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_Mother Earth_--
LAND GRANTS IN VIRGINIA
1607-1699
By
W. STITT ROBINSON, JR.
Associate Professor of History
University of Kansas
VIRGINIA 350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION CORPORATION
WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
1957
COPYRIGHT©, 1957 BY
VIRGINIA 350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
CORPORATION, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Jamestown 350th Anniversary
Historical Booklet, Number 12
CHAPTER ONE
The Land and the Indian
Among the motives for English colonization of America in the seventeenth
century, the desire for free land occupied a prominent place. The
availability of land in the New World appealed to all classes and ranks
in Europe, particularly to the small landholder who sought to increase
his landed estate and to the artisans and tenants who longed to enter
the ranks of the freeholder.
The desire for land and the opportunity to provide a home for one's
family, according to Professor C. M. Andrews, "probably influenced the
largest number of those who settled in North America." Land also had its
appeal as the gateway to freedom, contributing substantially to the
shaping of the American character. When analyzing the factors that
helped make this "new man, who acts upon new principles," De Crèvecoeur
in 1782 emphasized the opportunity to "become a free man, invested with
lands, to which every municipal blessing is annexed!"
Formulation of a land policy confronted the officials of all the
colonies in early America. Its importance is reflected in the statement
by C. L. Raper in his study of English colonial government that the
"System and policy concerning land determine to a very considerable
extent the economic, social, and political life of the colonists." The
existence of the American frontier with unoccupied land was a potent
force in America, and Frederick Jackson Turner stated in his famous
essay in 1893 that the "Most significant thing about the American
frontier is, that it lies at the hither edge of free land."
Before analyzing the nature of landholding and the land policy that was
adopted in early Virginia, let us examine first the problem that arose
by virtue of the presence of the Indians in North America.
At the time of the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 the area of
present-day Virginia was occupied by Indians of three linguistic stocks:
Algonquin, Siouan, and Iroquoian. Generally speaking, the Algonquins
which included the Powhatan Confederacy inhabited the Tidewater,
reaching from the Potomac to the James River and extending to the
Eastern Shore. The Siouan tribes, including the Monacans and the
Manahoacs, occupied the Piedmont; while the Iroquoian group, containing
the independent Nottoways and Meherrins, partially surrounded the others
in a rough semicircle reaching from the headwaters of the Chesapeake
through the western mountains and back to the coast in the region south
of the James River.
The presence of these tribes in the areas of proposed colonization
confronted the colonizers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
with the same problem that has faced imperialists of a later date, the
question of "right and title" to land. The British, like other European
nations, did not recognize the sovereign right of the heathen natives
but claimed a general title to the area by the prevailing doctrine of
right by discovery and later by the generally accepted doctrine of
effective occupation. As stated in the charter to Sir Walter Raleigh in
1584 with essentially the same provision included in the first charter
of Virginia in 1606, the colonizers were authorized to occupy land "not
actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian
People." Over the Indians the British maintained a "limited
sovereignty"; and when acknowledging any claim, they recognized only the
Indian's right of occupation and asserted the "exclusive right" to
extinguish this title which occupancy gave them.
In the first years of the colony not even these tenure rights were
recognized by the British. While a few gifts of land had been made by
the natives and one of these confirmed by the London Company, there was
no admission, either direct or by inference, that the Indians possessed
a superior claim to the land. When such an implication was made in a
land grant to Barkham in 1621, the company reacted with bitter
resentment. Governor Yeardley, striving to maintain peace with the
natives, made the grant conditional upon the consent of the Indian chief
Opechancanough. According to stated practice under the company, the
grant then had to be approved in England by a quarter court of the
company's stockholders. When Barkham's petition was presented for
ratification, the members of the court held the provision concerning the
Indian chief to be "verie dishonorable and prejudiciall" for it
infringed upon the company's title by acknowledging sovereignty in that
"heathen infidell."
Disregard for the aboriginal occupants of Virginia called forth anew the
question of "right and title," a problem subject to discussion in
England even before Jamestown. To allay these attacks, several
proponents of colonial expansion attempted to justify the policy of the
crown and the London Company.
Sir George Peckham in _A true reporte of the late discoveries_ pointed
out as early as 1583, relating to the discoveries of Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, that it was "lawfull and necessary to trade and traficke with
the savages." In a series of subsequent arguments, he then expounded
the right of settlement among the natives and the mutual benefit to
them and to England. This theme was later extended by the author of
_Nova Britannia_, who maintained that the object of the English was to
settle in the Indian's country, "yet not to supplant and roote them
out, but to bring them from their base condition to a farre better" by
teaching them the "arts of civility." The author of _Good Speed to
Virginia_ added that the "Savages have no particular propertie in any
part or parcell of that countrey, but only a generall residencie there,
as wild beasts have in the forests." This last opinion, according to
Philip A. Bruce, prevailed to a great extent and was held by a majority
of the members of the London Company in regard to the appropriations of
lands.
In spite of these views entertained by the company, there were several
instances in which the natives were compensated for their territory.
This was done primarily through the initiative of local authorities, for
they were usually better informed concerning Indian affairs. They were
in much closer contact with the natives than the company's Council in
London and realized that the goodwill of the aborigines could be
cultivated by giving only minor considerations for the land occupied by
the English. On other occasions the Indians voluntarily gave up their
land such as the present from Opechancanough in 1617 of a large body of
land at Weyanoke. At still other times land was seized by force. When
any attempt was made to justify the seizure, it was done on the basis of
an indemnity for damage inflicted upon the colony or for violations of
agreements by the natives. By 1622 settlements had been made along the
banks of the lower James River and in Accomac on the Eastern Shore, the
land having been obtained by direct purchase, by gifts from the natives,
or by conquest.
Any attempt to determine the extent of the areas acquired by purchase in
Virginia is hindered by the indefinite nature of the Indian holdings and
by the lack of complete records for the early periods. Thomas Jefferson
thought much of the land had been purchased. Writing to St. George
Tucker in 1798, Jefferson stated:
At an early part of my life, from 1762 to 1775, I passed much time
in going through the public records in Virginia, then in the
secretary's office, and especially those of a very early date of our
settlement. In these are abundant instances of purchases made by our
first assemblies of the indi[ans] around them. The opinion I formed
at the time was that if the records were complete & thoroughly
searched, it would be found that nearly the whole of the lower
country was covered by these contracts.
Jefferson overestimated the amount of land that was purchased by
Virginia during the early years. While the records now extant show that
the colony often purchased lands, they likewise indicate that frequently
land was appropriated without compensation. Especially during the years
following the first massacre of 1622, "The Indians were stripped of
their inheritance without the shadow of justice." The greater part of
the Peninsula between the York and James rivers was taken by conquest;
the right of possession was later confirmed by a treaty with Necotowance
in 1646, without, however, any stipulation for compensating the natives
for the land they relinquished.
The treaty of 1646 with the successor of Opechancanough inaugurated the
policy of major historical significance of either setting aside areas
reserved for Indian tribes, or establishing a general boundary line
between white and Indian settlements. Influenced by the desire of
individual settlers to fortify their claims and by the opposition of the
natives to white encroachment, the colony designated definite lands for
the Virginia Indians and began to follow more closely the custom of
purchasing all territory received from the natives. To see that this was
done, the Assembly passed numerous laws, pertaining in most cases only
to the specific tribes of Indians mentioned in each act.
In 1653 the Assembly ordered that the commissioners of York County
remove any persons then seated upon the territory of the Pamunkey or
Chickahominy Indians. At the same time both lands and hunting grounds
were assigned to the red men of Gloucester and Lancaster counties. The
following year the Indian tribes of Northampton County on the Eastern
Shore were granted the right to sell their land to the English provided
a majority of the inhabitants of the Indian town consented and provided
the Governor and Council of the colony ratified the procedure. Soon
other tribes were given the same privilege. So anxious were they to
dispose of their land when allowed to convey a legal title, that it
became necessary for the colony to forbid further land transfers without
the Assembly's stamp of approval. Such a step was taken in order to
prevent the continual necessity of apportioning new lands to keep the
natives satisfied.
By 1658 the Assembly had received from several Indian tribes so many
complaints of being deprived of their land, either by force or fraud,
that measures were again adopted to protect the natives in their rights.
No member of the colony was allowed to occupy lands claimed by the
natives without consent from the Governor and Council or from the
commissioners of the territory where the settlement was intended. To
decrease the chances for cheating the Indians, all sales were to be
consummated at quarter courts where unfair purchases could be prevented.
Efforts to protect the Indians in the possession of their lands were
subject to modification from time to time. The treaty of 1646 designated
the York River as the line to separate the settlements of the English
and the natives. But the colony at that time was on the eve of a great
period of expansion. With an estimated population of 15,000 in 1650, the
colony increased by 1666 to approximately 40,000, and by 1681 to
approximately 80,000. To stem the tide of the advancing English
settlement was apparently an impossibility. Therefore, Governor William
Berkeley and the Council, upon representation from the Burgesses,
consented to the opening of the land north of the York and Rappahannock
rivers after 1649. At the same time the provision making it a felony for
the English to go north of the York was repealed. This turn in policy,
based upon the assumption that some intermingling of the white and red
men was inevitable, led to the effort to provide for an "equitable
division" of land supplemented by attempts to modify the Indian economy
which had previously demanded vast areas of the country.
Endeavoring to provide for this "equitable division" of land, the
Assembly in 1658 forbade further grants of lands to any Englishmen
whatsoever until the Indians had been allotted a proportion of fifty
acres for each bowman. The land for each Indian town was to lie together
and to include all waste and unfenced land for the purpose of hunting.
This provision did not relieve all pressure on Indians' lands, partly
because some of the natives never received their full proportion and
partly because some had been accustomed to even larger areas. But it did
serve as a basis for reservation of land for different tribes.
[Illustration: From a portrait reproduced in J. H. Claiborne, _William
Claiborne of Virginia_.
Photo by Flournoy, Virginia State Chamber of Commerce.
William Claiborne, Surveyor for Virginia, Secretary of the Colony of
Virginia]
[Illustration: _How to reduce all sorts of grounds into a square for
the better measuring of it._
From John Norden's "Surveior's Dialogue"
Photo by T. L. Williams]
Two years later the Assembly in 1660 took definite steps to relieve the
pressure of English encroachments upon the territory of the Accomac
Indians on the Eastern Shore. Enough land was assigned to the natives of
Accomac to afford ample provisions for subsistence over and above the
supplies that might be obtained through hunting and fishing. To insure a
fair and just distribution of these lands, the Assembly passed over
surveyors of the Eastern Shore and required that the work be done by a
resident of the mainland, who obviously would be less prejudiced against
the aborigines because of personal interest. When once assigned to the
natives, the land could not be alienated.
By 1662 this last provision, forbidding the Accomacs to alienate their
lands, was extended to all Indians in Virginia. The Assembly had
realized that the chief cause of trouble was the encroachment by the
whites upon Indian territory. Efforts, therefore, had been made to
remove this cause of friction by permitting purchases from the natives
provided each sale was publicly announced before a quarter court or the
Assembly. But the plan had not been a complete success. Various members
of the colony had employed all kinds of ingenious devices to persuade
the natives to announce in public their willingness to part with their
land. Dishonest interpreters had rendered "them willing to surrender
when indeed they intended to have received a confirmation of their owne
rights." In view of these evil practices the Assembly declared all
future sales to be null and void.
Twenty-eight years later in 1690 the Governor and Council in accord with
this restriction nullified several purchases made from the Chickahominy
Indians. By order of the Assembly in 1660 this tribe had received lands
in Pamunkey Neck. Since that time several colonists had either purchased
a part of their land or encroached upon their territory without regard
for compensation. In neither case were the white settlers allowed to
remain. All leases, sales, and other exchanges were declared void by the
Governor and Council, and all intruders were ordered to withdraw and
burn the buildings that had been constructed. George Pagitor, being one
of the settlers affected by this order, had obtained about 1,200 acres
in Pamunkey Neck from the natives. He had built a forty-foot tobacco
barn and kept two workers there most of the year. When his purchase was
declared void, he was ordered to return the land to the natives and to
burn the barn that had been constructed. Accompanying this executive
decree was an order to the sheriff of New Kent County authorizing him to
carry out the will of the officials of the colony and to burn the barn
himself, if necessary.
Commissioners were also employed for the supervision of Indian lands.
Upon the recommendation of the committee appointed for Indian affairs,
the Assembly in 1662 authorized the Governor to appoint a commission "to
enquire into and examine the severall claimes made to any part of our
neighboring Indian land, and confirme such persons who have justly
invested themselves, and cause all others to remove." The English with
rights to land within three miles of the natives were to assist in
fencing the Indian corn fields. This was done to prevent harm to the
Indian crops by hogs and cattle of the colony. Commissioners appointed
were to designate the time and number of English to aid in the
construction. Other commissioners were to view annually the boundaries
separating the two people.
The commissioners diligently enforced the provisions of these laws which
underwent few changes until the outburst of hostilities in Bacon's
Rebellion. In 1678 the additional expense of the Indian war led the
colony to modify temporarily its former provisions in order to obtain
more revenue from land. All territory recently assigned to the Indians
but then abandoned and any land then occupied that should later be
deserted were to be sold. The proceeds from the sale were to be used in
the public interest to defray the expense of the war.
This regulation applied only to land abandoned by the Indians. The
colony continued to protect the natives in other lands assigned them as
is exemplified in the region south of the James River. In 1665 the
Indian boundary line for the area was designated to run from the
southern branches of the Blackwater River to the Appomattox Indian town,
and from there to Manakin Town located only a few miles above the Fall
Line. By 1674 some of the colonists had crossed this line and were
settling on the territory of the Nottoway Indians. When the encroachment
was called to the attention of the Governor and Council, they ordered
the English to withdraw immediately, and in the next instructions to the
surveyor of the colony they again forbade the location of new grants in
the region designated as Indian land.
The number of the aborigines gradually dwindled in this section as in
other parts of the colony, due mainly to wars, smallpox epidemics,
spirituous liquors, migration, and the abridgement of territory of a
people who lived principally on the "spontaneous productions of nature."
Because of the decrease the Burgesses in 1685 appealed to Governor
Howard for permission to allow grants to some of the land in the area.
The Governor failed to comply with their requests. Later, in 1690, an
order was issued for the immediate removal of several persons who had
obtained illegal patents to land south of the main Blackwater Swamp. All
members of the colony were again forbidden to settle beyond the boundary
line, and any who had already constructed houses were ordered not to
repair them nor to finish any other uncompleted buildings. The sheriffs
and justices of the peace of Charles City, Surry, Isle of Wight, and
Nansemond counties were instructed to be on the alert for violators of
the order.
However, the Indians themselves, residing in the region on the south
side of the Blackwater River and in Pamunkey Neck had requested in 1688
that colonists be allowed to settle across the boundary line in the area
now made vacant by the gradual dying out of their tribes. The basis for
the request seems to have been a desire for relief in their precarious
economic condition and the fear of invasion by hostile Indians, whom
they regarded with more apprehension than they did the English. By 1705,
the colony, influenced by the request from the natives revoked its
former law regarding the Indian boundary, permitting a limited number of
white settlements in Pamunkey Neck and in the region south of the
Blackwater Swamp and Nottoway River.
Thus in the seventeenth century the pendulum moved from a position of
the colony ignoring any Indian rights in the land to a gradual
recognition of the Indian right of occupation. This sweep of the
pendulum brought the establishment of boundary lines between the whites
and the Indians with reservations being designated for certain tribes.
By the end of the century the diminution of the tribes found the
pendulum swinging back to open the area to white settlement which had
once been reserved to the natives, yet still retaining the recognition
of the Indian's right of occupation where tribes survived. With this
survey of the problem of the red man's title to land, let us now turn to
a consideration of the white man's title and how it was obtained in
seventeenth-century Virginia.
CHAPTER TWO
The London Company
General boundaries for English settlement were designated in the charter
of 1606 creating the London Company and the Plymouth Company to settle
the area in America known as Virginia. The London Company was authorized
to settle a tract of land 100 miles square in the southern part of the
area extending from the thirty-fourth to the forty-first degrees north
latitude, or from the Cape Fear River in present North Carolina to New
York City. The boundaries for the Plymouth Company were from the
thirty-eighth to the forty-fifth degrees north latitude, or from
approximately the mouth of the Potomac River to a line just north of
present Bangor, Maine. In the overlapping area between the thirty-eighth
and forty-first degrees, which in effect created a neutral zone between
the present location of Washington, D.C., and New York City, provision
was made for a distance of at least 100 miles to separate the sites that
might be selected by the two companies.
As stated in the charter of 1606, "all the lands, tenements, and
hereditaments" were to be held "as of our Manor at East-Greenwich in the
County of Kent, in free and common soccage only, and not in capite." The
"Manor at East-Greenwich" refers to the residence of King James I at the
royal palace of Greenwich and was used as a descriptive term in many
grants to indicate that the land in America was also considered a part
of the demesne of the King. The land was held not "in fee simple" with
absolute ownership, a concept which was not a part of English law at the
time; but it was granted "in free and common soccage" with the holder a
tenant of the King with obligations of fealty and of the payment of a
quitrent. The fixed rent replaced the service, military or personal,
required under feudal law; and the socage tenure in effect did not
subject the land to the rules of escheat or return of the land to the
King if inherited by minors or widows. For Englishmen in America, the
"Instructions for the government of the colonies" in 1606 were explicit
in showing that their legal and tenurial rights were the same as
residents of the mother country by stating that "All the lands,
tenements, and hereditaments ... shal be had and inherited and enjoyed,
according as in the like estates they be had and enjoyed by the lawes
within this realme of England."
Government by the charter of 1606 provided for a strong exercise of
control by the crown over the colonies of both companies. This was
achieved through the establishment of the Council for Virginia that was
appointed by the King, was resident in England, and answered to the King
through the Privy Council for its actions. For local control of each
company, authorization was made for a Council in America with its
initial membership determined by the Council for Virginia and with a
president selected by the local group.
Few details were given either in the charter or "Instructions" of 1606
about distribution of land. Provisions did state that grants of land in
the colony would be made in the name of the King to persons whom the
local Council "nominate and assign"; but no details were given of the
method of land distribution. From the scant records that survive, it is
evident that promises of land were made to individuals who were willing
to hazard the dangers of the new country. From a bill of adventure that
goes back to 1608, the nature of the promise of land is revealed in the
agreement between Henry Dawkes and Richard Atkinson, clerk of the
Virginia Company. Fortunately the bill of adventure of 1608 was recorded
with the patent by Governor John Harvey in 1632 to William Dawkes, son
and heir of Henry Dawkes. The commitments in the bill of adventure were
as follows:
_Whereas_ Henry Dawkes now bound on the intended voyage to Virginia
hath paid, in ready money, to Sr. Thomas Smith Kt. treasurer for
Virginia the some of twelve pounds tenn shillings for his adventure
in the voyage to Virginia.
_It is agreed_ that for the same the said Henry Dawkes his heires,
executors, admrs. and assignes shall have rateably according to his
adventure his full pte. of all such lands tenemts and hereditamts.
as shall from time to time bee there planted and inhabited, and of
all such mines and minneralls of gould, silver, and other mettalls
or treasures, pearles, pretious stoanes or any kinds of wares or
merchandize, comodities or pfitts. whatsoever, which shal bee
obtained or gotten in the said voyage, according to the portion of
money by him imployed to that use, In as large and ample manner as
any other adventurer therein shall receave for the like some.
Written this fowerteenth of July one thousand six hundred and eight.
Richard Atkinson
[Clerk of the Virginia Company].
The first two years at Jamestown brought disappointments, but the
adventurers of the London Company found grounds for new hope in the
enlarged and expanded program that was inaugurated in 1609. A new
charter was sought from the King to make possible reforms in
governmental organization both in England and Virginia; and a broader
base for financial support was laid by inviting the public to subscribe
to a joint-stock fund. By the charter of 1609 the new organization was
incorporated as the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of
the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia. In England the head
of the reorganized company was designated as treasurer, and the major
change in control was the transfer of authority over the colony from the
crown to the company with the powers of government in the hands of the
treasurer and Council. This Council in England, which continued for some
time to be called the Council for Virginia, had its jurisdiction limited
to the exploits of the London Company; its membership came entirely from
the company; and its members were in effect selected by the leading
promoters of the company. One major governmental change occurred in the
colony by the president and Council being eliminated in favor of a
strong Governor to be advised by a Council. The former provision for
title to an area of land 100 miles square was changed to give title to
"all that space and circuit of land" lying 200 miles north and 200 miles
south of Point Comfort from the sea coast "up into the land, throughout
from sea to sea, west, and northwest" plus islands within 100 miles of
the coast.
Provisions relative to distribution of land were more specific in the
1609 charter and provided that land should be conveyed by majority vote
of the company under its common seal. Consideration in distribution of
land was to be given both to the amount invested by adventurer as well
as "special service, hazard, exploit, or merit of any person."
In the third charter of 1612 no major changes were included relative to
land. Boundaries of the colony were extended from 100 miles to 300
leagues to include the newly discovered Bermuda Islands. And greater
governmental authority was placed in the generality of the company by
providing for quarterly court meetings of the company to handle "matters
and affairs of greater weight and importance" than were resolved by
lesser courts of a smaller portion of the company.
No immediate grants of land to individuals were forthcoming with these
charters. Only promises were made to those who subscribed to the
joint-stock undertaking. The adventurer invested only his money and
remained in England with each unit of investment set at £12 10s. per
share. The term planter was applied to one who went to the colony, and
his personal adventure was equated to one unit of investment at the
same rate as above. Both adventurer and planter were promised a
proportionate share of any dividends distributed, whether in land or in
money. The joint-stock arrangement was originally set to continue seven
years from its inception in 1609, thus making 1616 as the terminal
date. During this period monetary dividends might be declared, and at
the end of the period the land suitable for cultivation was to be
divided with at least 100 acres to be given for each share of stock.
The tract _Nova Britannia_ of 1609, written by Robert Johnson as a part
of the promotional campaign of the London Company, outlined these major
provisions concerning land and included the optimistic prediction that
each share of £12 10s. would be worth 500 acres at least. But an
attempt fourteen years later by Captain Martin to justify a patent
based on this figure of 500 acres per share failed because the promise
was held to be the work of a private individual and not a commitment by
the court of the company.
In the absence of private title to land in the early years of the
Virginia colony, the company relied upon a corporate form of management
with the pooling of community effort to clear the land, construct
buildings, develop agriculture, and engage in trade with the Indians.
This was not an experiment based on a theory of communism for the
joint-stock claims were limited in time. Most of the settlers were more
in a position of contract laborers performing services for the company,
and plans were devised for monetary dividends even before 1616 if the
colony prospered. Inadequate supplies from England, severe weather
conditions, hostility of the Indians, and the lack of willingness for
industrious labor on the part of the early settlers depleted the common
storehouse upon which the colonists were forced to rely, leading to the
exercise of stern and autocratic measures by John Smith and some of his
successors as leaders in the colony. Among the factors that contributed
to the lack of zeal among the settlers was the absence of private
ownership of land.
Prior to the promised distribution of land in 1616, there was granted
private use of land under a tenant-farm policy which most probably was
first inaugurated in 1614 under Sir Thomas Dale, although there is some
uncertainty about the date. Three acres of "cleare ground" were allotted
to men of the old settlement. In effect they became tenants of the
company and were obligated to render only one month's service to the
colony at some period other than the planting and harvesting time and to
contribute annually to the common magazine two barrels and a half of
corn on the ear. This tenant-farm policy worked well and better
conditions resulted with increased production of crops and stock.
According to one account in 1616:
They sow and reape their corne in sufficient proportion, without
want or impeachment; their kine multiply already to some hundreds,
their swine to many thousands, their goates and poultry in great
numbers, every man hath house and ground to his owne use....
In the same year this policy was extended to include eighty-one farmers
or tenants in the colony's total population of 351.
Despite improvement in the supply of provisions, the company still had
to face the harsh facts that in 1616 there were only 351 persons alive
in the colony, and funds were low in the treasury. There had been only a
limited number of new subscribers; some of the earlier subscribers had
defaulted on their second or third payments; and the use of lotteries
had failed to provide adequate money. This was the year set for the end
of the joint ownership of land with the declaration of land dividends.
But the company could not provide the necessary funds to defray the
administrative costs for the land divisions; and furthermore, many were
of the opinion that not enough land in possession had been cleared of
trees and surveyed. The arbitrary conduct of the Deputy Governor Captain
Samuel Argall, who arrived in Virginia in May, 1617, also contributed to
the delay in carrying out the plan for land distribution.
_In A Briefe Declaration of the present state of things in Virginia_,
adventurers were told that "this course of sending a Governor with
commissioners and a survayor, with men, ships, and sundry provisions"
would be expensive, and plans were announced for only a preliminary or
"first divident" of fifty acres with the expressed hope that a later
division would bring at least 200 acres for every share. But even for
the preliminary division, more money was needed and shareholders were
asked to subscribe another £12 10s. to help pay for the administrative
cost. For each additional subscription of £12 10s., a fifty-acre grant
would be made. Here we have provisions for obtaining land by "treasury
right," a method remaining in effect only until dissolution of the
company in 1624 and not reappearing until 1699. Planters in the colony
were also to receive a fifty-acre grant for their personal adventure.
Even new adventurers were invited to buy shares at £12 10s. and were
promised fifty-acre grants with the same privileges of the old
adventurers. But the response was poor. Most of the grants that were
made were either irregular in form or contained unreasonable provisions
dictated by the exigency of the situation, thereby being later
repudiated by the company.
The financial embarrassment of the company and the need for further
colonization led to grants of land in return for service to the company
by officials or for promoting the transportation of colonists. For the
services of Sir Thomas Dale to the colony, the Council for Virginia
awarded him the value of 700 pounds sterling to be received in land
distribution; to Sir Thomas Smith for his noteworthy efforts as
treasurer or chief official of the company, 2,000 acres; and to Captain
Daniel Tucker for his aiding the colony with his pinnace and for his
service as vice-admiral, fifteen shares of land. Similar rewards could
be made under the company to ministers, physicians, and other government
officials.
As a further stimulus to expand the population of the colony and to
enhance agricultural production, the company beginning in 1617
encouraged private or voluntary associations, organized on a joint-stock
basis, to establish settlements in the area of the company's patent.
These "societies of adventurers" were to send to Virginia at their own
expense, tenants, servants, and supplies; and the associates were given
certain governmental powers over the settlement that approached the
position of an independent colony. They were authorized "till a form of
government is here settled over them" to issue orders and ordinances
provided they were not contrary to the laws of England. In relation to
the four original boroughs of James City, Charles City, Henrico, and
Kecoughtan (later Elizabeth City), the hundreds or particular
plantations in government were "co-ordinate and not subordinate"; and
some of them sent representatives to the first Assembly held in 1619
under Governor Yeardley.
The amount of land in these sub-patents depended upon the number of
shares of stock of the associates, and in effect the grants served as
dividends to the shareholders. One hundred acres were granted for each
share with the first division of land, and the promise was made for an
equal amount upon a second division of land provided the first was
"sufficiently peopled." There was to be some choice in location by the
associates, although certain restrictions were imposed. No grant was to
be located within five miles of the four original boroughs, and the
plantation should be ten miles from other settlements unless on opposite
sides of an important river. These provisions were designed to provide
for expansion and at the same time avoid conflict among plantations, yet
they tended to disperse the colony and complicate efforts to maintain
adequate protection from the imminent threat of hostile natives.
The term hundred was applied to some, but not all, of these particular
plantations. The origin of this designation has sometimes been explained
as a derivation from the English administrative system, but this seems
valid only as it pertains to the name. There was no attempt to establish
a system based on English counties and hundreds, rather the Virginia
hundreds were closer to the feudal manor with a degree of economic and
political independence. In the light of these conditions, Professor
Wesley Frank Craven suggested the possibility that the term might have
been a "colloquial designation" applied to plantations with no definite
name and related to the units of 100 acres included in the grants or by
the requirement to seat 100 settlers on the land.
There were three general types of particular plantations. The first of
these represented the voluntary pooling of land and resources by several
adventurers of the company, since few had adequate land or financial
support to go it alone. The company granted a patent to contiguous areas
of land according to the number of shares of stock possessed by the
group. Examples of this type include the Society of Smith's Hundred and
Martin's Hundred. Smith's Hundred, later called Southampton Hundred, was
organized in 1617 and included among its adventurers Sir Thomas Smith,
Sir Edwin Sandys, and the Earl of Southampton. The grant included 80,000
acres and was located on the north side of the James River in the area
between "Tanks Weyanoke" and the Chickahominy River. The society was
administered by a treasurer and committees selected by a meeting of the
adventurers. The associates settled at least 300 colonists within their
boundaries and reported in 1635 the expenditure of £6,000 on the
settlement. Martin's Hundred, organized in 1618, was named for Richard
Martin and should be distinguished from (John) Martin's Brandon
organized the previous year. The Society of Martin's Hundred held patent
to 80,000 acres and dispatched over 250 colonists, but only a part of
the tract was ever occupied.
The second type of particular plantation involved an adventurer who
combined with persons outside the company to obtain a grant. The title
usually resided in the original adventurer, and the nature of government
and special privileges was similar to grants of the first kind discussed
above. The grant made to Captain Samuel Argall was of this type. So was
the grant of John Martin's Brandon in 1617, a plantation of 7,000 acres
situated seven miles upstream from Jamestown.
The third type of grant involved new adventurers whose major purpose in
buying stock in the company was to organize a particular plantation.
Illustrative of this category was the plantation of Christopher Lawne,
who transported 100 settlers in 1619 to Warrosquoik and established
Lawne's Hundred. During the following year the hundred was dissolved and
thereafter called Isle of Wight Plantation.
Beginning with the election of Sir Edwin Sandys as treasurer in 1619 and
including the next four years, there were forty-four grants made for
particular plantations; and the company declared six others to have been
made prior to this time under Sir Thomas Smith. All of the projected
plantations, however, were never located; and few were settled to the
extent planned by the company. Historical records are scarce for these
projects and this paucity of material has left much of the story
incomplete. It is certain that the following additional plantations were
actually established in Virginia: Archer's Hope on the James River,
Bargrave's Settlement, Bennett's Welcome, Society of Truelove's
Plantation, Persey's or Flowerdieu Hundred, and Berkeley Town or
Hundred. For the last of these, Berkeley Hundred, there is an extensive
set of records in the Smyth of Nibley Papers that gives considerable
insight into the organization and activities of the adventurers under
the leadership of Richard Berkeley, George Thorpe, William Throckmorton,
and John Smyth of Nibley.
Resembling its larger prototype, the London Company, the Berkeley
Hundred group had a governor and council. The adventurers were granted
100 acres of land for each share of stock with the promise of an equal
amount when the first grant was settled; likewise they were promised
fifty acres without quitrent for every person transported at their
expense who remained for three years or died within this period. For
promoting both a church and school, the adventurers were also granted
1,500 acres. With these grants and with exemptions from both the
company's trade rules and from taxation except by consent, the leaders
of Berkeley Hundred inaugurated a vigorous campaign to provide the
necessary provisions and personnel, including farmers, artisans,
overseers, a minister, and a doctor. Over ninety people were dispatched
to the colony in 1619 and 1620 at a cost of approximately £2,000. This
settlement, however, did not thrive. Many of the settlers died of
disease and eleven were killed in the Indian massacre of 1622. By 1636
the adventurers had abandoned their plans to continue the settlement and
sold their interests to London merchants.
In addition to the stimulus to migration by the three foregoing types
of grants for particular plantations, the company took steps in 1618
toward reorganization of its administration. Sir Thomas Smith was still
in control of the company as treasurer and contributed to the reforms,
but the major contribution came from Sir Edwin Sandys who succeeded to
the position of treasurer in the spring of the following year. Rules
and by-laws were restated in the "Orders and Constitutions," which were
largely prepared in 1618 although not formally adopted until June,
1619. One additional document of 1618 was very significant because it
outlined a uniform land policy. Identified by the term "the greate
charter," it is listed in the _Records_ of the London Company as
"Instructions to Governor Yeardly" under the date November 18, 1618.
This "charter" outlined plans for distribution of the land dividend and
contained provisions for the headright system which became a basic
feature of the colony's land policy. One hundred acres were promised as
a first dividend to all adventurers for each paid-up share of stock at
£12 10s., another 100 acres as a second dividend when the first had been
settled ("sufficiently peopled"). "Ancient planters," that is, those who
had come to the colony prior to the departure of Sir Thomas Dale in
1616, were to receive similar grants if they had come to the colony at
their own expense. These foregoing grants were to be free of quitrent.
"Ancient planters" who came to the colony at the company's expense would
receive the same amount of land after a seven-year term of service but
would be required to pay a quitrent of two shillings for every 100
acres.
For settlers arriving after the departure of Dale in 1616 or those
migrating during the seven-year period following Midsummer Day of 1618,
separate regulations applied. If transported at company expense, the
colonist was to serve as a half-share tenant for seven years with no
promise of a land grant; if at his own expense, he was to receive as a
headright fifty acres on the first dividend and the same amount on the
second dividend. This provision for the fifty-acre headright was set up
for the seven-year period prior to Midsummer Day of 1625, but it
continued beyond this date as the essential key to Virginia's land
policy of the seventeenth century.
Out of the number of people who purchased a share in the company and
thereby received a bill of adventure, Alexander Brown in his _Genesis
of the United States_ estimated that about one-third came to Virginia
and took up their land claim; approximately one-third sent over agents,
or in some cases heirs, to benefit by the grants; and the remaining
one-third disposed of their shares to others who occupied the lands.
Provisions for special lands were also stated in "the greate charter."
At each of the four focal points of settlement--James City, Charles
City, Henrico, and Kecoughtan, 3,000 acres were to be set aside as the
company's land. Half-share tenants were to cultivate the lands and half
of the company's profits was to be used to support several of the
colonial officials. For the Governor, a special plot known as the
Governor's land was to be designated at Jamestown, and half of the
proceeds of the tenants was to go to the Governor. For local government,
additional provisions were made for support by setting aside 1,500 acres
as "burroughs land" at the four points of settlement listed above.
Support of cultural activities, as well as governmental, was also
provided by land. Glebe lands were authorized at each borough, including
100 acres for the minister with a supplement from church members to pay
a total of £200 per annum. For the promotion of education, "the greate
charter" set aside 10,000 acres at Henrico as an endowment for a
"university and college." The primary aim of the college in 1618 was to
serve as an Indian mission, although the training of English students
was probably a part of the plan. Tenants were dispatched to Virginia to
work at Henrico as "tenants at halves," one-half of the proceeds of
their labor to go to the tenant, the other half to be used for the
building of the college and for support of its tutors and students. One
hundred and fifty tenants were sent over for the college land; and to
improve the returns from this enterprise, Sir Edwin Sandys engaged that
"worthy religious gentleman" George Thorpe as deputy to supervise the
investment in the college land. Patrick Copland, projector of the first
English free school in North America, was designated president-elect of
the Indian college; and Richard Downes, a scholar in England, came to
Virginia in 1619 with plans to work in the proposed college. All of
these hopeful plans were suddenly blasted by the eruption of the Indian
massacre of 1622. For all practical purposes the project was ended,
although some efforts were made after 1622 by the company to have the
remaining tenants cultivate the land and to hold the bricklayers to the
obligations of their contract.
The trace of these grants, including the company land, the Governor's
land, and the "burroughs land" fades out in the absence of complete
records for this period of the colony. Use of the glebe land as partial
support for the minister was continued in later years, although details
of the disposition of these early plots are missing. And the
appropriation of lands for support of education and other public
purposes was a recognized concept in later American history.
The issuing of patents in fee simple to land promised under the general
land dividend did not reach the extent planned by the company until the
arrival of Governor George Yeardley in 1619. There seems to be adequate
evidence to prove, as Bruce contended, that a few grants had been made
prior to this time, even prior to 1617; but no record has been preserved
in the Virginia Land Office. However, even if such grants were
authorized, it is unlikely that the proper surveys were made for many of
them.
As early as 1616 there were references by the company to send to
Virginia a surveyor who could lay out the lands to be distributed to the
adventurers. It is probable that a surveyor accompanied Captain Samuel
Argall to the colony in 1617, but the first name on record in this
position seems to be that of Richard Norwood who had previously engaged
in surveying in the Somer Isles. There is little to indicate that much
was done by Norwood. In 1621 William Claiborne accompanied Governor
Francis Wyatt to Virginia, and the arrival of these two men actuated the
granting of many tracts.