Part 10

Martin's Hundred suffered severely in the massacre of 1622. The slaughter took a total of seventy-eight persons including the commander. Among those killed were a score of women and children showing that family life was well developed here. The loss was so great that the settlement was temporarily abandoned along with a great many others in Virginia. The abandonment was of short duration, it seems, for new references soon appear such as that naming Captain Ralph Hamor "to have absolute power, and comand in all matters of war over all the people of Martins Hundred." In any case "the replantinge" was left to the Society which had originally established it. Although the Company deemed it, along with others which had been deserted, "of absolute necessitie," it was too busy with its own projects to aid materially.

The Society "set forth a verie chargeable supply of people" in October, 1622. When William Harwood was mentioned for the Council, Martin's Hundred asked that he not be named since they needed his services full time. Reverend Robert Paulett was named instead. In April, 1623 it was a going concern although life was dark in the eyes of Richard Frethorne who wrote of the danger, hunger, and the heavy work. He related "ther is indeed some foule [fowle], but wee are not allowed to goe, and get it, but must worke hard both earlie, and late for a messe of water gruell, and a mouthfull of bread, and beife." He stated that of twenty who came the last year but three were left. In all, he said, "wee are but thirty-two." The Indians he feared; "the nighest helpe that Wee have is ten miles of us." Here "wee lye even in their teeth." The break in the monotony, it seems, was an occasional trip to Jamestown "that is ten miles of us, there be all the ships that come to the land, and there must deliver their goodes." The trip up took from noon till night on the tide. The return was the same.

Nothing came, at this time, of the proposal for "runninge a pale from Martin's Hundred to Cheskacke," between the York and the James rivers. The stockade across the peninsula was still a decade away. When built it would be several miles to the west. There is nothing to indicate that the church, or school, for which William Whitehead left funds in his will in 1623, ever materialized. The plan was that it be built in Martin's Hundred.

Evidently conditions at this time were at a low ebb. George Sandys felt it was a pity that the project could not be pushed more vigorously. When the plantation was asked to take a number of the "infidelles children to be brought up" the officials asked to be excused since they were "sorely weakened and ... in much confusion." The Indians, too, were still around. The Governor in May, 1623 urged that the "Commander" keep watch, insure the carrying of arms and prevent stragglers from loitering about. The Indians were suspected of coming to "spy and observe." Seemingly the plantation, perhaps already a parish in the church organization, was not represented in the Assembly in 1624.

At this time Martin's Hundred was reported to have twenty-three persons, but twenty-eight had died within the year, two being killed. At the time of the general census of the next year, there were but thirty-one, a fact that indicates small growth. To accommodate these there were seven houses, supplies of corn and fish and some cattle and hogs. The settlement was well stocked in weapons with thirty-two armors of various types, thirty-one swords, and fifty-two small arms. Perhaps William Harwood, who was in charge, remembered well the massacre.

ARCHER'S HOPE (45)

The place name Archer's Hope is older even than Jamestown located several miles upstream from it. Here on May 12, 1607 colonists went ashore to evaluate a spot as a site for their initial settlement. It had advantages, yet it was not possible to bring the ships in close to the shore so the next day they made choice of Jamestown. Gabriel Archer, it appears, liked the spot and it was named in his honor. The site was at the mouth of College (Archer's Hope) Creek, the waterway that may have been used by the Spanish Jesuit missionaries four decades earlier when, in 1570, they were searching for a mission site in Virginia.

Even though the settlers elected not to establish themselves here in 1607, it was in the Jamestown neighborhood and very likely was soon in use. It is clearly established that a distinct community took form within a dozen years. Unfortunately not much is known prior to 1619 when a number of land grants were made to men like William Fairfax, John Fowler, William Capp and Joakim Andrews, most with established Jamestown connections. It was at Archer's Hope that the great massacre reached closest to Jamestown. Five persons were slain "At Ensigne Spence his house." Following the slaughter the settlement appears to have been abandoned with survivors taking refuge elsewhere, perhaps, at Jamestown.

The abandonment was of short duration. On February 16, 1624 some fourteen persons were in residence here, at least three family units and presumably a number of servants. Evidently this was not sufficient to merit representation in the Assembly of 1624. The fact that Archer's Hope had a commander, Thomas Bransby, and that its inhabitants had been cautioned not to go too far from their homes alone, even when armed, leads to the conclusion that there was still danger from the Indian, "the Enemie," even in 1625. At the same time there is evidence of an expanding agriculture and increasing population. Archer's Hope had its disturbers of the peace as well in citizens such as Joseph Johnson who from time to time found himself answering to the General Court.

The census of 1625 named fourteen persons as constituting the settlement of Archer's Hope which then extended to the east as well as to the west of the creek bearing the same name. Each of the four major entries showed a single house although there must have been more than this in aggregate. On a population basis the amount of arms and armor available would indicate that, perhaps, the community had a military cast. Food supplies were about normal, yet no livestock is shown except eight hogs which included "piggs" as well.

Altogether, by this date, at least 3,000 acres of land had been taken up by fifteen persons, many of them "ancient planters." The largest grant, 750 acres, had been to Rev. Richard Buck, minister for Jamestown. Richard Kingsmill had received 300 acres as had Ensign William Spence and John Fowler. Two, William Claiborne and John Jefferson, had 250 acre parcels, but all others had lesser amounts. Only three were shown as "planted." The list omits a grant of some size to George Sandys which was located in the precincts of Archer's Hope but well to the east "on the ponds, dividing from the land of Martin's Hundred." On the west Archer's Hope was separated from James City's "Neck-of-Land" by the Jamestown parish glebe land.

"NECK-OF-LAND NEARE JAMES CITTY" (46)

This area lay behind Jamestown Island on the mainland between Mill and Powhatan Creeks. Even though separated from "James Citty" only by the narrow Back River and its marshes, settlement seemingly was delayed for a decade. At least the records are silent on the matter if colonists did establish here in the first years.

It clearly emerges as an established settlement in 1624 when its population was given at twenty-five persons including at least four families with servants and dependents. That same year it sent its own burgess to the Assembly at Jamestown, its most prominent resident, Richard Kingsmill. Early in 1625 the population stood at eighteen, six freemen, three women, three children, five servants and a single negro. A comparison of the names given in 1624 with those in 1625 points up the shifting of persons that must have been a part of the Virginia scene at this time. As might be expected from its proximity, a number of the residents of the "Neck-of-Land" had property also at Jamestown or in the Island.

The 1625 muster listings included six houses, a boat, twenty-six and a half barrels of corn as well as some "flesh," fish, and meal. Livestock embraced eleven cattle and thirty-one hogs, "yong & old." There was only one "armour" and two "coats of male" yet small arms, shot and powder were in greater supply. The General Court records offer an occasional glimpse of life here in these years. There was, for example, the decision in 1624 that the "lands and goods" of John Phillmore, who died without a will, should be given to Elizabeth Pierce "unto whom he was assured and ment to have maryed."

* * * * *

This then was the Virginia of 1625--a settled area embracing the James River basin and the lower part of the Eastern Shore. It was very rural with the people busy about the task of developing a new land. Some twenty-seven distinct communities, groups, or settlements were enumerated at this time, yet even these may not fully suggest the scope of the occupied, or cultivated, land. These settlements were chiefly along the north and south shores of the James River, eastward from the falls to the Chesapeake Bay. Though loosely knit geographically, they were a unit politically with affairs, for the most part, administered from the capital "citty" of Jamestown. Actually the Colony even now was poised for an extension of its frontier inland from the river fringe especially across to the banks of the York and into what was to become the Norfolk area. This would precede "the push to the west" that later became such a familiar pattern.

In the first seventeen years, despite hardship, suffering, death, discouragement and defeats, a great deal had been accomplished in Virginia. The colonists, some of whom had already become "ancient planters," had met and learned many of the ways of the wilderness and the new environment. They had learned to survive and had gained knowledge of the country's advantages and disadvantages and its nature and extent. After many false starts, a source of wealth had been found in tobacco. Security was coming to replace insecurity and individual well-being was rising above the earlier general storehouse or magazine system. Government, too, after several changes of direction, had become stable and even embraced a representative legislative assembly. It seems that King James I, when he took over, directly, the management of the Colony, must have found that the Virginia Company of London had built well in the New World. Otherwise, the change of administration would have been more disrupting than it was in Virginia.

SELECTED READINGS

Andrews, Charles M., _The Colonial Period of American History: The Settlements_ I. New Haven, c.1934 (several printings).

Andrews, Matthew Page, _Virginia: The Old Dominion_. New York, c.1937.

Brown, Alexander, _The First Republic in America_. Boston, 1898.

Brown, Alexander (ed.), _The Genesis of the United States_.... Boston, 1896. 2 volumes.

Chandler, J. A. C., and Thames, T. B., _Colonial Virginia_. Richmond, 1907.

Craven, Wesley Frank, _The Dissolution of the Virginia Company of London_. New York, 1932.

Forman, Henry Chandlee, _Jamestown and St. Mary's: Buried Cities of Romance_. Baltimore, 1938.

Hamor, Ralph, _A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia and the Successe of the Affaires There Till the 18 of June, 1614_. London, 1615. The J. Munsell reprint (Albany, 1860) The Virginia State Library are more readily available.

McIlwaine, H. R. (ed.), _Minutes of the Council and General Court of Virginia, 1622-1632, 1670-1676_. Richmond, 1924.

Neill, Edward D., _History of the Virginia Company of London_. Albany, New York, 1869.

_Virginia Vetusta, During the Reign of James the First_.... Albany, New York, 1885.

Powell, William S., "Books in the Virginia Colony before 1624." _The William and Mary Quarterly_, 3rd Series, V, 177-184 (April, 1948).

Rolfe, John, _A True Relation of Virginia_ [in 1616] as printed by Henry C. Taylor. New Haven, 1951.

Sams, Conway Whittle, _The Conquest of Virginia_. 4 volumes ("The Forest Primeval," "The First Attempt," "The Second Attempt," and "The Third Attempt"). New York, 1916-1939.

Smith, John, _The Travels and Works of Captain John Smith_. Edited by Edward Arber with introduction. Edinburgh, 1910. 2 volumes.

Stanard, Mary Newton, _The Story of Virginia's First Century_. Philadelphia, 1928.

Strachey, William, _The Historie of Travell into Virginia Britania (1612)_. Edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia Freund and printed for the Hakluyt Society. London, 1953. (Also available in an edition edited by H. H. Major. London, 1849.)

Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (ed.), _Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625_. New York, 1930.

_The Cradle of the Republic: Jamestown and James River_. Richmond, Va., 1906 (2nd edition).

Virginia Company, _The Records of the Virginia Company of London_. Edited by Susan Myra Kingsbury. Washington, D. C., 1906-1935. 4 volumes.

Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson, _The First Americans 1607-1690. A History of American Life_, Volume II. New York, c.1927 (various printings).

Wingfield, Edward Maria, _A Discourse of Virginia_. Edited by Charles Deane. Boston, 1860.

Wright, Louis B., _Atlantic Frontier: Colonial American Civilization: 1607-1761_. New York, 1947.

Yonge, Samuel H., _The Site of Old "James Towne" 1607-1698_. Richmond, c.1907 (several reprints).

APPENDIX

SUPPLIES FOR VIRGINIA

One of the most informative ways, perhaps, to get an idea of daily living in early Virginia is to read, and study, a list of the household, personal and general objects which were sent to the Colony. One of the most detailed such lists that has been preserved is one that itemizes the cargo sent in the ship, _Supply_, which left England in September, 1620, bound for Berkeley Hundred. This is given in digest below. It is adapted from the list in the Smith of Nibley Papers and is available in published form in the _Bulletin of the New York Public Library_, III, No. 7 (July, 1899), pp. 283-290 as well as in the _Records of the Virginia Company of London_, III, pp. 385-393.

Bought at London

15 grosse of buttons; 60 eles of linnen cloth; 15 eles of canvas; 10 yards of blue linnen for facinge the doublets; tape and thread; 42 yards of brode cloth at 6_s_ the yard for 20 cassacks & breeches; 57 yards of dyed holmes fustian at 18_d_ the yard for 20 doublets; makinge the said 20 doublets cassacks & breeches at 3_s_ 4_d_; 10 doublets & breeches of russet lether with lether lynings £8 15_s_ & 9 gros of lether buttons 10_s_ In the wholl with the makynge; glas beades of severall sorts; drugs & phisicks bought of Mr Barton Apothecary by doctor Gulsons direccon for the flipp & scurvy &c; wainscot boxe and hay to pack the same in &c; drifatt to send downe the 30 sutes of apparell and cariage of the same from the Taylors to the wayne at Holborne bridge & porters.

Bought at Stoke

20 bushells of wheat at 3_s_ 6_d_; 336 lbs. of butter at 5_d_; 336 lbs. of cheese at 25_s_ the 112 lbs.; 2 corslets & 2 callivers furnished; a musket.

Bought at Nibley and in the Country.

22 bushells of white pease bought by Mr Smyth of Mris. Leigh of Combe at 2_s_ the bushell 44_s_ & cariage to Nibley 2_s_ 6_d_; 9 bushells more of white pease bought of Sam Trotman at 22_s_ the bushell (which were the best of all.); 9 bushells of 3 square wheat in ears in 2 great pipes at 4_s_; 12 bushells & halfe of malt (dryed on purpose) put into another great canary pipe at 2_s_; 3 pipes, & for one other pipe, 2 hoggsheads &, 2 lesser casks to put the said pease in, & caryage in 2 waynes from Nibley to Berkeley, with 12_s_ spent by the plowman there, & to the couper to head & dresse them.

Bought at Bristoll faire and after there.

522 dozen of buttons, parte thread, parte haire and 6 dozen of greene silke; 12 dozen yards of garteringe, of 2 sorts & 4 colors &c; 6 grosse of poynts beinge 72 dozen whereof the one half of lether, the other of thread; 5 paire of double boxcombes & 6 bone combs; 10 dozen of knives whereof 9 dozen of one sort and one dozen of another sort; one dozen of sisers; one dozen of womens sheares; 4 payres of Taylors sheares of 2 sorts; one dozen of paringe knives; 6 other knives; 600 & an halfe of cheese bought by Wm Hopton at 14_s_ & 16_s_ the hundred beinge 101 cheeses; 4 quires & an halfe of paper for all the servants indentures and other draughts, ec; 54 ells of dowlas at 15_d_ ob. for shirts; 58 els 3 quarters of canvas for sheets at 14_d_; 24 els of canvas at 15_d_ and 66 els of canvas at 13_d_ ob; 52 els of canvas at 15 for shirts; 84 ells of canvas at 13_d_ for sheets; 81 ells quarter of canvas at 14_d_; 82 ells and an halfe at 14_d_ of canvas; 56 ells & an halfe of canvas at 14_d_; 32 ells of dowlas at 14_d_; 3 dozen of fallinge bands at 7_s_ 6_d_ the dozen; 5 dozen of fallinge bands at 6_s_ 6_d_ the dozen; 2 dozen falling bands at 5_s_ 6_d_ the dozen; 10 dozen of handkercheifs; 49 payre of Irish stockins; 22 payre of Irish stockins; 34 payre of Irish stockins; one barrell of tarre; one barrell of pitch; 6 hoggsheads of baysalt for Virginia; 30 stone of stocks at 2_s_ 6; 10 reaphooks; 2 fryinge pans; 2 bolts of browne thread; one bolt of black thread; 8 lbs. browne thread; 20 pickaxes; 40 weedinge howes; 30 spades; 2 sithes; 10 felling axes; 6 squaring axes; 20 bed mats; 10 bushells di. [_i.e._ one-half] peck of oatmeale at 4_s_; 5 bushells of oatmeal grots at 6_s_; 2 grindstones; 2 french mill stones; 102 lbs. of sope; 10 traces of onyons; 10 gallons 3 quarts of oyle & the runlet to put it in; 6 baskets used about the ship; 6 bells; 6 bandeleres; 1 quarter of 100 of match; 6 swords; makinge 51 shirts at 3_d_ & 2 towells; makinge 25 payre of sheets; 100 di & 13 lbs. of lead beinge 6 bars; 200 of lead shot at 1_d_ the lb.; 160 lbs. di of powder at 15_d_; a little caske to put 12 lbs. of powder in; 200 payre of shoes of 4 sizes.

Garden seeds vzt parsnip, carret, cabbage, turnep, lettuice, onyon mustared and garlick; 2 tun of sider bought at Bristoll; 1 hoggeshead of new sider sent Mr Thorpe; hallinge to the storehouse and lynes to maile in it; charges of Robt Lawford at Bristoll imployed divers dayes buyinge of provisions &c; 60 gallons & one pottle of aqua vite at 3_s_; 22500 nayles of severall sorts; 2000 of hobnayles; 4000 of sparrowbills; bags to put nayles in and to the porter; given, to the poore and spent at hiringe the first ship by Felgate; given to break of from that ships after 14 days; one dryfatt and 3 tun of caske untrimd; 15 dozen of candles at 4_s_ 4_d_ the dozen; 2 barrells of Irish beoffe bought by Toby Felgate; one other barrell bought by Tho. Kewis; 2142 lbs. of beoffe & porke, salt for it & charges in saltinge and barrellinge beinge in 13 barrells; 200 di [_i.e._ one-half, or 50 lbs.] of codfish at 46_s_ the 100 called Cornish fish; cariage of 1300 waight from London parte by horse & parte by wayne to Bristoll & waighinge; a chest to put small parcells in; 100 3 quarters 7 lb. of iron hoopes to hoope 6 tun of beere at 3_d_ the pound; dyet & lodginge in Bristoll upon one accompt at the Horshooe and Horsmeat & hire of Toby Felgates horse twice to Nibley.

Markams works of husbandry & huswifry bound togeather and for the like of Gowges &c; the copies of the counsells order for fishinge & about tobacco and of Sir Edwin Sandis project, and of the artificiall wine, to be sent over to Mr Thorpe, payd the Secretary; 18 tun of beere at 36_s_ p. tun and for 3 barrells spent in the ship; 8800 of bisket at 12_s_ the 100 lbs. and 21 lbs. over and a quarter of 100 more; 20 ruggs at 8_s_ the peece; 100 of monmoth caps and bands; a boylinge kettle filled for the ship at 17_d_ the lb. beinge 36 lbs. di [_i.e._ one-half]; 60 gallons of sack at 2_s_ 6_d_ the gallon in 4 runlets; one hoggeshed of wine vinegar; cloutleather 32_d_ shoo-thread 26 dozen 4_s_ and 4 half quarter of hemp 4_s_ 1_d_; to the couper upon his bill for 39 tun of caske and 2 barrells of all the fraight contayninge 142 vessels bought of him besides what came from Mr Tracy & Mr Smyth; and to the coupers journeyman for many labors by him done; to Mr Ewens in parte of the wages for the hire of his ship before hand by acquitance and by indorsement of his chartre party; to the grosser for sugar, pepper, ginger, cynamon, nutmegs, cloves, mace, dates, raisons, currants, damaske prunes, rice, saffron, almonds, brimston, starch & one ream of paper; a masons great hammer & trouell bought by Richard Piers for himselfe; 8 bushells of meale at 4_s_ the bushell; 2 great & 2 lesser lanthornes 5_s_ 2 shod shovels, 20_d_ bellowes, lables, trenches, mustard bolls, tape cannells, bread baskets, wooden spoones, tundish, 18 cans, mustard pot, 12 porridge dishes 18 quarter cans, 2 horne tunnels, 2 horne cups, a pair of scales, 3 little drynking cups, 3 dozen wodden sawcers, 4 dozen platters, 6 wyre candlesticks, 2 panyars, & 1 pepercorne all wood; makinge of bolsters and other parcells upon many particulars, as hallyers, 29_s_ 10_d_ wood 23_s_ 4_d_ cordage to trusse and cabynes 7_s_ 4_d_ padlockes 4_s_ 6_d_, 3 spades & 2 howes 9_d_ makinge 30 sheets and 21 shirts, 11_s_ 8_d_ 28 bolsters makinge &c.

Bought of Mr Tracy.

100 payre of knit stockins; watchinge the wayne & cariage of the 13 brode clothes that Benedict Webbe sent to Bristoll to the storehouse; 9 swordes; 9 corslets; 9 muskers wherof 6 are with snaphanses; 6 callivers; 4 coates of plate; 4 partizans; 12 felling axes made in Deane, and for 2 squaring axes; 10 hatchets; 24 augurs of severall sorts; 2 handsawes; 12 sithes; 24 reaphooks; a vise for a smyth; a bras serine for a glister pipe; 15 peeces beoffe roafed [?] & 4 tongues; 43 lb. of cheese; 9 flitches of bacon; 20 bushells of white pease at 2_s_ 4_d_; a barrell of pippen vinegar; 2 broadaxes; 2 felling axes; 2 adizes; 2 handsawes; 2 hatchets; one 2 inch augur; 6 turnynge tools; 2 googes; 4 brode chesills; 7 playnge irons; small chesills; one twibill; mendinge of servants tooles; 4 millpecks; one anvill; 2 turninge irons; 13 brode clothes of 29 yards the peece and 7 brode bought of Benedict Webb by Mr Tracy; buckerom & canvas to pack them in; to Boswell the apothecary upon his bill for drugs and other like stuffs bought by Mr. Pawlet as appeareth.