton  Robinson. 

Escheator — John  Custis. 

Coroners — Wm.  Waters,  Jac.  Johnson,  Geo.  Harmanson. 

County  Clerk — Danl  Neech. 

Surveyor — Edwd  Scarbrough." 


XIV 

The  Early  Church  on  the  Eastern  Shore.     Puritan 

Ministers.     Makemie 

Seldom  has  the  influence  of  offspring  upon  the  parent 
been  so  great  as  in  the  case  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The 
policy  of  religious  freedom,  pursued  in  the  foundation  of 
the  former  colony,  was  a  cause,  the  effects  of  which  spread 
beyond  the  bounds  of  Maryland,  and  exercised  great  in- 
fluence over  the  people  of  adjacent  territory,  particularly 
over  the  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia.  The 
various  religious  doctrines,  nurtured  by  the  state  policy  of 
Baltimore's  tolerant  government,  spread  with  insidious 
certainty  among  the  cosmopolitan  ranks  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
population,  where  the  Puritans  of  New  England  and  New 
Netherlands  in  their  seeming  acquiescence  in  the  established 
faith  were  fast  undermining  the  hold  of  Episcopacy.  Up- 
held by  the  law  during  the  seventeenth  century,  it  was  not 
until  a  later  date,  when  the  state  as  well  as  the  church  had 
been  honey-combed  by  free-thinkers,  that  the  old  structure 
fell  and  that  the  masses,  who  had  long  supported  the  religion 
of  a  minority,  asserted  their  doctrinal  independence.  As  we 
follow  the  history  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  we  find  the  Puritan 
from  New  England  and  New  Netherlands,  the  Quaker,  and 
the  Presbyterian,  each  in  turn  seeking  the  shores  of  the 
remote  peninsula  as  a  nesting  place,  where  unmolested  the 
new  sects  might  hatch  out  their  doctrines.  The  effect  upon 
the  people  of  such  a  process  of  religious  incubation  among 

250 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      251 

them,  cannot  be  overestimated,  and  as  we  take  up  the  history 
of  the  peninsula  in  the  following  century,  we  shall  see  how 
the  Baptist  and  the  Methodist  also  prospered  upon  those 
shores.  The  effect  of  religious  liberty  on  the  peninsula  while 
the  other  Virginians  were  bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  author- 
ities of  the  established  church,  was  to  heighten  the  differences 
of  character,  already  very  striking,  between  the  Eastern  and 
the  Western  Shoreman  of  Virginia — dissimilarities  which 
have  continued,  well  defined,  through  two  and  a  half  centuries 
to  the  present  day. 

The  first  settlers,  however,  were  naturally  of  the  estab- 
lished faith.  By  established  faith,  as  the  expression  is  here 
used,  is  meant  that  outlined  and  sanctioned  by  the  laws  of 
the  Virginia  Company,  and  of  which  the  first  exponent  in 
Virginia  was  the  good  Parson  Hunt,  " whose  heart  was  in 
the  business,"  of  propagating  and  maintaining  the  fear  and 
love  of  God  among  the  heathen.  By  those  who  first  made 
the  effort  to  colonize  Virginia,  the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
among  the  people  of  the  New  World  was  held  forth  as  one 
of  the  objects  of  the  enterprise,  but  while  such  a  laudable 
object  may  have  encouraged  a  few  of  the  early  adventurers, 
gold  and  treasure  was  the  real  incentive  which  led  to  the 
attempt.  As  early  as  1588,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  donated 
one  hundred  pounds,  "for  the  propagation  of  the  Christian 
Religion  in  Virginia."1 

When  the  charter  was  granted  to  the  Virginia  Company, 
in  1606,  the  King  instructed  his  adventurous  subjects  "that 
all  persons  should  kindly  treat  the  savage  and  heathen  people 
in  those  parts,  and  use  all  proper  means  to  draw  them  to  the 
true  service  and  knowledge  of  God."2     The  charter  itself 

aBurk's  History  of  Virginia,  Vol.  I,  p.  66. 
"Ibid,  p.  91. 


252      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

assigns  as  one  of  the  reasons  of  the  grant,  that  the  contem- 
plated undertaking  was  "a  work  which  may,  by  providence 
of  Almighty  God,  hereafter  tend  to  the  glory  of  his  divine 
majesty,  in  propagating  of  Christian  Religion  to  such  people 
as  yet  live  in  darkness  and  miserable  ignorance  of  the  true 
knowledge  and  worship  of  God."1 

Up  to  the  time  of  Lord  De  la  Warr's  arrival  on  June  10, 
1610,  when  he  found  the  starving  remnants  of  the  colonists, 
already  embarked,  in  the  determination  to  desert  Virginia 
and  the  sickly  banks  of  the  James,  Parson  Hunt  had  been 
the  only  minister  in  the  Colony.  With  De  la  Warr  came 
Chaplain  Bucke. 

In  1609,  the  Company  in  England  had  obtained  from  the 
King  a  new  charter,  by  which  the  form  of  government  was 
materially  altered.  Such  was  the  fear  of  popery,  that  it 
was  declared  in  the  new  charter  that  no  person  should  pass 
into  Virginia,  but  such  as  should  first  have  taken  the  oath 
of  supremacy.2 

Prior  to  the  time  of  the  change  in  government,  when  a 
Governor  was  appointed  in  place  of  the  Council  and  Presi- 
dent, the  colonists  had  been  left  to  their  own  sense  of  piety 
as  being  sufficient  to  prompt  them  to  a  proper  care  of  their 
institutions  of  religion,  and  no  form  of  religion  had  been 
prescribed  for  them,  other  than  that  the  exercise  of  Christ- 
ianity in  the  New  World  should  conform  to  the  rites,  cere- 
monies and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England. 

From  the  time  of  the  granting  of  the  new  charter,  however, 
religion  began  to  form  one  of  the  subjects  of  Company 
legislation.3     The  arrival  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  to  succeed 

'1st  Charter,  Hazard's  State  Papers,  p.  51.  Hawk's  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History,  Etc.,  p.  19. 

22nd  Charter,  Hazard's  State  Papers,  p.  72. 
3Hawk's  Ecclesiastical  History,  p.  23. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      253 

De  la  Warr  as  Governor  on  May  10,  1611,  marks  the  period 
at  which  penal  laws  were  first  introduced  to  aid  the  con- 
science and  in  the  support  of  the  institution  of  religion,  laws 
which  were  as  martial  in  tone  as  those  generally  provided 
by  the  new  governor.1 

We  have  seen  how,  in  1614,  Sir  Thomas  Dale  sent  the 
first  salt-boilers  to  the  Eastern  Shore  and  established  Dale's 
Gift.  If  any  church  was  built  at  Dale's  Gift  or  any  preacher 
dwelt  at  this  remote  settlement,  there  is  no  record  of  the  fact. 
Indeed,  in  the  list  of  settlers  at  "Accomack"  in  February, 
1623,  the  name  of  a  minister  does  not  appear,  although  we 
know  that  the  Rev.  Robert  Bolton  had  been  assigned  to  the 
Eastern  Shore  before  November,  1623. 

In  the  records  of  the  London  Company  is  found  the  follow- 
ing minute: 

"Upon  the  Right  Honourable  Earl  of  Southampton's 
recommendations  of  Mr.  Bolton,  minister,  for  his  honesty 
and  sufficiency  in  learning,  and  to  undertake  the  care  and 
charge  of  the  ministry,  the  company  have  been  pleased  to 
entertain  him  for  their  minister  in  some  vacant  place  in 
Virginia." 

Mr.  Bolton  came  to  Virginia  with  Governor  Wyatt,  in 
October,  1621,  and  was  first  assigned  to  Elizabeth  City,  where 
he  preached  about  two  years.  He  is  supposed  to  have  re- 
mained on  the  Eastern  Shore  from  about  1623  to  1625  and 
then  became  rector  of  the  church  at  James  City.  Bolton 
was  a  highly  cultured  man  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
Robert  Bolton  who  took  the  degree  of  A.  B.  at  Oxford  in 
1609.2     His  salary  while  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  fixed 

'For  full  text  of  these  Church  laws,  see  Hawk's  Ecc.  Hist.,  p.  27. 
2Va.    Colonial    Clergy,    Neill,    p.    8.      The    English    Colonization    of 
America,  pp.  321-322. 


254       EASTEEN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

by  order  of  his  patron,  the  Governor,  who  sent  Captain 
William  Epes,  Commander  of  the  Plantation  of  Accomack, 
an  order,  in  November,  1623,  requiring  him  to  collect  for 
the  minister's  salary,  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  and  one  bushel 
of  corn  from  every  planter  and  tradesman  above  the  age  of 
sixteen  and  alive  at  the  gathering  of  the  crops,  throughout  all 
the  plantations  on  the  Eastern  Shore.1  Such  provision  for 
the  minister  seems  very  insignificant  in  the  light  of  modern 
times,  but  the  clergymen  who  first  came  to  the  colony  were 
as  a  rule  fired  with  the  spirit  of  the  missionary  and  ven- 
tured forth  into  the  wilderness  of  Virginia  in  the  hope  of 
saving  souls  and  not  with  the  prospect  of  financial  gain. 
There  are  many  worthy  men  to-day,  carrying  the  word  of 
God  to  the  heathen,  who  receive  salary  even  less  than  that 
awarded  Mr.  Bolton.  Taking  pity  upon  the  rector,  and 
desiring  to  render  his  lot  more  agreeable,  Mr.  Thomas 
Burdetj  "principal  merchant  and  devout  Churchman,"  be- 
queathed the  good  Bolton  in  1630,  "a  firkin  of  butter,  a 
bushel  of  salt,  six  pounds  of  candles,  a  pound  of  pepper,  a 
pound  of  ginger,  two  bushels  of  meal,  a  rundlet  of  ink,  six 
quires  of  paper,  and  a  pair  of  silk  stockings."  Judging  from 
the  items  of  this  bequest,  the  testator  evidently  desired  not 
only  to  stock  the  minister's  larder,  but  to  encourage  him  in 
the  writing  of  sermons. 

Exactly  when  the  first  church  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was 
built,  is  not  known.  As  there  is  no  mention  of  a  church  in 
the  census  of  1624,  but  reference  is  made  to  a  fort,  it  is 
probable  that  the  handful  of  settlers  met  within  the  palisade 
to  offer  up  their  thanks  to  God. 

An  early  chronicle  describes  the  first  church  as,  "a  build- 
ing of  insignificant  dimension,  constructed  of  roughly  piled 

WIS.  in  Congressional  Library.  Neill's  Va.  Carolorum,  p.  407. 
Colonial  Churches,  p.  288. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      255 

logs,  cemented  loosely  with  wattle;  the  whole  enclosed  by 
Pallysadoes  for  protection  against  ye  Indian  tribe,  an  ever 
present  menace  to  peace  and  safety."  This  simple  edifice 
was  located  near  the  "Fishing  Point"  at  the  mouth  of  Old 
Plantation  Creek,  and  was  built  probably  soon  after  Bolton's 
arrival.  A  second  church  was  built  in  the  course  of  the  next 
few  years,  and  it  too  was  but  a  rude  log  structure,  more 
spacious,  however,  than  the  first.  The  new  church  was  called 
the  "Magothy  Bay  Church."  Proof  of  its  existence  in  1645 
is  found  in  an  early  county  record,  which  ordered  that  all 
citizens  should  carry  "arms  and  fixed  ammunition."  Such 
as  were  caught  without  these  were  to  be  "punished"  by  being 
required  "to  clear  the  paths  to  the  new  church,"  "enclosed  by 
a  stockade."  There  seems  to  have  been  no  legal  title  to  the 
ground  upon  which  this  church  was  erected,  prior  to  1691, 
for  in  that  year  William  Willett  conveyed  in  consideration 
of  20,000  pounds  of  -tobacco,  600  acres  of  land  to  William 
Baker,  reserving  "one  acre  of  land,  on  which  church  now 
stands,"  "to  remane  for  .that  use  as  long  as  the  parish  mindes 
to  continue  the  same."1  This  land  had  been  granted  by 
Francis  Morrison,  Governor  of  Virginia,  to  Edward  Douglas, 
and  was  confirmed  by  another  patent  by  Governor  Andros 
"to  me,  William  Willett,"  nephew  and  heir  to  Edward 
Douglas. 

The  second  minister,  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge, 
was  the  Rev.  William  Cotton,  from  Bunbury,  Cheshire,  Eng- 
land. Cotton  was  minister  when  the  monthly  court  was 
formed  in  1632.  On  July  10,  1637,  he  patented  350  acres 
of  land  between  the  Horns  of  Hungar's  Creek  and  adjoin- 
ing the  tract  of  Captain  William  Stone;    100  acres  due  for 

'Book  of  Deeds  and  Wills,  Northampton  County  Records,  No.  12, 
p.  198. 


256      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  personal  adventure  of  himself  and  his  wife,  Ann  Graves, 
and  250  acres  for  the  transportation  of  five  persons,  Eleaner 
Hill,  Eichard  Hill,  Edward  Esson,  and  Domingo  and  Samso, 
negroes.1  A  deed  on  record  at  Northampton  Courthouse 
shows  that  his  mother,  Joane,  remained  at  Bunbury,  after 
which  place  Cotton  named  his  Plantation  in  Accomack. 

The  name  Cotton,  by  association  with  the  Cottons  and 
Mathers  of  New  England,  has  an  exceedingly  Puritanical 
aspect.  There  is  nothing  in  the  records  to  substantiate  a 
belief  that  Cotton  was  not,  just  as  he  should  have  been,  an 
enthusiastic  Anglican.  Yet,  when  we  recall  that  his  daughter 
married  Governor  Stone  of  Maryland,  and  remember  the 
character  of  his  successors,  we  are  prone  to  entertain  a  doubt. 
His  whole  career  on  the  Eastern  Shore  smacks  of  New  Eng- 
land, for  his  character  was  that  of  a  stern  Puritan,  whether 
he  adhered  to  the  tenets  of  the  established  church  or  to  those 
of  the  new  sect. 

It  is  not  likely  that  one  of  Cotton's  disposition,  stern, 
dogmatic,  with  the  spirit  of  compromise  foreign  to  his 
nature,  would  tolerate  a  Puritan  like  Stone  on  his  vestry, 
nor  permit  his  daughter  Verlinda  to  marry  Stone  if  he, 
Cotton,  were  an  Anglican. 

The  first  formally  organized  vestry  was  in  obedience  to 
an  order  of  the  Court  at  James  City  as  shown  by  the 
following : 

"At  a  court  hoi  den  in  Accawmacke  the  14th  day  of  Septem- 
ber, 1635. 
"At  this  court  Mr.  Wm.  Cotton,  minister,  presented  an 
order  of  the  court  for  James  Citty,  for  the  building  of  a 
parsonage  ordered  by  the  vestry  and  because  there  have  here- 

^a.  Land  Abstracts,  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  II,  p.  95, 
et  seq. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      257 

tofore  been  no  formal  vestry,  nor  vestrymen  appointed,  we 

have  from  this  present  day  appointed  to  be  vestrymen  those 

whose  names  are  underwritten: 

William  Cotton,  Minister         William  Andrews 

Captain  Thomas  Graves  John  Wilkins 

Obeydeyence  Robins  Alex'r  Mount]  oy 

John  Howe  Edward  Drew 

William  Stone  William  Berriman 

William  Burdette  Stephen  Charlton. 

"And  further  we  do  order  that  the  first  meeting  of  the  syd 
vestrymen  shall  be  upon  the  feast  day  of  St.  Mychael  the 
Arck  Angell,  being  the  29th  day  of  September,  1635." 

In  accordance  with  this  order  the  vestry  met,  Mr.  Charlton 
and  Mr.  Wilkins  being  absent.  The  order  for  the  parsonage 
was  duly  considered  and  it  was  provided  by  the  vestry  that 
it  should  be  constructed  of  wood  "on  the  Glybe  land  by 
Christyde  next,  &  that  the  syed  house  shall  be  forty  foot 
longe  &  eighteen  foot  wyde,  an  nyne  foot  to  the  wall  plates ; 
and  that  there  shall  be  a  chimney  at  each  end  of  the  house, 
&  upon  each  side  of  the  chimneys  a  room,  the  one  for  a  study, 
the  other  for  a  buttery;  alsoe  a  partition  neere  the  midst 
of  the  house  with  an  entry  and  tow  doors,  the  one  to  goe  into 
the  Kitchinge,  the  other  into  the  Chamber." 

As  Mr.  Cotton  had  not  yet  acquired  his  lands  at  the  Horns, 
and  was  officiating  at  the  "Magothy  Bay  Church"  and  the 
"Fishing  Point  Church,"  it  is  probable  that  the  glebe  lands 
at  this  time  were  near  Old  Plantation  Creek  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  immediate  site  of  the  Magothy  Bay  Church  was 
not  owned  by  the  Parish. 

The  early  churchmen  of  the  peninsula  were  quite  strict, 
for  on  May  22,  1635,  when  the  vestry  held  its  second  meet- 
ing, an  absentee  was  fined  20  shillings  for  his  delinquency. 
At  this    meeting  a  pulpit    cloth,  cushion    and  carpet  were 


258      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

ordered  to  be  provided,  and  also  a  bier  in  case  of  emergency. 
In  consequence  of  the  great  distance  which  some  of  the 
people  lived  from  the  church,  the  land  of  William  Blous, 
south  of  Old  Plantation,  where  William  Benjamin  resided, 
was  designated  as  the  burial  ground  for  the  inhabitants  in 
that  part  of  the  county. 

The  minister's  fee  for  delivering  a  funeral  sermon  was 
fixed  at  100  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  in  order  to  secure  the 
services  of  the  clergyman  at  funerals,  it  was  provided  that 
the  vestry  clerk  must  be  notified  and  means  of  transportation 
supplied  to  the  minister,  in  default  of  which  a  heavy  fine 
was  imposed. 

The  minister's  salary  was  fixed  by  the  court  at  so  many 
pounds  of  corn  and  tobacco,  payable  annually,  and  propor- 
tioned among  the  tithables.  Delinquents  were  required  to 
contribute  double  their  original  share.  Mr.  Cotton  was  not 
a  popular  clergyman,  and  was  continually  forced  to  appeal 
to  the  court  in  order  to  collect  his  tithes,  until,  in  1638,  the 
church-wardens  were  empowered  to  distrain  upon  the  prop- 
erty of  defaulters.  In  1634,  Henry  Charlton,  one  of 
Cotton's  flock  and  a  member  of  a  distinguished  family,  was 
ordered  by  the  court  to  build  himself  a  set  of  stocks  and  sit 
in  them  several  Sabbaths  in  succession  during  divine  service, 
for  slandering  the  minister.  In  1638,  upon  the  complaint 
of  Cotton,  one  John,  for  committing  fornication,  was  ordered 
to  establish  a  ferry  on  Old  Plantation  Creek,  and  others  for 
the  same  offense  were  "set  up  by  the  heels  in  the  stock." 
Such  records  illustrate  the  character  of  these  early 
churchmen. 

Cotton  died  in  1640,  leaving  a  widow  who  consoled  herself 
by  marrying  Thomas  Burdett,  son  of  the  vestryman  and  a 
gentleman  of  no  mean  fortune.     Let  us  hope  that  he  was  a 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      259 

more  peaceful  and  satisfactory  consort  than  his  predecessor. 
They  later  moved  to  Charles  County,  Maryland,  with 
William  Stone;  and  in  1658,  Ann,  for  the  second  time  a 
widow,  was  living  at  Nanjemie,  with  her  daughter  Verlinda 
Cotton,  who  married  the  Governor. 

Cotton's  successor  was  John  Rozier,  a  popular  and  efficient 
rector.  One  of  his  parishioners  referred  to  him  in  his  will 
as  "deare  and  respected  friend,"  and  John  Holloway,  a 
physician,  bequeathed  to  him  a  Greek  Testament.  The  new 
minister  seems  to  have  had  no  great  difficulty  in  collecting 
his  tithes  and  winning  the  support  of  the  parishioners  for 
the  church.  In  1643,  William  Burdett  left  by  his  will  five 
pounds  sterling  to  the  lower  parish  for  the  purchase  of  a 
Communion  Cup  and  Plate. 

While  we  are  uncertain  about  Cotton's  inclinations,  we 
have  every  reason  to  believe  that  Rozier  was  more  or  less 
of  a  non-conformist  and  more  acceptable  to  the  Puritans, 
who  comprised  so  large  an  element  in  the  population  of  the 
peninsula  at  this  time. 

We  have  seen  that  in  1642,  the  dissenters  of  Virginia 
had  sent  to  England  for  pastors,  who  at  first  were  permitted 
to  spread  their  doctrines  among  the  colonists,  and  it  is 
possible  that  Rozier  slipped  into  the  ministry  of  Hungar's 
Parish,  before  steps  were  taken  by  the  Assembly  in  1643 
to  oust  non-conformist  preachers  from  the  colony.1  Mather 
and  Winthrop  both  tell  us  that  while  the  state  silenced  the 
dissenting  ministers  by  Acts  of  Assembly  and  by  proclama- 
tions of  the  intolerant  Berkeley,  yet  they  were  enthu- 
siastically received  by  the  people,  who,  since  their  liberal 
pastors  were  forbidden  to  preach  in  the  parish  churches,  held 
services  in  their  homes. 

lHening,  Vol.  I,  p.  277. 


260      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  presence  of  large  numbers  of  Puritans  in  Virginia 
was  undoubtedly  known  throughout  New  England,  and  in 
1639-40,  when  the  Assembly  made  an  allowance  from  the 
tithes,  of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll,  to  enable  the 
minister  to  hire  a  vestry  clerk  and  sexton,  we  are  told  that 
Nathaniel  Eaton,  first  principal  of  Harvard  College,  became 
the  incumbent  of  the  new  office  on  the  Eastern  Shore.1 

In  1639,  Nathaniel  Eaton,  who  had  been  master  of  the 
college,  or  school,  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  was  ousted 
from  his  office  by  the  authorities.  It  seems  that  he  and  his 
wife  made  themselves  most  objectionable  and  that  he  had 
been  guilty  of  certain  irregularities  for  which  he  was  con- 
vented  and  censured  by  the  General  Court  at  Boston.2  For 
other  flagrant  offenses,  the  church  at  Cambridge  took  a  hand 
in  the  proceedings,  but  before  it  could  deal  with  him  the 
wily  Eaton  fled  to  Pascataquack,  to  which  place  he  was 
pursued  by  the  Governor  and  apprehended.  Eaton  had 
already  placed  his  effects  upon  Captain  Neale's  Bark,  bound 
for  Virginia,  and  received  permission  from  the  Governor  to 
go  aboard  the  ship,  with  three  guards,  to  get  his  belongings. 
In  a  most  dexterous  manner,  he  left  two  of  the  guards  upon 
the  shore,  threw  the  other  overboard,  escaped  to  the  ship  in 
a  small  boat  and  set  sail  for  Virginia.  The  bird  having 
flown,  his  cage  and  other  property  was  sold  to  satisfy  credi- 
tors and  soon  afterwards  he  was  excommunicated  by  the 
New  England  Church.3  The  whole  affair  as  related  by 
Winthrop  is  very  interesting. 

Weill's  Va.  Carolorum,  p.  407.  Colonial  Churches,  Howard,  p.  291. 
New  England  Genealogical  Register,  Vol.  XL,  p.  294. 

*Winthrop's  Narrative,  Vol.  II,  p.  308.  Quincey's  History  of  Harvard 
Universitv,  Vol.  I,  pp.  13-14.  268,  451-462.  Winthrop's  History  of 
New  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  317.    Vol.  II,  p.  476. 

"Winthrop's  Narrative,  Vol.  II,  pp.  312-313. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      261 

Eaton  was  about  thirty  years  old  when  lie  left  Cambridge. 
He  seems  to  have  left  his  termagant  of  a  wife  behind,  for  steps 
were  taken  in  Cambridge  to  provide  for  her  support,  in  spite 
of  her  unpopularity.  Exactly  when  Eaton  arrived  in  Acco- 
mac  is  not  known,  but  soon  after  his  flight  from  New  England 
he  appears  as  Parish  Clerk,  and  assistant  to  Mr.  Rozier  in 
his  ministerial  duties.  His  career  in  Northampton  was  a 
checqnered  one  and  soon  brought  him  into  conflict  with  his 
superior.  A  board  of  arbitrators  composed  of  Nathaniel 
Littleton,  Obedience  Robins,  John  Neale  and  John  Gookin, 
was  appointed  to  settle  the  dispute.  On  March  23,  1642-3, 
the  arbitrators  decided  that  Rozier  should  pay  600  pounds 
of  tobacco  to  Eaton,  and  that  the  vestry  should  make  good  the 
payment  to  the  minister.  There  is  also  record  of  a  suit 
brought  by  John  Cougan  in  January,  1646-7,  against  the 
estate  of  Nathaniel  Eaton,  who  had  left  the  County.  In 
the  former  case,  the  disputatious  Eaton  seems  to  have  had 
right  on  his  side. 

Winthrop  tells  us  that  after  Eaton  went  to  Virginia,  he 
sent  for  his  wife  and  children,  who  embarked  in  a  vessel 
that  was  lost  during  the  passage  south,  and  Dr.  Neill  says 
that  he  later  married  the  only  daughter  of  Thomas  Graves 
of  Northampton,  who  had  moved  to  Virginia  from  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts,  and  died  leaving  his  daughter  a  fair 
patrimony.1  It  is  also  said  by  the  former  authority  that 
Eaton  became  a  drunken  preacher  while  in  Virginia.  As  to 
this,  the  records  of  Northampton  are  silent,  and  other  than 
the  fact  that  he  became  involved  in  numerous  suits,  little  is 
known  of  his  career  there.  The  authorities  are  quite  general, 
however,  in  the  assertion  that  he  fled  from  Virginia  to  Eng- 

*Ne\v  England  Genealogical  Register,  Vol.  XL,  p.  291.  Colonial 
Churches.  Howard,  p.  291. 


18 


262      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

land  in  1646,  deserting  his  new  wife,  who,  says  Neil),  was 
the  Ann  Eaton  who  later  married  Francis  Doughty.  The 
cause  of  his  flight  is  not  mentioned,  but  it  is  probable  that 
the  Massachusetts  authorities  made  it  too  warm  for  him  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  view  of  his  character  he  could 
at  best  have  been  but  an  undesirable  acquisition  to  Hungar's 
Parish.  As  to  his  subsequent  career  in  England,  nothing 
is  known  except  what  Cotton  Mather  tells  us.  Mather  says 
that  after  being  excommunicated  by  the  church  at  Cam- 
bridge, he  went  to  Virginia,  then  to  England,  where  he  lived 
privately  until  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.  "Then 
conforming  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  of  England,  he 
was  fixed  at  Biddiford,  where  he  became  (as  Apostata  est 
Osor  sui  Ordinis)  a  bitter  ^persecutor  of  the  Christians,  that 
kept  faithful  to  the  way  of  worship,  from  which  he  was 
himself  an  apostate,  until  he  who  had  cast  so  many  into 
prison  for  conscience,  was  himself  cast  into  prison  for  debt; 
where  he  did,  at  length,  pay  one  debt,  namely,  that  unto 
nature,  by  death."1  For  a  full  account  of  Eaton's  career  in 
Cambridge  and  the  troubles  which  led  to  his  dismissal  from 
Harvard  and  excommunication  from  the  church,  all  of 
which  is  most  interesting,  the  reader  must  consult  the 
authorities  cited  below.2 

The  author  at  first  was  seriously  inclined  to  question  the 
statement  that  Nathaniel  Eaton  of  Hungar's  Parish  was  the 
Nathaniel  Eaton  of  Cambridge  fame.  The  fact  that 
Theophilus  Eaton,  afterwards  Governor  of  New  Haven,  was 
the  brother  of  the  refugee,  and  that  he  was  engaged  in  mak- 
ing settlements  about  Plymouth  and  Quinepiack,  Connecti- 

'Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  p.  8. 

•Quincey's  History  of  Harvard  University,  Vol.  I,  pp.  13,  14,  268, 
451-462.  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England  and  Winthrop's  Journal, 
citations  as  given  before. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      263 

cut,  about  the  time  of  the  latter's  flight,  seemed  to  indicate 
that  Accomac  (Plymouth)  in  Massachusetts,  and  Accomac 
in  Virginia  had  been  confounded.1  It  would  have  been 
most  natural  for  Nathaniel  Eaton  to  seek  protection  at  the 
hands  of  his  influential  brother.  Then  again,  another 
minister,  William  Cotton,  married  Ajin  Graves,  whom  he 
transported  to  the  colony  with  himself.2  It  is  possible  that 
the  two  ministers  have  been  confounded.  The  only  Thomas 
Graves  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  whom  there  is  any  record 
was  a  subscriber  under  the  Second  Charter  of  the  Virginia 
Company,  coming  to  the  colony  in  1608.  Smith  refers  to 
him  as  an  ancient  planter,  and  recounts  how  he  was  captured 
by  the  Indians  and  released  at  the  instance  of  Ensign 
Thomas  Savage.  This  Thomas  Graves  represented  Smyth's 
Hundred  in  the  first  Virginia  Assembly,  held  in  1619,3  and 
later  appears  as  a  Burgess  from  Accomac  in  1629,4  where 
he  was  a  member  of  the  first  court  in  1632  and  of  the  vestry 
in  1635.  It  is  not  likely  that  this  Thomas  Graves  was  at 
one  time  a  citizen  of  Dorchester.  There  may  have  been  two 
persons  of  the  name,  for  after  much  research  the  author 
feels  assured  that  Nathaniel  Eaton  of  Cambridge  was  but 
one  of  many  New  Englanders  who  migrated  to  the  Eastern 
Shore  between  1630  and  1640.5 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Rozier,  the  County  was  not 
only  renamed,  but  was  divided  into  two  parishes  by  Act  of 
Assembly  of  March  18,  1642  :6 

'Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  317;  Vol.  II,  p.  476. 

2Va.  Land  Abstracts ;    see  appendix. 

'Colonial  Register,  Stanard,  p.  52.  Source:  "A  manuscript  copy 
of  the  Journal  of  this  session  is  in  the  Public  Record  Office,  London, 
and  lias  been  frequently  published." 

4Hening,  Vol.   I,  p.   147-149. 

5See  chapter  on  Origin  of  People. 

6Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  249. 


264      EASTERN"  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

"Be  it  enacted  and  confirmed  upon  consideration  had  of 
the  large  extenl  of  the  County  North'ton  and  the  gnat  in- 
convenience for  the  inhabitants  to  be  all  of  the  one  parish 
that  the  said  county  shall  be  divided  into  two  parishes,  the 
bounds  of  one  to  be  from  the  eastermost  side  of  King's  Creek 
towards  the  uttermost  extent  of  land  towards  Smith's  Island 
including  all  the  land  between  the  Bay  of  Chesapeake  and 
the  seaboard  side. 

"And  another  parish,  from  the  northward  side  of  King's 
Creek  to  Nuswattocks  including  all  the  lands  between  the 
said  Bay  of  Chesapeake  and  the  seaboard  side." 

The  origin  of  the  name  Himgar's  has  been  undetermined. 
It  has  been  said  that  a  parish  in  Northamptonshire,  England, 
bore  a  similar  name,  and  as  the  name  first  appears  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  about  the  time  the  name  of  the  County  was 
changed  to  Northampton,  the  origin  may  thus  be  explained. 

Soon  after  the  division  of  the  county  and  the  two  parishes, 
a  church  was  erected  for  the  upper  parish.  This  building 
stood  for  some  years,  for  on  December  23,  1684,  Major 
William  Spencer  gave  to  the  church  wardens  of  Hungar's 
Parish  the  land  on  Hungar's  Creek,  on  which  the  "frame  of 
a  church"  then  stood,  and  one  acre  of  land  surrounding  it, 
being  a  part  of  ''Smith's  Field."  This  church,  like  the 
Magothy  Bay  Church,  seems  to  have  been  erected  on  land 
to  which,  for  many  years  after  the  building  of  the  church, 
no  title  was  secured  by  the  vestry. 

Rozier  was  the  minister  of  Hungar's  Parish  for  about 
seven  years.  What  became  of  him  we  do  not  know,  but  it 
is  likely  that  the  good  man  moved  to  Maryland,  for  the  only 
recurrence  of  the  name  Rozier  in  the  early  colonial  records 
of  the  various  colonies  is  that  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Rozier, 
who  married  a  step-daughter  of- Charles  Calvert  and  became 
an  officer  under  the  Maryland  government.     As  Charles  Cal- 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      265 

vert  resided  at  one  time  in  Northampton  County,  Colonel 
Benjamin  Rozier  was  in  all  probability  kin  to  the  former 
minister  of  Hungar's  Parish.1 

Rozier  was  succeeded  by  John  Armourier,  of  whom  we 
know  practically  nothing.  The  next  minister  was  Thomas 
Palmer,  who  did  much  for  the  advancement  of  the  church 
and  never  failed  to  present  the  wicked  for  the  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  stern  though  just  magistrate,  Colonel 
Robins.  Palmer  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Higby,  a  clergy- 
man of  questionable  character,  for,  in  1652,  he  was  himself 
presented  to  the  court  for  slandering  the  Colonel.  Higby 
married  Grace,  the  widow  of  John  Wilkins,  and  died  in 
1662.  His  widow  survived  him  twenty  years.  He  was 
dismissed  from  his  office  probably  as  a  result  of  his  loose 
tongue,  for  at  a  Court  of  Vestry  held  in  Northampton  on 
June  16,  1662,  Edmund  Scarburgh,  Thomas  Johnson, 
Richard  Vaughan,  Ralph  Barlow,  Robert  Parker,  John 
Edwards.  Richard  Hill,  John  Ellis,  William  Taylor,  Richard 
Smyth.  Richard  Tegg,  vestrymen,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Teackle, 
minister,  were  present.2  The  same  day,  Benjamin  Matthews 
and  John  Wise  having  been  chosen  church  wardens,  took  the 
regular  oath  of  office,  which  was  administered  in  the  name 
of  "the  keepers  of  the  liberty  of  England,  by  authority  of 
Parliament." 

In  1652,  the  upper  parish  of  Northampton  County  was 
itself  divided,  at  the  instance  of  the  royalists  or  Anglicans, 
who  were  little  in  favor  with  the  people  of  the  lower  pen- 
insula, and  who  themselves  were  intolerant  of  the  liberal 
views  which  had  crept  into  Hungar's  Parish.3 

^English  Colonies  in  America  in  the  17th  Century,  Osgood,  Vol.  II, 
p.  72. 

2The  name  Teackle  is  also  spelt  Teakle  and  Teagle  in  the  old  records. 

"Hening,  Act  of  Assembly,  Nov.  25,  1652.  See  chapter  on  Common- 
wealth. 


266      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

"It  is  ordered  by  the  authority  aforesaid  that  the  south 
side  of  Ocquahannock  Creeke  and  so  upwards  be  a  peculiar 
parish,  and  called  by  the  name  of  Ocquahannock  Parish."1 
But  the  name  Occahannock  never  came  into  general  use,  for 
the  parish  to  the  north  of  Occahannock  Creek  was  called, 
from  then  on,  Accomac  Parish,  and  continued  to  be  so  called 
until  it  in  turn  was  divided  by  law  in  1762,  when  the  lower 
parish  which  included  Pungoteague  was  named  St.  George 
Parish.  Accomac  and  St.  George  Parish  were  then  divided 
"by  a  line  to  begin  at  the  mouth  of  Parker's  Creek,  thence 
to  run  up  the  said  Creek  to  the  head  of  Rooty  Branch,  and 
thence  by  a  direct  line  to  be  run  to  the  head  of  the  branch 
called  Drummond's  New  Mill  Branch,  thence  down  the  said 
Branch  to  the  mouth  of  Hunting  Creek.2  From  the  above 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  limits  of  Accomac  Parish,  as  estab- 
lished in  1652,  corresponded  exactly  with  those  of  Accomac 
County,  formed  in  1662.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  upper  county  entered  into 
the  creation  of  Accomac  Parish  and  that  the  name  of  the 
Parish  influenced  the  naming  of  the  County.3 

Many  of  the  early  parishioners  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were 
godly  and  righteous  men.  Their  wills,  which  teem  with 
pious  utterances,  bespeak  a  God-fearing,  sober  people.  Many 
of  them  did  not  wait  until  the  hour  of  parting  from  this 
world  was  near  at  hand  to  provide  material  support  for  the 
church,  for  the  parish  property  was  largely  contributed  by 
the  better  class  of  the  planters.  The  land  known  to  this  day 
as  the  Glebe  land,  situated  on  Church  Neck,  to  which 
reference  has  been  made  in  a  preceding  chapter,  was  left  to 

lHening,  Vol.  I,  p.  374. 
2Act  of  Assembly  1762. 
sSce  chapter  on   Formation  of  Accomac  County. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      267 

Hungar's  Parish  by  Stephen  Charlton,  one  of  the  first 
vestrymen.  After  some  expressions,  showing  that  he  had 
just  views  of  the  Saviour,  he  divided  his  property  by  his 
will,  equally  between  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  Bridget 
and  Elizabeth,  and  directed  that  his  children  should  be 
placed  under  guardians  until  they  were  fourteen  years  old 
and  be  educated  in  a  godly  manner.  Should  Bridget,  the 
elder,  die  without  children,  her  share  was  to  revert  to  the 
church  for  the  support  of  a  minister.  Bridget  married  Mr. 
Foxcroft,  a  worthy  man,  and  until  his  death  a  vestryman  of 
the  church.  They  both  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  dying 
childless,  the  father's  will  was  complied  with.  The  Glebe, 
consisting  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  acres  of  the  best 
land  in  the  county,  remained  in  possession  of  the  vestry  for 
about  two  hundred  years,  when,  as  the  result  of  a  long- 
drawn-out  suit  maintained  by  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  in 
which  appeal  after  appeal  was  taken,  the  parish  was  robbed 
of  the  property  on  a  technicality  of  the  law.  Bridget  Charl- 
ton's sister  Elizabeth,  while  at  school  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
and  but  twelve  years  of  age,  was  persuaded  by  a  Mr.  Getter- 
ings  to  elope  with  him.  Being  unable  to  secure  a  license  on 
that  side  of  the  bay,  they  crossed  to  the  western  shore,  and 
by  some  artifice  succeeded  in  evading  the  law  and  were 
married.1  Elizabeth  soon  died,  and  Getterings  sought  to 
recover  the  Glebe  lands  for  himself.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  suit.  Colonel  Scarburgh,  upon  being  appealed  to  as 
counsel  for  the  vestry,  prepared  an  address,  in  writing,  which 
he  submitted  to  the  court,  setting  forth  the  iniquity  of  the 
conduct  of  Mr.  Getterings  and  ably  presenting  the  inherent 
right  of  man  to  dispose  of  his  property  according  to  his  own 
will. 

aMeade's  Old  Churches,  etc.  It  is  not  certain  that  the  marriage 
occurred  on  the  Western  Shore.  See  Bruce's  Social  Life  of  Va.  in  the 
17th  Century,  p.  233. 


268      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

By  the  will  of  Richard  Yaughan,  proved  before  a  court 
held  at  his  son's  house  on  Occahannock  Creek,  April  22, 
1656,  all  of  the  testator's  slaves  were  ordered  to  be  freed  at 
certain  ages,  and  one  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  was  be- 
queathed to  the  parish  to  start  a  fund  for  the  building  of  a 
house  "for  God's  worship."1  Many  such  provisions  are  to 
be  found  in  the  wills  of  these  early  parishioners. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Teackle  was  the  first  minister  of  the 
new  Occahannock  or  Accomac  Parish,  and  Mr.  Francis 
Doughty  succeeded  to  the  two  lower  parishes.  The  latter 
gentleman  was  a  son  of  a  Bristol  Alderman,  and  had  been 
vicar  of  Sodbury,  Gloucester,  where  he  was  arraigned  before 
the  High  Court  of  Commission  for  contempt  of  his  sacred 
majesty,  having  spoken  of  him  in  prayer  as,  "Charles,  by 
common  election  and  general  consent,  King  of  England." 
This  was  vile  heresy  in  the  eyes  of  a  people  still  laboring 
under  the  delusion  that  Kings  ruled  by  divine  right,  so 
Doughty  was  forced  to  move  to  America.  He  first  settled 
in  New  England,  but  was  disappointed  in  the  religious 
freedom  which  he  expected  to  find  among  the  saints  of 
Massachusetts,  so  moved  on  to  Manhattan,  where  he  became 
minister  of  the  English  Reformed  Church.  Doughty  was 
very  poor  and  through  the  influence  of  the  famous  Adrian 
Van  der  Donck,  who  had  married  his  daughter,  two  collec- 
tions were  taken  for  his  benefit,  to  which  the  Dutch  as  well 
as  the  English  contributed.  Soon,  however,  he  became  in- 
volved in  difficulties  with  the  Governor,  was  fined,  im- 
prisoned for  several  days,  and  finally  moved  to  Flushing, 
where  he  was  guaranteed  a  salary  of  six  hundred  guilders, 
by  the  people  of  Staten  Island.2    He  did  not  remain  long  in 

1This  is  probably  one  of  the  first  instances  of  manumission. 
2Breeden  Raedt,   pp.  24,  25. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      269 

his  new  berth,  for  dissatisfied  with  their  preacher,  the  people 
of  Flushing  discharged  him  in  1G56,  and  he  moved  to  North- 
ampton, where  his  brother-in-law,  William  Stone,  had  lived.1 
Doughty  took  with  him  to  Northampton  his  daughter,  the 
widow  Van  der  Donck,  who  later  married  Hugh  O'Neal  of 
Patuxent,  Maryland.2 

Doughty  was  a  non-conformist,  pure  and  simple,  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  employed  by  Hungar's  Parish  clearly  shows 
the  religious  tendencies  of  the  people  of  lower  Northampton. 
It  is  difficult,  however,  to  understand  why  the  ruling  class, 
composed  of  church  of  England  men,  allowed  him  to  preach 
there.  He  certainly  had  the  respect  of  the  better  class  of 
planters,  who  were  as  a  rule  most  intolerant  of  all  "schis- 
matical  sects"  as  illustrated  by  their  persecution  of  the 
Quakers.  Yet  there  was  a  great  distinction  between  Quakers 
and  non-conformists,  there  being  many  of  the  latter  class 
on  the  peninsula,  and  while  the  actual  control  of  the  parishes 
was  in  the  hands  of  Anglicans,  the  influence  and  numerical 
strength  of  the  liberal-minded  churchmen  were  too  great  to 
be  entirely  disregarded,  since  they  in  large  measure  paid  the 
tithes.  The  presence  of  the  New  England  Puritans  and 
the  Reformed  Churchmen  of  Manhattan  and  Holland  had 
greatly  liberalized  established  Episcopacy.  These  people 
were  ever  a  peaceful,  submissive,  worthy  element  of  the 
population,  regarding  themselves,  in  a  measure,  as  guests  in 
a  foreign  land,  and  by  their  very  acquiescence  in  the  support 
of  the  Anglican  faith  intruded  their  liberal  views  upon  the 
ruling  class  more  successfully  than  could  have  been  accom- 
plished by  force.     Nothing  is  more  certain  than  the  fact  that 

'Doughty  married  Stone's  sister  while  they  both  lived  in  Massa- 
chusetts. 

"Neill's  English  Colonization  of  America,  p.  237.  Brodhead's  History 
of  New  York,  pp.  333,  367,  368,  411,  419,  472,  555,  615,  666. 


270      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

there  were  no  churches  in  the  County  at  this  time  except 
those  established  by  law,  yet  we  find  the  "Reverend  and  very 
learned  Mr.  Samuel  Drisius  or  Van  Driesen,  Minister  of 
the  Gospel,"  from  Manhattan,  another  Reformed  Church- 
man, preaching  in  Northampton  in  1654,  while  visiting 
Virginia  as  a  treaty  .Commissioner  of  the  Dutch.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  Drisius  was  only  permitted  to  preach 
in  order  that  he  might  allay  the  fears  of  the  inhabitants  with 
respect  to  the  reported  combination  of  the  Dutch  and  Indians 
for  the  purpose  of  massacring  the  Accomackians.  Governor 
Bennett,  a  Puritan  himself,  was  on  the  peninsula  at  the 
time,  and  his  license  to  Drisius  would  have  been  law. 
Doughty  was  later  succeeded  in  Flushing  by  Drisius,  and 
now  we  find  the  latter  preceding  him  in  Hungar's  Parish.1 
What  a  little  world  this  was  even  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  facts  above  cited,  however,  only  indicate  how  intimate 
was  the  connection  between  the  Eastern  Shore,  New  Nether- 
lands and  New  England,  at  this  time. 

On  June  8,  1657,  Doughty  issued  the  following  notice 
which  further  illustrates  the  character  of  the  man : 

"To  all  Xtian  (Christian)  people  to  whome  this  present 
writinge  shall  come 

"Know  yee  that  whereas  there  is  a  marriage  to  bee  had 
and  solemnized  between  me  ffrancis  Doughty  of  North- 
ampton County,  in  Virginia  &  Ann  Eaton  of  ye  same  County 
and  yt  the  sd  ffrancis  Doughty  maye  by  virtue  of  marriage 
have  or  exped  to  have  a  right  or  interest  in  her  estate  due 
disowne  and  discharge  all  right,  to  her  estate,  and  to  her 
children."2 

JFor  full  facts  as  to  Samuel  Drisius,  see  Brodhead's  History  of  New 
York.  Annals  of  Albany,  Munsell,  Vol.  IV,  p.  71;  Vol.  VII,  p.  93. 
O'Callaghan's  History  of  New  Netherlands,  Vol.  II,  pp.  23C-7. 

2This  was  the  widow  of  Nathaniel  Eaton. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      271 

The  fact  that  the  good  Doughty  took  to  wife  Ann  Eaton, 
said  to  be  the  widow  of  the  departed  Nathaniel,  is  strong 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  she  was  a  second  wife  of  the  refugee 
and  not  the  one  who  proved  so  repugnant  to  the  authorities 
of  Harvard  and  Cambridge.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the 
widower  Doughty  would  not  have  assumed  the  role  of 
Petruehio  with  a  Katherine  so  fiery.1 

Ann  Southey,  the  wife  of  Nathaniel  Littleton  of  Nandua, 
and  the  mother  of  Colonel  Southey  Littleton,  who  inherited 
his  father's  estate,  died  in  1656.  At  the  time  of  her  death 
she  resided  on  a  plantation  along  Magothy  Bay  in  North- 
ampton County.     In  her  will  she  requested: 

"Mr.  Francis  Doughty,  minister  and  preacher  of  ye  word 
in  ye  Parish,  to  councell  my  children,  not  only  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  estates,  and  in  civill  behavior  in  ye  world,  but 
be  a  means  to  instruct  them  in  the  feare  of  God  &  service  of 
the  Almighty  and  Creator,  and  in  ye  true  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  into  whose  hands  I  commit  in  common,  all  our  Soules 
when  it  pleaseth  him  to  take  them  from  us  out  of  this  sinful 
life  to  wch  I  say  Amen  and  Amen." 

Here  indeed  is  a  valuable  testimonial  of  the  respect  in 
which  Doughty  was  held,  all  the  more  trustworthy  since  it 
comes  from  the  hand  of  one  of  the  foremost  women  of  the 
Eastern  Shore.  After  leaving  Hungar's  Parish,  Doughty 
was  appointed  to  the  ministry  of  Settingbourne  Parish  and 
among  the  records  of  Essex  County  there  is  the  complaint 
of  John  Catlett  and  Humphrey  Boothe  to  Governor  Berkeley, 
that  he  was  a  non-conformist  and  that  "he  denied  the 
supremacy  of  the  King,  contrary  to  the  canons  of  the 
Church  of  England,"  and  refused  to  allow  them  "to  com- 
municate in  the  blessed  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper." 

^uincey's  Hist,  of  Harvard  Univ.,  Vol.  I,  pp.   13-14. 


272      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

From  this  we  sec  that  he  had  not  undergone  a  change  of  faith 
while  in  Northampton  and  continued  in  his  unorthodox 
sriews.  He  is  next  found  in  Maryland,  where  he  was  met  at 
Patuxent  by  the  commissioners  from  Manhattan  in  1659. 
He  was  at  this  time  living  with  his  daughter.1 

In  March,  1661,  it  was  enacted  by  the  Assembly,  in  view 
of  the  great  inconvenience  of  providing  general  laws  to  cover 
small  matters  of  purely  local  interest,  that  henceforth  the 
counties  and  parishes  of  the  Colony  should  have  the  power 
to  make  their  own  by-laws.2  This  was  a  wise  provision  and 
enabled  the  County  Courts  and  Vestries  to  provide  for  local 
necessity  in  a  speedy  and  satisfactory  manner.  The  privilege 
was  soon  abused,  however,  and  led  to  much  trouble  in  North- 
ampton County  as  shown  by  the  list  of  Grievances  in  1676. 

The  fourth  church  on  the  peninsula  was  St.  George's  of 
Pungoteague,  built  between"  1652  and  1660,  or  soon  after 
the  formation  of  Accomac  Parish.  The  first  rector  of  this 
church  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Teackle,  whose  name  first 
appears  in  the  records  about  1652.  Teackle  either  pur- 
chased or  was  given  land  on  Cradock's  Neck,  where  he  lived 
upon  his  estate  called  "Cradock,"  as  minister  of  St.  George's 
for  nearly  forty  years.  He  was  an  Anglican  of  the  strictest 
order,  an  able  preacher,  a  man  of  great  culture  and  refine- 
ment and.  judging  from  the  scope  of  his  very  large  and 
complete  library,  he  must  have  been  something  of  a  student 
as  well.  In  1664,  Major  John  Robins  brought  suit  against 
Mary  Powell  for  scandalous  speeches  against  Mr.  Teackle; 
and  she  was  ordered  to  receive  twenty  lashes  across  her  bare 
shoulders  and  was  banished  from  the  county.  For  many 
years  the  good  man  was  a  noted  character  in  Accomac.     His 

^rodhead's  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  p.  666. 
'Hening,  Vol.  II,  pp.  171-172. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      273 

church  was  irreverently  though  not  irrelevantly  styled  "Ace 
of  Clubs"  church  on  account  of  its  peculiar  shape,  there 
being  three  almost  equal  wings  with  the  interior  angles 
rounded.  It  is  possible  that  the  name  was  suggested  to  the 
Puritans  of  the  lower  peninsula  by  the  character  of  the  con- 
gregation, which  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  Anglicans. 
The  people  of  Hungar's  Parish  resented  the  formation  of 
Accomac  Parish  from  the  first,  and  the  royalists  were  ever 
regarded  by  the  lower  classes  as  free  and  easy  churchmen. 
This  old  church  remained  intact  until  pressed  into  service 
as  a  stable  by  Colonel  Lockwood  of  the  United  States  Army 
in  1861-5.  The  two  side  wings  were  then  demolished  and 
the  interior  generally  altered.  It  was  repaired  some  years 
after  the  war  but  unfortunately  not  restored  to  its  original 
state.  How  strange  that  the  conqueror  should  always  feel 
obliged  to  destroy  the  temples  of  his  enemy !  There  were 
unquestionably  other  buildings  available  for  a  stable. 

The  author  has  frequently  heard  that  the  first  communion 
set  of  St.  George's  church  was  presented  by  the  immigrant, 
John  Wise,  though  there  is  no  record  to  that  effect. 

Soon  after  Teackle's  arrival  in  Accomac,  Colonel  Edmund 
Scarburgh  charged  him,  in  May,  1656,  with  being  too 
familiar  with  Madam  Scarburgh,  and  with  trying  to  dis- 
pose of  him  by  poison.  The  rector  was  immediately  sus- 
pended from  his  office  and  demanded  an  investigation.  On 
two  different  occasions  the  parties  were  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  justices,  Teackle  presenting  himself  with  his  wit- 
nesses both  times.  On  neither  occasion,  however,  did  the 
fiery  Scarburgh  appear.  Then  Teackle  appealed  to  the 
General  Court  at  James  City,  but  Scarburgh  eluded  the 
third  appointment.  Satisfied  by  such  conduct  on  the  ac- 
cuser's part,  as  to  their  clergyman's  innocence,  his  parish- 


-;  1      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

ionors  petitioned  the  court  to  have  him  re-instated,  which 
was  promptly  done.  Thereupon,  Scarburgh  withdrew  the 
charge  of  undue  intimacy  between  the  minister  and  his  wife, 
but  persisted  in  the  charge  that  Teackle  had  attempted  to 
poison  him.  The  records  of  this  old  suit  are  as  interesting 
as  they  are  voluminous. 

When  Governor  Berkeley,  always  quick  to  detect  irregu- 
larities in  church  affairs,  and  to  guard  against  the  insidious 
encroachments  of  the  free  thinkers,  fled  to  the  Eastern  Shore 
in  1G76,  he  discovered  that  Mr.  Daniel  Richardson,  an  un- 
ordained  preacher,  was  ministering  to  the  parishioners  of 
Northampton.  While  the  term  unorthodox  was  applied  to 
any  divine  who  preached  without  orders,  the  vestry,  no  doubt, 
felt  that  their  action  in  retaining  Mr.  Richardson  required 
an  explanation,  and  it  is  not  hard  to  read,  between  the  lines, 
that  this  gentleman  did  not  measure  up  to  Berkeley's  stand- 
ard of  Episcopacy: 

"Whereas  Mr.  Daniel  Richardson  o'r  late  minister,  for 
want  of  orders,  was  found  not  orthodox,  and  therefore  hired 
him  from  yeare  to  yeare  (to  supply  the  place  of  minister 
so  far  as  the  Lawes  of  England  and  this  Country  could  make 
him  capable)  until  wee  would  supply  ourselves  with  an  able, 
orthodox  divine.  And  forasmuch  as  Mr.  Isaac  Key  did 
present,  whom  we  find  very  able  and  worthy  wee  of  the 
vestry  &  subscribers  hereof  doe  certifye  unto  your  Honor 
that  at  a  Vestry  the  8th  Day  of  May  last  past  did  discharge 
the  said  Richardson  from  his  said  ministry  as  may  fully 
appear  by  an  order  of  the  said  vestry  there  made,  And  have 
since  made  choyce  of  the  said  Mr.  Isaac  Key  for  o'r  minister 
who  hath  accepted,  and  most  willingly  promised  to  serve, 
Wherefore  wee  hereby  request  yor  Honor's  confirmacon  by 
Inducting  him  into  this  o'r  parish  as  minister,  And  yor 
supplycants  shall  ever  pray. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      275 

John  Stringer  John  Robins 

William  Kendall  James  Pio-ot." 

William  Waters 

To  which  Governor  Berkeley  assents  in  these  words : 
"This  worthy  learned  Gent.  Mr.  Key  is  soe  well  knowne  to 
me,  that  I  am  most  certaine  you  will  be  happy  in  havinge 
soe  deservinge  a  person  to  officiate  to  you  &  advise  and 
comfort  you  in  all  yor  spirituall  wants  and  necessityes,  and 
I  do  hereby  require  that  he  be  immediately  Inducted. 

"William  Berkeley. 

"Nov.  18,  1676." 

The  ousted  Richardson  moved  to  Maryland,  and  was 
living  there  in  Somerset  County  in  1680.  Mr.  Key  assumed 
the  ministry  of  the  two  parishes  in  Northampton.  Teackle 
was  still  the  minister  of  St.  George's  in  1689,  for  in  that 
year  he  received  2,000  pounds  of  tobacco  from  the  vestry 
for  arrears  in  salary. 

During  the  incumbency  of  Teackle  and  Key,  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  Eastern  Shore  was  committed  to  Anglicans 
of  the  strictest  order,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  dissenters 
and  non-conformists  found  in  them  relentless  opponents. 
Much  was  done  by  these  two  clergymen  to  restore  the  ob- 
servance of  the  established  forms  of  worship  and  to  counter- 
act the  effects  of  years  of  what  they  deemed  a  religious 
laxity  verging  upon  license. 

By  1684,  as  we  have  seen,  the  church  erected  on  Smith's 
Field  was  but  a  frame,  a  skeleton  of  a  church,  and  the  parish 
of  Nassawattocks  was  practically  defunct;  the  people  of 
the  upper  peninsula  attending  St.  George's  at  Pungoteague, 
while  those  of  the  lower  peninsula  attended  the  Magothy 
Bay  Church.  Successive  churches  were  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  latter,  exactly  how  many  is  not  known.  They  were 
poor  structures,  however,  and  of  very  temporary  character 


276      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

with  the  exception  of  the  last,  which  was  in  use  as  late  as 
the  nineteenth  century.  Tn  1826,  it  was  pronounced  unsafe, 
torn  down,  and  the  old  materials  sold  at  auction.  Its 
foundations,  near  the  gate  of  Aldington,  were  to  be  seen 
until  recent  years,  hut  the  plowshare  of  modern  progress  has 
passed  over  the  old  ruin,  casting  the  dust  of  its  mouldering 
stones  to  the  winds. 

One  of  the  frame  structures  on  this  site  was  used  by  the 
people  of  Northampton  until  about  1690.  The  following 
year  a  petition  was  made  to  the  Assembly  to  unite  the  two 
parishes  of  Northampton,  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
unable,  singly  or  combined,  to  give  such  support  as  would 
secure  an  able  minister  and  build  a  good  church.  The  peti- 
tion having  been  granted,  N"assawattocks  Parish  was  merged 
into  Hungar's  Parish  -,1 

"Att  a  council  held  att  James  City,  Apr.  the  21st,  1691. 

Present 

"The  Rt.  Hono'ble  Francis  Nicholson,  Esq.,  Lt.  Gov.  & 
Council.  Major  John  Robins  and  Mr.  Thomas  Harman- 
son,  Burgesses  of  the  County  of  Northampton,  on  behalf  of 
the  County,  by  their  petition  setting  forth  that  the  said 
county  is  one  of  the  smallest  in  the  Colony,  doth  consist  of 
a  small  number  of  tithables,  and  is  divided  into  two  parishes, 
by  reason  whereof  the  Inhabitants  of  both  parishes  are  soe 
burdened  that  they  are  not  able  decently  to  maintain  a 
minister  in  each  parish  and  therefore  prayed  the  said 
parishes  might  be  joyned  in  one  and  goe  by  the  name  of 
Hungars  Parish,  not  being  desirous  to  infringe  any  gift 
given  to  Hungars  parish,  and  more  especially  one  by  the 
last  will  of  Stephen  Charlton,  which  parishes  soe  joined 
will  not  only  be  satisfactory  to  the  inhabitants  but  make 
them  capable  to  build  a  decent  church  and  maintain  an 
able  divine;    On  consideration  thereof  Itt  is  the  opinion  of 

'Act  of  Assembly. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      277 

this  board  and  accordingly  ordered  that  the  whole  county  of 
Northampton  be  from  hence-forth  one  parish  and  goe  by  the 
name  of  Hungars  Parish,  and  that  the  same  shall  be  no  prej- 
udice to  the  gift  of  the  aforesaid  Charlton  to  the  said 
parish  of  Hungars  and  it  is  further  ordered  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  sd  parish  shall  meet  at  such  time  and 
place  as  the  court  of  the  said  county  shall  appoint  and 
make  choice  of  a  vestry  according  to  law. 

"Cop.  vera,  test.     W.  Edward,  cl.   cou." 
"Then  in  accordance  with  the  appointment  of  the  court, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  county  of  North- 
ampton, at  the  courthouse  thereof  the  22nd  day  of  June, 
1691,  the  following  vestrymen  were  elected: 

Major  John  Robins  Capt.  Custis 

Capt.   Foxcroft  John  Shepheard 

Benj.  Stratton  J-  Priece  Davis 
Benjamin  Nottingham  John  Powell 

Jacob  Johnson  Thomas  Eyre 

John  Stoakley  Michael  Dickson." 

It  was  evidently  soon  after  this  step  was  taken  that  the 
new  vestry  met  and  provided  for  the  erection  of  the  present 
Hungar's  Church.  Surrounded  and  concealed  by  a  body 
of  sweet-scented  pine  woods,  in  the  midst  of  a  picturesque 
grove  of  Sycamores,  about  seven  miles  north  of  Eastville, 
stands  this  ancient  house  of  worship,  near  the  site  of  its 
rustic  predecessor.  This  church  as  it  now  exists  at  the  head 
of  navigation  on  Hungar's  Creek  near  Bridgetown,  is  one 
of  the  oldest  churches  in  Virginia.  The  original  edifice 
became  untenable  in  1850  and  was  repaired  and  slightly 
reduced  in  size  that  year.  It  is  beautifully  situated,  and 
but  little  known  outside  of  the  Eastern  Shore  Counties. 

The  year  after  the  consolidation  of  the  Northampton 
parishes,  Mr.  John  Monroe  became  the  minister  of  Hungar's 
Church.  He  is  referred  to  frequently  in  the  convocations 
of  the  Williamsburg  ministers  of  the  time. 

19 


278      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

The  plate  presented  to  Old  Hungar's  Church  by  Governor 
Nicholson  is  now  in  use  in  Christ  Church,  Eastville.  It 
is  inscribed: 

Ex  dono  Francis  Nicholson. 

The  communion  set  used  in  the  latter  church  was  pre- 
sented to  Hungar's  Church  by  John  Custis,  of  Williams- 
burg and  Arlington,  in  1741. 

Active  in  the  affairs  of  the  Episcopal  Church  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  in  the  seventeenth  century  were  members  of 
the  Scarburgh,  Robins,  Wise,  Littleton,  Bowman,  West, 
Cropper,  Charlton,  Foxcroft,  Severn,  Eyre,  Custis,  Yeardley, 
Bayly,  Kendall,  Parker,  Upshur,  Vaughan,  Bowdoin,  Not- 
tingham, Savage,  Joynes,  Poulson,  Spady,  Browne,  Satchell 
and  many  other  ancient  families,  the  descendants  of  which 
are  scattered  broadcast  over  the  United  States  until  but  few 
remain  to  worship  in  the  temples  of  their  fathers. 

On  many  a  time-stained  monument,  the  history  of  these 
early  Episcopalians  may  still  be  read,  for  it  was  a  custom 
among  Virginians  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  even  at 
a  later  time,  to  bury  their  dead  near  the  home  of  the  de- 
ceased and  frequently  in  the  immediate  close  of  the  dwelling. 
Ancient  tombstones  peep  from  behind  their  shrouds  of 
honeysuckle,  or  from  among  a  tangle  of  rose  bushes,  growing 
in  wild  luxuriance  and  sending  forth  a  delicious  fragrance, 
a  sweet  invitation  to  the  casual  passer-by  to  pause  and 
ponder  upon  the  history  of  the  past.  And  as  one  lingers  in 
such  deserted  spots  and  scans  these  memorials  of  departed 
spirits,  the  venerable  relics  testify  to  an  age  of  romantic 
interest  upon  this  balmy  peninsula.  Sweet  voices  of  the 
past,  we  pause  and  barken  to  your  words: 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      279 


WARWICK,    OR      QUINBY  S   FARM" 

In  Northampton  County. 

In  memory  of  Arthur  Upshur 

born  in  ye  County  of  Essex  in  ye 

Kingdom  of  England  who  died 

January  26,  1709  in  ye  85th  year 

of  his   age. 

In  memory  of  Mary  ye 

Wife  of  Arthur  Upshur 

born  in  ye  County  of  Warwick 

in  ye  Kingdom  of  England 

who  died  July  ye  3d  1703 

in  ye  85th  year  of  her  age. 


ii 
arlington 

(Arms) 

Here  lies  the  Body  of 

John  Custis,  Esq.,  one  of  the 

Councill  and  Major  Generall  of 

Virginia  who  departed  this  life  ye 

29th  day  of  January  1696  aged  66  years. 

And  by  his  side  a  son  and  daughter 

Of  his  Grandson  John  Custis  whom 

He  had  by  the  daughter  of 

Daniel  Parke,  Esq.,  Capt.  Generall 

And  Chief  Governor  of  the  Leeward 

Islands. 

Vistus  Post  Funera. 


280      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 


in 


WILSONIA    NECK 


Here  lyeth  ye  body  of  John  Custis,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
councill  of  Virginia  colonel,  and  commander  in  chief  of  the 
Militia  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  this  colony.  He  was  the 
son  of  Hon.  John  Custis  of  Arlington,  and  departed  this 
life  26th  of  January,  1713,  and  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his 
age.  His  first  wife  was  Margarett,  ye  daughter  of  Mr.  John 
Michaell,  by  whom  he  had  seven  sons  and  two  daughters, 
who  with  three  of  their  sons  lies  near  him.  His  second 
wife  was  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Southy  Littleton, 
and  widow  of  Mr.  Adam  Michaell,  who  survives  him,  but 
hopes  to  be  buried  by  him  when  she  dies,  as  was  his  desire. 
Which  accordingly  now  she  is,  and  departed  this  life  the 
18th  day  of  April,  Anno.  Domino,  1720,  and  in  the  fifty 
first  year  of  her  age. 


IV 
"POULSON  PLACE" 

(At  Onancock) 

Coll.  Tully  Robinson 

late  of  Accomack  Co.,  Va.  who  was 

born  August  31st,  1658,  and 

departed  November  12,  1723, 

aged  65  years  and  twenty 

days. 
A  gentleman  honourable,  an 
Ornament  to  all  places.    He 

was  loyal  to  his  prince, 

Unshaken  to  his  friend,  and 

a  true  believer  in  the  Church 

of  England. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      281 

The  remains  of  the  Yeardley  tombs  are  now  all  but 
imperceptible  in  the  grounds  of  the  Nottingham  home  in 
Northampton,  and  at  Bowman's  Folly,  Clifton,  Mount 
Custis,  Brownsville,  and  many  other  family  seats  of  Accomac 
and  Northampton  are  to  be  found  those  of  the  Croppers, 
Wises,  Baylys,  Upshurs,  and  other  prominent  and  ancient 
families. 

And  now,  having  followed  Episcopacy  to  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  let  us  go  back  and  view  the  humble 
origin  of  Presbyterianism  in  America,  with  its  first  roots  on 
the  remote  and  secluded  shores  of  Accomac. 

The  father  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  was 
Francis  Makemie,  of  Ireland  and  Accomac.  He  was  born 
near  Rathmelton,  County  Donegal,  Ireland,  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  the  exact  date  of  the  event  is  un- 
known. The  place  where  he  was  educated  is  also  involved 
in  uncertainty,  but  he  is  thought  to  have  attended  one  of  the 
Scotch  universities.  During  the  year  1680,  Judge  William 
Stevens,  who  was  a  member  of  Lord  Baltimore's  council,  is 
said  to  have  written  to  the  Irish  Presbytery  of  Leggan, 
urging  that  ministers  be  sent  to  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
The  year  following,  Makemie  was  licensed  to  come,  but  went 
first  to  Barbadoes,  where  he  preached.  About  the  year  1684, 
he  arrived  in  Somerset  County,  Maryland,  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  here  at  Rehoboth,  it  is  claimed,  established  the 
first  regular  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country.  Later  on, 
Makemie  moved  down  the  peninsula  into  Accomac  County, 
and  settled  at  Onancock,  which  place  had  been  established 
under  the  law  of  1680  for  the  promotion  of  town  building. 
At  Onancock,  he  married  Naomi  Anderson,  the  daughter  of 
"William  Anderson,  a  wealthy  merchant.  Through  his 
marriage,   Makemie    acquired    property,   and  was    engaged 


282      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

himself  in  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  a  trade  which  was 
actively  carried  on  at  that  period  between  those  Islands  and 
the  Eastern  Shore.  Makemie  was  upon  one  occasion  arrested 
by  ministers  of  the  established  church  for  preaching  without 
a  license,  and  carried  to  Williamsburg,  where  he  pleaded  his 
own  case  before  the  Governor  and  Burgesses.  This  he  did 
so  successfully  that  the  Governor  licensed  his  dwelling  in 
Onancock  as  a  place  of  worship,  and  gave  him,  much  to  the 
displeasure  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  the  general  right  to 
preach  anywhere  in  the  colony.  It  was  not  long  before 
Makemie  had  won  a  substantial  following  from  the  ranks  of 
the  Episcopalians,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  good 
Teackle  viewed  the  desertions  of  his  parishioners  with  the 
utmost  impatience  and  alarm.  The  established  clergy,  how- 
ever, were  unable  to  uproot  the  new  faith  from  the  soil  of 
Accomac  and  Northampton ;  and  so  powerful  were  the  argu- 
ments of  Makemie  that  the  Act  of  Toleration,  passed  April 
16,  1699,  was  directly  attributed  to  the  influence  of  this 
great  divine. 

During  the  year  1707  while  passing  through  New  York, 
en  route  to  Boston,  Makemie  again  became  involved  in  trouble 
for  the  offense  of  preaching  without  a  license,  and  was  im- 
prisoned for  two  months,  but  was  acquitted  at  his  trial.  He 
published  a  "Narrative"  of  the  affair  which  is  to  be  found 
in  Force's  Collection  of  Historical  Tracts.  Governor  Corn- 
bury,  who  had  him  arrested,  does  not  appear  to  have  enter- 
tained a  high  regard  for  the  parson,  for  he  wrote  in  a  letter 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade  that  Makemie  was  "a  preacher,  a 
doctor  of  physic,  a  merchant,  an  attorney,  a  counsellor  at 
law,  and,  what  is  worst  of  all,  a  disturber  of  governments."1 

*Note — Among  the  published  writings  of  Makemie  were:  "Truths 
in  a  New  Light,"  "Letter  to  Lord  Cornbury,"  and  "A  Plain  and  Friendly 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      283 

Makemie  is  reported  to  have  been  a  deeply  pious  man, 
and  a  shrewd  trader  as  well.  He  possessed  an  excellent  Law 
Library,  and  in  addition  was  distinguished  fon  what  a 
modern  lawyer  terms  "the  proper  spirit  of  litigation."  His 
will  is  recorded  in  the  County  Court  of  Accomac,  as  he 
died  in  that  County  during  the  summer  of  1708.  A  spot 
on  the  banks  of  Holston  Creek,  near  Jenkins'  Bridge  in 
Accomac  County,  is  pointed  out  as  the  place  where  he  was 
buried.  No  stone  marks  his  burial  place  and  the  exact 
locality  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  A  most  interesting  book,, 
concerning  the  old  Scotch-Irish  preacher,  was  published  a 
few  years  ago  by  the  Kev.  L.  P.  Bowen.  It  is  entitled  "The 
Days  of  Makemie,"  and  unites  the  charms  of  romance  with 
the  carefully  compiled  knowledge  of  a  painstaking  and  ac- 
curate historian.  It  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  early 
history  of  the  sea-girt  peninsula,  about  which  Gath  has 
written : 

"And  when  we  thread  in  quaint  intrigue 
Onancock  Creek  and  Pungoteague, 
The  world  and  wars  behind  us  stop. 
On  God's  frontiers  we  seem  to  be 
As  at  Rehoboth  wharf  we  drop, 
And  see  the  kirk  of  Makemie ; 
The  first  he  was  to  teach  the  creed, 
The  rugged  Scotch  will  ne'er  revoke ; 
His  slaves  he  made  to  work  and  read, 
No  powers  Episcopal  to  heed, 
That  held  the  glebes  on  Pocomoke." 

Perswasive  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Virginia  and  Maryland."  The  reprint 
of  the  last  named  writing  is  to  be  found  in  Volume  IV  of  The  Virginia 
Magazine  of  History  and  Biography.  Every  student  of  the  early  history 
of  Virginia,  and  of  the  Eastern  Shore  in  particular,  should  read  this 
remarkable  paper,  for  being  written  with  a  knowledge  acquired  by 
residence  on  the  peninsula,  it  gives  a  valuable  insight  into  the  times  in 
which  the  famous  author  lived,  and  the  conditions  which  influenced  his 
arguments. 


284      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

It  is  stated,  upon  competent  authority,  that  there  is  but  one 
volume  of  this  work  extant — that  in  the  Library  of  Harvard  University, 
from  which  the  above  reprint  was  copied.  Two  letters  of  Makemie, 
written  to  Increase  Mather  in  1684  and  1685,  are  in  the  possession  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

Notes:  For  much  of  the  foregoing  sketch  the  author  is  indebted  to 
the  late  Barton  Haxall  Wise.  Some  years  ago  Mr.  Wise  presented  to 
the  Virginia  Historical  Society  a  transcript  of  the  Makemie  Manuscript, 
which  had  come  into  his  possession. 

For  a  full  sketch  of  Mackemie,  see  Foote's  Sketches. 


XV 

The  Negro  and  the  Slave 

It  is  a  generally  accepted  fact  that  the  Dutch  were 
responsible  for  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  Virginia  in 
1619.  It  was  several  years  later  before  the  first  negro 
appeared  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  a  decade  had  elapsed 
before  slaves  were  brought  to  the  peninsula.  The  first 
negroes  in  Accomac  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge,  were 
two  free  citizens  of  color,  Anthony  Johnson  and  his  wife 
Mary.  They  were  so  highly  thought  of  by  the  white  in- 
habitants of  the  county,  that,  when,  in  1652,  they  had  the 
"misfortune  to  lose  by  fire  after  great  service  &  etc.,"  after 
dwelling  as  law-abiding  citizens  in  the  county  for  over  thirty 
years,  they  were  exempted  from  paying  taxes.  While  no 
negroes  are  mentioned  in  the  census  of  1623,  the  Johnsons 
must  have  lived  there  at  the  time.  The  descendants  of  these 
free  negroes  were  for  many  years  respected  property  owners 
and  owned  in  addition  to  much  land,  a  number  of  slaves. 
In  1654,  100  acres  of  land  lying  along  Pungoteague  Creek, 
were  granted  to  Richard  Johnson,  the  son  of  Anthony,  the 
former  being  a  carpenter  by  trade  and  a  skilled  mechanic. 
This  tract  was  contiguous  to  the  estate  of  John  Johnson,  also 
a  negro,  and  that  of  Anthony  Johnson.  Later,  a  dispute 
arose  as  to  the  title  to  the  land  and  we  find  the  following 
entry:  "Whereas  John  Johnson,  Negro,  hath  this  day  made 
complaint  in  Court  that  John  Johnson,  Sr.,  detaineth  a 
patent  to  450  acres,  which  John  Johnson,  Jr.,  claims,  John 

285 


286      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Johnson,  Sr.,  is  ordered  to  appear  in  Court."1  Anthony 
Johnson  entered  suit  soon  after  this  for  the  purpose  of 
recovering  his  negro  servant,  who  had  been  appropriated  by 
Robert  Parker.2 

Leases  for  ninety-nine  years  to  negroes  were  not  un- 
common in  the  seventeenth  century.  John  Parker  of  Ac- 
comac  leased  to  Philip  Morgan,  a  negro,  200  acres  about 
1680.3 

The  first  slaves  of  which  mention  is  made  in  the  old 
records,  were  the  two  West  Indian  negroes,  named  Sampso 
and  Domingo,  servants  of  the  Rev.  William  Cotton,  who 
came  to  the  peninsula  about  1632.  Four  years  later,  John 
Wilkins,  Gent.,  brought  one  to  Accomac  with  twenty-five 
white  servants. 

The  first  sale  of  a  slave  occurred  in  1640,  when  Nathaniel 
Littleton  sold  one  to  Garrett  Andrews  for  1,200  pounds  of 
tobacco.  Littleton  and  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Southey, 
owned  thirteen  slaves  at  this  time. 

Prior  to  1656,  there  were  but  few  slaves  on  the  Eastern 
Shore;  in  fact  there  were  but  few  in  the  Colony.  The 
census  of  1624-5,  shows  but  22  Africans.  In  1649,  there 
were  not  over  300,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  a  company  had 
been  organized  at  great  expense  eighteen  years  before  for 
carrying  on  the  slave  traffic;  and  during  the  year  1649  but 
seventeen  negroes  were  imported  into  the  Colony,  a  large 
majority,  by  one  planter  in  Gloucester  County.  Between 
1649  and  1659,  the  importation  of  slaves  was  very  light, 
the  greatest  number  imported  in  one  body  being  the  thirty 
negroes  bought  by  Colonel  Scarburgh  in  Manhattan  for  his 
daughters,  Matilda  and  Tabitha. 

'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1651-1654,  p.  200. 

2Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1663-1666,  p.  54,  and  1682-97,  p.  160. 

3Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1676-90,  p.  185. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      287 

The  slaves  on  the  Eastern  Shore  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury were  well  taken  care  of  and  kindly  treated.  They  were 
used  almost  exclusively  as  domestic  servants,  for  the  day 
of  working  great  bands  of  negroes  in  the  fields  had  not  yet 
arrived.  In  1647,  Francis  Pott  had  two  negroes  bound  to 
his  service  for  a  term  of  years  and  obligated  himself  to 
furnish  them  sufficient  meat,  drink,  apparel  and  comfortable 
lodging  and  to  use  his  best  efforts  to  bring  them  up  in  the 
fear  of  God  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour.  These 
little  slaves  were  bought  from  Immanuel  Driggs,  a  free 
negro  servant. 

The  slaves  were  not  allowed  to  have  any  business  dealings 
with  the  whites  for  fear  that  they  would  be  taken  advantage 
of  and  that  they  would  be  encouraged  to  steal  the  property 
of  their  masters.  Hence  we  find,  in  1643,  upon  the  request 
of  William  Andrews,  the  court  ordering  that  no  man  should 
"truck  nor  trade"  with  his  negro  John,  and  again  in  1654 
upon  the  complaint  of  Captain  Francis  Pott,  people  were 
forbidden  to  trade  with  his  negroes. 

Many  of  the  masters  taught  their  slaves  to  read  and  write 
and  the  custom  of  instructing  them  in  the  Bible  and  making 
them  attend  church  was  general.  In  his  will,  dated  1645, 
Mr.  Grace  Vaughan  of  Occahannock,  actually  provided  for 
the  manumission  of  his  slaves  at  suitable  ages  and  left  them 
each  a  tract  of  land.1  This  is  probably  one  of  the  first  in- 
stances of  manumission.  The  inventories  of  the  estate  of 
William  Burdett  and  Major  Peter  Walker,  dated  1644  and 
1655,  respectively,  included  several  negroes  bound  for  short 
terms  of  servitude,  showing  that  they  were  to  be  freed. 

By  the  end  of  the  century,  there  were  many  free  negroes 
on  the  peninsula  who  not  only  owned  land,  but  could  read 

1Will  proven  April  22nd,  1656.     Northampton  County  Eecords. 


288      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

and  write  and  were  allowed  to  vote.1  They  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  very  thrifty  as  a  rule,  though  there  were  striking 
exceptions,  then  as  now.  An  instance  of  a  negro  surety  is 
to  be  found  in  the  records  of  Northampton.2  Most  of  the 
free  negroes  in  the  county,  like  the  surviving  Indians, 
became  a  charge  upon  the  whites  in  their  old  age  and  such 
failure  on  their  part  to  provide  for  the  winter  of  life  is 
striking  evidence  of  their  lack  of  thrift.  It  was  claimed 
by  the  people  of  Northampton  that  free  negroes  were  un- 
desirable, because  they  commonly  became  receivers  of  goods 
stolen  either  by  the  slaves  or  the  white  servants.3 

The  value  of  slaves  on  the  Eastern  Shore  at  this  time 
may  be  arrived  at  from  the  fact  that,  when  the  master  of  the 
"Society,"  a  Bristol  ship,  which  went  ashore  oif  the  coast 
of  Accomac,  came  to  reward  the  persons  who  had  assisted 
him  in  landing  the  negroes  he  had  on  board,  he  paid  James 
Lamont  thirty  pounds  sterling  in  the  form  of  a  boy  and  a  girl, 
and  this  price  very  nearly  corresponds  with  that  paid  by 
Littleton  to  Andrews  at  the  first  sale,  before  mentioned.4 

In  the  list  of  tithables  for  Northampton  in  1666,  the 
names  of  52  negroes  appear.  Allowing  Accomac  County  an 
equal  number,  and  applying  the  same  ratio  of  tithables  to 
souls,  as  in  the  case  of  the  whites,  there  must  have  been 
upwards  of  300  negroes  on  the  peninsula  at  that  time,  or 
about  one  to  every  ten  white  persons.  A  great  increase  in 
the  number  of  blacks  began  about  1690. 

The  county  records  indicate  that  Indian  slaves  were  owned 
by  Eastern  Shoremen,  but  they  were  no  doubt  half-breeds 
with  the  negro  blood  largely  preponderant. 

'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.   1689-98,  p.  250. 
Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.   1689-98,  p.  58. 
'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1689-98,  p.  463. 
'Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  30   (Bruce). 


XVI 

Trade.      Commerce.      Industries 

The  houses  on  the  Eastern  Shore  with  a  few  exceptions, 
such  as  Arlington  and  Bowman's  Folly,  have  never  been 
as  spacious  and  as  pretentious  as  those  in  other  parts  of 
the  state.  The  smallness  of  some  of  the  houses  inhabited 
by  the  wealthiest  citizens  is  amazing.  For  instance,  the 
house  of  Southey  Littleton  of  Accomac  contained  a  parlor, 
a  porch  chamber,  a  hall  chamber,  a  hall,  two  garrets,  a  little 
room  over  the  kitchen,  the  kitchen,  the  dairy  room ;  making 
in  all  but  a  small  house.1  The  residence  of  Argoll  Yeardley, 
of  Northampton,  was  equally  small,  containing  a  hall,  a 
hall  chamber,  a  parlor,  two  small  chambers  next  to  the 
parlor,  a  kitchen  and  a  dairy,  both  of  the  latter  probably 
detached.2  These  houses,  no  doubt,  were  typical  of  the  time. 
Most  of  the  house-building  seems  to  have  been  done  by  the 
ship-carpenters  and  no  doubt  the  structures  had  a  decidedly 
nautical  cast  about  them.  There  are  to-day  many  old  houses 
on  the  Eastern  Shore  which  resemble  the  pictures  of  Noah's 
Ark,  and  give  plentiful  evidence  of  the  character  of  the 
builders. 

There  being  no  stone,  and  but  little  clay  out  of  which  to 
make  bricks,  the  people  of  the  peninsula  were  forced  to 
content  themselves  with  the  abundant  supply  of  pine  at  hand 
for  building  purposes.     Even  tombstones  had  to  be  imported 

Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1676-90,  p.  293. 
'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1654-55,  p.  117. 

289 


290      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

from  England  or  the  Western  Shore.  Simple  frame  dwell- 
ings sufficed  to  house  these  primitive  country  people  in  a 
tempered  clime,  where  the  land  afforded  every  inducement 
to  out-door  occupation,  and  the  early  Eastern  Shoremen 
should  not  be  judged  by  the  character  of  their  dwellings. 
Their  energies  were  not  directed  to  house-building,  which 
fact  in  no  wise  diminished  their  happiness.  With  vessels 
coming  from  the  West  Indies,  bringing  goodly  supplies  of 
Jamaica  Rum,  with  excellent  peach  brandy ;  with  salt  water 
creeks  about  them  abounding  in  the  finest  terrapin,  crabs, 
clams,  and  oysters  in  the  world,  the  Eastern  Shoremen 
recked  little  of  the  outside  world,  and  were  a  contented, 
happy  people.  Despite  the  mild  climate  and  other  condi- 
tions which  conduced  to  laissez-faire,  the  people  were  yet 
more  thrifty,  shrewd  and  progressive  than  the  people  in 
other  sections  of  the  colony,  for  the  slaves  were  never  so 
numerous  as  to  deprive  the  peninsula  of  a  class  of  hardy 
yeomen.1 

Bricks  were  unquestionably  made  on  the  peninsula  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  but  only  in  small  quantities.  James 
Ewell  of.  Pimgoteague,  contracted  to  burn  thirty  thousand 
for  a  new  courthouse  in  1677,  and  it  appears  that  brick- 
making  was  his  regular  employment.  In  April,  of  the  same 
year,  the  Ketch,  Grocer's  Adventure,  of  Hull,  England, 
arrived  at  Chesconessex,  "having  a  great  many  bricks  to 
unload,"  as  we  are  informed  by  the  records,  and  this  is  one 
of  the  few  instances  in  which  there  is  fairly  trustworthy 
proof  of  the  importation  of  brick  into  the  Colony.  It  is 
even  possible  in  this  case  that  the  bricks  were  transported 

JLife  of  Henry  A.  Wise,  Barton  Haxall  Wise. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      291 

to  the  peninsula  from  another  part  of  Virginia,  where  the 
ship  had  previously  touched.1 

In  the  early  days,  travel  was  exclusively  on  foot  or  in 
canoes,  as  the  first  horse  did  not  appear  until  about  1642. 
Of  course  there  were  no  roads  until  a  later  period.  The 
hard-beaten  paths  through  the  shady  pine  woods  and  along 
the  shores  of  the  creeks,  very  much  as  they  are  to-day,  com- 
prised the  sole  overland  thoroughfares.  About  1646,  when 
horses  were  beginning  to  appear  in  large  numbers,  bridges 
were  constructed  across  the  creeks,  near  the  headwaters  of 
navigation.  Prior  to  that  time,  crude  scows  ferried  the 
pedestrian  on  his  way.  A  ferry  is  mentioned  in  1634.  In 
1638,  Mr.  Symmonds,  first  surveyor,  was  mentioned. 

During  Scarburgh's  term  of  office  as  County  Surveyor, 
much  attention  was  paid  to  wharves  and  roads,  and  all  at 
private  expense.  In  January,  1657,  the  first  order  was 
entered  for  the  construction  of  public  roads,  and  William 
Melling  was  appointed  general  surveyor  of  highways  for 
Northampton,  "according  to  the  laws  of  England."  From 
that  time  on,  various  orders  were  issued  and  assessments 
levied  for  county  or  public  roads,  which,  in  general,  followed 
the  routes  of  the  present  bay-side  and  sea-side  thorough- 
fares.2 Bridges  were  built  across  the  Pocomoke  River  before 
1680.3 

Intercommunication  between  the  various  parts  of  the  pen- 
insula was  carried  on  largely  by  means  of  boats,  the  smaller 
variety  being  patterned  after  the  native  canoe.     The  white 

lAccomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1678-82,  pp.  65,  66.  Bruce's  Institu- 
tional History  of  Va.,  etc.,  Vol.  I,  p.  538. 

2Accomack  County  Records,  Orders  of  April  21st,  1663.  Northamp- 
ton County  Records,  Orders  of  March  23,  1663. 

Proceedings  of  Council  of  Maryland,   1647-16S0. 


292      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

men  soon  learned  to  build  these  little  craft  out  of  the  ex- 
cellent lumber  which  the  peninsula  afforded  and  supple- 
mented the  Indian  paddle  with  a  spread  of  canvas.  The 
present-day  "Kun-ner,"  as  it  is  pronounced  by  the  Eastern 
Shoremen,  sharp  at  both  ends,  low  in  the  water,  of  extremely 
light  draft  and  rakish  rig,  is  but  an  early  development  of 
the  Indian  canoe,  upon  which  the  settlers  depended  so  largely 
for  transportation.  The  boat,  so  extensively  employed  now 
and  called  the  "dead-rise  bateau,"  is  a  type  of  a  later  period. 
The  "bug-eye"  or  freight  craft,  peculiar  to  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  is  after  all  but  an  immense 
canoe,  decked  over  and  schooner  rigged.  As  every  early 
settler  was  forced  to  "paddle  his  own  canoe,"  he  became  an 
adept  sailor.  Knowledge  of  the  tides,  the  signs  of  weather, 
and  things  nautical,  became  matters  of  second  nature  with 
him,  for  those  who  dwelt  farthest  from  the  coast  were  at 
most  but  a  short  walk  from  the  nearest  creek. 

One  of  the  first  vessels  of  Accomack  was  owned  by  William 
Burdett  and  Daniel  Cugley  in  1634,  and  employed  in  the 
Indian  trade  and  in  freighting  tobacco.  In  1645,  the  "Bless- 
ings of  Virginia"  is  mentioned  as  having  brought  goods 
from  Holland.  In  January,  1652,  Colonel  Scarburgh,  who 
was  preparing  to  leave  the  county  indefinitely,  sold  to 
William  Bunton  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  a  barque  of  20 
tons  burthen  named  the  "Deliverance"  for  50  pounds 
sterling,  another  one  named  the  "May  Flower"  with  all  her 
sails  and  rigging  for  120  pounds  short,1  "a  Galiot  by  the 
name  of  King  David  with  all  things  belonging  to  her  for 
180  pounds  sterling,"  and  a  small  shallop  for  20  pounds 
sterling.  We  have  seen  that  he  owned  numerous  other 
vessels,  among    which    were    the    "Seahorse,"  the    "Hobby 

'Was  this  the  Mayflower  of  Plymouth  fame? 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTOEY      293 

Horse,"  the  "Ann  Clear"  and  the  ship  "Artillery,"  all  ocean- 
going vessels,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  other  citizen  in  Virginia 
and  in  fact  in  any  of  the  colonies  owned  as  many  vessels  at 
one  time  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Seven  large  merchant 
vessels  engaged  in  trading  along  the  coast,  to  the  West  Indies 
and  to  Holland,  speak  well  for  the  enterprise  of  the  many- 
sided  Colonel. 

As  early  as  1640,  the  difficulty  of  securing  transporta- 
tion led  many  of  the  larger  planters  to  unite  in  building 
freight  craft  in  which  to  export  their  tobacco.  Therefore, 
we  find  Scarburgh,  Samuel  Bayly,  John  Rice,  Stephen 
Charlton  and  other  wealthy  planters  purchasing  interests  in 
a  large  vessel  that  year.1 

In  1661,  the  Assembly  subsidized  ship-building  by  offer- 
ing to  any  one  who  should  build  a  vessel  of  any  burthen 
whatsoever,  decked  and  fitted  for  sea,  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  every  ton  burthen.2 

On  the  first  day  of  March,  1641,  the  first  mill  was  con- 
tracted for  between  Obedience  Robins  and  John  Wilkins 
on  the  one  part  and  Anthony  Lenny,  Millwright,  of  the 
second  part.  The  price  for  the  wind-mill  was  to  be  220 
pounds  sterling  and  20  barrels  of  corn;  and  Lenny  was  to 
be  furnished  with  all  necessary  iron-work  and  shingles  and 
to  receive  100  pounds  sterling  in  advance.  Wheat  and 
flour  on  the  Eastern  Shore  were  first  mentioned  in  June, 
1646,  in  a  bill  of  Captain  Wormeley's. 

The  first  merchant  trader  on  the  Eastern  Shore  seems  to 
have  been  William  Clayborne,  who,  as  early  as  1630-1, 
employed  his  good  ship  Africa,  a  vessel  of  considerable  size, 
in  trade  between  his  depots  in  Accomac,  on  Kent  Island, 

^ccomac  County  Records,   1632-1640,  p.  22,  Va.  State  Library. 
2Hening,  I,  p.  122. 


20 


294      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

and  the  Susquehanna  River,  buying  up  beaver  skins  from 
the  Indians  of  the  latter  place.  His  trade  was  not  restricted 
to  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Susquehanna,  however,  for  John 
Winthrop,  Jr.,  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  dated  April  30,  1631, 
mentions  that  a  contract  had  been  made  with  Captain  Clay- 
borne,  then  in  London,  to  bring  grain  to  Boston  from  Vir- 
ginia. "The  ship  that  bringeth  it  wch  is  the  Africa  whereof 
Capt.  Claybourne  is  commander.  He  and  the  merchants 
that  set  him  out  offer  us  to  bring  what  corne  we  will  for 
fish."1  In  June,  1646,  Clayborne's  business  affairs  with 
George  Fletcher,  a  London  merchant,  which  had  become 
much  confused  during  the  Kent  Island  troubles,  were  finally 
adjusted. 

The  following  is  a  statement  of  Clayborne's  claim: 

"Disbursed  by  the  account  12,000  lbs.  tobacco  for  trade  of 
Susquehanna  &  for  Isle  of  Kent  in  making  peace,  taking 
possession  of  it,  fortifying  &  maintaining  it,  of  which  Mr. 
Fletcher's  letter  engages  him  to  bear  his  share." 

The  arbitrators,  to  whom  the  dispute  was  referred,  were 
Richard  Bennett,  afterward  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  Peter 
Knight  of  Warrosquack.  James  Fletcher,  of  Eltham, 
County  Kent,  England,  was  attorney  for  his  brother  George, 
the  merchant. 

The  records  show  that  much  trade  was  carried  on  between 
Accomack  and  New  England  in  1634  and  in  October,  1638, 
two  Accomackians,  namely,  Nicholas  White  and  one  Barnaby, 
made  voyages  to  that  coast  in  their  own  vessels.  In  1645, 
the  "Water  Duck,"  of  Rotterdam,  a  large  trading  vessel, 
touched  at  Accomack,  and  Stephen  Charlton  bought  two 
pipes  of  wine  from  the  Master,  besides  beds,  Holland  sheets, 

'Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Collect.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  31.     The  fish  were  Codfish. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      295 

etc.,  etc.  For  the  wine  he  paid  22  pounds  sterling  in  tobacco 
at  3  pence  per  pound.  This  fact  not  only  establishes  the 
relative  values  of  tobacco  and  sterling  money  but  also  the 
value  of  wine  at  that  time. 

Well  before  the  middle  of  the  century,  Scarburgh,  Clay- 
borne  and  others  had  established  trade  along  the  Delaware, 
the  Susquehanna,  with  Manhattan,  the  West  Indies,  Holland 
and  New  England.  There  is  much  evidence  that  Scar- 
burgh's  ships  had  visited  points  farther  up  the  coast  than 
Boston,  for  various  invoices  show  him  to  have  been  the  owner 
of  largo  numbers  of  moose  skins  at  one  time  or  another. 
These  skins  were  used  by  him  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes. 
We  have  seen  how  at  one  time  he  was  in  partnership  with 
General  Gibbons  of  Boston  in  the  business  of  freighting  by 
sea  with  the  ship  "Artillery,"  and  how  upon  the  return  of 
the  former  to  Northampton  he  filed  complaints  against  the 
Bostonian,  requiring  an  accounting  of  him.  The  following 
is  the  text  of  the  letter  which  Gibbons  wrote  Scarburgh 
upon  this  occasion,  and  is  interesting  because  it  establishes 
the  relation  between  these  two  distinguished  men: 

"Boston  the  9th  of  ye  fifth  moneth  1654. 

"Sir — I  hearinge  of  yr  arrivall,  though  I  heare  you  are 
offended  with  mee  yet  at  this  distance  I  crave  Libertye  to 
kis  yor  hand  &  desire  god  to  take  possession  of  yr  heart  & 
bid  you  a  welcome  to  gether:  Sr  I  shall  saye  nothinge  for 
the  present  But  about  Strangridge  who  spitts  fowlely  &  un- 
justlye  agst  mee,  as  you  can  testifie,  For  you  made  upp  our 
Accotts  by  our  consente  and  subscribed  it.  And  he  owed 
mee  neare  Two  hundred  pounde  and  would  make  you  paye 
agayne,  what  I  paid  him  for  you ;  Sr  good  ice  not  very 
plentifull  here.     I  say  no  more,  but  am 

"Yor  friend  (though  poor), 

"Edwakd  Gibons." 


296      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Poor  old  Gibbons !  He  too  had  become  entangled  with  the 
Colonel.  A  very  quaint  letter  is  this  from  the  Captain  who 
led  the  expedition  from  Boston  against  d'Aunay  at  Port 
Royal,  in  the  interest  of  La  Tour.1  General  Gibbons  was  at 
one  time  offered  a  high  office  in  the  Government  of  Mary- 
land by  Baltimore,  and  there  is  much  evidence  that  he  was 
in  n  1  id  about  the  Chesapeake  on  numerous  occasions.2 

Large  numbers  of  Dutch  merchants  resided  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  or  visited  it  at  frequent  intervals  about  this  time. 
Entered  in  the  records  of  Northampton  County  is  a  power 
of  attorney  from  Jacob  Derrickson  and  Abram  Johnson,  of 
Holland,  to  John  Johnson,  to  serve  as  their  factor  both  in 
Maryland  and  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  There  is  also  an 
agreement  between  the  Master  of  the  Farewell,  from 
Amsterdam,  on  the  one  part,  and  John  Johnson  and  John 
Makule,  both  of  Graft,  of  the  other  part,  that  the  vessel 
then  (1652)  lying  at  Accomac  should  go  to  Holland  to  load. 

So  extensive  was  the  Dutch  trade  that  even  the  passage 
of  the  stringent  Navigation  Act,  in  1666,  did  not  succeed  in 
destroying  it.  A  temporary  loss  only,  was  sustained,  for 
the  people  and  the  merchants  soon  resorted  to  illicit  trading 
and  smuggling  was  prevalent  for  the  remainder  of  the  cen- 
tury. The  English  Government  had  previously  (in  1650 
and  1651)  endeavored  to  restrain  all  trade  between  the 
colonies  and  foreign  countries,  and  against  this  the  Dutch 
had  remonstrated  in  vain.  This  restraint  was  one  of  the 
causes  which,  as  we  have  seen,  led  to  the  first  Dutch  war. 
When  Virginia  surrendered  to  the  Commissioners  of  Parlia- 
ment, it  was  stipulated  that  she  should  have  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  a  free  trade  with  other  countries ;    and  the  mer- 

MDsgood's  English  Colonies  in  17th  Cent.  Vol.  I,  pp.  411-412.  Hazard's 
Historical  Collect.  Vol.  I,  p.  499. 

2English  Colonization  of  Am.  in  17th  Cent.,  p.  284. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      297 

chants  of  the  peninsula  complained  bitterly  against  the  acts 
of  Parliament  by  which  it  was  sought  to  regulate  commerce. 
The  case  of  Walter  Chiles  which  arose  at  this  time  has  been 
referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  Navigation  Act, 
designed  to  protect  English  manufacturers  and  merchants  by 
prohibiting  foreign  trading  with  the  colonies,  not  only 
greatly  inconvenienced  and  worked  a  hardship  upon  the 
people  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  but,  had  it  been  observed  by 
them,  would  have  caused  their  utter  ruin  financially.  They 
had  grown  too  dependent  upon  the  great  trade  which  they 
had  built  up  to  stand  by  and  see  it  destroyed  by  such  selfish 
laws  as  Parliament  chose  to  enact  and  the  new  government 
which  had  at  first  had  many  supporters  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Puritans  and  Dutch  on  the  peninsula,  lost  greatly  in  popu- 
larity. Smuggling  grew  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  necessity, 
and  every  influence  was  present  to  encourage  and  support 
the  practice.  The  people  felt  that  they  were  not  half  as 
culpable  as  Parliament  and  looked  upon  smuggling  as  a 
measure  of  self-protection.  The  islands  of  the  seaside  were 
well  adapted  to  the  illicit  trade  which  soon  sprang  up  and 
which  was  carried  on  almost  as  openly  as  lawful  commerce 
had  been  conducted  before  the  Parliamentary  measures  came 
into  effect.  The  hardy  'longshoremen,  at  home  on  the  sea, 
were  experts  in  the  "island  trade,"  as  it  came  to  be  known, 
and  no  magistrate  nor  revenue  officer  might  hope  to  outwit 
them.  The  nature  of  the  coast  was  such  that  it  would  have 
required  a  whole  British  fleet  to  break  the  practice  up. 

As  soon  as  the  Dutch  vessels  had  ceased  to  arrive  in  the 
Colony  not  only  did  the  price  of  goods  increase,  but  ship 
owners  raised  their  freight  rates.  In  a  short  period,  the  cost 
of  transportation  had  doubled,  while  the  tobacco  staple  brought 
only  one-third  of  the  price  it  had  commanded  before  the 


298      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

passage  of  the  Navigation  Act.  What  steps  the  citizens  of 
Northampton  and  the  Dutch  merchants  took  to  obviate  such 
serious  results,  before  the  illicit  seaside  trade  was  well 
established,  have  been  seen  in  the  chapter  on  the  Common- 
wealth and  the  Dutch  War. 

In  the  meantime,  an  act  which  at  first  had  been  one  of 
pure  courtesy,  had  come,  through  long  custom,  to  be  looked 
upon  by  the  Governor  as  a  matter  of  right  or  law.  From 
about  the  middle  of  the  century  it  had  been  the  practice  of 
all  ship  captains,  touching  at  Accomack,  to  leave  with  the 
revenue  collector  a  present  of  provisions  or  wine  for  the 
Governor,  until  the  contribution  became  fixed  as  a  charge, 
amounting  to  about  twenty  shillings  per  ship.  In  1667, 
Berkeley  was  forced  to  remind  his  collector,  Colonel  Scar- 
burgh,  that  "the  yearly  presentations  of  wine,"  due  from  the 
vessels  which  had  touched  at  ports  on  the  peninsula,  had  not 
been  received  by  him.  This  extra  tariff  was  never  looked 
upon  with  favor  by  the  independent  merchants  of  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  no  doubt  the  collector  himself  had  done  much  to 
discourage  the  practice  by  appropriating  the  presentation 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  donors.  Thus,  they  had  come  to 
regard  the  extra  burden  as  more  in  the  nature  of  Graft  than 
Tariff.     The  distinction  is  interesting. 

So  prosperous  had  some  of  the  English  merchants  in  the 
colony  become  by  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  that,  an 
English  wit  was  led  to  write,  "From  being  wool  hoppers 
and  of  meaner  employment  in  England,  they  have  in  Vir- 
ginia become  great  merchants  and  attained  the  most  eminent 
advancement  the  country  affords."1  And  such  was  the  case 
on  the  Eastern  Shore.  English  merchants  had  been  settled 
there  since  1640,  some  of  them  being  men  of  the  highest 

force's  Collection  of  Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  III. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      299 

standing  in  the  community,  as  for  instance,  George  Fletcher, 
the  associate  of  Clayborne  in  opening  up  the  trade  of  the 
upper  Chesapeake,  and  a  number  of  years  later,  Thomas 
Wilbourne  of  York,  and  Francis  Lee  of  London. 

The  first  mercantile  house  on  the  peninsula  was  that  of 
William  Douglas  &  Company,  existing  in  1640.  This  con- 
cern drew  the  first  Bill  of  Exchange  mentioned  in  the 
records,  on  a  bank  in  Amsterdam,  Holland. 

While  the  British  and  Dutch  Merchants  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  were  well  received,  prosperous,  and  in  turn  fair  in 
their  commercial  intercourse  with  the  people,  they  had  their 
troubles  and  at  times  lost  heavily.  In  1688,  a  petition  was 
brought  before  the  Privy  Council,  in  England,  in  which  it 
was  affirmed  that  the  estate  of  Edmund  Scarburgh  was  in- 
debted to  the  petitioners  to  an  extent  exceeding  700  pounds 
sterling.  The  consideration  was  large  quantities  of  goods 
shipped  from  time  to  time  to  Scarburgh's  plantation,  which 
still  remained  unpaid  for.  This  sum  amounted  in  our 
modern  currency  perhaps  to  $17,000.00.1 

The  largest  lease  of  land  recorded  is  that  of  3,000  acres 
called  "Occahannock,"  by  Colonel  Scarburgh  in  1652  to 
William  Bunton,  of  Boston,  for  fourteen  years  or  until  his 
son  Edmund  should  come  of  age,  the  rental  for  the  whole 
period  being  about  1,200  pounds  sterling.  In  1642,  Scar- 
burgh bought  500  acres  of  this  land  from  John  Neale  for  10 
pounds  sterling. 

In  1650,  3,000  weight  of  sassafras  root  was  shipped  to 
England  and  sold  for  20  shillings  per  hundredweight.  A 
large  quantity  of  scrap  pewter  and  brass  was  also  shipped. 
In  1652,  seventy-two  moose  skins  were  sold  by  Scarburgh 
to  an  English  merchant  at  10  shillings  each. 

^rivy  Council  to  Governor  Berkeley,  British  State  Papers,  Colonial. 
Bruce's  Economic  Hist,  of  Va.  in  17th  Cent. 


300      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Until  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  sterling  money  was 
used  but  rarely.  Roanoke  and  Wampumpeake,  Indian  forms 
of  currency,  had  a  legal  circulation  for  many  years. 

The  Chincoteague,  Assateague  and  Assawaman  Indians 
were  noted  for  the  manufacture  of  Roanoke  and  Peake.1 
Roanoke  was  made  from  cockle-shells  wrought  into  small 
pieces  like  beads  with  holes  drilled  through  them.  It  was  of 
dark  color  and  less  valuable  than  peake.  The  latter  was  a 
long  cylinder,  the  component  pieces  also  perforated  and 
carefully  polished.  Both  species  had  exact  values,  reckoned 
sometimes  by  bulk  measure,  but  more  frequently  by  the 
yard  after  being  strung  on  gut.  These  money  beads  were 
often  made  into  belts  and  ornaments.  The  records  show 
that  Roanoke  was  very  common  in  Accomac  and  that  it  was 
frequently  paid  out  to  the  Indians  for  public  services  per- 
formed by  them.2  It  occasionally  constituted  a  part  of  an 
estate.  When  Sir  Thomas  Dale  sought  the  hand  of  a  sister 
of  Pocahontas  for  one  of  his  colonists  in  1614,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  Powhatan  informed  him  that  she  had  been 
sold  a  few  days  before  to  a  great  Werowance  for  two  bushels 
of  Roanoke. 

Beaver  pelts  were  in  use  from  the  first  as  currency  among 
the  settlers.  In  1637,  eight  pounds  of  these  skins  were  sold 
for  160  pounds  of  tobacco.  It  is  thought  that  beaver,  on 
account  of  the  character  of  the  peninsula,  never  inhabited 
that  region  in  great  numbers.  At  any  rate  they  disappeared 
soon  after  the  white  man  arrived  and  the  great  value 
attached  to  the  pelts  in  later  days  was  on  account  of  the 
distance  they  had  to  be  transported. 

'Wampum  means  shells.  Roanoke,  Rawrenoke,  or  Rawanoke  means 
place  or  thing  of  shells. 

*Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.   1663-66,  p.  94,  Bruce. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      301 

Tobacco,  while  used  as  currency  for  many  years,  was  a  most 
inconventient  form  of  tender,  on  account  of  its  small  bulk 
value.  When  the  warehouses  were  established,  the  planters 
received  tickets  or  receipts  for  the  casks  which  they  stored. 
These  tobacco  tickets  were  extensively  employed  as  currency 
at  one  time. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  century,  the  people  of  Virginia 
had  begun  to  cry  for  bills  of  exchange  and  coin,  a  much 
simpler  and  therefore  a  more  convenient  form  of  currency 
than  beaver,  peake,  or  tobacco.  As  a  substitute  for  money 
sterling,  the  lion  or  dog  collar  was  in  general  circulation  on 
the  Eastern  Shore.  This  was  perhaps  a  Dutch  coin  which 
had  obtained  a  furtive  admission  into  the  colony  through  the 
smugglers  of  the  sea-islands  and  its  presence  on  the  penin- 
sula as  late  as  1696  was  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  con- 
tinuation of  illicit  trade.  In  the  course  of  that  year,  a 
petition  was  presented  by  the  planters  of  Accomac  to  their 
representatives  in  the  Assembly,  asking  that  a  legal  value 
be  set  upon  the  lion  or  dog  collar,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
used  in  current  business  transactions.1 

For  selfish  reasons,  the  Governor  and  Auditor  General 
discouraged  the  use  of  money  sterling,  which  led,  in  the 
autumn  of  1697,  to  a  series  of  proposals  for  submission  to 
the  House  of  Burgesses  by  prominent  citizens  of  Accomack, 
in  which  it  was  emphatically  asserted  that  money  sterling 
was  the  most  convenient  medium  in  carrying  on  trade  and 
commerce,  and  that  its  absence  discouraged  men  in  every 
walk  of  life,  because  they  were  compelled  to  sell  upon  credit, 
which  frequently  terminated  in  a  total  loss.  For  this  reason 
it  was  stated  by  these  practical  merchants  to  be  of  the  highest 
importance  that  all  coins  should  bear  a  fixed  value.     The 

Calendar  of  Va.  State  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  52.     (Bruce.) 


302      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

petitioners,  i lien  tore,  urged  their  Burgesses  to  demand  that 
the  rate  be  established  at  which  all  money,  except  money 
sterling,  should  pass  on  the  Virginia  exchange.  Unless  steps 
were  taken  to  establish  a  uniform  rate  for  the  various  coins 
in  circulation,  the  petitioners  predicted  that  even  such  small 
amount  as  was  now  in  circulation,  would  soon  be  drawn  to 
provinces  where  the  coins  had  an  ascertained  value.1  Their 
active  interest  in  such  economic  matters  clearly  illustrates 
the  commercial  character  of  the  Eastern  Shoreman.  The 
suggestion  of  the  Accomack  planters  seems  to  have  been 
adopted  either  immediately  or  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
for  when  Beverley  wrote  his  history,  the  value  of  all  money 
in  use  in  Virginia  had  been  fixed  by  law.2 

A  number  of  the  wealthier  planters  carried  on  various 
industries  and  not  always  on  an  insignificant  scale.  Colonel 
Scarburgh  built  a  malt  house  at  Occahannock  and  seems  to 
have  met  with  much  success  in  the  enterprise.  He  also  had 
a  shoe  factory,  the  business  of  which  was  quite  extensive. 
As  moose  skin  was  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  his 
shoes,  they  must  have  been  of  a  superior  quality.  In  a  com- 
plaint which  he  entered  in  the  court  of  Northampton  in 
1662,  he  incidentally  mentions  that  he  had  nine  shoemakers 
in  his  employ !  He  then  goes  on  to  tell  that  he  had  invested 
much  money  in  the  business  of  tanning  leather  and  manu- 
facturing shoes.  It  is  probable  that  he  contracted  with  the 
government  to  supply  the  public  wants  in  these  particulars. 
He  petitioned  that  Nathaniel  Bradford,  a  currier  by  trade, 
should  be  punished  for  his  failure  to  perform  the  duties, 
which  the  law  imposed  upon  all  who  followed  that  business. 
Bradford  was  the  owner  of  a  tan-house  and  a  shoemaker's 

'Calendar  of  Va.  St.  Papers,  Vol.  I,  p.  53.     (Bruce.) 
2Beverley  wrote  his  history  in  1705. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OP  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      303 

shop,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  in  possession  of  318 
hides  and  46  lasts !  Such  competition  was  not  altogether 
according  to  Scarburgh's  liking.1 

Sheep  were  raised  to  some  extent  on  the  peninsula, 
probably  enough  to  supply  the  local  demand  for  wool,  for  we 
read  in  the  County  records  that  Southey  Littleton  was  the 
owner  of  a  herd  of  96,  and  Peter  Wilkins  of  Northampton, 
owned  36.  The  various  inventories  show  that  sheep  and 
goats  were  owned  long  before  the  middle  of  the  century. 
The  wool  from  these  sheep  was  largely  manufactured  into 
"Virginia  cloth"  in  the  homes  of  the  planters,  for  in  1656, 
the  authority  was  given  to  Northampton  County  to  pass  laws 
to  promote  and  govern  its  own  manufactures,  among  which 
the  woolen  industry  was  of  some  importance.2  The  inven- 
tory of  one  William  Taylor,  of  Accomack,  who  died  about 
1690,  included  thirty-five  yards  of  Virginia  Cloth,  and  John 
Wallop  is  cited  as  the  owner  of  looms  about  the  same  time. 
Many  inventories  of  the  Eastern  Shore  during  the  seven- 
teenth century  disclose  the  presence  of  woolen-wheels,  wool- 
cards  and  looms,  so  that  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  much 
cloth  was  made  there  during  that  period. 

The  origin  of  the  extensive  salt-industry,  in  which  Scar- 
burgh  and  John  Custis  took  such  active  parts,  has  been 
treated  in  a  previous  chapter.  Let  us  now  look  into  the 
history  of  salt-making  on  the  peninsula,  after  the  works 
were  removed  by  Pory  in  1621,  from  Smith's  Island. 

The  undertaking  could  not  have  been  placed  on  a  perma- 
nent footing,  for,  in  1627,  William  Capps  was  sent  to  the 
Colony  to  make  an  experiment  in  the  manufacture  of  bay- 
Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1682-97,  folio  page,  213. 
2Hening,  Vol.  I,  p.  396. 


304      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

salt  as  one  object  of  his  mission.  If  he  began  the  experi- 
ment at  all,  he  was  soon  interrupted  by  a  contention  in 
which  he  became  involved,  and  which  ended  in  his  expul- 
sion from  the  country. 

The  General  Court  at  Jamestown,  in  1630,  passed  an 
order,  in  conformity  probably  with  instructions  from  Eng- 
land, that  the  manufacture  of  salt  should  again  be  com- 
menced.1 This  seems  to  have  been  done,  for  the  Governor 
and  Council  shortly  afterwards  informed  the  English 
authorities  that  the  colonists,  who  had  hitherto  employed 
artificial  heat  in  the  production  of  salt,  would  soon  be  using 
an  improved  apparatus,  which  would  depend  upon  the  heat 
of  the  sun  alone.2  Harvey  indulged  in  many  sanguine 
expressions,  when  writing  upon  the  subject  at  this  time.3 
Thirty  years  after  the  close  of  his  administration,  the 
General  Assembly  rewarded  Mr.  Dawen,  a  citizen  of  Acco- 
mack, for  the  specimen  of  salt  which  he  had  procured,  by 
requiring  the  costs  of  his  visit  to  Jamestown  to  be  defrayed 
out  of  the  general  levy.  He  was  also  exempted  from  the 
levy  of  Accomac.4  In  1660,  the  Assembly  offered  to  grant 
ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  to  Colonel  Edmund  Scar- 
burgh  of  Northampton  if  he  should  succeed  in  making  eight 
hundred  bushels  of  salt.5  At  the  following  session,  still 
more  valuable  encouragement  was  extended  to  him  in  con- 
sideration of  his  having  erected  salt  works.  He  was  at  this 
time  made  the  beneficiary  of  the  whole  amount  of  revenue 

'Randolph  MSS.,  Vol.  II,  p.  215. 

2Royal  Hist.  MSS.  Commission,  4th  Report,  Appx.  pp.  2901. 

3Gov.  Harvey  to  Dorchester,  British  State  Papers,  Colonial,  Vol.  V, 
p.  83.     Sainsbury  Abstracts  for  1630,  p.  213.    Va.  St.  Library. 

"Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  12. 

6Ibid,  p.  38. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      305 

collected  in  Northampton  County  in  the  settlement  of  the 
duty  of  two  shillings  imposed  upon  every  hogshead  of  salt 
exported,  subject,  however,  to  the  condition  that  he  was  to 
deliver  to  persons  designated  by  the  Assembly  the  salt  which 
he  manufactured,  the  exchange  to  be  made  at  the  rate  of  two 
shillings  and  six  pence  per  bushel.  No  salt  was  to  be  im- 
ported into  the  County  of  Northampton  after  1663,  and  if 
the  master  of  a  ship,  bark,  or  any  smaller  craft,  disregarded 
the  order,  he  was  to  suffer  the  confiscation  of  his  vessel.1 
Here  was  true  monopoly  for  those  who  now  so  violently 
oppose  the  trust !  The  principle  is  as  old  as  mankind  and 
is  not,  as  some  seem  to  think,  the  creation  of  a  latter  day. 
Protection,  as  an  economic  measure,  runs  with  the  risk  of 
capital  and  is  naturally  advocated  by  those  who  assume  the 
risk  and  deprecated  by  those  not  concerned  in  the  invest- 
ment. 

Anticipating  that  Colonel  Scarburgh  might  be  unable  to 
supply,  with  the  output  of  his  own  plant,  the  people  of  the 
Eastern  Shore  with  salt,  the  Assembly  at  a  later  date  granted 
to  him  the  exclusive  privilege  of  importing  this  article  into 
the  peninsula,  and  if  he  were  even  then  unable  to  supply 
the  demand,  the  persons  who  might  be  unable  to  secure  salt 
from  him  were  to  be  at  liberty  to  buy  on  the  general  market 
but  not  for  the  purpose  of  sale.2  This  monopoly  soon  proved 
repugnant  to  health  as  well  as  convenience,  and  the 
privileges  granted  to  Scarburgh,  so  far  as  they  related  to 
Northampton  County,  were  withdrawn  and  not  again 
renewed.3  There  is  no  evidence  that  salt  was  manufactured 
anywhere  in  Virginia  in  the  seventeenth  century  except  on 

'Ibid,  p.  122. 

!Ibid.,  p.  186. 

3Ibid.,  p.  236.  It  is  stated  in  a  General  Court  entry  for  1671,  that 
Governor  Berkeley  encouraged  the  manufacture  of  salt  in  Virginia  pre- 
sumably at  this  time.     Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  258. 


306      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  Eastern  Shore,  the  waters  of  the  inland  bays  and  estu- 
aries across  the  bay  from  the  peninsula  being  less  im- 
pregnated with  brine  than  the  waters  of  the  open  sea.  The 
references  to  the  importation  of  the  foreign  article  became 
more  frequent  towards  the  close  of  the  century.  This  impor- 
tation was  never  interrupted  in  the  counties  on  the  Western 
Shore,  salt  being  brought  in  as  part  of  the  annual  supplies 
consigned  to  Virginia.1 

From  such  facts  as  we  have  at  our  command,  it  appears, 
that  the  Eastern  Shore  excelled  other  parts  of  the  Colony, 
not  only  in  the  development  of  trade  and  commerce,  but  in 
industrial  enterprise,  as  well.  Yet  in  our  State  Histories  we 
find  no  mention  of  such  a  condition  on  the  peninsula. 

'See  Bruce's  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  17th  Century  for 
foregoing  facts  and  authorities  on  salt  making. 


XVII 

Horses.     Stock.     Game.     Fish  and  Personalty 

The  first  horse  on  the  peninsula  was  one  conveyed  to 
Colonel  Argoll  Yeardley  by  George  Ludlow  of  the  Western 
Shore,  by  a  bill  of  sale  dated  January  30th,  1642.  None 
of  the  many  inventories  on  record,  prior  to  that  date,  in- 
cludes horses.  They  prove  conclusively,  however,  that  steers 
and  oxen  were  used  as  beasts  of  burden  in  the  pioneer  days. 
In  1645,  Stephen  Charlton  also  owned  a  horse,  and  in 
November  of  that  year  a  consignment  of  horses  arrived  from 
New  England,  many  of  the  animals  having  died  on  the 
passage  south.  The  custom  of  branding  stock  was  begun  at 
this  time. 

In  the  inventory  of  William  Burdett's  estate  in  1642,  he 
is  shown  to  have  been  the  owner  of  11  oxen,  18  or  20  steers, 
many  cows  and  22  goats,  but  no  horses  are  mentioned.  In 
the  inventory  of  Major  Peter  Walker's  property,  taken  in 
1655,  36  ewes,  1  ram,  14  cows,  7  draught  oxen  with  their 
yokes  and  chains  and  2  goats  are  mentioned,  and  only  3 
horses.  As  both  of  these  men  were  wealthy  planters  they 
would  unquestionably  have  owned  many  horses  were  they 
to  be  had. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  first  settlers  found  droves  of 
wild  horses  in  the  meadows  of  Assateague  and  Chincoteague 
Islands,  the  parent  stock  having  come  from  a  ship-wrecked 
vessel,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  foundation  for  such  a  belief. 
Indeed  it  is  highly  improbable  that  such  was  the  case,  for 

307 


308      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

had  horses  been  on  those  islands,  some  use  of  them  would 
have  been  made  by  the  first  settlers.  When  Chincoteague 
Island  was  first  prospected  and  granted  to  one  of  the 
colonists  in  1670,  by  James  II,  no  mention  of  horses  occurs. 
Again,  while  Colonel  Norwood,  who  was  shipwrecked  on 
the  nearby  coast  and  spent  some  time  in  the  neighborhood  as 
the  guest  of  the  hospitable  Kickotanke  chieftain,  mentions 
the  presence  of  large  numbers  of  hogs  in  the  marshes  near 
Gingo  Teague,  he  does  not  mention  horses.  Colonel  Norwood 
passed  right  by  the  island  in  1649  and  would  certainly  have 
mentioned  the  wild  horses,  had  they  been  there  at  that  time. 

It  has  also  been  said  that  the  wild  ponies  which  rove  in 
great  herds  over  the  Accomac  island  owe  their  origin  to 
horses  left  there  by  pirates  in  the  early  days,  but  this  too  is 
doubtful.  Bruce  tells  us  that  the  number  of  horses  in  the 
colony  in  1631  was  very  small,  and  prior  to  1649  references 
in  the  records  of  Virginia  to  horses  are  exceedingly  rare. 
With  the  design  to  increase  the  number  of  these  animals,  the 
Quarter  Court  convening  at  James  City  in  March,  1639, 
granted  Thomas  Stegge  and  Jeremy  Blackman  the  right  to 
import  them  into  the  colony,1  and  a  few  years  later  the 
Assembly  passed  laws  tending  to  encourage  their  further 
importation.2 

In  1649,  there  were  but  300  horses  in  the  colony,  but  by 
1669  so  many  had  been  brought,  and  the  natural  increase 
had  been  so  great,  that  horses  had  become  a  burden  by  reason 
of  their  unrestrained  depredations,  in  consequence  of  which 
further  importation  was  prohibited.3  In  1662,  a  tax  was 
imposed  upon  horses,  and  the  owners  were  required  to  con- 

"Bruce's  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in   17th  Cent.,  Vol.  I,  p.  335. 
'Herring,  Vol.  I,  p.  268. 
"Bruce,  Vol.  I,  p.  374-5. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      309 

fine  them  between  July  20th  and  October  20th.  The  author 
is  inclined  to  believe  that  some  of  the  planters  of  the  pen- 
insula, in  order  to  avoid  the  expense  of  fencing  off  the 
marshes  on  the  mainland,  transported  their  stock  to  the 
nearby  islands  about  this  time,  and  that  this  is  the  true 
origin  of  the  Chincoteague  pony  concerning  which  so  many 
fables  have  been  written.1  The  coarse  provender  of  the  salt 
marshes  and  continual  exposure  to  the  elements  would 
readily  have  accounted  for  their  stunted  growth,  which 
feature  had  become  so  marked  among  the  horses  in  other 
parts  of  the  colony  by  1686,  that  carefully  devised  laws 
were  then  enacted  to  improve  the  breed.  So  numerous  had 
wild  horses  grown  to  be  by  this  time  that  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal sports  of  young  men  in  the  colony  was  to  hunt  them, 
not  infrequently  with  dogs,  for  all  unbranded  stock  belonged 
to  the  captor.2  Prior  to  1691,  the  owner  of  cultivated  land 
was  not  allowed  to  injure  the  horses  of  his  neighbor,  however 
much  they  may  have  injured  his  crop  and  however  often 
the  same  animals  may  have  trespassed ;  but  during  that 
year,  a  law  was  passed,  the  terms  of  which  allowed  the 
planter,  if  protected  by  a  legal  pale,  to  kill  horses  found  for 
the  third  time  committing  depredations.  So  widely  dispersed 
were  the  horses  belonging  to  the  same  owner,  that  it  was 
often  impossible,  after  his  death,  to  run  them  together  with 
a  view  to  their  appraisement.3  Bruce  cites  many  authorities 
for  the  statement  that  it  was  the  custom  for  a  number  of 
planters  to  unite  in  the  confinement  of  their  horses  to  a  neck 
of  land,  where  they  might  roam  at  liberty  without  injuring 

xTo  the  writer's  own  knowledge,  attempts  to  raise  ponies  on  the  sea- 
side islands,  from  new  stock,  within  the  past  few  years,  have  proved 
unsuccessful  for  lack  of  sufficient  food  except  on  Chincoteague  Island. 

2Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  222. 

'Letters  of  William  Fitzhugh   (Bruce). 


•ji 


310      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

the  growing  crops.  These  horses  were  periodically  driven 
into  a  pen  and  the  foals  branded  with  the  mark  of  the  owner ; 
and  in  order  to  prevent  any  secret  encroachments  upon  the 
rights  of  others,  it  was  generally  required  that  notice  of  the 
penning  should  be  posted  at  the  parish  church  two  weeks 
before  the  drive.1  Here  then  is  not  only  a  reasonable  origin 
for  the  pony,  but  the  origin  of  the  pony-penning  as  well ! 
Why  look  to  shipwrecks  and  pirates  ? 

The  people  of  the  Eastern  Shore  have  always  loved  a  good 
horse,  and  have  been  particularly  fond  of  racing  from  the 
earliest  days,  though  in  the  seventeenth  century  they  do  not 
seem  to  have  competed  much  with  outsiders.  Tn  1674, 
Richard  Awburne  and  Isaac  Jacob,  both  citizens  of  North- 
ampton County,  undertook  to  run  their  horses  in  a  race  on 
the  Western  Shore.  The  stake,  formally  arranged  between 
Awburne  and  John  Panewell,  amounted  to  four  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco.  Not  satisfied  with  this  race,  Awburne 
and  Jacob  are  found  a  few  days  later,  running  their  horses 
in  another  heat  on  a  track  in  Northampton.  The  latter  event 
appears  to  have  been  a  private  race,  but  in  a  third,  in  which 
Jacob  took  part,  there  were  many  spectators  present,  among 
whom  were  a  number  of  ladies  whose  interest  was  doubtless 
as  keen  as  that  of  the  men.  The  races  in  Northampton 
were  held  on  ground  known  as  Smith's  Field,  near  the 
church,  where  a  track  had  been  carefully  laid  off.2  In  these 
same  old  records  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  "Fall  Races" 
(1674),  as  though  races  were  held  every  year.3  Let  us  hope 
that  the  minister  of  Hungar's  Parish  was  not  president  of 
the  Jockey  Club,  as  we  are  told  a  certain  clergyman  was"  on 
the  Western  Shore.4 

Records  of  The  General  Court  (Bruce). 

"Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1664-74,  p.  269   (Bruce). 

'Ibid.,  Vol.   1674-79,  p.  4. 

4See  Bishop  Meade's  Old  Churches,  etc. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      311 

The  number  of  cattle  ranging  at  large  in  the  salt  marshes 
of  the  peninsula  even  before  1650  must  have  been  very  great, 
for  the  cattle  marks  recorded  in  Northampton  County  for 
one  period  cover  thirty-six  pages  in  the  volume  of  records 
1651-54.  In  fact,  all  over  the  settled  portion  of  Virginia 
at  that  time,  great  herds  of  cattle  roamed  almost  at  will  and 
were  at  times  hunted  and  shot  as  if  wild  animals.  So  wide 
and  unrestricted  was  the  range  of  the  cattle  in  the  marshes 
of  the  Eastern  Shore,  that  much  trouble  resulted  to  the 
owners,  as  only  branded  stock  could  be  accurately  identified. 
Not  only  cattle  and  horses  roved  over  the  peninsula,  but 
droves  of  hogs,  which  had  become  practically  wild,  were  to 
be  found  feeding  upon  the  fish,  crabs  and  mollusca  of  the 
salt  creeks. 

There  seem  to  have  been  a  great  many  dogs  of  mongrel 
breed  on  the  peninsula  at  this  time,  whose  chief  use  was  in 
destroying  the  smaller  kinds  of  animals  running  wild  in  the 
woods  and  fields.  How  valuable  they  were  is  shown  in  a 
case  which  occurred  in  Northampton  County  about  1691. 
A  complaint  was,  in  the  course  of  that  year,  lodged  in  the 
County  Court  against  Mike  Dixon,  on  the  ground  that  he 
permitted  his  dogs  to  rush  out  and  bark  at  the  heels  of 
persons  passing  along  the  highway,  which  was  situated  imme- 
diately in  front  of  his  door.  Instead  of  proposing  to  kill  or 
restrain  them,  Dixon  simply  petitioned  the  Court  to  have 
the  public  road  moved  some  distance  back  from  his  dwelling 
house,  "because  it  was  necessary,"  he  declared,  "to  keep  dogs 
for  the  preservation  of  his  creatures  from  vermin."1  The 
creatures  he  referred  to  were  poultry  and  young  pigs  and 
the  vermin  were  wolves,  minks,  polecats  and  the  like. 

'Northampton  County  Records.  Vol.  1689-98,  p.  86   (Bruce). 


312      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

To  this  day  foxes  are  very  plentiful  on  the  peninsula  and 
no  doubt  fox-hunting  in  a  mild  form  was  one  of  the  chief 
sports  of  the  people  in  early  days  as  it  is  now.  While  there 
were  no  deer,  bear,  wolves,  nor  other  kinds  of  wild  animals 
left  on  the  peninsula  by  the  end  of  the  century,  as  late  as 
1683  rewards  were  offered  for  the  destruction  of  certain  of 
these  beasts,  which  must  have  greatly  encouraged  the  pursuit 
of  them,  already  very  exciting  from  the  unusual  dangers 
attending  it. 

Judging  from  the  various  statute  books  and  court  records 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  slight  effort  was  made  to  protect 
the  fish,  oysters,  terrapin  and  wild-fowl,  all  of  which 
abounded  in  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Atlantic 
Ocean,  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  So  lavishly  had  nature  stocked 
these  waters  with  her  delicacies,  that  the  supply  was  regarded 
as  unlimited,  and  as  usual  no  thought  of  the  future  was 
entertained  until  irreparable  ravages  began  to  show  their 
effects.  Thus  is  the  improvidence  of  man  wont  to  run  its 
course  and  nature's  well-nigh  boundless  stores  are  all  but 
exhausted  before  human  extravagance  receives  a  check.  The 
fisheries  and  oyster  industry  of  the  Eastern  Shore  were 
sources  of  much  wealth  in  the  seventeenth  century  as  now,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  protective  legislation  was  not  indulged 
in. 

As  nothing  gives  one  a  better  insight  into  the  character 
of  a  bygone  people  than  a  knowledge  of  their  personal  be- 
longings, a  few  items  garnered  from  the  ancient  inventories 
follow.  These  old  inventories  show  that  the  Eastern  Shore- 
men were  not  only  comfortably  but  luxuriously  equipped. 

In  1642,  the  inventory  of  William  Burdett  included  many 
beds  with  valences,  blankets,  sheets,  pewter  dishes  of  all 
kinds,  and  much  silverware.     There  was  no  crockery  in  use 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      313 

at  the  time;  all  utensils  were  brass,  copper,  pewter  or  plate. 
Major  Walker's  inventory  included  (1655)  :  6  leather  chairs; 
a  coverlid  of  tapestry  and  many  cambric  sheets ;  1  broad- 
cloth coat  lined  with  silver  lace ;  1  coat  of  same  material  for 
riding,  lined  with  lace ;  1  entire  suit  of  broad-cloth ;  1 
broad-cloth  short  coat  lined  with  silver  lace,  and  doublet  and 
hose  to  match;  and  1  stuffed  suit  of  clothes.  In  addition 
to  these  articles  the  inventory  included  a  bird  cage,  willow 
chairs,  and  a  handsome  East  India  quilt;  all  beds  had 
valences;  there  were  three  Dutch  chairs  in  the  parlor;  15 
dishes  of  pewter  weighing  60  pounds,  1  silver  beer  bowl, 
kitchen  furniture  and  utensils  similar  to  those  of  the  present 
day,  and  a  number  of  books  on  divinity  and  history  in  the 
library.  The  personalty  of  William  Kendall  included,  in 
silver  plate  alone,  27  spoons,  2  dram  cups,  2  punch  bowls,  a 
caudle,  and  a  pair  of  snuffers.  The  inventory  of  the  effects 
of  Ann  Littleton,  who  died  in  1656,  shows  that  she  owned  a 
great  amount  of  handsome  furniture,  and  that  her  wardrobe 
was  equal,  in  size  and  quality,  to  that  of  the  finest  ladies 
of  England.  In  1647,  books  are  first  mentioned  in  the 
records;  a  Bible  without  the  Psalms,  Dr.  Wm.  Smith's 
sermons  and  the  "Practise  of  Piety."  In  1650,  a  Turkish 
History,  Stowe's  Chronicles  and  the  King's  Meditations  are 
mentioned.  The  history,  no  doubt,  was  at  one  time  the 
property  of  the  Turkish  merchant  who  resided  in  the  county. 
The  records  show  that  books  were  very  generally  owned, 
hi  many  cases  the  number  and  variety  of  the  subjects  in- 
cluded in  a  single  collection  is  surprisingly  large.  The  un- 
usual care  with  which  testamentary  disposition  of  books  was 
made  indicates  the  high  value  which  the  owners  attached 
t<>  them. 


314      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

About  1693,  John  Wallop,  of  Accomac,  bequeathed  a 
number  of  books  to  his  son,  reserving  for  his  daughter  not 
only  the  family  Bible,  but  two  works  known  by  the  title 
of  the  Woman's  Councillor  and  the  Countess  of  Kent's 
Choyce  Manualls.  In  1643,  after  leaving  to  Colonel  Jno. 
Tilney  all  his  chirurgical  treatises,  Dr.  John  Halloway  gave 
his  Greek  Testament  in  folio  to  Rev.  John  Rosier;  his 
catechism  to  Mr.  Philip  Taylor;  and  a  volume  entitled  "The 
Humiliation  of  Sinne"  to  Mr.  John  Fullard.  In  this  col- 
lection there  were  thirteen  works  on  surgery,  written  in  Latin 
or  English,  and  twenty  bearing  upon  a  great  variety  of  sub- 
jects of  general  interest.  Daniel  Cugley,  Philip  Chapman, 
and  Dr.  John  Severne,  owned  fair  collections  of  books  well 
before  the  middle  of  the  century.  Other  libraries  at  this 
time  were  those  of  Martin  Rennett,  William  Berryman, 
Henry  Pedington,  Mrs.  James  Lemman,  George  Clark,  and 
William  Penley.  Pedington  owned  a  large  number  of 
religious  works. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Teackle  possessed,  perhaps,  the  choicest 
library  in  the  two  counties.  To  his  son,  he  bequeathed  fifty- 
two  religious  works  written  in  English,  and  thirty-four 
written  in  Latin;  and  to  his  daughter,  sixty  similar  works 
in  English,  and  thirty-one  in  Latin.  The  entire  collection 
contained  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  theological  works 
and  about  a  hundred  volumes,  many  written  in  Latin,  deal- 
ing with  the  medical  science.  Some  of  the  books  included  in 
this  library  were  Horace,  Lucretius,  The  Picture  of  a  Papist, 
Presbyterian  Unmasked,  Burton's  Anatomy,  Civil  and 
Military  Aphorisms,  and  Grotius's  Laws  of  War.  Among 
the  books  of  Colonel  Southey  Littleton's  collection  were 
iEsop's  Fables,  two  works  in  the  Latin  language,  Dr.  Sander- 
son's Sermons,  Ye  Difference  of  Sacraments,  Body  of  the 


EASTERN  SHOKE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      315 

Common  Law,  Laws  of  Virginia,  History  of  the  New  Eng- 
land War,  Doctrine  of  Triangles,  and  the  London 
Dispensary. 

The  collection  of  Charles  Parkes,  a  gunsmith,  contained 
a  large  number  of  volumes,  including  fifteen  relating  to 
theology  and  eleven  to  history.  Among  these  books  were 
Speed's  Chronicle,  and  the  Travels  of  Sir  Francis  Drake. 

Edward  Bibbe  and  William  Kendall  owned  sixteen  and 
thirty-two  volumes,  respectively.  George  Dewey  was  also 
the  owner  of  a  large  collection.  John  Michael,  of  North- 
ampton, bequeathed  to  his  "dear  &  pious  brother"  all  the 
works  in  his  collection  written  in  the  Dutch  language. 
There  were  many  books  of  this  character  in  the  libraries  of 
the  Eastern  Shore,  due  to  the  large  number  of  Dutch  resi- 
dents.    Lawrence  Jacobson  alone  owned  thirteen. 

The  collection  of  Dr.  George  Nicholas  Hacke  consisted  of 
twenty-two  works  written  in  high  or  low  German,  fifty-four 
in  Latin,  and  many  others  in  English. 

After  reviewing  such  records,  one  cannot  fail  to  better 
understand  the  character  of  the  early  Eastern  Shoreman 
and  the  conditions  surrounding  him.  We  have  found  the 
people  busily  engaged  in  planting,  and  in  an  inter-colonial 
commerce ;  far  advanced  in  the  industrial  arts,  such  as 
weaving,  tanning,  shoe-making,  malt-brewing,  salt-boiling, 
and  ship-building,  and  then  we  have  found  them  to  be  well 
housed  and  clothed,  enjoying  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life 
amid  ease  and  plenty.  But  this  is  not  all.  These  people 
were  not  content  to  loll  in  the  sun  and  dream  away  their 
days  in  idleness.  We  have  examined  the  libraries,  a  sure 
sign  of  the  intellectual  bent  of  the  owners,  and  later  we  shall 
learn  with  what  care  and  forethought  provision  was  made 
for  the  education  of  the  children. 


XVIII 
Social  Conditions.     Customs  axd  Traditions 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Eastern  Shore  was  con- 
sidered, as  early  as  1622,  a  very  healthful  region.  The 
proximity  of  large  bodies  of  salt  water  modified  the  climate, 
and  made  this  section  one  of  the  most  wholesome  and 
pleasant  spots  imaginable  to  the  first  settlers ;  and  in  the 
early  records  but  three  physicians  are  mentioned,  Hallo- 
way,  John  Seaverne  or  Severn,  and  George  Nicholas  Hacke, 
the  latter  being  a  German.  These  old  doctors  all  supple- 
mented their  professional  income  by  planting  tobacco  and 
engaging  in  trade,  and  were  frequently  put  to  it  to  recover 
their  medical  fees,  as  evidenced  by  the  numerous  suits 
brought  by  Severn. 

Long  continued  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  were  unknown 
on  the  peninsula,  for  the  warm  winds  of  the  nearby  Gulf 
stream  softened  the  rigors  of  winter,  while  the  cool  sea- 
breezes  in  the  summer  made  the  evenings  and  nights  of  the 
hot  season  delightfully  pleasant.  To  these  conditions  was 
no  doubt  due  the  robust  vigor  and  healthfulness  of  the  early 
settlers,  when  sanitary  conditions  were  at  their  worst,  and 
people  were  dying  like  sheep  along  the  malarial  banks  of  the 
great  rivers  to  the  West.  The  death  rate  was  so  small  and 
the  age  to  which  many  of  the  inhabitants  lived  so  great,  that 
an  early  writer  was  led  to  remark:  "People  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  do  not  die,  but  dry  up  and  blow  away." 

So  mild  was  the  climate  of  the  Eastern  Shore  that  figs, 
pomegranates   and  many  varieties   of  tropical   plants  were 

316 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      317 

imported  and  set  out  by  the  first  settlers.  Flowers  grew  in 
wild  luxuriance  and  beautified  the  simple  homes,  adding 
another  element  of  sweetness  to  the  general  contentment  of 
these  people.1 

So  far  as  is  known,  there  was  no  public  school  "on  the 
peninsula  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  wealthy  planters 
sent  their  sons  to  England  to  be  educated  or  they  employed 
tutors.  Of  the  latter,  there  seem  to  have  been  many,  and  some 
of  them  were  men  of  rare  attainments.  As  early  as  1640,  John 
Waltham  provided  in  his  will  for  the  selection  of  a  "good 
and  godlye  schoolmaster"  with  extraordinary  care. 

The  amounts  provided  for  the  education  of  their  children, 
by  many  of  the  planters,  are  surprisingly  large,  even  for  a 
much  later  period.  In  many  cases  a  specific  number  of 
cattle,  with  the  natural  increase,  was  set  apart  to  defray  the 
expense  of  tuition  or  schooling,  and  the  records  of  no  other 

'Over  a  century  ago,  Commodore  Hal  let  brought  a  number  of 
Mahogany  slips  from  Central  America  to  the  Eastern  Shore  and  set 
them  out  in  the  yard  of  his  home.  One  of  those  slips  survived,  and  is 
now  a  tree  about  three  feet  in  diameter.  In  recent  years,  the  old  Hallet 
Estate,  located  on  the  extreme  point  of  Cape  Charles,  came  into  the 
possession  of  Mr.  John  S.  Wise.  The  new  owner  named  the  place 
"Kiptopeke,"  after  the  Indian  chief  who  there  welcomed  John  Smith 
in  1608.  After  several  failures,  Mr.  Wise  learned  to  rear  the  scions 
of  the  great  tree,  and  to-day  there  are  about  20  Mahogany  trees  pros- 
pering in  his  yard.  The  original  tree  is  thought  by  the  negroes  to  be 
haunted  by  the  spirit  of  Commodore  Hallet,  which  is  said  to  loiter 
beneath  its  spreading  branches  at  the  mid-night  hour.  There  are 
several  Mahogany  trees  in  Eastville,  the  county  seat  of  Northampton, 
and  one  large  tree  in  the  yard  of  the  rectory  at  Accomack  Court  House. 
Some  years  ago,  a  scion  of  the  latter  was  transplanted  by  Mrs.  \Y.  B. 
Stokes  on  her  estate  in  Goochland  County  and  is  now  in*  a  nourishing 
condition.  The  author  was  told  by  Judge  George  L.  Christian,  of  Rich- 
mond, that  there  is  a  large  Mahogany  on  the  old  Christian  estate  in 
Charles  City  County.  It  has  since  been  learned  that  this  tree  came  from 
the  Eastern  Shore,  transplanted  by  a  Bayly  who  married  a  Christian. 
There  are  several  magnificent  Mahogany  trees  in  Williamsburg.  In  view 
of  the  prosperity  of  these  trees  in  different  sections  of  Virginia,  would 
it  not  be  well  to  encourage  the  planting  of  the  Mahogany  on  Virginia 
soil? 


318      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

counties  in  Virginia  show  such  thoughtful  attention  to  the 
matter  of  education  as  do  those  of  the  Eastern  Shore.1 

John  Custis  IV  provided  in  his  will  that  the  proceeds 
from  the  labor  of  fourteen  slaves  should  be  expended  for  the 
maintenance  and  tuition  of  his  grandson  up  to  the  time  he 
should  be  sent  to  England  for  advanced  instruction,  and  for 
the  latter  an  additional  large  amount  was  set  apart. 

John  Savage,  of  Northampton,  provided  in  his  will  that 
a  horse  and  mare,  two  steers  and  two  cows,  with  their  in- 
crease, should  be  devoted  to  the  education  of  his  son  Thomas 
in  England.  He  also  provided  for  the  tuition  of  his  two 
daughters  by  requiring  his  executors  to  hire  out  three 
servants;  the  proceeds  of  their  labor  to  be  used  to  pay  the 
instructor  for  a  period  of  five  years. 

The  principal  and  most  active  school-teacher  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  seems  to  have  been  John  Higgs.  This  gentleman,  in 
1679,  undertook  to  conduct  a  private  school  of  some  magni- 
tude, relying  upon  the  wealthier  planters  for  patronage.  A 
building  on  the  plantation  of  a  Mr.  Macklannie  was  rented 
for  a  schoolhouse,  for  the  use  of  which  the  scholars'  fathers 
were  to  pay  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  apiece.  Unfortunately 
the  enterprise  was  not  properly  supported,  and  Mr.  Higgs 
was  soon  forced  to  give  up  his  school. 

The  desire  to  have  their  children  educated  was  not 
restricted  to  the  whites,  for  in  1693  Thomas  Carter,  of 
Northampton,  a  free  negro,  left  directions  in  his  will  for  the 
education  of  his  sons,  and  many  of  the  negro  children  were 
taught  to  read  and  write,  either  by  their  parents  or  masters. 
The  first  mention  of  a  free  school  was  in  the  will  of  William 
Whittington,  dated  March  4,  1659,  in  which  2,000  pounds 
of  tobacco  was  provided  by  the  testator  for  a  free  school 
"should  it  go  forward  in  Northampton." 

'Bruce's  Institutional  Hist,  of  Va.  in  the  17th  Century. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      319 

The  practice  of  dividing  their  estates  among  their  children 
before  death  was  quite  common  among  the  early  Eastern 
Shoremen,  for  the  doctrine  of  primo-geniture  was  not  re- 
garded by  them  with  particular  favor.  The  first  entail 
mentioned  was  one  from  William  Andrews  to  his  son  Robert, 
July  8,  1653,  and  entails  were  comparatively  infrequent. 

People  in  those  days  married  while  very  young  and  hence 
had  more  time  in  which  to  repeat  the  act.  Three  or  four 
wives  for  an  Eastern  Shoreman  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  not  a  record  to  excite  comment. 

By  1673,  Maryland,  says  Bruce,  had  become  the  "Gretna 
Green,"  of  Virginia.  The  Pocomoke  boundary  line  was 
delightfully  convenient  for  Eastern  Shore  lovers,  many  of 
whom,  barred  from  marrying  for  one  reason  or  another  at 
home,  sought  the  sweet  solace  of  legitimacy  upon  Maryland 
soil.  When  Scarburgh  and  Calvert  ran  the  line  in  1663, 
they  selected  a  number  of  patriarchal  oaks  as  boundary 
monuments.  Through  several  generations  these  noble  trees 
did  service  as  sylvan  temples,  for  beneath  their  spreading 
branches  the  Accomack  lovers  were  frequently  married,  this 
practice  giving  rise  to  the  name  of  "marriage  trees." 

It  was  not  always  necessary  for  runaways  to  resort  to  the 
northern  side  of  the  "marriage  trees,"  however,  for  it  will 
be  remembered  how  Mr.  Getterings  eloped  with  the  little 
twelve-year-old  Elizabeth  Charlton  while  she  was  living  in 
the  family  of  Captain  Jones,  where  she  was  being  educated. 

Divorce  was  most  uncommon.  The  husband's  authority 
was  absolute,  and  seldom  questioned.  Perhaps  the  good 
wives  did  not  expect  too  much  of  their  gallant  consorts,  and 
domestic  bliss  was  not  hampered  by  woman's  suffrage  and 
political  associations.  Occasionally,  however,  the  decree  of 
divorce  was  sought,  as  in  the  case  of  Alice  Clawson'  of  North- 


320      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

ampton,  who  secured  a  divorce  from  her  husband  in  1655 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  for  many  years  lived  among  the 
Nanticokc  Indians  in  the  character  of  their  principal  chief, 
and  had  refused  to  give  up  his  Indian  concubine.1 

That  the  mid-wife  was  present,  is  evidenced  by  the  fol- 
lowing old  entry  of  1682 :  "Agnes  William,  aged  24  years, 
sayeth  that  Maudlin  (Magdalen),  wife  of  John  Major,  did 
bargain  with  Susan  Helline,  widdowe,  for  to  keep  her  while 
she  lay  in  childbed  and  did  promise  to  give  her  12  hens."2 
It  seems  that  the  widow  Helline  sued  Agnes  for  18  hens. 

A  funeral  at  this  time  was  a  splendid,  and  for  many  of  the 
attendants  a  highly  enjoyable,  occasion.  The  shadow  of 
death  had  no  place  among  those  sunny  spirits.  Barbecues 
were  given  and  rum  liberally  dispensed  by  the  afflicted 
family,  and  a  general  spree  was  indulged  in  at  the  expense 
of  the  estate  of  the  deceased.  The  more  boisterous  mourners 
usually  carried  their  fowling  pieces  and  fire-arms  to  the 
funeral,  and  after  the  feast  and  bowl  had  somewhat  assuaged 
their  sorrow  and  enlivened  the  solemn  occasion,  a  barbaric 
celebration  ensued. 

Among  the  charges  against  the  estate  of  Richard  Leman 
for  his  funeral,  in  1647,  are  the  following:  An  ox  at  800 
pounds  of  tobacco;  1  case  of  drams  at  200  pounds;  and  a 
coffin  at  100  pounds.  William  Carter,  the  caterer,  for  dress- 
ing the  dinner  was  paid  100  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  for 
digging  the  grave  40  pounds.  Numerous  testators  deprecated 
such  extraordinary  expense  at  their  funerals  and  provided  a 
limit  to  it  in  their  wills.  John  Michael,  of  Northampton, 
voiced  such  a  sentiment  when  he  ordered  in  his  will  that 
there    should    be  no  drinking    immoderately  nor    shooting 

'Northampton   County  Records,  Vol.   1654-5,   \>.    135. 
2Accom;ic  County,   Vol.    1632-40,  p.    1G.  Va.   State   Library. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      321 

suffered  "at  his  burial,"  for  such  excesses,  he  said,  "were 
very  unseasonable  and  inconsistent  with  the  occasion." 
Instead  of  the  usual  festivities  there  was  to  be  only  "a  civil 
and  free  entertainment."1 

Every  Eastern  Shoreman  was  a  natural  sportsman,  for  no 
other  locality  in  the  world  provided  such  sport  as  was  to  be 
found  on  the  peninsula  at  that  time.  The  fowling  piece, 
the  boat,  and  the  fishing  line,  were  as  familiar  to  the  youth 
then  as  they  are  now.  Even  the  poor  Indians,  when  they 
had  been  robbed  of  their  lands,  deprecated  nothing  so  much 
as  the  loss  of  their  hunting  and  fishing  privileges,  and  for 
years  after  all  tribal  identity  had  been  lost,  the  few  remain- 
ing natives  wore  to  be  found  pushing  their  canoes  through 
the  rushes  and  weaving  their  nets  along  the  shores  of  the 
peninsula.  These  Indians  were  experts  in  the  pursuit  of 
wild  fowl  and  fish,  and  many  canvass  back  and  sheepshead 
were  ensnared  in  their  nets,  or  fell  victim  to  their  unerring 
spears.2 

Smith,  in  his  General  History,  in  describing  the  moans 
by  which  the  natives  caught  their  fish,  says  that  the  Indians 
of  Accawmack  used  "staves  like  javelins  headed  with  bone. 
With  these  they  dart  fish  swimming  in  the  water."  "They 
have  also  many  artificial  wares  in  which  they  get  abundance 
of  fish."  The  word  "wares"  probably  meant  weirs,  nets, 
traps,  etc. 

It  will  be  remembered  how  the  Captain  came  to  grief  on 
Stingaree  Point  in  practicing  the  art  taught  him  by  Kicto- 
peake. 

'Northampton  County  RecordSj  Vol.  1674-9,  p.  340  (Bruce). 

2Near  the  point  of  Cape  Charles,  on  the  edge  of  Bullock's  Channel. 
is  an  oyster  rock  called  Indian  Rock,  where  the  natives  three  centuries 
ago  speared  sheepshead.  The  sport  is  indulged  in  at  this  particular 
spot  at  the  present  day.  and  a  spear  similar  to  those  of  the  Indians  is 
employed. 


322      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

As  a  result  of  the  sportsmanlike  tendencies  of  the  early 
Eastern  Shoremen,  their  great  boards  groaned  under  the 
weight  of  the  finest  oysters,  duck,  terrapin,  crabs  and  fish. 
Colonel  Henry  Norwood,  who  visited  the  peninsula  in  1650, 
tells  us  that  there  was  keen  rivalry  between  the  planters 
there  as  to  who  should  dine  him  first  and  most  often ;  and 
then  he  tells  us  that  a  traveller  in  the  early  days  was  put 
to  no  charge  whatever,  so  hospitable  were  the  planters. 

There  seem  to  have  been  few  homes  on  the  Eastern  Shore 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing,  in  which  musical  instru- 
ments of  some  kind  were  not  found.  At  many  of  the  enter- 
tainments, some  female  member  of  the  family  giving  the 
dance  furnished  the  music  by  playing  on  one  of  these  instru- 
ments ;  but  the  county  records  show  that  among  the  servants 
and  slaves  there  were  some  who  were  especially  valued  for 
their  skill  with  the  fiddle,  and  that  this  skill  was  called  into 
use  on  many  gay  occasions.  Attached  to  the  plantation  of 
Captain  Richard  Bayly,  of  Accomac  County,  was  a  negro 
slave  who,  by  his  accomplishment  in  this  respect,  contributed 
as  much  to  the  diversion  of  the  neighborhood  as  any  person 
in  it.  This  fiddler  is  found  taking  a  prominent  part  in  a 
lively  scene  which  occurred  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Thos. 
Teackle,  to  the  scandal  of  the  whole  countryside,  though  the 
episode  seems  innocent  enough  in  the  light  of  modern  days. 
Elizabeth  Parker,  accompanied  by  Samuel  Doe.  and  his 
wife,  went  over  to  Mr.  Teackle's  house  to  visit  his  daughter 
while  he  was  away.  They  carried  the  negro  boy  with  them, 
and  after  their  arrival  it  occurred  to  the  little  company  that 
it  would  be  pleasant  in  the  opportune  absence  of  the  clergy- 
man to  have  a  dance.  The  fiddle  which  had  been  left  behind 
was  sent  for,  and  the  dancing  began.  While  it  was  going 
on,   one  James   Fairfax  came  for   the  boy,   but   Elizabeth 


EASTEEX  SHORE  OE  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      323 

Parker  made  him  abandon  his  purpose  by  informing  him, 
with  some  temper,  that  she  had  borrowed  the  fiddler  of  her 
sister,  Ursula  Bayly,  his  owner.  She,  however,  declared 
that  the  boy  should  not  go  unrewarded  for  his  playing,  and 
she  pulled  out  her  purse  and  gave  him  a  Spanish  piece  of 
eight.  She  also  persuaded  Fairfax  to  remain  and  take  part 
in  the  dancing.  Some  one  present  seems  to  have  reproached 
Margaret  Teackle  for  "undutifulness  of  carriage  and  de- 
meanor" towards  Mr.  Teackle  "by  making  feast  in  his 
absence,"  but  Elizabeth  urged  her  to  disregard  her  father, 
whose  strict  notions  as  to  what  was  proper  she  probably 
scorned  and  despised,  and  to  take  advantage  of  his  not  being 
in  the  house  to  enjoy  herself.  Mr.  Teackle,  though  a  clergy- 
man, was  a  man  of  wealth  and  was  engaged  to  be  married 
to  one  of  Elizabeth  Parker's  kinsfolks ;  "and  a  proud  woman 
she  was,"  exclaimed  the  fair  tempter,  "and  wore  fringes  at 
the  binding  of  her  petticoat."  Margaret  Teackle  seems  to 
have  yielded  only  too  readily  to  her  friend's  urgent  appeal, 
and  at  once  fetched  the  silk  with  which  the  fiddler  might 
string  his  instrument ;  and  as  a  reward  for  his  playing  gave 
him  several  yards  of  ribbon  as  well  as  several  yards  of  lace, 
all  of  which,  no  doubt,  touched  the  negro's  sense  of  finery. 

The  dance  started  on  Saturday  night,  and  continued  with 
spirit  until  nearly  eleven  o'clock  of  the  following  Sabbath 
morning.  The  company  consisted  of  Elizabeth  Parker, 
Jane  Hall,  Margaret  Teackle,  James  Fairfax,  and  John 
Addison.  In  one  interval  of  the  dancing  the  hostess  led  her 
guests  upstairs  to  show  them  her  new  gaiters.  They  seem 
to  have  overhauled  the  contents  of  her  trunk,  and  among 
the  articles  which  she  presented  to  Elizabeth  Parker  were 
thread,  laces  and  ribbons,  and  also  a  muslin  cap  adorned 
with  a  vard  of  fine  lace. 


324       EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

When  Mr.  Teackle  returned  home  a  few  days  afterwards, 
and  was  informed  of  the  desecration  of  his  house  by  a  dance 
on  the  Sabbath  day,  even  during  the  hour  when  services  at 
Church  were  in  progress,  he  was  greatly  scandalized,  and  at 
the  next  meeting  of  the  county  court  formally  presented 
Elizabeth  Parker  and  her  busband.  The  good  preacher 
resented  particularly  Mrs.  Parker's  acceptance  of  the  gifts 
of  his  daughter  and  endeavored  to  make  out  that  they  had 
been  improperly  taken  from  his  house.1 

This  scene  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Teackle's  house  throws  an 
entertaining  light  on  the  gay  spirit  of  the  young  Acco- 
mackians  of  both  sexes,  who  were  ready  to  divert  themselves 
on  the  most  unexpected  occasions,  and  who  sometimes  carried 
their  love  of  amusement  to  a  point  that  was  well  calculated 
to  shock  the  piety  of  their  elders.  It  was  only  by  the 
indignant  protest  of  Mr.  Teackle  in  having  the  main  culprit 
indicted  in  this  special  case  that  the  incident  is  preserved 
for  us,  but  similar  instances  of  dances  begun  on  the  moment 
must  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  have  done  much 
to  brighten  the  social  life  of  the  county.  Nor  was  dancing, 
occurring  on  a  Sunday,  a  great  rarity,  though  it  never  went 
unpunished.  In  1698,  William  Johnson,  of  Accomac,  was 
fined  by  the  court  for  such  an  offense.2 

If  there  was  any  undertaking  to  present  a  theatrical  per- 
formance in  Virginia  previous  to  1665,  no  record  of  the 
fact  survives,  says  Bruce.  In  that  year,  however,  when  the 
Stuart  dynasty  had  been  restored  to  the  throne  in  England, 
and  the  theatre  was  fast  becoming  one  of  the  most  popular 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  disreputable  institutions  in  the 
kingdom,   a  play  known  as  "Ye  Bare  and  ye   Cubb"   was 

'Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1600-97, 4).  161,  et  seq.     (Bruce.) 
'Accomac  Countj    Records,  Vol.   1679-1705,  folio,  p.  43.      (Bruce.) 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      325 

acted  on  the  Eastern  Shore  by  three  citizens  of  Accomac, 
Cornelius  Watkinson,  Philip  Howard  and  William  Darby, 
by  name.  As  soon  as  the  report  of  this  performance  reached 
the  ears  of  the  King's  attorney,  John  Fawsett,  he  summoned 
them  to  court,  where  each  was  subjected  to  a  rigid  cross- 
examination.  At  this  session  the  justices  contented  them- 
selves with  ordering  the  culprits  to  appear  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  court  in  the  habiliments  which  they  had  worn 
in  acting  the  alleged  play,  and  they  were  also  required  to 
bring  with  them  for  inspection  a  copy  of  the  "verses, 
speeches,  and  passages"  which  they  had  declaimed  on  that 
occasion.  The  justices  must  have  found  the  performance 
of  a  very  innocent  character,  for  they  directed  the  three  men 
to  be  discharged,  and  the  person  who  had  informed  on  them 
to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  presentment.1  So  quaint  are 
the  records  of  the  court  proceedings  growing  out  of  this, 
probably  the  first  theatrical  performance  in  English  America, 
that  extracts  from  the  original  records  are  here  given: 

"Att  a  court  held  in  Accomac  County,  ye  16th  of  Novem- 
ber, by  his  maties  Justices  of  ye  Peave  for  ye  sd  County,  in 
ye  Seaventeenth  yeare  of  ye  Reigne  of  or  Sovraigne  Lord 
Charles  ye  Second,  By  ye  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britaine, 
France,  and  Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  ye  Faith,  &c. :  And 
in  ye  Yeare  of  or  Lord  God  1665. 

"Whereas,  Cornelius  Watkinson,  Philip  Howard,  and 
William  Darby,  were  this  day  accused  by  Jno.  Fawsett,  his 
maties  Attory  for  Accomack  County,  for  acting  a  play  by 
them  called  ye  Bare  and  ye  Cubb,  on  ye  27th,  of  August  last 
past ;  upon  examination  of  the  same,  The  Court  have  thought 
fitt  to  suspend  the  Cause  till  ye  next  Court,  &  doe  order  \t 
the  said  Cornelius  Watkinson,  Philip  Howard  &  Wm.  Darby, 
appeare  ye  next   Court,   in  those  habilemts  that  they  then 

Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.   1663-66,  folio,  p.   102.      (Bruce.) 


22 


326      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

acted  in,  and  give  a  draught  of  such  verses,  or  other  speeches 
and  passages,  which  were  then  acted  by  them;  &  that  ye 
She rr  detains  Cornelius  Watkinson  &  Philip  Howard  in  his 
Custody  until  they  put  in  security  to  perform  this  order. 
It  is  ordered  yt  the  Sherr,  arrest  ye  body  of  William  Darby, 
for  his  appearance  ye  next  Court,  to  answere  at  his  maties 
suit,  for  acting  or  being  actour  of  a  play  commonly  called 
ye  Beare  &  ye  Cubb." 

"Att  a  Court  held  in  Accomack  County,  ye  18th  of 
December,  by  his  maties  Justices  of  ye  Peace  for  ye  sd 
County,  in  ye  Seaventeenth  yeare  of  ye  Raigne  of  or 
Sovraigne  Lord  Charles  ye  Second,  By  ye  Grace  of  God, 
of  Great  Britain,  France,  &  Ireland,  King,  Defendr  of  ye 
Faith,  &c. :    And  in  ye  yeare  of  or  Lord  1665. 

"Its  ordered  yt  ye  Sherr  sumons  Edward  Martin  to  ye 
next  Court,  to  show  cause  why  hee  should  not  pay  ye 
charges  wch  accrued  upon  ye  information  given  by  him 
against  Cornelius  Watkinson,  Philip  Howard,  &  William 
Darby." 

"Att  a  Court  held  in  Accomack  County,  ye  17th  of 
January,  Etc. 

"Whereas,  Edward  Martin  was  this  day  examined  con- 
cerning his  information  given  to  Mr.  Fawsett,  his  maties 
Attory  for  Accomack  County,  about  a  play  called  the  bare 
&  ye  Cubb,  whereby  severall  persons  were  brought  to  court  & 
charges  thereon  arise,  but  the  Court  finding  the  said  persons 
not  guilty  of  fault,  suspended  ye  payment  of  Court  charges ; 
&  forasmuch  as  it  appeareth  upon  ye  Oath  of  ye  said  Mr. 
Fawsett,  that  upon  ye  sd  Edward  Martin's  information,  the 
Charge  and  trouble  of  that  suit  did  accrew,  It's  therefore 
ordered  that  ye  said  Edward  Martin  pay  all  ye  Charges  in 
ye  suit  Els.     Exon." 

Such  extracts,  says  Campbell,  exemplify  the  simplicity  of 
the  times,  and  the  verbosity  of  the  court  records;    while  the 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      327 

final  decision  in  this  case  is  not  less  equitable  than  those 
of  Sancho  Panza,  sometime  Governor  of  Barataria,  or  those 
celebrated  in  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York. 

The  game  of  nine-pins,  like  backgammon,  has  always  been 
very  popular  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  As  early  as  1636, 
William  Ward  of  Accomac  is  found  participating  in  a  game 
of  this  kind  which  took  place  at  the  house  of  John  Dunn,  and 
the  diversion  proved  so  absorbing  that  he  is  reported  to  have 
spent  the  whole  day  engaged  in  it.  That  same  year,  Lady 
Dale's  cattle  were  mentioned  as  trespassing,  owing  to  their 
keeper  being  oif  playing  nine-pins.1 

A  game  which  took  place  in  1693  was  played  in  a  private 
residence.  Joseph  Godwin,  the  son  of  the  owner  of  the 
house,  bet  his  opponent  that  he  would  tip  seven  pins,  but 
only  succeeded  in  tipping  five.  A  quarrel  arose  over  the 
payment  of  the  wager,  and  a  violent  scuffle  ensued,  which 
seems  to  have  brought  the  parties  into  court.2 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  gin-shop  and  tavern  flourished 
in  those  days,  and  were  very  well  patronized.  In  a  fore- 
going chapter,  the  first  taverns  and  gin-shops  have  been 
referred  to.  Until  a  late  date,  Court  was  held  at  the  various 
taverns  which  were,  of  course,  located  at  convenient  points 
of  travel.  In  1652,  Walter  Williams,  the  ordinary  keeper 
at  Nassawattocks,  complained  to  the  Court  that  he  could 
not  collect  his  dues  from  many  of  the  inhabitants  who  owed 
him  for  their  accommodations.  A  minute  of  the  North- 
ampton County  Court,  dated  1678,  records  the  fact  that  it 
had  become  the  practice  of  several  persons  to  attend  on  the 
occasion  of  the  court's  meeting  in  order  to  get  intoxicated, 
quarrel,  and  fight,  and  that  they  had  the  "impudence"  to 

Accomac  County  Records,  Vol.  1632-40,  Va.  State  Library,  p.  59. 
'Northampton  County  Records.  Vol.   1689-98,  p.  263.      (Bruce.) 


328      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

enter  the  court-room  whilst  the  judges  were  sitting,  and  be 
abusive  to  their  faces.  A  strict  measure  for  repressing  these 
roughs  was  adopted,  and  the  keeper  of  the  ordinary  near  the 
court  house  was  warned  that,  unless  he  preserved  perfect 
order  in  his  tavern,  his  license  would  be  withdrawn.  In 
spite  of  such  precautions  on  the  part  of  the  court,  much 
drunkenness  seems  to  have  prevailed  by  the  time  night 
arrived.  This  fact  was  so  well  known  that  the  indentured 
servants  very  often  took  advantage  of  the  relaxed  vigilance 
of  that  hour  to  make  their  preparations  for  flight.  About 
1680,  a  servant  confessed  in  Northampton  County  that  he 
had  been  waiting  for  a  court  day  in  order  to  steal  a  bridle 
and  a  saddle.  This,  he  said,  he  could  do  as  soon  as  night 
came  on,  when  he  knew  the  people  would  be  too  much  in 
drink  to  observe  his  actions.  The  bridle  and  saddle  he  in- 
tended to  hide  in  the  woods  until  he  could  run  off  with  one 
of  his  master's  horses  and  thus  make  good  his  escape  to 
Maryland.1 

There  are  those  living  to-day  on  the  Eastern  Shore  who 
recall,  no  doubt,  with  regret,  the  old  institution  of  Court 
Day.  The  ladies,  of  course,  since  they  did  not  then  claim 
the  right  of  suffrage,  kept  well  out  of  sight,  and  the  gentle- 
men indulged  themselves  to  the  full  without  restraint. 
Much  of  the  local  business  of  the  time  was  transacted  on 
court  day,  creditors  made  this  the  last  day  of  grace,  land 
titles  were  transferred,  horses  traded,  races  held  on  the  shell 
roads  of  the  county  and  the  swiftest  boats,  bateaux, 
"kunners"  and  sloops  assembled  in  the  nearby  creek  for  the 
usual  court-day  regatta.  Governor  Nicholson,  during  the 
course  of  his  administration,  offered  prizes  to  all  who  should 
excel  in  riding,  running,  shooting,  wrestling  and  cudgelling.2 

Northampton  County  Records,  1679-83,  pp.  52,  53.      (Bruce.) 
^Beverley's    History. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      329 

What  Eastern  Shoreman  has  not  heard  his  father  or 
grandfather  speak  of  court  day  in  terms  of  affection,  as  of 
an  old  friend  long  since  departed  ?  What  a  twinkle  comes 
in  the  old  man's  eye !  He  is  looking  back  through  the  mist 
of  years  to  those  joyous,  gay,  noisy,  crowded,  quarrelsome, 
cruel,  racy,  inebriated,  but  withal  happy  court  days  of  a 
past  generation.  They  served  their  purpose  like  other  quaint 
institutions  of  the  ancient  order;  their  harmful  feature  can 
do  us  no  injury  now,  for  those  days  are  gone,  irretrievably 
gone. 

Duelling  was  quite  common  on  the  Eastern  Shore  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  some  of  the  indentured  servants 
seem  to  have  been  as  fiery  in  nature  and  as  quick  to  resent 
an  affront,  real  or  imaginary,  as  were  their  masters.  In 
1661,  a  servant  belonging  to  Christopher  Calvert  sent  a 
peremptory  challenge  to  Goslin  Van  Netsen,  a  citizen  of 
Dutch  origin.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  the  duel  fought, 
and  the  servant  badly  wounded.  Calvert  was  ordered  by 
the  county  court  to  pay  for  the  present,  all  the  fees  which 
Dr.  George  Nicholas  Hacke  should  charge  for  medical 
attendance  on  the  injured  man,  but  they  were  ultimately 
to  be  shared  by  Van  Netsen,  who  had  inflicted  the  wound. 
Calvert  was  to  be  finally  compensated  by  an  extension  of  the 
servant's  term  of  service.1  It  is  probable  that,  in  this  case, 
the  servant  sending  the  challenge  really  belonged  to  a  higher 
social  grade  than  appears  in  the  records.  Many  of  those 
bound  by  articles  of  indenture  were,  as  we  have  seen,  young 
men  of  gentle  connections,  whose  social  antecedents  were 
inconsistent  with  the  position  in  which  they  placed  them- 
selves;   or  it  may  be  they  had  signed  the  articles  in  order 

'Northampton  County  Records,  Vol.  1657-64,  p.  132.      (Bruce.) 


330      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

to  learn  some  specified  pursuit,  like  tobacco  planting,  before 
embarking  in  it  on  their  own  independent  account.1 

Dr.  Severn,  Peter  Cropper,  and  the  first  of  the  Tullys 
were  entered  in  the  records  as  servants,  though  they  were 
all  men  of  high  social  standing,  the  first  named  having 
received  his  professional  education  in  Germany.  But  let  us 
return  to  the  duel. 

It  is  not  likely  that  Van  NTetzen  would  have  accepted  a 
challenge  from  an  ordinary  servant,  as  that  would  have  been 
regarded  as  a  confession  on  his  part  of  the  social  equality  of 
his  antagonist  with  himself.  At  any  rate,  the  servant  seems 
to  have  got  the  worst  of  the  affair  both  in  the  conflict  and  the 
subsequent  settlement  of  damages,  which  after  all  was  quite 
proper  in  view  of  his  insolence. 

A  duel  between  Captain  William  Epps  and  Captain 
Stallinge,  in  which  the  latter  was  killed,  about  1619,  has 
been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  This  was  probably 
the  first  duel  between  Englishmen  in  America.2 

A  great  affection  often  sprang  up  between  the  white 
servants  and  their  masters,  who  frequently,  in  case  of  a 
worthy  servant,  established  him  in  business  when  his  term 
of  servitude  expired.  In  the  old  records,  a  peculiar  instance 
is  cited  where  Robert  Healing  of  Accomac,  who  was  bound 
to  Thomas  Young,  gave  his  master,  in  1634,  a  man-servant 
whom  he  had  probably  purchased  from  a  merchant  or 
ship-owner.3 

And  now  of  the  traditions  and  superstitions  of  these 
strange  and  interesting  people  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
a  few  should  be  given  in  these  pages. 

"The  Bogey  of  Cradock  Marsh,"   is  one  of  the  earliest 

traditions,  and  is  to-day  one  of  the  best  known.     This  bogey, 

'Bruce's  Social  Life  of  Virginia,  in  Seventeenth  Cent.,  p.  248. 

2See  chapter  on  Plantation  of  Accomac. 

"Accomac  County  Kecords,  Vol.   1632-40,  p.  46.      (Bruce.) 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      331 

whatever  it  may  be,  whether  man  or  beast,  has  been  sought 
by  armed  hunting  parties  for  several  centuries.  By  day  and 
by  torchlight,  its  trail  of  foot-tracks  has  been  followed  only 
to  be  lost  as  the  weird  cry  of  "Yahoo !  Yahoo !"  resounds 
through  the  dismal  wastes  of  marsh  to  warn  the  curious  of 
the  futility  of  their  quest,  and  to  make  the  blood  of  the 
half-hearted  searchers  run  cold.  And  then  there  is  the  head- 
less man,  who  for  centuries  has  exacted  toll  at  "Taylor's 
Bridge"  until  stingy  travellers  refuse  to  pass  that  way  at 
night !  It  is  said  that  he  never  demands  more  than  four- 
pence-half-penny,  and  that  those  who  refuse  to  pay  him 
invariably  come  to  grief. 

Then  there  are  the  ancient  traditions  growing  out  of  the 
pirates'  occupation  of  Parramore's  Beach,  Revell's  Island, 
Hog  Island,  and  Rogues'  Island;  the  latter  so  named  from 
the  character  of  its  early  tenants.  For  a  true  appreciation 
of  these  charming  old  tales,  one  must  visit  the  country  and 
hear  the  old  folks  and  the  negroes  recount  them  before  a 
winter's  fire,  as  the  gale  howls  and  shrieks  through  the 
ancient  pines  and  flurries  the  sand  against  the  window  panes ; 
or  one  must  lie  out  upon  the  deck  of  a  fishing  craft,  anchored 
in  some  remote  inlet  among  the  sea  islands,  and  listen  to 
the  weather-worn  sailors  tell  their  tales  of  mystery,  as  the 
tide  swishes  along  the  reedy  shores  and  the  weird  voices 
of  night  whisper  among  the  rushes  of  the  neighboring  marsh. 

An  account  of  the  Eastern  Shore  without  some  mention 
of  the  queer  old  tales  about  John  Custis,  the  fourth  of  the 
name,  who  inherited  "Arlington,"  after  which  the  Potomac 
estate  was  named,  would  be,  as  the  sailors  say,  like  a  song 
without  a  chorus. 

This  John  Custis  married  Frances  Parke,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Parke,  Governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  and  their 
son,  Daniel  Parke  Custis,  was  the  first  husband  of  Martha 

\ 


332      EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

Dandridge,  afterwards  Martha  Washington.  John  Custis 
and  Frances  Parke  lived  at  "Arlington"  many  years.  The 
alliance  seems  to  have  been  a  very  unhappy  one,  and  many 
stories  of  their  contentious  life  have  been  handed  down  to 
us.  Frances  was  a  lady  of  much  determination,  which  led 
to  frequent  conflicts  with  her  eccentric  husband.  It  is  said 
that  for  weeks  at  a  time  they  lived  together  without  speaking 
to  each  other.  During  these  long  periods  of  silence,  all  com- 
munication was  carried  on  between  them  by  means  of  the 
servants.  For  instance,  Mrs.  Custis  would  say  to  the  butler: 
"Pompy,  ask  your  master  if  he  will  have  coffee  or  tea,  and 
sugar  and  cream,"  and  to  the  servant's  question,  Mr.  Custis 
would  reply:  "Tell  your  mistress  that  I  will  have  coffee 
as  usual,  with  no  cream." 

After  one  of  these  long  spells  of  non-intercourse,  Mr. 
Custis  dressed  himself  with  great  care  one  day,  ordered  his 
best  horse  and  gig  to  the  door,  and  in  the  most  polite  and 
dignified  manner,  invited  Mrs.  Custis  to  accompany  him  on 
a  drive.  "Certainly,  Mr.  Custis,  certainly,  sir,  I  will  be 
delighted,  but  when  were  you  ever  so  courteous  before?" 
inquired  the  grand  lady. 

Instead  of  taking  the  usual  route  along  the  bay  beach, 
the  gallant  whip  headed  his  horse  straight  out  into  the  bay, 
the  water  deepening  very  gradually  near  Arlington.  "Where 
are  you  going,  Mr.  Custis  ?"  asked  his  wife.  "To  h — 1, 
Madam,"  he  replied.  "Drive  on,"  said  she,  "any  place  is 
preferable  to  Arlington." 

Presently  the  water  began  to  enter  the  gig.  "Again  I  ask, 
where  are  you  taking  me  to?"  said  Mrs.  Custis.  "To  h — 1, 
Madam,  as  I  have  already  told  you,"  answered  Mr.  Custis. 
"And  again  I  say,  drive  on,  Mr.  Custis,  the  prospect  is  far 
brighter  than  that  of  a  return  home,"  retorted  the  bold  lady. 


EASTERN  SHORE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      333 

After  proceeding  so  far  out  from  shore  that  the  horse  was 
all  but  forced  to  swim,  Mr.  Custis  turned  his  animal's  head 
to  the  shore,  saying  to  his  wife  with  much  emphasis,  "If  I 
were  to  drive  to  h — 1  and  the  devil  himself  came  out  to  meet 
us,  I  do  not  believe,  Madam,  that  you  would  be  frightened." 
"Quite  true,  sir,"  she  replied,  "I  know  you  so  well  that  I 
would  not  be  afraid  to  go  where  you  would  go." 

After  this  adventure,  the  couple  seem  to  have  lived  more 
happily  together,  for  a  deed,  to  which  they  were  both  parties, 
was  soon  drawn  up,  in  which  mutual  concessions  were  made 
in  the  hope  that  domestic  tranquillity  might  ensue.  So 
curious  is  this  instrument,  that  its  full  text  is  given  in  the 
appendix. 

Mr.  Custis  survived  his  wife  seven  years.  Whether  her 
memory  was  held  in  great  affection  by  him  may  be  deter- 
mined by  the  reader  from  the  inscription  which  he  ordered 
to  be  put  on  his  tombstone.  The  deed  of  settlement  seems 
to  have  been  only  partially  successful  at  most:1 

Beneath  this  marble  tomb  lies  ye  body 

of  the  Honorable  John  Custis,  Esq., 

of  the  City  of  Williamsburg  and  Parish  of  Bruton 

Formerly  of  Hungar's  Parish  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of 

Virginia  and  the  County  of  Northampton  the  place 

of  his  nativity. 

Aged  71  years  and  yet  lived  but  seven  years 

Which  was  the  space  of  time  he  kept 

a  Bachelor's  House  at  Arlington 

On  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia. 

This  information  put  on  this  tomb  was  by  his 

own  positive  order. 

Wm.  Colley,  Mason,  in  Fenchurch  Street,  London,  Fecit. 

^he  inscription  of  this  old  tombstone  could  easily  be  read  until  a 
year  or  so  ago.  I  am  informed  that  the  stone  has  been  recently 
destroyed. 


33 1      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

This  then  was  the  mode  of  the  revengeful  and  spiteful 
John's  satisfaction.  Tt  was  not  enough  that  his  contem- 
poraries should  witness  his  domestic  and  marital  difficulties, 
but  posterity  must  be  apprised  of  his  wife's  character,  not 
to  say  his  own,  by  means  of  an  elaborate  tombstone,  wrought 
by  the  hand  of  a  London  Mason. 

In  such  tales  as  the  Bogey  of  Cradock's  Marsh,  the  head- 
less man  of  Taylor's  Bridge,  and  many  others  of  these  simple 
sea-faring  people,  we  see  but  a  recurrence  of  the  ancient 
myths  which  appear  in  the  lore  of  nearly  every  primitive 
folk.  The  Headless  Hessian,  Koschei  the  Deathless,  and 
William  Tell  are  often  found  as  old  friends  in  a  new  garb. 
But  tangible  and  recognized  by  the  law  courts  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  the  superstition  which  gave  rise  to,  and 
created  the  "Ordeal  of  Touch"  or  the  "Bier  Test,"  as  the 
ancient  ceremony  was  called.  Here,  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of 
Virginia,  occurred  the  last  instance  of  this,  the  weirdest 
fiction  of  mediaeval  days,  inherited  from  a  Saxon  ancestry 
and  transplanted  upon  American  shores  by  the  early  Acco- 
mackians. 

The  ordeal  or  "test"  grew  out  of  the  superstition  that 
upon  the  murderer  touching  or  coming  into  the  presence  of 
the  body  of  the  victim,  the  wounds  would  bleed  afresh.  The 
belief  was  widely  prevalent  even  among  the  educated  people 
of  Scotland  and  England  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
Michael  Drayton,  an  English  poet,  who  lived  about  1600, 
wrote : 


"If  the  vile  actors  of  the  heinous  deed 
Near  the  dead  body  happily  be  brought, 
Oft  has  been  prov'd  the  breathless  corpse  will  bleed." 


EASTEEN  SHOEE  OF  VIEGINIA  HISTOEY      335 

Perhaps,  however,  the  best  known  allusion  to  this  belief 
is  that  contained  in  Act  I,  Scene  II,  of  Richard  III,  where 
Lady  Anne,  in  the  presence  of  the  body  of  the  dead  King,  is 
made  to  accuse  Gloster  in  the  following  passage : 

"O  gentlemen,  see,  see,  dead  Henry's  wounds 
Open  their  congeal'd  mouths  and  bleed  afresh ! 
Blush,  blush,  thou  lump  of  foul  deformity, 
For't  is  thy  presence  that  exhales  this  blood 
From  cold  and  empty  veins,  where  no  blood  dwells." 

The  records  of  Northampton  County  show  that  on  Decem- 
ber 14,  1656,  Captain  William  Whittington  issued  a  warrant 
for  a  Jury  of  Inquest  over  the  body  of  Paul  Rynners,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  murdered  by  William  Custis,  Gent.  The 
Jury  reported : 

"We  have  viewed  the  body  of  Paul  Rynnuse,  late  of  this 
county  deceased  &  have  caused  Wm.  Custis  to  touch  the  face 
&  stroke  the  body  of  said  Paul  Rynnuse  which  he  willingly 
did.    But  no  sign  did  appear  unto  us  of  question  in  the  law." 

Accordingly,  the  accused  Mr.  Custis  was  exonerated  by 
the  Court.  Later  we  find  in  Accomack  a  very  full  record  of 
the  proceedings  of  "The  Ordeal  of  Touch"  in  connection 
with  a  case  of  infanticide: 

"Att  a  Court  held  &  continued  for  Accomack  County, 
March  18,  1679.  The  Confession  of  Paul  Carter  taken  the 
First  day  of  March,  1679. 

"Quest.  What  doe  yu  know  concerning  a  child  born  of 
Mary  the  daughter  of  Sarah,  the  wife  of  the  said  Paul  ? 

"Answere.  That  he  doth  know  that  the  said  Mary  had  a 
man  child  born  of  her  body  and  that  the  said  Sarah  assisted 
at  the  birth  of  the  said  child,  &  that  he  certainly  knoweth 
not  whether  it  were  born  alive  or  not  &  that  they  did 
endeavor  to  preserve  the  life  thereof  and  that  it  lay  betwixt 


336      EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY 

his  wife  and  her  daughter  all  night  and  that  ye  next  morning 
he  saw  it  was  dead  &  he  and  his  wife  carefully  buried  the 
said  child  but  that  his  wife  carefully  washed  and  dressed  it. 

"Quest.  Doe  yu  know  or  have  ever  heard,  who  was  the 
father  thereof  reputed  ? 

"Answere.  The  said  Mary  charged  one  Mr.  James  Tuck 
therewith." 

And  so  the  record  runs  through  various  examinations  of 
Sarah  and  Mary  with  the  result  that  Paul  and  Mary  were 
separated  by  the  court  and  the  former  indicted  for  the 
crime.1 

This  is  said  to  be  the  last  instance  of  the  curious  "Ordeal 
of  Touch"  or  "Bier  Test"  on  record. 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  certain  facts  have  been  gone 
into  with  what  may  seem  undue  particularity,  in  the  hope 
that  the  high  lights  and  shadows  of  the  picture  might 
increase  the  expression  of  the  whole,  and  that  a  keener  eye 
might  detect  features  which  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the 
writer. 

From  the  facts  presented,  we  must  form  our  own  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  real  conditions  surrounding  the  early  Eastern 
Shoreman,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  his  lot  was  a 
peculiarly  happy  and  fortunate  one,  nor  to  appreciate  the 
truth  of  Colonel  Norwood's  statement  that  in  1650,  "North- 
ampton County  was  the  best  of  the  whole  (Colony)  for  all 
sorts  of  necessaries  for  human  life."2 

And  now  let  me  ask  those  who  have  claimed  to  describe 
Colonial  Virginia,  how  they  account  for  their  comparative 

irlhe  full  text  of  the  proceedings  in  this  case  is  published  in  Vol.  II, 
Va.  Magazine  of  Hist,  and  Biog.  pp.  185-197,  a  reading  of  which  will 
amply  repay  the  curious.  The  extract  from  the  county  records  was 
prepared  by  Mr.  M.  Oldham,  County  Clerk,  in  1896. 

2A  Voyage  to  Virginia.  Force's  Collection  of  Historical  Tracts, 
Volume  III. 


EASTERN  SHOEE  OF  VIRGINIA  HISTORY      337 

disregard  of  this  section  of  the  Old  Dominion  where  the 
purest  blood  of  England  has  coursed  through  the  veins  of  the 
people  during  three  centuries;  where  loyalty  to  the  King 
was  the  most  intense,  yet  where  a  spirit  of  independence 
arose  with  the  first  generation  born  upon  that  soil;  where 
population  was  the  densest,  wealth  the  greatest,  trade  the 
most  highly  developed ;  that  land,  whose  very  Savages  saved 
the  infant  colonv  on  two  different  occasions  ? 


APPENDIX 


CONTENTS  OF  APPENDIX 

PAGE 

Members  of  Colonial  Council  and  Burgesses  from  Eastern 

Shore  in  17th  Century 343 

A  Curious  Deed  Drawn  Up  by  John  Custis  IV  and  His 

Wife,  Frances  Parke  343 

Papers    in    Northampton    County    Archives    Kelating    to 

Sir  Thomas  Dale 351 

A  Proclamation  of  Lord  Culpeper's  Eelating  to  Tobacco 

Cutting    353 

Abstracts  from  Virginia  Land  Patents 356 

Notes  Taken  from  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biog- 
raphy Concerning  Early  Accomac  Settlers 361 

Abstracts  from  Accomac  County  Eecords  Relating  to  Bacon's 

Rebellion    365 

Two  Curious  Wills,  from  Northampton  County  Records.  .  .   369 

Translation  of  Indian  Names,  Found  in  Northampton  and 
Accomac  Counties,  and  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Mary- 
land       371 

List  of  Tithables  in  Northampton  County  for  1666 373 


341 


23 


EASTERN    SHORE   REPRESENTATIVES    IN    THE 

COUNCIL  AND  ASSEMBLY  DURING 

17TH  CENTURY 

COUNCIL. 
Abgoll  Yeardley,  1639. 

Born  1605  in  England, 

Died  1670  in  Northampton  County. 

Obedience  Robins,   1655. 

Born  Apr.  16.  1600,  in  England, 

Died ,  1662  in  Northampton  County. 

Gen.    John  Custis  II,  1677. 

Born  in  Virginia ,  1630, 

Died  in  Virginia  Jan.  1696. 

Charles  Scabbubgh,  1691. 

Born  in  Virginia, 

Died  in  Virginia,   1703. 

John   Custis   III,    1699. 

Born  in  Virginia, ,  1653, 

Died  in  Virginia,  Jan.  26,  1713. 

John  Custis  IV,  1727. 

Born  in  Virginia, ,  1678, 

Died  in  Virginia,  November,  1749. 

HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES. 

162k  EASTERN  SHORE. 

(HeningI,  121-129.) 

Captain  John  Willcox, 
Henry  Watkins. 

1629  "For  the  Eastern  Shore  noe  burgesses  did  appear." 

(Hening  L,  137-139.) 
1629-80.  ACCOMAG. 

(HeningI,  147-149.) 

Capt.  Thos.  Graves, 
Edmund  Scarburgh   (1), 
Obedience  Robins, 
Henry  Bagwell. 

343 


344  APPENDIX 


16S1-2.  ACGOMAC. 

(HeningI,  153.) 

Edmund  Scarburgh, 

John  Howe. 

16S2.  ACCOM  AC. 

(HeningI,  178-179.) 

Capt.  Thos.  Graves, 
John  Howe, 
Henry  Bagwell, 
Charles   Harmer. 

16S2-S.  ACCOMAC. 

(HeningL,  202-203.) 

Captain  Edmund  Scarburgh    ( 1 ) , 
John  Howe, 
Roger  Saunders, 
John  Wilkinson. 

16S9.  ACCOMAC. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  60.) 

Obedience  Robins, 
John  Neale. 

1641.  ACCOMAC. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  61.) 

John  Wilkins, 
John  Neale. 

16^2.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening  I,  236.) 

Obedience  Robins, 
John  Neale. 

1642-S.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  239.) 

Philip  Taylor, 

Edmund  Scarburgh   (II). 

1644.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  283.) 


Obedience  Robins, 
Edward  Douglas. 


APPENDIX  345 


1644-5.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  289.) 

Edmund  Scarburgh   (II), 
Stephen  Charlton. 

16^5.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  298,  299.) 

Edmund  Scarburgh,  Speaker, 
Thos.  Johnson. 

1645-46.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningL,  309-323.) 

Probably  same  as  1645. 

1646.  NORTHAMPTON. 
(HeningI,  322-323.) 

Edward  Douglas, 
Thos.  Johnson. 

1647.  NORTHAMPTON. 
(HeningI,  339-340.) 

Edmund  Scarburgh   (II), 
Stephen  Charlton. 

1652.    April.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  369-371.) 

Obedience  Robins, 
Edmund  Scarburgh   (II), 
Thos.   Johnson, 
Wm.  Jones, 
Anthony  Hoskins. 

1652.    Nov.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI,  373-374.) 

Lieut.  Col.  Obedience  Robins, 
Stephen  Charlton. 

165S.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningL,  379.) 

Capt.  Thomas  Johnson, 
Wm.  Mellin, 
Stephen  Horsey. 


346  APPENDIX 

1654.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening  I,  386-387.) 

Peter  Walker, 
Wm.  Waters, 
Thos.  Johnson. 

1655-6.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening  I,  414-421-22,  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio.  Vol.  8, 
388-9.) 

Col.  Edmund  Scarburgh. 

1657-8.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening  I,  429-432.) 

William  Kendall, 

Wm.  Mellings, 

Capt.  Wm.  Mitchell, 

Randall  Revell, 

John  Willcox. 

1658-9.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening  I,  506-507.) 

John  Stringer, 
Wm.  Jones. 

1659-60.  NORTHAMPTON. 

( Hening  L,  527-530.) 

Col.  Edmund  Scarburgh, 
Maj.  Wm.  Waters, 
Lieut.  Coll.  John  Stringer. 

1661-1676.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Session  Sept.  1663.) 
(Hening  II,  196-197.) 

Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  Kendall, 
Maj.  Wm.  Andrews. 

ACCOMAC. 

Devoreux  Browne, 
Hugh  Yeo. 

Session  Oct.  1666.  NORTHAMPTON. 

( Hening  II,  249-250. ) 

Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  Kendall, 
Capt.  Geo.  Swavage   (Savage). 


APPENDIX  347 


ACCOM  AC. 


Col.  Edmund  Scarburgh, 
Hugh  Yeo. 

1678-86.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  84.) 

Col.  Wm.  Kendall,  Speaker. 

ACCOM  AC. 
Capt.  John  Custis. 

1688.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  86.) 

Thos.   Harmanson, 
Wm.  Kendall. 

ACCOM  AC. 

Chas.  Scarburgh, 
Wm.  Anderson. 

1692-9S.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  87.) 

Capt.  John  Custis, 
Capt.  W.  Kendall. 


ACCOMAC. 


Maj.  Richard  Bayley, 
Samuel  Sandford. 


16967.  NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va.  Col.  Reg.  91.) 


John  Custis, 

Wm.  Waters,  Sheriff. 


ACCOMAC. 


John  Washburn, 
Richard  Bayley. 


A  DEED  DRAWN  UP  BY  JOHN  CUSTIS  IV  AND 
HIS  WIFE  FRANCES  PARKE 

Articles  of  Agreement  Betwixt  Mr.  John  Custis  and 

His  Wife 

"Whereas  some  differences  and  Quarrels  have  arisen 
betwixt  Mr.  John  Custis  &  Frances  his  wife  concerning  some 
money,  Plate  and  other  things  taken  from  him  by  the  sd 
frances  and  a  more  plentiful  maintenance  for  her.  Now 
to  the  end  and  all  animostys  and  unkindness  may  cease  and 
a  perfect  love  "and  friendship  may  be  renewed  betwixt  them 
they  have  mutually  agreed  upon  the  following  articles  this 
day  of  June  anno  Domi  1714: 

"1st.  First  it  is  agreed  that  the  sd  Frances  shall  return 
to  the  sd  John  all  the  money,  Plate  and  other  things  what- 
soever that  she  hath  taken  from  him  or  removed  out  of  the 
house  upon  oath  and  be  obliged  never  to  take  away  by  herself 
or  any  other,  anything  of  value  from  him  again  or  dispose 
of  anything  of  value  out  of  the  family  without  his  consent, 
nor  sell,  give  away  or  run  him  in  debt  without  his  consent, 
upon  the  condition  that  the  plate  and  damaske  linen  shall 
not  be  given  or  disposed  of  by  the  aforesaid  John  from  the 
said  during  her  life,  and  the  said  John  doth  covent.  sd 
plate  &  linnen  to  be  delivered  by  the  said  frances  to  ye  said 
John  shall  be  given  to  the  children  of  the  said  John  by  the 
said  Frances  immediately  after  her  decease. 

"2nd.  That  Frances  shall  henceforth  for  bear  to  call  him 
ye  sd  John  any  vile  names  or  give  him  any  ill  language, 
neither  shall  he  give  her  any  but  to  live  lovingly  together 
and  to  behave  themselves  to  each  other  as  a  good  husband 
&  good  wife  ought  to  doe.  And  that  she  shall  not  inter- 
meddle with  his  affairs  but  that  all  business  belonging  to 
the  husband's  management  shall  be  solely  transacted  by  him, 
neither  shall  he  intermeddle  in  her  domestique  affairs  but 
that  all  business  properly  belonging  to  the  management  of 
the  wife  shall  be  solely  transacted  by  her. 

"3rd.  That  the  sd  John  shall  pay  all  the  debts  he  hath 
already  contracted  out  of  the  debts  now  due  to  the  Estate 

348 


APPENDIX  349 

and  the  money  he  hath  received  if  there  will  be  sufficient  to 
pay  them :  and  that  he  shall  enter  into  Bond  to  Philip  Lud- 
well  in  the  sum  of  one  thousand  pounds  that  from  hence- 
forward he  shall  keep  true  and  perfect  accounts  of  all  the 
profitts  and  disbursements  of  his  whole  estate  in  any  part  of 
Virginia  that  he  is  now  possessed  of,  and  alsoe  of  all  the 
estate  he  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  by  her  means  be 
possessed  of  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  shall  produce  the 
same  accounts  yearly  if  it  be  required  upon  oath.  And  that 
all  debts  hereafter  necessarily  accrueing  for  buying  claothes, 
tools  and  all  the  necessary  for  servants  and  plantations,  pay- 
ing leavys  and  Quitt-rents  &  making  repairs  of  his  whole 
estate  and  alsoe  all  other  necessary  charges  acrewing  for  the 
use  &  benefitt  of  the  estate  which  is  to  descend  to  the  child 
of  ye  sd  Frances  are  deducted  and  paid  he  shall  freely  & 
without  grudging  allow  one  full  moity  or  half  of  all  the  clear 
produce  of  his  whole  estate  as  aforesaid  annually  to  the 
said  Frances  for  clothing  herself  and  her  children  with  a 
reasonable  proportion  thereof  and  the  remainder  to  be  all 
laid  out  in  the  education  of  the  children  &  for  furnishing 
and  providing  all  things  that  are  necessary  for  housekeep- 
ing (that  are  to  be  brought  from  England)  and  Physick  soe 
long  as  the  sd  Frances  shall  live  peace  quietly  with  him,  and 
that  he  shall  allow  for  the  maintenance  and  family  one 
bushel  of  wheat  for  every  week  and  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
Indian  Corn  and  as  much  flessh  of  all  kinds  as  the  stocks 
of  Cattle,  Sheep  and  hoggs  of  his  whole  estate  will  afforde 
without  impairing  them  if  so  much  shall  be  necessary,  and 
sufficient  quantity  of  Cyder  and  Brandy  is  so  much  be  made 
on  the  plantations :  Provided  nothing  herein  contained  shall 
be  construed  to  debar  the  sd  John  of  the  free  command  and 
use  of  anything  that  shall  be  provided  for  housekeeping  soe 
as  he  doth  not  sell  any  of  it  without  her  consent.  Provided 
also  that  the  condition  of  this  bond  be  that  if  the  sd  Frances 
doe  exceed  the  allowance  herein  exprest  in  these  articles, 
run  him  in  debt  or  break  any  of  them  the  bond  to  be  voyd 
and  the  allowance  to  cease. 

"4th.     That  the  sd  John  shall  allow  the  sd  Frances  to 
keep  in  the  house  to  do  the  necessary  work  in  and  about  the 


350  APPENDIX 

same  servants  she  now  hath  vizt. :  Jenny,  Queen,  Pompy  & 
.  .  .  or  such  others  in  their  stead  and  also  Billy  boy  or 
little  Eoger  and  Anthony  or  such  another  in  his  stead  to  send 
the  garden,  goe  of  errands  or  with  the  coach,  catch  horses 
and  doe  all  other  necessary  works  about  the  house,  and  if  any 
of  them  dye  ye  sd  John  shall  put  others  in  thyr  stead. 

"5th.  That  ye  sd  John  shall  allow  the  sd  Frances  fifteen 
pounds  of  wool  and  fifteen  pounds  of  fine  dressed  flax  or 
fifteen  pounds  of  wool  in  lieu  thereof  every  year  to  spin 
for  any  use  in  the  family  shall  think  fit. 

"6  th.  That  the  sd  Frances  shall  have  free  liberty  to 
give  away  twenty  yards  of  Virginia  cloth  every  year  to 
charitable  uses  if  soe  much  remain  after  the  servants  are 
clothed. 

"7th.  That  the  sd  Frances  shall  have  free  liberty  to  keep 
a  white  servant  if  she  shall  think  fitt  out  of  the  above  allow- 
ance soe  as  the  sd  servant  be  alsoe  subject  to  ye  sd  John. 

"8th.  And  foreasmuch  as  the  one-half  of  the  clear 
produce  of  the  tobacco  being  to  be  taken  upon  the  sale  of  it 
and  the  Cloathing  and  other  necessarys  to  be  bought  in 
England  and  that  it  will  generally  be  at  least  twelve  months 
before  an  account  of  sales  can  be  had  from  thence  and  an 
invoyce  sent  thither,  therefore  for  the  supplying  the  present 
wants  of  the  said  Frances  the  children  and  the  house  in 
manner  and  for  the  use  aforesaid,  the  said  John  shall  allow  to 
the  said  Frances  fifty  pounds  in  money  if  there  shall  be  soe 
much  left  remaining  of  the  debts  now  due  to  the  estate  and 
money  now  on  hand  after  all  the  debts  already  contracted 
by  him  or  her  shall  be  paid  as  afores'd. 

"9th.  That  ye  ssd  Frances  shall  render  a  true  acc't 
under  oath  to  ye  ssd  John  if  he  shall  require  it  how  ye  sd 
fifty  pounds  and  alsoe  ye  clear  profits  yearly  are  expended 
and  laid  out."1 

'We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  G.  C.  Callahan,  of  Philadelphia,  for  a 
copy  of  this  draft. 


SIR  THOMAS  DALE 
Extracts  from  Northampton  Records 

"Whereas  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  Knight  Marshall  of  Virginia 
hath  payd  in  ready  money  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith  Knight 
Treasurer  of  Virginia  the  summe  of  three  hundred  seventy 
five  pounds  for  his  Adventures  towards  the  sayd  voyage.  It 
is  agreed  that  for  the  same  hee  the  sayd  Sir  Thomas  Dale  his 
heirs,  executors,  Administrators  or  assigns  shall  have  ratably 
according  to  his  Adventures  his  full  part  of  all  such  lands 
tenements  and  hereditaments,  as  shall  from  tyme  to  tyme 
bee  there  recovered  planted  and  inhabited.  Ans  of  such 
mynes  and  mineralls  of  gold,  silver,  and  other  metalls  or 
treasure,  pearls,  precious  stones,  or  any  kind  of  wares  or 
merchandizes,  commodityes  or  profits  whatsoever  which  shall 
be  obtayned  or  gotten  in  the  said  voyage  according  to  the 
portion  of  money  by  him  ymployed  to  that  use,  in  as  Ample 
manner  as  any  other  Adventurer  therein  shall  receyve  for  the 
like  summe. 

"Written  the  twenty-seventh  of  February  Anno  Dom.  1610. 

"Edward  Mayor." 

"Whereas  the  right  honorable  Sir  Thomas  Dale  Knight 
Marshall  of  Virginia  (being  the  first  man  of  his  ranke  and 
degree  that  hath  undertaken  that  charge  and  place)  hath  not 
only  adventured  his  person  in  that  service  in  tymes  of  greatest 
difficulty  but  has  been  at  great  charges  both  in  furthering  the 
action  and  furnishing  himselfe.  The  Counsell  of  Virginia  at 
their  meeting  on  the  xviijth  of  this  instant  upon  their  special 
trust  and  confidence  that  as  hee  hath  begunn  so  he  will  pro- 
ceed and  continue  in  advancing  soe  christian  and  noble  an 
Action,  have  withe  unanimous  consent  thought  this: — That 
our  consideration  he  now  had  of  him,  but  such  (as  in  future 
times)  shal  be  by  no  means  drawne  into  precedent  upon  any 

351 


352  APPENDIX 

occasion  whatsoever — They  therefore  agreed  that  his  person 
should  be  rated  at  the  summe  of  seven  hundred  pounds  and 
that  hee,  the  said  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  his  heyres,  Executors, 
Administrators  or  Assigns  shall  have  ratably  (according  to 
the  sayd  Some)  his  and  their  full  share  of  all  such  lands, 
Tenements  and  hereditaments  as  shall  from  tyme  to  tyme  be 
there  recovered,  planted  and  inhabited.  And  of  such  mynes 
and  mineralls  of  Gold  and  Silver  and  other  metalls  or 
Treasures,  pearls,  precious  stones,  or  any  kinds  of  wares  or 
merchandizes,  commodities  or  profits  whatsoever  which  shalbe 
obtayned  or  gotten  in  the  said  voyage  in  as  ample  manner 
as  any  other  adventurer  therein  shall  ratably  receive  for  the 
like  summe. 

"Written  this  xxvith  of  February  Ano  Domo.  161. 

"Edward  Mayor." 

"This  coppie  agreeth  with  the  originall  under  the  seale  of 
the  Virginia  Company,  examyned  the  xiith  day  of  October 
1643  by  us  under  written. 

"Fra:    Moses.     Nory  Public. 
"Solo:    Seabright.      Nory   Public. 


HISTORICAL  DOCUMENTS 

[From  1682-1710] 

Virginia 
by  his  excellenc1e.     a  proclamation 

Whereas,  many  euill  and  ill-disposed  persons,  inhabitants 
of  this  colonie,  contrary  to  their  duety  and  allegiance  to  our 
Souereigne  Lord  the  King,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  in  the 
24th  yeare  of  the  reign  of  our  Souereigne  Lord  the  King, 
and  since,  tumultuously  and  mutinously  assembled  and  gath- 
ered together,  combineing,  and  presumeing  to  reform,  this 
his  Majesties  Gouerment,  by  cvting  vp  and  destroying  all 
tobacco  plants,  and  to  perpetrate  the  same,  in  a  traiterous 
and  rebellious  manner,  with  force  and  arms,  entered  the 
plantations  of  many  of  his  Majesties  good  subjects  of  this 
colonie,  resolving  by  open  force  a  generall  and  totall  de- 
struction of  all  tobacco  plants  in  this  his  Majesties  dominion, 
to  the  hazarding  the  subverssion  of  the  whole  gouerment, 
and  ruins  and  destruction  of  these  his  Majesties  good  sub- 
jects, if  by  Gods  assistance,  and  the  prudent  care  and  con- 
duct of  the  then  Lief  tenant  Gouernor  and  Councell,  the  mu- 
tiners  had  not  been  timely  suppressed,  for  which  treasons 
and  rebellions  against  his  Majesty,  and  this  his  goverment, 
some  notorious  actors  haue  been  indicted,  convicted,  and 
condemned,  and  suffered  such  pains  and  punishments  as 
for  their  treasons  and  rebellion  they  justly  deserued.  And 
whereas,  I  and  the  Councell  are  well  satisfied,  that  many  of 
his  Majesties  good  subjects,  were  preuailed  with,   and  se- 

353 


354  APPENDIX 

duced  from  their  allegiance,  by  the  specious  (though  false) 
pretences,  of  the  designers  and  contrivers  of  those  crimes, 
misdeeds,  treasons,  and  rebellions:  And  hauering,  since,  by 
their  dutifull  demeanor,  manifested  themselves  sencible  of 
the  notoriousness  of  their  crimes,  and  how  lyeable  they  are 
to  answer  for  the  same  according  to  Law,  and  those  appre- 
hensions lyeing  heavie  on  the  spirrits  of  many  his  Majesties 
seduced  subjects,  which  being  taken  into  serious  considera- 
tion. 

I  therefore,  Tho.  Lord  Culpeper,  Barron  of  Thorsway,  his 
Majesties  Lieftenant  and  Gouernor  Generall  of  Virginia,  out 
of  pitty  and  compassion  to  his  Majesties  seduced  subjects, 
and  for  the  setling  and  composeing  of  their  disturbed  minds, 
haue  thought  fitt,  and  in  his  Majesties  name,  by  and  with 
the  advice  of  the  Couuncell,  by  this  proclamation,  doe  pub- 
lish and  declare,  that  all  and  every  person  and  persons, 
whatsoever,  his  Majesties  subjects  of  this  colonie,  who  haue 
ingaged  with,  or  adhered  to  the  said  traiterous  rebellious 
plant  cutters  and  plant  destroyers,  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord 
1682,  first  taking  the  oath  of  obedience  mentioned  in  the 
act  of  Parliament,  made  in  England,  in  the  third  yeare  of  the 
reign  of  his  Majesties  Royall  Grand  Father,  before  two  if 
his  Majesties  justices  of  the  peace,  whereof  one  to  be  of  the 
quorum ;  or  in  open  Court ;  shall  be  and  hereby  are  par- 
doned and  forgiuen,  all  the  treasons,  rebellions,  crimes,  and 
misdeeds,  by  him  or  them,  acted,  done,  committed,  or  con- 
cealed in  relation  to  the  said  plant  destroying  and  disturb- 
ance of  his  Majesties  gouerment  as  aforesaid,  and  shall  be 
free  from  all  punishments,  and  forfetures  for,  or  by  reason 
of  the  same. 

Except  Richard  Bayley,  late  convicted  and  condemned  for 
the  same ;   John  Hayley,  Henry  Ismon,  and  John  Wise,  who 


APPENDIX  355 

are  fled,  not  dareing  to  abide  their  legall  tr jails.     As  alsoe 
Robert  Beverley,  John  Sackler  and  Thomas  Amies. 

And  to  the  end  all  his  Majesties  subjects,  in  this  dominion, 
may  have  notice  thereof,  I  doe  in  his  Majesties  name  require 
and  comand,  all  sheriffs  in  their  respective  counties,  to  pub- 
lish and  make  known  this  proclamation,  at  the  Court  House, 
and  in  all  other  publique  places  of  the  said  counties :  As 
likewise  all  ministers,  in  their  respectiue  parishes,  to  the 
intent  none  may  pretend  ignorance  thereof.  Giuen  vnder 
my  hand  and  the  seals  of  the  colonic,  this  22d  day  of  May, 
1683.     Annoq.  R.  R.  Caroli,  2d.  Angliae,  y'e.  35th. 

God  saue  the  King. 

Tho.  Culpepek.1 

Ceiling's  Statutes,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  563,  564. 


ABSTRACTS  FROM  VIRGINIA  LAND  PATENTS 

Published  in  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and 
Biography 

John  Neale,  500  acres  in  Accomack,  upon  Smith's  Island,  abutting 
against  his  land  in  the  main.  Due  for  the  transportation  of  ten  persons 
(names  below).    By  West,  June  18,  1636. 

John  Hendrye,  James  Hutchinson,  Henry  Warner,  Richard  Harris, 
Peter  Waneford,  Anthony  Stersby,  Richard  Graves,  Robert  Stackhouse, 
Thomas  Sadler,  Thomas  Mitchell. 

William  Mellinqs,  100  acres  in  the  county  of  Accomack  at  the  head 
of  Old  Plantation  Creek.  Due:  50  for  his  personal  adventure,  and  50 
by  assignment  from  William  Morton,  to  whom  due  for  his  own  personal 
adventure.     By  West,  June  20,  1636. 

There  was  recorded  in  Accomack  the  deposition,  dated  June  9,  1638, 
of  William  Melling,  Gent.  "He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgess- 
es from  Northampton,  July  1653,  and  March  1657-8.  Soon  after  this  he 
returned  to  England.  There  is  a  notice,  June  28,  1661,  in  the  Northamp- 
ton Records  of  William  Melling,  late  of  Virginia,  now  resident  in 
London,  Gentlemen." 

James  Berry,  350  acres  in  Accomack,  at  Mogatie  Bay,  adjoining  the 
land  of  John  Alcone.  Due:  50  for  his  personal  adventure,  50  for  the 
personal  adventure  of  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  and  250  for  the  transportation 
of  five  persons,  Henry  Lee,  Mary  Nelson,  Joseph  Hally,  Mary  Nablett, 
Robert  Man.     By  West,  July  20,  1636. 

John  Forbush,  100  acres  in  Accomack,  on  the  bay.  Due  for  the 
transportation  of  two  persons,  John  Lewis  and  Christopher  Dixon.  By 
West,  June  20,  1636. 

Thomas  Smith,  150  acres  in  Accomack,  on  Fishing  Point  Neck,  near 
the  land  of  William  Berryman,  and  bounded  by  the  creek  which  parteth 
Henry  Bagwell's  land  from  said  neck.  Due:  50  for  his  personal  ad- 
venture, 50  for  the  personal  adventure  of  his  wife  Sarah,  and  50  for 
the  personal  adventure  of  his  daughter  Ann.     By  West,  June  24,   1636. 

William  Bibby,  400  acres  in  Accomack  on  the  north  side  of  King's 
Creek,  and  adjoining  on  the  west  the  land  of  Capt.  Epps.  Due:  50  for 
his  own  personal  adventure,  50  for  the  personal  adventure  of  his  wife, 
Mary,  and  300  for  the  transportation  of  six  persons:  John  Leech, 
Christopher  Colvert,  William  Stephen,  Archibald  Richard,  John  Fitz 
Garrall,  Ann  Gedon.     By  West,  June  24,  1636. 

James  Knott,  of  Accomack,  planter,  who  is  desirous  to  keep  a  house 
of  entertainment  at  the  mouth  of  Hampton  river  in  Elizabeth  City 
County  "whereby  strangers  and  others  may  be  well  accommodated  with 
great  ease  to  the  inhabitants  in  those  parts,"  is  granted  50  acres  at 


356 


APPENDIX  357 

the  mouth  of  Hampton  River,  bounded  southerly  by  a  Creek  which 
parteth  the  same  from  the  land  of  Captain  Francis  West,  and  northerly 
upon  the  Glebe  Land,  together  with  the  house,  "commonly  called  the 
great  bowse,"  and  all  other  houses,  &c,  thereon.  By  Harvey,  March 
12th,  1632. 

Francis  Stockley,  50  acres  in  the  County  of  Accomack  at  Old  Planta- 
tion Creek,  adjoining  the  land  of  Henry  Williams.  Due  for  the  trans- 
portation of  one  servant,  Francis  Jarvis.     By  West,  Dec.  22,  1636. 

Henry  Wilson,  50  acres  in  the  county  of  Accomack,  on  Old  Planta- 
tion Creek  and  adjoining  the  lands  of  Wm.  Blower  and  Francis  Stockley. 
Due  for  the  transportation  of  one  servant,  Jasper  Melton.  By  West, 
December  23,  1636. 

John  Neale,  merchant,  1,500  acres  in  the  County  of  Accomack,  begin- 
ning at  a  long  point  on  the  Seaboard  side,  and  abutting  northeast 
upon  (opposite)  Smith's  Island.  Due  for  the  transportation  of  thirty 
persons    (names  not  given).     By  Harvey,  June  18,  1636. 

Edmund  Scarburgh,  200  acres  in  the  county  of  Accomack,  on  Magaty 
Bay.  Due:  50  acres  for  the  personal  adventure  of  his  late  father,  Cap- 
tain Edmund  Scarburgh,  and  50  for  the  personal  adventure  of  his 
mother,  Hannah  Scarburgh,  50  for  his  own  personal  adventure,  and  50 
for  the  transportation  of  a  servant,  Robert  Butler.  By  Harvey,  May  18, 
1637. 

William  Cotton,  350  acres  in  the  main  branches  of  Hungar's  Creek 
(now  Northampton  County),  and  adjoining  the  land  of  Captain  William 
Stone.  Due  as  follows  (vizt)  :  100  for  the  personal  adventure  of  him- 
self and  his  wife,  Ann  Graves,  and  250  acres  for  the  transportation  of 
five  persons    (names  below).     By  Harvey,  July  10,   1637. 

William  Cotton,  Ann  Graves,  Eleanor  Hill,  Richard  Hill,  Edward 
Esson,  and  Domingo  and  Samso,  negroes. 

Thomas  Savadge,  carpenter,  100  acres  on  Old  Plantation  Creek,  at 
Accomacke,  abutting  westerly  on  the  land  granted  Roger  Saunders,  and 
thence  east  towards  a  creek  called  the  Second  Creek.  By  Harvey,  March 
14th,  1632. 

(NOTE.) 

It  appears  from  the  records  of  Accomac  that  there  were  at  this 
time  two  persons  named  Savage  living  in  the  county,  viz:  Ensign 
Thos.  Savage,  and  Thos.  Savage,  carpenter. 

Nicholas  Harwood,  cooper,  lease  of  50  acres  on  the  eastern  shore  in 
the  county  of  Accomac,  adjoining  the  land  granted  to  William  Blore 
(now  in  the  tenure  of  William  Burdett),  being  the  land  granted  to 
Roger  Saunders,  deceased,  in  1628,  and  assigned  to  said  Harwood  by 
George  Traveller.     Confirmed  by  Harvey,  Oct.  20th  1634. 

William  Berriman,  150  acres  in  the  county  of  Accomack,  on  the  Old 
Plantation  Creek,  adjoining  the  land  of  Henry  Careleys,  called  by  the 
name  of  "fishing  poynt  neck,"  and  bordering  on  the  creek  that  parts 
the  land  of  Henry  Bagnell  from  the  said  neck — due  50  acres  for  his 
personal  adventure,  and  100  for  the  transportation  of  two  servants,  John 
Causey  and  Edward  Prince.     By  West,  Aug.  6,  1635. 


24 


358  APPENDIX 

(NOTE.) 

In  December,  1633,  William  Berriman  was  a  church  warden  in 
Accomack.  On  July  9,  1634,  he  stated  in  a  deposition  that  he  was 
aged  thirty-three  years.  In  May,  1639,  he  was  one  of  three  persons 
recommended  for  Sheriff.     {Accomack  Records.) 

Nicholas  Hoskins,  of  Accomack,  yoeman  (lease),  20  acres..  By 
Yeardley,  Feb.   1st,  1626. 

(NOTE.) 

Nicholas  Hoskins,  born  1589,  came  to  Virginia  in  1016.  His  wife 
Temperance  came  in  1620.  In  1624  they  had  a  daughter  Margaret,  born 
in  Virginia  ( Hotten ) . 

Robert  Browne,  of  Accomack,  planter  (lease),  20  acres  adjoining  the 
land  belonwincc  to  the  place  of  Secretary,  at  Accomack.  By  F.  West, 
Sept.  20th.'  1628. 

Clement  Dilke,  of  Accomack,  gent.,  a  lease  of  20  acres  belonging  to 
the  late  Company,  lying  at  Accomack,  westerly  upon  the  main  creek, 
easterly  upon  the  ground  now  in  occupation  of  Thomas  Powell,  Fiskins; 
the  said  20  acres  being  lately  in  the  occupation  of  Captain  John 
Wilcocks.     Granted  by  Sir  George  Yeardley,  February  6,  1626. 

Roger  Saunders,  of  Accomack,  mariner  (lease),  for  ten  years,  50 
acres  adjoining  the  land  of  John  Belore,  deceased,  now  in  the  possession 
of  said  Saunders,  and  extending  westerly  on  the  waterside  to  the  land 
of  Captain  Henry  Flette.     March  14,  1628.     By  John  Pott. 

Roger  Saunders  was  commissioner  (justice)  of  Accomac,  1631,  and 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  1031-2.  It  appears  from  the 
county  records  that  he  died  prior  to  February,  1633,  and  his  widow 
seems  to  have  married  Wm.  Burdett,  of  Accomac. 

William  Smith,  of  Accomac,  planter,  lease,  100  acres  in  Accomac, 
bounding  southerly  on  the  land  of  John  Falwood,  and  extending  westerly 
on  Chesapeake  Bay.     October  15,   1629.     By  John  Pott. 

(NOTE.) 

The  will  of  William  Smith,  of  Accomac,  was  dated  April  23d,  1636, 
and  proved  September,  1636.  He  requests  that  Mr.  Cotton  make  his 
funeral  sermon,  and  receive  for  it  100  lbs.  tobacco;  and  that  50  lbs.  be 
paid  Garrett  Andrews  (carpenter)  for  making  his  coffin;  the  legatees 
are:  Francis  Millisent,  Eliz.  Harlowe,  daughter  of  John  Harlowe,  his 
servant  Daniel  Pighles,  who  is  to  be  given  a  year  of  his  time  and  all  of 
the  testator's  clothes.  Appoints  friends  Nicholas  Harwood  and  Walter 
Scott  executors.     Leaves  small  estate. 

John  Howe,  of  Accomacke,  gentleman  (lease  for  ten  years),  30  acres 
adjoining  the  land  of  Captain  Clement  Dilke,  and  the  land  belonging  to 
the  place  of  Secretary.     September  20,  1628.     By  F.  West. 

(NOTES.) 

John  Howe  was  a  commissioner  (justice)  of  Accomac  in  1631,  and 
member  of  the  House  of   Burgesses   for  the  same  county  in   1632  and 


APPENDIX  359 


1632-3.  Captain  Daniel  Howe,  of  Northampton  County,  was  alive,  1653. 
It  appears  from  the  county  records  that  John  Howe  was  a  Commissioner 
of  Accomae  from  1632  until  his  death,  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
county  from  July,  1637.  In  a  deposition,  January,  1636,  he  states  his 
age  as  43,  and  he  was  dead  before  Jan.  2d,  1647,  when  the  Court  made 
an  order  to  his  administrators. 

From  the  manuscript  records  of  the  London  Company,  recently  re- 
covered by  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  it  appears  that,  Nov.  20th, 
1622,  a  patent  for  land  in  Virginia  was  granted  to  "Mr.  Dilke,  of 
Clements  Inn,  Middlesex,  Gentleman."  See  Historical  Society  Magazine, 
Vol.  I,  p.  443,  for  a  note  on  Clement  Dilke. 

William  Andrews,  of  Accomack,  planter  (as  his  first  dividend), 
100  acres  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  the  "Bay  of  Chesapeiake,"  abutting 
northerly  on  Captain  William  Epes'  land,  and  extending  towards  the 
persimmon  ponds.  Due  for  the  transportation  of  Robert  Owles  and 
John  Holmes,  who  came  in  the  Southampton  in  1622,  at  the  charges  of 
William  Ferrar,  Esq.,  who  made  over  the  rights  to  said  Andrews. 
Granted  by  John  Pott,  March  14,  1628. 

(NOTE.) 

Major  William  Andrews  was  a  justice  of  Northampton  county  1640 
to  1655,  and  by  his  will,  dated  February  20,  1654,  and  proved,  North- 
ampton County,  Feb.  30,  1655,  bequeathed  his  estate  to  his  wife,  Mary, 
sons,  William,  John,  Robert,  and  Andrew,  daughter  Susannah,  and 
granddaughters,  Elisheba  and  Elizabeth  Andrews,  children  of  William 
Andrews.  On  February  19,  1659,  William  Smart,  John  Stringer, 
William  Andrews,  and  Thomas  Harmanson  gave  bond  in  Northampton 
as  security  to  care  properly  for  the  persons  and  estates  of  the  children 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Andrews. 

Daniel  Gugley,  400  acres  in  Accomack  County,  commonly  called 
"the  hog  pen  necke,"  due  for  the  transportation  of  eight  persons  (whose 
names  appear  below).     By  West,  June  25th,   1635. 

Pascal!  (rocker,  Peter  Varlow,  Thos.  Dyner,  Georg  Kuckin,  Thos. 
Peake,  John  Champion,  Leonard  Lwonarde,  John  Dennis. 

(NOTE.) 

Daniel  Cugley  married  Hannah,  widow  of  Ensign  Thomas  Savage. 
In  1630  he  was  sentenced  to  be  pilloned  for  "scandalous  speeches" 
against  the  Governor,  but  was  pardoned. 

Charles  Harmar,  1,050  acres  (on  the  Eastern  Shore)  bounded  on 
the  west  by  the  shore  of  the  main  bay,  on  the  south  by  Old  Plantation 
Creek,  &c,  due  for  the  personal  adventure  of  himself  and  his  wife, 
Ann  Harmar,  and  for  the  transportation  of  19  servants  (names  below). 
By  Governor  West,  July  3,  1635. 

Head  rights:   Charles  Harmar,  Anne  Harmar,  his  wife,  Evan  Jones, 
Thomas    Cole,    James    Courtney,    Lazarus    Manning,    Thomas    Davis,/' 
Rich'd  Wryth,  Jon.  Symon,  Rich'd  Newton,  Samuel  Lucas,  Eliz.  Burnett, 
Rebecca  Slaughter,  and  eight  negroes  named  Alexander,  Anthony,  John 
Sebastian,  Polonoa,  Jane,  Palatia,  Cassanga. 


360  APPENDIX 


This  patent  was  renewed  by  Richard  Kemp,  Esq.,  Governor,  in  the 
name   of   Elizabeth   Harmar,    daughter   of   said    Charles   Harmar,   and 
150  acres  added  by  patent  September  17,  1644. 
"Teste 

Samll  Abbott,  Clr." 

Captain  Thomas  (Iraves,  ancient  planter  (as  his  first  dividend), 
200  acres  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  the  "Bay  of  Chesepeike,"  abutting 
southerly  on  the  land  of  Captain  Henry  Fleet.  Said  land  due  by 
virtue  of  an  adventure  of  five  and  twenty  pounds,  paid  by  the  said 
Graves  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  late  Treasurer  of  the  Company  of  Vir- 
ginia.    Granted  by  John  Pott,  March  14th,  1628. 


NOTES  TAKEN  FROM  VIRGINIA  MAGAZINE  OF 

HISTORY  AND  BIOGRAPHY  CONCERNING 

SETTLERS 

Charles  Harmar,  also  written  Harmer  and  Harman,  was 
the  son  of  John  Harman,  Warden  of  Winchester.  He  was 
an  enterprising  planter  at  Magothy  Bay  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  a  prominent  man.  When  only  twenty-four  years 
of  age,  he  came,  in  1632,  in  the  ship  "Futherance"  to  Vir- 
ginia. His  brother  John,  born  at  Chursdon,  Gloucestershire, 
was  a  graduate  of  Magdalene  College,  Oxford,  and  a  distin- 
guished scholar  and  clergyman,  having  translated  into  Greek 
and  Latin  the  Westminster  Catechism.  In  1635,  he  deliv- 
ered an  address  at  Oxford,  was  chosen  Greek  Professor,  but 
lost  the  professorship,  after  the  return  of  Charles  the  Second. 

Charles  Harmar,  in  1635,  entered  land  because  of  the 
transportation  of  eight  negroes,  and  the  following  white 
servants:  Evan  Jones,  Thomas  Cole,  James  Courtney, 
Lazarus  Manning,  Thomas  Davis,  Richard  Wyett,  John 
Symons,  Richard  Newton,  Elizabeth  Burnett,  Rebecca 
Slaughter,  Mary  Chest.  He  died  before  A.  D.  1644,  as  150 
acres  were  granted  on  the  17th  of  September  of  this  year  to 
Eliza,  daughter  and  heir  to  said  Charles  Harmar,  and  on 
May  1,  1654,  this  land  was  assigned  by  Thomas  Harmar 
the  son  of  Dr.  John,  the  Greek  Professor,  who  calls  himself 
the  heir  of  Eliza  Harmar,  to  Nathaniel  Littleton. 

In  the  Northampton  County  Records  the  widow  of  Charles 
Harmar  is  said  to  have  married  a  Captain  Littleton. 

Obedience  Robins,  born  A.  D.  1601,  was  with  Charles 
Harmar,  a  member  in  1632,  of  the  first  County  Court  of 

361 


362  APPENDIX 

Accomac,  and  was  a  brother  of  Richard  of  Northampton- 
shire, and  of  Edward  a  merchant  in  Accomac.  His  name 
and  associations  seem  to  indicate  that  he  was  of  Puritan 
affinities.  His  wife  was  the  widow  of  Edward  Waters,  one 
of  the  two  shipwrecked  persons,  who,  in  1610,  refused  to 
leave  the  Bermudas,  with  Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  Geo. 
Somers,  being  pleased  with  the  island.  In  1618,  the  ship 
"Diana"  arrived  at  the  Bermudas  and  among  the  passengers 
was  Grace  O'Neill,  then  a  girl  sixteen  years  old.  She  be- 
came the  wife  of  Waters,  and  they  then  moved  to  Elizabeth 
City,  now  Hampton,  Virginia,  where  their  first  child, 
William,  was  born,  who  became  an  active  citizen  of  North- 
ampton County.  Before  A.  D.  1628,  Edward  Waters  died, 
and  his  widow  married  Obedience  Robins.  In  February, 
1633,  William  Cotton,  minister  of  the  parish,  complained 
to  the  Accomac  Court,  that  Robins  had  refused  to  issue 
warrants  for  the  minister's  tithes. 

Edward  Robins,  merchant  in  Accomac  and  brother  of 
Obedience,  died  in  July,  1641,  and  his  daughter  Rachel 
married  Richard  Beard,  and  Elizabeth  became  the  wife  of 
William  Burgess.  After  William  Stone  of  Northampton 
became  its  first  Protestant  Governor,  Beard  and  Burgess 
moved  to  Maryland.  Beard  made  the  first  map  of  Annapolis 
and  belonged  to  the  people  "in  scorn  called  Quakers,"  and 
Burgess  was  in  sympathy  with  Cromwellians,  at  least,  for  a 
period.  Jane,  the  wife  of  George  Puddington  a  member  of 
the  Maryland  Assembly,  from  Ann  Arundel  County,  in 
1650,  was  a  sister-in-law  of  Obedience  Robins.  Mount]' oy 
Evelin,  the  second  son  of  George,  formerly  of  Kent  Island, 
Maryland,  married  in  1653,  Dorothy  the  third  child  of 
Obedience  and  Grace  Robins. 


APPENDIX  363 

William  Andrews,  Jr.,  was  elected  sheriff  of  Northampton 
by  the  Council  of  State,  April  3,  1655,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  Northampton  in  1663.  In 
1656,  it  appears  from  an  entry  in  the  Northampton  Records, 
that  Mr.  William  Smart  had  married  the  widow  of  "Mr. 
William  Andrews."  Whether  this  referred  to  the  father  or 
son,  the  writer  has  no  information.  William  Andrews,  Jr., 
married  Dorothea,  widow  of  Mount  joy  Evelyn,  and  daughter 
of  Colonel  Obedience  Robins,  of  Cherrystone. 

Captain  Francis  Pott  was  a  Justice  of  Northampton,  and 
of  the  quorum,  March,  1656.  In  1646,  he  was  in  England, 
and  in  a  letter  dated  at  London,  March  26th  of  that  year 
(and  recorded  in  Northampton  County),  he  tells  his  nephew, 
John  Pott,  that  he  had  been  disappointed  in  collecting  money 
promised  him  by  Mr.  Nuthall ;  that  "my  cozen,  Menefie, 
hath  paid  116  lbs.  sterling  for  me,"  and  his  nephew  is  to 
satisfy  the  debt  out  of  any  of  his  (Francis  Pott's)  property, 
except  his  negroes ;  he  may  expect  from  him  a  more  ample 
direction  by  the  next  shipping ;  in  postscript  says  he  received 
four  more  from  Mrs.  Menifye.  He  died  in  1658,  and  by 
his  will,  dated  August  5th,  and  proved  in  Northampton, 
October  11th,  1658,  he  leaves  his  property  to  his  nephew, 
John  Pott,  Kinsmen  Henry  Perry  and  wife;  godson  Argoll 
Yardly ;  godson  Bishop  "on  the  other  side  of  the  bay" ; 
"My  Countriman"  John  Allen;  to  his  (the  testator's) 
sisters,  10  sterling  each.  Susanna,  widow  of  Captain  Pott, 
married  in  1658,  or  1659,  William  Kendall. 

There  is  recorded  in  Northampton  a  power  of  attorney, 
dated  October  1st,  1660,  from  John  Pott,  of  Patuxent,  Mary- 
land, to  John  Severne,  of  Accomac. 

John  Neale  appears,  from  the  Accomac  records,  to  have 
lived  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  done  a  large  business  as  a 


364  APPENDIX 

merchant  between  1632  and  1639;  in  1636  he  makes  a 
deposition,  and  states  he  was  then  aged  about  forty  years; 
was  a  vestryman  May,  1636  ;  recommended  for  appointment 
as  sheriff  in  1636  and  1639;  elected  a  Burgess  on  October 
21st,  1639,  and  was  a  commissioner  (justice)  in  the  same 
year. 

On  September  25,  1637,  William  Bibby  is  spoken  of  in 
the  Accomac  records  as  recently  dead. 

Captain  William  Epps,  Mrs.  Epps,  Peter  and  William 
Epps  were  living  on  the  Eastern  Shore  in  1623.  In  the 
census  of  1624-5  the  "muster"  of  Captain  William  Epps  is 
given.  It  included  himself,  who  came  in  the  ship  ''William 
and  Thomas" ;  Margaret  Epps,  who  came  in  the  '"George" 
in  1621,  and  thirteen  servants.  About  1619  Captain 
William  Epps  killed  uin  a  private  quarrel,"  Captain 
Stallinge.  There  is  among  the  Accomack  Records  (at  North- 
ampton C.  H.)  a  power  of  attorney  for  William  Epes,  of 
the  Island  of  St.  Christopher's  Esq.,  to  William  Stone,  in 
regard  to  Epes'  property  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia. 
It  is  dated  July  18,  1633. 


ABSTKACTS  FROM  ACCOMAC  COUNTY  RECORDS, 
RELATING  TO  BACON'S  REBELLION 

From  a  great  number  of  similar  items  the  following  are 
extracted : 

"Att  a  Court  held  for  Accomac  County  July,  1677,  it  is 
ordered  upon  the  peticon  of  John  Sturges  that  a  certificate 
be  awarded  him  to  the  next  assembly  for  fforty-six  pounds 
of  Butter  and  fforty-two  pounds  of  Cheese,  which  was  deliv- 
ered for  the  countries  service  against  the  late  rebells,  as 
appears  by  the  attestation  of  Majr  Jno.  West." 

"Whereas  Majr  Edmund  Bowman  hath  made  it  appeare 
to  the  court  by  ye  attestation  of  Major  Jno.  West,  that  he 
had  killed  and  founde  salt  and  caske  for  thirteen  hundred 
and  twelve  pounds  of  Beefe.  It  is,  therefore,  ordered  that 
this  be  a  certificate  thereof  to  the  next  assembly." 

"It  is  ordered  upon  the  peticon  of  Majr  Jno.  West  for 
the  sume  of  twelve  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  tobo  and  cask,  for  the  public  service  against  the  lare 
rebells,  and  he  having  made  oath  to  the  same  in  open  court, 
certificate  thereof  is  accordingly  granted  him  to  the  next 
assembly." 

"Whereas  Mr.  John  Stratton  hath  made  it  appeare  to 
this  court  by  the  oath  of  Capn  Nath:  Walker  that  hee  the 
sd  Walker  did  command  a  shallop  belonging  to  the  sd 
Stratton  by  the  honorble  govers,  order  in  his  majesties 
service    against   the   late    rebells;     which    shallop   was   cast 

365 


366  APPENDIX 

away  in  a  storm  in  Warricks  creek  bay:  It  is,  therefore, 
ordered  that  this  be  a  certificate  thereof  to  the  next 
Assembly." 

"These  may  certify  that  I,  the  subscriber,  whom  (sic) 
are  impowcred  by  the  right  honble  Sir  Wm.  Berkeley  G-ovr, 
and  Capn  general  of  Virginia  to  procure  and  impress  such 
provisions  as  shall  be  needful  for  his  present  service. 

"These  may  certify  that  I  have  killed  from  Morris  Dennis 
one  Barren  Cow  for  which  I  give  this  certificate. 

"John  Stratton,  Commissary." 

"At  a  court  held  and  continued  for  Accomack  County, 
September  14,  1677,  upon  the  peticon  of  Majr  Jno.  West  in 
behalf e  of  himself  and  fforty-ffour  men,  which  were  thirty- 
ffour  daies  under  the  command  of  the  Governr  Sir  Wm. 
Berkeley  in  his  Ma j  ties  service  to  James  Citty,  and  having 
made  oath  to  the  same  in  open  court,  certificate  thereof  is 
accordingly  granted  to  ye  next  assembly." 

"Ye  humble  peticon  of  Jno.  Cropper: 

"To  ye  Worful  court  of  Accomack  county  showeth  that 
your  peticonr  being  commanded  and  empowered  by  Coll. 
Southey  Littleton,  to  impresse  and  provide  Beefe  for  the 
countries  use  in  qtr.  anno  1676,  ye  peticonr  with  his  horse, 
&c,  was  employed  and  expended  time  to  the  number  of 
fforty-two  daies  or  thereabout,  which  time,  trouble,  and 
service  hath  not  bin  got  paid,  or  any  part  thereof,  except 
two  hides  and  offell,  he  made  use  of  Mr.  Richd  Bayly;  ye 
peticonr  doth  pray  ye  worshps  order  for  certificate  to  the 
Assembly  to  have  satisfaction  for  sd  time  and  trouble  accord- 
ing to  nature  thereof,  and  he  will  pray,  &c." 

An  entry  made  at  the  next  term  of  the  court  shows  that 
Captain  Daniel  Jenifer,  in  addition  to  his  office  of  justice 


APPENDIX  367 

of  the  peace,  was  still  further  rewarded  by  being  appointed 
high  sheriff  of  Accomac  county  by  Sir  William  Berkeley, 
and  as  Jenifer  was  a  Catholic,  the  governor  directed  that  in 
assuming  the  duties  of  the  offices  to  which  he  had  appointed 
him,  he  should  not  be  required  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy, 
which  was  accordingly  done.  He  was  also,  together  with 
Colonel  Southey  Littleton,  of  Berkeley's  Court  martial,  for 
trying  persons  for  participation  in  the  Rebellion.1 

Jenifer  married  Miss  Annie  Toft,  who  was  reputed  to 
have  been  the  wealthiest  and  prettiest  woman  then  living  on 
the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia.  They  had  a  numerous 
family  of  children,  among  whom  were  three  daughters 
named,  Arcadia,  Annabella  and  Atalanta.  Soon  after  the 
retirement  and  death  of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  Captain 
Jenifer  removed  from  Accomac  to  the  Eastern  Shore  of 
Maryland,  where  many  of  his  descendants  are  said  to  be  now 
living.  He  was  the  first  of  that  name  to  come  to  America, 
and  was  the  progenitor  of  Daniel  Jenifer  of  St.  Thomas, 
who  was  one  of  the  Delegates  from  Maryland  to  the  con- 
vention that  framed  the  Federal  Constitution. 

Berkeley's  endorsement  on  the  following  petition  shows 
that  the  Rebellion  had  not  entirely  transformed  him  into 
a  brute : 

"To  the  Right  Honorable  S'r  Wm.  Berkeley,  Knt.,  Gov'r  & 
Capt.  Gener'll  of  Virginia  : 
"The  humble  peticon  of  lone  Occahone,  the  widow  of 
Phillip  Occahone,  late  of  Accomack  County,  dec'd,  Humbly 
Sleweth :  That  Phillip  aforenamed  marry  ye  peticonr  with 
a  good  and  reasonable  estate  left  by  her  former  husband,  of 
Watt's  Island,  in  the  aforesaid  county,  by  name  Walter 
Taylor,  did  in  his  lifetime  wholly  waste  and  conferred  the 

'Hening,  Vol.  II,  p.  545. 


368  APPENDIX 

same  moreover  and  about,  running  himself  farr  into  debt 
to  the  utter  ruine  of  ye  peticonr  and  her  poore  childring. 

"Howsoe  it  is,  may  it  please  ye  Honourble  the  sd  Phillip 
for  his  felonious  and  rebellious  account  having  justly 
suffered  death  by  the  law,  whereby  what  estate  he  should 
be  possest  withal  at  the  committing  the  fact  or  any  time 
sithence  invested  or  possest  wth  any  visible  estate  whatsoever, 
yet  notwithstanding,  ye  poore  peticonr  is  prosecuted  and 
sued  by  the  creditors  of  the  sd  Phillip  to  the  ruine  of  herselfe 
and  poore  children. 

"The  premises  considered,  ye  paticonr  doth  humbly  pray 
and  implore  ye  Honourbles  favorable  clemency  in  requiring 
and  commanding  all  persons  whatsoever  to  desist  and  for- 
beare  to  sue  or  molest  ye  petr  for  any  debt  whatsoever 
contracted  in  the  lifetime  of  the  aforesaid  Phillip  Occahone, 
her  late  and  dec'd  husband,  and  ye  poore  petr  shall  as  in 
duty  bound  ever  pray." 

The  petition  is  recorded  with  the  following  endorsement: 

"The  aforesaid  petition  is  granted,  and  I  doe  hereby 
forbid  all  persons  from  suing  or  molesting  the  aforesaid 
lone  Occahone  in  the  prosecuting  and  recovery  of  any  debt 
contracted  during  the  lifetime  of  the  sd  Phillip  Occahone, 
as  they  will  answer  the  contrary. 

"Dated  this  11th  day  of  January,  1676-7. 

"Wm.  Berkeley." 

"The  Right  Honourable  the  Governr  further  declared  at 
the  signing  hereof  that  the  aforesaid  Petr  lone  Occahone 
should  freely  enjoy  all  such  estate  as  is  in  her  possession  to 
her  own  proper  use,  which  I  can  testify  upon  oath  when 
thereunto  required. 

"Witness  my  hand  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 

"Daniel  Jenifer." 


TWO    CURIOUS    WILLS    FROM    NORTHAMPTON 
COUNTY  RECORDS 

"Iff  itt  please  God  I  do  dye,  my  debts  being  discharged, 
what  debts  remayne  I  give  to  Goodman  Ffisher,  and  hee  to 
see  me  layd  in  the  ground  like  a  man. 

"The  mark  of  William 

Briar. 


"J. 


"The  mark  of 

Wilkinson. 


"The  mark  of 


"James 


Cranne. 


"27  Oct.  1639." 

"In  the  name  of  God,  Amen,  the  23th  of  April,  1636,  I, 
William  Smith,  of  Acchawmacke,  in  Virginia,  planter,  being 
at  this  present,  blessed  be  God,  sicke  and  weake  in  body, 
but  sound  and  perfit  in  mynd  and  memory,  doe  institute, 
ordayne  and  make  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament,  vigt. : 
Ffirst,  I  bequeath  my  soule  unto  the  hands  of  Almighty  God, 
my  Maker,  who  gave  it  to  me,  and  my  bodye  to  the  grave 
from  whence  it  came,  being  assuredly  persuaded  of  a  joyful 
resurrection. 


369 


370  APPENDIX 

"Imps,  I  doe  give  and  bequeath  to  the  Church  use  One 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.  Item.  My  will  is  that  Mr. 
Cotton  shall  make  my  funeral  sermon,  and  he  to  have  for  the 
same  100  pounds  of  tobacco. 

"Item.  That  Garrett  Andrewes,  iif  he  be  please  to  make 
my  coffin,  shall  have  for  the  same  50  pounds  of  tobacco,  or 
anie  other  that  shall  make  it  of  the  best. 

"Ite.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  Francis  Millisent  one  of  the 
best  shoates  and  a  small  Iron  pott. 

"Ite.  I  will  and  bequeath  to  Elizabeth  Harlowe,  daughter 
of  John  Harlowe,  the  best  sow  there  is  undisposed  of,  which 
is  the  great  sow  bought  of  Mr.  Wilson. 

"Ite.  I  doe  give  freely  unto  my  servant,  Daniel  Pighles, 
one  complete  year  of  his  time,  and  one  of  the  best  sow 
shoates. 

"Ite.  I  doe  give  and  bequeath  unto  Alexr  Wignall  one 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco. 

"Ite.  My  will  is  that  my  servant  Daniel  shall  have  all  my 
wearing  cloathes,  both  Wolling  and  Linning  and  my  peece, 
shotte  bag  and  Home. 

"Ite.  I  doe  institute,  ordayne  and  make  Nicholas  Har- 
wood  &  Walter  Scott  my  true  &  Lawful  Executors  of  this  my 
last  Will  and  Testament,  and  they  equally  to  have  and 
enjoye,  Debts  and  legacies  being  payd  and  discharged,  my 
whole  Estate.  In  witness  hereof,  I,  the  syd  William  Smith, 
have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seale  the  daye  and  year 
above  written. 

(Signed)        "William  W.  Smith." 
"Ysence : 

"Daniel  Pighles, 
"Alex'r  Wignall." 


TRANSLATION"  OF  CERTAIN  INDIAN  NAMES 
FOUND  IN  ACCOMACK  AND  NORTHAMP- 
TON COUNTIES,  AND  ON  THE  EAST 
ERN  SHORE  OF  MARYLAND 

ACCOMACK :  'The  other-side  place,'  or  'on  the  other  side  of  water 
place'  (Trumbull)  ;  'the  other  shore'  (Wm.  Jones.) 

ACCOHANOC:  Probably  from  Virginia  Algonquian  akahnok,  'people 
of  the  bending  (curving)   stream'   (Gerard). 

CHESCONESSEX:     Place  of  the  Blue  Birds. 

CHESAPEAKE:  Virginia  Algonquian  K'tchisupiak  'people  of  the 
great  saline  water'  (Gerard). 

CHINCOTEAGUE :       Chingua-tegwe,    'large    stream,'    'inlet'     (Hewitt). 

CHOPTANK:  Probably  for  Nanticoke  tshapetank,  a  'stream  that  sepa- 
rates' or  'divides.'      (Gerard.) 

CUSCARAWAOC:     'Place  of  making  white  beads.'      (Tooker.) 

KICOKTANK:     'Visiting  Place.' 

MATTAPONY:     'Bad  bread'  or  'no  bread  at  all'  (Heckewelder) . 

MATOMKIN:     MATTEMIKIN,  'to  enter  into  a  house.'     (Heckewelder.) 

MATCHATEAGUE :  Probably  the  same  as  Matchotic,  'bad  baj^  or 
'inlet'   (Hewitt). 

MATTAWAN:  or  MATTAWAMAN:  'River  of  shallows'  (Hewitt). 
Meaning  as  applied  to  the  Indians  living  on  Mattawan  River, 
Ontario. 

MATOAKS  (Matoak?)  :  A  mispelt  form  of  Matoaka,  'to  play,'  'to 
amuse  oneself    ( Gerard ) . 

MACHAPUNGA:  'Bad  dust';  from  'matclii'  'bad,'  pungo  'dust'  (Hecke- 
welder) ;  or  perhaps  'much  dust,'  from  massa  'great',  in  allusion 
to  the  sandy  soil  of  the  district   (Mooney). 

NANTICOKE:  From  Nentego,  variant  of  Delaware  Uneohtgo,  Unalacht- 
go,  'Tidewater  people'   ( Mooney ) . 

OANANCOCK:     A  corruption  of  wuwanndku,  'foggy,    (Heckewelder). 

PUNGOTEAGUE:     From  pungotekw,  'sand-fly  river'  (Gerard). 

POCAHONTAS:  Pocahontas,  for  Pokahantesu,  a  verbal  adjective  mean- 
ing 'he  (or  she)  is  playful,'  'sportive,'.  Her  real  name  was 
Matoaka  (Matowaka),  a  word  found  also  in  the  mispelled  form 
of  Matoka  and  Matoaks.  The  sole  Algonquian  root  from  which 
the  name  can  be  derived  is  metaw,  'to  play,'  'to  amuse  one's 
self.'      (Gerard.) 

POCOMOKE:  Pocqueumoke,  'place  of  shell  fish,  clams,  etc.'  (Hecke- 
welder).    Also  'knobby  place.' 

PATUEXENT:      'Little   Falls.'      (Hendren). 

371 


372  APPENDIX 

POTOMAC:  The  word  Patomeck  (Patomek)  is  a  verbal  noun  meaning 
'something  brought,'  and,  as  a  designation  for  a  place,  may  per- 
haps be  short  for,  say,  Enda  Patomek,  'where  something  is 
brought'  (Gerard).  Heckewelder  gives  the  meaning  as  'they 
come  by  water.' 

POWHATAN:  Virginia  Algonquian  Paica  tan,  'falls  in  a  current'  of 
water  (Gerard). 

QUANTICO:  Quentico,  Gentica  or  Kentika,  'a  dancing,  frolicking 
place'  ( Heckewelder ) . 

WICOCOMOCO:  Meaning  unknown,  but  the  last  part,  comoco,  is  the 
Powhatan  designation,  in  composition,  for  a  stockaded  village 
(Gerard). 

WIKOMOCO:      'Place  where  the  houses  are  building.'      (Hendren.) 


A  LIST  OF  TITHABLES  IN  NORTH'TON  COUNTY, 
ANNO  DOM.,  1666 

Delivered  in  att  a  Court  Held  for  the  S'd  County  the 
28th  of  August,  1666 i1 


Thomas  Dunton 
Isaac  Russell 
Robt.  Dunworth 
Wm.  Smith 
John  Dike 
Daniel  Jill — 6 


Jeasse  Harman 
Tho.  Owen— 2 


Benjamin  Cowdree 
Josias  Cowdree 
Cornelius  Harman — 3 


John  Kendall 
Owen  Edmond 
Geo.  South 
John  Farrier 
John  Tromblings 
Henry  Newton 
Owen  Hall— 7 


Peter  Lang 
Cornelius  George — 2 


James  Sanders 
Perse  Davis 
John  Dalby — 3 


Henry  Hall— 1 


John  Dalby,  Sen. 
John  Dalby,  Jun. 
John  Seawell 
Hen.  Bowans 
Richard  Costinge — 5 


Lieft.  Isaak  Foxcroft 

Thomas  Lucas 
t  4  nee:roes^8 


Richard  Nottingham 
Wm  Ewin— 2 


Att  the  Widow  Gunter's: 
Richard  Wildgoose 
Tony — a   Frenchman — 2 


Simon  Foscus,  Sen. 
Simon  Foscus,  Jun. 
Thomas  Foscus 
Mathew  Patrick — 4 


Walter  Mills— 1 


Arthur  Armitradings 
Isaac  Jacob 
Thomas  Needy 
John  Dawson 
Francis  Broukes 
Sliven  Avis 
Morgan  Pouldin 
Wm.  Stevens 
Henry  Reade 
Derick  Derickson — 10 


Lawrence  Schyn 
Adryan  Westerhouse 
John  Richards 
Armstrong  Foster — 4 

Mr.  Tho3.  Evans 
Mr.  Haggaman — 2 


^his  list  prepared  by  F.  B.  Robertson,  Eastville,  Va.,  from  records 
in  Clerk's  Office. 


373 


25 


374 


APPENDIX 


John  Cole 
John  Field 
Robt.  Twilly 
Wm.  Rabishaw- 


Thomas  Baglev — 1 


John  Farris 

Clause — a    Dutch   boy — 2 


Will  Gatehill 
John  Evans — 2 


Nicholas  Hudson — 1 


Edward  Joyne — 1 


Wm.  Gaskin 
Robt.  Gaskin 
Robt.  Butler 
Nath'l  Starkey 
Nat — a  negro — 5 


Samson  Robins 
Rich'd  Ridge— 2 


Amos  Garris — 1 


John  Walter 
Jeremiah  Walter — 2 


Will  Morris — 1 


John  Winborough,  Sen. 
John  Winborough,  Jun. 
Frank  Winborough — 3 


Capt  Wm.  Spencer 
Wm.  Whittington 
Robt.  Wiggin 
Wm.  Scriven 
Jacob  Hill 
Patrick  Strelby 
Thomas  Powell 
2  negroes — 9 


Mr.  Wm.  Westerhouse — 1 


Jas.  Davis.  Sen. 
Jas.  Davis,  Jun. 
Thomas  Davis 
Stephen  Lang 
Abraham  Bownamy — 5 


Att  Wilcox.    Lambeth  Groton — 1 


John  Stockley 
John  Bowin 
Thomas  E.  Smith— 3 


Robt.   Foster 
Martin  Saks — 4 
Phillipp  Jacob 
John  Foster 


Wm.  Foster 
1  Servant — 2 


Walter  Price 
John  Clarke — 2 


Edw.  Stevens 
Jno.  Wilson — 2 


Jacob  Bishopp 
Rich'd  Bibbins— 2 


John  Plumb — 1 


Thos.  Church 
Sam'l  Church— 2 


Thomas  Parker 
John  Hornby — 2 


Duncan  Macnabb — 1 


John  Basv — 1 


Robt.  Harrison 
Robt.  Hopkins — 2 


Abraham  Sheppard — 1 


Edw.  Cable— 1 


Will.  Lawrence 
Thos.  Berisford — 2 


Rich'd  Duparke,  Att  Wibly's— 1 


Joseph  Godwin 
Caesar  Godwin — 2 


Abraham  Heath — 1 


APPENDIX 


375 


Capt.  Will  Joanes 
John  Lukes 
John  Bulluck 
Harman  Johnson — 4 


John  Lyons 
Thos.  Collins- 


John  Mapp 
Peter  Watson — 2 


Wm.  Marhsiall 
Will  Jipshott— 2 


Win.  Hickman 
Joseph  Huckman 
Thomas  Rice — 3 


Mr.  Thos.  Rideinge 
Mr.  Argall  Yeardley 
Sam'l  England 
Will  Vaughanghom 
Hen.  Matthew 
Griffin  Morgan 
Tho.  Rock 
Cataline — a  negro — 8 


Abraham  Vansoult — 1 


Nicholas  Granger 
Thomas  Wilson 
John  Robins — 3 


Cannlus    Pence — 1 


John  Abbott — 1 


Phillipp  Mongon  )  Negroes 
Mary  Mongon       ]  — 2 

Geo.  West— 1 


Rich'd  Ast 
Miles  Growk 
Robt.  Warbeton — 3 


Christopher  Turner — 1 

Wm.  Lyne 
Wm.  Padgett — 2 


John  Webb 
John  Glassell 
Hen.  Lartin 
Cornelius  Areale 
Nan,  negro  woman — 5 


Capt.  John  Savage 
John  Amis 
Edw.  Ashby 
Robt.  Tygar 
Tempsy  Betha 
Sidney  Field — 6 


Francis  Pettitt 
Justman  Pettitt — 2 


Will.  Kennitt— 1 


Thos.  Dimmer 
Tho.  Nabe— 2 


Rich'd  Patrick 
John  Denby — 2 


Richard  Jester — 1 


Coll.  John  Stringer 
John  Tatum 
Robt.  Chew 
David  Grim 
Richd.  Curtisse 
Tho.  Oxford— 6 


John  Dorman 
Roger  Kirkman — 2 


Att  Miss  Robins': 
John  Margetts 
Rich'd  Robins,  Jun. 
John  Symonds 
John  W7ooters 
John  Archer — negro 
Tony — negro — 7 


Walter  Mathews 
Andrew  Smaw 
Wm.  Savage — 3 


Mr.  John  Robins 
Tho.  Parnell 
John  King — negro 
3   negroes — 6 


Att  M.  Vosses': 

Thos.  Loffing 

Nan — negro  woman — 2 


John  Francisco      \ Negroes 
Arisbian,  his  wife  \  — 2 


376 


APPENDIX 


Francis  Jane,  negro — 1 


Manuel  Drigg — negro — 1 

Willis  Saunders 
Daniel  Keeth — 2 


Maj.  Wm.  Andrews 
John  Andrews 
John  Pirce — 3 


Geo.  Isdell— 1 


Nicholas  Howell 
Dexnion  Hardiins 
Richard  Williams — 3 


Will.  Smith 
Tho.  Hennige 


Christopher  Stanley — 1 


Joseph  Parkes 
Wm.  Gilsty 
Wm.  Smart 
Tho.  Claydon^t 


Nath.  Wilkins 

Rich.  Cox 

George — negro  man — 3 


John  Daniel 
James  Bowden 
Wm.  Edmonds 
Black  Jack — negro — 4 


Richard  Hanby — 1 


Thomas  Harmanson 

Daniel  Call 

Geo.  Jenkins 

John  Marainge 

Wm.  Sharpe 

John  Wills — at  mill 

Nan — negro  woman — 7 


Tho.  Blacklock— 1 


Dennis  Omalegon — 1 


Harman  Johnson 
John  Maties — 2 


Lieft.  Coll.  Wm.  Kendall 

Daniel  Baker 

Geo.  Morimer 

John  Abraham 

John  Parsons 

John  Harris 

Jeter  Morgan 

Morgan  Thomas 

Geo.  Massy 

Walter  Mannington 

Mingo — negro 

Charles — negro 

Aron  Franson  )  Seamen 

Mathew  Williams  j  — 14 


Mr.  John  Michaell 
Ed.  Lokitt 
Peter  Fountaine 
John  Aleworth 
Rowland  Williams 
William  Gray 
Anthony  Joanes 
Antony,  negro 
Banelo,  negro 
Frank,  negro 
Dennisse,  negro 
Ann — negro — 1 2 


Wm.  Hamon  )  Negroes 
Jane  Hamon  j  — 2 

King  Tony — negro — 1 


John  Wilkin 
John  Floyd — 2 


John  Waterson 
Jacob  Glassfield 
John  Wilshire 
John   Moore — 4 


Will  Starlinge 
Tho.  Turnell 
Hen.  Morgan 
John  Willett — 4 


Will  Paule— 1 


Ellis  Ap  Hugh— 1 


Thomas  Swendel — 1 


Bossaur — negro — 1 


APPENDIX 


377 


James  Walker 
Hen.  Williams 
Richd.  Jacklock — 3 


Mr.  Tho.  Hunt 
John  Pollicome 
John  Darnell 
Wm.  Shore — 4 


John  Bagwell — 1 


Thos.  Bagwell — 1 


Capt.  John  Custia 
John  Robinson 
Michael  Stone  - 
Tho.  Joanes 
Chas.  Weissell 
Hen.  Foreman 
Daniel  Swindell 
Benjamin  Perry 
George  Lilly 
John  Warppoll 
5  negroes — 15 


Robt.  Haynes — 1 


Tenge  Oderre — 1 


Matthew  Trippin — 1 


Jeremia  Robinson 
Robt.  Smith 
Judith — negro — 3 


John  Adolph 
Wm.  Cord 
Jonas  Dixon 
Derman  Fox — 4 


Tho.  Scott 
John  Watts— 2 
Bastian  Cane — negro — 1 


Thomas  Bell 
Tho.  Coleman — 2 


Joseph  Warren — 1 


Jerom  Griffith — 1 


Mr.  Thomas  Harmar — 1 


Stephen  Costin 
Benoni  Ward — 2 


Thomas  Clay — 1 


John  Stevens — 1 
Geo.  Willis— 1 


Thos.  Hogg 
Abraham  Collins — 2 


Att  Mathew  Gittinge's  Constable: 
Walter  Carter 
Jowell  James 
John  Forthery — 3 


Francis  Harper — 1 


Geo.  Frizzell — 1 


Darman  Lassland — 1 


Alex.  Mills 
Rich'd  Core— 2 


George  Smith 
Wm.  Lewis — 2 


John  Allen 
Edw.  Allen— 2 


Edw.  Ennis — 1 


James  Weatherly — 1 
Wm.  Baker— 1 


Hen.  Marshmant — 1 


Wm.  Millinge 
Robt.  Jilkin 
Arthur  Bowzer 
Peter  Vicar 
Isaak  Venan 
John  Wyer — 6 


Tho.  Sheppard — 1 


Province  Nelson 
Daniel  Paine — 2 


378 


APPENDIX 


Thomas  Moore 
John  Owen 
John  Moore 
Thos.  Somersett 
James  Bookett — 5 


Wm.  Harper 
Rich'd  Quinch- 


Geo.  Freshwater 
Die. — negro — 2 


John  Knight — 1 


Thos.  Poynter 
John  Hankins 
Tho.  Fregue — negro 
Rich'd  Richardson 
Mary  Richardson,  his  wife 
Derman  Clandum 
Francis  Driggue  |  Xegroes 
James  J  — 8 


Neale  Mackmillins 
John  Jewett — 2 


Att  the  Widow  Hall's: 
Hen.  Michael — 1 


Barthlomew  Cosier 
Francis  Roberts — 2 


Wm.  Geldinge 
Luke  Geldinge 
diaries  Geldinge — 3 


Left.  Coll.  Wm.  Waters 

Peter  Bastianson 

Lawrence  Jaconson 

Tho.  Reade 

Edw.  Joanes 

Jacob  Chilton 

Geo.  Treherne 

Ed.  Evans,  als.  Hopkins 

Sam  Handee 

William — negro 

Bill— negro— 10 


Wm.  Ennis — 1 


Richard  Whitmarsh 

Wm.  Waltum 

Robt.  Holliday 

Sam  Ames 

Tho.  Davis — 5 

Mr.  Francis  Piggott 

Peter       "I 

John        1  Negroes 

Thomas   f — 5 

Jane       J 


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379 


380  APPENDIX 


Greene's  Genesis  of  the  Counties,  Slaughter's  Memorial  Pamphlet. 

Hawk's  Ecclesiastical  History. 

Heckewelder's  History  of  the  Indian  Nations. 

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Hening's  Statutes  at  Large. 

Hotten's  Immigrants. 

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Howe's  Virginia  History  and  Antiquities. 

Ingram's  Proceedings,  Force's  Tracts. 

Jefferson's  Notes. 

Johnston's  Memorial  of  the  Virginia  Clerks. 

Kohl's  Discovery  of  Maine. 

Long's  Virginia  County  Names. 

Martin's  Gazetteer  of  Virginia. 

Martin's  History  of  North  Carolina. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections. 

Mather's  Magnalia. 

McDonald  Papers,  Va.  State  Library. 

McMaster's  J.  S.,  Makemieland    (Speech,  Pamphlet). 

Meade's  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia. 

Mercer's  Abridgment  of  the  Laws  of  Virginia. 

Munsell's  Annals  of  Albany. 

Murphy's  The  Voyage  of  Verrazano. 

Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans. 

Neill's  Virginia  Company  of  London. 

Neill's  Virginia  Carolorum. 

Neill's  English  Colonization  of  America  in  the  17th  Century. 

Neill's  Founders  of  Maryland. 

Neill's  Virginia  Vetusta. 

Neill's  Virginia  Colonial  Clergy. 

New  England  Genealogical  Register. 

Norwood's    A  Voyage  to  Virginia,  Force's  Tracts. 

Northampton  County  Records,  Eastville  and  Va.  State  Library. 

O'Callaghan's  History  of  New  Netherlands. 

Osgood's  English  Colonies  in  America  in  the  17th  Century. 

Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography. 
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Quincey's  History  of  Harvard  University. 

Robinson's  Early  Voyages  to  America. 
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APPENDIX  381 


Senate  Documents,  Extra  1874,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia. 

Schoolcraft's  Works  on  the  Indiana  of  America. 

Smith's  History  of  Virginia. 

Stanard's  Colonial  Register. 

Stanard's  Bacon  The   Rebel. 

Stith's  History  of  Virginia. 

Stockton's  Bucaneers  and  Pirates  of  our  Coast. 

T.  M.  Manuscript,  Virginia  State  Library. 
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Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  17  -volumes. 
Virginia  Historical  Collections,  11  Volumes. 
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versy. 

Week's  Biographical  Sketch  of  Edward  Teach. 

Wheal  ton's  Maryland  Virginia  Boundary  Controversy,   1668-1894. 

Wheeler's  History  of  North   Carolina. 

William  and  Mary  Quarterly,  17  Volumes. 

Williamson's  History  of  North  Carolina. 

Winder  Papers,  Va.  State  Library. 

Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  the  United  States. 

Winthrop's  History  of  New  England. 

Winthrop's  Journal. 

Wise's  H.  A.,  Seven  Decades  of  the  Union. 

Wise's  J.  S.,  End  of  an  Era. 

Wise's  B.  H.,  Life  of  Henry  A.  Wise. 

Wise's  B.  H.,  Various  writings  of  in  Va.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Bio. 


INDEX 

A  larg  list  of  tithables  of  1666  is  set  forth  in  full  in  the  Ap- 
pendix, and  the  names  are  not  included  in  this  Index. 


Aborigines,    their    history — p.    49,    et 

seq. 
Abstracts  from  Virginia  Land  Patents 

—p.  356. 
Accohannock    Indians,    history   of — p 

49,  et  seq.,  and  pp.  52,  67. 
Accawmacke,    The    Kingdome    of — p 

49,  et  seq.;   Maryland  taken  from — 

p.  91. 
Accawmacke  Indians — p.    16,   et  seq. 

and  pp.  25,  32,  33,  49,  et  seq. 
Accomack,      Accawmacke,      Accomac 

Achomat,    Acchawmac ;      derivation 

of  name — p.  49. 
Accomack,   the   Plantation  and   Town 

of— p.  27,  29,  31,  32,  33. 
Accomack,    The     Shire    of      (1634)  — 

p.  81. 
Accomack  County  formed  from  North- 
ampton, p.  164,  et  seq.,  and  p.  167. 
Accomack  County,  size  of — pp.  1,  172, 

249. 
Accomack  Parish — pp.  171,  266. 
Accomack    in    New    England,    present 

site  of  Plymouth — pp.  49,  50. 
Accomack  County  Court — p.   173. 
Accomack  Court  House — p.  233. 
Ace  of  Clubs  Church — Pungoteague — 

pp.  272,  273. 
Acreage     of     Accomack     County — pp. 

172,  249. 
Acreage  of  Northampton  County — pp. 

172,  249. 
Act  of  Cohabitation— p.  232. 
Act  for  Ports— p.  233. 
Act  of  Toleration— pp.  156,  282. 
Addison,  Alex. — p.  135.     » 

Idison,  John— p.  323. 

Ikinson.  James — p.   136. 

ptators  of  revolt  fined — p.    146. 

bany,  Indian  Council  at — p.  224. 

gonquin  Indians — p.  49,  et  seq. 


Allen,  John — p.  363. 

Alleyn,  Richard — p.   137. 

Ames,  name  of — p.  70. 

Ames,  John — p.  125. 

Amies,  Thomas — p.  355. 

Ammunition — pp.    38,     98,    121,    184, 

255. 
Amsterdam,  Holland — p.  94. 
Analin,  Abram   (1623) — p.  37. 
Anderson.    William,    father-in-law    of 

Makemie — p.  281. 
Andiaman,  King  of  the  Accohannocks 

and  Curratocks — pp.  59,  122. 
Andrews,  name  of — pp.  39,  73. 
Andrews,  Garrett — pp.  286,  358. 
Andrews,  Robert — pp.  135,  319. 
Andrews,    Maj.    William — pp.    37.    40. 

97,  103.  117.  118,  120,  135,  142.  14.1. 

166,  257,  287,  288,  319,  359,  363. 
Andrews,  William,  Jr. — p.   136. 
Andros,  Governor — pp.  224,  255. 
Anglicans— pp.  79,  170,  256,  265,  269, 

272,  273,  275. 
Anglican  Church — p.  243. 
"Ann    Clear,"    Scarburgh's    Ship — p. 

150. 
Annamessex,  Indian  family  of — p.  62. 
Annamessex,  Town  of — p.  178. 
Antigua — p.   124. 
Appeals  from  County  Court — pp.   83, 

194,   196. 
Aquintica,  Indian  family  of — p.  62. 
Argoll,  Sir  Samuel;    his  visit  to  E.  S. 

in  1612— pp.  21,  22,  24,  27: 
"Arlington";    Seat  of  Custis  family — 

pp.  46.  114,  200,  221,  245,  27$  279, 

289.  332. 
Arlinston,    Lord — pp.    114,    191,    192, 

199. 
Arlinston-Culpeper     Grant — pp.     191, 

et  seq. 
Armistead,  ('apt.   Anthony — p.  215. 


383 


384 


INDEX 


Armitradinge,  Henry — p.  135. 
Armourier,  Rev.  John — p.  265. 
Arms,  Inventory  of,  in   1623 — p.   38; 

law  prohibiting  sale  of,  to  Indians — 

p.  64;    persons  required  to  carry — 

pp.  98,   121;    selling  of,  to  Indians 

—pp.  146,  255. 
Arseek,  Indian  Tribe — p.  18. 
"Artillery,"  trading  ship — p.  150. 
Ascomb,  John   (1623)— p.  37. 
Askiminokonson  Neck — p.  62. 
Assateague  Bay — p.  112. 
Assateague,  Emperor  of — p.  62. 
Assateague  Indians — pp.  62,  158,  300. 
Assateague  Island — p.  61. 
Assateague  War — pp.  158,  et  seq. 
Assawaman  Indians — p.  300. 
Attitude  of  E.  S.  in  Bacon's  Rebellion 

p.  222. 
Attorneys — pp.  101,  102. 
"Avon,"  Charles  County,  Md.,  Seat  of 

Governor — p.   108. 
Awascecencas,  King  of  the  Kickotanks 

—p.  60. 
Awburne,  Richard — p.  310. 
Ayers,  John — p.  135. 
Ayrs,  name  of — p.  70. 

Bacon,  the  Rebel— pp.  168,  193. 
Bacon,  Col.  Nathaniel,  Sr. — p.  215. 
Bacon's  Appeal   to  the  people  of  the 

E.     S.       (Text    in     full)— pp.    209, 

et  seq.,  212. 
Bacon's  Assembly — p.  216. 
Baconian    Party    on    E.    S. — p.    217, 

et  seq. 
Bacon's  Rebellion,   causes  of,  etc. — p. 

191,  et  seq.;    records  of.  on  E.  S. — 

p.  217,  et  seq.     (See  Appendix.) 
Bagwell,  Henry,  Burgess  and  1st  Clerk 

of  Accomack  Court — pp.  41,  42,  95, 

100. 
Bailey,  Symon — p.  137. 
Baker,  Daniel — p.  135. 
Baker,  William — p.  255. 
Baldwin,  Mr. — p.  23. 
Ball,  Robert   (1623)— p.  37. 
Ballard.  Col.  Thomas— p.  215. 
Baltimore,   1st  Lord — p.  90. 
Baltimore,  Cecilius,  2d  Lord — pp.  90, 

103,  105.  106.  107,  126,  161. 
Racists— p.  251. 
Barbadoes — p.   124. 


Barlow,  Ralph— p.  265. 

Barnaby,  James — pp.   95,   135,  294. 

Barnes,  John — p.  176. 

Barnett,  John  (1623)— p.  37. 

Barrett,  name  of — p.  39. 

Baselv,  William,  witness  in   1634 — p. 

45/ 
Bateau,   Dead   Rise,  style   of    craft — 

p.  292. 
Bateman,  Mr. — p.   149. 
Batteries  ordered  to  be  built — p.  184. 
Battle  of  Jamestown   (1676) — p.  206, 

et  seq. 
Bayly,  Bayley,  Bailey,  Bailie,  name  of 

and  family  of— pp.  70,  89,  170,  278, 

281. 
Baylv,    Richard— pp.    117,    121,    137, 

240,  246,  247,  248,  322,  354,  366. 
Bayly,  Robert — p.   136. 
Bayly,  Samuel — p.  293. 
Bayly,  Ursula — p.  323. 
Bay-side  Road — p.  48. 
Beads — p.  300. 
Bear— pp.  54,  61,  195,  312. 
Beard,  Richard — p.  362. 
Beaver    Skins    as    currency — pp.    99, 

294,  300,  301. 
Beds— p.  294. 
Beer  Bowls — p.  313. 
Bell,  name  of — p.  70. 
Beloat,  name  of,  from  Dutch  Billiot — 

p.  72. 
Belore,  Jno. — p.  358. 
Benjamin.  William — p.  258. 
Bennett,  John — p.  131. 
Bennett,   Gov.   Richard,   his   daughter 

marries  Charles  Scarburgh — pp.  86, 

125,    126,    128,    143,    145,    146,    149, 

164.  270,  294. 
Berkeley,  Sir  John — p.   112. 
Berkeley,     Maurice,    erector    of    salt 

works — p.  25. 
Berkeley,  Gov.  William — pp.  96,  111; 

his   letter    about  Indians — p.    114; 

letter    to    Littleton — pp.    119,    165, 

171.  180,  188,  190,  199.  et  seq.,  pp. 

223,  274,  275. 
Rermuda — p.   124. 
Bermuda  Hundred,  Plantation  of — p. 

23. 
i.erriman.   William — pp.    84,   95,   257, 

314.  357,  358. 
Berry,  James — pp.  84,  135,  356. 


IKDEX 


385 


Berry,  Sir  John— p.  220. 
Berry,  Robert— pp.   115,   116,   137. 
Bequests  to  Quakers — p.  156. 
Beverley,   Maj.    Robert,   arrest   of — p. 

239,  et  seq.;    242,  355. 
Bibbe,  Edward— p.  314. 
Bibbv   (Bribby),  William— pp.  37,  84, 

356,  364. 
Bier  Test  or  Ordeal  of  Touch— p.  334. 
Billington.  Luke — p.  135. 
Bills  of  Exchange,  the  first — pp.   94, 

299. 
Bird  Cage — p.  313. 
Blackbeard,  the  Pirate— p.  186. 
Blaeklocke,  Thomas    (1623)— p.  37. 
Blackstone,  name  of — pp.  70,  73. 
Blake,  name  of — p.  70. 
Blake,  Robert— p.   136. 
Bland,  Giles— p.  216.- 
Bland,    Gen.    Richard— pp.    167,    202, 

203,  205. 
Blankets— p.  312. 
Bloomfield.  name  of — p.  70. 
Blous.  William — p.  258. 
Blower,  Goody   (1623)— p.  37. 
Blower,  John*  (1623)— pp.  37,  40. 
Board  of  Trade  Reports — p.  246. 
Boats— p.  291. 

"Bogey  of   Cradock  Marsh,"   a   tradi- 
tion— p.   330,   et  seq. 
Boggs,  John,  clerk — p.  101. 
Bolton,    Rev.    Robert,    1st   Minister — 

pp.  85,  253,  254,  255. 
Books,     names     and     number     of     in 

various  libraries — p.  313,  et  seq. 
Boothe,  Humphrey — p.  271. 
Boroughs — p.  240. 
Boston,     People      from,     on      Eastern 

Shore— pp.   73,  74,  76,  128;    trade 

with— p.  294. 
Boston,  Henrv — p.   180. 

ier,  William — p.  136. 

darv  Commission  of  Va.  and  Md. 

i.  181. 

iarv    dispute    between    Va.    and 

—p.  92. 

Iarv  Oaks  or  Marriage  Trees — 

181*. 

Din,  name  of  and  family — p.  70, 

l,  Rev.  L.  P.— pp.  283,  307. 
an,  Maj.  Edmund — pp.  89,   102. 
220,  243.  244,  247,  365. 


Bowmans — pp.  70,  89,  278. 
Bowman's   Folly,   seat  of  Bowmans — 

pp.  89,  281,  289. 
Bradford,  Nathaniel— p.  302. 
Branding  Stock— pp.  307,  311. 
Brandy — p.  290. 
Brass — p.  299. 
lirent,  Col.— p.  213. 
Brewce,  James — p.  137. 
Briar,  William— p.   369. 
Brickhouse,    George,   Quaker — p.    156. 
Bricks— pp.  175,  289,  290,  291. 
Bridges— pp.  104,  291. 
Bridgetown  or   Nassawattocks,   Court 

held  at— pp.  47,  117,  235. 
Brillyant,  John — p.  136. 
Broad-Cloth— p.  313. 
Brown,  Dr.  Alexander,  the  historian — 

p.  28. 
Brown,  Thomas  and  wife,  Quakers — 

p.  158. 
Brownes— pp.   70,   278. 
Browne,  Devoreux — p.  166. 
Browne,  John — p.  137. 
Browne,  Robert — p.  358. 
Browne,  William — p.  137. 
"Brownville  Farm"— pp.  60.  158,  281. 
Bruducke,  Richard — p.  136. 
Bug-Eye,  stvle  of  craft — p.  292. 
Bullock's    Channel— pp.    10,    99,    186, 

321. 
Bunton,  William— pp.  292,  299. 
Burdett,  Thomas— p.  258. 
Burdette,    William,    member    of    first 

vestry— pp.   46,   95,   257,   259,   287, 

292,  312. 
Burgesses— pp.  196,  224,  245,  249. 
Burgesses    from    E.     S. — pp.     39,    41, 

first;     p.  94;    none  called  for — pp. 

137,   138,   139.      (See  Appendix  for 

list.) 
Burgesses,    House    of — pp.     166,    189, 

192. 
Burial  Ground — p.  258. 
Burial     Inscriptions — pp.     278,     279, 

280. 
Burne,  James,  Gent. — p.  14. 
Burnett,  Elizabeth — p.  359. 
Bush  rod  Family — p.  70. 
Butler— p.  365. 

Butler,  Joane,  scandal-monger — p.  45. 
Butler,   Robert— p.    357. 


386 


INDEX 


Butler,   Thomas,   husband  of  Joane — 

pp.  45,  46. 
Butter— p.  254. 

Butterfield,  John   (1623)— p.  37. 
Butterie.  Thomas — p.  137. 
Byrd,  Col.  William— p.  225. 

(  lade,  name  of — p.  70. 

California — p.  5. 

Calvert.  (  harles— p.  264. 

Calvert,  Christopher— pp.   136,  329. 

Calvert,    Leonard — pp.    90,    92,     105, 

106,  180. 
Calvert,  Samuel— p.  136. 
Calvert-Scarburgh  Agreement — p.  182. 
Calvert-Scarburgh    Boundary    Line — 

pp.   164.  226. 
Calvert's  Xeek— pp.  229,  233. 
Calvinists — p.  79. 
Cambridge,  Mass. — p.  260. 
Campbell,  Douglas;    his  argument  as 

to     Dutch    influence     in    America — 

p.  77. 
Candles — p.  254. 
Canner,  Master  Thomas,  of  Bernard's 

Tnne,   member  of   Gilbert's   Expedi- 
tion  (1603)— p.  10. 
Canoes — p.  291. 

Cans,  a  boy  of  Mr.   (1623)— p.  37. 
Cape  Charles — pp.  1.  3,  4,  15. 
Cape  Charles  City— pp.   31,  234,  236. 
Cape  Fear — p.   4. 
Cape    Henry,    landing    place    of    first 

expedition — pp.  12.  14,  52. 
Cape  Horn — p.  4. 
Capel,  name  of — p.  70. 
Capps.  William — p.  303. 
Careleys,  Henry — p.  357. 
Carew,  name  of — p.  70. 
Carpenter,  Anthony — p.   136. 
Carpenters— pp.  68,  236. 
Carpet  for  church — p.  257. 
Carter,    Christopher    (1623)— p.    37. 
Carter.  John,  of  Corotoman — p.    100. 
Carter.  Paul — p.  335. 
Carter,  Thomas— p.  318. 
Carter,   William — p.   320. 
Carver,  Captain— pp.  202,  203;    hung 

bv  Berkelev   at   Old  Plantation — p. 

204. 
(a ry.  Francis — p.   112. 
Cathay,  search  for  cause  of  discovery 

of  E.  S.— p.  3. 


(  atholic   (  lmrcli — p.  243. 

Catholic    Colonists    of    Maryland — p. 

91. 
Catlett.   John— pp.    177,  271. 
Cattle — pp.  158,  186,  311. 
Cattle  Marks— p.  311. 
Causey.  John — p.  357. 
Cavaliers — p.   111. 
Cavaliers  in  New  England  and  Va. — 

p.  75. 
Cavalier  Party  on  E.  S. — p.  168. 
Cavalry.   Regiment  of — p.    116;    body 

of     horse — p.     121;       or     mounted 

troops — pp.   178,   189. 
Celebration  of  Burials — p.  320. 
Census,    of    1623 — p.    36,    cl    seq.;    of 

1625— p.  38. 
Chadwell,  Daniel — p.  136. 
Chairs— p.  313. 

Chambers.  James    (1623) — p.  37. 
Champion.  John — p.  359. 
Chandler,  Job — p.  107. 
Chapman,  Philip — p.  314. 
Charles  City,  Corporation  of — p.  28. 
Charles    I    of    England — pp.    SO,    97; 

beheaded — pp.  110,  191. 
Charles  II  of  England — pp.   85.    114; 

escapes  to  France — pp.  125,  183. 
Charles  V,  King  of  Spain — p.  8. 
Charltons— pp.  70,  73,  169,  278. 
Charlton,  Bridget — p.  266. 
Charlton.   Elizabeth— pp.   266,   319. 
Charlton,   Henry,   punished   by   Court 

for    scandal  oils    speech    about    Rev. 

Wm.  Cotton— pp.  45,  258. 
Charlton.   Stephen— pp.   75,   101,   103, 

104,    112,    113.    120,    135,   257,   266, 

276,  293,  294.  307. 
Cheese — p.  365. 
Cheriton,    Cherriton,    Cherry  tone, 

Cherrystone — pp.    15,   29.   84. '  96. 
Cheriton    Creek— pp.    29,   30.  31,  50, 

06,  234. 
"Chersonesus      Orientalis,"       Eastern 

Shore   called  by   English   Sovereign 

-p.  2. 
Chesconessex   Creek — pp.   60,  88,   170. 
Chesconessex,    Indian    family,  of — pp. 

60,  67. 
Chest,  Mary— p.   361. 
Chicheley,  Sir  Henry— p.  23fl. 
Chiles,   Walter.   "Hopeful   Adventure" 

episode — pp.   141,   145,   297. 


INDEX 


387 


Chincoteague  Indians — pp.  60.  300. 

Chincoteague  Island  (Gingo  Teague) 
—pp.  52,  61,  67,  112,  116,  170,  308. 

Chincoteague  Pony,  origin  of — pp. 
307,  et  seq. 

Choptico,  Indian  family  of — p.  62. 

Chowan,   Mass. — p.   49. 

Christian  Religion  in  Va. — p.  251. 

Church  Buildings— pp.  254,  255,  257, 
264,  268,  272. 

Church  Neck — p.  266. 

Church  of  England — pp.  252,  et  seq., 
pp.  269,  271. 

Church  on  E.  S. — p.  250,  et  seq. 

Church   Plate— p.   278. 

Church   Property — pp.   200.  267. 

Church  Wardens — p.  265. 

Clark,  George? — p.   314. 

Clams — p.   290. 

Clarendon,  Edward  Earl  of.  Lord 
Chancellor — p.   85. 

Clarke,  Thomas — p.   136. 

Clawson.  Alice — p.   319. 

Clayborne,  Capt.  William,  Justice  of 
Accomack — p.  42 ;  his  Kent  Island 
troubles — pp.  89,  90;  his  naval 
fight— p.  91;  attainted — p.  92; 
letter  of  marque  and  reprisal  issued 
to  Sheriff  Taylor— pp.  93,  105,  106, 
108:  Parliamentary  Commissioner 
—pp.  125,  126,  215,  293,  294.  295, 
299. 

Clerks,  appointment  of — p.  99;  im- 
portance of — p.  100:  character  and 
list  of— pp.  101,  175,  196.  247,  249. 

Clerk's  Office— p.  233. 

"Clifton."  seat  of  Wise's— pp.  88.  281. 

Cloake.   Edmund    (1623)— p.   37. 

Cloth— pp.  257.  303. 

Clothing  and  apparel — p.  313. 

Coake,   William — p.   135. 

Coast  Patrols — p.   186. 

Cod  Fish— p.  73. 

Coins— pp.    301,   302. 

Colebounie.  William — pp.  137.  157. 

Cole.   John— p.   175. 

Cole.  Josiah,  Quaker  Missionary — p. 
155. 

Cole,  Thomas— p.  359. 

Columbus,  his  belief  that  America 
was  East  Coast  of  Asia — p.  4. 

Commander-in-Chief  of  Accomack — 
p.  86. 


Commanders,  their  powers  and  duties 
—pp.  42,  83,  185. 

Commerce — p.  289,  et  seq. 

Commercial  Houses — p.  94. 

Commissary  Supplies  Collected  for 
Berkeley's  Army  during  Bacon's 
Rebellion — p.  365,  et  seq. 

Commissioners  of  the  Court,  their 
powers  and  duties — pp.  42,  et  seq., 
47,  81,  83,  117,   143,   144. 

Commissioners  of  Plantations,  deci- 
sion of  in  reference  to  Md. — p.  92. 

Commonwealth  of  England — pp.  108, 
111,  124:  Northampton  resists — 
pp.   134,   141,   162,   170. 

Commonwealth  of  Virginia — pp.  134, 
138,   141,  168. 

Communion  Sets;  Cup  and  Plate — 
pp.  259;  of  St.  George's  Church— 
pp.  273,  278. 

Compton,  Spencer,  Earl  of  North- 
ampton— p.  97. 

Contrill,  William,  Gent.— p.  14. 

Conantesminoc,  King  of  the  Matcha- 
teagues — p.  60. 

Concord  Wharf — p.  87. 

Congan  or  Cogan,  Daniel,  of  Boston 
and  Northampton  County — p.  74. 

"Conjurer"  Scarburgh,  see  Col.  Ed- 
mund Scarburgh — pp.  62,  63;  his 
plot  to  destroy  Indians — p.  86. 

Connecticut — p.  50. 

Conservative  Party  on  E.  S. — p.   169. 

Conspiracy  of  Indians — p.  117,  et  seq. 

Convention  of  United  Colonies  at 
Boston,  Indian  scares — p.  132. 

Conway.  Edwin,  clerk — p.   100. 

Conway  family — p.   100. 

Cook,  Thomas,  clerk — p.   101. 

Coomes,  John    (1623)— p.  37. 

Coomes,  William    (1623) — p.  37. 

Corbin,  Col.  Coventon  of  Chincoteague 
p.  S9. 

Corbin  family — pp.  89,  170. 

Corn,  great  supplies  of  on  E.  S.  in 
1619 — p.  64:  as  currency — pp.  99, 
254.  203.  204. 

Cornbury,  Governor — p.  282. 

Corneliuson.  Hugh  Cornelius,  Dutch 
merchant — p.    71. 

Corner,  William — p.   136. 

Cornish.   Thomas    (1623) — p.   37. 

Cornley.  John — p.  136. 


388 


I  X  DEX 


Cornwallis,  Capt. — p.  91. 

Coronado — p.  5. 

Coroners — p.  249. 

Costin,  name  of — p.  70. 

Cotton,   family  of — pp.  73,  256. 

Cotton,  Rev.  William,  second  minister 
on  peninsula — pp.  45,  74,  85,  106, 
255,  256,  257,  258,  259,  263.  286. 

Cotton,  Verlinda — p.  256. 

Coulson,  John — pp.  136,  137. 

Council  of  Colonies  in  Albany  about 
Indians — p.  224. 

Counties,  Northampton  formed — p.  96. 

County  Surveyor — p.  150. 

Court'Days — pp.  109,  154,  241;  char- 
acter of  and  customs  surrounding — 
pp.  328,  329. 

Court  Houses;  first  a  log-cabin  in 
1632 — p.  47;  Dinner  or  Poynt 
House  at  Old  Plantation — p.  47; 
ordinary  of  Walter  Williams  at 
Nassawattocks — p.  47 ;  Holt  House 
— p.  47;  places  used  for — pp.  149, 
175,  176,  223,  et  seq.,  234,  235. 

Court  Martial,  Berkeley's  Court  to 
try  rebels — p.  214,  et  seq. 

Court,  Monthly  for  Plantation  of 
Accomack,  established  in  1632 — 
pp.  41,  et  seq.,  47;  Clerks  of —  p. 
100. 

Courtney,  James — p.  359. 

Court  of  Accomack  County,  when 
established — pp.  173,  175,  176. 

Court  of  Northampton — p.  99. 

Court  Records  of  Accomack  and  Ply- 
mouth, oldest  in  U.  S. — p.  50; 
peculiar  cases  cited  in — p.  44, 
et  seq. 

Courts,  jurisdiction  of — p.  83.  Also 
see  Commanders  and  Commis- 
sioners. Where  held — pp.  104,  109, 
149,  175,  176;  territorial  juris- 
diction of — p.  154;  manner  of  hold- 
ing—pp.  195,  272. 

Courts  of  Maryland — p.  62. 

Coventon,  Nehemiah — p.    136. 

Cowdrey,   Benjamin — p.    135. 

CoVs — p.   307.' 

Coxton,  name  of — p.  70. 

Crabs— p.  290. 

Craddock,  Lieut,  in  command  of  first 
salt-boilers  on  E.  S. — pp.  22,  59. 

Cradock  Creek — pp.  99,   170. 


Cradock,   Matthew,   first   Governor  of 

M;i>s. — p.   76. 
"Cradock,"   seat  of  Teackles— p.   272. 
Cradock's  Neck — p.  59. 
Crampe,  Thomas   (1623) — p.  37. 
Cranne,  James — p.  369. 
Crecro,  Thomas — p.   136. 
Creeks,   Navigable — p.    248. 
Crockery — p.  313. 

Cromwell,  Oliver — pp.    107,   110,   164. 
Cropper,  family— pp.  70,  89,  170,  278, 

281. 
Cropper,  Bowman — p.  89. 
Cropper,    John    I     (Immigrant) — pp. 

89,  366. 
Cropper,  Peter— p.  330. 
Cropper,  Sebastian,  Jr.,  married  Misa 

Corbin — p.  89. 
Cross,  John — p.  176. 
Crows — p.   195. 
Cugley,      Daniel,      married      Hannah 

Savage,  widow  of  Thomas — pp.  30, 

37,  56,  84.  259,  292,  314. 
Culpeper,    Governor,   a    proclai 

by — p.  354. 
Culpeper,  John,  clerk — pp.  101. 
Culpeper,  Lord — pp.   191,   192, 
Cultivation   by   Natives — p.    64 
Cups— p.  313. 
Curlew — p.   54. 
Curratocks.     Indian     familv     c 

59,  60. 
Currency,       Indian,       see       Ro 

Wampum  Peake — p.  61. 
Curtaile  Creek — p.  30. 
Curtis,   Goodv,   her   row   with 

Taylor— p/ 44. 
Curtis,   John — p.   45. 
Cuskarawaocks — pp.    17,   51. 
Cushion  for  Church — p.  257. 
Custis  family — pp.   70,  89,   114, 
Oust  is.  Daniel  Parke — p.  331. 
Custis,  Edmund — p.  248. 
Custis,  John  I    (Immigrant) — j 

112;    character  of— p.  113. 
Custis,   Genl.   John   of   "Arlingi 

pp.  46,  47,  101.   107,   136,  19! 

201,   213,   221,   223,   239,   244 

279. 
Custis,  John  III— p.  303. 
Custis,  Capt.  John  IV— pp.   18( 

246,  247,   248r  277,   278,   27S 

331,  348. 


INDEX 


389 


Custis,    William     (Immigrant) — pp. 

72,  136,  247,  335. 
Customs,    Districts    and    Officers — pp. 

241,  316. 
Cuttin,  Mr.— p.  131. 

d'Aunay— p.  296. 

d'Ayllon,  Lucas  Vasquez,  founds  town 
of    San   Miguel    on   James   River — 
pp.  8,  9,  13. 
Dalby,  name  of — p.  70. 
Dalby,  Jacob — p.  234. 
Dale,   Sir   Thomas,   Gov.   of  Va. — pp. 

22,  23,  27,  252,  253,  300,  351. 
Dale,    Lady    Elizabeth,    wife     of     Sir 

Thomas— pp.  36,  94,  327. 
Dale's    Gift,    original    name    of    first 
settlement  on  E.  S.,  founding  of — 
pp.  22,  24,  25,  27,  28,  31,  81,  253. 
Dances  and  Dancing  on  Sundav — pp. 

322,  323,  324. 
Dandridge,  Martha — pp.   114,  332. 
Darby,  William— p.  325. 
Dauers,  Sir  John — p.  23. 
Davies,  William    (1623)— p.  37. 
Davis,  name  of — p.  39. 
Davis,  Mr.,  master's  mate  of  "Speed- 
well"— p.   130. 
Davis,   Priece — p.    277. 
Davis,  Thomas — p.  359. 
Dawe,  George,  clerk — p.   100. 
Dawen,  Mr. — p.   304. 
de  Soto — p.  5. 
Death   Penaltv,   only   one  case  before 

1690— p.  47. 
^  bedeavon,    The    Laughing    King    of 
he  Accomacks — pp.  29,  31,  32,  33, 
14,  50,  52,  54,  60,  81,  114,  115. 
id,    between    John    Custis    IV    and 
i*  wife  Frances  Parke — p.  348. 
ids,   first  recorded — p.   94. 
r— pp.  54,   61,   312. 
aware,  claimed  by  Dutch — p.  72. 
aware,  Lord — pp.   92,   253. 
Delaware   River,   trade    in — pp.    124, 
295. 
i  man,  John — p.   135. 
nis,  John — p.  359. 
nis,   Morris — p.   366. 
nis,  Robert,   Parliamentary    Com- 
lUsioner — pp.   125,   133. 
wood.     Levin,     Quaker — pp.     135, 
.56. 


Derby,  name  of — p.   70. 

Derrickson,  Daniel,  Dutch  merchant — 

p.  71. 
Derrickson,  Jacob — p.  296. 
Dew,   Col.  Thomas — p.   145. 
Dewey,  George — p.  314. 
Dickson,  Michael — pp.  277,  311. 
Dieppe,    Frenchmen   of,   called   Verra- 

zano,  Jean  Verassen  or  Juan  Florin 

—pp.  3,  4. 
Digges,  Gov. — pp.   154,   164. 
Dilke,  Clement— pp.  30,  40,  358. 
Dimner,  Thomas — p.   103. 
Dinner  or  Poynt  House  at  Old  Planta- 
tion   used    as    Courthouse — pp.    47, 

109. 
Dishes — p.  312. 

Disposition  of  Families — p.  170. 
Dissenters  in  Va.,  send  to  New  Eng- 
land  for   pastors — pp.   74,   79,   259, 

275. 
Division  of  Peninsula,  two  counties — 

p.   167. 
Divorce — p.   319. 
Dixon,  Ambrose — pp.     117,   136,     157, 

180. 
Dixon,  Christopher — p.   135. 
Dixon,  John — p.   103. 
Dixon,  Mike — p.  277,  311. 
Doe,  Samuel — p.  322. 
Dogs— p.  311. 

Dog  Collar,   Dutch  coin — p.   301. 
Dollings,  John— pp.   117,   136. 
Domingo — pp.   256,   286. 
Dorchester,    Mass.,    Immigrants    from 

pp.  73,  263. 
Doughty,  name  of — p.  70. 
Doughty,   Rev.   Francis — pp.   47,    107, 

133,  268,  270,  271. 
Douglas,  name  of — p.  70. 
Douglas,   Edward — pp.    97,    103,    116, 

135,   142,   255. 
Douglas,    Wm.     and     Company,     first 

commercial  house — pp.  94,  299. 
Drew    Edward     (1623)— pp.    37,    45, 

257. 
Drew,  Marie,  her  suit  against  Joane 

Butler  in  1634— p.  45. 
Driggs,  Immanuel — p.  287. 
Drisius,  Rev.  Samuel   (Van  Driesen), 

Dutch     Treaty    Commissioner — pp. 

147,  270. 
Drummond,  Richard — p.  233. 


20 


390 


INDEX 


Drummond's    New     Mill     Branch — p. 

266. 
Drummondtown — p.  233. 
Dry,  William    (1623)— p.  37. 
Ducks — p.  54. 

Duels  &  Duelling — pp.  39,  329,  330. 
Dunn,  John — p.  327. 
Dutch  Blanket  Tract,  bought  by  John 

Wise    I,    from     Ekeeks,    for    seven 

blankets — p.  88. 
Dutch  Blood  on  E.  S.— pp.  72,  80. 
Dutch  Books— p.  315. 
Dutch     Commissioners     endeavor     to 

negotiate   treaty   with   Virginia — p. 

143. 
Dutch  Influence  on  E.  S. — pp.  77,  126. 
Dutch   Inhabitants   on   E.   S. — p.   71; 

forbidden  to  trade  with  Indians  and 

said  to  be  in  conspiracy  with  them 

— p.  128;    in  danger — pp.  132,  133, 

138;     the    court   protects — p.    142; 

appeals  to  Governor  and  Council — 

p.   142;    Dutch  Commissioners — pp. 

143.  170. 
Dutch  Merchants — p.  296. 
Dutch     Plot     to     secure     alliance     of 

Indians — pp.   127,  132. 
Dutch  Ships  Captured — p.  146. 
Dutch  Trade— pp.   71,   124,    125,    126, 

138,  238,  295,  296. 
Dutch  Treaty,  proposed — p.  147. 
Dutch    War— pp.  71,   124;    its    effect 

upon  E.  S.— pp.   126,  132,  183. 
Duty  on  Tobacco — p.  237,  et  seq. 
Dye,  John — p.   135. 

Eastville,  known  as  "The  Horns,"  also 
as  Peachburg — p.  48. 

Eaton,  name  of — p.  73. 

Eaton,  Ann— pp.  261,  262,  270,  271. 

Eaton,  Nathaniel,  first  principal  of 
Harvard  College,  flees  to  Eastern 
Shore — p.  74;  Clerk  of  Hungar's 
Parish— pp.  260,  261,  262,  263. 

Eaton,  Got.  Theophilus,  of  New 
Haven— p.  262. 

Edmonds.  Robert   (1623)— p.  37. 

Edmunds,  name  of — pp.  39,  70. 

Education — p.  317. 

Edward,  W.— p.  277. 

Edwards,  John— pp.   137,  265. 

Effingham,  Lord — p.   245. 

Ekeeks,  King  of  the  Onancocks — pp. 
60,  88. 


Elections,  first — p.  94. 

Elements  of  Accomack  Society — p.  69. 

Elizabeth  City— p.  90. 

Elkington,   Ann,   wife   of   Capt.   John 

Savage — p.  30. 
Elliot's  Neck — p.  59. 
Ellis,  John— pp.  135,  265. 
Elopements — p.   319. 
Elzey,  Jno. — p.  161. 
Empson,  name  of — p.  70. 
Englishmen  from  Holland — p.   72. 
English     Blood,     purity     of     among 

Eastern  Shoremen — pp.  69,  80. 
English    Commerce    preyed    upon    by 

Dutch— p.   126. 
English      Puritanism,      remarks      of 

Douglas  Campbell  thereon — p.  78. 
English  Reformed  Church — p.  268. 
Entails— p.  319. 
Episcopacy  on  E.  S. — pp.  250,  et  seq., 

269,  274,  281. 
Episcopalians — pp.  79,  278,  282. 
Epps,  Mrs.,  wife  of  Captain  William 

—p.  37. 
Epps,  Margaret — p.  364. 
Epps,  Peter   (1623)— pp.  37,  364. 
Epps,   Eppes,   Epes,   Capt.   William — 

pp.  37,  39,  254,  330,  364. 
Escheat  Districts — p.  241. 
Escheators— pp.  248,  249. 
Esson,  Edward— pp.  256,  357. 
Ethnology    of    Accomack    Indians — p. 

52. 
Evans,  name  of — p.  39. 
Evans,  John    (1623)— p.  37. 
Evelyn,  Mountjoy— pp.   362,  363. 
Ewell,  James — p.   175. 
Executions  on   E.    S.    during   Bacon's 

Rebellion — p.  217,  et  seq. 
Eyre,    family    and    name    of — pp.    73, 

89,  278. 
Evre,  John— pp.  246.  247. 
Eyre,  Thomas — p.   277. 

Fairfax,  James— pp.  322,  323. 
"Fame  of  Virginia,"   ship   of  Walter 

Chiles— p.    141. 
Farloe,    Captain,    put    to    death    by 

Berkelev  on  E.  S.— p.  214. 
Farmer,  Charles    (1623)— p.  37. 
Families,  founders  of  early,  on  E.  S. 

—p.   84. 
Farms — p.   98. 
Farrant,  Philip — p.   135. 


INDEX 


391 


Fathers   of   Independence — p.    139. 
Fawsett,    John,    King's     Attorney — p. 

325. 
Fees  of  Clerks — p.   195. 
Fendall,    Governor,    of    Maryland — p. 

160. 
Fennel],   Robert    (1623)— p.   37. 
Ferries— pp.  258,  291. 
Fetherston,    Richard,    Gent. — p.    14. 
Figs — p.  316. 
Fincastle     Resolutions,     many     years 

later   than  Northampton   Protest — 

p.  140. 
Fines— pp.  99,  190,  257. 
Finney,  family  of — p.  70. 
Fish— pp.  61,  294,  312,  321. 
Fish  Nets  and  Traps— p.  321. 
Fisher,   family  of — p.  39. 
Fisher,  John    (1623)— p.  37. 
Fisher,  Philip — p.  247. 
Fishermen — p.   68. 

Fishing   Point   Neck,   on   Old   Planta- 
tion Creek — p.  84. 
Fishing  Point   Church — pp.   255,   257. 
Fitchett,  Edward,  place  of — p.  59.  . 

Fleet,  Capt.  Henry pp.  358,  360. 

Fleet    destroyed   by   Dutch   in    James 

River— p.   183. 
Fleet   of   Gov.    Berkeley,   collected   at 

Old  Plantation— p.  204. 
Fletcher,  family  of— p.  70. 
Fletcher.    Col.    George — pp.    145,   294, 

299. 
Fletcher,  James— p.  294. 
Flood,   Francis — p.    135. 
Flour — p.  293. 

Flower  de  Hundred,  Town  of — p.  33. 
Flowers— p.  316. 

Flushing.  Staten  Island — pp.  268,  270. 
Folly  Creek— pp.  89,  170. 
Forbush,  John — pp.  70,  84,  356. 
Ford,  John,  a  witness  in  1634 — p.  45. 
Fornication — p.  258. 
Forts— pp.    183,    184,    189,    193,    226, 

254. 
Fort  George,  seat  of  Wises' — p.  88. 
Fort  Nassau.  Soarburgh's  ship  carried 

to — p.   125. 
Fortesque,„name  of — p.   70. 
Foster,  Armstrong — pp.  95,  136. 
Foster,  William— p.  236. 
Fowke,  family  of — p.  70. 
Foxcroft,  family  of — pp.  70,  278. 


Foxcroft,  Daniel— pp.  101,  220,  267, 
277. 

Foxes— p.  312. 

Francis  First,  King  of  France,  com- 
missions Verrazano — pp.  3,  6. 

Freeman  Plantation — p.  175. 

Free  Schools — p.  318. 

Freight  Rates  prescribed  for  Tobacco 
—p.  138. 

Frenchmen — p.   71. 

Fullard,  John— p.  314. 

Fuller,  Capt.  William— p.  108. 

Funerals  and  ceremonies — pp.  258, 
320. 

Fur  Trade — p.  94. 

Furniture — p.    313. 

Games — p.  61. 
Game  Protection — p.   312. 
Gardner,  Nathaniel — p.  131. 
Gardener,     Captain,     and     his     ship 

"Adam-and-Eve" — pp.  204,  205. 
Garnell,  John — p.  137. 
Gascoyne,  name  of — p.  39. 
Gaskins,  William — p.  137. 
Gates,  Sir  Thomas — pp.  11.  12. 
Germans — p.  71. 
Getterings,  Mr. — pp.  267,  319. 
Getterings    Controversv,     over    Glebe 

Lands— pp.   101.  267. 
Gibbons,  General  Edward,  of  Boston, 

buys    Scarburgh's    place — 150,    295, 

296. 
Gibbs,   Jonathan — p.   95. 
Gilbert,     Bartholomew,     son     of      Sir 

Humphrey,   visits   E.   S.   in    1603 — 

pp.  9,  10,   13. 
Gillet,  name  of — p.  70. 
Gingaskins  or  Gingascos — pp.  58,  59, 

67. 
Ginger — p.  254. 

Ginguhcloust,  Indian  town  of — p.  98. 
Glebe  Lands— pp.  257,  264,  266,  267. 
Goats— pp.  303,  307. 
Godwin,  Joseph — p.  327. 
Gom«an,  the  name  of — p.  69. 
Goldfine,  Samuel— p.  137. 
Goldsmith,  Capt.  Samuel — p.  117. 
Goodman,   Francis — p.    136. 
Gookin,  John — pp.  74.  261. 
Goring,  name  of — p.  70. 
Gosnold,     Captain    Bartholomew — pp. 

11,  12,  13. 


392 


INDEX 


Governor  &  Council  ordered  to  E.  S. 

to  suppress  Revolt — p.   14"). 
Gower,  William — p.  136. 
Grain — p.  104. 
Graunger,   Nicholas     (1623) — pp.   37. 

135. 
Graves.  Capt.  Thomas,  ancient  planter 

—pp.    28,   37,   40,   41,   42,   43,   257, 

261,  263,  360. 
Graves,  Ann— pp.  256.  259,  261,  262, 

263. 
Graveyard — p.  258. 
Graye,  John — p.   136. 
Great   Nusswattocks   or   Nandua — pp. 

56,  57,  60,  67,  122. 
Greek  Testament — p.  259. 
Greene,  Salomon   (1623) — p.  37. 
"Greenspring,"      seat      of      Governor 

Berkeley — pp.  207,  214. 
Gretna  Green,  of  Virginia — p.  319. 
Griffith's  map  of  Maryland — p.  16. 
Guard  Ships— p.  186.* 
Gunston,  Chad.  (1623)— p.  37. 

Hacke,  Dr.  George  Nicholas,  a  native 

of   Cologne — pp.   71.    135,    143,    144, 

247,  248.  315,  316.  329. 
Hackluyt,  Richard,  clerk — p.  11. 
Half  Breeds— p.  288. 
Hall,  name  of — p.  39. 
Hall,  Jane— p.  323. 
Hall,  Thomas   (1623)— p.  37. 
Hallet,   name  of — p.   70. 
Hallowav,     Dr.     John — pp.     45,     259, 

314.  316. 
Hamby,  Richard — p.   135. 
Hansford,  Col.  Thos.,  first  Martyr  of 

American  Liberty,  hung  on  E.  S. — 

pp.  206,  214. 
Harison,  Richard,  member  of  Gilbert's 

Expedition   (1603) — p.  10. 
Harlowe,  Elizabeth — p.  358. 
Harlowe,  John — p.  358. 
Harmar.  Elizabeth— pp.  359,  360. 
Harmar,  Captain  Charles;    also  spelt 

Harmer,  Harmon  and  Harmor — pp. 

29,  42,  84,  91,  359,  361. 
Harmonsoti.    Thomas — pp.     101,     144, 

197,  246,  276. 
Harmonson,  William — p.  248. 
Harrington,  name  of — p.  70. 
Harrington,   Edward — p.    135. 
Harryson,  Allex. — p.   135. 


Harryson,  Robert — p.  135. 

Hartree,  Elial — p.   136. 

Harvard     College,   first    Principal 

flees  to  E.  S.— pp.  260,  262. 
Harvey,    Sir   John,   Governor   of   V 

ginia— pp.  27,  91,  92,  162,  304.    I 
Harwood.    Nicholas,    cooper — pp.    ! 

357. 
Hastue.  Elias — p.  95. 
Hatsawap,  Indian  family  of — p.  62 
Havens,   appointed   by   Governor  a 

Council— p.    183. 
Hawes,  Master,  letter  to,  from  Arg 

—p.   21. 
Bayley,  John — pp.  240,   354. 
Healing,  Robert— p.  330. 
Healthy  Conditions  on  E.  S. — p.  31 
"Hedric   Cottage,"   seat   of   Scarbui 

—p.  87. 
Hellespont,     Thracian,    similarity 

Eastern  Shore — p.  2. 
Helline,  Susan — p.  186. 
Hendrye,   Andrew — p.    136. 
Henrico,   Plantation  of — p.  23. 
Heresy — p.  268. 

Higby,   Rev.   Thomas— pp.    135,   26 
Higgs,  John— p.  318. 
Hill,  Eleanor — p.  256. 
Hill.    Richard— pp.   55,   56,    117,    1 

136.  220,  247,  256,  265. 
Hills,  Ismale    (1623)— p.  37. 
Hinman,  John — p.  137. 
Hint,  Thomas— p.   135. 
Hitchcocke,  Thos.    (1623)— p.  37. 
"Hobby     Horse,"     Scarburgh's     si 

captures     Boston     vessel — pp. 

147. 
Hog  Tsland — p.  331. 
Hog  Pen  Neck — p.  84. 
Hogs— p.  186. 
Holden,  Charles— p.   101. 
Holland,  Eastern  Shore  owes  mucl 

—p.  80. 
Holland,  Trade  with — p.  295. 
Hollanders — pp.  71.  72. 
Hollinsworth — p.    179. 
Holston  Creek— p.  283. 
Hoist  on,  Robert — p.  181. 
Holt  House  on  site  of  Taylor  He 

Eastville,    used    as    courthouse 

47. 
"Hopeful  Adventure"  episode — p. 
Hopkins,  name  of — p.  70. 


INDEX 


393 


Hopton  Heath — p.  97. 

"Horns,  The,"  original  name  of  East- 
ville— pp.  48,  58,  255. 

Horose.  William — p.  136. 

Horses — pp.  158,  291,  307;  legislation 
concerning  and  number  of — p.   308. 

Horsey,  name  of — p.  70. 

Horsey,   Stephen — pp.    137,    143. 

Hoskins,  Anthony,  first  tavern  keeper 
—pp.  94,  135. 

Hoskins,  Nicholas  (1623) — pp.  37,  40, 
358. 

Hospital  for  Soldiers  wounded  in 
battle  (if  Jamestown — p.  208. 

Hospitality  of  Planters — p.  322. 

Hott.  John— p.   136. 

House  of  Burgesses — p.  85. 

Houses — pp.  38,  98,  289,  290. 

How.  name  of — p.  73. 

Howard,  Philip — p.  325. 

Howard,  Lord — p.  243. 

Howe,  Capt.  Daniel — pp.  145,  147, 
359. 

Howe.  John,  Burgess  and  Commis- 
sioner— pp.  37,  40,  41,  42,  43.  94, 
257.  358. 

Howson,  Robert,  clerk — p.  101. 

Hudson.  Andrew,  the  Dutch  Com- 
mander   (Andreas  Hudde) — p.   124. 

Hudson.   Raphael — p.    137. 

Hudson,  Richard — p.   137. 

Hungar's  Church — p.  277. 

Hungar's  Creek— pp.  31,  32,  48,  74, 
85.  95,   106,  117,  169. 

Hungar's  Neck  or  Old  Town — p.  59. 

Hungar's  Parish — p.  106;  Dutch 
Commissioner  preaches  in — pp.  148, 
250.  ei  seq.;  263.  264,  265,  266, 
269,  271,  273,  276,  277. 

Hunt,   name  of — p.    70. 

Hunt,  Parson,  first  minister  in  Va. — 
pp.   11.   14,  251. 

Hunt,  Thomas — p.   197. 

Hunting  Creek — p.  266. 

"Huntington,"  seat  of  Robins  family 
—p.  234. 

Huntsmen — p.    68. 

Husband,  Richard,  master  of  "Hope- 
ful Adventure" — pp.  141,  145. 

Hutchinson,  name  of — p.  73. 

Hutchinson,  Randolph — p.   135. 

Hutchinson,  Robt.,  clerk — pp.  101, 
174,   175,  220,  248. 


Immigrants,   to   E.    S.    from    Holland 

and  New  England — p.  68,  et  seq.; 

tax  upon — p.  82. 
Indentured    Servants,    escape    of,    to 

Maryland — p.   328;     character   of — 

p.   329. 
Independence     of     E.     S.     desired — p. 

168. 
Independence,     Spirit     of,     born     in 

Northampton    County — p.    138. 
Infanticide,  case  of — p.  335. 
Indians  of  Eastern  Shore;  Origin  and 

character    of;      unlike    Indians    of 

Western   Shore — p.   53 ;     Berkeley's 

letter  about — p.   114. 
Indians,   families   and  number  of,   on 

E.  S.    (in  1700)— pp.  67,  248. 
Indians,   people   of   E.   S.   make   laws 

concerning — p.    153. 
Indians,  penalty  for  intercourse  with 

—p.  41. 
Indians  of  Maryland — pp.  198,  226. 
Indians    destroyed    by   ruse   of   "Con- 
jurer"  Scarburgh — p.   87. 
Indian     scares    and    expeditions — pp. 

115,   116,    117,    124. 
Indians,   supposed   plot  of  the  Dutch 

with — p.    127. 
Indians  die  of  smallpox — p.  187. 
Indian  concubines — p.  320. 
Indian   Lands;     taken   by   whites — p. 

121;     Laws  about — p.   122. 
Indian  names   translated — p.   371. 
Indian  Rock — p.  321. 
Indian   Slaves — p.   288. 
Indian    Troubles   of    1659    and    Assa- 

teague  War — p.  158;    troubles  with, 

in  1676 — p.  223,  et  seq. 
Indiantown  Landing — p.   58. 
Indian  Trade — p.   64,  et  seq. 
Industries — p.  289,  et  seq. 
Ink— p.   254. 
Inscription    on     tombstone    of     John 

Custis  IV— p.  333. 
Inns,   see  Taverns. 
Intoxication  and  Fighting  in  Court — 

p.   327. 
Iron-Work— p.  293. 
Iroquois  Indians — p.  224. 
Islanders — p.  68. 
Ismon,  Henry — pp.  240,  354. 

Jacob,   Isaac — p.   310. 


27 


394 


INDEX 


Jacob,  Capt.  John— pp.  128,  129,  130, 

131,  145,  150. 
Jacobitism   on     E.   S—  pp.   223,    243, 

( /  seq. 
Jacobson,  Lawrence — p.  315. 
Jacobson,   Peter,   Dutch  merchant — p. 

71. 
Jails— pp,   103,  17G. 
James  I.  King  of  England — p.  11. 
James  II,   King  of   England — pp.   85, 

244,  et  seq. 
James,  John — p.  137. 
Jamestown,  Island  and  Town  of — pp. 

13,  23,  33,  81,  82. 
Jarvis,   Christopher — p.    135. 
Jarvis,  Francis — p.  357. 
Jefferson,  Thomas — p.  167. 
Jeffreys,  Gov.  Herbert— p.  223. 
Jenifer,    Capt,    Daniel— pp.   215,    220, 

221,  247,  366. 
Jenkins'   Bridge — p.   283. 
Jenkins,    John — p.    122. 
Jensen,    Abram,    Dutch    merchant — p. 

71. 

hnson,  Abram — p.  296. 

hnson,  Anthony— pp.  285,  286. 

hnson,  George,  "Proteus  of  Heresy" 

—p.  179. 

hnson,   Jacob — pp.   249,   277. 

■hnson,  James — p.   136. 

-hnson,     John,     Sr.— pp.     136,     137, 

285,  286,  296. 

>hnson,  John,  Jr.— pp.  136,  137,  285, 

2S6. 
Johnson,  Obedience — pp.  220,  247. 
Johnson,  Richard — p.  285. 
Johnson,  Capt.  Thomas — pp.  117,  119, 

135.    142.    143,    146,  265. 
Johnson,  William — p.  324. 
Johnsons — p.  2S5. 
Jones,   Capt. — p.   319. 
Jones,  Evan — p.  361. 
Jones,  Farmer — p.   130. 
Jones,  Samuel — p.   136. 
Jones,  William— pp.  31,   135,  142. 
Jordan,  William — p.    136. 
Joynes,  name  of,  and  family — pp.  70, 

89,   170,  278. 
Jueyre,  Nicholas — p.   137. 
Jury;    right  of,  trial  by,   instituted — 

pp.  47,   196. 
Justices,  power  of,  on  E.  S. — p.  83 ; 

character    of— pp.     100,    110,    117; 

trouble   among — pp.    143,    144,   247, 

249. 


Keale,  Richard,  soldier — pp.  14,   1 
Kellam,  family  of — p.  70. 
Kellam,   Richard— pp.    137,   154. 
Kellar,   family  of — p.   70. 
Kemp,  Col.  Matthew — p.  215. 
Kendall,  family  of— pp.  70,  169, 
Kendall,     George;     member     of 

council  of  London  Company — p 
Kendall,  Col.   William— pp.   166,    i 

208,   215,   216,   224,   235,   241, 

247,  275,  313,  314,  363. 
Kent  Island,  dispute  over — pp.  9 

92,  293,  394. 
Kenton,    Henry,    "Chirugion"    of    I 

bert's  Expedition    (1603) — p.   1 
Key,  Rev.  Isaac— pp.  274,  275. 
Kickotan,  Indian  Village    (Hamp 

— pp.  20,  23. 
Kickotanks,     Indian     family     of- 

60,  67. 

Kictopeake,    Indian    Prince    and    i 

ruler  with  Debedeavon — pp.  20 

50,  54,  55,  60,  321. 
Kid,  Captain,  the  Pirate — p.  185. 
Kiffyn,  David— p.   137. 
King,  Tom,  of  the  Gingascos — p. 
King's    Colors    lowered   by   Dutct    i 

Scarburgh's  ship — p.   125. 
King's     Creek— pp.     29,    84,    95,    t 

169,  229,  264. 
King's  Creek,  persons  sentenced  t 

drawn  across  at  stern  of  a  bo 

p.  45. 
Kirke,   Christopher — p.    137. 
Kirkman,  Jeta,  clerk — p.  101. 
Knight,   family  of — p.   39. 
Knight,  Bennamine    (1623)— p.  3 
Knight,    Peter— p.    294. 
Knight,  Robert— p.   131. 
Knott.  James   (1623)— pp.  37,  35 

Lamberton.   Mr. — p.   130. 

Laces— p.  323. 

Lamby,   Richard — p.    197. 

Lamont,  James — p.  288. 

Land  in  Md.  owned  by  Accomack!   i 

—pp.   163,   176. 
Lands;      alienation    of,    by    Indi; 

protective    laws    relating   there 

p.  64. 
Land   Boundaries — p.    150. 
Lands.  Seating  of,  on  E.  S. — p.  2 
Land    Commission    of   Maryland- -pp. 

61,  62. 

Land  Rent — p.  94. 


INDEX- 


SOS 


Larramore.     Captain — pp.     202,     203, 

L  204- 

{Latin  Books — p.  314. 

La  Tour— p.  296. 

Lawrence,  Richard — p.   177. 

Laws,   people  of  E.   S.   authorized   to 

make  their  own — p.   153. 
Layne,  Sir  Ralph — p.   19. 
Leases — p.  299. 
Leatherbury,  name  of — p.  70. 
Leatherbury,  Thos. — p.   157. 
Lee,  Mrs.  Anna — p.  234. 
Lee,  Hancock — pp.  234.  240.  247. 
Lee,  John — p.   135. 
Leene.   Edward — p.    137. 
Leman,   Richard — p.   320. 
Lemman,   Mrs.   James — p.   314. 
Lenaps  Nation — pp.  51,  52. 
Lenny,  Anthony — p.  293. 
Lewis,  John — p.   137. 
Libraries — pp.  272,  313. 
Limbo.  Straits  of — p.   18. 
faquor,  Regulation  of  Sale  of — p.  196. 
|ist  of  Inhabitants  of  E.  S.  in  1623— 
I  p.  37. 

Litigation — pp.   101,  102. 
Little  Annamessex  River — p.   162. 
Little,  John— p.    116. 
Littleton,   familv   of — pp.   70,   88,   89, 

170,  278. 
Littleton,    Ann— p.    313. 
Littleton,   Sir  Edward — p.  88. 
Littleton,    Col.    Nathaniel    I — pp.    42 
f  57,   70.   83:     his  character— pp.   88 
1  94,    95,    103.    105,    112;     Berkeley's 

letter   to — p.    119;     his    letter — pp 

120.    133.    135,   145,    168.   261,   271 

286.  288. 
Littleton.  Col.  Nathaniel  II— pp.  246 

247. 
Littleton.   Sarah — p.   280. 
Littleton.  Col.  Southev  I — pp.  RS.  S9, 

169.    199.    200.    215,"  220.    224,    225, 

274.   280,    2S9.   303.   314,   366,  367. 
Littleton.   Col.   Southey  IT— p.  249. 
Livingstone,     Col.     Robert,     of     New 

York— p.   225. 
Locker,  (apt.  John — p.   111. 
Lock  wood.      Colonel,      destroyed      St. 

George's  Church  in  1861-5— p.  273. 
Loner  Creek — p.  30. 
Jpi>g  Parliament,  see  Parliament. 
%?ng   Tail,   Clavborne's    Pinnace — pp. 
Tpl.  93. 


! 


Longman,  Peter  (1623) — p.  37. 
'Longshoremen — pp.  68,  69,  297. 
Lookout  Station  on  Smith's  Island — 

p.  186. 
Looms — p.  303. 
Lord  Protector— pp.   107,   110;     letter 

from,  about  Md.  boundary — p.  162. 
Lord,   Francis — p.    175. 
Loyal  Gentry  of  Accomack  in  1676 — 

p.  220,  et  seq. 
Lucas,  Samuel — p.  359. 
Luddington,   family  of — p.   70. 
Luddington,  Win. — p.   137. 
Ludlow,  George — p.  307. 
Ludlow,  Esquire — p.   113. 
Ludwell,  Col.  Philip — pp.  203,  215. 
Ludwell,   Thomas,   Sec.  of  Colony — p. 

175.  F 

Luke,  Jno. — p.  101. 

Macklannie,  Mr. — p.  318. 
Machipungo  Inlet — p.  99. 
Madison,  Bishop,  his  map  of  Virginia 

(1807)— p.    16. 
Madoc,    Welsh    Prince,    said    to   have 

visited  N.  C. — p.  4. 
Madoxe,  Alexander — pp.   135,   137.      ^ 
Magellan,  his  expedition  of  1522 — pp. 

4,  8. 
Magge,  Mark — p.  129;  his  depositions 

about   capture   of  Boston   ships — p. 

131. 
Magistrates  and  Constables — p.   196. 
Magothas.   Indian   family — p.   59. 
Magothv    Bav — pp.    59,    84,    85.    99, 

116.  271. 
Magothv     Bay      Bean       (pronounced 

Maggoty) — p.   59. 
Magothv   Bav   Church — pp.   257,   264, 

275. 
Mahogany  Trees  on  E.  S. — p.  317. 
Major,  Christopher — p.  135. 
Major.  Col.  Edward — p.   145. 
Major.  John — p.  95. 
Makemie,    John     Francis,    father     of 

Presbvterianism     in     America — pp. 

250,  281.  282,  2«3. 
Makule,  John— p.  296. 
Malacca.   Ptrait   of — p.    1. 
Malt  House — pp.  87.  302. 
Manaskons.    Indian   family  of — p.    62. 
Manhattan.  Trade  with — p.  295. 
Manhattoe   sachems   send    warning   of 

Dutch  plot— p.   132. 


INDEX 


ig,  Lazarus — p.  259. 
un,  Indian  family  of — p.   62. 
in     and     Manokin     River — pp. 
179,  180. 
name  of — p.  70. 
lliquaick,    Indian     family    of — 
. 

■   and  Reprisal,   first  letter  of, 
d      by     Clayborne     to     Sheriff 
jr  of  Accomack — p.  92. 
ges — p.  319. 

ge  Trees  of  Poeomoke  River — 
9. 

ville — p.  187. 
iw,   name  of — p.  70. 
>tt,   Robert — p.   135. 
11,  Edward— p.   136. 
ill,  Capt.  Roger— p.  70. 
a,  Edward — p.   326. 
,   Capt.   John,  member  of   first 
•il    of    London    Company — pp. 
<),  64. 
-    for  Indian  trade — p.  64;  places 
•stablished — pp.   154,   184. 
,nd,  Indians   of — p.   51;     grant 
to     Baltimore; — p.     90;      many 
ists    to,    from    Accomack — pp. 
05,   107;    troubles  in — p.   155; 
tance  of,  sought  in  Assateague 
— p.     159;      settlement     of — p. 
1  ;     boundary    troubles — pp.    161, 
i,   176,  177. 
"M     viand  Merchant,"  ship  destroyed 
Pirates— p.   184. 
s  Mount — p.  90. 
chusetts,      people      from,      who 
ed    to    Eastern    Shore — pp.    72, 
74,  et  seq. 

khusetts   Indians — p.   50. 
Ires  of  1622  and   1644— pp.  64, 
03,   114,  115. 

omekes,   Indian  tribe — p.    18. 
leagues,  Indian  family  of — pp. 
16. 

pnngoes,     Indian    family    of — 
!0,  67,  122. 

.  Cotton— pp.  259,  262. 
7s,    Benjamin — pp.   135,  265. 
7S,  Phillip— p.  137. 

King  of  the  Matomkins — pp. 
is.   122. 

in-.   Indian  family  of — pp.  60, 
IS. 


Mattahunk,  Mass. — p.  49. 
Mattawaman  Creek — pp.  57,  94,  103, 

169. 
"Mattawaman,"    seat   of   Yeardleys — 

p.  84. 
Mattawames,  Indian  family  of — p.  59. 
Matthews,    Edward,    clerk — pp.     101, 

136,  137. 

Matthews,  Gov.  Samuel — pp.  160,  164. 

Mauericke,  Samuel — p.   131. 

"May    Flower,"    Scarburgh's   vessel — 

p.  292. 
Maynard,  Lieutenant — p.   186. 
Major,  Edward — p.  352. 
Meade,     Bishop,     his     remark     about 

court  records  of  E.  S. — p.  44. 
Mears,  name  of — p.  70. 
Mechanics — p.  68. 
Mecklenburg  Declaration,  many  years 

later   than   Northampton   Protest — 

p.  140. 
Melling.  William,  clerk— pp.  84,   101, 

137,  174,  291,  356. 
Melton,  Jasper — p.  357. 
Menefie,  Mrs.— p.  363. 

Mercer's  Abridgment  of  Laws  of  Vb. 

—p.  166. 
Merchants — p.    293;     prosperity   of — 

p.  298 ;    English  and  Dutch— p.  299. 
Merryday,  Phillip — p.  135. 
Merrvfin,  John — p.    136. 
Methodists— p.  251. 
Metomkin  Inlet— pp.   89,  99,   170. 
Mexico — p.  5. 
Michael,  Adam— p.  2S0. 
Michael,  John— pp.  136,  280,  314,  320. 
Michael.  Margaret — p.  280.- 
Michael,  William — p.  101. 
Mid-Wife— p.   320. 
Military  Districts  and  Precincts — pp. 

103,  116,  117.  121,  190. 
Military  Forces  sent  to  peninsula  to 

suppress  revolt — p.  146. 
Military  Hospital— p.  208. 
Militia— pp.    116,   121,    184,   186,   188. 

et  seq.;    pp.  201,  204,  226,  245. 
Miller,  Thomas— p.   136. 
Millisent.  Francis — p.  358. 
Ministers— p.     250,     et     seq.;      their 

salaries— pp.   258,   260. 
Minks— p.  .311. 
Minshatt,  Jeffery— p.  135. 
-      •  -'-  -    -*).  254. 


INDEX 


397 


Monroe,  Rev.  John — p.  277. 

Moose  Skins— pp.  295,  299,  302. 

Morgan,  Philip — p.  286. 

Mortimer,  name  of — p.  70. 

Moses,    Francis — p.  352. 

Mountney    or    Mountjoy,    Alexander, 

member  of  first  vestry — pp.  46,  257. 
"Mount  Custis" — p.  281. 
Mousay,  House  of,  in  Britain — p.  17. 
Mock  Horn  Islands — p.   186. 
Mohawks,  Indian  tribe  of — p.  225. 
Momford,  Thomas,  Gent. — p.  14. 
Money— pp.  61,  99,  300. 
Moore,  Edward — pp.  136,  248. 
Moore,  Gilbert— p.   186. 
Morgan,  Francis — p.   136. 
Morrison,  Gov.  Francis — pp.  Ill,  112, 

255. 
Moteawaughkin,    Indian    family    of — 

p.  62. 
Moultor,  William — p.   137. 
Munds,  William — p.  135. 
Murder,  case  of — p.  335. 
Murton,  Rolf,  Gent.— p.  14. 
Musical   Instruments — p.   322. 
McXutt,    Mrs.,    owner   of    Pocahontas 

Farm — p.  58. 

Namotacke,     Indian     exchanged     for 

Thomas  Savage — p.  28. 
Nandua,  or  Great  Nusswattocks — pp. 

56,  57,  60.  67,  122. 
Nandua  Creek— pp.  60,  88,  117,  170. 
"Nanjemie,"   Maryland,   seat   of   Gov. 

Stone^p.   108. 
Nantaquaks,    Nanticokes;      Indian 

family  of— pp.    18,   51,   61,    116. 
Nanticoke  Indians — p.  160. 
Narragansetts,   said  to  have  been  in- 
cited against  English — p.  132. 
X;i>s;iwattocks,   or  Bridgetown,   court 

held  at— pp.  47,  59,   109,   117,   155, 

235,  264. 
Nassawattocks  Creek — p.   169. 
Xaswattocks  Parish — pp.  264.  276. 
Nassawattox  Indians — pp.  27,  59,  62. 
Nat  Turner   Insurrection — p.   67. 
Nause,  Indian  tribe — p.   18. 
Naval  Districts  and  Officers — p.  241. 
Naval  Fight,  first  in  America — p.  91. 
Navigable   Creeks   in   1700 — p.   248. 
Navigation   Acts — pp.    124,    137,   296, 

297,  298. 
Neale,  name  of — p.  73. 


Neale,  Capt.  John,  merchant  and 
pioneer— pp.  40,  84,  95,  103,  260, 
261,  299,  356,  357,  363,  364. 

Neech,  Daniel,  clerk — pp.  101,  174, 
175,  249. 

Negroes,  increase  of — pp.  64,  116, 
187,  256;  number  of— pp.  285,  286, 
288. 

Nelson,  name  of — p.  70. 

New  Amsterdam — pp.  127,  143. 

New  England — p.  268. 

New  England,  place  in,  called  Acco- 
mack, by  John  Smith — pp.  49,  50. 

New  England  Church — p.  260. 

New  England,  dissenters  among  Puri- 
tans there — p.  73 ;  Indians  and 
Dutch  plot  against  English  of — p. 
132. 

New  England,  Trade  with — p.  295. 

New  Netherlands,  Settlement  of — pp. 
124,  126,  143. 

Newell,   Richard— p.   135. 

Newport,  Thomas,  same  as  Ensign 
Thomas  Savage — pp.  32,  37. 

Newport,  Captain  Christopher — pp. 
12,  13,  28. 

Newton,  Richard — p.  359. 

Newtown,  Mass.,  Immigrants  from — 
p.  73. 

Nicholson,  Gov.— pp.  185,  244,  276, 
278,  328. 

Nine  Pins,  Game  of,  verv  popular — 
p.  327. 

Nominy — p.   128. 

Non-Conformists— pp.  126,  243,  259, 
269,  271,  275. 

North  Carolina,  called  "Dieppa,"  by 
Verrazano — p.  4. 

Northampton  County,  size  of — pp.  1, 
172,  249;  when  formed — p.  96; 
derivation  of  name — p.  97;  not 
represented  in  Assembly — p.  137; 
inhabitants  desire  independence — p. 
138. 

Northampton  Grievances — pp.  172, 
195,  et  seq.      (Text  of,  in  full.) 

Northampton's  Pledge  to  Common- 
wealth of  England — pp.  134,  et 
seq.;  list  of  signers — p.  135,  et  seq. 

Northampton  Protest — p.  137,  et  seq. 

Northampton  Revolt  of  1652;  causes 
of;  "Taxation  without  representa- 
tion"— p.   138,  et  seq. 

Norton,  Toby— p.   117. 


398 


IXDEX 


Norwood,  Col.  Henry,  his  voyage  to 
Va.— pp.  Ill,   112,  113,  308,  322. 

Nottinghams— pp.   70,   71,   278,   281. 

Nottingham,    Mr. — p.    235. 

Nottingham,   Benjamin — p.   277. 

Nottingham,  Richard — p.   136. 

Nowmetrawen,  King  of  the  Ches- 
conessex — p.   60. 

Nuthall,  John— pp.   135,  363. 

"Occahannock,"     Scarburgh's     Estate, 

sold  to  Bostonian — pp.  149,  299. 
Occahannock   Creek — pp.   87,  98,    117, 

122,   130,   169,  172. 
Occahannock    Indians,    see    Accohan- 

nock. 
Occahannock  Parish — pp.  171,  266. 
Occahone,   lone — p.   368. 
Occahone,  Phillip — p.  367. 
Offenses,  character  of,  in  1664 — p.  47. 
Okiawampe,  Indian  King  of  Accomack 

— p.     55 ;     his    will     on    record     in 

Eastville— pp.  55,  60,   117. 
Old    Plantation,    first    settlement    on 

E.  S.— pp.  22,  202,  203,  233,  257. 
Old  Plantation  Creek— pp.  31,  32,  84, 

95,   103,   116,  117. 
Old  Town  or  Hungar's  Neck — p.  59. 
Oldham,  name  of — pp.  70,  73. 
O'Neal,  Hugh— p.  269. 
O'Neill.  Grace— p.  362. 
Onancock,  Town  of— pp.  16,  67,  233. 
Onancock  Creek— pp.  88,  98,  170,  283. 
Onancocks,   Indian   family  of — p.   60; 

complain  of  loss  of  land — p.  121. 
Ornaws,  Indian  witness — p.  115. 
Onandagas,   N.   Y.   tribe  of— p.   224. 
Onecren,  of  Pocomoke — p.  118. 
Opechancanough,    son   of   Powhatan — 

pp.  28,  29,  33,  58. 
Ordeal  of  Touch  or  Bier  Test— p.  334, 

et  seq. 
Origin  of  people — p.  68. 
Orphans'  Court — p.   196. 
Osbourne,  Capt. — p.  62. 
Owsamekin,    sachem    of    Acooemack — 

p.  50. 
Oxen— p.  307. 
Ovstermen — p.   68. 
Oysters— pp.  61,  290,  312. 

Palisades — p.  254. 

Palmer,  Rev.  Thomas — p.   265. 


Pamunky    or    Pamaunkee    River    and 

Indians — p.   51. 
Panewell,  John — pp.   135,  310. 
Pannell,  John — pp.   135,  310. 
Paper — p.   254. 
Parahokes,      King     of     the      Chinco- 

teagues — p.   60. 
Parishes — pp.  250,  et  seq.;    264,  265, 

266. 
Parish    Churches — pp.    250,    et    seq.; 

264,  268,  269,  272. 
Parish  Clerk — pp.  259,  260,  261. 
Parliament — pp.    85,    105,    106,    108, 

124;  Northampton  resists — pp.  134, 

137,   138,  141,  265. 
Parliamentary      Commissioners  —  pp. 

108,  141. 
Parliamentary  Forces  in  Va. — p.  138. 
Parliamentary  Party  in  Northampton 

County— pp.    138,   164,   168. 
Parliamentary  War,  new  of — p.  102. 
Parke,  Daniel— pp.  279.  331. 
Parke,  Frances— pp.  331,  348. 
Parke,  Thomas   (1623)— p.  37. 
Parker  family— pp.  89,  278. 
Parker,  Elizabeth— pp.  322,  323. 
Parker,  George — p.  248. 
Parker,  John— pp.  101,  286. 
Parker,  Peter — p.  89. 
Parker,  Robert — pp.  265,  286. 
Parker's   Creek — p.   266. 
Parks,  name  of — p.  39. 
Parker,  Charles — p.  315. 
Parkes,  John — p.   135. 
Parramore's  Beach — p.  331. 
Parramore,    John,    punished    for   pro- 
fanity— pp.  44,  135. 
Parramore,  name  of — pp.  39,  70. 
Parsonage — p.  257. 
Parsons,  name  of — p.  39. 
Parsons,  John   (1623) — p.  37. 
Pascataquaek,  Conn. — p.  260. 
Patents,   Early — pp.   39,   40;     bounds 

ordered  to  be  recorded — p.  94.     See 

Appendix    for    abstracts    of    early 

land   patents. 
Patrick,  Mrs.  Judith — p.   156. 
Patrols  for  coast — p.   186. 
Patuxent— pp.   156,  272. 
Payne,   William,  a   witness — p.   46. 
Peachburg,  or  "The  Horns" — pp.  201, 

235. 
Pedington,  Henry — p.  314. 


INDEX 


399 


Penal   Church  Laws — p.  253. 

Penley,  William— p.  314. 

People's      Committee,      Northampton 

County  Protest,  1652— pp.  139,  143. 
Pepper — p.  254. 

Perkinson,  Lieut.  Marmaduke — p.  32. 
Perry,  Henry— p.  363. 
Petit  House — p.   103. 
Petition      to      Gov.      Berkeley      after 

Bacon's  Rebellion    (Text  in  full)  — 

p.  215,  et  seq. 
Pewter— p.  299. 
Pighles,   Daniel— p.   358. 
Piggott.  Francis — pp.   101,  246,  247. 
Pigot.  James — p.  275. 
Pigot,  Ralph— p.  248. 
Pigs— p.  311. 

Pilgrims  of  New  England — p.   72. 
Pioneers — p.  68. 
Piper,  name  of — p.  39. 
Piper,  James  Vocat   (1623)— p.  37. 
Piracy.   Scarburgh's   men   commit  act 

of— p.  29. 
Pirates — p.   184,   et  seq. 
Pirket,  Miles,  salt  boiler — pp.  24,  25. 
Pitt,  name  of — p.  70. 
Pitt,  Col.  Robert— pp.  145,  248. 
Pitts,  name  of — p.  70. 
Planters,   power  and  character  of — p. 

99. 
Plover — p.  54. 

Plymouth  Records,   and  those  of  Ac- 
comack   oldest    in    U.    S. — p.    43; 

called  Accomack— pp.  49,  50,  262. 
Pocahontas  Farm — p.   58. 
Pocomoke    River — pp.    1,    3,    62,    63; 

naval  fight  in— pp.  91,  177,  178. 
Pocomoke  Sound — p.  162. 
Pocomokes,  Indian  family  of — pp.  62, 

118. 
Point  Comfort,  port  of  entry — p.  82. 
Poke,  G.,  clerk— p.  101. 
Polecats — p.  311. 
Political   Parties,   division   of,   during 

Bacon's  Rebellion — p.   199. 
Polling  Places — p.   149. 
Pomegranate — p.   316. 
Pomoceomon,  King  of  Mattawames — 

p.   59. 
Ponies,  Wild— pp.  307.  308.  311. 
Population  in  1623  and  1625— pp.  36, 

39;     in    1634— p.    81;     in    1643— p. 

82;    causes  of  rapid  increase  in — p. 

82;    in   1653 — p.   153;     at  Restora- 


tion—p.   171;    in  1666— p.  187;    in 

1700— p.  246. 
Porter,  Peter   (1623)— p.  37. 
Ports  of  Entry — p.  231. 
Pory,     John,     Secretary     of     Colony, 

Founder  of  salt  works  on  E.  S.,  and 

of   first   plantation   on   peninsula — 

pp.   22,   24,   27,   28,   29,   30,   32,   54, 

303. 
Pott,  Capt.  Francis — pp.  287,  363. 
Pott,  John — p.  363. 
Poulsons — pp.  70,  278. 
Poultry— p.  311. 
Powell,  name  of — p.  39. 
Powell,   John,   soldier — p.    14. 
Powell,  John — p.  277. 
Powell,     Mary,     scandal-monger  —  p. 

272. 
Powell,  Samuel — p.   137. 
Powell,  Thomas   (1623) — pp.  37,  358. 
Powhatan,    King,    Indian     Chief — pp. 

14,  28,  29,  33,  50,  52,  58,  300. 
Powhatan    Confederacy — pp.    51,    52, 

61. 
Powhatan    Indians — pp.    25,    28,    33, 

49,  et  seq. 
"Poynt  House" — pp.   103,  109. 
Poynt  Ployer — p.  17. 
Precincts — p.  240. 
Preeninge,  William — p.   137. 
Presbyterianism — p.  250,  et  seq. 
Presbyterian    Church,    founding    of — 

p.  281. 
Price,  Jenkin — pp.  112,  122. 
Price,  Thomas — pp.  137,  180. 
Primo-Geniture.   rule  of,  not  popular 

—p.  319. 
Prince,  Edward — p.  357. 
Proclamation   of   Royalists    on    E.    S. 

upon  death  of  Chas.  I — p.  110. 
Profit,   Jonas,   soldier — p.    14. 
Protest  Committee — p.   138. 
Protestants — p.   243. 
Protestantism — p.    183. 
Protestant  Insurrection  in  Maryland, 

led    by    Stone   of   Northampton — p. 

105,  et  seq. 
Puddington,  George — p.  362. 
Pungoteague  Creek — pp.  86,  99,   122, 

170,  283,  285. 
Pungoteague,    Indian     village    of— p. 

67;     fort  ordered  to  be  built  at — 

pp.   183,  266. 


400 


INDEX 


Punishment,  for  scandal  -  monger, 
drunkard,  liar  and  thief — p.  45,  et 
seq.,  75;  other  punishments — p. 
272. 

Puritans— pp.  72,  73,  74,  75,  79,  11, 
256,  259,  260,  269,  270,  273. 

Puritan  Element  of  Eastern  Shore 
population — pp.  74,  75,  76,  144. 

Puritan  Ministers — pp.  74,  250,  259, 
et  seq. 

Puritan  Movement — p.  72. 

Puritan  Party  on  E.  S.— pp.  168,  170. 

Quakers— pp.  63,  250,  269. 

Quakers     on    E.     S. — p.     155;      laws 

against  and  persecution  of — p.  156; 

driven     into     Maryland — pp.      161, 

162;     persecuted   by  Scarburgh — p. 

178;     troubles    at    Annamessex — p. 

179;    reported  meeting  of — p.  180. 
Quaker   Meeting   House,   the  first — p. 

156. 
Qualification  for  Office — p.  196. 
Quarter  Court,  appeal  to — p.  83. 
Quequashkecaquick,  Indian   family  of 

—p.  62. 
Quills,  William   (1623)— p.  37. 
Quilts— p.  313. 
Quinby's     Farm     or     "Warwick" — p. 

279. 
Quinepiack,  Conn. — p.  262. 
Quit  Rents — p.   176. 

Races,  Horse — p.  310. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter— pp.  10,  11,  251. 

Ratcliffe,    family  of — p.   70. 

Ratcliffe,  Charles— p.  136. 

Ratcliffe,  John,  member  of  first  coun- 
cil of  London  Company — p.  12. 

Read,  James,  soldier — p.   14. 

Rebels  on  E.  S. — p.  215,  et  seq. 

Redding  John — p.    193. 

Reformed  Church— pp.  269,  270. 

Reformed  Churchmen  of  Holland — p. 
79. 

"Rehoboth"— pp.  281,  283. 

Religion — p.  250,  et  seq. 

Religious  Comparison — p.   251. 

Religious  Sentiment,  Early — p.  251, 
et  seq. 

Religious  Views,  Liberal — pp.  250, 
et  seq;    265,  269. 

Rennett,  Martin — p.   314. 


Representatives   of   E.    S.    in    Council 

and  Assembly  during  17th  Century 

—p.  343. 
Reservations    created    for    Indians    in 

1654 — p.  64. 
Restoration — p.   164,  et  seq. 
Revell,     Randall— pp.     45,     122,     136, 

161,  179. 
Revell's  Island— p.  331. 
Revolt,  Spirit  of,  suppressed  by  Gov. 

Bennett— p.   164. 
Ribbons — p.  323. 
Riccards  Cliffs — p.  18. 
Rice,  John — p.  293. 
Rich,  Sir  Nathaniel — p.  23. 
Richardson,     Rev.     Mr.     Daniel — pp. 

274,  275. 
Richett,  Mick — p.  136. 
Riding,  Thomas — p.  220. 
Roads,  Bay-side  and  Sea-side — pp.  48, 

291. 
Roanoke,  Indian  bead  money — pp.  60, 

116.  119,  122,  300. 
Roanoke     Island     Colonists,     Gilbert 

goes  in  search  of — p.  9. 
Roberts,  John — p.  135. 
Robins,  family  of — pp.  70,   169,  278. 
Robins,  Dorothy — p.  362. 
Robins,   Edward— p.   362. 
Robins,     Capt.    John — pp.    246,    247, 

272,  275,  276,  277. 
Robins,    Mary,    second   wife   of   Capt. 

John  Savage — p.  30. 
Robins,  Col.  Obedience,  of  Cheriton — 

pp.  30,  31,  33,  41,  42,  43,  56,  75,  96, 

97,    103,    116.    130,    131,    135,    142, 

168,    170,    171,   234,   257,   261,   265, 

293,  361. 
Robins,  Sampson — p.   135. 
Robins,  Samuel — p.   137. 
Robinson.  Jacob — p.   249. 
Robinson,  John — pp.  117,  137.    -*" 
Robinson,   Littleton — p.   249. 
Robinson,  Tally — pp.  249,  280. 
Robinson,    William,    Quaker    Mission- 
ary— pp.  155,  156. 
Rocky  Branch  of  Hungar's  Creek — p. 

48. 
Rodgers,  name  of — p.  39. 
Rogue's  Island — p.  331. 
Rolfe,   John,   married   Pocahontas — p. 

22. 
Rolling-Houses — p.  231. 


INDEX 


401 


Rooty  Branch — p.  266. 

Roper,    William    II,    Commander    of 

Accomack— pp.   42,   57,   94,   95,   97, 

103. 
Round  Heads — p.  126. 
"Royal  Oak,"  ship  seized — p.  238. 
Royalists — pp.  75,  102;    proclamation 

of,  on  E.  S.— pp.  110,  146,  167,  170. 
Royalist    Religious    Party — pp.    265, 

269. 
Royalist  Revolt,  led  by  Scarburgh — 

p.  138,  et  seq.;    141. 
Rozier,  Col.  Benjamin — p.  264. 
Rozier,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Hungar's  Parish 

—pp.   74,   259,  261,   263,   264,   265, 

314. 
Ruckland,  Richard,  writer  of  slander- 
ous song  about  Ann  Smith — p.  46. 
Rum— p.  290. 
Russell,  Walter,  "Dr.  of  Physicke"— 

pp.  14,   16. 
Rutter,  John — p.   136. 
Rynners,  or  Rynnuse,  Paul — p.  335. 

Sackler,  John — p.   355. 

Salisbury,  name  of — p.  70. 

Salt   Boilers    at    Dale's    Gift — p.   22, 

et  seq. 
Salt    Industry,    History    of — pp.    254, 

303,   et  seq. 
Sanders,    Widowe,    a    peculiar    wager 

about — p.  46. 
Sandys,  Geo.,  Treasurer  of  Company 

—p.  35. 
San  Miguel,  Spanish  town  on  James 

River   (1524) — p.  8. 
Samso,     a     West     Indian     slave — pp. 

256,  286. 
Sarapinagh,   Indian  tribe — p.   18. 
Sassafras  Root — p.   299. 
Satchell,    name     and     family    of — pp. 

70,  278. 
Saunders,  Roger,  ancient  planter — pp. 

40,  42,  43,  357,  358. 
Savage,    family    of,    oldest    family   in 

U.  S.— pp.  29,  39,  70,  84,  169,  278. 
Savage,    Capt.    John,    son    of    Ensign 

Thomas — pp.  30,  31,   116,   166,  318. 
Savage,      Ensign      Thomas,      ancient 

planter  and  first  settler  of  E.  S. — 

pp.  28.  29,  30,  32,  33,  37,  40,  56,  64, 

318,  357. 
Savage,    Thomas,    carpenter — pp.    40, 

137. 
Savage's  Neck— pp.  29,  40,  84,  116. 


Scarburgh,  the  name  of  (frequently 
appears  as  Scarborrow,  Scar- 
borough, Scarbrugh) — p.  69. 

Scarburgh,  family;  founding  of — pp. 
84,  85,  86,  114,  278. 

Scarburgh's  Report  on  Boundary — p. 
177. 

Scarburgh,   Bennett — p.   249. 

Scarburgh,  Sir  Charles,  physician  at 
court  of  St.  James — p.  85. 

Scarburgh,  Col.  Charles — p.  62;  his 
character — pp.  86,  107,  126,  133, 
136,  150,  170,  176,  190,  200,  208, 
215,  216,  241,  243,  244,  246,  247. 

Scarburgh,  Capt.  Edmund,  first  of 
name  in  America — pp.  41,  42,  43, 
81,  85. 

Scarburgh,  Col.  Edmund — pp.  56,  62; 
his  character  and  offices — pp.  85, 
94,  101,  102,  103,  105,  107,  114;  his 
expedition  against  Indians  —  pp. 
117,  118,  119,  120,  124;  his  vessel 
captured  by  the  Dutch — pp.  125, 
126;  his  ship  captures  Boston 
vessel— pp.  128,  131,  133,  135; 
leader  of  revolt — pp.  138,  139;  ac- 
tion of  General  Assembly — p.  145; 
accused  of  selling  arms  to  Indians 
—pp.  146,  149;  flees  from  E.  S., 
visits  Boston  and  New  Amsterdam 
—pp.  147,  149,  150;  returns  to 
E.  S. — pp.  151,  152;  his  expedition 
against  Assateague  Indians  —  p. 
159;  trouble  with  Maryland — pp. 
161,  162;  Calvert-Scarburgh  Line — 
pp.  164,  165,  166;  heads  cavalier 
element--pp.  168,  169,  171,  199; 
his  part  in  formation  of  Accomack 
County — p.  171;  his  designs — p. 
172;  divides  peninsula — pp.  173, 
176;  Boundary  Commissioner — 
pp.  177,  178;  his  trip  to  Annames- 
sex — p.  179;  his  agreement  with 
Calvert — pp.  181,  189;  dies  of 
smallpox— pp.  190,  194,  238,  265, 
267.  273.  286,  292,  293,  295,  298, 
302,  303,  304,  305,  306. 

Scarburgh,  Mrs.  Col.  Edmund — pp. 
102,   170,   273. 

Scarburgh,  Edmund  III — pp.  220, 
247,  248,  299. 

Scarburgh,  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Capt.  Edmund,  married  John  Wise 
I— p.  87. 

Scarburgh,  Henry — p.  246. 


402 


INDEX 


Scarburgh,   Matilda— p.    199,   286. 
Scarburgh,   Matthew — p.    185. 
Scarburgh,  Tabitha— p.  286. 
Scarburgh,  William— pp.  200,  216. 
Scarburgh's  Neck — pp.   59,  87. 
Schools — p.  317. 
Scott,  name  of — p.  39. 
Scott,  Nicholas — p.  135. 
Scott,  Walter   (1623)— pp.  37,  358. 
Scott,  William,  pilot  of  "Sea  Horse" 

—p.  125. 
Scovell,  Geo.,  a  witness — p.  46. 
Seabright,  Solomon — p.  352. 
"Sea     Horse,"     one     of     Scarburgh's 

vessels,   her  colors   lowered  by  the 

Dutch— pp.    125,    152. 
Sea-Side  Road— p.  48. 
Secretary  of  Colony,  his  tenants  settle 

Accomack — p.     29,     et     seq.;     his 

power  to  lease  lands — p.  48. 
Selby,  Toby— pp.  119,  136. 
Separate     Province,     inhabitants     of 

Northampton  desire  a — p.   138. 
Sermons— pp.  254,  258. 
Servants,  Indentured — p.  69. 
Settingbourne  Parish — p.  271. 
Severn,  name  of  and  family — pp.  70, 

278. 
Severne,  Dr.  John— pp.  144,  314,  316, 

330,  363. 
Sexton— p.  260. 
Sheep— p.  303. 
Sheets— pp.  294,  312,  313. 
Shepheard,  John — p.  277. 
Sheriffs,   provision   for — p.    81;     oath 

of  first^pp.   108,   196,  197,  247. 
Shingles— p.  293. 
Ship-builders    and    ship-building — pp. 

68,  94,  236,  289,  293. 
Shirley    Hundred.    Plantation    of — p. 

23. 
Shoals— p.  197. 
Shoe  Factory— pp.  87,  302. 
Shoemakers — p.  302. 
Sboes— p.  295. 
Shrimp — p.  54. 

Sicklemore,  Michel  1,  Gent. — p.  14. 
Silverware — p.  312. 
Six  Nations,  troubles  with,  and  coun- 
cil concerning  in  Albany — p.  224. 
Slaiting,  Win.  W— p.  197. 
Slaughter,  Rebecca — p.  359. 
Slaves— pp.    151,   256,   285,  286,  290, 

322. 


Sloat,  name  of,  from  Dutch  Van  Slot 
—p.  72. 

Slutkill  Neck,  derivation  of  name — 
p.  87. 

Small,  Robert,  soldier — p.  14. 

Smallpox,  among  Indians  in  1667 — p. 
63;    plague  of,  on  E.  S.— p.  187. 

Smart,  William— p.  363. 

Smith,  name  of — p.  39. 

Smith,  Ann,  defamed  by  Richard 
Ruckland— pp.  46,  47. 

Smith,  Capt.  John — pp.  2,  9,  11,  12, 
13,  14;  his  description  of  visit  to 
E.  S.— pp.   15,  27,  50,  177,  321. 

Smith,  Maj.  Lawrence — pp.  215,  225. 

Smith,  Richard— pp.   136,   137,  265. 

Smith,  Thomas— pp.  84,  356. 

Smith,  Thomas,  of  Kent  Island,  sen- 
tenced to  be  hung  for  piracy — p.  91. 

Smith.   William    (1623)— pp.   37,   40, 
136,  358,  369. 
.  Smith  Island,  Maryland — p.   162. 

Smith's  Island,  off  Cape  Charles.  Site 
of  first  settlement  on  E.  S. — pp.  10, 
15,  21,  24,  25,  84;  tobacco  stored 
on  for  Dutch— pp.  148,  186,  264, 
303. 

Smith's   Field— pp.  264,  275,  310. 

Smithfield,  town  of — p.  33. 

Smothergall,  Samuel — p.   137. 

Snuggling— pp.  296,  297. 

Snipe — p.  54. 

Snuffers— p.  313. 

Social  Conditions — p.  316. 

Society,  elements  of  Early  Acco- 
mack— p.  69. 

Society  of  Friends — p.   155. 

Somers,  Sir  George — p.  11. 

Somerset,  name  of — p.  70. 

Scmiinevville,  name  of — p.  70. 

Sone,   Samuel — p.    135. 

Southampton,  earl  of — p.  253. 

Southampton  River,  warehouse  in 
(1632)— p.   51. 

Southev  or  Southy,  name  of — p.  70. 

Southe'y,  Mr. — p. '  286. 

Southev,  Ann.  wife  of  Nathaniel 
Littleton— pp.  70,  271. 

South ren,  Edward — p.  136. 

Spady,  name  and  family  of — pp.  69, 
278. 

Spears  and  spearing  fish — p.  321. 

"Speedwell,"  British  vessel — p.  130. 


INDEX 


4(K 


Spencer,  William— pp.   101,   197,  246, 

247,  264. 
Spoons — p.  313. 
Sport    and    Sporting    proclivities    of 

E.  S.  people— p.  321. 
Sprigge,   Thomas — p.    135. 
Stallinge,   Captain,   killed   in  duel  by 

('apt.  Epps,   1619— pp.  39.  330,  364. 
Star     Chamber,     its     decision    as    to 

Maryland — p.  90. 
States  General — p.  126. 
Stanley,  name  of — p.  70. 
Stanley,  William — p.  135. 
Steers— p.  307. 

Stegg,    Thomas,   Parliamentary   Com- 
missioner— pp.   125,  126. 
Stephens,   Mollie,   "the   Injin   Queen," 

anecdote — pp.  58,  59. 
Stevens,  John — p.  111. 
Stevens,     Major     William — pp.     Ill, 

112,  136,  281. 
Stingaree  Point — p.  20. 
Stoakley,  John— p.   277. 
Stockings — p.  254. 
Stockley,   Francis — p.  84. 
Stocks— p.  258. 
Stone    (Minerals)— p.  289. 
Stone,  name  of — p.  73. 
Stone,     Capt.     John,    of    Mass.,     and 

Northampton  County — p.  74. 
Stone,  Mathew — p.  136. 
Stone,  Verlinda— pp.  256,  259. 
Stone,     Gov.     William,     of     Hungar's 

Parish   and   Maryland — pp.   39,   57, 

74,  95,  106,  107,  108,  255,  256,  257, 

259,  269. 
Storehouses,  Indian — p.   104. 
Stratton,  Benjamin — p.  277. 
Stratton.  John— pp.   101,  365. 
Stringer,  Hillary — p.   247. 
Stringer.    Capt.  "  John— pp.    130,   131, 

135,    142,    165,    173,   220,   246,   247, 

275. 
Stringer,   Stephen — p.   135. 
Stuarts,  loyalty  to— p.  242. 
Stubbins,   Lee — p.   95. 
Sturges,  John — -p.  365. 
Stuvvesant,  Gov.  Peter— pp.  125,  127, 

132,  133,  142. 
St.   Christopher,  Island  of,   in  Mary- 
land—p.  39. 
St.  George's  Hundred,  only  Hundred 

on  the  Peninsula — p.   39. 


St.  George's  Parish,  Accomack  County 

—pp.  39,  266. 
St.     George's     Church,     Pungoteague 

(Ace    of    Clubs    Church)— pp.    86, 

272,  273,  275. 
"St.     John     of    Amsterdam,"     Dutch 

ships  captured — p.  146. 
Subscribers  to  Petition  to  Berkeley — 

p.  220. 
Summary   of   Conditions   on   E.   S.   in 

17th  Century— pp.  336,  337. 
Sunnill  or  Sumsill,  John    (1623) — p. 

37. 
Surveyors  and  Surveying — pp.  85,  94, 

186,  241,  249,  291. 
Susquehanna  River,  trade  in — pp.  294, 

295. 
Symon,  Jonathan — p.  359. 
Symmonds,  Mr. — p.  291. 

Tangier  Island — p.  16. 

Tankard,  John— p.  101. 

Tanning— p.  302. 

Tapestry— p.  313. 

Tariff— p.  298. 

Tatham,  name  of — p.  70. 

Taverns,  first  license  for — pp.  94,  104, 
109,  175,  196;  quarrels  and  intoxi- 
cation in — p.   328. 

Taxation  without  Representation ; 
Protest  against  (1652)— p.  139, 
et  seq. 

Taxes  and  Taxation;  six  pence  per 
capita  for  immigrants,  E.  S.  ex- 
empted— pp.  82,  99 ;  exemption 
from— pp.  201,  195,  242,  285. 

Taylor,  widow,  her  row  with  Goody 
Curtis — p.  44. 

Taylor,  John— p.   136. 

Taylor,  Phillip,  first  sheriff.  Clay- 
borne's  Lieutenant  in  Kent  Island 
troubles— pp.  57,  92,  97,  98,  103. 

Tavlor,  Walter — p.  367. 

Taylor,  William— pp.   136,   265,  303. 

Taylor  House  in  Eastville  used  as 
courthouse — p.   47. 

Taylor's  Bridge,  the  headless  man  of; 
a  tradition — p.  331. 

Teach,  Edward,  real  name  of  Black- 
beard  the  Pirate— p.  186. 

Teach,  Mrs.  Marv  (n6e  Justice) — p. 
187. 

Teackle,  Margaret — p.  323. 


404 


INDEX 


Teackle  (Teakle),  Rev.  Thomas — pp. 
86,  101,  102,  122,  170,  205,  268,  272, 
273,  274,  275,  314,  322,  324. 

Teeslocke,   John— p.    136. 

Tegg,  Richard— p.  265. 

Teggar,   Richard — p.    137. 

Tenants  of  London  Company  and  of 
Secretary  Pory — p.  40. 

Tepiapon,  King  of  the  Nuswattocks — 
pp.  59,  122. 

Terrapin— pp.  54,  290,  312. 

Territorial  disposition  of  political 
parties — p.    168,   et  seq. 

Thatcher,  John— p.   136. 

Theatrical  Performances;  "Ye  Bare 
and  Ye  Cubb,"  the  first  in  America 
—p.  324. 

Thorn,  Capt.   William— p.   180. 

Throgmorton,  John    (1623)— p.   37. 

Thurston,  Capt.  Robt.— p.   131. 

Thurston,  Thomas,  Quaker  Missionary 
—p.    155. 

Tilney,  John— pp.   135,  314. 

Tithes— pp.   254,   260. 

Tithables,  in  1653— p.  153;  in  1666— 
pp.    187,   195;     in  1700— p.  249. 

Tithables,  a  long  list  of  names  of,  in 
1666,  not  indexed — p.  373. 

Tobacco;  inspectors — p.  94;  ware- 
houses— pp.  94,  98;  as  currency — 
pp.  99,  102,  105,  137;  stored  on 
Smith's  Island  for  Dutch — pp.  147, 
150;  price  of — p  192;  tobacco  cut- 
ting troubles — p.  223,  et  seq.;  231 
238,  el  seq.;  legislation  concerning 
—p.  237,  et  seq.;  254,  260,  297, 
301;  tobacco  tickets  used  as  cur- 
rency— p.  300. 

Todkill,  Anas,  soldier — p.  14. 

Toft,  Annie — p.  367. 

Tombstones — pp.    278,    289. 

Tottans,  Mass. — p.   49. 

"Town  Field,"  Site  of  original  town 
of  Accomack — pp.  31,  235. 

Towns  and  Villages — p.  27,  et  seq ;  98. 
Town-building — p.  223,  et  seq.;  226; 
legislation  concerning — p.   227. 

Trade,  exemptions  of  E.  S. — p.  83; 
regulations — p.  227,  et  seq.;  236, 
et  seq.;  151,  154,  184,  197,  289, 
et  seq.;    illicit  trade,  296,  297. 

Traditions— pp.  316,  330. 

Transquakin,  Indian  family  of — p.  62. 


Traveller,  Alice  and  George,  husband 
and  wife,  prosecute  Robt.  Wyard 
for  scandalous  speeches  about  Alice 
—p.  46. 

Treaty,  proposed  by  Dutch  with  Vir- 
ginia—pp.  127,   142,  147,   148. 

Trial  by  Jury  instituted — p.  47. 

Troops,  orders  for  training — p.  98; 
sent  to  E.  S.  for  Assateague  War — 
p.  161;  number  and  character  of, 
in  Bacon's  Rebellion — pp.  204,  205, 
et  seq.;  arrive  from  England — p. 
214. 

Truman,  Thomas — p,  135. 

Tullys— pp.  69,  330. 

Turkish  Merchant — p.  71. 

Tutors— p.  317. 

Tyers,  John   (1623)— p.  37. 

Tyng,  Hannah,  wife  of  Thomas 
Savage — pp.  29,  56. 

Uncas,  Mohegan  Sachem   and   ally  of 

English  in  New  England — p.  132. 
Upshur.  Arthur — pp.   107,  279. 
Upshur,  Thomas  T..  VI— pp.  59,  158. 
T "pshurs— pp.   70,   89,   169,  278. 
Utensils — p.  313. 

Valences — p.  312. 

Van  der  Donck,  Adrian,  of  New  Am- 
sterdam— pp.  133,  268,  269. 

Van  Hattem,  Burgomaster  of  New 
Amsterdam  and  treaty  commis- 
sioner— p.  143. 

Van  Netzen,  Goslin— pp.  329,  330. 

Van  Slot,  Abram,  Dutch  merchant — 
p.  71. 

Van  Tienhoven,  Treasurer  of  New 
Amsterdam,  treaty  commissioner — 
p.  143. 

Vaughans — p.  278. 

Vaughan,  Grace — p,  287. 

Vaughan,  Richard— pp.  117,  135,  265. 

Vaux,  Henry,  Quaker  sympathizer — 
p.   155. 

Verrazano.  Giovanni  de,  The  Navi- 
gator, discovers  the  Eastern  Shore 
in  1524.  His  description  of  the 
peninsula — pp.  1,  3,  4,  5,  6,  8,  9, 
13,  50,  52. 

Verrazano,  Hieronimo  de,  map  of — 
p.  5. 

Vesconte,  Maggiolo,  map  of — p.  5. 


INDEX 


405 


Vestry  and  Vestrymen — pp.  195,  256, 
257,   et  seq.;    pp.   261,  272,  277. 

Vestry  Court — p.  265. 

Vessels,  Merchant — pp.  292,  293. 

Vikings,  pre-Columbian  visitors — p.  4. 

Virginia   Cloth— p.   303. 

"Virginia  Merchant,"  the  ship;  Voy- 
age of — p.  11. 

Wachetak,  Indian  family  of — p.  62. 
Waddelone,  Nicholas — p.   135. 
Waddy,  name  of — p.  70. 
Wageman,  Hendrick,  Dutch  merchant 

-p.  71. 
Waleford,  John — p.   136. 
Walker,  Capt.  Nathaniel— p.  365. 
Walker,    Capt.    Peter — pp.    46,     116, 

135,  287,  307,  313. 
Walple,  name  of — p.  70. 
Wallop,  John— pp.  220,  247,  303,  313. 
Waltham,  John — p.  317. 
Wampumpeake,      Indian      money — p. 

300. 
Waples,  name  of — p.  70. 
Ward,  William— pp.  136,  327. 
Warder,   Robert — p.    109. 
Warehouse     in    Southampton     River 

(1623)— p.  90. 
Warner,  Col.  Augustine — p.   215. 
Warren,    Lieut.     Ratcliffe,    killed    in 

Naval   Fight  in  Pocomoke  River — 

p.  91. 
Warwick  or  Quinby's  Farm — p.  279. 
Washborne,     John      (1623)— pp.     37, 

175,  248. 
Washington,    name    of,    first    appears 

on  E.  S.— pp.  69,  70. 
Washington,  George — p.   114. 
Washington,   Jacob,   first   of  name  in 

America — p.  70. 
Watehapreague  Inlet — p.  99. 

Watehapreague,  town  of p.  60. 

Waters,  Lieut.  Edward — pp.  97,  362. 
Waters,   William — pp.    97,     135,    165, 

172,    173,    194,   234,   235,   246,   275, 

362. 
Waterson,  John — p.  197. 
Watertown,  Mass.,    immigrants    from 

—p.  73. 
Watkins,  name  of — p.  39. 
Watkins,   Daniel    (1623)— p.   37. 
Watkins,    Henry,    first   representative 

from  E.  S  —  pp.  37,  39. 


Watkins,  James,  soldier — p.  14. 
Wattkins,  Peregree    (1623) — p.  37. 
Watkin's    Point,    trouble    about — pp. 

162,  177,  178. 
Watkinson,  Cornelius — p.  325. 
Watson,  George — p.   101. 
Wattam,   John,   a  witness  in    1634 — 

p.  45. 
Watts,  James — p.  101. 
Watts,  John — p.  248. 
Watts'  Islands — p.  16. 
Wayman,  Richard — p.  130. 
Wabster,  John — p.  95. 
Weede,  Henry — p.  95. 
Wellburn,    Thomas,  sheriff — pp.    185, 

247,  248. 
West,   name   and  family — pp.   70,   89, 

170,  278. 
West,  Lieut.   Col.  John — pp.  92,   199, 

204,  215,  247,  365. 
West,  Capt.  John,  acting  Gov.  of  Va. 

— pp.  92,  199,  204. 
West  Hundred,  Plantation  of — p.  23. 
West  India  Company — pp.  126,  132. 
West  Indies,  Trade  with — p.  295. 
Western     Shore,    natives     of,    kin    to 

those  of  E.  S. — p.  53. 
Wicocomocoes — p.  58. 
Wighcocomoco — pp.   16,   17,   18. 
Wignall,  Alexander— p.  370. 
Wilbourne,  Thomas — p.  299. 
Wildcats— pp.   61,    195. 
Wild  Fowl — pp.  54,  312. 
Wilford,    Captain,    put    to    death    by 

Berkeley  on  E.  S—  p.  214. 
Wilkins,   name  of — pp.   39,   70. 
Wilkins,   Grace — p.   265. 
Wilkins,  Peter— p.  303. 
Wilkins,  John  (1623)— pp.  37,  84,  97, 

257,  265.  286,  293. 
Wilkinson,  J. — p.  369. 
Willcox,       Captain      John,      ancient 

planter — pp.  31,  37.  39. 
Willett,  William — p.  255. 
William,    King   of    England — pp.    85, 

244. 
William,  Agnes — p.  320. 
William,  Henrv,  ancient  planter — pp. 

27.  28. 
Williams,  name  of — p.  39. 
Williams,     Walter,     keeper     of     first 

tavern  at    Nassawattocks — pp.    47, 

104,   109,  136,  327. 


406 


INDEX 


Williams,  William   (1G23)— p.  37. 

Wills,  first  recorded— pp.  94,  259,  26G, 
268. 

Willyams,  John — p.  136. 

Wilson,  name  of — p.  39. 

Wilson,  Henry    (1623)— pp.  37,  84. 

Wilson,  Robert— p.  236. 

"Wilsonia,"  seat  of  Upshurs — p.  169. 

Wilsonia  Neck — p.  280. 

Winbrow,  Barbara,  tried  for  witchery 
in  1655 — p.  47. 

Wind  Mills— p.  293. 

Wingfield,  Edward  Maria,  first  Presi- 
dent of  Council  of  London  Com- 
pany— pp.  11,  12,  13,  14. 

Wine — pp.  294,  295. 

Winstone,  Dr. — p.  23. 

Winthrop,  John— pp.  259,  260,  262, 
294. 

Wise,  family,  founding  of,  in  Va. — 
pp.  70,  87,  89,  170,  278,  281. 

Wise,  Col.  Jno.  I  (Immigrant)  ;  his 
character — pp.  87,  89,  103,  122,  136, 
173,  176,  265,  273. 

Wise,  Col.  John  II— pp.  199,  220,  240, 
354. 

Wissaponson  Creek — pp.  31,  32,  40, 
48. 

Witches  and  Witchery,  Barbara  Win- 
brow — p,  47. 

Witnesses  required  to  testify  on  oath 
—p.  223. 

Wharves— pp.  98,  227. 

Wheat— p.  293. 

Wheatley,  David— p.  137. 

White,  name  of — p.  70. 

White,  Ambrose — p.  101. 


White,  Andrew — p.  102. 
White,  Henry— pp.   136,  157. 
White,  Nicholas — p.  294. 
Whitehead,  John — p.  136. 
Whittington,  William— pp.  61,  62,  70, 

108,    135,    142,    169,   220,   246,   247, 

318,  335. 
Whyte,  Lewis — pp.  116,   117. 
Wolves— pp.  61,  195,  197,  311,  312. 
Woodlands   Farm — p.   60. 
Wool— p.   303. 

Wormeley,   Captain — p.   293. 
Wraxall,  name  of — p.  70. 
Wraxall,  Capt.— p.  130. 
Wrote,   Samuel — p.   23. 
Wroth,  John — p.  23. 
Wryth,  Richard— p.  359. 
Wyard,     Robert,     scandal-monger — p. 

46. 
Wyatt,  Gov.  Francis — pp.  237,  253. 
Wyett,  Richard— p.  361. 

Yeardley    family — pp.    89,    114,    169, 

278,  281. 
Yeardley,  Argal  or  Argoll — pp.  57,  83, 

84,  94,  97,   103,  111,  112,  113,   118, 

121,    130,    131,    133,   135,    145,    190, 

197.   199,  289,  307. 
Yeardley,    Argoll    II — pp.     169,    199, 

246. 
Yeardley,  Capt.  Francis — pp.  98,  107, 

190. 
Yeardley,    Gov.    Sir    George — pp.    24, 

29,  31,  32,  33,  34,  40,  84,  112. 
Yeo,  Hugh— pp.  122,  166. 
Yorktown,  meeting  at,  in  1635 — p.  91. 
Young,  Thomas — p.  330. 


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