Chapter V: Part 5

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 L8 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.

Payd Mr Felgate upon accompt for charges about the breadroome,
& cabins, for joyners worke, pitche, nayles, bordes &c; payd
for wages of 5 of our seamen for 3 weeks di [_i.e._ one-half]
4_s_ the weeke dayly helpinge ended 17 September Saturday
night; and for the dyet of Toby Felgate at Bristol for 7 weeks
at 6_s_ p. weeke; payd Toby Felgate upon his bill for the
charges of himselfe and hire of his horse to Bristoll and
cariage of his sea cards, affaires & apparell; payd at the
Horshooe for a chamber to stowe our goods bought at St James
faire for 5 weeks; imprest to Mr Felgate to buy 1000 couple of
Newfoundland fish; 2 sives to make gunpowder in Virginia; a
barre of iron and hangers in the cookroome in the ship; the
hire of the Swanne cellar 5_s_ and for Hendens cellar for all
our goods 11_s_; charges of diet of Mr Smyth & parte of the
company at the White Lyon, and for the bord wages of other
parte of the company for 14 dayes as by accompt kept by Willm
Archard; paper, inke & parchment for comissions and
quadripartite covenants & indentures &c; 2 boxes for cariage
of comissions, lettres indentures &c. into Virginia; the hire
of a boat that caryed Mris Tracy & the weomen & children from
Bristoll to Crockhampill; to the boatmen at Barkley for
caryage of 2 tun di of pease, wheat, wheat eares malt &c. to
Bristoll; to Mr Willet Customer outwards for the customs of 10
brode clothes & pretermitted dutyes, which is to be repayd
upon certificate from Sir Garroway & Sir John Worsuam; payd
Mr. Tracys bill for a tramell net; payd for the passage of 20
men & weomen from the partes of Hayles to Bristoll, & the hire
of some horses dyet & lodginge at the Horshooe and at Mris
Lewis house and lodginge of many servants as by severall bills
appeareth over & besides what Mr Smyth thought indifferently
fit to abate which Mr Tracy referred to him &c; for wrytinge &
ingrossinge the 2 comissions quadripartite covenants 35 payre
of indentures and divers other particulars; sent to Mr Tracy
upon his lettres after I was come to Nibley to be supplyed,
whilst he lay for wynd at Crockampill with all his company &c.

This list makes it crystal clear that supplying Virginia was both a costly and time consuming operation. It is clear, too, that supplies were of the nature that encouraged permanent colonization and residence in Virginia. Those Englishmen who founded the Colony took as much of the English way of life with them as was possible be it personal or political rights and freedom, books, food, clothing, utensils, or working tools.