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[Pages 109-110]
      Willoughby, Thomas, was a nephew of Sir Percival Willoughby, of Wollaton, who was from Kent, married his relative, the heiress of the Willoughbys of Wollaton, and had several brothers. At least so runs the family tradition. Thomas was born in 1601, came to Virginia when he was nine years old, and lived first, in Elizabeth City county, and afterwards in Lower Norfolk. After reaching manhood, he was for many years one of the leading merchants of the colony. There is to be found in Sainsbury's "Calendar of Colonial State Papers" (vol. i.) a certificate, dated 1627, by Thomas Willoughby, of Rochester, aged twenty-seven years, in regard to a ship n which he was about to go to Virginia. There can hardly be a doubt that this was the Virginian returning from a visit to his old home. As soon as he arrived in Virginia, he was engaged in warfare with the Indians, for on July 4, 1627, Lieut. Pippet and Ensign Willoughby were ordered to attack the Chesapeakes. As "Lieutenant Thomas Willoughby," he was appointed a commissioner (justice) for Elizabeth City, on March 26, 1628-29, and again in Feb., 1631-32, and Sept., 1632. On March 11, 1639, "Capt. Thos. Willoughby, Esq.," was presiding justice of Lower Norfolk. He represented the "Upper Part of Elizabeth City," in the house of burgesses at the session of March, 1629-30, and was again a member for "Waters Creek and the Upper Part of Elizabeth City," in Feb., 1631-32. In Sept., 1632, he was a burgess, but was absent, at least at the beginning of the session, being in England about this time. On Jan. 6, 1639, Willoughby was present as a member of the council, and on Aug. 9, 1641, he was again commissioned as a councillor under Gove. Berkeley, and was present at the meetings of Feb., 1644-45, March, 1645-46, and Oct., 1646. In the last named year he was "high lieutenant" of Norfolk county. He was included in the commission of the council issued by Charles II. at Breda in 1650, but was not among the councillors elected by the house of burgesses in April, 1652. In Nov., 1654, the assemlby made the following order; "It is ordered by the present Grand Assembly in the difference between Capt. Thos. Willoughby and Bartholomew Hodskins (Hoskins) that Hodskins the then sherif is noway liable to make Willoughby any satisfaction, and the former proceedings against the said Willoughby were grounded upon very good reasons, because it appeareth that the said Willoughby was not sworn nor acted as a Councillor of this Country before the Levy was made which he refusing to pay, occasioned all the damage, which in this petition he doth pretend to." Thomas Willoughby patented large tracts of land in Lower Norfolk county which his descendants owned for several generations. Part of this estate, Willoughby Point, near Norfolk, known as the "manor plantation" was until lately the property of descendants through female lines. The name of Capt. Willoughby's wife is not known, unless, as seems probable, it appears under a patent to him in 1654, when Alice, Thomas and Elizabeth Willoughby are mentioned as head rights. In the old records of Lower Norfolk is the following: "At a Court held 16th August, 1658. Upon Peticon of Mr. Tho. Willoughby a commission of Adm'con is granted unto him on his father's estate, Capt. Tho. Willoughby who deceased in England, hee putting in Security according to law."

[Page 110]
      Wormeley, Ralph, was a son of Christopher Wormeley, Esq., and a descendant of Sir John de Wormeley, of Hadfield, county York, England (1312), and brother of Christopher Wormely, Esq., acting governor of the Tortuga Island, 1631-35, who also settled in Virginia. he was born about 1620 and came to Virginia about 1635, and settled in York county. He was a justice of the county in 1648, with the rank of captain, and in 1650 was made a member of the council. He died in 1651. In 1646 he married Agatha Eltonhead, widow of Luke Stubbins, gentleman, of Northampton county, Virginia. She was the daughter of Richard Eltonhead, of Eltonhead, county Lancaster England, and on the death of Wormeley she married Sir Henry Chicheley, a royalist who fled to Virginia in 1649 and was afterwards lieutenant governor. He was father of Ralph Wormeley, who became secretary of state of Virginia.

[Page 110]
      Littleton, Nathaniel, was the sixth son of sir Edward Littleton, of Henly, Shropshire, and brother of Sir Edward Littleton, lord keeper, served in the Low Countries, in the Earl of Southampton's company, in 1625, and emigrated in 1635 to Virginia, where he settled at Nadua Creek, Accomac county. In 1640, he was chief magistrate of that county, and on March 18, 1644, was appointed commander of Accomac, an office which he held for a number of years. On April 30, 1652, he was elected to the council, and was a member until his death about two years later. Prior to March 1, 1652, Capt. Littleton, "Governor of Accomache," had married the widow of Charles Harmar. She was Ann, daughter of Henry Southey, Esq., of Rimpton, Somersetshire, to whom the company had issued a patent in reward of his undertaking to transport 100 persons to Virginia. Councillor Littleton's death occurred in or before 1654, and that of his wife in 1656. He has numerous descendants in Virginia.

[pages 110-111]
      Harmer, Ambrose, came to Virginia in about the year 1625. This much may be gathered from his petition to the King, asking to be given legal control over Benoni Buck, the first idiot who had ever lived in Virginia. The petition was dated 1637, and in it Mr. Harmer stated that he had had the tuition of Benoni and his brother, children of the well known Virginia clergyman, Rev. Richard Buck, for thirteen years past. Just when Harmer was appointed to the council does not appear, but he was present at meetings on Jan. 6, 1639, and March 5, 1640. He was left out of the commission of councillors of Aug. 9, 1641, but whatever the cause may have been, it was not unpopularity with the people, for he represented James City county in the house of burgesses at the sessions of Feb., 1644-45. Nov., 1645, march, 1645-46, and Oct., 1646,when his name appears for the last time in the records, and he was speaker of that honorable house. The land grants show a deed, dated April 18, 1642, from "William Taylor of Chisciacke, gent., to Ambrose Harmer, of Virginia, Esq., and Jane now his wife," reciting that on Nov. 9, 1638, a grant of 1200 acres was made to the said William Taylor, "the land lying on Chickahominy, in James City County, due him for the transportation of twenty-four persons, and said Taylor now conveys the land to Harmer and wife." Elizabeth, wife of Taylor, also conveys her right of dower in the land. The wife of William Taylor, or Tayloe, was Elizabeth the daughter of Richard Kingsmill, and it is possible that Mrs. Jane Harmer was her mother, as Richard Kingsmill's wife was named Jane.

[Page 111]
      Yardley, Argall, was a son of Sir George Yardley, governor and councillor of Virginia. The younger Yardley's name is first recorded among those present on Jan. 6, 1639, and on July 6, 1640. On Feb. 26, 1644, proceedings were instituted against "Col. Argall Yardley of the council," for contempt. He was reelected a councillor in April, 1652, and appointed justice for Northampton in 1653, and once more elected to the council March 31, 1654-55. Colonel Yardley married Sarah, eldest daughter of John Michael, merchant. Their marriage contract bears the date of Jan. 23, 1640. On March 28, 1656, the general assembly had ordered the "denization" of "John Michael, stranger," then a resident of Northampton county. A deed is recorded under date of Dec. 28, 1648, from "Argall Yardley, elder son and heir of Sir George Yardley, deceased," to his son Edmund, also a deed from Argall Yardley to Henry and Edmund Yardley, and a deed of gift recorded Aug., 1674, from John Michael, Sr., to his daughter Sarah and her husband, Argall Yardley, Jr., John, Elizabeth and Frances Yardley. According to an inventory of the personal estate of Colonel Argall Yardley, Esq., dated Nov. 13, 1655, he had 41,269 pounds of tobacco, and a tobacco house and two servants in Barbadoes. He has numerous descendants in Virginia.

[Page 111]
      Bennett, Richard, governor of Virginia (q. v.).

[Page 111]
      Digges, Edward, governor of Virginia (q. v.).

[Page 111]
      Mathews, Samuel, governor of Virginia (q. v.).

[Page 111]
      Wingate, Roger, was a member of an old Bedfordshire family and the son of Roger Wingate, of Barnend, Bedfordshire. In the year 1637, he was living in London and two years later was appointed by the King treasurer of Virginia and a member of the council. He came to the colony at once and was present in council. He came to the colony at once and was present in council Jan., 1639-40, and subsequently. Wingate probably died in the beginning of the year 1641, as in February of that year, Richard Morrison was appointed to the council in his place. This may, however, have been in the following year as his name is included in the commission of Aug. 9, 1641.

[Page 111]
      Pettus, Thomas, first appears in the Virginia records as included in the commission to the councillors at the beginning of Berkeley's administration, Aug. 9, 1641. He probably came to the colony about that time. He was present at meetings as late as 1651, but in this year seems to have lost his seat on the arrival of the parliamentary commissioners. The house of burgesses, however, elected him a councillor in 1652 and reëlected him a number of times afterwards. Upon Berkeley's reappointment to the governorship at the time of the restoration, in 1660, the King again commissioned Pettus a councillor. Colonel Pettus made his home at "Littletown" on the James river, not far below Jamestown. The date of his death is not known.

[Pages 111-112]
      Morrison or Moryson, Richard, together with two of his brothers, settled in Virginia during the first half of the seventeenth century, where they all became men of prominence, Frances Morrison serving as governor during Berkeley's absence in England, 1661 and 1662. They were sons of Sir Richard Morrison, M. P., of Tooley Park, Leicestershire, who had served long in the English army and was made lieutenant-general of ordnance. They were also brothers-in-law of Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland. Our subject, Maj. Richard Morrison, was appointed commander of the fort at Point Comfort in 1638 and in Feb., 1641, was appointed member of the council in the place of Roger Wingate, deceased. Maj. Morrison's death occurred in or prior to 1656, as in that year Mrs. Winifred Morrison is mentioned as his widow.

[Page 112]
      Higginson, Humphrey, born in 1607, sailed from London for Virginia in the ship "George," in 1635. On Feb. 6, 1637-38, as "Humphrey Higginson, Gentleman," he received a grant of 700 acres of land called "Tuttey's Neck," adjoining Harop, now Williamsburg, and lying on a branch of Archer's Hope Creek, "that partieth this land from Kingsmell's neck," said land being granted to Elizabeth, "his now wife," by order of the court dated October 4, 1637. Tuttey's Neck is still a well known place near Williamsburg, Virginia, and lies back of the "Kingsmill" estate. On Oct. 18, 1642, "Captain Humphrey Higginson, Esq.," received another grant of 320 acres adjoining Tuttey's Neck. Higginson's first official position of which there is any record was that of tobacco inspector in the section of James City county lying between the east side of Archer's Hope and Waram's ponds. On Aug. 9, 1641, he was appointed by the King a member of the council, and was present at the meetings held March, 1642-43, Oct., 1644, and Feb., 1644-45. On April 30, 1652, the burgesses elected him a member of the council, and he was present March 31, 1654-55, but he must have gone to England soon after, for in Dec., 1656, the house of burgesses made the following order: "Whereas Thos. Loving high sheriff of James City County, by Petition Requested the Opinion of this house whether Coll. Higginson, having been so long absent out of the Country, should enjoy the Privilege of Counsellor by exempting certain persons out of the Levies, it is Resolved that in Respect of his long absence, he being upon no public employment, shall not have any Persons Belonging to him exempted." Besides the grants of land given above, Col. Higginson had two others, a partnership with Abraham Moone for 2,000 acres on the south side of the Potomac, Sept. 20, 1654, and one of "Colonel Humphrey Higginson, of the Council of State, and his son Thomas Higginson," for 800 acres on the south side of Pianketank, in Gloucester county, Sept. 20, 1654. The son probably died within a few years, for he is not mentioned in his father's will. Col. Higginson died at Ratcliffe, in Stepney parish, London, in 1665-1660. He left a brother, Capt. Christopher Higginson, Virginia, who has numerous descendants. See William and Mary Quarterly V, p. 186.

[Pages 112-113]
      Pawlett or Paulett, Thomas, was born about 1585. In Aug., 1618, he came in the ship "Neptune" to Virginia, where he settled in the present Charles City county, and was a member of the first house of burgesses, assembled July 30, 1619. In 1623 he was living at "West Shirley Hundred." He was appointed a commissioner (justice) for Charles City and Henrico counties in Feb., 1631-32, and was a member of the house of burgesses for Westover and Flower de Hundred in February of the year following, and again for Charles City in Jan., 1639. He was commissioned member of the council Aug. 9, 1641, and retained his seat as a member of that body until his death in 1643. On Jan. 15, 1637, "Captain Thomas Pawlett" received a grant of 2,000 acres of land in Charles City county, at Westover, which was bounded on the south side by the river, east by the land of Capt. Perry, and west by Berkeley Hundred. This land was declared to be due to Capt. Pawlett for the "personal adventure" into the colony of himself and his brother, Chidock Pawlett, and for his transportation of thirty-eight other persons. By his will, dated Jan. 12, 1644, he left Westover to his brother, Sir John Lord Pawlett, then living in Manchester, county Southampton, England.

[Page 113]
      Wyatt, Sir Francis, governor of Virginia (q. v.).

[Page 113]
      Ludlow, George, was a descendant of the old and distinguished family of Ludlow of Wiltshire. He was baptized Sept. 15, 1596, and came to America about 1630. His first place of settlement was Massachusetts, where he was made a freeman, but about 1634, he removed to Virginia and settled in the upper county of New Norfolk, receiving there a grant of 500 acres of land. He appears to have been sworn as a member of the council in 1642 and on Aug. 1 of that year signed the "Declaration against the Company." He was present at the sessions of the council until the overthrow of the royal government in 1652, when he was at once elected to the same office by the house of burgesses, and by them reelected a number of times. He held his office until his death in 1656. Though he was included in the commission issued to the council by Charles II. at Breda, in 1650, his sympathies were probably with parliament, and according to one authority declared openly in its favor at the time of the colony's surrender to the commissioners. Col. George Ludlow was for many years one of the wealthiest and most active merchants in Virginia and took up many thousand acres of land by patent and purchase. Like many of the prominent planters, he was much interested in the introduction of silk culture. Col. Ludlow's residence was at the place now known as "Temple Farm," a little below Yorktown and it is possible that the ancient house, still standing in part, in which Cornwallis signed his surrender, was built by Ludlow.

[Page 113]
      Freeman, Bridges, was a burgess for Pashbahay in 1629-30, before which date nothing is known of him. His lands lay on the east side of the Chickahominy river, and in Sept., 1632, he represented Chickahominy in the house of burgesses. In November, 1647, he was again a burgess, this time for James City. It was in the same month that the assembly appointed him collector of public levies at Chickahominy and Sandy Point. He was a member of the council, and present at the board, Sept. 30, 1650, and was reëlected a member, April 30, 1652, and again, as "Colonel Bridges Freeman," on March 31, 1654-55. It is probable that for a time he was adjutant-general of the colony, as "Adjutant Freeman" was present as a councillor, Nov. 6, 1651.

[Pages 113-114]
      Davenant, Sir William, the famous English poet, and the successor to "Rare Ben Johnson" as poet laureate, was appointed to his Majesty's council in Virginia June 3, 1650. During the civil wars in England he had been prominent in the army of King Charles, who knighted him, but on the defeat of the Royalists, he took refuge in France and devoted himself to writing under the patronage of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of the unfortunate King, When Sir William had completed two books of his heroic poem "Gondibert," upon which most of his reputation as a poet rests, the Queen ordered him to go to Virginia to convey to the colony some men skilled in various mechanical arts whom she thought would be useful there. Accompanied by the emigrants, and armed with a commission as councillor, the poet set sail for Jamestown, but he was destined never to fulfill his charge, for before he was out of sight of the French coast, he was captured by a parliament ship and carried a prisoner to Cowes Castle, where he was kept confined for two years. Here his life was spared partly through the influence of Milton, for whom, in true poetic justice, he was enabled to do a like service later in life. Sir William Davenant never made a second attempt to come to Virginia. After his release from prison he devoted himself to his literary work until his death, Sept. 7, 1658.

[Page 114]
      Stegg or Stagg, Thomas, merchant of London, came to the colony in or before 1636, when Gov. Harvey called him one of the "ablest merchants in Virginia." On Jan. 6, 1639, he received a grant of 1,000 acres between "Oldman's and Queen's Creeks," in Charles City county, which became his place of residence. In 1640 he aided Secretary Kemp to escape from the colony without the consent of the governor and council, and for this offence was fined fifty pounds and sentenced to be imprisoned during the governor's pleasure. It is probable that the imprisonment was not of long duration, as he was a burgess from Charles City county in March 1642-43. At this session he was speaker of the house, and two years later was justice of the same county. He was included in the commission of 1650 to the councillors, issued by Charles II. at Breda, but was at that time in England a partisan of parliament. He was appointed one of the parliamentary commissioners to subdue Virginia, but the frigate "John," commanded by Capt. Dennis, himself a commissioner, was lost on its way to Virginia in 1652, and Stegg and Dennis perished.

[Page 114-115]
      Chiles, Walter, merchant, came to Virginia about 1638 and was granted 400 acres in Charles City county. As Lieut.-Col. Walter Chiles, he represented that county in 1642-43 in the house of burgesses. he subsequently removed to Jamestown Island and was burgess for James City county in 1645, 1645-46 and 1649. He is recorded to have sailed from Rotterdam in his own ship, the "Fame of Virginia," but, reaching Virginia waters, was captured by the "Hopeful Adventure," Capt. Richard Husband, upon pretext that he had no license. The Northampton court ordered Husband to release the vessel, but that bold captain, disregarding the order, calmly sailed away with it to the great anger of the worthy men of Northampton. It happened that when the dispute arising from this incident came up before the assembly for settlement, Walter Chiles himself was a candidate for the speakership of that body. Gov. Bennet thereupon sent a note to the burgesses in which, after stating that he did not wish to "intrench upon the right of Assemblies in the free choice of a speaker," pointed out that it would be highly inappropriate to appoint Chiles to any office in a body before which his own case must be tried. The assembly, however, with a sublime disregard of proprietor and the interference of governors, promptly elected him to th post. Chiles himself, however, very much to his honor, declined the honor. He is recorded as being present at a session of the council in 1651. His death occurred about 1652. Through his son Walter, who was a member of the house of burgesses, he is numerously represented in Virginia.

[Page 115]
      Epes or Eppes, Francis, first styled captain and afterwards lieutenant-colonel, settled before 1625, in what soon became Charles City county. In the same year he was a member of the house of burgesses, and in Feb., 1631-32, represented in that house "both Shirley Hundreds, the Farrar's and Chaplayne's." He was appointed a commissioner (justice) for Charles City and Henrico counties in 1631, and in 1639 and 1645, was a burgess from Charles City. It was on April 30, 1652, that Epes was elected a member of the council, and he probably died before 1655. On Aug. 26, 1635, he patented 1700 acres of land in Charles City county, on the south side of James river, bounded on the east by Bayly's creek, and on the west by Cosons (Cawson's) creek and the Appomattox river. Some of this land is believed to be owned by his descendants. Col. Francis Epes probably married in England, and the arms borne by his descendants in Virginia are the same as those ascribed in English heraldic works to "Epes, or Epps, of Canterbury, Kent."

[Page 115]
      Cheesman or Chisman, John, was born in 1595 and came to Virginia in the ship "Flying Hart" in 1621. At a later date, he lived in York county, where he was a justice in 1633, a captain in 1637 and a member of the house of burgesses in March, 1642-43. On April 30, 1652, as "Lieutenant-Colonel John Cheesman," he was elected councillor by the burgesses. Cheesman must have returned to England about 1661, as in that year he was mentioned in a power of attorney to Lawrence Smith as of the "parish of St. Mary Magdalene in Bermondsea, in the County of Surry, merchant." Under this power, Smith, in 1662, leased for twenty-one years, to Edmund Cheesman, or Chisman, of Poquoson parish, York county, Virginia, brother of said John Cheesman, the councillor, all of that gentleman's property in York county. Col. John Cheesman died before 1678, as in that year his widow Margaret gave a power of attorney to her "cozen," Thomas Cheesman, in Virginia. Councillor Cheesman's brother, Edmund Cheesman, was th father of the Edmund Cheesman, who took an part in Bacon's rebellion and was sentenced to death by Gov. Berkeley, but died in prison. The family is numerously represented in Virginia.

[Pages 115-116]
      Lunsford, Sir Thomas, son of Thomas Lunsford, of Wilegh, Sussex, England, was born about 1610. Though but little is known of his life in Virginia, and his only memorial there is a stone, his name was once a familiar one in every hamlet in England, and was the object of the most intense hatred and fear to a large part of the English people. He was, according to Clarendon, of a very old family, but of small fortune and without much education. His youth was wild and he was imprisoned and fined £9,000, for outrages of a violent kind. He made his escape into France, however, and a sentence of outlawry was pronounced against him in England. Upon his return to England, he was pardoned by the King and a large part of his fine remitted. In the following year, 1640, he was given a command against the Scots and distinguished himself at Newburn in spite of the English defeat. The King, who seems to have regarded him with favor from the start, now rewarded him by appointing him lieutenant of the Tower, an act which at once caused the most intense excitement all over the country. It was at the time when the struggle between the King and commons was rapidly drawing to a crises, and every royal act was scrutinized with hostile eyes. The placing of a man, whose youth had been anything but exemplary, was seized upon by the excited popular imagination and exaggerated beyond the bounds of reason. he was accused of every crime of oppression, of plotting against the people's and was even believed to be a cannibal who ate children. That Lunsford's sympathies were entirely royalist, that he was a resolute and dangerous enemy of the parliament in the civil wars, was later abundantly proven, and it seems quite possible that he was even violent towards those who opposed him; but the popular belief was undoubted quite without foundation, and merely one of those extravagances which the heated feelings of such a time give rise to. Lunsford took an active part in the wars which shook England, and was unusually successful in the field. He was thrice captured and twice released, though on each occasion he resolutely declared his allegiance to the King. The manner of his regaining his freedom for the third time is not known, but he was at liberty before June 29, 2648, for there is a letter of that date from him to the Prince of Wales. After the execution of the King, Lunsford, like so many of his fellow cavaliers, sought refuge in Virginia, which held out for the royal cause, and on Aug. 7, 1649, he received a pass for himself and family to the new home across the water. In Col. Norwood's account of his own voyage to Virginia, he relates finding at Capt. Wormley's, several friends, and brother officers who, a short time before, had come from England. They were Cols. Philip Honeywood, Mainwaring Hammond, Sir Henry Chicheley and Sir Thomas Lunsford. In Oct., 1650, he received a patent for 3423 acres of land on the Rappahannock river. When Virginia was threatened with an invasion by the parliamentary forces from England, Gov. Berkeley did not overlook so distinguished a soldier as Lunsford, who accordingly appears in a list of councillors present on Nov. 6, 1651, as Sir Thomas Lunsford, lieutenant-general. He of course retired from the council on the colony's surrender to parliament. His death must have occurred about 1653, as there is, in that year, an order among the English records, appointing a guardian for his three daughters. By his third wife, whom he married in Virginia, he had a daughter Catherine, who married Hon. Ralph Wormeley, Esq., secretary of state, and from this marriage Sir Thomas has many descendants in Virginia.

[Pages 116-117]
      Lee, Richard, who was honored in being the progenitor of the distinguished Lee family of Virginia, was descended from the Coton branch of the Shropshire Lees, one of the oldest families in England, their ancestry being traceable for some 750 years "Colonel Richard Lee, Secretary of State in Virginia, anno 1659," was described by a descendant as "of good stature, comely visage, an enterprising genius, a sound head, vigorous spirit and generous nature." His first home in Virginia was in York county, where on Aug. 10, 1642, he was granted 1,000 acres of land. There is a tradition to the effect that Col. Lee was accompanied to Virginia by a brother Robert, who also settled in York, but whether or not this is true, or whether the other families of Lee in Virginia were in any way related to the councillor, cannot be proven. The first mention of Lee as holding a public place is in the official records under the date of Feb., 1641, when he was appointed clerk of the council. On Oct. 12, 1643, he was made attorney-general, in 1646 he was a magistrate for York and the year following represented that county in the house of burgesses. He seems to have moved away from York in or before 1651, as in that year he was paid for services as a burgess of Northumberland. On Sept. 9, of the same year, he was present in the council as a member. He owned three plantations, one in York county, on the York river, and two in Northumberland on Dividing creeks, where necks of land afforded such a good harbor that it is used to this day as a landing place for Baltimore steamers. In addition to these places grants of land in Lancaster, Westmoreland and Gloucester were made to him. He was a staunch Royalist and made many trips to England and on to Holland, the latter for the express purpose of seeing the exciled King, Charles II. According to John Gibbons, Lee intended to end his days in England, and with this in view, employed him, Gibbons, to oversee his estate in the colony. It happens, however, that his will arranges for the disposal of his English property and the settlement of his children in the colony, "all except Francis if he be pleased," so that it seems probable that Gibbons was in error. This will was executed in London on Feb. 6, 1663-64, while Col. Lee was in England. He must have returned to Virginia shortly after this and died almost upon arrival, as he is mentioned under date of April 20, 1664, as "Colonel Richard Lee Esq., who is now deceased."

[Page 117]
      Taylor or Tayloe, William, was an early settler in York county. In or before 1640, he purchased from John Utie the estate called "Utiemaria" in that county, but, it seems, did not long hold it. By a deed dated Dec. 25, 1640, "William Taylor of Utiemaria in the County of Charles River, in Virginia, merchant," sold to William Blackley, 100 acres of land which he had bought from John Utie, and on Jan. 7, 1641, he sold to Henry Corbell 1250 acres also purchased form Utie. Col. William Tayloe, as he ultimately became, was a burgess for York in march, 1642-43, and Nov., 1647. As Maj. William Taylor, he was present as a member of the council, Nov. 6, 1651, but lost his seat on the surrender of Virginia to the parliament. he was, however, again elected a councillor, April 30, 1652, and once more on March 31, 1654-55. He had been a justice of York since 1647. Col. Tayloe married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Kingsmill, of Virginia, and died without issue. His widow married secondly Nathaniel Bacon. The tomb of Mrs. Elizabeth Bacon, now in St. Paul's Churchyard, Norfolk, bears the Kingsmill and Tayloe arms. Through his nephew, however, Col. William Tayloe, of Richmond county, he has numerous representatives in Virginia.

[Pages 117-118]
      Bernard, William, was born about 1598, and came to the colony in 1625, in the ship "America." He was the son of Francis Bernard, Esq., of Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, and brother of Sir Robert Bernard, Bart., of Brampton, Huntingdonshire. He settled first in isle of Wight county and probably continued to make his home there. He was certainly living there in 1639, when the assembly appointed him a tobacco inspector for the district extending from Laune's creek to Casstra(?) creek. The act styles him "Mr. William Barnett." Bernard first appears as a member of the council in March, 1642-43, and retained his seat until 1652. The house of burgesses again made him a councillor by successive elections in April, 1652; March, 1654-55; March, 1657-58 and April, 1658. He was also present as a member on March 13, 1659-60. He doubtless remained a councillor until his death, which occurred in or not long before 1662. Col. Bernard took part in the effort to make silk culture a success in Virginia, and in the "Reformed Virginia Silk Worm," Published in 1652, John Ferrar, Jr., who puts into rhyme the substance of letters lately received by his sister, Virginia Ferrar, says of him:

"Yea, worthy Bernard that stout Colonel
Informs the lady the work most facile
And of rich silken stuffs made shortly there
He hopes that he and others shall soon wear."

      Only two grants of land to Bernard appear in the land books. The first, dated Aug. 10, 1642, was to "William Bernard, Esq., 1200 acres in Isle of Wight county, at the head of Laune's creek, and extending to the head of Pagan creek, due for his own adventure into the Colony four times, and for the transportation of 20 persons;" and the second to "Col. Bernard, Esq., 600 acres in Lancaster on Dividing Creek." Col. Bernard married in 1652 or the year following, Lucy, widow of Maj. Lewis Burwell, of "Carter's Creek," Gloucester county, and daughter of Capt. Robert Higginson. Several deeds in York prove this marriage, the earliest of them being from William Bernard, Esq., and his wife, Lucy, conveying to George Reade a tract of land which had been purchased by Capt. Robert Higginson on Jan. 9, 1648. Bernard died in or before 1662, in which year his widow had become the wife of Philip Ludwell. He left a daughter Elizabeth, who married Thomas Todd, of Toddsbury, Gloucester county, and has descendants.

[Page 118]
      Morrison, Francis, deputy governor of Virginia (q. v.).

[Pages 118-119]
      Harwood, Thomas, was a member of the house of burgesses for Mulberry Island in the years 1629, 1630, 1633 and 1642; speaker of the house 1648 and 1649, and chosen member of the council in 1652. He took a prominent part in the movement to depose Gov. Harvey, and when he was at length sent to England, Harwood and Francis Pott went with him, as representatives of the house of burgesses and the council. On their arrival in Plymouth, Harvey had them arrested by the mayor, and the letters carried by Harwood were sealed up. They appear to have been soon released, for in Aug., 1635, Harvey wrote to the English authorities that Harwood was in London, and asked that he be "restrained of his liberty." The English state papers give a glimpse of him on his way from Plymouth to London. One Browne gave information that on the 18th of July preceding he was in the house of one Ebbottson at the sign of the Valiant Soldier in Exeter, and Ebbottson spied the post that carried th packet to London, and a stranger with him riding post also, whom Ebbottson went into the street to meet, and they went into the house and drank a pint of wine together and parted, and Ebbottson then told Browne that the stranger was one Harwood new come from Virginia, who informed him that they have had great contentions, and have displaced Gov. Harvey, for he hath done great injuries to that country, and that Harwood was appointed by the country to carry letters to the King and that he would make great haste to be up before Sir John, that he might make friends and the case good against him. Sir John Harvey had so carried himself in Virginia that if he returned he would be pistolled or shot. Harwood appears, from a land grant to his son Humphrey, to have died in 1652. He patented large tracts of land in Warwick county, some portion of which is still owned by his descendants in the male line.

[Page 119]
      Mathews, Samuel, Jr., was a son of Samuel Mathews, governor of Virginia. The younger Mathews was, like his father, a soldier, and is mentioned in the old records as "Lieutenant Colonel Mathews." He was a burgess for Warwick River county in April, 1652, and again in Nov., 1654, and was a justice for the same county in 1652. On March 31, 1654-55, he was elected a councillor. His death occurred in or before 1670, and was survived by a son John, then under age.

[Page 119]
      Perry, Henry, son of CApt. William Perry, of Charles City county, was a burgess for Charles City in Nov., 1652, and in Nov., 1654. In Jan., 1655, he was granted a commission allowing him to go with any volunteers who might offer themselves to discover the mountains. On March 31, of the year before, he had been elected a member of the council, and on April 1, 1658, he was elected again, and was present at meetings held in march, 1659-60, and on April 4, 1661. Perry married the daughter and heiress of George Menifie, Esq., of "Buckland," Charles City county, and acquired with her the estate which still bears that name that was late the property of M. Wilcox. He had two daughters and co-heiresses, Elizabeth, who married John Coggs, of Rainsliff, Middlesex, England, and Mary, who married Thomas Mercer, citizen and stationer of London.

[Pages 119-120]
      Hill, Edward, Sr., is supposed to have been the son of "Master Edward Hill," of Elizabeth City county, buried there in 1622, who distinguished himself by a brave and successful defense of his house against the Indians. Our first acquaintance with Col. Edward Hill, the subject of this sketch, is in 1630, when we find him living at the famous old Virginia home, "Shirley," and representing Charles City county in the house of burgesses. Mention is again made of him as a burgess for Charles City in 1642, as burgess for Charles City and speaker of the house in Oct., 1644, and in the following year. In March, 1645-46, the assembly ordered Capt. Hill and Capt. Thomas Willoughby to go Maryland and demand the return of certain Virginians who had remained there without permission. While in Maryland, Hill was chosen governor by the insurrectionist party, and stayed there in that office for some months. He held a commission from the council of Maryland, dated July 30, 1646, under the name of Gov. Calvert, but it cannot be proved that Calvert really signed it. On Jan. 18, 1646, Edward Hill wrote from Chicacone, Northumberland county, to Leonard Calvert, asking payment of his "sallary in that unhappy service." Gov. Thomas Green answered, promising that his demands should be satisfied. Near the end of the year, Gov. Calvert, in command of a small body of troops, entered the Maryland capital and reinstated himself in the government, whereupon Hill surrendered and returned to Virginia. In August of the following, Mr. Broadhurst was charged with saying that "there is now no governor in Maryland, for Captain Hill is governor, and him only he acknowledged." At a meeting of the Maryland council held June 10, 1648, Capt. Hill demanded from the governor and council "the arrears of what consideration was covenanted unto him by Leonard Calvert, Esq., for his services in the office of Governor of this province, being half of his Lordship's receipts for the year 1646, and half of the customs for the same year." It was ordered that he should be paid. On Aug. 26, 1649, Lord Baltimore issued a proclamation in which he declared that "Captain Edward Hill (the Governor in 1646)" was only his "pretended lieutenant of said province," but never fully authorized by or from him. After his return to Virginia, Hill resumed his seat in the assembly, as a burgess from Charles City. From that time until 1654, when he is mentioned as having been unanimously chosen speaker of the house of burgesses, nothing is known of him except that, in 1650, he was summoned before the council because, without obtaining the license required, he had "collected fifty men to accompany him on an expedition to the lands west of the falls, with the avowed intention of finding gold and silver in these parts." After his election as speaker, one William Hatcher "maliciously reported" him to be an atheist and blasphemer, to the great indignation of the "Honorable Governor and Council," who "cleared the said Colonel Hill, and certified the same unto the House." On March 31, 1654-55, Col. Hill was a member of the council, and in March of the year following, the council ordered that he should be given command of "100 men at least," and sent to remove "by force if necessary," 600 or 700 western and inland Indians who had "set down near the falls of James river and were a great danger." Hill, who was at that time commander-in-chief of Henrico and Charles City counties, at the head of a force consisting of colonists and friendly Pamunkey Indians, met the hostile savages on a small creek in Hanover county, as John Ledderer recites. His little army was put to confusion, and Tottopottomoy, the chief of the Pamunkeys was killed, whence since that day the creek has been known as Tottopottomoy Creek. The failure of the undertaking brought down upon Col. Hill, the censure of the assembly, which directed, in 1656, his suspension form all civil and military offices, that he should be "incapable of restitution but by an assembly," and charged to his account the expenses of procuring peace with the Indians. Col. Hill was successful, however, in regaining the favor of the assembly, for in April, 1658, he was again a member of the council, and in march, 1659, he was a burgess for Charles City and speaker of the house. His death occurred about the year 1663, and he was succeeded in his large landed estates by his son, Col. Edward Hill Jr., of Shirley, of whom a sketch will appear later.

[Pages 120-121]
      Dew, Thomas, of Nansemond county, was, in Jan., 1639, appointed by the assembly an inspector of tobacco in Upper Norfolk county. He was a member of the house of burgesses in April, 1642 and again as "Captain Thos. Dew," in Nov., 1652, as "Lt. Col. Thos. Dew" in 1653, and as "Colonel Thos. Dew," in Nov 1654. He was elected to the council on March 31, 1654-55, on March 13, 1657-58 and was present as a member in march 1659-60. In Dec., 1656, the assembly passed a resolution on the petition of Col. Thomas Dew, permitting that gentleman to make discoveries of the navigable rivers between Capes Hatteras and Fear, with such other gentlemen and planters as would, voluntarily and at their own charge, accompany him. Whether or not Col. Dew remained in the council after 1660, is not known. The following are the grants of land he received: (1) Thomas Dew, four hundred acres in the county of Norfolk on Nansemond river, Aug. 1, 1638; (2) 150 acres adjoining the preceding, Aug 1, 1638; (3) 300 acres in the county of Upper Norfolk, Oct. 10, 1638; (4) 250 acres in the county of New Norfolk, adjoining a former patent of his, Nov. 7, 1640; (5) Thomas Dew, gentleman, 750 acres in Upper Norfolk on the east side of the southern branch of the Nansemond river; 300 acres of this a regrant, Jan. 8, 1643; (6) a regrant of No. 5, Oct. 10, 1670; (7) Col. Thomas Dew, 450 acres in the upper parish of Nansemond county, at the head of Craney creek, which was granted to Randall Crew in 1640, and had come by several surrenders and descents to Col. Thomas Dew. Perhaps this Col. Dew was not the councillor.

[Page 121]
      Gooch, William, probably came to Virginia about 1650, when he received a grant of land on the Potomac. he settled in York, where he was a justice in 1652, and represented the county in the house of burgesses in Nov., 1654. On March 31, 1654-55, the burgesses elected him a member of the council. William Gooch died Oct. 29, 1655, leaving an only daughter, Anne, who married Capt. Thomas Beale of "Chestnut Hill," in what is now called Richmond county, and later William Colston, also of Richmond county. Councillor Gooch's tomb bears his arms which are the same as those of the Gooch family of Norfolk, England. This tomb still remains at the site of the old York church on the "Temple Farm," and in addition to the arms bears the following epitaph:

      "Major William Gooch of this Parish
                Dyed Octob. 29, 1655.
Within this tomb there doth interred lie
No shape, but substance, true nobility,
Itself, though young in years, just twenty-nine
Yet graced with virtues moral and devine
The Church from him did good participate
In Council rare, fit to adorn a state."

      He was an uncle of Sir William Gooch, afterwards governor of Virginia.

[Page 121]
      Robins, Obedience, son of Thomas and (Bulkelay) Robins of Brackley, Northamptonshire, England, was born April 16, 1600, and at the age of twenty-one years, came with his brother, Edward Robins, to Virginia. He settled at first in Jamestown but, in 1628, removed to the eastern shore, where he bought lands in Accomac and made his home at Cherrystone. His house and lands were owned by the Robins family until the year 1855. Obedience Robins was a member of the house of burgesses for Accomac in March 1629-30 and was appointed commissioner, justice, in Feb., 1631-32, and commander of the county in 1632. He was again a burgess for Accomac in Jan, 1639, and for Northampton county in 1644 and 1652. Northampton county was formed in 1642 and is said to have been named in honor of Robins' native shire. In the year1652, he is mentioned first as major, and later as lieut. Col. Robins, and in March, 1654-55, he was first elected to the council. Three years later he was reelected, and is mentioned as being present at the meetings for a number of years. On march 12, 1656, the assembly appointed him to the office of colonel commanding the "Lower Precinct" of the eastern shore. Councillor Robins married in 1634, Grace O'Neil, widow of Edward Waters. His death occurred in 1662, leaving descendants in Virginia.

[Page 121]
      Bacon, Nathaniel Sr. President of the council and acting governor of Virginia (q. v.).