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[Pages 75-76]
      Newport, Christopher, There can be no doubt that King James displayed great wisdom in choosing so experienced and able a seaman as Christopher Newport to command the colonizing expedition of 1607 to Virginia, and in sealing the box which contained his list of councillors during the voyage, in order that there might be no conflict of authority with his. He had sailed the Spanish Main and taken an active part in the privateering exploits against the Spanish in the New World. In 1592 he sailed in command of four ships when he "took and Spoyled Yaguana and Ocoa and Hispaniola and Truxillo, besides other prizes." After the brilliant capture of the "Madre de Dios" by the ships of Sir Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Cumberland, Capt. Newport, who played an important part in the fight, was given command of her and took her to Dartmouth.
      When the expedition of 1607 arrived at Jamestown, Newport's name was found on the list of councillors, though he was not expected to become a planter but to serve as admiral in the voyages between England and the colony. In pursuance of his orders to remain two months in the New World exploring, he started May 21 on a voyage up the James river, which he followed as far as the "falls," the present site of the city of Richmond. Here, finding that he could go no further without great danger, he set up a cross with the inscription "Jacobus Rex, 1607," and his own name underneath. Upon inquiry by the Indians as to the meaning of this cross and ceremony, the wily captain told them that the two arms of the cross signified Powhatan and himself, and their juncture the league they had entered into. On June 22 of the same year he returned to England with a cargo of "sasafrax rootes" instead of the gold which the Virginia Company had so ardently hoped for.
      Newport's second arrival in Virginia (Jan. 2, 1608) was a timely one. The death of Gosnold had left Wingfield open to attacks of his opponents — Archer, Smith, Ratcliff and Martin, who had first deposed him from the presidency and finally imprisoned him, Capt. Smith, too, who had just returned from captivity with the Indians, was in chains under sentence of hanging. Newport at once set these men at liberty and restored some measure of peace in the colony and council. A few days later, however, a fire broke out and destroyed the whole of the little settlement, thus exposing its occupants to the severity of the winter's weather. Newport again came to the rescue and employed his mariners in helping to rebuild the church, storehouse and other houses. Capt. Newport later made a third voyage to Virginia, and brought on this occasion (Oct. 1608) the first gentlewoman, Mrs Forrest, and Anne Buras, her maid. As was to have been expected, there occurred, shortly after, the first marriage in the colony which was of this same Ann Buras and John Laydon, a carpenter; and to them was born a year later a girl, Virginia Laydon — the first child of English parentage born in the first permanent English colony.
      Newport's fourth voyage was in command of the expedition sent out under the second charter, which left Falmouth June 8, 1609. There were nine ships carrying Sir Thomas Gates as governor, and about 500 persons, some of them women. Two of the vessels were wrecked and Newport himself was cast away on the Bermudas with Gov. Gates and 150 other passengers and a large portion of the stores for the colony. He finally got away from the islands, and made his way to Virginia just in time to save the colony from starvation. The casting away of Newport's ship, the "Sea Venture," was the occasion of "Shakespear's great play, "The Tempest," interest in the subject having most probably been communicated to him by Southampton. After one more voyage to Virginia, Capt. Newport's connection with the colony ceased. He resigned his position with the Virginia Company and was appointed one of the six masters of the Royal Navy, and performed several voyages for the East India Company. On the third of these his death occurred about August 15, 1617, while his fleet lay at anchor in a Javan port. The stalwart captain died thus as he had lived, in command of his ship, in the midst of new lands and untried seas.

[Page 76]
      Wingfield, Edward Maria, first president of the council (q. v.).

      Largely instrumental in bringing about the successful expedition of 1607 was

[Page 76]
      Gosnold, Bartholomew, a seasoned mariner who had been associated with Raleigh in his attempts to colonize Virginia, and not less was he the leaven of peace among the discordant elements in the first Jamestown council, of which he was a member. Respected by all the diverse factions as no one else was, he was able to effect something like a concert of purpose and action among his fellows, and stave off, in a measure, the dissensions which broke out so violently after his death. Upon the failure of Raleigh's expeditions, Gosnold had returned to England still hopeful, and in 1602 he took command of a vessel fitted out by the Earl of Southampton, the friend and patron of Shakespeare. Gosnold's intended destination was Virginia, but, the ship being driven from her course by adverse winds, they touched upon the New England coast, where they were the first Englishmen to land and where they named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Those who had proposed remaining as colonists lost heart, however, and returned to England, but Gosnold, undisheartened, continued his efforts and finally beheld his hopes' fruition in Jamestown. His voice, indeed was raised against the site chosen, on the ground of its obvious unhealthfulness, but, being overruled, he turned to with heart and soul to give success to the enterprise. He was spared the pain of beholding the pains and horrors the colony was doomed to undergo, his death occurring before the close of the first summer, Aug. 22, 1607, when fate seemed still auspicious. All record unite in praising his singleness of purpose and hardihood, and Pres. Wingfield made him sole confidant in matters of importance such as that of the diminishing supplies. It is possible, therefore, that, while it may have been a personal good fortune to have escaped the misfortunes of his fellows he might, had he lived, have done much to alleviate their sorrows by uniting them in a more harmonious effort.

[Page 76]
      Smith, John, councillor and president of the council (q. v.).

[Page 76]
      Ratcliffe, John, councillor and president of the council (q. v.).

[Page 77]
      Kendall, George, one of the original council. The record which has come down to us in regard to this man is not at all flattering, but it must be remembered that he stands convicted on the evidence of his bitter enemies. In the days in which he lived there was no such thing as moderation of expression. He as a cousin of the Earl of Southampton, and the fact that he was appointed in England a member of the council in Virginia shows that he must have been well known in London as a man of experience and courage. Doubtless in Virginia under the terrible stress of circumstances during the first summer there was much to criticise, and the evidence, at least, shows that he was not a man afraid to speak out his mind. George Percy and Wingfield denounced him as a stirrer up of dissensions, and Capt. Smith also speaks of his being driven from the council, which he says was for "divers reasons" and occurred about June 22, 1607. He was afterwards released, though without the privilege of carrying arms, but was again arrested on the statement of one James Read, a smith, who had been condemned to death, and who accused Kendall of conspiring to cause a mutiny. Read was forthwith pardoned and Kendall condemned to be shot. The president at the time was John Ratcliffe, and Kendall, it is said, sought to prevent the execution by claiming that Sicklemore, and not Ratcliffe, was his true name, and that consequently he had no right to pronounce judgment. The practical gentlemen of the time refused, however, to delay justice on any such quibble, and, without attempting any controversy on the subject, merely caused John martin, another councillor to perform the president's office, which he promptly did, and Kendall quickly paid the penalty of his sins.

[Pages 77-78]
      Martin, John, one of the councillors, was the son of Sir Richard Martin who "thrice filled the office of lord mayor, and was Master of the Mint in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I." The profession of the law had been chosen for him, but when he was about twenty-one years old he went to sea in obedience to a longing for the then most romantic life of the mariner. He commanded the "Benjamin" in Sir Francis Drake's fleet in that commander's marauding expedition among the West Indies in 1585. On Drake's homeward voyage Martin touched at Virginia, whiter the fleet had repaired in aid of Raleigh's colonists on Roanoke Island.
      Martin was bitterly opposed to Pres. Wingfield, and after the death of Gosnold, the return to England of Capt. Newport and the deposing of Kendall from the council, he was one to the three remaining councillors who forced Wingfield from the presidency. Martin's health was poor, and besides his other afflictions he was badly smitten with the "gold fever," which gave his enemies afterwards a chance to ridicule him, amongst whom was Capt. John Smith, who gave him the name of "refining Captain Martin," and helped to make him unpopular. He returned to England in June, 1608, but the following year he came again to Virginia, where he was very coldly welcomed but admitted to the council. Upon Capt. Smith's absence from Jamestown in the summer of 1609, he appointed Martin in his place, but for this office, according to Smith, the latter gentleman had no relish and he resigned after three hours. But that Martin was no weakling is proved by the fact that he was the only person who protested against the abandonment of Jamestown in 1610, and unlike Smith he stuck to Virginia to the end. He made a second trip to England in 1616, and again returned to Virginia the year following. This trip was the cause of further friction between Martin and the colonists, as the Virginia Company in London had granted him a patent for ten shares of land in Virginia with unusual rights to its enjoyment, which the others did not approve. Despite the representatives of the Virginia Company that Martin had been a "long and faithful servant to the Colony of Virginia," the colonial council remained firm and his privileges were curtailed. The breach between Martin and the council was finally healed, and he located his patent at Brandon on James river.
      The date of Martin's death is unknown, though it must have taken place subsequently to March 8, 1626, as there is a letter of this date from him to his brother-in-law, Sir Julius Caesar. He is supposed to have died and been buried at Brandon. His daughter Dorcas married Capt. George Bargrave, son of Robert Bargrave, of Bridge in Kent. George Bargrave came to Virginia, and was largely interested with his brother, John Bargrave, in the trade of the colony. His son, Robert Bargrave, sold Brandon to Richard Quiney and John Sadler, from whom it came by descent to Robert Richardson, who sold it in 1720 to Nathaniel Harrison, in whose family Brandon still remains. The original patent for Brandon, granted to Capt. John Martin from the Virginia Company of London, is still preserved at the place. It bears date 1617, and is by long odds the most ancient official record relating to the American soil to be found in the United States.

[Pages 78-79]
      Archer, Gabriel, was a man of talent and courage. He is described as of Mountnessing, Essex county, England. He entered Gray's Inn as a student of law mar. 15, 1593. In 1602 he went with Bartholomew Gosnold to New England and wrote an interesting account of the discovery and naming of Cape Cod and Martha's vineyard. On his return he was active in arousing interest in an attempt to locate a colony in Virginia, and came with the first settlers. He was among the first to put foot to land at Cape Henry, Apr. 26, 1606, and was one of the two first settlers to Virginia to be sounded by the savages. He was appointed recorder of the colony, and on may 21, he went with Newport from Jamestown on a voyage of discovery up James river, and afterwards "wrote a Relatyon of the Voyage." The charter permitted a majority of the council to elect the president or turn him out, to turn out any member of the council and elect a substitute. It was, therefore, a veritable hothouse of faction. Archer seems to have furnished his full share to the quarrels of Jamestown, though probably no more than his share. He joined with Smith, Martin and Ratcliffe in displacing Wingfield as president, and afterwards when Ratcliffe admitted him to the council in Dec., 1607, caused Smith to be indicted "upon a chapter in Leviticus" for the death of two of his men on his trip up Chickahominy, and Ratcliffe, the president, approved the sentence of execution. And Smith would have been hanged the next day, had not Capt. Newport arrived the evening before (Jan. 2, 1608) and interfered to save his life.
      When Newport set out April 10, 1608, to return to England, he carried with him both Wingfield and Archer, whose complaints on their arrival were directed with such good effect against the charter that a petition for a new one creating a more suitable form of government was soon presented to the King, and granted. Under this second charter dated (May 23, 1609) Sir Thomas Gates was made governor, and had the selection of his council, and Archer, flattering himself that he was rid of the dominance of John Smith, returned to the colony. Of the voyage he wrote an interesting account. But the unexpected happened, and Gates was wrecked on the Bermuda Islands. then to the disappointment of all the gentlemen of the rest of the expedition which got to Jamestown, Smith would not give up his commission, in which he was only technically right. Fresh brawls ensued, and after a few months Smith returned to England, while Archer remained and died at James during the Starving Time of 1609-1610.

[Page 79]
      Scrivener, Matthew, councillor and president of the council (q. v.).

[Page 79]
      Wynne, Peter, was one of the gentlemen who came to Virginia with Capt. Newport on that officer's second voyage of relief to the colony. He arrived there in Sept., 1608, and was immediately admitted to the council. The advent of such men as Wynne and Scrivener, with their sincere wishes for the welfare of the enterprise and their sense of responsibility, must have acted like ballast in a storm-driven ship upon the faction-rent council, but it must have been a thankless task which devolved upon them for the next few months during the starving time. Wynne, himself, was one of those who succumbed to the conditions and he died in the spring of 1609, while Sir Thomas Gates, the representative of Lord De la Warr, or Delaware, and Christopher Newport were in the Bermudas, seeking some means of escape therefrom. He thus did not live to see the relief which these and Lord Delaware were soon to bring. He enjoys the unique distinction of having been appointed deputy governor of Virginia after his death, for Gates, who reposed especial confidence in him, and had not heard of the event, selected him to act as governor while he was absent in the Bermudas, and sent him a particular commission.

      Another gentleman who came to Virginia with Capt. Newport on the second expedition of 1608, arriving in September, was

[Page 79]
      Waldo, Richard, who, with Capt. Wynne, was at once admitted to the council. During his brief career in America, he seems to have been chiefly occupied in the trips of exploration undertaken by Newport and Smith. He was one of the commanders of the expedition which the former officer made into the Monacan country and very probably witnessed the ceremony of Powhatan's coronation in the European style, which must altogether have been a most delightful comedy, the great Indian "Emperor" understanding the significance of neither crown nor the act of kneeling to receive it. He also formed one of Smith's party which set out from Jamestown before Smith, for on Jan. 7, 1609, while crossing from that place to Hog Island in a boat with Councillor Scrivener and others, he was drowned.

[Page 79]
      Percy, George, councillor and governor (q. v.).

[Page 79]
      West, Francis, councillor and deputy governor (q. v.).

[Pages 79-80]
      Somers, Sir George, was born at Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, in 1554, and is supposed to have been related to the Somers family of White Ladies, Worchestershire. Although his name was second in the royal patent of Apr. 10, 1606, he took no active part in colonial affairs until 1609, when he sailed with Sir Thomas Gates and Capt. Newport in the expedition of that year. He was fifty-odd years of age at the time of his sailing and had already distinguished himself in the military and naval service, having commanded several expeditions and, in 1595, accompanied Capt. Amias Preston to the West Indies. He was knighted at Whitehall, July 23, 1603, in reward for his services, and represented Lyme Regis in parliament for a number of years. He was appointed admiral for the colony, and was on the "Sea Adventurer" on the way to take command, when she was cast away Sir George Somers was the first on the shipwrecked vessel to sight land, but strange to say, his discovery was not hailed with the joy that men in such straits are prone to feel. The reason for this is explained by the fact that the shores he had seen were those of a Bermudan island, supposed by mariners to be inhabited by fairies and devils. However, in a choice between them and the deep sea, the party, with more prudence than religion, chose the former and were soon comfortably landed, where, to their further comfort, they found the shore and the devils, herds of wild swine running in the wood. After sojourning there until they had completed the construction of two vessels to be their transport, they set sail therein for Virginia. But Somers was not destined to more than reach the promised land, for, finding the colonists in the sorriest of plights, and well nigh starving to death, he volunteered to return at once to the fruitful Bermudas for supplies. He started at once, but adverse winds drove him as far North as New England before he finally reached his destination. His death occurred on the 9th of Nov., 1610, shortly after his arrival in Bermuda, and it is stated that it was occasioned by a too hearty repast on one of the Bermuda "devils," With which he had intended lading his ships for the colony. Feeling the approach of death, he exhorted his followers to perform the task they had undertaken without him. This, however they did not do. They buried his heart in the island and his cedar ship with his dead body at last arrived at Whitechurch, in Dorsetshire, about Feb. 26, 1611, where it was buried with military honors.

[Page 80]
      Gates, Sir Thomas, governor, 1609 (q. v.).

[Pages 80-81]
      Weyman, Sir Ferdinando, had every reason to regard the Virginia colony as the appropriate scene for his endeavors. It might almost be called a family matter, related, as he was, on all sides to the prominent figures in the enterprise. He was a cousin of Thomas Lord Delaware, governor of Virginia, and of Francis and John West who played distinguished parts there, the latter being also governor. His wife was a sister-in-law of Sir Francis Wyatt, governor of Virginia, and a niece of Sir George Sandys, the poet, and treasurer of the colony. Another cousin, Penelope West, married Herbert Pelham and of their sixteen children, one was the first treasurer of Harvard College, and another the wife of Gov. Bellingham of Massachusetts. Weyman was born in Caswell, Oxfordshire, the son of Thomas Weyman, Esq., of that place, and came to the colony in 1610. On June 12, of that year, he was appointed admiral and master of the horse. But Weyman was not destined to enjoy his honors long, for, as was the case with so many of his fellows, he died shortly after his arrival in the colony, leaving a young daughter. Of this young lady's life in that inauspicious environment but little is known, but it can scarcely have been a very happy one under the circumstances. However, she must have had powerful friends who would alleviate, in so far as it lay in their power, the discomforts of her position. In 1620 it was reported to the Virginia Company that Sir Ferdinando Weyman, who "adventured one hundred pounds with Lord La Warr, besides the adventure of his person to Virginia," had died there, leaving an only child, a daughter, who had received a letter from Lady La Warr expressing a willingness to have the above amount deducted from his Lordship's account and given to her. This the company "well allowed" and agreed besides to give the little orphan four shares of land in Virginia for the adventure of her father's person, he "being a man of worth."

[Page 81]
      Strachey, William; there appears to be some confusion as to his identity, the question being whether the person prominent in the Virginia colonization was the elder or younger of the two men of that name, father and son, who flourished at the time. Brown, in his "Genesis of the United States," inclines to the opinion that it was the former, but Sir Edward Strachey, of Sutton Court, the present representative of the family, believe it to have been the younger man whose death did not occur until 1634. However this may be, the Strachey with whom history is concerned was something of an author and scholar, and in the dedication to Lord Bacon of his "Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia," he claims membership in Gray's Inn, though his name does not appear in the index to Foster's "Gray's Inn Admissions." Before his adventure to Virginia, he seems to have done some travelling in the Mediterranean, as he mentions visits to the "Coast of Barbary and Algiers, in the Levant." He was a member of the notable expedition of 1609,of Sir Thomas Gates, and was one of those cast away in the Bermudas with the chiefs of the party. He has written an account of the experience entitled "A True Repertory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates upon and from the Islands of the Bermudas." This work was published in the fourth volume of Purchas' "Pilgrims." He also compiled for the colony of Virginia "Laws Devine, Morall, and Marshall" (London, 1612). His most important work, the "Historie of Travaile into Virginia Brittania," has already been mentioned. It was written about 1618 and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1849. Strachey arrived in Virginia in May, 1610, with the rest of the castaways, and was shortly after appointed to the council, and on June 12, of the same year, recorder general of Virginia. He went to England after about a year's stay in the colony. He was either father or grandfather of William Strachey, who came to Virginia and died in 1686, leaving a daughter Arabella, who married Henry Cox, of Essex county. Another son or grandson, John Strachey, had a grandson, Dr. John Strachey, who came to Virginia and has now descendants of the name of Mastin living in Alabama.

[Page 81]
      Dale, Sir Thomas, councillor and deputy governor (q. v.).

[Page 81]
      Argall, Sir Samuel, councillor and deputy governor.

[Pages 81-82]
      Hamor, Ralph, was a son of "Ralph Hamor the elder, of London, merchant tailor." Both father and son were members of the Virginia Company in 1609,the father paying £133.6.8. The elder Hamor was also an incorporator, and for a time, a director, of the East India Company. He died in 1615, leaving 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 published "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 returned 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 Virginia," 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 England October 22, 1622, giving an account of what had happened since that event, and saying 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 council, 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 England 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" included 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.

[Pages 82-84]       Rolfe, John, belonged to a family well known in the county of Norfolk, England, for centuries. the names of Rolfe's immediate ancestors, the Rolfe's immediate ancestors, the Rolfes of Heacham Hall, appear 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 hath 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 expedition. During their ten months' stay in the islands, a little daughter was born to the Rolfes and named for her birthplace, Bermuda. The child did not live, however, nor did Mrs. Rolfe more than a short time after her arrival in Virginia. Rolfe speedily became prominent in the colony and to him belongs 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 the council in 1614, and at this time succeeded Ralph Hamor, recorder of the colony, an office which he held till the officer 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 Indian 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, however, 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 incomplete, and that Smith told the tale unrefuted at the time of Pocahontas' visit to London, when there were many there besides herself 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 excluding 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 apparently married to an Indian chief called Kocoum, with whose people she was found by Gov. Argall, who bribed an Indian to deliver 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 hostage for her father Powhatan's good behavior. An entirely new turn was given the matter by an attachment which grew up between 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 picturesque 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 member of young Indians, both men and maidens. Pocahontas was royally received and feted, entertained by the great, both secular, 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 London, she saw Ben Jonson's "Christmas his Mask" played at court, had her portrait painted and was altogether the center of attention. 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 princes and feared that he might attempt to establish himself King of America. The council of the company in England, when news of his marriage first reached them, actually considered, it is said, whether Rolf might not be guilty of high treason in marrying a foreign king's daughter, and if other matter had not been pressed for attention, he might been 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. He died and was buried at Gravesend and her husband proceeded on his way, leaving their son, Thomas Rolfe, in charge of Sir William Stuckeley at Plymouth. Rolfe married 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.

[Page 84]
      Yeardley, Sir George, governor of Virginia, 1619 (q. v.).

[Page 84]
      Powell, Nathaniel, councillor and deputy governor (q. v.).

[Pages 84-85]
      Pory, John, was already a man of wide travel and experience and an author and geographer of note, when he first became associated with the Virginia colony. born about 1570, he possessed a naturally quick intelligence and entered Cambridge University at the age of seventeen. He later became a disciple of Hakluyt, the distinguished geographer, 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 distinction in 1600 by the publication of "A Geographical History of Africa written in Arabicke and Italian by John Leo, a More, born in Granada and brought up in Barbarie; Translated and Collected by John Pory, London." The work was later incorporated by old Purchas 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." Besides 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 Bridgewater 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 provide the French historian, De Thou, with material for his life of Mary, Queen of Scotts. After his sojourn in Paris, he travelled extensively 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 discovery and research and writing descriptive letters which are now very valuable to the historian and antiquary. On one of these trips, begun with the intention of exploring the 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 publish throughout the country three royal proclamations. 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 became a member of the home council for Virginia, 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.

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      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 influence of the romantic west and the new discoveries, and took to a seafaring life in consequence. 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 Company under the charter of 1609, and the following 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 consideration 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-admiral. It seems to have been conceded that Tucker was a very capable as well as industrious 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. In 1615-16 Tucker was commissioned governor 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 sever 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 descendants living in Bermuda, the United States, England and India.

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      Newce, Thomas, came from a family seated at Much Hadham, Herfordshire. The pedigree of this family in the "Visitation" of 1634, begins with Clement Newce of London, Mercer, whose great grandson, William Newce of Much Hadham, married Mary, daughter of Sir John Fanshawe, and had issue: 1. Thomas, councillor of Virginia; 2. William, councillor of Virginia; 3. Henry; Clement. At a meeting of the Virginia Company, May 17, 1620, Mr. Treasurer signified to the court the company's former resolve for the entertainment of two new officers by them, namely, 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 theat 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 100 at James City; and, for the managing of this land, (they) have further 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 bing put to the question received a general approbation." On June 28, 1620, Newce was further honored by appointment to the Virginia council, 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 Virginia, 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 "Captain 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.