Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Pages 10-12]
Drake, Sir Francis, circumnavigator of the globe, and the most famous seaman of his age. His parentage is not certain, but he was probably a son of Robert Drake of Otterton, by his wife Agnes Kelloway. The date and place of his birth are equally uncertain, but he was probably born at Crowndale, near Tavistock, Devonshire, in 1539, and was named for his godfather, Francis Russell, afterwards second earl of Bedford. his father suffered persecution and was forced to fly from his home at Tavistock, and inhabit in the hull of a ship, where most of his younger sons were born; he had twelve in all. Francis was at an early age apprenticed to the master of a small coasting vessel, who dying without heirs, left the bark to him. He seems to have followed this petty trade for a short time, but in 1565 he was engaged in one or two voyages to Guinea, the Spanish Main, and South America. Influenced by the accounts he heard of the exploits of Hawkins, who was his kinsman, he commanded the Judith in the fleet fitted out by that great commander, which sailed from Plymouth, October 2, 1667, and which, with the exception of the Minion and the Judith conveying Hawkins and Drake, were destroyed in the harbor of San Juan d'Ulloa by a treacherous attack of the Spaniards. In 1570 he went on his own account to the West Indies and in 1571 went again, the chief fruit of which voyages was the intelligence he gained of men and places which were useful for his future movements. In 1572 he sailed with two small ships, having on board the parts of three "dainty pinnaces," and being reinforced on the way by another English ship arrived at the Isle of Pines in Cuba, where they captured, two Spanish vessels. This adventure was followed by numberless others which involved the surrender of Nombre de Dios, the burning of Porto Bello, the sacking of Vera Cruz, the destruction of many Spanish ships, and the capture of a caravan of mules loaded with thirty tons of silver. On this voyage, in one of his journeys into the country of Panama, Drake, from a tree on the ridge, had a view of both oceans, and, transported at the sight, prayed fervently that he might live to sail the one he now first saw but had never visited. At length returning homeward, he arrived in Plymouth, Sunday, August 9, 1587, when, at the news, leaving the preacher in the midst of his sermon, everybody ran out of church to see the famous seaman.
This was the most famous voyage ever made by an Englishman, but Drake contemplated greater things. After some service in Ireland, Drake got together a squadron of five vessels and sailed again to America. He determined to visit that great wide spreading sea of the west, which he had seen from the ridge of Panama. He left Falmouth, December 13, 1577, and sailed to Brazil, and thence coasting southward passed through the straits of Magellan. All of his ships but the Pelican, in which he sailed, were either abandoned, destroyed in the storm or returned to England. But Drake was undismayed. Changing the name of his vessel to Golden Hind, he swept up the western coast of South America, plundering towns and shipping as he went. He then coasted California and North America, as far as 48° north latitude. Returning again southward, he anchored in a little harbor near the Bay of San Francisco and took possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth, calling it New Albion. Having overhauled and reprovisioned his ship, he struck boldly across the Pacific and after an absence of nearly three years at least reached Plymouth, England, on Sunday, September 26, 1580 — being the first Englishman and the next person after Magellan to circumnavigate the globe. He arrived very richly freighted with gold, silver, silk, pearls and precious stones, amounting in value to one million and a half sterling, represented perhaps in modern values about $40,000,000. Queen Elizabeth visited Drake's ship at Deptford, and knighted him and bestowed upon him a coat of arms and a crest. And the King of Spain issued a proclamation offering 20,000 ducats for Drake's head. Soon after these events he served as mayor of Plymouth and as member of Parliament.
Queen Elizabeth having come to an open breach with the King of Spain, Drake was ent in 1585 with a fleet of twenty-six sail to attack the Spanish settlements in the West Indies. He took St. Jago in Cuba, St. Domingo, Carthegena and St. Augustine, and carried away booty to the amount of £60,000 sterling. Sailing northward he visited Lane's colony at Roanoke, and finding them disheartened took them all on board and carried them back to Portsmouth, England, which he reached July 28, 1586.
Drake was not long left idle. In 1581 he was sent with a strong fleet against the Spanish coast and created much havoc in sinking and burning 100 Spanish vessels, and destroying four castles on the shore; and off the Azores captured a Portugese East-Indiaman loaded with wealth estimated at £10,000. this was what Drake called "singing the King's beard." He liberally employed some of the wealth he had acquired in bringing water from a distant spring to the town of Plymouth. Drake was active in preparing England against the attack of the Spanish Armada. It was his urgent advice to the Queen not to wait the attack, but to carry the war to the Spanish coast and thereby break up the proposed movement. In the battle with the Armada he was vice-admiral under Lord Charles Howard, and his squadron had the principal share in the discomfiture of the Spanish fleet as it fled before the storms and foe.
The next year Drake was sent with a body of land forces under Sir John Norris for the purpose of restoring Don Antonio to the throne of Portugal, but the expedition was attended with a large loss of life and was not successful in its primary objects, though Drake had the good fortune to capture a large fleet laden with naval shores, thus putting an end to all proposals of an invasion from Spain. For the next few years Drake was actively but peacefully employed on shore, and in 1593 said in parliament for Plymouth. In 1594 he was admiral of a fleet to make another attack on the West Indies, and Sir John Hawkins was vice-admiral. The expedition seems to have been unfortunate from the beginning. the enemy were forewarned, and everywhere they met with determined opposition. Various towns, including Nombre de Dios, were burned and sacked, but they obtained no booty. Hawkins died when off Porto Rico, and Drake fell sick of dysentery. His disease was aggravated by his disappointment and exertions, and it finally took a bad turn. On the return he also died off Porto Rico, the date being January 28, 1595-96. His body, encased in a leaden coffin, was committed to the deep next day. he was twice married; first to Mary Newman, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Sydenham, who survived him and afterwards married Sir William Courtenay, of Powderham, in Devonshire. he left no children nor did any of his eleven brothers, except one Captain Thomas Drake, who left a daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Bamfield, Esq.; and a son Francis, who was created baronet August 2, 1622.

[Page 12]
Hakluyt, Rev. Richard, a celebrated naval historian, born about 1555, brought up at Westminster School, and graduated A. B. at Christ Church College, Oxford, February 19, 1573; M. A. June 27, 1577. His interest in navigation was early excited by the example and teaching of his cousin Richard Hakluyt, Sr., and he devoted himself to the study of geography and collecting and publishing the accounts of travels and discoveries. In 1582 appeared his "Divers Voyages;" in 1584 he wrote his "Discourse on Western Planting" for Raleigh, in which he pictured the advantage of an English settlement in America; in 1586 he caused the journals of Ribault and others to be published; in 1587 he published an improved edition of Peter Martyr's work, "De Orbe Novo," after wards translated in English and published under the title of "The Historie of the West Indies;" in 1588 he applied himself to his greatest work, "Principal Navigations," which he published in 1589; and shortly after he issued a second edition. In 1601 he published a translation of Antonio Galvano's "History of Discoveries," and in 1609 a translation of Ferdinand De Soto's "Description of Florida." During this time he filled many offices. He was appointed at a very early age to read public lectures at Oxford upon cosmography; in 1582-83 he was chaplain of the English embassy at Paris, where he remained five years; during his absence he was appointed rector of Wetheringset in Suffolk. He took great interest in the colonization of Virginia, and was one of the four incorporators mentioned by name in the patent granted to the Virginia Company of London in 1606. On the recommendation of Dr. Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, the post of minister at Jamestown was offered to him, but he declined in favor of Robert Hunt. Hackluyt died at Eton in Hertfordshire in November, 1606, and was buried among the illustrious dead in Westminster Abbey. No man did more for the English occupation of America, since by his numerous works he fired the imagination of the nation and inspired the navigators with the zeal of crusaders to whom no sea or enterprise, however hazardous, had any terrors.

[Pages 12-13]
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, son of Otho Gilbert and his wife Katherine Champernoun, was born in Devonshire, at his father's house called Greenway, upon Dart river, about 1639; educated at Eton and Oxford; devoted himself to the study of navigation and the art of war; was wounded at Havre in fighting against the French, and afterwards saw much military experience in Ireland, where after defeating the celebrated McCarthy More he was made governor of Munster in October, 1569; knighted at Drogheda by the lord lieutenant of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney, January 1, 1570, and the same year returned to England and married Joan, only daughter and heiress of John Aucher, of Otterden, by his wife Ann, daughter of Sir William Kellaway; M. P. from Plymouth in 1571; commanded the squadron sent to reinforce Flushing in the autumn of 1572; returned to England in the fall of 1573, and was living at Limehouse in 1575-78. He became greatly interested in making discoveries, and in 1566 petitioned the Queen for the privilege of making northeast discoveries, and in 1567 of making northwest discoveries. he wrote a "Discourse of a Discovery for a new passage to Cataia," and conceived the design of planting an English settlement in the New World to countervail the power of Spain. Accordingly, he obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth for this purpose, dated June 11, 1578; sailed in the fall of that year with seven ships and 387 men, but was soon forced to return; in 1579 he sent Simon Ferdinando and in 1580 John Walker to make preliminary explorations, and on June 11, 1583, sailed himself a second time with five ships bearing 260 men; August 3, 1583, he reached Newfoundland, of which he took possession in the name of Queen Elizabeth. From here he sailed southward, but the desertion and loss of several of his vessels forced him to abandon the expedition and to attempt to return home with the two that remained. On the way a terrible storm on September 10, 1583, swallowed up one of them hearing Gilbert himself. Throughout the whole expedition he showed an invincible spirit, and his last words will be kept in precious remembrance: "We are as near Heaven by sea as by land." He is justly considered the founder of American colonization. He was the father of a number of children, among whom are John, Bartholomew and Raleigh Gilbert, all of whom were interested in the settlement of America.

[Page 13]
Gilbert, Adrian, of Sandridge, son of Otho Gilbert, of Compton, and brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made a voyage to the northwest prior to 1583; interested in the voyages of John Davis 1586-87, and in the voyage of Cavendish, 1591; was constable of Sherborne Castle, 1596-1603; member of parliament for Bridgeport, 1597-98.

[Page 13]
Gilbert, Sir John, of Greenway, eldest son of Otho Gilbert and Katherine Champernoun, his wife, and brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert; knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Westminster, 1571; vice-admiral of Devon, 1585; mayor of Plymouth,1589; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh, and was buried in St. Peter's Cathedral, Exeter, where an elegant monument remains to his memory. Interested in the expeditions of his brother Sir Humphrey.

[Page 13]
Gilbert, Sir John, eldest son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, went with Raleigh to Guiana in 1595; showed gallantry at the battle of Cadiz in 1596 and was knighted by Essex; governor of the fort at Plymouth, 1597; member of the council for Virginia, 1607; was a brave officer; married a daughter of Sir Richard Molyneux, of Sefton, but died without issue, July 5, 1608, of small pox, and was buried at Marldon Church. His brother Raleigh Gilbert was his heir.

[Pages 13-14]
Ferdinando, Simon, a Portugese pilot, sailed with Drake on his celebrated voyage to the West Indies in 1577, and in 1579 Gilbert sent him to America to explore the way for his colony; he was a pilot in Fenton's voyage in 1582-83, and in the exploring voyage to North Carolina of Amidas and Barlow in 1584; subsequently he went with the colonies of Lane and John White to Roanoke. He was probably one of those who disappeared with the last.

[Page 14]
Walker, John, was employed by Sir Humphrey Gilbert to make an exploring voyage in 1580 to America. He visited the Penobscot river and reported to Sir Humphrey the discovery of a silver mine within the river. This induced Gilbert to direct his voyage to Newfoundland in 1583, and probably prompted the plans which he appears to have formed on the return voyage of sending out two new expeditions the following spring.

[Pages 14-15]
Raleigh, Sir Walter, son of Walter Raleigh, Esq., of Fardel, near Plymouth, and Katherine Campernoun, daughter of Sir Philip Campernoun, of Modbury, in Devonshire, and widow of Otho Gilbert, Esq., of Compton. He was born at Hayes Barton, in Devonshire, 1552; educated at Oriel College, Oxford, about 1568; served in France five years to assist the French Huguenots, returned to London in 1576; in 1758 went to the Netherlands under Sir John Norris to help the Dutch against the Spaniards; the following year engaged with his brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his American schemes and sailed in the Falcon, but the expedition was unfortunate and he soon returned; in 1580 he raised troops and took part in suppressing an insurrection in Ireland and received a grant there from Queen Elizabeth of 12,000 acres; furnished a ship to Sir Humphrey's second colonization expedition in 1583; interested in Adrian Gilbert's patent of the Northwest passage; obtained patent March 5, 1584, for planting a colony in America; sends Amidas and Barlow to America, April 27, 1584, who explored the coast of North Carolina; on their return the Queen named the country Virginia, in honor of herself; member of parliament for Devon, November 23, 1584, to September 14, 1585; his patent of colonization confirmed by parliament in December, 1584; grows in favor of the Queen and is knighted at Greenwich, January 1, 1585. About the same time he received the grant of a monopoly for the selling of wine throughout the kingdom, was made seneschal of the duchies of Cornwall and Exeter and lord warden of the Stannaries; pleased at the success of Amidas and Barlow, Raleigh sent seven hips under Sir Richard Grenville and 200 settlers under Capt. Ralph Lane, who occupied Roanoke Island, in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, August 17, 1585, but the colonists returned to England the following year in the fleet of Sir Francis Drake; member of parliament for Devon in 1586-87; during this time he was made captain of the Queen's Guard and member of the council of war; May 8, 1587, he sent another colony to Roanoke under Governor John White; in 1588 he was one of the captains of the English fleet who fought the Armada; assigned his interests in America to Thomas Smith and others in 1589, but aided in sending an expedition in 1591 to the relief of the colonists at Roanoke, who were never found; planned a voyage against Panama in 1592; married Elizabeth Throckmorton, and thereby incurred the anger of Queen Elizabeth, who imprisoned him in the tower of London; 1593, member of parliament for St. Michaels; when on a voyage to Guiana in 1595; took a prominent part in the taking of Cadiz in June, 1596; published an account of his voyage of 1595 to Guiana in 1596, and sent a voyage there under Captain Keymis, and another under Berry, 1596-97; in 1597 he sailed on the celebrated voyage to the Azores; member of parliament for Dorset 1597-98; governor and captain of Jersey, august 26, 1600; member of parliament for Cornwall, 1600-1601; sends Mace on a voyage to America and his nephew Bartholomew Gilbert, 1602; gives permission to Martin Pring to make a voyage in 1603; upon the accession of King James he lost his influence at Court, was stripped of his preferments, and accused, tried and condemned for high treason, as a participator in Lord Cobham's plot for placing Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne; was confined in the Tower from 1603 to January 30, 1616, during which time he wrote "The History of the World," down to the end of the Macedonian war, B. C. 167; in 1616 he was temporarily released by the King and sent to find a gold mine in Guiana; when he returned empty handed he was arrested on the complaint of the Spanish ambassador and sentenced to death, and executed October 29, 1619, on the verdict of the jury seventeen years before, now recognized to have ben based on charges trumped up by political enemies. He was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. he was the most accomplished gentleman of his age, and to him is due more than any other man the popularizing of colonization. He introduced into general use the potato, which he planted on his estate in Ireland, and tobacco, which he taught the courtiers to smoke. He left an only surviving son, Carew Raleigh, who was a member of the Virginia Company of London, April 2, 1623.

[Page 15]
Amidas, Philip, said to have been born at Hull, England, 1550; was sent by Raleigh with Arthur Barlow to explore the coast of North Carolina or Virginia. he left the west of England, April 27, 1584, visited North Carolina and explored Pamlico Sound, which he found dotted with many islands, the largest of which was Roanoke. When he returned and reported his new discovery, the Queen called the country in honor of herself, Virginia. He died in 1618.

[Page 15]
Barlow, Arthur, employed by Sir Walter Raleigh with Philip Amidas to lead an exploring expedition to North Carolina in 1584.

[Page 15]
Grenville, Sir Richard, son of Sir Roger Grenville, and his wife Thomasine, daughter of Thomas Cole, Esq., of Slade, in Devonshire, was born in 1540, and at an early age acquired much distinction in fighting the Turks; member of parliament for Cornwall, 1571, and for Launceston, 1572-83; knighted at "Windesore," in 1577; sheriff of Cornwall, 1578; became greatly interested in foreign discoveries; aided Raleigh in sending out Amidas and Barlow to America, 1584; member of parliament for Cornwall, 1584-85, and served on committee for conferring Raleigh's patent of colonization; took the first colony to Virginia, April to October, 1585; went on a second voyage bringing supplies, April to December, 1586; took Spanish prizes on each voyage; member of council of war to resist the Spanish Armada, 1587, and fought in the great sea fight 1588; 1591, vice-admiral of the fleet under Sir Thomas Howard, and lost his life in a sea fight near the Azores, in which his single ship withstood for many hours five Spanish galleons supported at intervals by ten others. An old chronicler asserts that it was "the stoutest sea fight ever waged." He married Mary, daughter of Sir John St. Leger, and their eldest son was Bernard Grenville.

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Cavendish, Sir Thomas, an adventurous seaman, the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, was born at Grimston Hall, Trimley, St. Martin Parish, Suffolk county, England, 1564; he equipped a ship at his own expense and sailed with Sir Richard Grenville on the voyage to Roanoke Island in 1585; afterwards mortgaged his estates and fitted out a fleet to prey on Spanish commerce, and embarking from Plymouth, July 21, 1586, crossed the Atlantic, ran down the coast of South America, cleared the straits of Magellan and heading northward ravaged the seaboard of Chili, Peru and New Spain. He captured a galleon laden with valuable merchandise and 122,000 Spanish dollars. He went as far as Cape Lucas, on the coast of California, and then sailed for England by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Plymouth, September 9, 1588, after an absence of two years, one month and nineteen days. On his return home Queen Elizabeth knighted him. His share of the spoils was "rich enough to purchase a fair earldom." In three years he planned another voyage of the same scope, but his good genius deserted him. His plans were rendered abortive by tempestuous weather, sickness, hunger and desertion, and being compelled to turn homeward died at sea in the summer of 1592, heartbroken from want, anguish and fatigue.

[Page 16]
Lane, Captain Ralph, second son of Sir Ralph Lane, of Orlinbury, and his wife Maud, daughter of William Lord Parr, uncle of Queen Katherine Parr, was born in Northamptonshire, about 1630; entered the Queen's service in 1563; distinguished himself in the rebellion of 1569, and was made governor of Kerry and Clan Morris; he is described by Stow as "a great projector in these times," and proposed to the crown many schemes of all kinds; was selected by Raleigh as governor of the colony to be sent to Roanoke Island in 1585; finding that there were no gold mines in North Carolina he returned home with the settlers in 1586; afterwards was a member of the commission to provide for the defence of England against the Spanish Armada; and in 1589 was a colonel in the expedition of Drake and Norris to Portugal; he was made muster-master-general in Ireland, where he was dangerously wounded; was knighted by Lord Fitzwilliam, deputy lord lieutenant of Ireland, in 1593, and died in 1604 or 1605.

[Page 16]
Hariot, Thomas, an eminent English mathematician, born at Oxford, in 1560, studied at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford University, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, February 12, 1580. Soon after he was entertained by Sir Walter Raleigh as his instructor in mathematics, and granted by him an annual pension. He was sent with Ralph Lane and his colony to Roanoke in 1585, and upon his return he published the results of his labors in "A Brief and True Report of the newfoundland of Virginia, etc., London, 1588." He was the constant companion of Sir Walter Raleigh when he was confined in the Tower of London. He made a sun dial for the Earl of Northumberland, which is still to be seen in the south face of St. Martin's tower. In 1607 he drew up observations on the comet known as "Halley's Comet." He was the first to detect the spots on the sun, and is said to have observed the satellites of Jupiter a few days after Galileo first discovered them. he arrived at a complete theory of the genesis of equations in algebra, which Cardan and Vieta had but partially conceived. He preserved a keen interest in the colonization of Virginia till his death, at London, July 2, 1621.

[Page 17]
White, Captain John, was one of the settlers who went with Captain Ralph Lane and his colonists to Roanoke in 1586. He was an artist, and made maps of the country and drawings of the Indian life. Many of his paintings are now in the Sloane collection and in the Grenville Library in the British Museum. He was one of those to whom Raleigh assigned his patent in January, 1587, and went in charge of a second colony to Roanoke in May that year. In November he went to England for supplies, but his return to Roanoke was delayed on account of the invasion of England by the Spanish Armada. At length after three years he returned to Roanoke, but found no trace of the colony which he had left behind. Some of his maps and drawings were engraved in 1590 by De Bry in Hariot's report New found land of Virginia. He was living in 1594, when he wrote a letter to Raleigh. One of the lost colonists was his own daughter, wife of Annanias Dare, to whom was born a daughter, Virginia, August 18, 1578, the first child of English parents to be born in America.

[Page 17]
Mace, Samuel, a mariner in the employment of Sir Walter Raleigh, was sent by him three times to Virginia to search for the "Lost Colony of Roanoke;" the third voyage was in 1602; he departed from Waymouth in March, and reaching the American coast forty leagues south of Cape Hatteras, spent a month searching the coast and trading with the Indians; he returned with a cargo of sassafras and roots of different kinds, but brought no news of the "Lost Colony."

[Page 17]
James I. of England and VI. of Scotland, only child of Mary Queen of Scots, daughter of James V., by her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born in the Castle of Edinburgh, June 19, 1566. He married Anne of Denmark, November 24, 1589, and was proclaimed King of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth, March 24, 1603. His reign lasted till March 27, 1625, when he died. In estimating his career, while we must condemn his subserviency to favorites like Somerset and Buckingham, and his exhorbitant ideas of his prerogative, we must praise his actions in other respects. He loved peace, and was fond of books and literary men. He had patriotic views on extending the trade and power of the nation by favoring merchants, discoveries and colonization. He enlarged the privileges of the East India, the Muscovy, the Turkey and the Merchant Adventurers Companies, and granted three charters to the Virginia Company, successively increasing its powers. While he has been condemned for having the company dissolved, it cannot be said that he acted without some good reasons. The company had fallen into factions, and the terrible mortality in Virginia gave the appearance of careless administration. Of course Sandys and Southampton were not responsible for this, but subject events justified King James' action. As a matter of fact the colony had outgrown the care of a distant corporation. Jamestown, James river and James City county in Virginia still remind us of his name and reign.

[Page 17]
Cecil, Sir Robert, Earl of Salisbury, born June 1, 1560, son of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, whom he succeeded as secretary of state on his death in 1598. In that office he was in fact prime minister during the next five years of his life. He was sole secretary of state to James I. from 1603 to his death in 1612. He was one of the earliest and constant friends of the Virginia enterprise, and subscribed £333 6s. 8d. to its stock.

[Page 18]
Gosnold, Bartholomew, (q. v.).

[Page 18]
Gilbert, Bartholomew, son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, sailed with Bartholomew Gosnold in the ship Concord, sent out by the Earl of Southampton to the New England coast, March 26, 1602; May 10, 1603, in a small bark of fifty tons, he sailed to Chesapeake Bay; when landing on the eastern shore he was attacked by Indians and killed in July of that year. The ship returned to England about the end of September.

[Page 18]
Pring, Martin, sea captain, son of John Pring of Awliscomb, Devonshire, was in 1603 sent out by Richard Hakluyt and others of Bristol under license from Sir Walter Raleigh with two ships the Speedwell and Discovery to perform a voyage to the coast of New England. They arrived at Bristol on October 2, where they reported the land they had visited "full of God's blessings." He then went on a voyage to Guiana, and, afterwards in October, 1606, went out to New England in an expedition fitted out by Sir John Popham, and "brought back with him," wrote Sir Ferdinand Gorges, "the most exact discovery of that land that ever came to my hand since. Pring afterwards saw much service in the employment of the East India Company's ships. On his passage home in 1621, in the Royal James, the officers and men made a subscription towards building a free school in Virginia, amounting to £70 8s 6d., of which Pring contributed £6 13s, 4d. On July 3 he was made a freeman of the Virginia Company of London and was granted two shares of land in Virginia. The East India Company, however, censured him for engaging in private trade, and for being too complacent to the Dutch. He died in 1626, and was buried at St. Stephen's Church, Bristol, where there is a monument to his memory. His daughter Alice married Andrews, son of William Burwell, a commissioner of the navy.

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Weymouth, George, voyager, was employed by the East India Company in 1601, to make a voyage for the discovery of a northwest passage to India. He penetrated some distance into Hudson Strait, and thus "lit the light" which guided Hudson to the great waters in British America which bear his name. In 1605 Weymouth was put in command of the Archangel, a vessel fitted out by the earl of Southampton and his brother-in-law, Lord Thomas Arundell, of Wardour. He sailed from Ratcliffe in the beginning of March and visited Nantucket, Monhegan Island, and discovered a large river which has never been definitely identified. He traded with the Indians and returned to England with a very valuable cargo of furs. He arrived at Dartmouth. July 18, 1605. The last mention of him is on October 27, 1607, when he was granted a pension of 3s, 4d. per diem.

[Page 18]
Gilbert, Raleigh, a son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, brother of Sir John Gilbert, and nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh; very active in the settlement of America; an incorporator in the first Virginia charter April 10, 1606; May 31, 1607, sailed from Plymouth, England, in the expedition sent out by the Plymouth Company to the Kennebec river in Maine; was member of the local council, and after the death of George Popham was president; after a winter of much suffering he returned with the settlers to England; married Elizabeth, daughter of John Kelley, Esq., of Devon; member of the council for New England in 1620; he died in 1626, leaving seven children, many of whose descendants are living in Cornwall, England.

[Pages 19-20]
Smith or Smythe, Sir Thomas, a great merchant and first treasurer of the Virginia Company of London, born about 1558, son of Sir Thomas Smythe, of Ostenhanger in Kent, a merchant of large wealth, who at the coming of the Armada lent Queen Elizabeth £1000, and who, as collector of the customs, was generally known as "Mr. Customer Smith." The son was probably the most important merchant of his day, being at one time head of all the leading merchant companies of London. he was educated at Oxford, and went early into business. He was an incorporator of the Turkey Company in 1581, a principal member of the Russia Company in 1587, and the first on the list of those persons to whom Raleigh assigned (March 7, 1589) his interest in Virginia. He formed a friendship with the Earl of Essex and accompanied him to Cadiz in 1596, where he was knighted by him for gallantry. In 1599 he was sheriff of London, and in 1600 was first governor of the East India Company. In 1601 he was captain of the trained bands of London, and was arrested about this time for suspected complicity in the insurrection of Essex. He was confined a short time and was released from the Tower of London in September, 1602. King James regarded Essex's friends as his friends, and on May 13 knighted him at the Tower. In 1604 he was appointed, on account of his concern in the Muscovy Company, special ambassador to Russia. He visited the Czar at Jaroslav and obtained from him new privileges for the Muscovy Company. In 1603 he was reëlected governor of the East India Company and held the office till 1621; M. P. for Dunwich, 1604-11, and for Saltash, 1621-22.
In 1606 he was active in forming the Virginia Company and was appointed member of the Virginia Council in England, and treasurer of the company. He continued treasurer for twelve years. In 1618 he was appointed one of the commissioners of the navy and held that office till his death in 1625. In 1618 the Virginia Company divided into three parties — one composed of the lords and many gentlemen under the lead of Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, and the Earl of Southampton; another consisting principally of merchants under the lead of Sir Thomas Smythe; and a third, "the faction of the auditors," under Sir Edwin Sandys. Smythe had been alienated from Rich on account of the marriage of his son John, a mere youth of 18, to a sister of the earl, without the privity of the father. So the first and third factions united, and elected Sir Edwin Sandys as treasurer in 1619. Smythe, doubtless knowing his defeat to be certain, declined to stand. He continued, however, governor of the East India Company and the Bermuda Islands Company. The factional disturbances in the Virginia Company continued to grow, and the Smythe faction, now reinforced by the earl of Warwick, assailed the government of the Virginia Colony as conducted by their adversaries, with such violence that King James finally had the charter abrogated in the courts in June, 1624. After this abrogation Smith was a member of the royal commission for Virginia affairs till his death, September 4, 1625. he was buried at Hone Church, Kent, where is to be seen a superb monument to his memory.
In estimating the services of Smythe to Virginia, while there is no doubt that he had its interest clearly to heart and gave largely of his time and money to the enterprise, his policy of ruling the settlers like a military camp and establishing martial law cannot be approved. On the general subject of explorations he had the noble and enlarged views. Besides performing the main part in establishing an English colony in Virginia, he aided and promoted many voyages to find a northwest passage to India — Henry Hudson's in 1610, Jonas Poole's in 1611, Captain Button's in 1612. Robert Fotherbie's in 1615,Robert Bileth and William Baffin's in 1616 when "Smith's Sound" was discovered and named for him. Indeed, his name was engrafted everywhere upon land and water beyond perhaps that of any other Englishman. He was besides the patron of many men of science, and his gifts and bequests were very numerous. He married three times, his third wife being Sarah, daughter of William Blount, Esq., by whom he had two sons — Thomas and John Smythe. The line of the former ended with the accomplished geographer the Eighth Viscount Strangford, who died in 1869, and the line of the latter expired with Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe, chief baron of the exchequer in 1772. The family always wrote the name Smythe, though it is generally rendered Smith. A portrait belonging to the Skinner's Company has been identified with Sir Thomas Smythe.