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Smith, Capt. Roger, who "served for twelve or thirteen years in the wars in the Low Countries," is first known to us as commanding a company of infantry under Sir Francis Vere. in 1592. His earliest voyage to Virginia was in the year 1616. In November, 1619, when he had been in the colony "about some three years" he sailed thence for England again, and while there made complaint to the Virginia Company of Sir George Yeardley's treatment of him. At a meeting of the company Dec. 13, 1620, an entry was made that Capt. Roger Smith being desirous to go this present voyage to Virginia, moved that he might have the charge of some of those people now sent to the company's tenants, and further, that the company would be pleased to bestow upon him some means to make him the better fit for the said voyage ; for as much therefore as the said Captain Smith is recommended to be a gentleman very fitting for that employment. and in regard to his good experience already
(Laving been heretofore in Virginia about three years) might thereby do the company great service, the court was pleased for his better encouragement to give him £30 treely, to furnish him with necessarys, and ordered that he should have the command of fifty per- sons now transported to Virginia to be tena,its upon the Company's land." Captain Smith sailed for the colony in Feb., 1621, and on July 24, of the same year, he was appointed a member of the council there. On March 22, 1623, the Indians killed five men near his plan- tation in Charles City county, and in April he was engaged in building a block house. Smith married Jane Pierce the widow of John Rolfe and, with his wife, was living in James City in 1625. The last mention of him is on Nov. 30, 1629, where he was still a member of the council.
Sandys, George, was the youngest son of Dr. Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York, and was born in the archiepiscopal palace of Bish- opsthorpe, near York. His godfathers were George, Earl of Cumberland and William, Lord Ewer, and his godmother, Catherine, Countess of Huntington. In England, Sandys was one of the most distinguished men of letters of his time, and he has the honor of having produced the first book ever written on American soil, a translation of parts of Ovid and Vergil. He was an unusually precocious student and entered Oxford University at the age of twelve. In 1610 he started on a two years' journey through the East, visiting Italy, Turkey, Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land. Upon his return to England, he published an account of his travels which he dedicated to "The Prince" as he always called Charles I. who had then been reigning about a year. This work became very popular and in 1673
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reached a seventh edition. Sandys and mem- bers of his family were connected with the Virginia Company in the capacity of stock- holders during the whole of its existence. He was a friend of Southampton, who, upon his resignation as treasurer of Virginia in 1621, recommended his election to fill the vacant office. He was forthwith elected and later, on April of the same year, his election was confirmed. He shortly after went to the col- cny where there was granted him 1500 acres with fifty tenants for the maintenance of his office. Shortly after his arrival, he received a rhymed letter from his friend, Michael Drayton, the poet, urging him to continue his poetic and literary efforts, but truly Virginia at the time seemed hardly a fit dwelling for the muse. It was unable to raise enough food for its own subsistence and had to depend upon a disappointed and unwilling mother country. Education was also in a most rudi- mentary state, but in the autumn of 1621, f100 were subscribed by members of the ship's com- pany of the "Royal James," an East Indian- man, to be expended for a church or free school. The latter was erected accordingly with a thousand acres for its maintenance and called the East India School after its donors. It was the first free school in the country. In the early part of the following year there was established, on account of the scattered popu- lation, which rendered it difficult for persons in the outlying districts to reach easily a court of law, a system of precinct courts, which afterwards took the form of county courts. It was in 1621 that the great dispute in England between King and commons began which threw the country into a ferment which led even- tually to civil war. It happened that many prominent members of the Virginia Company took sides in this dispute with the people so
that the ill will of the King became directed against the whole company to a degree most prejudicial to the colony. In addition to this the relations with the Indians were daily be- coming more strained, and altogether the period was a stormy one for the colony. The Indian trouble culminated in the dreadful massacre of March 22, 1622, an account of which Sandys sent home to England. He also took an active part in the operations which the English set on foot against the red neighbors for the purpose of revenge and chastisement. The reputation of the treasurer seems to have been unassailed. In none of the old records is there to be found an adverse criticism of him and he unquestionably enjoyed the re- spect of all. He spent some time in the colony but eventually returned to England, though the precise date is unknown, and was made a "Gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber." In 1636 he published a "Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David and upon the Hymns disper- sed throughout the Old and New Testaments." Sandys was a fruitful author and after his return published a considerable volume of work which met with the hearty approval of the critics and literateurs of the day. Among others, Pope declared in his notes to the "Iliad" that "English poetry owed much of its present beauty" to Sandys' translations. He was very popular and enjoyed the friendship of the great authors of his time, and seems to have been noted as much for the sweetness of his char- acter as for his scholarship. He spent the last years of his life at Boxley Abbey in Kent, the home of Gov. Wyatt, whose wife was Sandys' niece. Here he died in March, 1643.
Paulett, Robert, came to Virginia in Janu- ary, 1621, as preacher, physician and surgeon to the "adventurers" at Berkeley Hundred,
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and on July 16, of the same year, the Vir- in Ireland well known to divers honorable per- ginia Company elected him a member of the council. Governor Wyatt and the councillors, writing Jan., 1621-22, say that they have not sworn "Mr. Pawlett," and add "of whom we are doubtful, there being two of that rame." Their hesitation was the occasion of no inconvenience, however, as Paulett, find- ing that the adventurers by whom he was em- ployed felt that their business required his constant presence, declined the honor of a seat in the council of state. He probably died before the month of April, 1623. He was doubtless a near kinsman of Capt. Thomas Paulett (q. v.)
Newce, Sir William, a brother of Capt. Thomas Newce, of the council, is first men- tioned in the records of the Virginia Company or. April 12, 1621, under which date they de- clare that "out of a generous disposition" to- wards the "general plantation in Virginia," and "being induced thereto by reason of a good success he had in Ireland upon a like worthy action," Capt. William Newce "hath freely offered to the company to transport at his own cost and charges 1,000 persons into Virginia, betwixt this and midsummer 1625- to be planted and employed upon a certain plantation, and intendeth to go over himself in person, the better to direct and govern his own people, over whom he prays he may be appointed as General ; and to that end desireth a patent with the portion of land and with such large and complete privilege as are usually granted to others in the like kind, and also desires the company would grant him the place of marshall of Virginia, which office he effected the rather because he hath ever been exercised in military affairs and arms, as may appear by his many worthy services performed
sons in this Kingdom, who have testified the same upon their own knowledge to his exceed- ing great commendation." He also asked to be allowed fifty men as tenants upon the land attached to said office, and offered to trans- port them to Virginia and furnish them with clothing and necessary implements for £8 per man. His various requests were granted by the company, and he was elected to the office of marshall on May 2, 1621. On June II, of the same year, it was reported to the Virginia Company that the king had conferred the honor of knighthood upon Newce, whom his majesty was pleased to style his "Knight Mar- shall of Virginia, and hopeth to have a better account of his doings than he hath had of others hitherto." The knight had served in Ireland at the siege of Kinsale in May, 1605, and afterwards led a company of Irish to join the Spanish service. In May, 1609, he was accused of being in a scheme to deliver Sluys, Flushing and other towns, held by the Dutch, to the archduke. He seems to have been cleared of these charges, however, and was soon again in Ireland, where he became the first mayor of the town of Bandon, and laid cut Newce's Town, opposite Bandon. He was knighted at Theobalds, May 31, 1621, was appointed a member of the Virginia council on June 13, of the same year, and came over with Sir Francis Wyatt in October. George Sandys wrote that Sir William Newce brought with him "a very few weak and unserviceable people, ragged, and not above a fortnight's provisions, some bound for three years, and inost upon wages." The "Knight Marshall" died within two months after his arrival in the colony. William Capps, in a grumbling letter written in March, 1623, calls him "Sir William Naughtworth."
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Pott, John, councillor and deputy governor (q. v.)
Percy or Piercy, Abraham, merchant came to Virginia in the ship "Susan" in 1616 and was for a number of years certainly between 1619 and 1623, cape-merchant and treasurer oi the colony. At the time of Argall's suspen- sion from the office of admiral of Virginia, he appointed Persey, "the Cape-merchant," his vice-admiral, but this the Virginia Company held he had no power to do and instructed the governor and council of Virginia to make the appointment. Persey was a member of the house of burgesses in 1622, and on October 24, 1623, was appointed by the king one of the commissioners to examine the affairs in Vir- ginia. The following year he was appointed to the council and held his seat in that body until his death in 1628. Persey was un- doubtedly one of the richest men in the colony and his estate was for some time a bone of contention between his heirs. Its seizure by Governor Harvey was one of the numerous acts of that gentleman which aroused the ire of the colonists and finally led to his deposing. He married Frances, widow of Capt. Nathan- iel West, and she married thirdly Capt. Samuel Mathews. She was probably a daugh- ter of Sir Thomas Hinton.
Lapworth, Michael. Nothing is known of Michael Lapworth further than that the Vir- ginia Company appointed him a member of the council in 1621 and that he appears to have come to Virginia. The company, writing under date of July 25, 1621 to the colonial authorities, say "and here againe we renew our commendation of Mr. Lapworth and that in a very effective manner."
Madison, Isaac, came to Virginia in 1608, only a year after the founding of Jamestown,
and was employed in exploring the country and probably in making maps, etc. He went to England in 1620 and while there, on July 10, 1621, the Virginia Company, in recognition of his services in the colony, presented him with two shares in the company. He seems to have returned to Virginia shortly, for im- mediately after the massacre of 1622, we find liim actively employed against the Indians and becoming one of the best known soldiers of the colony. About the first of July, 1622, the governor sent Capt. Isaac Madison with thirty odd men to the Patomac, where it was thought corn could be purchased from the friendly Indians and a possible alliance with them be formed against the hostile tribes. Madison conducted the affair very badly, and, notwith- standing orders to the contrary was soon at odds with the well disposed savages. He was ied into this by tales of a conspiracy on the part of the Indians which, though quite un- founded, moved him into an indefensible treachery against them whereby he captured the chief and his son and killed many of their unfortunate tribesmen. The captives were finally ransomed for a quantity of corn. Such perfidy did not pass altogether unnoticed by the better men among the colonists, and a com- plaint was taken to court which bitterly de- nounced Madison and his confederates. Proceedings were about to be instituted against them, but Madison left for England at about this time. But Madison's act was not as unpopular as it deserved to be. After the massacre of 1622, people felt that there was nothing too bad for the Indians and they lacked discrimination to except the tribes who were not responsible for the outrage. It thus happened that Madison became quite a hero with a large element of the populace. Madi- son's stay in England was a short one and he
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soon returned to Virginia and once more took part in the colony's affairs, being even em- ployed again against the Indians. He was commissioned a member of the council, Aug. 26, 1624, but probably died before his com- mission reached him.
Farrar or Ferrar, William, was probably William Ferrar, who was a younger son of Nicholas Ferrar, an eminent merchant of Lon- don and a distinguished member of the Vir- ginia Company, and a brother of John and Nicholas Ferrar, who were both deputy treas- urers of the company, the latter being also M. P. In certain verses of John Ferrar, Jr., grandson of the elder Nicholas, "William Fer- rar," of Virginia, is referred to as "honored kinsman." The infant colony had no more use- ful friend than the Ferrar family, and William Ferrar, who is said to have been a barrister, had come himself to Virginia in or before 1621, as in that year he was living there. On March 14, 1625, he was appointed a councillor and his commission was renewed in March, 1627-28. On April 29, 1635, he was one of the councillors who deposed Harvey. He died in or before 1637, leaving descendants.
Tucker, William, was born in 1589 and came to Virginia in the "Mary and James" in 1610. He became a member of the Virginia Company in 1620 and was elected to the house ct burgesses in 1623-24. He became a coun- cillor on March 4, 1625-26 and was again in- cluded in the commission to the council under Yeardley, March 22, 1627-28. He was ap- pointed by the king one of the commissioners to supervise the government of Virginia in 1623. He was for long the principal man in Elizabeth City county and had taken an active part in the defense of the colony against the Indians. In August, 1633, Tucker, then in
England, presented a memorial to the privy council, in which he endeavored to show that Dutch trade with Virginia, if allowed, would result in great loss to the king and prejudice to the plantation. It is not surprising that Tucker, as an English trader, should take this view since the Dutch offered a much larger price to the planters for their tobacco than what he had been in the habit of paying, and thus would cut the profits of its sale in Europe. Tucker must have died some time before Feb. 17, 1644, when his will was proved in Lon- don. He left three children : William, Thomas and Mary.
Utie, John, first appears in Virginia in Feb., 1623, when Ensign John Utie is returned in the ceusus as living at Hog Island with his wife and son John, then an infant. In the year following, he had a grant of 100 acres on the south side of James river, and il1 1629 was burgess for the plantations be- tween Archer's Hope and Martin's Hundred and for Hog Island in 1629-30. On May 29, 1630, Governor Harvey writes that since his (Harvey's) arrival in Virginia, he had added Captain John Utie to the council, and on De- cember 20, 1631, Utie was one of the signers of the accord between the governor and coun- cil. On Oct. 8, 1630, a resolution of the coun- cil stated that Capt. John West and John Utie had "seated" the first settlement on the York river, and ordered that they should each receive 600 acres there for so doing. Later Capt. Utie added largely to his estate in that region and named his whole property "Utie- maria." When Harvey's misgovernment be- came unbearable, Utie was one of the leaders of the opposition to him and took part in the final scene which ended in the governor's deposition. When the governor struck George
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Menifie on the shoulder and told him he arrested him in the king's name for high treason, Utie, according to Harvey's own statement, struck him (the governor) "a very great and violent stroke upon the shoulder and said with a loud voice, 'I arrest you for treason,'" whereupon the rest of the coun- cillors crowded about Harvey and laid hold of him. It seems likely that the cause of the councillors laying hold of Harvey was, as is stated in Mathews' account, because on Utie's rejoinder, the governor's rage became so violent that they were obliged to restrain him to prevent harm being wrought. An act so extreme on the part of the colonists did not, of course, pass unnoticed by the authorities in England and, on Dec. 22, 1635, the privy coun- cil recommended to the king that the persons who took the leading part in deposing Harvey, Mathews, Utie, etc., should be ordered sent to England "to answer their misdemeanors, they being the prime actors in the late mutiny in Virginia." Just what was done in the case does not appear, but apparently before their case came to actual trial, they were allowed to re- turn to Virginia and their prosecution dropped. On May 25, 1637, West, Mathews, Utie and Peirce petition the English privy council, stating that they had been lately sent pris- oners, and that they had heard by recent letters that divers of their goods, cattle and servants, had been seized by order of Governor Harvey and begged that a letter might be written com- manding that the property be restored. The petition was granted and the required letter written, but, in case of Mathews at least, a second order from the privy council was needed before Harvey would disgorge. Capt. Utie probably died soon after his return to Virginia, that is, if he did return, of which there is no positive evidence.
Blaney, Edward, was in 1621, keeper of the "Colony Magazine," and in the same year was appointed factor and agent for the com- pany organized to carry on a glass house, and was authorized to trade with the Indians. Bianey was a member of the house of bur- gesses in 1623. and was appointed to the coun- cil on March 4, 1626. He married the widow of William Powell, captain of Jamestown fort.
Macock, Samuel, was a "Cambridge scholar and a gentleman of birth, virtue and industry." In March, 1617, Governor Argall requested the authorities in England that Mr. Macock might be obtained. In June, 1619, Governor Yeardley appointed him a member of the council. The colony was not long to enjoy the benefit of his services, however, for upon March 21, 1622, he and four others were killed by the Indians on the estate on James river in Prince George county, now called "Maycox," then described as "Master Macock's Dividend in the Territory of Great Wey- anoke." Councillor Macock probably left an only daughter, as in Jan., 1625, Sarah Macock, aged two years, and born in Virginia, was living in the family of Capt. Roger Smith. She married George Pace, of "Pace's Pains," whose father Richard Pace had saved James- town from the Indians at the massacre of 1622.
Ouldsworth, Mr., whose Christian name has not come down to us, enjoyed the dis- tinction of membership in the council for a very brief season. Upon April 12, 1621, it was moved that since Mr. Ouldsworth, then in Virginia, had, when he was in England, "lived in that reputation and credit as befitted a gentleman in his rank and ability as justice of the peace, and of the quorum," he might be
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admitted to the Virginia council. This motion was "conceived to be very reasonable," and it was "therefore ordered that it be moved in quarter court, and besides some place should bc thought upon" for the new councillor, "suitable to his merit and worth." On May 2, upon Mr. Smith's recommendation of his "worth and sufficiency," and as "having been a justice of the peace here in England for so many years, and of the quorum," he was for- mally "chose and confirmed of the council of state in Virginia," by the Virginia Company. On July 16, 1621, the company had received information of his death.
Leech, Mr., was appointed by a court of the Virginia Company a provisional member of the council of Virginia until he should receive confirmation by the next quarter court. This was on July 16, 1621. About August of that year, he went to Virginia in the ship "Marma- duke," but nothing more is known of him, except that the governor and council of Vir- ginia, in a letter dated January, 1621, stated that they had administered the oaths to sev- eral new councillors, but not to Mr. Leech, "Who came not to us."
Wickham, William, a minister, though without Episcopal ordination, had charge of the church at Henrico. Rolfe, writing in 1610, speaks of "Mr. Wickham the minister there, who in his life and doctrines gives good in- struction to the people." On June 19, 1617, Gov. Argall requested Sir Dudley Digges to procure from the Archbishop of Canterbury, permission for Mr. Wickham to administer the sacrament, as there was no other person to do it, and in the following March he de- sired "ordination for Mr. Wickham and Mr. Macock, a Cambridge scholar, and a person to read to (for?) Mr. Wickham, his eyes
being weak." In 1621 the Rev. William Wick- ham was appointed a member of the council. Nothing further is known of him.
Davison, Christopher, son of William Davi- son, who was secretary of state to Queen Eliza- beth, was elected secretary of Virginia by the Virginia Company on June II, 1621, to suc- ceed John Pory. He came to the colony and was a member of the council in Jan., 1621, and Jan., 1623. He died soon after the last named date.
Whitaker, Jabez, styled in the old records "Captain Whitaker," was probably a brother of the Rev. Alexander Whitaker, the early minister, as the father of that good divine had by his second wife, a posthumous son named Jabez. Capt. Whitaker was a member of the house of burgesses in Mar., 1623-24, and of the council in 1626. In the last named year he was living in Elizabeth City county. He married before 1619, a daughter of Sir John Bourchier, a member of the Virginia Com- pany and uncle of the regicide of that name. Our councillor's name appears several times in the proceedings of the Virginia Company. On Jan. 23, 1620, "Mr. Treasurer signified (that ) having received notice of the good car- riage of some persons in Virginia (he) was especially to recommend unto them one Mr. Jabez Whitakers, Lieutenant of the Company's men, who had given good account of the trust reposed in him," and in July, 1621, it was reported that "Mr. Whitaker had obeyed the Company's orders in building a guest house (at Kicotan) and had also begun to plant vines, corn, etc .; it was therefore ordered as a reward, that two boys should be sent him, and that the reward of tobacco allowed by the Governor of Virginia should be confirmed."
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Claiborne, William. The ancient family of Claiborne derives its name from the Manor of Claiborne or Cliborne, in Westmoreland county, England, near the river Eden, and which is named in the Domesday Book (A. D. 1086). William Claiborne was born about 1587 and came to Virginia with Gov. Wyatt in 1621, in the employ of the Virginia Com- pany as surveyor-general of Virginia at a salary of thirty pounds a year, a house and, in all probability fees. He quickly became promi- nent in colonial affairs, and, in 1624, was com- missioned by the King as first royal secretary of state, a position which he held off and on for eighteen years. In 1626 he became a member of the council. On July 22, 1629, he received a commission from Gov. Pott appointing him captain and commander of all the forces to be levied for a war against the Indians, and as a reward for the successful conduct of the campaign, was granted, in 1640, a tract of land on the Pamunkey river. In the latter year he petitioned the King to create an office which should have the keeping of the Virginia seal. The King referred the matter back to the governor and council of Virginia, who decided that such an office was appro- priate and appointed Claiborne to fill it. In 1634 through the influence of Harvey he lost his place as secretary of state, but on Apr. 6, 1642, Charles I. appointed him treasurer of Virginia for life. He again commanded forces against the Indians in 1644, and again received a grant of land in reward. Claiborne was a great explorer and traded with the Indians as well as fought them. In 1627, the govern- , ment of Virginia gave him permission to dis- cover the source of Chesapeake Bay and ex- plore any body of water between the thirty- fourth and forty-first parallels of latitude, and, 011 May 16, 1631, the King granted a license
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