Henry Carsley; 1600-1635; Upper Norfolk and Northampton County

Thirty-sixth in a series of biographical sketches of qualifying ancestors of the Jamestowne Society whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company
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Henry Carsley sailed to Virginia from England in 1623 on the Providence and first lived at Newport News.  He was listed on the Muster taken in February 1624/25, and was named a headright in a patent for 2500 acres taken by Daniel Gookin in Upper Norfolk County in 1637.   When Gookin’s early attempts to establish a shipping business and his cattle breeding initiative failed, Henry Carsley moved to Northampton County on Accomack Island.  Many settlers moved to the Eastern Shore for safety after the Indian Attack of March 22, 1621/22 because the Accomack Indians were friendly.

Before moving to the Eastern Shore, Henry Carsley married Elizabeth Berriman.  Court records show that Carsley leased 50 acres on Old Plantation Creek on the south side of Fishing Creek on 19 Feb 1633/34. He and his wife had two daughters: Agnes (also called Ann) and Frances.  Agnes died by 27 Jan 1647/8 but left an estate which her sister Frances recovered by giving her uncle, Thomas Johnson, a power of attorney to act for her.  Agnes has no known descendants.

All the known descendants of Henry Carsley are from his daughter Frances, who married Jeffery Menshall.  Elizabeth’s widowed mother, Alice Berriman, married (2) Henry Wilson.  In Alice Wilson’s will, recorded in 1640, she mentions a granddaughter, Frances Carsley, a minor.  Elizabeth Berriman Carsley of Accomack states she is the “executrix of my right deere and well beloved husband Henry Caursley” and makes a deed of gift to her two daughters, Agnes and Frances on 26 Nov 1635.

​Surname descendants of Henry Carsley include Menshall, Tull, Long, Mitchell, Moore, White, Wharton, Beauchamp, Boston, Trahern, Stogdell, Pryor, Cottingham, Wood, Davis, Potter, Wilson, Gunby. Outten, Lankford, Langford, and Willis.
 
Ancestor of First Mississippi Company member Paul Colby Cartwright