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ing two sons, Ralph and Thomas, who both came to Virginia. Ralph came over in 1609 and remained until June 8, 1614, when he sailed for England. In the next year he pub- lished "A true discourse of the present estate of Virginia until the 18th of June 1614." Hamor stayed in England until 1617, in which year, upon the 8th of January, the company gave him eight shares in Virginia, and he soon afterwards sailed once more for the colony, arriving there in May. He seems to have re- turned to England again in a few years, for we find a grant to some one who is said to have, in 1621, "paid her own costs to Vir- ginia," in the ship "Sea Flower," "with Captain Ralph Hamor." It was in the last named year that he was appointed a member of the council, an office which he retained until his death. In the massacre of 1622, Capt. Hamor was attacked by the Indians near a new house he was having built, but with the help of a few other persons, drove them off with bricks, spades, picks, etc. His brother, Thomas Hamor, who lived nearby, also escaped but was wounded. Soon after the massacre, Capt. Ralph wrote a letter to the Virginia Company, which was received in Eng- land October 22, 1622, giving an account of what had happened since that event, and say- ing that it was the governor's intention to attack the Indians with 500 men at the end of August. A letter from the governor and coun- cil, written Jan. 20, 1622-23, told how Capt. Hamor, "being sent to the Patomacs to trade for corn, slew divers of the Nechonicos who sought to circumvent him by treachery." On Apr. 2, 1623, George Sandys wrote to Eng- land in regard to the character and capacity of the various councillors. He said that Hamor's extreme poverty forced him "to shifts." Capt. Hamor married a widow, Mrs.
Elizabeth Clements. In 1625 his "muster" in- cluded himself, Mrs. Elizabeth Hamor, and her children, Jeremy and Elizabeth Clements. In 1626 he owned 250 acres at Hog Island, and 500 at Blunt Point, but lived at Jamestown. On March 4, 1626, and again on March 22, 1627-28, he was commissioned a councillor. He probably died soon after the latter date. In addition to his seat in the council, he held for a time, the place of recorder of the colony from 1611 to 1614.
Rolfe, John, belonged to a family well known in the county of Norfolk, England, for centuries. The names of Rolfe's immediate ancestors, the Rolfes of Heacham Hall, ap- pear on the register of Heacham Church as early as May 27, 1560. John Rolfe, himself, was baptized there May 6, 1585. Rolfe was an energetic and enterprising man and one of the type most needed in the Virginia colony, a man ready for any adventure. The elder Hamor wrote that "during the time of his abode there no man hath labored more than he hatlı done." He had been educated in an English university and was married to an English girl, when, in 1619, he embarked for Virginia on board the "Sea Venture," which was cast away in the Bermudas with Sir Thomas Gates and other leaders of the expe- dition. During their ten months' stay in the islands, a little daughter was born to the Rolfes and named for her birthplace, Ber- muda. The child did not live, however, nor did Mrs. Rolfe more than a short time after her arrival in Virginia. Rolfe speedily be- came prominent in the colony and to him be- longs the credit of introducing tobacco in 1612, which afterwards became the source of such large revenue to Virginia and was long used as currency. He was made a member of
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the council in 1614, and at this time succeeded Ralph Hamor, recorder of the colony, an office which he held till the office of secretary of state was created in 1619. But in spite of Rolfe's virtues, his fame rests largely upon his romantic marriage with Pocahontas, the In- dian maiden, whose story has justly gained so wide a fame. The account of Capt. John Smith's deliverance by this "Guardian Angel of Virginia" was for long accepted without question and has grown to be a part of the nation's treasured lore. Of recent years, how- ever, there has been an effort on the part of some eminent historians to discredit the tale and set it down as a mere invention of Smith. They point out that in a published letter of Smith to a friend in England, written shortly after his release by Powhatan, nothing was said of his fair rescuer, nor, indeed, is she mentioned in his first historical accounts. It is answered, however, by the no less eminent opponents of those idol breakers, that the publisher of the letter explicitly states that he has omitted a portion as being of a private nature, that his first history is admittedly in- complete, and that Smith told the tale unre- futed at the time of Pocahontas' visit to Lon- don, when there were many there besides her- self who were familiar with the facts and might have exposed the gallant captain had his account not tallied with them. However this may be, there is no doubt that, even ex- cluding this episode, the story of Pocahontas is a most romantic one or that she rendered the colony a great service by means of her friendship. At the age of fifteen she was ap- parently married to an Indian chief called Kocoum, with whose people she was found by Gov. Argall, who bribed an Indian to de- liver her a captive to him for the gift of a copper kettle. Argall's purpose in holding
Pocahontas prisoner was that she might act as liostage for her father Powhatan's good be- havior. An entirely new turn was given the matter by an attachment which grew up be- tween her and John Rolfe. Rolfe hesitated for some time both on account of the effect on his fellow colonists and because he shrank from marrying a heathen princess unless he could make it the occasion of saving her soul. The latter scruple was soon removed by the conversion of Pocahontas, and the favor of Sir Thomas Dale being secured, the pic- turesque marriage was celebrated in the little church at Jamestown in Apr., 1614. The great Powhatan also smiled on the union and two of the bride's brothers were present. There can be little doubt that it served as Sir Thomas hoped it would to cement more closely the friendship of the English and Indians and postpone violence for a time. A year later Rolfe and Pocahontas sailed for England with Sir Thomas Dale, who took with him also, a number of young Indians, both men and maidens. Pocahontas was royally received and feted, entertained by the great, both secu- lar, who treated her as a princess, and the clergy, who regarded her as the first fruit of the church in the New World. While in Lon- don, she saw Ben Jonson's "Christmas his Mask" played at court, had her portrait painted and was altogether the center of atten- tion. But while Pocahontas thus found favor, poor Rolfe's experience was not so pleasant. It is said that King James was envious of his marriage to a foreign princess and feared that he might attempt to establish himself King of America. The council of the company in Eng- land, when news of his marriage first reached them, actually considered, it is said, whether Rolfe might not be guilty of high treason in marrying a foreign king's daughter, and if
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other matter had not pressed for attention, he might even have been hanged. A good deal of this was doubtless gossip. Rolfe occupied himself during his stay in England in writing a "relation" of affairs in Virginia which he dedicated to the King. It was arranged that the couple should return to the colony with Capt. Argall in 1617, but the little Indian princess was never again to see her native woods. She died and was buried at Gravesend and her husband proceeded on his way, leaving their son, Thomas Rolfe, in charge of Sir William Stukeley at Plymouth. Rolfe mar- ried a third wife in 1620, Jane, a daughter of William Pierce, of Virginia, by whom he had a daughter Elizabeth. He retained his seat in the council until his death in 1622.
Yeardley, Sir George, governor of Vir- ginia, 1619 (q. v.).
Powell, Nathaniel, councillor and deputy governor (q. v.).
Pory, John, was already a man of wide travel and experience and an author and geog- rapher of note, when he first became associ- ated with the Virginia colony. Born about 1570, he possessed a naturally quick intelli- gence and entered Cambridge University at the age of seventeen. He later became a disciple of Hakluyt, the distinguished geographer and ardent advocate of American colonization, and it is possible that he gained his first knowledge of and interest in the subject from his master, with whom he studied "cosmographie and foreign histories." Pory won considerable dis- tinction in 1600 by the publication of "A Geo- graphical History of Africa written in Arabicke and Italian by John Leo, a More, born in Granada and brought up in Barbarie; Trans- lated and Collected by John Pory, London."
The work was later incorporated by old Pur- chas in his "Pilgrims." Its method seems to have been a "link between the narratives of the Arabian geographers and the discoveries of modern travellers and navigators." Be- sides the translation he added a considerable amount of original matter to the work. In recognition of the service he had rendered science, he was given the degree of Master of Arts of Cambridge. He represented Bridge- water in parliament from 1605 to 1611. Pory's knowledge of geography was not to remain merely hearsay. In 1611 he obtained a license to travel and went to Paris, where he remained a considerable period. On his way thither he was the bearer of important state documents to Cardinal Perron. He was also able to pro- vide the French historian, De Thou, with ma- terial for his life of Mary, Queen of Scotts. After his sojourn in Paris, he travelled exten- sively and made a long stay in Constantinople. Pory enjoyed a wide acquaintance and knew many of the most distinguished men of his time. The first appearance of his name in connection with the Virginia colony was in 1609, in the second royal charter, but it was not until January 19, 1619, that he actually set foot in the New World. He was the first secretary of state that "ever was chosen and appointed by commission from the counsell and company in England, under their hand and common seal." Upon his arrival he was promptly made a member of the council, and on July 30, 1619, he had the honor of being the first speaker of the first free assembly in America. He was a valuable addition to the colony during the three years he remained in Virginia, embarking upon many trips of dis- covery and research and writing descriptive letters which are now very valuable to the his- torian and antiquary. On one of these trips,
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begun with the intention of exploring the miral. It seems to have been conceded that coast line, he was driven out of his course by storms and wrecked on the Azores, where he was seized, tried for piracy and in danger of being hung. He escaped in some unknown manner and return to England, but was chosen in: 1623 to carry to Virginia and there pub- lish throughout the country three royal procla- mations. He was also appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the condition of the colony. After his return to London from this second American voyage, he be- came a member of the home council for Vir- ginia, but never again crossed the water. He lived in London until about 1631, writing news letters. In this year he withdrew from active life to the retirement of his home at Sutton Saint Edmunds, where he lived until his death in 1635-36.
Tucker, Daniel, was a native of Milton, in Kent, and was the son of George Tucker, of that place. As was the case of so many young gentlemen of that age, he came under the in- fluence of the romantic west and the new dis- coveries, and took to a seafaring life in con- sequence. In 1606 he sailed with Challoner to North Virginia, and was prominent in the South Virginia Colony from 1608 to 1613. He became a member of the Virginia Com- pany under the charter of 1609, and the fol- lowing year was appointed by Lord Delaware to be "clerk in the store" in Virginia. There is an interesting record in the proceedings of the Virginia Company of the request made by Tucker that the company confer upon him twenty shares for his five years service, in con- sideration of the several eminent offices he had held in the colony. He then enumerates these to have been cape merchant, provost master, one of the council, truck master and vice-ad-
Tucker was a very capable as well as indus- trious and energetic member of the community, but he never attained a higher office in the Jamestown colony than that of councillor. It is probable that it was well for Virginia that this was so, as the subsequent chapter in his life does not redound so much to his credit. Ili 1615-16 Tucker was commissioned gov- ernor of Bermuda, the first man to hold the office. It may have been that his was a nature that could not resist the temptations of power, but certain it is that after a three years tenure of office, he was accused of severe oppression of the commonality and was obliged to return to England to defend himself, and leave one Miles Kendall as his deputy. Evidently the charges were well sustained as Tucker was never reinstated in spite of the fact that he was admitted to have exercised "great pains and industry" in his government. He returned to the islands, nevertheless, sometime prior to 1623 and lived there until his death about a year later at Port Royal. He was buried Feb. 10, 1624-25. Governor Tucker has many de- scendants living in Bermuda, the United States, England and India.
Newce, Thomas, came from a family seated at Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. The pedi- gree of this family in the "Visitation" of 1634, begins with Clement Newce of London, Mer- cer, whose great grandson, William Newce of Much Hadham, married Mary, daughter of Sir John Fanshawe, and had issue : I. Thomas, councillor of Virginia; 2. William, councillor of Virginia; 3. Henry; 4. Clement. At a meeting of the Virginia Company, May 17, 1620, Mr. Treasurer signified to the court the company's former resolve for the entertain- ment of two new officers by them, namely,
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deputies to govern two parts of the public land in Virginia." Mr. George Thorpe had already been chosen for one of these places, and the treasurer now anounced that the other was to be filled by a gentleman of the same worth, now present, called Mr. Thomas Newce, touching whom it was agreed that he should take charge of the company's land and tenants in Virginia whatsoever, and that they for his entertainment have ordered that he and such as shall succeed him shall have 1200 acres belonging to that office, 600 at Kiquotan, now called Elizabeth City, 400 at Charles City, 100 at Henrico, and Ioo at James City ; and, for the managing of this land, (they) have fur- ther agreed that he shall have forty tenants to be placed thereon, whereof twenty (are) to be sent presently, and the other twenty in the spring ensuing, all which now being put to the question received a general approba- tion." On June 28, 1620, Newce was further honored by appointment to the Virginia coun- cil, and he arrived in the colony the following winter. On April 30, 1621, the company adopted a resolution "concerning Capt. Thos. Newce, the company's deputy in Vir- ginia, as well in the discharge of a former promise made unto him, to the end that his reward might be no less than of others whose persons and deserts they doubted not but he could equal, they therefore agreed to add ten persons more when the company shall be able to make the former number 50." Newce's name appears signed to several letters from the governor and council in Virginia, but he did not live long in the land of his adoption. The governor and council, writing to the Earl of Southampton April 3, 1623, mention "Cap- tain" Newce as "lately dead," and George Sandys wrote of him on April 8, that he died "very poor" and that an allowance had been made for his wife and child.
Thorpe, George, was a native of Glouces- tershire and the son of Nicholas Thorpe of Wanswell Court. He was related both in blood and by marriage with some of the dis- tinguished men of the Jamestown colony, and among others with Sir Thomas Dale. The Thorpe family was a prominent one and our subject became a gentleman pensioner, a gentleman of the privy chamber of the king and a member of parliament from Portsmouth. He was a man of strong religious feeling and became greatly interested in the problem of the conversion of the savages with which his countrymen were newly coming into contact in the new world. He formed a partnership with Sir William Throckmorton, John Smith of Nibley, Richard Berkeley and others for the ownership and conduct of a private plan- tation in Virginia, and selling his English property, he set sail for Virginia, where he arrived March, 1620. He was appointed deputy to govern the college land and to have three hundred acres and ten tenants, and on June 28, 1620, he was made a member of the council. The advent of this friend of the Indians in Virginia was coincident with the formation of the great Indian plot against the English of 1621-22, and there are some who hold that his disinterested friendship for the red man was an aid to them in their under- taking. Thorpe certainly displayed the most complete faith in his dusky charges and vis- ited them in the forest, discussing religion with Opochankano, from which he derived great encouragement for the hope of their final conversion. Thorpe's interests were not confined to the Indians, however, as the fol- lowing letter received by him from the com- pany in 1621 will show: "And to you, Mr. Thorpe, we will freely confesse that both your letter and endeavors are most acceptable to us ; the entering upon the staple comodoties of
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wine and silk we highly commend, and assure you it is the Companie's care to reward your merit. * In the meantime they desire you to proceed in these noble courses assuring you of all love and respect." In spite of this, how- ever, it would seem that his attention was chiefly given to the colony's relations with the savages, especially in regard to the conver- sion of the latter. His manner of winning their friendship was certainly worthy of his professions and even went to the length of building a handsome house in the English style for Opochankano and putting to death a number of English mastiffs of which the Indians had expressed fear. It was certainly one of the blackest stains on the Indian char- acter to be found in all the white man's deal- ings with him that, when, on March 22, 1621- 22, the colonists were surprised in the great massacre, George Thorpe was not spared, but was murdered with every circumstance of re- morseless cruelty. Thorpe was twice married, first to Margaret, a daughter of Sir Thomas Porter and after her death to Margaret, a daughter of David Harris, who survived him.
Upon the next two names in the list of coun- cillors, the records have but little to say, they are those of
Middleton, David, councillor, 1620, and
Blewitt, Mr., councillor, 1620, whose Chris- tian name is not given.
Tracy, William, was one of those who formed with Thorpe, Berkeley and others a company to conduct a private plantation in Virginia. He is believed by Alexander Brown, author of "The Genesis of the United States," to have been the son of Sir John Tracy. It is probable that he came to Virginia at the same time that Thorpe did, the latter arrived in
March, 1620, as on June 28, of the same year he was, along with Thorpe, appointed a mem- ber of the colonial council. The following September he sailed in the ship "Supply," with emigrants for Berkeley Hundred, now Berke- ley, Charles City county. There is no direct record of his death, but it is evident that he did not even live to witness the terrible mas- sacre by the Indians which brought death, in 1622, to his friend and partner, Thorpe, and to so many of the colonists, as the records of the company state, under date of July, 1621, that the news of his death had been received in England. But although Tracy himself escaped the horror, one of his daughters, who had married Capt. Nathaniel Powell, was not so fortunate, but was killed with her husband in that dreadful affair.
Harwood, William, came to Virginia about 1620, and on June 28, of that year, the Vir- ginia Company appointed him, as "Mr. Har- wood the chief of Martin's Hundred," a mein- ber of the council, along with George Thorpe, William Tracy and others. In a letter dated Aug. 21, 1621, the company again speaks of him as "governor of Martin's Hundred," and in another letter of Jan. 10, 1622, the authori- ties of Virginia are informed by the company that the adventurers of Martin's Hundred de- sired that Mr. Harwood might be spared from the office of councillor, their business requir- ing his presence continually. He was prob- ably a relative of Sir Edward Harwood, a distinguished soldier, who was a member of the Virginia Company and in 1619 presented a petition to that body in behalf of the pro- prietors of Martin's Hundred. An exami- nation of Sir Edward's will, however, shows no reference to him.
Pountis, John, was appointed councillor
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on June 28, 1620, and again, in the instructions to Governor Wyatt, July 24, 1621, his name was included among those upon whom that honor was to be conferred. At a meeting of the Virginia Company on July 10, 1621, it was moved that some "place of command" should be bestowed upon Mr. John Pountis, "as well in respect of his own worth and sufficiency, as also in reward of his pains and endeavors in the company's service," and "for so much as there was a great use of a vice-admiral in Virginia to take care of the company's ships that came thither, and other matters thereunto appertaining," it was recommended that he be "therefore appointed Vice Admiral, which was done." Under date Nov. 14, 1621, the minutes of the Virginia Company say, that "in regard to the worth and services of Mr. John Pountis, it had pleased the Company to confer upon him the place of Vice Admiral, provisionally, as by his Commission dated the 2Ist of July last might appear, the said ap- pointment is now confirmed, and a competant proportion of land for that office is to be allot- ted him." Upon Nov. 21, the length of his term of office was fixed at three years. In March, 1623-24, Pountis was present, as a councillor, at a meeting of the assembly. The Virginia assembly having prepared replies to certain defamatory petitions circulated by the commissioners whom the King had sent over, and also a petition to his majesty, and some cther papers all of which they wished to have safely transmitted to England, entrusted them to "Mr. John Pountis, Councillor of state, going to England (being willing by our intreatie to accept that employment) to solicite the gen- eral cause of the country to his Majesty and Counsell." It was ordered that, to defray the expenses of the worthy councillor's voy- age, he should be paid four pounds of tobacco
per capita for every male resident in Virginia, above the age of sixteen years. Mr. Pountis died on board ship before reaching his jour- ney's end. His executor was his cousin, Sir Thomas Merry.
Bohun, Laurence, "long time brought up amongst the most learned Surgeons and Physi- cians in the Netherlands," came to Virginia with Lord Delaware in 1610. His lordship, writing from Jamestown on July 7, of that year, says "Dr. Boone whose care and indus- trie for the preservation of our lives (assaulted with strange fluxes and agues) we have just cause to commend to your favors since we have true experience how many mens lives these phisicks helpes have preserved since coming in, God so blessed the practice and diligence of the Doctor." On March 28, of the next year, Dr. Bohun left Virginia with Lord Delaware for the "Western Isles" and thence accompanied him home to England. Prior to Feb. 2, 1620, the doctor with James Swift and others, was granted a patent in consideration of transporting 300 persons to Virginia, and on Dec. 3, of the same year, he was appointed "Phisitian General for the Col- ony," and was allotted 500 acres and twenty tenants. It seems to have been at this time also that Bohun, who was then in Virginia, was appointed councillor. Towards the end of March, 1621, he sailed for England in the ship "Margaret and John" and was mortally wounded by a Spanish man-of-war with which his vessel had a severe combat in the West Indies. Seeing him fall, Capt. Chester, com- mander of the "Margaret and John," embraced him and said, "O Dr. Bohun, what a disaster is this." The "Noble Doctor, no whit exani- mated replyed, 'fight it out brave men, the cause is good, and the Lord receive my soule.'"
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This fight caused great excitement and reports of it were published in London and Amster- dam. Upon July 16, 1621, the Virginia Com- pany had received news of the death of "Dr. Bohun of the Counsel in Virginia," and on Oct. 3, of that year, his widow, Mrs. Alice Bohun, petitioned the company that, "as her husband in his lifetime was at great charge, as she supposes for the providing and trans- porting of servants into Virginia," she might be allowed some annual contribution, and also that her son, Edward Barnes, who was bound to serve the company for seven years, might be released. Both applications were rejected, the company stating that it, and not Dr. Bohun was at the said costs and charges, and that Edward Barnes was the company's servant and could not be set free.
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