40TVn CONGRESS,                 SENATE.                           Mlis. Doc.
2d Session.                                                     No. 84.
AIMEMORIAL
OF
EDWARD D. NEILL,
PRAYING
The publication of the records of the Virginia Company, of London,,-ow in
the library of Congress.
MAY 28, 1868. —Referred to the Committee on the Library and ordered to be printed.
To the Senate and House of Representatives qf the United States of America
in Congress assembled:
While historians have made diligent search in the state paper office of Great
Britain for documents illustrative of the early colonization of the territory comprised within the limits of the United States of America, they appear to have
overlooked the most valuable manuscripts of that perio 1, in the Library of Congress, which are the minutes and transactions of the g -eat L-ndon c)rporation,
known as the Virginia Company, from the year 1619 to its dissolution, and
written out by their own secretaries.
The memorialist, while preparing for publication a little book called Terra.
Marice, or Threads of Maryland Colonial History, made himself familiar with
the obsolete chirography and interesting contents of these records, and proposes,,
without pecuniary colnpensation, to annotate and prepare the manuscripts for publication, under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, provided he is authorized to employ two copyists, each at $SO per month, for a period not exceeding
twelve months, and has a small sum appropriated for necessary stationery and
contingent expenses.
The records, if printed. would form two octavo volumes of about 500 pages
each. The appended extracts will give some idea of the varied contents of these
records. To those who may think the l.tbor would be unnecessary, I can only
quote a sentence from the letter of Governor Dudley of ~Massachusetts, written
in 1630, to the Countess of Lincoln:
If any tax me for wasting paper with rec)rding these small matters, such may consider
that small things. in the beginning of natural or politic bodies, are as remarkable as greater
in bodies full grown.
All which is respectfully submitted.
EDWAMD D. NEILL.
MAY 26, 1S68.




2                    VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF LONDON.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MANUSCRIPT RECORDS OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY
OF LONDON.
PATENT FOR THE LEYDEN PURITANS.
7/lay 26, 1] 6 9.-" One Mr. Wyncop * commended to the company by the Earl
of Lincolnt, intending to go in person to Virginia, and there to plant himself
and his associates, presented his patent now to the court, which was referred to
the committee that meeteth upon Friday morning at Mr. Treasurer's house, to
considerr and if need be, to correct the same."
June4-7, 1619. —" By reason it grew late, and the court ready to break up,
and-as yet Mr. John Whincop'4s patent for him  and his associates to be read,
it was ordered that the seal should be annexed unto it,~ and referred the trust
thereof to the auditors, to examine that it agree with original, which if it does
not, they have permission to bring it into the court and cancel it."
February 2, 1619, old style.ll —A  grant of land to " John Peirce~l and his
associates, their heirs and assigns."
"' It was ordered allso,** by generale consent, that such captaines or leaders of
particularr plantations that shall go there to inhabite by virtue of their grants, and
plant themselves, their tenants, and servants in Virginia, shall have liberty, till
a foirme of government be there settled them, of associatinge unto them divers
of the gravest and discreetest of their companies, to make orders, ordinances, and
constitutions for the better orderinge and dyrectinge of their servants and busines,
provided they be not repugnant to the lawes of England." ft
February 16, 1619, old style.t-1-" Whereas, at the last court a special committee was appointed for the managing of the  C500 given by an unknown person for educating the infidels' children, Mr. Treasurer signified that they have
met and taken into consideration the proposition of Sir John Wolstenholme,~~
* Palfrey, in his accurate History of New England, quoting Bradford, says the patent of the
Leyden people was "not taken in the name of any of their own company, but in the name
of ]Mr. John Wincob, a religious gentleman then belonging to the Countess of Lincoln, who
intended to go with them."
t Thomas Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, had three daughters-Frances, the wife of John, a son
of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; Susan, the wife of John Humphrey, first deputy governor of
Massachusetts bay; Arbella, the wife of Isaac Johnson, one of the settlers of Salem,
Massachusetts. The ship Arbella, which landed Winthrop and company at Salem, was so
named in compliment to Lady Arbella.
t In the records this name is also written Wyncopp. Our histories spell it Wencob. Bradford, speaking of Wyncopp, says, " God so disposed, as he never went."
g The date of this patent has hitherto been unknown to historians. (Palfrey, volume 1,
p. 151.) Bradford in History of New Plymouth, says, "This being sent over for them (at
Leyden) to consider."
ii In England the new year commenced on March 25 until 1752, when the Gregorian or
New Style was adopted.
~T John Pdirce and other traders of London appear to have made a contract with the Leyden
people and furnished them with transportation to, and subsistence, after reaching the coast
of America, and two or three months before the sailing of the colonists of the Mayflower,
endeavored to have intrusted to them a fund given to the Virginia Company for the education of Indian children.
"* In this extract the spelling of the manuscript is retained.
ft By permission of the Virginia Company, the first representative and legislative assembly
in America had met on July 30, 1619, at Jamestown, and Sir Edwin Sandys and associates
were ready to concede to the people of the proposed new plantation the liberty of framing
their own laws.
t; The germs of republican liberty were brought with the emigrants from the old world
and rapidly grew in the new settlements.
~ ~ SirJohn Wolstenholme was a prominent London merchant, with whom Brewster, Cushman, and others of the Leyden people had correspondence.
lie had assisted in settling Kent isle, in the Chesapeake, before Baltimore obtained his
patent for Maryland.  At his sole expense, in 1632 he built a church at Stanmore, near
London, and after his death, at the age of 77 years, was, on November 25, 1639, there buried.




VIRGINIA COMPANY  OF LONDON.                            3'
that John Peirce and his associates might have the training and bringing up of
some of these children; but the said committee, for divers reasons, think it
inconvenient; first, because they intend not to go this two or three months, and
then, after their arrival will be long in settling themselves; as also, that the
Indians are not acquainted with them, and so they may stay four or five years
before they have account that any good is done."
July 16, 1621.-" It was moved, seeing that Mr. John Peirce had taken a
patent of Sir Ferdinando Gcrges, and thereupon seated his company within limits
of the northern plantations, as by some was supposed, whereby he seemed to
relinquish the benefit of the patent he took of this company, that therefore the
said patent might be called in, unless it might appear he would begin to plant
within the limits of the southern colony." *
DISPUTE OF NORTH AND SOUTEI COLONY.
1March 15, 1619, old style -Sir Edwin Sandys said: " That the north colony
intending to re-plant themselves in Virginia, had petitioned to the king and to
the lords for the obtaining a new patent, which the lords referred unto the Lord
Duke and the Lord of Arundel.  And the Lord Arundel delivered it to him for
to call the council, understanding of some differences about fishing betwixt them,
and that if they could not determine on it, that then to return their opinions to
their lordships, whereupon, accordingly having met, and, as formerly, disputed
the business, they could not conclude thereof, but dissented the one from the
other, that therefore, according to his lordship's command, the court would please
to nominate some to give intelligence how the business betwixt them doth depend,
which the court, perceiving not to understand the cause so well as himself, most
earnestly besought him  to take the pains, which he being very loth and unwilling, by reason of the exceeding multitude of the company's business depending
upon him, desired to be excused; but not prevailing, he was so earnestly solicited
thereunto, he could not gainsay it, whereupon they associated unto him Sir John
* Palfrey and others appear to think that the original destination of the Mayflower was to
the territory of the London Company or southern colony. But the above minute of this
company shows that Peirce had been in the interest of Gorges and others, proprietors of the
northern colony. In the compact of government drawn up in the cabin of the Mayflower,
and signed November 11, 1620, the passengers state that they have undertaken " a voyage
to plant the first colony in the northern part of Virginia."
The records of the Virginia Company agree with the statement of Morton, who says that
they " obtained letters patent, for the northern part of Virginia, of King James of famous
memory." Governor Dudley also stated in 1630, "They, of Plymouth, came with patents
from King James, and have since obtained others."
An examination of the patent granted by the council of New England, on June 1, 1621,
shows that there had been an arrangement with John Peirce; the agreement is " between
the president and council of New England, of the one party, and John Peirce, citizen and
cloth-worker of London, and his associates of the other party, witnesseth, that whereas, the
said John Peirce and his associates, have already transported, and undertaken to transport,
at their cost and charges, themselves and divers persons into New Eagland." (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections; fourth series, volume 2. )
Weston also, on July 6, 1621, writes from London, "We have procured you a charter
which is better than your former, and with less limitation." (Bradford's New Plymouth.)
Gorges and associates succeeded, on July 23, 1620, in having a warrant from King James
directed to the proper officer, ordering a new patent to be sealed for the northern colony,
although until November 3 the seal was not affixed. Bradford, in allusion to the strife to
secure the Puritan colonists, remarks: " About this time they had heard, by Mr. Weston and
others, that sundry honorable lords had obtained a large grant from the King for the more
northerly part of that country, distinct from the Virginia patent, and wholly secluded from
Virginia government, to be called by another name, viz: New England. Unto which Mr.
Weston and the chiefest of them began to incline, thinking it was best for them to go to, as
for other reasons, chiefly for the hope of present profit to be made by fishing. But in all business the acting part is most difficult, especially when the work of many agents must concur.
So it was found in them, for some of them who should have gone, in England, fell off and
would not go. Other merchants and friends that had offered to adventure the money withdrew and pretended many excuses. Some, disliking, went to Guiana; others, again, would




4                   VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF LONDON.
Danvers, Mr. Harbert, and Mir, Keightley to report thereon to-morrow morning
at 8 of the clock."*
MIlay 11, 1620.-" Forasmuch as the north colony hath petitioned to the king
for obtaining a new patent, and therein to declare the one colony to have privileges within the other, this company finding themselves grieved thereby, being
a means to debar them from  the immunities, his Majesty hath freely and graciously granted them for matter of fishing, it is agreed that a petition likewise
be exhibited to his Majesty for this company."
November 4, 1620.-Sir Edwin Sandys remarked: " That he was informed
that Sir Ferdinando Gorges had procured unto himself and others a new patent
(now passed his Majesty's great seal) wherein certain words were conveyed that
did not only contradict a former order of the lords of the counsel, which the
lords, after a full hearing of the allegations on both sides, had set down in June
last, by which this company had yielded some of their right to do them good,
had thereby promised to fish only for their necessities and transportation of people; but, by this new grant, the adventurers of the northern colony had also
utterly excluded those of the southern from fishing upon that coast, without
their leave and license first sought and obtained, which was contrary and manifestly repugnant to that community and freedom which his Majesty, by the first
patent, it is conceived, bath been pleased to grant unto the other colony.
" The court, therefore, knowing no reason why they should lose their former
right granted unto them by the first patent, the sea also being-to all as free and
common as the air, and finding less reason why Sir Ferdinando Gorges should
now appropriate and make a monopoly of the fishing, which hath already cost
this company X6,000, the only means left (now the lotteries are almost spent
and other supply begins to fail) to enable them to transport the people and sustain their plantation withal, did, with a general consent, resolve forthwith to
petition to his Majesty for a redress herein, and to pray a further declaration of
his gracious pleasure and intention concerning that clause of prohibition and
restraint inserted in the new patent, whereby they were defeated of their liberty
of fishing. Whereupon they appointed the committee to draw the said petition,
and to make it, in substance, agreeable to those three points Sir Edwin Sandys
had delivered in open court. And for that Sir Thomas Roe was the next day
to go to the court, they desiring him to present the same to his Majesty."t
November 13, 1620.-" Sir Thomas Roe made now a report of his highness's
gracious answer thereunto, who said that if anything were passed in New England patent that might be prejudicial to the southern colony, it was surreptiadventure nothing unless they went to Virginia, and those who were most relied on fell in utter
dislike of Virginia, and would do nothing if they went thither.
"' Howbeit the patent for the northern part of the country not being fully settled at that
time, they resolved to adventure with the patent they had, intending for some place more
southward than they fell upon, in the voyage at Cape Cod, as may appear afterwards."
Captain Jones, the navigator of the Mayflower, and John Peirce probably had arranged
as to destination without the knowledge of the passengers.
* On the 18th of March, the company met at the capacious mansion of Sir Thomas Smith,
in Philpot lane, when Sir Edwin Sandys reported that the committee had appeared before
their lordships, and had there met Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others of the northern colony,
and that their lordships, after listening to both sides, "pleased neither to allow nor disallow
entirely, the one party or the other."
t The Virginia Company was looked upon by James as the nursery of a seditious parliament, while Gorges and others of the north colony were court favorites, and his Majesty
granted the request of the latter, and, on July 23, directed a warrant which, on November
3, 1620, was, says Bancroft, issued to forty of his subjects, some of them members of his
household and his government, the most wealthy and powerful of the English nobility, a
patent which, in American annals, and even in the history of the world, has but one parallel. The adventurers and their successors were incorporated as "The Council established
at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of
New England, in America."




VIRGINIA COMPANY OF LONDON                                5
tiously done, and that he had been abused thereby by those that pretended
otherwise unto him. It pleased his Majesty to express as much, in effect, to my
Lord of Southampton, with many other gracious words, in commendation of this
plantation, and signified further that his Majesty forthwith gave commandment to
my Lord Chancellor, then present, that if this new patent were not sealed for to
forbear the seal, and if it were sealed and not delivered, that they should keep
it in hand till they were better informed.  His lordship further signified that
upon Saturday last they had been with my Lord Chancellor about it, when were
present the Duke of Lenox, the Earl of Arundel, Mr. Secretary, (Calvert,) and
some others, who, after a full hearing of the allegations on bo(th sides, did order
that the patent should be delivered to be perused by some of the southern colony, who are to make report of what provisions they find thereunto at the next
meeting." *
BALLOTING BOX.
February 22, 1619, old style. —" Mr. Tieasurer signified unto them of the
balloting-boxt standing upon the table, how it was intended at first another
way as might appear by the arms upon it; but now Mr. Holloway had given it
freely to this company, that therefore, to gratify him, they would entertain him
into their Society by giving him a single share of land in Virginia, which being
put to the question was ratified unto him; whereupon Mr. Deputy was entreated
to provide a case' for the better preserving of it.
ELECTION OF SECRETARY OF THE COLONY.
June 11, 1621.-Sir Edwin Sandys said, "But touching the secretary of
state there, that now is, (Mr. Porey,$) it remained to know their pleasure, whether
I Two days later the Earl of Southampton had another interview with the privy council,
and signified that by a late conference with Sir Ferdinando Gorges they were now more in
accord, "for that it was agreed upon both sides, for some important reasons, to renounce
either of the patents, which was promised should be done by mutual advice of the counsel.
Whereupon their lordships answered that, in the meanwhile, the patent of Sir Ferdinando
Gorges should be sequestered and deposited in my Lord Chancellor's hands, according to his
Majesty's express command."
tThe London Athenoeum of April 11, 1868, in an article on voting by the ballot-box,
says: "Mr. John Bruce has turned up, within the last few days, a couple of papers which
let us into the important secret of how and why the ballot-box was finally brought into use
among us. It was not the first time, but it was the final time. It came to us from Holland
in the bad days of Charles I; came in the year 1637."
The records of the Virginia Company show its use much earlier. It appears, however,
from the same article, that King Charles ordered the discontinuance of the ballot-box. The
order reads thus:
" AT HAMPTON COURT, this 17th of September, 1637.
" His Majesty this day sitting in council, taking into consideration the manifold inconveniences that may arise by the use of balloting-boxes, which is, of late, begun to be practiced
by some corporations and companies, did declare his utter dislike thereof, and, with the advice
of their lordships, ordered that no coporation nor company, either within the city of London
and liberties, or elsewhere in this his Majesty's kingdom, shall use or permit to be used in
any businesses whatever, any balloting-box, as they tender his Majesty's displeasure, and
will answer the contrary at their peril.
"Whereof, as well the lord mayor of the city of London, for the time being, and all other
mayors and head officers of corporations, as all governors, masters, and wardens of all conmpanies in and about the cities of London and Westminster, and elsewhere, are to take notice
and to see this his Majesty's pleasure and commandment duly observed."
+ John Porey was a graduate of Cambridge, a great traveller and good writer, but gained
the reputation of being a chronic tippler, and literary vagabond and sponger.  A letterwriter on August 11, 1612, says: "It is long since I heard of Master Pory, but now at last
understand he lies lieger at Paris, maintained by the Lord Carew."
Sir Dudley Carleton, wrote on July 9, 1613, from Venice: "Master Pory is come to
Turin with purpose to see those parts, but wants primum necessarium, and hath, therefore,
conjured me with these words-by the kind and constant intelligence which passeth betwixt
you and my best friends in England-to send him fourteen doubloons, wherewith to disengage




6                   VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF LONDON.
they would continue him still in his said office or make a change. Whereupon it
was signified that forasmuch as Mr. Porey had not carried himself well, inr the
said place, to the contentment of the company, it was considered to be the general purpose of the court to change him for a better, so near as they could, and
therefore desired some others might be nominated unto them. Whereupon Mr.
Deputy gave notice of four worthy gentlemen that had been recommended unto
him for that place, all of them well-bred, sufficiently well qualified, so as the
meanest of them  seemed more worthy of a better place, not in respect of the
quality thereof, but in respect of the entertainment belonging thereunto; so as
it was his grief that they had not places for them all, but must be forced to dismiss three of them.
"The names of the said gentlemen were these: Mr. Paramore, Mr. )avison,
Mr. Smith, and Waterhouse, who hath been recommended by Sir John Danvers
for three things especially, namely, his honesty, religion, and sufficiency, for
which he would undertake, upon that knowledge they had of hlim, this gentleman, Mr.*Waterhouse, should make good to give full satisfaction.' But it was signified that they all four having been recommended to the Lord
of Southampton, his lordship was so nobly minded toward this company as to
leave them to their free liberty of choice of any of them by an orderly election,
and therefore wished they would, in the mean time, make some further inquiry
against the next court."
June 13.-Mr. Deputy stated that there were four gentlemen proposed for
the secretary's place, " being all of them recommended, by worthy persons,
for their honesty, sufficiency, and experience in secretary affairs, but because
no more but three could stand for the election, it was put to the question which
three they would have nominated for that purpose, whereupon Mr. Smith  was
dismissed, and the other three appointed to stand for the election, who being all
three met to the balloting-box, choice was made of Mr. Davison, he having the
majority of balls, who, being called in to take notice that the secretary's place
was fallen upon him, did declare his thankful acknowledgments of their favor
towards him, promising his best to answer their expectations of him."
him, where he lies in pawn, not knowing how to go forward or backward. I have done
more in respect of his friends than himself, for I hear he is fallen too much in love with the
pot to be much esteemed, and have sent him what he wrote for by Matthew, the post."
A correspondent of Carleton wrote on August 1 of the same year: " You had not need
meet with many such poor moths as Master Pory, who must have both meat and money,
for drink he will find out himself, if it be above ground, or no deeper than the cellar."
Sir Dudley Carleton, on August 22, 1617, writes from Hague to a friend: " If Mr. Porey
have done with Constantinople, and can Star Saldo against the pot, which is hard in this
country, he shall be welcome unto me, for I love an old acquaintance."  After visiting Constantinople he was, for a brief period in 1617, an attache of the English legation at the Hague,
about the time of the residence there of the learned Puritan divine, Dr. William Ames, whose
preaching the English Ambassador attended. In 1619 he was made secretary of the colony of
Virginia, and after his recall, while returning to England, he stopped at the infant Plymouth
settlement and had pleasant intercourse with Governor Bradford and Elder Brewster, with
whom he may have been acquainted in Holland, and received from them some books, which
he esteemed as "jewels," he says, in a note to Bradford dated August 28, 1622, and signed,
"Your unfeigned and firm friend." (See Bradford's New Plymouth.)
A letter from London, dated July 26, 1623, says: " Our old acquaintance, Mr. Porey, is
in poor case, and in prison at the Terceras, whither he was driven, by contrary winds, from
the north coast of Virginia, where he had been upon some discovery, and upon his arrival
was arraigned and in danger to be hanged for a pirate."
On his arrival in London he associated with the disaffected minority of the Virginia company, who succeeded in arousing the prejudices of the King so as to deprive them of the
government of the colony.
In 1624 he was one of a commission appointed by order of James to proceed to Virginia
and report upon its condition. At Jamestown he displayed a lack of honor in bribing
Edward Sharpless, clerk of the council, to give him a copy of their proceedings, for which
the perjured clerk was made by the Virginians to stand in the pillory and lose an ear.
* Captain John Smith.




VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF  LONDON.                           7
HOMELESS BOYS AND GIRLS OF LONDON.
To the Right Honorable Sir Wm. Cockaine,* knight lord mayor of the city of
London, and the right. worthys the aldermen, his brethren, and the worthys
the common council of the city:
The treasurer, council, and company of Virginia, assembled in their great and
general court the 17th of November, 1619, have taken into consideration the
continual great forwardness of this honourable city in advancing the plantation
of Virginia, and particularly in furnishing out one hundred children this last
year, which, by the goodness of God, have safely arrived (save such as died in
the way) and are well pleased, we doubt not, for this benefit, for which, your
bountiful assistance, we, in the name of the whole plantation, do yield unto you
deserved thanks.
And forasmuch as we have now resolved to send this next spring very large
supplies for the strength and increasing of the colony, styled by the name of the
London colony, and find that the sending of these children to be apprenticed
lath been very grateful to the people, we pray your lordship and the rest,
pursuit of your former so precious actions, to renew the like favours, and furnish
us again with one hundred more for the next spring.
Our desire is that we may have them of 12 years old and upward, with allowance of X3 apiece for their transportation, and 40s. apiece for their apparel, as
was formerly granted.  They shall be apprenticed; the boys till they come to
21 years of age; the girls till like age, or till they be married, and afterward
they shall be placed as tenants upon the public lands, with best conditions,
where they shall have houses with stock of corn and cattle to begin with, and
afterward the moiety of all increase and profit whatsoever.
And so we leave this motion to your honourable and grave consideration.
COMPANION OF POCAHONTAS SICK IN LONDON.
May 11, 1620.-" The court taking notice from  Sir William  Throgmorton
that one of the maidens which was brought over by Sir Thomas Dale t from
* William Cockaine was a distinguished merchant; sheriff in 1609; chief of the new company of merchant adventurers, which gave King James a great banquet on June 22, 1609,
at his house, and there knighted. He died in 1626, and the distinguished poet and divine,
John Donne, preached his funeral sermon.
The following letter of Sir Edwin Sandys on January 28, 1620, to one of the King's secretaries, Sir Robert Naunton, shows that the children were not always willing to embark.
" The city of London have appointed one hundred children from the superfluous multitude to be transported to Virginia, there to be bound apprentices upon very beneficial conditions. They have also granted ~500 for their passage and outfit. Some of the ill-disposed
children, who, under severe masters in Virginia, may be brought to goodness, and of whom
the city is specially desirous to be disburdened, declare their unwillingness to go. The city
wanting authority to deliver, and the Virginia Company to transport these children against
their will, desire higher authority to get over the difficulty."  (Cal. State Papers, Colonial
Series. )
Another paper will throw some light on the abuses in this business.
" Sir Edward Hext, Justice of the Peace of Somersetshire, to the Privy Council:
" Upon complaint that Owen Evans, messenger of the Chamber, had a pretended commission to press maidens to be sent to Virginia and the Bermudas, and received money thereby,
hle issued a warrant for his apprehension. Evans' undue proceedings bred such terror to the
poor maidens that 40 have fled from one parish to obscure places, and their parents do not
know what has becoxne of them."
t George, Lord Carew, writing in June, 1616, to Sir Thomas Roe, says: "Sir Thomas
Dale returned from Virginia, brought divers men and women of that country to be educated
in England."
Rev. William Gouge, D.D.. educated at Cambridge, an eminent Puritan, was cousin of
Rev. Alexander Whitaker, called by Bancroft the Apostle of Virginia, who came with Sir'Thomas Dale, and in 1617 was drowned.
Gouge was noted for active benevolence, as well as for scholarship and pulpit oratory.
In 1643 he was a member of the celebrated Westminster Assembly of Divines, and frequently
occupied the moderator's chair. After a pastorate of forty-five years at Blackfriars, London,
he died December 12, 1653, aged 79. When offered more profitable positions he always
ldeclined, saying that " his highest ambition was to go from Blackfriars to Heaven."




8                   VIRGINIA COMPANY OF LONDON
Virginia. a native of the country, who sometimes dwelt as a servant with a mercer in Cheapside, is now very weak of a consumption at Mr. Gouge's in the
Blackfriars, who hath great care and taken great pains to comfort her both in
soul and body; whereupon for her recovery the company are agreed to be at the
charge of XXs. a week for three months, (if it please God she be not before the
expiration thereof, restored to health or die in the mean season,) for the administering of physick and cordials for her health, and that the first payment begin this
day seven-night, because Mr. Treasurer, for this year, reported his accounts
were set up.
" SirWilliam Throgmorton, out of his private purse, promised to give XLs., all
which money is ordered to be paid to Mr. Gouge through the good assurance
that the company hath of his careful management."
JOHN ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS.
April 30, 1621.-Sir John Danvers signified that it was the request of my
lady Lawarre unto this court, that in consideration of her goods remaining in the
hands of AMr. Rolfe. * in Virginia, she might receive satisfaction for the same out
of his tobacco now sent home.
But forasmuch as it is supposed the said tobacco is none of the said Rolfe's,
but belonged to Mr. Peirce, it was thought fit that Mr. Henry Rolfe should
acquaint my lady Lawarre t of his brother's offer to make her ladyship good and
faithful account of all such goods as remain in his hands upon her lady's direction to that effect.
July 10,1621.-" It was signified that the lady Lawarre desired the court would
please to grant her a commission directed to Sir Francis Wyatt, Mr. George
Sandys, and others, to examine and certify what goods and money of her late
husband's, deceased, came to the hands of Mr. Rolfe in the year 1611, and to
require the attending to his promise [that] she may be satisfied."
October 7, 1622.-".Mr. Henry Rolfe in his petition desiring the estate his
brother John Rolfe, deceased, left in Virginia, might be enquired out for the
maintenance of his relict wife and children, and for his indemnity, having brought
up the child his said brother had by Powhatan's daughter,4 is yet living and in
his custody.
1* John Rolfe and wife went to Virginia in the expedition that sailed in 1609 from England, and while detained at Bermuda, where the ships had been stranded in a storm, he
became the father of a child, who was christened Bermuda Rolfe by Chaplain Buck.
Strachey, secretary of Lord De Lawarre, says, " The 11th of February [1610, old style]
we had a child of one John Rolfe christened, of which Captain Newport and myself were
witnesses." (Purchas, volume 4, p. 1744.)
t She was the widow of Thomas, third Lord Delaware, captain-general of all the provinces
in Virginia. He had been dead for more than two years. A letter written from London,
October 5, 1.618, says: " This day news arrived of my Lord de la War's death in his voyage
to Virginia."
t Stlachey, who was Secretary of the colony from May, 1610, for a period of about two
years, in his Historie of Travaile, published by the Hakluyt Society, several times alludes
to Powhatan's daughter. In book 1, page 54, he remarks: "I say they often reported to us
that Powhatan had then living twenty sons and ten daughters,   X   *     besides
Pocohunta, a daughter of his, using sometime to our fort in times past, now married to a
private captain called Kocoum some two years since."
On page 132 of the same book he says: " The younger women go not shadowed amongst
their own company until they be nigh eleven or twelve returns of the leaf old, nor are they
much ashamed thereof, and therefore would the before-remembered Pochahuntas, a well featured but wanlton young girl, Powhatan's daughter, sometimes resorting to our fort, of the
age then of eleven or twelve years, get the boys forth with her into the market place and
make them wheel, falling on their hands, turning up their heels upwards, whom she would
follow and wheel so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over."
On another page he writes: " The great King Powhatan called a young daughter of his,
whom he loved well, Pochahuntas, which may signify little wanton, howbeit she was rightly
called Amonate at more ripe years."
There appears to have been an effort to build up a fifth kingdom and an Anglo-Indian




VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF  LONDON.                             9
It was ordered that the governor and council of Virginia should cause inqui.
ries to be what lands and goods the said John Rolfe died seized of; and in case
it be found the said Rolfe made no will, then to take such order for the petitioner's
indemnity, and for the maintenance of the said children and his relict wife as
they shall find his estate will bear, (his debt unto the company and others being
first satisfied,) and to return unto the company an account of their proceedings."
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH PROPOSES TO COMPILE A HISTORY.
April 12, 1621. —" Mr. Smith moved, that forasmuch as lotteries were now
suspended, which hath unto now contributed the real and substantial food by
which Virginia hath been nourished, that instead thereof she might be now preserved by divulging fair and good report as she and her worthy undertakers
did well deserve, declaring that it would not but much advance the plantation
in the popular opinion of the common subject to have a fair and conspicuous
history compiled of that country from  the first discovery to this day, and to
have the memory and fame of many of their worthies, though they be dead, to
live and be transmitted to all posterity, as namely: Sir Thomas Dale, Sir George
Somers, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Lord De-la-warr, Sir Thomas Gates, and divers
others,* whereunto, were it not for suspicions of flattery, he would write also the
nobility in Virginia by a few adventurers. On September 22, 1612, the Spanish ambassador, De Cunega, writes to his King: "Although some suppose the plantation to decrease, he
is credibly informed that there is a determination to marry some of the people that go over to
the Virginians; forty or fifty are already so married, and English women intermingle and are
received kindly by the natives. A zealous minister has been wounded for reprehending it."
(Cal. State Papers, colonial, 1584-1660.)       t
The Virginia Company on August 23, 1618, wrote to the crafty Governor Argall: "We
cannot imagine why you should give us warning that Opechankano and the natives have
given the country to Mr. Rolfe's child, and that they reserve it from all others till he comes
of years, except, as we suppose, as some do here report it, to be a device of your own, to some
special purpose for yourself."
* It is noteworthy that Smith does not allude to Captain Christopher Newport, the commander
of the first expedition to Virginia, with whom he had sailed and was closely associated during
the first and second visits of that experienced mariner to Jamestown.
Thomas Fuller, who was a young man when Smith died, thus describes him in the
"Worthies of England:"
"John Smith, captain, was born in this county, [Cheshire,] as Master Arthur Smith, his
kinsman and my schoolmaster, did inform me.              From the Turks in Europe
he passed to the pagans in America, where such his perils, preservations, dangers, deliverances, they seem to most men above belief, to some beyond truth. Yet have we two witnesses to attest them, the prose and the pictures, both in his own book, and it soundeth much
to the diminution of his deeds that he alone is the herald to publish and proclaim them.'.
*   *    *   He led his old age in London, where his having a prince's mind imprisoned
in a poor man's purse, rendered him to the contempt of such who were not ingenuous. Yet
he efforted his spirits with the remembrance and relation of what formerly he had been and
what he had done. He was buried in Sepulchre's Church choir, on the south side thereof,
having a ranting epitaph inscribed in a table over him, too long to transcribe. Only we will
insert the first and last verses, the rather because one may fit Alexander's life for his valour,
and the other his death for hisreligion:' Here lies one conquered, who hath conquered kings.'' O! may his soul in Elysium sleep.'
"The orthography, poetry, history, and divinity in this epitaph are much alike. He died
on the 21st of June, 1631."
As he is said to have been born in 1579, he lived fifry-two years.  As the French travellers in America, Hennepin and La Hontan, fascinated by their bold misstatements, so did
John Smith. In a letter written from Jamestown, in October, 1609, to Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, is the following statement:
"Captain John Smith, president, who reigned sole governor, and is now sent home to
answer some misdemeanors."  (Cal. State Papers, colonial, 1574-1660.)
Wingfield. first president of the Virginia colony, in a "Discourse of Virginia," printed from
the manuscripts in Lambeth library, in volume 4, Coll. Am. Ant. Society, asserts that " Mr.
Smyth, in the time of our hunger, had spread a rumor in the colony that I did feast myself
and my servants out of the common store, with intent, as I gathered, to have stirred the disMis. Doc. 84 —2




10                  VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF LONDON.
name of many other worthies now living; and some of them now present in court
might have also their honorable and good deserving recommended to eternal
thankfulness, for our inabilities had, as yet, no other coin wherewith to recompense their pains and merit; affirming, also, that the best now planted parts of
America which the Spanish government, in their annals or their histories of those
times in their like age of ours, (now twelve years old,) in Virginia, afforded better matter of relation than Virginia hath done and doth. With what effect such
a general history, deduced to the life to this year, would work throughout the
kingdom, with the general and common subjects, may be gathered by the little
pamphlets * or declarations lately printed. And, besides, few succeeding years
would soon consume the lives of many whose living memories yet retained much,
and devour those letters and intelligences which yet remain in loose and neglected
papers, for which boldness, in moving thereof, he prayed his lordship's pardon,
led thereunto by some of his fellows of the generality."
NAVIGATION PROPOSED.
March 18, 1619, old style.-Sir Edwin Sandys " also signified that Sir George
Yeardley desired of them, for the good of the colony, that a navigation might be
set up which would produce good benefit to the plantation, and, to that end,
nominated unto them one Marmaduke Rayrner,t who is willing to go, if they
please to give him his passage, which man being also well known to Sir Thomas
Roe, he gave very good commendations of him, whereupon it was agreed, upon
the terms mentioned, he should be sent."
PROPOSED SETTLEMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA.
November 15, 1620. —" Some of the Somers Island Company moved that the
court would be pleased, as well in respect that the Bermudas was sold unto them
contented company against me. I told him privately, in Mr. Gosnold's tent, that indeed I
had caused a half pint of peas to be sodden with a piece of pork of my own provision, for a
poor old man, which, in a sickness whereof he died, he much desired, and said, that if out
of his malice he had given it out otherwise, he did tell a lie. It was proved to his face that
he begged in Ireland like a rogue without a license.   *            Mr. Smythe's
quarrel to me was because his name was mentioned in the intended and confessed mutiny
by Galthropp."
* The first pamphlet relative to the colony of Virginia was published in 1608, with the following title:
"A Trve Relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate as hath hapened in Virginia
since the first planting of that collony, which is now resident in the South part thereof, till
the last returne from thence. Written by Captaine Smith, coronell of the said collony, to a
worshipfull friend of his in England. London. Printed for John Tappe, and are to bee solde
at the Greyhound in Paules Church-yard, by W. W. 1608."
This work, carefully edited by Mr. Charles Deane, was reproduced in 1866, by Wiggin &
Lunt, of Boston.
In his first book on Virginia, Smith says not one word relative to his rescue from death by
Pocahontas. After speaking of Powhatan's desire that he should come and live with him,
he adds: "This request I promised to performe; and thus, having with all the kindnes hee
could dessire, sought to content mee, hee sent me home with 4 men, one that usually carried my Gowne and Knapsacke after me, two other loded with bread, and one to accompanie
me."  (Deane's edition of True Relation, p. 38.)
Fifteen years after his return to England he published the "General History," and in
this Powhatan is transformed to a savage wretch, with his minions dragging the valiant
captain toward two great stones in front of the Indian king, and being ready with their clubs
to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head into her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death."
Mr. Deane clearly points out the embellishments and contradictions in his last work, giving " to the narrative an air of romance."
Palfrey says Smith " travelled about the south and west of England distributing books and
maps;" (History of N. England, volutme 1, p. 95,) and in a note remarks: "I presume I am
not the first reader who has been haunted by incredulity respecting some of the adventures of
Smith." (Volume 1, p. 89.)
t The following summer Rayner made three voyages to North Carolina, and in 1627 was
master of the ship Temperance, which sailed from Virginia to London.




VIRGINIA  COMPANY  OF LONDON.                        11
for a far greater quantity of land than they now find it to be, as also for the
better enabling of them to subsist and procure and maintain a mutual dependence and traffic hereafter, to grant and confirm unto them, in this great and general quarter court, a good portion of land in Virginia, on that side of the coast
as lies nearest unto them, either at Ronoque southerly, or else whereat shall be
most convenient for them, not being yet inhabited; which request the court taking into consideration, did order and agree, that according to the number of their
shares, being in all 400 or thereabouts, they should have for every share 100
acres of land in Virginia, and fifty acres for every person that shall be transported thither.   *    *    *    *    The court ordered that a letter should
be written to the governor to set out their bounds and limits where they shall
like best to seat themselves, so as they may not be prejudicial to any other plantation there already."
DISCOVERIES OF RAYNER, SAVAGE, AND DERMERL
July 10, 1621. —" There was also read unto the company a relation of three
several voyages, made this last summer, unto the southward to Roanocke, made
by Mr. Marmaduke Rayner; a second by Ensign Savadge * in the great bay,
wherein is a great trade of furs by Frenchmen; a third, Mr. Dirmer s discovery
from Cape Charles to Cape Codd, up Delaware river and Hudson's river, being
but twenty or thirty leagues from our plantation, and within our limits, in which
rivers were found divers ships of Amsterdam and Horn, who yearly had there a
great and rich trade for furs, which have moved the governor and council of
state in Virginia earnestly to solicit and invite the company to undertake so
certain and gainful a voyage."
* Purchas (volume 4, p. 1784) gives the credit of this discovery to Pory. His words are:
"Master John Porie hath of late made a discovery into the great bay northward, *   *
where are now settled near one hundred English very happily, with hope of a very good trade
in furs there to be had."
This was probably the commencement of the settlement of Kent island in Chesapeake bay.
As early as 1613, Argall sailed with Sir Thomas Dale up this bay, and in a letter predicted
that they could " find a safe passage for boats and barges thither by a cut out of the bottom
of the bay into the Delaware bay." (Purohas, volume 4, p. 17~64.)